Note: All names of schools, coaches and players have been omitted to protect their identity. While I won’t reveal the names, each one of these schools has been ranked in the top 25 all of 2011-12.
Last summer I was talking to a friend of mine who is an assistant at high-major NCAA DI basketball program about what players they were looking for. When I got the roster for the Stephen Curry Skills Academy I sent them over to him to let me know if there were any kids their school was interested in.
He sent back the list of players to keep an eye on at Steph’s Academy, which the school had already offered scholarships to or were strongly considering offering. One of the players listed came to the station I was running. He was extremely talented, but his work ethic and desire were absolutely awful. I asked some of the area high school coaches and they confirmed what I saw. To play at a school like this you need to have a work ethic and some desire. Their head coach demands nothing less than excellence.
Since the Academy was a weekend long I had a lot more time to evaluate a player than most programs do before offering him a scholarship. Needless to say, he was crossed off their list, a school that as of last week, was ranked in the top 10 in the country.
Last summer I also had the opportunity to watch some Live Period events here in Milwaukee with players that I workout. One player in particular I have know since he was in 6th grade and his dream school was there evaluating.
I saw a coach from his dream school there and called up a friend of mine who was close to their staff. He got the coach to go over and take a look at this kid play. I was really excited for the game to begin because he had played great last game and has spent a ton of time working on his game. The assistant stayed for about 10 minutes and this kid played worse than I think I’ve ever seen him play. I felt horrible for him. His one shot was gone in 10 minutes. Do you play down to your competition or do you hold yourself to a standard no matter who you are up against?
More recently I was working out some extremely talented sophomores from Milwaukee when I friend’s dad wanted to come check out some workouts. I came to find out later that he was really close with a coach on staff at an SEC school – he was there partly to evaluate these kids.
In all of these situations the players had no idea who was evaluating them. You never know when you’re opportunity to earn something that you have been working for will come so you always need to be prepared—with your skills, conditioning and mind. If you are coming off the bench it is so important you stayed mentally engaged in the game. Your opportunity might only be 60 seconds or the last 23 seconds of a quarter. Your opportunity will come though— eventually. It’s up to you to be aware, be ready and take advantage.