Getting Recruited to Play College Basketball … Yes, it is HARD.

There are so many high school basketball players who have the dream of playing basketball at the next level, but just how many of them actually make it? We’re going to cover all the ins and outs of what it takes to get recruited to play college basketball, providing you with all the facts to give you a fuller picture of the recruitment process.

Getting recruited to college is a big task but with the right help, advice and guidance it is achievable if you are ready and willing to give it all you got! And trust me, it is going to take all you’ve got!

How good do you have to be to play college basketball?

To make it to play college basketball, “The next level”, whether that’s NCAA D1, D2 or D3, NAIA or JUCO, it is going to take a lot of effort from you. Your focus needs to be on your training, your diet and getting you recruitment game plan together. Approximately 1 in 13 high school athletes (that a little over 7%) go on to play a varsity sport in college. Less than 2% of high school athletes (approximately 1 in 57) go on to play at the NCAA Division I level (ref: scholarshipstats.com). These stats give you some perspective on how difficult it is, doesn’t it?

What are the physical requirements to play college basketball?

What the schools are looking for in terms of HEIGHT:

Top NCAA D1/D2/JUCOs – PG: 6’2+ SG: 6’3+ SF: 6’5+ PF: 6’7+ C: 6’9+

NCAA D2/Top D3/Top NAIA – PG: 6’1+ SG: 6’2+ SF: 6’4+ PF: 6’6+ C: 6’8+

NCAA D3/NAIA – PG: 5’10+ SG: 6’0+ SF: 6’3+ PF: 6’5+ C: 6’7+

JUCO – PG: 5’9+ SG: 5’10+ SF: 6’3+ PF: 6’5+ C: 6’7+

Are there any other physical requirements for college basketball players?

Yes, there are a few additional traits college coaches and scouts look for in a player, alongside the height of a player. Let’s start with body frame – this is considered because coaches like to see how much muscle development potential a player has. Athleticism – how well does the player move, natural abilities, movement patterns are all things that they are taking into consideration when watching you. Strength – has the player developed a solid base of strength, do they take strength training seriously, do they have any injuries or imbalances that need to be addressed.

REMEMBER: when they are considering all these things they are assessing your potential to improve as a collegiate basketball player!

What are the academic requirements to play college basketball?

To play NCAA or NAIA, both require you to register with their own “clearinghouse” and submit your SAT/ACT scores and your high school transcripts. You will need to confirm with both that you have amateur status (meaning you have never played professionally and received money for playing basketball). To be able to secure yourself a roster spot, a scholarship offer and to compete, you must meet the academic requirements and be cleared by the governing eligibility centers. Basically, it is their job to make sure you are academically eligible to compete. To do this you must create a profile for each: NCAA eligibility center registration and NAIA eligibility center registration.

NOTE: It is advisable to create your profiles when you are still at high school.

These are the requirements for NCAA D1 athletes:

• • Complete 16 core courses: English (4 yrs) Math (3 years) Science (2 years) Social Science (2 years) Additional English/Math/Science (1 year) Additional Courses (can include all previous mentioned areas plus language, religion or philosophy) (4 years)
  • Must have 10 out of 16 completed before senior year of high school
  • 7 out of 10 core courses must be in English, math or natural/physical science
  • Must have a core course GPA of at least 2.3
  • Must have a ACT or SAT score matching your GPA on the D1 sliding scale
  • Must have graduated from high school

NOTE: As a D1 student-athlete, if your GPA is between 2.0 and 2.299 but you meet all the other requirements, you can be an Academic Redshirt – this means you may receive athletic scholarship during your first year of enrollment and you can practice during the 1st regular academic term but you cannot compete for your first year of enrollment.

ncaa.org Eligibility Center

ncaa.org Eligibility Center

It is best to register with the Eligibility Centers as early as possible to make sure you stay on track and can meet the eligibility standards so you can meet any deadlines and start college on time without any hitches or delays.

What are the requirements for an NCAA D2 athletes:

• • Complete 16 core courses: English (3 yrs) Math (2 years algebra 1 or higher) Science (2 years) Social Science (2 years) Additional English/Math/Science (3 year) Additional Courses (can include all previous mentioned areas plus language, religion or philosophy) (4 years)
  • Must have 10 out of 16 completed before senior year of high school
  • 7 out of 10 core courses must be in English, math or natural/physical science
  • Must have a core course GPA of at least 2.2
  • Must have a ACT or SAT score matching your GPA on the D2 sliding scale
  • Must have graduated from high school

If you want more information about the eligibility process for the NCAA as an International player, CLICK HERE.

REMEMBER: If you have a low GPA you need a high test score, if you have a low test score you need a high GPA.

These are the requirements for NAIA athletes:

• • Must have a minimum GPA of 2.0 (for international players click here to determine your US GPA)
  • Must have a minimum 970 SAT or 18 ACT score
  • Must have graduated high school in top half of your class (you may need to provide a class rank letter from your school)

If you want more information about the eligibility process for the NAIA as an International player, CLICK HERE.

What do I need to do to get recruited to play college basketball?

Your recruitment process needs to start as early as possible. This means as soon as you decided to take playing basketball seriously, you need to be working on improving your game every day and eating to fuel recovery and athletic development. You need to focus on having the best video in your senior year in preparation to show college coaches.

The majority of basketball players begin their recruitment process in 9th grade (at 14-15 years old) and start contacting college coaches, letting them know they are interested. Enabling contact allows the college coaches to watch your development and see if they are interested. Remember, college coaches are looking at the full-package, this means you need to focus on keeping your grades high and always be improving academically as well as athletically. Your goal should be to have the best video, high GPA, solid SAT/ACT score, a selection of good references (from previous coaches, trainers, teachers etc.) and a demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and communicate well. College coaches and scouts can start recruiting (showing interest in) a player as early as middle school, if you are a very talented player, some begin the process when you enter 9th grade of high school so make sure you are together and on it!

What are college coaches and scouts looking for in basketball players?

Obviously, they first have to know about you and who you are. You need to get on their radar. You can do this by using a professional service, playing AAU, playing for a club, attending camps, or having your high school/AAU coach/club coach recommend you. Once they know about you they typically already have an idea of the type of players they are looking for to fulfil their roster needs for that season.

Things that college coaches and scouts are always considering when recruiting a player:

• • Have you finished growing or not?
  • Are you tall for your position?
  • What is your wing span?
  • What is your body frame/composition like?
  • How athletic are you?
  • What’s your current level of technical skills/fundamentals?
  • What are your natural talents and abilities?
  • What is your basketball IQ?
  • Do you have good academics?
  • Do you have a good SAT/ACT sore?

When watching you play in person or watching your video, coaches and scouts will typically have some kind of check-list that the will evaluate you on and usually cover the following: Ball handling, one on one offense, aggressiveness, quickness, spot shooting, free throw shooting, passing ability, penetrating ability, defense (on the ball & away from ball), boxing out, offensive rebounding, leadership and overall attitude.

How do I get my college basketball recruitment process started?

Firstly, before you even start to contact college coaches you need to make sure you have all your affairs in order. The things you need to have ready are:

• • Your most recent highlight video
  • Accurate player profile of: height, weight, wing span etc.
  • Grades
  • Basketball accomplishments

Then you need need to figure out which schools you want to target and make contact with. Once you have done that you can then research the school and see if it offers what you are looking for, If it does, you can initiate contact with the coaching staff, tell them of your interest (they will probably ask you to send your info through, the things you already have in order from the list above) and let them know where you will be playing or even ask if they have any camps that you can attend. The main point here is to start to build connections and relationships so the coaches know who you are. You will have to contact and reply to them multiple times to stay at the forefront of their minds and to be even considered a possible recruit for them.

What are the chances that I will get a scholarship to play college basketball?

Scholarship offers vary tremendously from division to individual schools. Here we are going to look at what divisions can offer full scholarships, part scholarship, academic scholarship and everything in between.

NCAA D1: Offer 13 full scholarships (these are full rides per player called “headcount scholarships”, coaches cannot distribute the money) to get a D1 offer you need to be on the coaches radar EARLY preferably before your junior year.

NCAA D2: Offer 10 full or partial scholarships (partial a.k.a. equivalency scholarships, coaches can distribute money to as many players as they choose)

NAIA: Offer 11 full or partial scholarships

NJCAA: Offer 15 full or partial scholarships, at this level offers very much depending on the division/school. Only D1 jucos can offer full rides. D2 jucos only cover tuition, fees and books. Both can cover transportation costs.

NCAA D3: Offer ZERO athletic scholarships BUT can offer academic and merit scholarships.

NOTE: Not all schools that are able to offer athletic scholarships choose to do so, an example of this is the Ivy League schools – they choose not to give out athletic scholarships.

To maximize your chances of getting offered a scholarship to play college basketball you really need to be competing at the highest level possible so the coaches can get a good idea of your abilities playing against high level competition. This is why playing for a club team is very beneficial (although not necessary) to get an offer. You also need to be exceling academically. Your grades and test score really do make a big difference to college coaches. It tells them a lot about your character and work ethic. Having a well-put-together highlight video is the best way to get an in-depth, comprehensive player evaluation. Your video is your first impression so make sure you make it a good overall depiction of your talents, skills and abilities.

And lastly, you need to be super proactive and motivated. Don’t expect to email a few coaches and to get an offer right away. You need to put a lot of work in. You need to research the schools, find out if they are looking for a player of your caliber/position etc., email them, call them, video call with them and maintain contact with them. They will let you know if they are interested and what they plan to do. They don’t want to waste their time or yours. You will need to contact many, many schools so be prepared to invest a lot of your time. A scholarship offer does not come easy.

NOTE: Some D1 Schools bring in walk-ons, these are players who are on the team but are not on scholarship. A “preferred walk-on” is a player who has been specifically recruited by the coach to be a walk-on. At the D1 level a walk-on very rarely gets playing time. A walk-on at any other level is more likely to get an opportunity compete and could even earn scholarship for the following year.

Getting recruited to play college basketball CONCLUSION:

At the end of the day, what the college coaches are looking for depends on their particular program and roster needs. Some coaches will want polished, high basketball IQ players, some will want to invest in a raw talented player who needs a bit more work and some will want to invest more into developing a tall, athletic post player. The bottom line is, there is no quick and easy route and you will need put a lot of time and effort in to achieving your goal of playing college basketball. You should put the research in and only contact the schools who are looking for your position, this way you don’t waste the coaches time and more importantly, your own! And remember this, getting a scholarship offer is not easy but its not impossible either.