When for 2009 Rankings?

[wadethered]

Just wondering. Will it be the end of the AAU season? It seems like you know enough about these players now to do one.

[scoutnwhoops]

Yes and no. Glenn and I have discussed this numerous times. The draw back is that we could rank the kids we are comfortable with, say a top 25 like we started out with for 2008 but then if a kid that was top 25 drops into the 50's it is seen as that kid slipping rather than us finding new kids. I think after the evaluation period we should have something. We'll definitely have more kids in the database with star ratings.

[NGBBoiler]

a la....BRITTANY RAYBURN!!!! :mad: Just kidding fellas, I enjoy the time you guys put into finding and evaluating the best talent out there. Also, try to keep the Purdue fans opinions about her into context, she is a hometown Indiana girl who just went off for 27 points to lead the Indiana JR all stars to a 3 overtime win in Mackey (Purdue's arena) against the Ta'shia Phillips and Sydney Smallbone led- Indiana Sr All stars, so at the moment we all have a very high opinion of her. :)

[scoutnwhoops]

You should have a high opinion of her. She should be a great player at Purdue and she's still ranked in the top 60 out of the thousands of basketball players out there.

[glenn]

I guess I don't understand the hostility over "there" regarding Brittany Rayburn. People like for us to come by their forums and deliver information, but as soon as they don't like the news, we're pieces of ... I guess some of those people have made it clear that they think we're fair game, so the best thing is just to avoid that place altogether. I know people will come here for the information, which is fine.

Anyway, it does make us think twice about the way we do things. We try to be transparent and allow people to watch "work in progress." However, they don't remember the constant warnings about the way we do things and feel like we're fair game and we're not human beings just trying to do our best.

It reminds me of when I was a coach and a parent would talk me into taking a kid who wasn't really good enough to be on my team. "She would so benefit by your coaching and being around the other kids," the parent would say. OK, I would respond, but we all understand that there are no promises about playing time. I will find ways to help her develop, but can't make any promises. OK, OK, the parent would say, enthusiastic. Part of being a good coach is finding situations in which a kid can succeed, then try to build on that success. So the kid has a pretty good game and maybe another. Next thing you know, the parent has forgotten all about the initial conversation and now is knocking on your door, wondering why the kid isn't starting or getting more "touches."

Raise you hand, coaches, if this sounds familiar.

I thought so.

Back on topic ... ranking Brittany Rayburn 38th in the entire country says we think very highly of her. As Chris points out, that's 38th out of thousands.

[intelligenthoodlum]

There are somewhere in the neighborhood of 600,000 girls playing high school basketball in America, which means that there are roughly about 150,000 in a senior class.
And of these 150,000, to be ranked in the top 75 of anyone's rankings means that you should be a major-D-1/high-mid-major-D-1 player.
To be ranked in anyone's top 40 means you should be in the conversation about those being considered for one of the All-American teams, and to participate in USA Basketball...

[YourCrimsonNightmare]

I'm of the camp that nobody around here needs to hype particular recruits, because I don't think it serves any useful purpose. Glenn and Co. rank recruits based upon personal evaluations, which is the way it should be. People lobbying for more respect for a player are attempting to apply unfair pressure on those who make this a great site for those that follow girls' basketball and their recruiting.

And criticisms of high school players should be in the same category as those posters who try to recruit players to their schools via these pages: they should face a serious risk of being banned.

Let's all try to behave civilly around here, and keep the conversation at a relatively high level. There are endless forums across the internet where you can be really uncivil and nasty about people and topics, there's zero need for it to be here. High school kids and some who are younger visit these pages. Let's show them that it's possible for adults, many connected only via the internet, to behave like rational, caring, and responsible people without having to worry about having the need to continually monitor the postings for inappropriate character.

Common message boards are a dime a dozen. Uncommon ones are far to few between. Let's keep this one in the latter group.

/my .02

[NGBBoiler]

As a regular poster on the Purdue board over "there" I can just say that we have a lot of poster's who have irrational and biased opinions. I think that is common for every team to have some biased fans. Hence the term "fanatics". I personally am not upset about her rank, being ranked 38th in the country is very impressive and I'm glad that she is coming to Purdue.

I just think that other posters on that board are really anxious for this upcoming recruiting class. In terms of recruiting, which in my opinion is the blood line of every program, Purdue has not had much luck the past year. I mean, losing out on 3 5* players (Harris, Jernigan, Phillips) in the span of 2 years can make any fan base a little weary about the future of their program. Some have been desperately wanting to hit the panic button. They have also attacked Coach Versyp's recruiting skills, not understanding alot of the departures were "out of her control". Others have tried to justify Coach V's recruiting skills by getting 5* Rayburn in the fold and trying to justify future success on that one event. So, with her steep decline in the rankings many will have a sour opinion on Hoopgurlz and will try to justify her decline (ie, sprained ancle), remember they are "fanatics".

So, I'm not speaking for all of Purdue Nation, but that is just my 2 cents. I hope you can understand and I apologize if you feel like you were getting attacked but there is, in fact, alot of tension over there because with the loss of Gearlds and Lawless this year and LWH next year and the loss of the afore mention players who were suppose to be the future of the program, these next couple recruiting classes are going to be VERY important for the future of Purdue women's basketball.


BOILER UP!!