About National College Basketball Scouting Services

The recruiting of college basketball players is a serious business for both colleges and players alike. The success of a college or university basketball program depends largely on the caliber of recruited players that receive scholarships. With the rising costs of higher education, the competition for the limited number of scholarships among high school basketball players also is intense. With so much on the line, national college basketball scouting services have emerged as an important--and often profitable--enterprise.

History

Bob Gibbons is seen as a pioneer in the modern era of scouting and ranking prospective college basketball recruits. In 1979 he released his first list of the nation's top 300 college basketball prospects. Six years later he created the All-star Scouting Report, which now counts more than 300 colleges and universities among its subscribers. Today there are more than 75 college basketball recruiting and scouting services throughout the nation.

Significance

National college basketball scouting services play a crucial role for both coaches and players. Gathering scouting information on prospects is one of the most important aspects of a college basketball coach's job. Yet these coaches must cope with restrictions imposed by NCAA rules and time constraints, as well as limited budgets and manpower. As a result, many coaches rely on national college basketball scouting services to do much of the legwork related to compiling information on players. Major college programs spend thousands of dollars yearly buying lists of players and their highlight reels from scouting services. Scouting services also help garner attention for high school players who might otherwise get lost in the shuffle. More than 1 million boys and girls play high school basketball each year, but those who athletes who want to go on to college must compete for a total of 14,292 scholarships offered to men and women basketball players annually.

Function

Most national college basketball scouting services do not focus their energy on blue-chip prospects like Lance Stephenson, a New York high school guard who already has starred in a documentary film and also boasts his own online reality show. Instead these services work to discover and promote talented players who are lesser known. The range of services that national college basketball scouting services offer varies dramatically. Besides posting statistics and highlights on interactive websites, some services conduct elaborate email campaigns to lobby coaches and provide advice to prospects on issues ranging from college application essays to suggested course offerings.

Types

Generally speaking, there are two different types of national college basketball scouting services. One category involves firms that charge high school athletes fees ranging anywhere from $250 up to $5,000 for assistance in securing a college basketball scholarship. These firms will produce highlight reels for a player, contact coaches on their client's behalf and search for college programs who are looking for a player's specific set of skills. The other type of scouting service, such as the Boston-based National Recruiter Recruiting Service, is paid by colleges and universities to evaluate prospects. This evaluation process is accomplished by sending scouts to games, all-star competitions and spring and fall shootout events.

Informing Fans

Coaches are not only people who want scouting information on college basketball prospects. Many fans closely follow national college basketball recruiting news. A multi-million dollar industry has developed in recent years to feed these fans' insatiable appetite for the latest information. Websites like Rivals and Scout offer rankings of the nation's top recruits, player photos and profiles, reams of statistics, scouting videos and interviews for a monthly fee of less than $10.

Resources

• National Recruiter Recruiting Service
• Rivals.com
• Scout.com