What are the Top 5 states for Basketball Recruiting?
- Thread starter UCFhonors
- Start date
Indiana
North Carolina
Illinois
Texas
Florida
California
New York
All in the running. Indiana probably has the highest ratio of elite talent compared to population.
North Carolina
Illinois
Texas
Florida
California
New York
All in the running. Indiana probably has the highest ratio of elite talent compared to population.
Certainly you'll always get a healthy number of elite players from your more populated states. Maryland actually has the highest per capita of college basketball players. See links below:
https://deadspin.com/map-where-do-college-basketball-recruits-come-from-1507395145
ttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/recruiting-insider/wp/2017/03/24/maryland-produces-the-highest-percentage-of-college-basketball-recruits-of-any-state/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.fbb7bd4af485
Some pros to come out of Maryland in the last 20 years:
Kevin Durant
Carmelo Anthony
Victor Oladipo
Rudy Gay
Markelle Fultz
Michael Beasley
Roy Hibbert
Justin Andereson
Jaylen Adams
Jerian Grant
Jerami Grant
Treveon Graham
Dajuan Summers
Jeff Green
Donte Greene
Steve Francis
Keith Bogans
Delonte West
Malcom Delaney
Nolan Smith
Josh Selby
Josh Boone
Mike Sweetney
Jamison Brewer
Joey Dorsey
Juan Dixon
Joe Forte.
https://deadspin.com/map-where-do-college-basketball-recruits-come-from-1507395145
ttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/recruiting-insider/wp/2017/03/24/maryland-produces-the-highest-percentage-of-college-basketball-recruits-of-any-state/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.fbb7bd4af485
Some pros to come out of Maryland in the last 20 years:
Kevin Durant
Carmelo Anthony
Victor Oladipo
Rudy Gay
Markelle Fultz
Michael Beasley
Roy Hibbert
Justin Andereson
Jaylen Adams
Jerian Grant
Jerami Grant
Treveon Graham
Dajuan Summers
Jeff Green
Donte Greene
Steve Francis
Keith Bogans
Delonte West
Malcom Delaney
Nolan Smith
Josh Selby
Josh Boone
Mike Sweetney
Jamison Brewer
Joey Dorsey
Juan Dixon
Joe Forte.
You could have a heckuva of an all-time team with the DC area talent:
Dave Bing
Elgin Baylor
Grant Hill
Kevin Durant
Patrick Ewing
Edit: Okay, take Pat Ewing off. I was mixing Georgetown up with his second hometown... after leaving Jamaica he grew up in Cambridge, MA.
But, I'm sure we could find a good replacement for him... Adrian Dantley is a DC guy, but not a center. Can't think of a quality DC center off the top of my head.
As a region, the DMV, has to be up there in terms of talent.
That's a more interesting thing to consider, imo. Higher populations and big cities will always make certain states no-brainers for this list.
Yup. It's a given that California, New York, and Texas will have more All-Americans/Pros or whatever. Heck, Cali could feature their own All-Star team this year - they have eight 20-point scorers in the NBA:
James Harden, 33.7
Kawhi Leonard, 27.3
Paul George, 26.8
Damian Lillard, 26.2
DeMar DeRozan, 22.6
Klay Thompson, 21.6
Russell Westbrook, 21.2
Jrue Holiday, 20.8
Illinois way ahead of Indiana. Chicago has always been one of the top recruiting areas in the country, that alone produces more D1 talent than entire state of Indiana.
Indiana would have a heck of a team as well.
Larry Bird
Oscar Robertson
George Mcginnis
Shawn Kemp
Glen Robinson
Who said it wasn't? Indiana is on there in relation to the population ratio. Of course Illinois has had a lot of great players, Chicago is huge compared to any city in Indiana.
chicago metro area has 3 million more people than the entire state of IN, so not surprising they have a ton of talent (and makes it tough to compare)
the maryland article above was interesting as well
one confounding factor is how to account for a kid from one state that goes to another for HS (eg the Plumlees are from IN but IIRC the kids went to HS in carolina, so I'm guessing they count as players from NC?)
You could say the same thing about the top end players that go through La Lumiere. Guys like Isiah Stewart who's actually from NY but goes to prep school in Indiana.
While it's an interesting discussion, there's plenty of top end talent in Indiana to keep the colleges stocked and that's all I really care about. lol
I'd take Team North Carolina over Indiana any day of the week, personally.
1st-Team
Steph Curry (2x MVP, 3x NBA Champ)
Chris Paul (9x All-Star)
Michael Jordan (5x MVP, 6x NBA Champ)
James Worthy (7x NBA All-Star, 3x NBA Champ)
Bob McAdoo (1x MVP, 2x NBA Champ)
2nd-Team
Sam Jones (5x All-Star, 10x NBA Champ)
Lou Hudson (6x All-Star)
Walter Davis (6x All-Star)
David Thompson (4x All-Star)
Walt Bellamy (4x All-Star)
3rd-Team
John Wall (5x All-Star)
Jerry Stackhouse (2x All-Star)
Happy Hairston (15 ppg/10 reb over 11 yrs)
Danny Manning (2x All-Star)
Brad Daugherty (5x All-Star)
... Also, if you're looking for a basketball town, look no further than Kinston, North Carolina. Population of roughly 20,000. They've produced NBA players of the likes of Cedric Maxwell, Jerry Stackhouse, Reggie Bullock, and Brandon Ingram.
There is also a mileage sign in Kinston that says Morehead City 69. True story.
Here's a good article that spells it out pretty well.
https://www.businessinsider.com/nba-players-by-states-2016-11
https://www.businessinsider.com/nba-players-by-states-2016-11
Impressive list ,of primarily NBA talent,but this is a CBB board and we're talking college recruiting.Also the thread is top 5 states for RECRUITING, so while MJ is the GOAT- he's only 1 player...
I went back and from 1973 when I graduated high school until 2003 (30 yr period) there were only NINE seasons when the NC or runnerup did not include a player from Indiana. I didn't go any further- I'm not THAT anal,but you can see that Indiana players have a huge effect on the fortunes of various NCAA Champions/runners up...
The years I could find (with no Indiana recruit on the NC game roster) were 1982 (UNC vs Georgetown),1985 (Villanova vs Georgetown) 1989 (MI vs Seton Hall) 1990 (UNLV vs Duke) 1991 (Duke vs Kansas)1994 (AR vs Duke) 1995 (UCLA vs AR) 1997 (AZ vs UK) 1998 (UK vs Utah)- the only UK NC team in my lifetime without an Indiana player (Walter McCarty graduated from the '96 squad) and 1999 (UCONN vs Duke) .
If you expand to FF4s and coaching staffs the list (of years no Indiana players were involved in the NC game) shrinks even further. For example Del Ray Brooks was on the UK staff from 92-97, and Eric Montross took UNC to the 1991 FF4. Also I'm not positive on years with Duke, UCONN, or MI because those wikis don't include hometowns on their listed rosters...
I'm thinking it would be difficult to find a state with more NC game representation. Someone else can do THAT research...Winking
Per capita:
Maryland
Louisiana
Delaware
Tennessee
Georgia
Regardless of population:
Texas
California
Illinois
Florida
New York
Maryland
Louisiana
Delaware
Tennessee
Georgia
Regardless of population:
Texas
California
Illinois
Florida
New York
Nique didn't move to North Carolina until he was 16. I consider him a Maryland native. I did include Danny Manning on my 3rd Team, however. Buck Williams certainly deserves some consideration... Bobby Jones had a solid career, but not good enough to crack the top 15, IMO.
Indiana usually has at least 1 five star each year if you don’t include La Lumiere. This year it’s Keion Brooks (even though he does play at LL, he played HS basketball in Indiana) and Trayce Jackson Davis. If you include Isiah Stewart it would be 3 this year.
I wouldn't really consider either of those as the determining factor.
Dominique Wilkins, for example, was born in France and finished his high school career in North Carolina. But he lived in the Baltimore area for 14 years or so. I consider him a Maryland native. I think it depends where they spent the majority of their childhood.
