If he’s only a senior in high school, he’d have 5 years of eligibility, right?
(Is he preparing GCSE’s or A-Levels/IBs? What are his predicted scores?)
“3. Why are International Students recruited in the US Colleges?”
Why? Because coaches are hired to win basketball games and will usually be fired if they don’t. So they’ll go wherever the talent is to recruit good players. Americans or internationals - it doesn’t matter very much when it comes to chalking up victories.
It’s not unusual that your son is focused on basketball rather than a college education at this stage. I’m sure he has dreams of the NBA too. But please do not ignore the importance of his earning a degree while he is playing for his college. Very few NCAA players, even Div. I players, are good enough to make it in the NBA. Even if he is good enough to go pro most NBA careers are short. So steer him to schools that offer a decent, real education and have a high graduation rate for their basketball players. Avoid the basketball factories that put their players in crib courses and don’t even pretend to educate them They exploit their players for four years and then turn them out with no education and usually no pro prospects either…
Being an NCAA recruited scholarship athlete is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Make the most of it.
There are a few academically elite schools who play basketball at the highest level and offer full-ride scholarships:
Duke (very high level in bball)
Stanford
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Georgetown
My friend in the UK used a recruiting agent when her D was looking for US Div I for soccer. D had many choices of colleges and is just finishing up her 4 years at a US college graduating on time.
All her UK soccer friends used the recruiting agencies.
Btw, she takes her studies very seriously and has made Deans list several times.
I have a bit of experience (a very little bit) with college football recruiting, so some of my perspective may apply to basketball.
First, things have changed quite a bit in recent years. In football there are services which coaches use to “investigate” high school players’ accomplishments. The players are asked to submit video of performances along with their academic profile. In turn, the service makes the information available to coaches/colleges everywhere, who can contact the athletes if they are interested. Of course it cannot hurt to directly contact schools which interest you, but in my experience coaches aren’t fully comfortable with that situation. They believe that they already have good (or preliminary) intelligence about possible recruits, so they are not enthusiastic about unsolicited offers. This may not be a problem for you because it sounds like your son is a known quantity here in the States. Certainly, elite big time college programs likely are aware of him already. It’s the smaller (and frankly, less successful) colleges that scramble to discover a hidden prodigy or young virtuoso.
A couple of very fine colleges who utilize international basketball players very well are Gonzaga University and George Washington University. Gonzaga’s program has risen to elite status in recent years. This season GWU, with starters from Japan and Denmark, is highly ranked. By the way, there was a very good Englishman on Duke’s squad some years ago whom later played for the Los Angeles Lakers.
As regards your other questions…
Coaches may not make it clear that U.S. NCAA approved scholarships are not guaranteed for 4 years. Individually SOME colleges commit to a student-athlete for 4 years but most do not. The scholarship is renewed on an annual basis.
An NCAA scholarship offer may be WITHDRAWN at the school’s discretion. There’s a famous Billy Packer-Dick Vitale televised debate about this.
Financially, an NCAA approved scholarship can actually complicate the student-athlete’s day to day experience. For example, if the student’s total financial aid package leaves a gap, but the student needs cash for a meal etc. it is expressly forbidden to provide additional financial assistance to the student-athlete. There have been public arguments to change this policy lately.
At most big time sports programs, you will not realistically have time to pursue your studies in earnest. Schools do provide counseling/resources, but it’s only the very very diligent student athletes whom take advantage of such resources and excel academically. That’s why the European tradition of ‘sports academies’ works out better for elite athletes than the U.S. system of college “student athletics,” at least in the team sports.
U.S. coaches recruit athletes from any possibly fertile ground because in the U.S. college sports are very lucrative financially, and winning provides more lucre than losing. All coaches look for every possible advantage.
Are paid recruiting agents the norm in the UK? Here in the USA services like this one ARE FREE for the student-athlete and his/her parents;
Getting back to specific schools, in my opinion, the schools below are D1 basketball colleges whom have enjoyed success and can provide a rigorous education for those who seek it. Frankly, with the exception of U of Michigan, these schools typically do not attract significant numbers of McDonalds’ All-American high school players (the Michigan basketball program presently is in a bit of distress), but because the competition for a scholarship offer is less at these schools, a good international player might get a scholarship and playing time at one of these places.
Gonzaga University
George Washington University
Creighton University
Davidson College
Rice University
Georgia Tech
U of Alabama-Birmingham
College of Charleston
Marquette University
George Mason University
U of Miami (Florida)
Miami University (Ohio)
Boston University
U of Massachusetts-Amherst
U of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Ohio University
U of Richmond
Saint Louis University
College of William and Mary
Vanderbilt University
Wofford College
U of San Diego
A few successful D2 (partial scholarship award) basketball schools to think about are Colorado School of Mines, Eckerd College and U of California-San Diego.
In thinking about this some more, I wouldn’t count Ivy League schools entirely out of the running. It’s true that they don’t give athletic scholarships per se, but they are among the richest schools in the nation with the most generous need-based financial aid grants. And I keep hearing that for players they really want they can often get very creative in determining an athlete’s financial “need.”
The Ivies play Div. I basketball at a respectable level but not at the very highest levels. But it is at a level where a talented athlete can continue to grow and perhaps reach the highest levels (e.g. Jeremy Lin). And they WILL provide your son with a fine education. Student-athletes in the Ivy League are real students:
http://www.dartmouthsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=11600&ATCLID=210471341
These are the Associated Press Top 25 Teams and the teams with votes for the Top 25. So, the top 35 teams roughly in the country.
AP Top 25
RK TEAM RECORD PTS
1 Kansas (63) 14-1 1,621
2 Oklahoma (1) 13-1 1,551
3 Maryland 15-1 1,472
4 Michigan State (1) 16-1 1,446
5 North Carolina 15-2 1,371
6 Villanova 14-2 1,246
7 Xavier 14-1 1,200
8 Miami (FL) 13-1 1,139
9 Duke 14-2 1,100
10 SMU 15-0 1,040
11 West Virginia 14-1 867
12 Providence 14-2 862
13 Virginia 12-3 818
14 Kentucky 12-3 698
15 Texas A&M 13-2 668
16 Iowa 12-3 656
17 Iowa State 12-3 555
18 Arizona 13-3 537
19 South Carolina 15-0 527
20 Pittsburgh 14-1 334
21 Louisville 13-3 330
22 Baylor 12-3 325
23 Butler 12-4 302
24 Purdue 14-3 145
25 Gonzaga 13-3 101
Others receiving votes: USC 79, Indiana 59, UCLA 21, Utah 10, Texas Tech 10, Saint Mary’s 8, Wichita St 7, Valparaiso 6, Oregon 6, Hawaii 4, St Bonaventure 1, Oregon State 1, Akron 1, Dayton 1
Dropped from rankings: Connecticut 23, Dayton 25
Things have changed in the NCAA, @LakeWashinton, especially in the Power 5 conferences. Pac 12 and B1G10 now do offer multi-year scholarships, and in fact I believe Pac12 requires the member schools to offer them. There is no gap for men’s basketball scholarships as in Div 1 they are full ride scholarships. In Power 5 conferences, the students are awarded a stipend, usually between $3000-$6000 to cover the costs not covered by the scholarships (travel, incidentals, extra meals) and several other conferences are providing stipends too (Mountain West does). Finally, the teams can provide much more food now, at practices and at times the student dining halls may not be open. Food is not nearly the issue it was 2 years ago. Schools do have emergency funds to aid athletes for things like traveling home for a funeral.
@PurpleTitan, I guess it would depend on what you call ‘elite’ universities, but all Div 1 schools except the Ivies offer full scholarships to basketball players, so Cal, UCLA, Michigan, Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Wisconsin and all those listed by LakeWashington above. OP hasn’t even said what kind of college the student is looking for.
Thank you all for posting these lists,monks and questions to think about. I must say we do find it difficult to understand how to differentiate between colleges when there are so many and we k ow virtually nothing about the system or the colleges themselves. Our lad is not Ivy League material, if it were not for Basketball I would think he would probably not be heading to University. So, we have to be realistic about level of Academic expectation and challenge. He is also very realistic about playing Pro. It’s his ambition but he realises that NBA is a 0.0001 chance… Who knows what will happen after 4
Well, good luck. I’ll watch for his name and root for him – unless his team plays the Cal Bears. :)>-
There are so many types of schools and levels of BB that your first job may be to decide what level of bb is right for him. Would he be good enough to play in one of the top schools, schools that go to March Madness routinely? Maybe he’s good, but would shine at a school that is more likely to play in the NIT? Have his coaches or camps been able to identify any?
I think it is unlikely he’ll be able to go to a big elite contender or you’d know it by now. Most of those students have committed or are just shuffling between a few of the top schools. But there are a ton of schools at the next level, good state schools or Catholic schools that may be a contender in one year if they get a ringer.
You also may need to decide on a region. Living in England, Hawaii may not work for you (although may be a good choice for him!). You may want to concentrate on the east coast, or the southeast. I do think there are scholarships still available for 2016-17 (some students will drop out after the season, most of those from the U of Kentucky which seems to specialize in ‘one and done’), but maybe not as many as if he waited a year.
Can you give us an idea of his GCSE results and predicted ALevel results? It’d really help in determining what academic level we’re talking about.
To know more about American colleges, you can buy Princeton Review’s Best Colleges. They present the university’s atmosphere and characteristics, points of pride, social life, etc. The universities represent rougly the top 10% in the US so you’re sure that any included in this book is good.
Do you have his SAT score?
Taking SAT on 23rd Jan. He got 7 GCSE passes ( mainly c’s and 2 b’s). His BTEC results look like merit, merit distinction.
ok, thank you, that helps a lot.
That would put his GPA at around 3-3.3 and his Btech makes him on level for D1/D2 universities ranked 45+ as well as regional universities (Villanova, etc) but not for the most competitive programs.
Just a few observations.
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His GPA is not an issue if he is recruited. There are many basketball players like him admitted to the most selective schools.
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“Regional Schools” can be more selective than many schools labelled “National”. Villanova was mentioned above and this is a highly selective school where the average student is in the top 5%-7% of all students.
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My advice is to do some recruiting questionnaires in Patriot League and send that video. Submit to all schools except Army and Navy. You may want to try some schools in Atlantic 10 like Dayton, St. Bonaventure, St. Joseph’s and Richmond. These schools have nationally ranked teams.
I would be very curious what Patriot League schools say because this is a low level D1 conference.
Good Luck.
That’s interesting. When you say competitive prograns do you mean the top Basketball prograns or academic prograns?
What I am saying is that if an elite academic school wanted him for basketball that his GPA will not be an issue. Trust me, Duke, Stanford and Notre Dame have admitted basketball players with his stats before. If an Ivy or NESCAC school really wanted him he could get in, but no scholarships. They don’t offer them but basketball may get him admitted.
Whether or not he is the caliber for a top basketball program is unknown.
Please do some recruiting questionnaires and see the responses. Send the link to the video.