some insanely good tips from an April 2022 PGC webinar

How to Play College Ball

• Don't spend time looking for ways to be seen — you're not good enough for that yet. Instead, spend time on getting better. Get good before you try to get seen.

• Coaches see a LOT of players that are very good. The players these days are way better than they used to be. Coaches, as a result, are look for a separator, something that distinguishes you… play really hard? talk more? leadership? hustle? coachability? energetic? You need to have something other than just your shot — look at the intangibles. Setting screens. Defense. Rebounding. Not the sexy stuff. Start doing the unflashy things that most other players don't want to bother with, or aren't willing to work on. Many, many other players you'll go up against will also have a really good shot.

• Find the right "fit"… there are players in D-3 that are as good as others in D-1. Scholarships? A given college might have three to give away, with maybe 1000 players coming after those scholarships. The founder of PGC recommends most players NOT playing in D-1… seek an academic scholarship instead. Lots of pressure comes with athletic scholarships. After 4 years, lots of D-1 players say the experience wasn't that great. Want to be mentored by people who care about the players, not just the wins.

• The portal and transferees: More coaches are going to "the portal" before showing up at high-school level visibility games. What is the portal? Players who want to transfer, who have already played, do so through the portal, and coaches look for players there… since so many college players are transferring and those who do have likely already played and know more about what they want. Coaches want to recruit the portal transferees before they try to recruit at the high school level. They would rather get a D-2 player who's already been a star than going after the star high school player, since there's a higher likelihood the high school player will transfer out. This level of transfers is new since about 2017. Coaches might think: why should I go through the first two years of difficult adjustment, only to then lose that player when he transfers? Why shouldn't I be the downstream coach that benefits from the investment made in the first two years?

• Some D-1 games might have only 300 fans, while some D-3 games could have several thousand. More fans = more exposure = more coaches watching you.

• When we contact a coach, send them individually… use the coach's name… show them you know something about the school… don't mass email 500 coaches. You need a good short highlight video; use a catchy title. High GPA? High shooting percentage? etc. Coaches will watch only the first 30-60 seconds. They won't watch more unless the first minute is really good. They do want to know your GPA. If they like what they see, they'll ask for game video, find out more about what kind of person you are, etc. Don't put music in the video. Maximum three minutes, sometimes up to six minutes if the first 2-3 are VERY good.
• Attend college games at different levels to help you assess where you fit.
• AAU basketball? They don't love it, but there's a place for it. Other countries are doing it better. Playing every weekend in exposure basketball is not the goal.
• When to reach out to coaches: get more serious around the end of 10th grade. Do college coaches go to PGC camps? Maybe. But PGC doesn't promote themselves as somewhere to be seen; it's more about getting better.
• Post-HS prep schools? Case-by-case basis. Many lack good structure, want good academics, etc.

Walk-Ons

https://www.sportsengine.com/recruiting/five-most-common-college-walk-questions

https://www.ncsasports.org/recruiting/managing-recruiting-process/walk-on-vs-scholarship

Pros and Cons: https://www.2adays.com/blog/life-as-a-walk-on-athlete/

Coaches usually love walk-ons because the drive to show up and work just as hard as everyone else, even if you're the only one not getting paid, shows your commitment to the sport.

Fascinating: https://andscape.com/features/why-are-so-many-ncaa-basketball-walk-ons-white/