Not my player but figured I'd share anyway since I think it is interesting and shows the value of scouting and/or diamonds in the rough.

Three seasons ago, a 388 rated player was just 50 miles away from me.  I paid for the scouting report on him but I never bothered to really scout him:

Pos

Name

A

SPD

REB

DE

BLK

LP

PE

BH

P

WE

ST

DU

TOT

FT

School

SG

Jack Stephens

39+

30+

18-

30+

1-

21+

14+

25+

17+

73

80

40+

388

B

Becker

We are two games into play in Allen, but right now he's a much better player.

Pos

Name

A

SPD

REB

DE

BLK

LP

PE

BH

P

WE

ST

DU

TOT

FT

School

SG

Jack Stephens

61

58

18

62

4

78

86

62

52

87

98

64

730

B+

Becker

I know that some of you expert coaches that frequent this forum would want better players than this on your team (feel free to post this fact if you must), but I think most D3 coaches would take a player like this in a heartbeat.

I know I'd kill for a player like this but I'm sure I saw the 388 total rating and didn't give the player a second look.  (Or more accurately, I probably set up the filter in Excel to exclude him from my result set so I probably never even saw him at all.)

And he's not completely a finished product since his low post, perimeter, and passing have all gone up by a point this season already.  It looks pretty unlikely to happen but there might be a teeny, tiny chance that a player that started with a 388 rating develops 388 points in four seasons.

There's probably a better example or two of this, but thought it wouldn't hurt to share this player and I'd love to know if there are others like him.

great find. love his per,lp game

That's awesome - kudos to the coach who recruited him. Many folks on these forums keep saying that the best way to get the talent needed to compete is pulldowns, but I've often found pulldowns to be a non-starter for me recently (the recruits I want won't even list me as a backup; the guys who'll talk to me are no better than recruits in my division). This example shows that there's definitely other way to find high-upside talent, if you're patient and willing to look deep.

I remember the good ole days at DIII. I always picked up those sub-400 players. They typically ended up being my best players. I had one 80 per/bh/pas guy from that range as well as 70 ath/reb/lp player. 

Posted by bhansalid00 on 7/1/2011 3:23:00 PM (view original):
That's awesome - kudos to the coach who recruited him. Many folks on these forums keep saying that the best way to get the talent needed to compete is pulldowns, but I've often found pulldowns to be a non-starter for me recently (the recruits I want won't even list me as a backup; the guys who'll talk to me are no better than recruits in my division). This example shows that there's definitely other way to find high-upside talent, if you're patient and willing to look deep.

i agree completely with this -- i haven't used pulldowns in DIII for a long, long time.

I'm about half-and-half right now between pulldowns and cheap, high-upside D3 recruits.  Having one or two 450-500 overall pulldowns each year helps a lot with bench depth, even if in some cases their senior years don't compete with the cheaper signs.

Here is how that 388 player finished for ratings:

Pos

Name

A

SPD

REB

DE

BLK

LP

PE

BH

P

WE

ST

DU

TOT

FT

School

SG

Jack Stephens

62

59

18

63

4

85

94

62

53

90

99

65

756

B+

Becker

Becker has made it to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 50 seasons in Allen and is playing for the Elite Eight tonight.

In his 30 games thus far, Stephens is averaging:
28.4 min
23.4 pt
3.1 reb
1.7 ast
1.1 stl
50.3 FG%
44.3 FG%
72.2 FT%

And Stephens just was awarded the National Player of the Year award in Allen.

I really need to keep an eye on those sub-400 rated recruits.

This guy is a Junior? That's insane that he nearly doubled his overall rating in 3 seasons.

It's nice to know that players like this exist, but it's hard to build/plan around them. It's still pretty much luck to stumble upon a player like that. Even if you do evaluations during recruiting and find out he's "sky's the limit" in all his abilities, that still only tells you he's going to gain 30+ points. You have no idea how much he'll gain. It could be +35 or it could be +80. Given how low his starting values were, I probably still pass on this guy even if I knew he was "sky's the limit" in everything. Too big a crap-shoot.

KU, people definitely spend money on players like that.  I had a guy with 8 or 9 high potentials and good WE but overall starting rating below 400 ten miles away from me this past recruiting season in Knight.  Unfortunately I only had 1 open scholly.  I sent him 8 or 10 HVs in the first cycle along with an offer and was passed on the 2nd cycle.  By the third cycle I'd been knocked entirely off the considering list by not 1 but 2 schools, each of whom must have sunk AT LEAST 15 or 16 HVs into the guy.  And the team that signed him was from Mass, and I'm in western New York.  He went for big money for D3.

Posted by dahsdebater on 8/3/2011 3:38:00 PM (view original):
KU, people definitely spend money on players like that.  I had a guy with 8 or 9 high potentials and good WE but overall starting rating below 400 ten miles away from me this past recruiting season in Knight.  Unfortunately I only had 1 open scholly.  I sent him 8 or 10 HVs in the first cycle along with an offer and was passed on the 2nd cycle.  By the third cycle I'd been knocked entirely off the considering list by not 1 but 2 schools, each of whom must have sunk AT LEAST 15 or 16 HVs into the guy.  And the team that signed him was from Mass, and I'm in western New York.  He went for big money for D3.

He was 482, and he costed a hefty amount to sign. 

482?  I knew you signed him, but I thought his overall was like 39something.  No wonder I got smoked.  Still, at 10 miles it was worth a shot.  Did you have to pull him down?

Posted by dahsdebater on 8/3/2011 3:42:00 PM (view original):
482?  I knew you signed him, but I thought his overall was like 39something.  No wonder I got smoked.  Still, at 10 miles it was worth a shot.  Did you have to pull him down?

no pulldown necessary. I poured effort into him first cycle but he rejected it, so I had to do it again 2nd cycle. Probably would have saved you some cash if he just accepted my efforts 1st cycle. 

Posted by dahsdebater on 8/3/2011 3:42:00 PM (view original):
482?  I knew you signed him, but I thought his overall was like 39something.  No wonder I got smoked.  Still, at 10 miles it was worth a shot.  Did you have to pull him down?

but your point stands. I have gone deep into battle over a 402 rated player because he was high across the board. 

And these kind of players is why I don't like it when coaches complain about recruiting generation. I am seeing quite a few D2 teams with players rated in the 800s and alot of of D3 players rated in the 700s. These guys should be playing at a level above their respective division. Recruiting generation might be flawed (I guess really flawed at D1?) but not looking deep enough into the talent pool is also a major problem.