Posted by cburton23 on 11/20/2011 11:44:00 PM (view original):
At the school I work at we have sent 3 kids to DIII schools in the last 5 years. Only one of them was even all conference in high school. They were good players but nothing special

"Nothing special" is relative.  I'm not saying these guys are incredible players, just that they could walk into most YMCAs and often be the best players in the gym.  I suppose it depends on the D3 team/geographic area.  But yeah, I've seen some bad D3 players, but those guys don't get any time.

I played in a reasonably competitive league last year. We had a kid on our team who played D3, and he was (by pretty far) the best player in the league. That may not be definitive, but I do think just about any D3 player would walk into an open gym and be the best player, in the absence of other college players.

It sounds like your experiences with D3/D2 guys are far different than mine.  I played football competitively after HS and ended up playing against quite a few levels, ranging from D3 guys up to players that made NFL practice squads.  The physical difference between them and I was nothing.  As a matter of fact, at 6'4, 230, I put down a 4.5 40 and had significantly better skills than the D3/D2 guys.  In terms of basketball, I played in numerous leagues and tournaments with players that played at schools as high as Dayton / Miami, Oh / Wright State / Cincinnati.  From a physical standpoint, I was NEVER intimidated or overwhelmed, unless then had a significant size advantage.  From an ath/spd standpoint, I was on par or better than most.  The advantage that they had was teamwork / skill set (BH/Passing/intelligent positioning).  AAMOF, we had a team of guys that had no experience in basketball beyond HS, that took our local league over a squad led by recent (at the time) UD standout and former WSU player.  If you've played against this level of talent in either sport, you KNOW that it's not a huge physical advantage. 

I don't really think your point stands.  If you are 6'4", 230, can run like a fast NFL linebacker, and have "significantly" better skills than D2/D3 basketball players, you should have been a professional athlete. 

I'm not doubting that anything you're saying is true, but I don't think you can say "I'm a phenomenal athlete with incredible size and speed who holds his own against D1 basketball players" and then turn around and say that D2/D3 players aren't that good because you're awesome.