I'm pretty new to the game and have a question about ratings in DIII. What is considered a good ATH rating for an incoming freshman? Obviously, you want their to be a high potential for improvement in ATH and other categories, but what is a good starting baseline? 

It's more about what he can become, but I will not take a post player who won't develop ATH to at least 40 (bare minimums). I like them to hit 50, but there are exceptions. Don't be afraid to take someone in the 20's if he has high-high potential though.

For guards, I like them to hit 30 in ATH at least.

Long Answer:
Personally, I shoot for 60.  That's really high for D3, I have an established program, and I am a total ATH whore.   I wouldn't beat yourself up not getting that high.

The thing about ATH for post players  is that it is THE most important attribute.   The way I see it, there are only three things you can ask a post player to do:

Rebound (ATH and REB)
Score (ATH and LP)
Defend (ATH, DEF, and BLK)

If you don't have a high ATH, you won't be good at any of them.

With that being said, a 30 ATH guy with 90's in REB and/or LP will be a good scorer and/or REB  but chances are they will only have one 90 so he becomes a one dimensional player.


Short Answer:

As high as possible without giving up to much in other areas.   Forty to fifty is a good bench mark for NT quality teams

My general thought is that for core rating categories (ATH, REB, DEF, BLK, LP for post, SPD, ATH, DEF, BH, P/PER for guards) the goal for a "good" player is 60/70/80 for D3/D2/D1 respectively. That's not to say that a player has to reach that target in all of those core areas. As Trentonjoe mentioned, players tend to fill roles rather than be complete players, especially at D3. So if you need a guy to be a solid post defender it would be good for him to have 60+ in ATH, DEF, and possibly BLK. Guys can certainly be good without hitting 60 in some areas if they make up for it in others, but that's just a general target number I like to shoot for.

If you calculate potentials for all recruits (such as using a yatzr or excel) i would recommend just getting the best players you can get, per your calculated potentials. Setting a 'target' could only hurt you if you have all the numbers crunched already.

If you sift through recruits using just the eye test, shoot for core values like plow and tj are talking about.