The recruiting game seems to change by the minute these days. One second a kid is hot and the next second there not. The portal and the final year of the 5th year player has a lot to do with this. But there is another reason. It has to do with kids and mostly parents, worrying more about hype than game and development.
I believe social media is important way for a kid to build name recognition. I also believe name recognition is the key to jump starting a players recruitment. But there is something that must come along with name recognition, PERFORMANCE. These days I am noticing more and more kids with lots of brand name recognition and hype who are not delivering on the court. There is a reason for this. In most cases they are surrounded by people trying to protect there image. These are the people who believe every move a kid should make, should be based on hype and rankings. The result and end is usually the same. I challenge you to name a successful player in college that spent most of there high school career on social media bragging about offers and rankings that had a good college career…I’m listening👂and I will stay listening. That’s because the hype, bragging and overdosing on fake ranking is the Mirage created by kids, there inner circle, parents and own insecurity that always leds to it all coming crashing down in the end. That’s when all the reasons are created why a kid ends up at a certain school or why they end up in the portal or have lackluster college careers. There is no secret to all this, it starts with kids not understanding there development is more important than exposure and hype. That stuff comes with performances. It’s not created and manufactured. Some kids and families year after year learn this the hard way.
Today few kids truly are in the gym regularly competing. Now kids are famous for two things. Picking the spots where everything is set up for them to look good. They come with a personal cheering section and are constantly getting drilled out. It no longer shocks me when I see a so called star or future star with same weakness as a year ago. It amazes me when people crown players who clearly are not performing consistently. When a kid for example comes to NBS we dont care about there repuation and hype. We care about performance. Its why its not a place for everyone. But thats not the way it is everywhere these days. It’s risky business for a AAU or high school coach to tell a kid the truth. Because once you do. That talented kid may head for the door. They say things like “Your not in my corner”..” you think Mary is better” ..”I don’t feel like one of “YOUR KIDS”. Now none of these things have anything to do with a child’s development. These are all the things that are ego driven and 99% of the time its a parental issue. You see now it’s about joining the team at all cost these days , even if it means lying to kids.
This year I watched as the media and bloggers gave awards out to kids. Now most of these people have never coached or have the slightest idea of who the best players are. They simply listening to others or are hyping or pushing their own agenda. I had a parent of a kid who did not win an award chosen by me, who was upset. He told me it was ok his daughter didn’t win because other outlets picked her. So its all opinion and I can push what players I want. Now the fact of the matter is his daughter was not even the 2nd choice for the award. Now to be honest everyone opinions do matter. But I have a sneaky suspicion mind may carry just a little more weight. But this was a classic example of why kids who are talented players believe they are special these days. It’s also why some kids today are also not fulfilling there talent or dreams. They and there parents believe the hype. The inner circle is just along for the ride telling what they want to hear. Take a look at twitter each morning. Now ask yourself why are kids posting there phony offers on twitter? It’s for three reasons, First, they hope other college coaches will notice, Secondly, they want to brag and finally EGO. They want other kids to feel they are better and more in demand than they are. In the end, you must understand their hype never matches up to their talent, it never does. I have too many examples to list to prove my case. Because the truly great ones don’t need hype or there inner circle constantly making a pitch about there greatness. We already know there great by there performances on the biggest stages and moments.
MAKAYLA BLAKES is the best player in the state. Her greatness is in her performance. “NOT HYPE”. It’s the reason she is one of the best players in the country. She doesn’t need validation on social media. Addy Nyemchek is the best freshman in the state because of her performances. “NOT HYPE”. Madison St. Rose was the best player in New Jersey history because of her performance, not because of “HYPE” Soon like every year, players will learn hype is about ego. Game is about performance. We need more kids with GAME and we need it fast!
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— Coach Tiny Green (@TinyGreenNBS) April 26, 2023
