I notice one ranking system in this bunch that’s an outlier. Significantly off on his assessment again. For the Olson defenders out there, here is another example of him missing the mark significantly. As I’ve mentioned before I think ASGR and Bluestar are the best out there. Dans assessments don’t seem to take into account future college success. He’s sees flashiness on the court (usually from small PGs) and ranks the player high. A taller player like Nurse (5’11”?) gets pushed down with him because of it.
@WBBfolllwer , with all due, I think it is a bit difficult to make such a sweeping judgment based on one player's rating.
First, on his website, Olson does take into account an element of projected collegiate performance.
Second, it is also impossible to predict how well a player will perform for one coach, as compared to another. Would, for example, Nurse developed as well at Indiana (under then-HC Curt Miller) or Penn State (under then-HC Coquese Washington) --
her other finalists -- as she did at UConn? Perhaps, perhaps not.
Third, in the
UConn Commitments -- Blue Star Report (2012-2019) thread, I posted Mike Flynn/Blue Star's ratings for all UConn commitments/signees from 2012-2019 (excluding transfers). For the HS Class of 2017, Blue Star report had the following player ratings for UConn's class:
RANK | PLAYER | YEAR |
| #1 | Megan Walker | 2017 |
| #8 | Mikayla Coombs | 2017 |
| #10 | Andra Espinoza-Hunter | 2017 |
| #21 | Alexis (Lexi) Gordon | 2017 |
In response to your post about Olson's rating of Kia Nurse, I would submit that perhaps the ratings for Coombs, AEH, and Gordon were too high, whereas Prospects Nation had them significantly lower (and Olson had them lower by a lesser amount).
As an aside, ASGR (All Star Girls Report) also had the players from 2017 rated incredibly high -- and arguably too high for three of the four players)
ASGR Rankings -- UConn Commitments (Class of 2017)
- No. 2 Megan Walker
- No. 4 Mikayla Coombs
- No. 11 Lexi Gordon
- No. 15 Andrea Espinoza-Hunter
***
As an aside, ASGR ranked Evina Westbrook #1 in the HS Class of 2017. Westbrook committed to and played for Tennessee, before transferring to UConn.
t is not an exact science. Obviously, rankings will vary based on player performance, number of times seen/evaluated by the recruiter, whether evaluations were with the high school team at major tournaments (including state championships) or AAU events, etc.
Personally, I like that Olson updates his rankings incredibly frequently, after he has a recent evaluation of the players. It allows for a present sense impression (to borrow a term from the Federal Rules of Evidence), rather than going back months later and trying to compare.
usatodayhss.com
