Michigan Rankings All-Access

<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Introduction</h2>   Our staff at PGH Michigan has had a BLAST providing in-person media and written coverage of tournaments, elite camps, shootouts, showcases, and team camps this spring/summer. We will continue to set the standard for finding as many next-level prospects as possible in our state, providing extensive written and social media coverage to promote our girls. As a result of the hundreds of hours we have spent the past few months evaluating prospects as a team, we will be releasing rankings updates for the 2026, 2027, 2028, and 2029 classes in the coming weeks. This article is a resource to explain the process of how we rank and what to expect from these rankings. Please use the link below to read a more comprehensive explanation of the entire rankings process.   <a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/how-we-rank/">How We Rank Explanation</a>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Rankings Explained</h2>   We were very intentional about covering the prestigious travel tournaments this spring, while also attending smaller independent tournaments that we knew would include independent programs not competing on the elite circuits. Our staff has made an intentional effort to observe as many high school, individual, and travel events as possible. How a player performs against college-level competition is what carries the most weight when evaluating. Height, athleticism, advantages in multiple offensive categories, defensive footwork/ability to guard your projected position, coachability/attitude/work ethic are all taken into account for our rankings. The position assigned to each prospect is where we believe, based on observations during the HS and Grassroots season, that girl is projected to be recruited to play at the college level based on their current skill set. Our rankings reflect what we believe the college level values based on conversations with college coaches and evaluating JUCO, D3, NAIA, D2, and D1 prospects who compete on the court at those levels. We believe that to understand what level a high school player projects to at the next level, we must attend and watch college players currently competing at that level in-game and practice situations: that is exactly what we prioritize doing as we evaluate high school prospects. There are different competitive levels of D1, D2, D3, and JUCO programs in college. Not all levels are equal in skill or performance, similar to grassroots travel programs and high school. When evaluating and ranking prospects, we use a method of rating each prospect as HM+ to MM to LM D1, D2, NAIA+, NAIA/D3, and Reserve/JV. JUCO pulls prospects from all levels because of a variety of factors, and there are D1 and D2 JUCO programs. It's important to know that during this Rating process, our goal is to rank each prospect by the position they will be most effective at in college. By the end of their senior year, we expect to see a D1, D2, D3 commitment progression from the top of our rankings to the end of our rankings. The level where the Majority of offers are from should reflect where we have a prospect ranked and how we have them rated as far as their level. JUCO is an outlier, as explained earlier.   Limitations: Perhaps we have only seen a prospect play one position during the high school or travel season, and therefore do not know about their versatility. This is why we evaluate prospects in as many environments as possible and why observing skill-focused drills is valuable for evaluation. It's possible that some girls have been seen more than others despite our best efforts and, therefore, may have a more complete evaluation. We believe that it is crucial to see a player compete in high school and travel against different levels of competition to form an accurate evaluation. Some girls may not compete in travel; therefore, we prioritize seeing them more during the high school season. Girls who we feel need to be evaluated further to form a complete evaluation or who have not performed at a level to be ranked within the current range being released at this time will be placed on the Watch List.   Rankings Updates: The list of ranked players will grow with each rankings update according to our release calendar, but if a prospect demonstrates traits that show there is no doubt they deserve to be ranked ahead of players currently ranked at their position, they will be immediately added to the ranking. If players want certainty about being evaluated by our staff, we recommend competing in PGH showcases and at our travel circuit tournaments. Participating and attending these events does not guarantee an increase in your ranking; however, it increases the likelihood that you will be seen by our scouts and that our evaluation of your current ability and college projection will be more accurate.   Conclusion: It is important to understand that the overall ranking of prospects is for entertainment and conversational purposes. To say that the best PG prospect in Michigan is less of a college prospect than our top-ranked PF is completely preferential because both prospects are being recruited to play at different positions in college. To a college team loaded with guards, they will value the PF more, and to a forward-heavy team, they will value the PG more. The rankings by position is the best place to understand where a prospect ranks, based on our evaluations, in comparison to those likely to be recruited at that position. Value and fit are up to the college coaches to decide. As a general rule, it is important to understand that at the college level, and this is for EVERY level in college: height, speed, shooting efficiency, defense, physical strength, decision making, etc., are much more demanding than the high school level. This is why I highly recommend attending college scrimmages, practices, and games, because there is a misunderstanding of how difficult it is for a high school prospect to step in and excel at any college level immediately. These factors influence recruitment and are what we recommend emphasizing to increase perspective about the college level. We hope this resource has provided insight into the process, and we are excited for our upcoming rankings releases!