The Basketball Movement ranks area high school players

February 17, 2021 Wil Harrington

Southwest Missouri currently has a large talent pool of high school boy basketball players. The Basketball Movement is letting you know who is the best.

The Basketball Movement and Rob Yanders are presenting a new ranking list on our site’s front page. Southwest Missouri is currently sporting one of the most talented fields of high school players the area has ever seen. To stay on top of things (and add fuel to these player’s fire), we now have a list of the top-25 high school boys in the area.

Our list is of course subject to change as we see more (or less) out of each of these players. For example, we had to do some editing to move Zach Howell (Springfield Catholic) up the list after his recent scoring and rebounding tear. Cam Liggins (Kickapoo) lost his spot to Collin Ruffin (Nixa) after having to miss time with an injury. You get the idea.

We hope that in addition to keeping basketball enthusiasts informed about the area’s top ballers, this list will motivate players and raise competition to even greater heights.

Remember also to keep up with our Instagram as our media crew captures many of these young men in action. The Basketball Movement is a hub for some of the top athletes around and we are always adding new ways to provide exposure for many hopeful players in our community.

To the players, if you do not see yourself on the list, or if you are on it and think you should be higher - do something about it. Not have your guardian write us an angry letter - we’re saying ball out. Make so much noise on the hardwood that no one can ignore you. We will be watching.

School choice, rankings, and labels

November 4, 2020 Wil Harrington

Player rankings, which schools they play for, and labels assigned to them are all trivial once the game clock starts.

Sports fans are all familiar with player rankings. They happen professionally all the time. College players get ranked as the draft approaches and teams get ranked ahead of the big dance. In high school, top national players get ranked as they near college age.

For those high school players, they are also judged by the number of scholarship offers and the perceived quality of those programs. Many players garner labels such as skinny, shooter, weak defender, low post player, headcase, pass-first, and so on.

How much do all of these judgments and perceptions actually matter? Glad you asked.

The answer is very little. We cannot say “not at all” because that is not true. Scouts have to have labels to do their best at finding top recruits. Schools like Duke and Kentucky have earned the right to be more respected basketball programs than most. However, what really matters is what happens when the ball goes up and the game clock starts.

At The Basketball Movement Invitational that we recently hosted, we had several nationally ranked players such as Anton Brookshire, Tyrese Hunter, and Jordan Nesbitt. As Rob Yanders pointed out in his opening address, we do not care about your rankings or scholarships. The players that belong among the elite must prove it on the court.

Rankings are fun, but at the end of the day, the players that are best equipped to move on to the next level will do so. The physically gifted may get a head start, but hard work is the biggest separator in our eyes when it comes to how we “rank” athletes.

Players, please do your best to not sweat these things. If anything, use it for fuel. It seems that in every pro game, there are impact players being pointed out as being from small schools or undrafted. These recent NBA Finals featured a former Division III athlete in Duncan Robinson.

It does not matter where you come from, but how you intend to get where you are going. Go light it up at a small school. Be the hardest working player in a gym of highly ranked players. Shed your labels and prove you are the player you know you are.

As always, we can help. Hit us up at basketballmovement@yahoo to get with a trainer and make it happen.

Comparing players across eras

May 18, 2020 Wil Harrington

“The Last Dance” documentary about Michael Jordan and the 1998 Chicago Bulls has raised debates about where MJ and other top players rank all-time.

ESPN’s masterful documentary series “The Last Dance” has concluded, leaving many with a hard stance that Michael Jordan is in fact, the G.O.A.T. Naturally, that has also led to many to also rise up in opposition, laying claim that LeBron James or someone else is actually the greatest. Once these debates start, other names wind up stirring into the mix - Russell, Wilt, Magic, Kareem, and so on.

More now than before his passing, Kobe Bryant is making his way into top-3 debates as well. Bryant clearly modeled his game after Jordan and had the ability, determination, and competitive tenacity to pull it off. The two were similar but found themselves in many different circumstances throughout their careers. How can we accurately compare individuals in a team sport that were in varied circumstances, let alone different eras of the sport of basketball?

LeBron James is a competitor, hard worker, and basketball savant. His combination of size, strength, and skill is unprecedented. However, it is known that Jordan and Bryant were MORE competitive than James. Winning matters and LeBron is not on pace to win as Jordan won. So, does winning in the ’90s outweigh being a dominant force in the 2000s?

There are clearly many questions inside these debates. The variables are immense across the history of basketball. Wilt Chamberlain was incredibly gifted and built for the sport of basketball. Wilt averaged 50 points and 25 rebounds in a season. However, the level of competition was undeniably low. Bill Russell was a great defender and teammate and he amassed 11 championships, but his Celtics only played seven other teams and owned a talent monopoly over the league for years. Also, neither Wilt nor Russell had the aid of the three-point line.

Did teams of the past, such as those in Jordan’s championship years really value defense much more than teams of today, or do the teams today just place so much more emphasis on offense than teams of the past?

The game has been evolving over time and each step has been special in its own way. It was fun to watch the Bad Boy Pistons bludgeon opponents. It was fun to watch the recent championship Warriors teams swing the ball and drop impossible long-range bombs.

Comparing players and discussing where the greats rank makes for a fun debate that you can have with almost any basketball fan. That said, it is worth acknowledging that it is actually an impossible task. We will never know how prime Oscar Robinson would perform in 2020. We will never see Jordan and LeBron go head-to-head. We can’t stick Giannis Antetokounmpo in the ’60s.

Debates will rage on, but remember that you are lucky to have seen the basketball players of the past. You are lucky to see today’s players in their primes. You will be lucky to see the next generation of players rise up. We are all witnesses to unique and exciting eras of hoops - that we can all hopefully agree on.

Max Preps top 25 high school teams

February 19, 2018 Wil Harrington

We are going to keep this simple. We have the updated Max Preps top 25 high school teams in the nation - take a look.

There are a couple of newcomers in Max Preps top high school rankings this time. Gonzaga Prep (Spokane Washington) and Plymouth Whitemarsh (Plymouth Meeting, Washington) break into the top 25.

Brandon Roy, formerly an All-Star guard for the Portland Trailblazers has been coaching his head of in Seattle, Washington with Garfield High. He suffered his first loss as a coach, previously having won 51 straight. They still sit at 18 on the list.

The top five teams remain unchanged and look like locks for the GEICO National tournament. Below is the full top 25 list straight from MaxPreps.com

1. (last week 1) Montverde Academy (Fla.), (32-0)

2. (2) Sunrise Christian Academy Elite (Bel Aire, Kan.), (21-2)

3. (3) Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.), (36-1)

4. (4) University (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), (28-1)

5. (5) Bishop Montgomery (Torrance, Calif.), (26-0)

6. (7) Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.), (27-2)

7. (9) Shadow Mountain (Phoenix), (23-1)

8. (10) McEachern (Powder Springs, Ga.), (25-2)

9. (11) Simeon (Chicago), (25-3)

10. (12) Guyer (Denton, Texas), (34-1)

11. (13) Memphis East (Tenn.), (17-3)

12. (14) Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.), (27-4)