{"id":261796,"date":"2022-05-23T16:59:55","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T23:59:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bilcomprd.wpengine.com\/?p=261796"},"modified":"2023-05-30T10:59:27","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T17:59:27","slug":"player-rankings-past-present-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ballislife.com\/player-rankings-past-present-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Player Rankings: Past, Present, Future!"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Episode 131 of the \"In The Paint\" Show (LISTEN HERE<\/a>, WATCH BELOW), hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana and Chelsea Hopkins break down national player rankings, an important topic and critical component of the grassroots basketball ecosystem since the 1970s, with three special guests: Clark Francis (Hoop Scoop), Paul Biancardi (ESPN) and Ian Jackson<\/a> (Cardinal Hayes, Bronx, N.Y.).<\/strong><\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> \u00a0\"In The Paint\" Podcast (Spotify)\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0| Ballislife Podcast Network (YouTube)<\/a>\u00a0| ITP Episode 131 (Spotify)<\/a> | \u00a0ITP Episode 131 (YouTube)<\/a>\u00a0| Ballislife Player Profiles<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first national scouting service was created in 1957 by the late Dave Bones<\/strong> and called the Cage Scope<\/em>. The late Bill Cronauer<\/strong> (who passed in August of 2021) started his B\/C Scouting Service<\/em> in 1968 (on the recommendation and encouragement of college coach and tireless recruiting savant George Raveling<\/strong>)\u00a0and was the first scout credited with traveling the country to evaluate prospects. The modern 5-star recruiting system was introduced by New York-based Howie Garfinkel<\/strong>, who began in 1963-64 and created his 5-Star Camp<\/em> in August of 1966. Because of his work in scouting and his contributions to the game through his 5-Star Camps, \"Garf\" was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame<\/em> in 2021, five years after his death in May 2016 at 86.<\/p>\n

Cronauer released player rankings throughout the 1970s and in 1979, Bob Gibbons<\/strong> of Lenoir, N.C., put a number next to each prospect. Clark Francis<\/strong> of the Hoop Scoop<\/a> first put player rankings out in 1983 and he and Gibbons' All-Star Sports<\/em> rankings were well publicized and widely distributed throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Gibbons was the chairman for the selection committee for the NIKE Camp<\/em> for 10 years (1985-1995) and for the NBPA Top 100 Camp<\/em> when it started in 1994. If a player came out of Nike Camp as the top player, many considered him the No. 1 player in the country, which leads us to 2022 and Nick Smith<\/strong><\/a> of North Little Rock (Ark.).<\/p>\n