HS Player Rankings and National Championships

Since Rivals began their High School player rankings in 2003, only 2 national champions failed to have at least 1 5-star player. They were the 2006 Florida team with 4 4-star players and no 5-star and the 2019 Virginia team with exactly the same. Every other NC has had at least 1 5-star player. Kentucky in 2012 had 6 5-star players. Below is a table with the National Champions and how many 4 and 5-star players they had.

This season Michigan St. has 9 4-star players and 1 5-star player. Kansas has 7 4-star and 1 5-star players. That certainly bodes well for KU's chances.

Generally, KU has done pretty well with 5-star players. But there have also been some monumental busts. Below is a table with the 24 5-star players KU has had since the rankings began in 2003. Overall, it is my opinion that KU has done much better recruiting 4-star players. We have recruited 28 4-star players and one could argue that those players have been more instrumental for KU's success than the 5-star players. In my subjective scoring system, the 4-star players have average a total score of 6.5 put of 10 whereas the 5-star players have average 5.8 out of 10. That score includes a longevity factor and is admittedly, completely subjective. I am very excited about the fact that we are loaded with 4-star talent on this team.

As for sime fun facts, below is a table of all schools and the number of 3,4 and 5-star recruits since 2003. Chicago, IL leads all cities with 36 4 and 5-star recruits but just barely over Houston with 34. Findlay Prep in Henderson NV has produced 28 but Oak Hill has the most of any school at 36 followed by Brewster Academy at 33. Of the 1815 total 4 and 5-star recruits, the top 10 universities get about 25% and the top 25 universities get about 50%. Kansas has grabbed 51 which ranks third and surprisingly, Texas ranks 4th. Of the 170 top 10 ranked players, Kentucky has 24 or about 17%. Duke is second with 20, UNC third at 11 and KU 4th with 10. That means KU gets just more than 1 top 10 player ever other year. Since 2009. Kentucky has gotten 22 of 110 and Duke 16. That accounts for 38 of 110 or 35% to those two teams. KU has landed about 1 per year on average in the last 10 years.

Hey Corpus, great info, as always.

Just was curious of the what the number in the "Index" column means (on the left side of the KU player table).Would you mind providing a brief explanation?

Hey Port. Whenever I build a database of any kind, as a matter of course, I insert an index column in column A which is simply a counter (or index). That is just a habit so I can always have some way to sort the database to it’s original or unique sort. Pretty benign.