Coaches, this might be something you’d like to text your players or even parents.

Players, this is important for you to consider!

One of the struggles of life is that we get tempted to put the shiny things of life over the more meaningful things of life. Shiny things aren’t bad, but they become dangerous when we value them over the more meaningful things of life.

In recruiting, it can be a challenge for a recruit to place the more meaningful things of a college basketball experience over the shiny things. This article is written for recruits to encourage them and remind them to put their priorities in proper place!

Any college coach wants the best gear, best facilities, best shoes, best logo, and best brand. This is a good thing and it is how things should be for any competitive college program. The best facilities and gear are not only a recruiting advantage, but they also can truly make a difference in an athlete’s development. For example, a school with a gym dedicated only to the men’s team or women’s team will provide more access for players. It’s important to have 24/7 gym access. However, some items like shoes or gear are nice, but they aren’t as meaningful as other parts of recruitment. What are the more important, more meaningful things in recruiting?

First are the relationships. No shoe or locker room design will make your college experience amazing if you have only negative or draining relationships on your team. Relationships with players, relationships with coaches, and relationships with any other people involved with the program are way more important in deciding what school to attend than a locker room.

Second is the long-term advantage of choosing a school. Which school emphasizes how your experience at their school will impact and help you for the decades after your life? Are you being recruited as a player, or are you being recruited as a young man or woman who also plays basketball? Being a real human being is more meaningful than being a basketball player. To have the greatest college basketball experience, I personally would suggest valuing the staffs that value you as a person.

Third is the truth that the experience of current players on the team need to be considered as much as what you are told from a staff. I saw a tweet recently that read something like, “Recruits! If you were promised a lot of minutes going into your freshman year, just think about what the other 11 players were promised!” The point of that tweet was to be careful when you get promises. If a coach can promise you something, they can promise other players things. Promises are hard to keep and unfulfilled promises make a lot of players miserable their freshman year. Instead of valuing promises too much, ask current players on the team if they were promised things and how that worked out. If players were honestly recruited and were given an honest chance to come in and earn minutes, then that is the way to do it. Value those situations as much any promises. Lastly, an honest coach will tell you that you will be given an opportunity to earn minutes. Are there some circumstances where a recruit will clearly come in and play a lot of minutes immediately? Yes, there are. But, they are rare. For the most part, I would value a coaching staff that promises a fair opportunity to earn minutes than a staff who is straight up promising 40 minutes a game. This piece of advice has the potential to save a lot of families trouble.

Fourth is to go somewhere that will you play! The most rewarding and enjoyable aspect of playing college basketball is PLAYING BASKETBALL! More important than your level of college basketball is if you actually get to play. Analyze the roster, see how many kids are coming in and returning at your position. If you don’t mind being a backup or redshirting, that’s fine, but you want to go to a program where you will have a good chance to play a lot of minutes at some point in your career as opposed to sitting on the bench for 4-5 years.

The last point is that the quality of the program you play for is more important in your experience than the level of play is. There are a lot of extremely happy players at the D2 or D3 levels. At the same time, there are some miserable D1 players. There are also some extremely happy D1 players. There are also some miserable D2 players. Level is “shiny” in my opinion for most recruits. Of course, if you’re a professional talent, then you go to the highest school. I get that. But for kids who are at-most a college level player, prioritize a school where you’ll play, win, have great relationships, and be helped for the rest of your life.  This might happen at a high level or might happen at a lower level. Be sure to consider those things more than level to choose the best school for you.

If you’d like to learn more on how to maximize your opportunities in recruiting, check out Coach Mason’s new book, “Recruited in Basketball: The Go-To Guide on Earning and Choosing the Best College Basketball Scholarship”.

Coach Mason Waters has served with Phenom Hoop Report in the past and recently completed his first season as a NCAA Division 2 assistant coach.