The state of North Carolina is ninth in the country in total population with an estimated 10.27 million people per the national census in 2017. The state of North Carolina also carries the 4th most Division 1 basketball programs in the country with 18 total in the state.
In the 2018 NCAA Tournament, the best of the best among college basketball programs, the state of North Carolina sent six (6) schools to the field of 68. This was second only to the state of Texas, who sent seven (7). A recent study put out by the NCAA, which measured the states with the highest percentage of high school boys basketball players recruited by a Division 1 school (number of D1 recruits divided by number of high school basketball players per state), North Carolina had the second most players at 3.6% in the country.
Going back to the 2018 NCAA Tournament, North Carolina produced 47 players who have already played minutes in the event. 25 of these 47 players started for their teams. National Recruiting Analyst Rick Lewis did a study over the previous five (5) years, and he found there are 45 players coming out of North Carolina (per class) at the Division 1 level. Four of the top 15 scorers in NCAA basketball this season played their senior seasons in North Carolina (five if you count Jon Elmore who spent his sophomore and junior seasons in NC).
Of course anyone is able to just flat out say, their state is the best. However, we wanted to start this writing off with concrete evidence that North Carolina produces more talent that anyone else and that talent goes on to college and wins and produces all the while playing at a high (if not the highest) level.
Surprisingly enough, North Carolina is saturated with scouts. Heck the person who really moved the mixtape era to the forefront, Webb Wellman (also made popular the phrase Hoop State) is from North Carolina. He has had major entities such has Elite Mixtapes and Bucket Reel to follow suit in the mix tape culture. There are seven (7) total shoe sponsored teams from North Carolina. By comparison, surrounding states South Carolina has one (1), Virginia has two (2), Tennessee has four (4). To say there is a national spotlight on kids from this state may even be an understatement.
However, the college coaches obviously know about the fertile grounds of recruiting the Hoop State. Yet, even when looking at the five of the NCAA leading scorers who played some high school basketball in North Carolina, none of them were ranked among the top in the country. While proven, the state is still under thought of, especially by the “national scouts”.
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