Donovan Mitchell 6-3 SG '15 - Offered

[AZ Shocker]

Would have been a huge get it appears...

Donovan Mitchell moved up on both rankings more than anyone in the class. The 6’4″ guard from Brewster Academy went from a 3-star to a 5-star prospect. Scout.com now has him as the 20th-best player and 247Sports.com has him as 28th-best player in the class.

Evan Daniels of Scout.com said of Mitchell’s jump in rankings:

The highest rated newcomer and biggest riser in the new batch of rankings was Donovan Mitchell. The 6-foot-3 strongly built guard went from unranked to No. 20 overall in the 2015 class. An impressive athlete, Mitchell is tough, physical, defends the ball well and showcased an improved jump shot this summer.

This is a another GREAT example how a kid gets a couple more STARS next to his name when signing with a blueblood at University of Pitino. I'm sure he has improved and risen to be a 5-star. That's cool and all and good for the young man....but certainly signing at Pitino St. helps add a couple/few more stars.

Won't it be cool when Gregg and the Shocker program starts getting that level of respect when we sign some of our 2 and 3 star kids!!!!
Maybe in the not too distant future we'll see a couple 2-3 star kids sign on with Coach Marshall.....and instantly those kids go up a star or two simply by signing on to play ball at good ole' Wichita St.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To me...that shows another level for the program!!!!!

[wu_shizzle]

Signing with Louisville has nothing to do with this kid's ranking:

Starts at 3:07

[WstateU]

Signing with Louisville has nothing to do with this kid's ranking:

Starts at 3:07

That dunk was near 'Tekele' like... damnnnnnn!

[pinstripers]

No question whatsoever that committing to Louisville adds a star or two.

[wu_shizzle]

No question whatsoever that committing to Louisville adds a star or two.

I don't know why this myth continues, Donovan Mitchell was going to be a 4* - 5* recruit if he committed now or next Spring.

[Dave Stalwart]

I don't know why this myth continues, Donovan Mitchell was going to be a 4* - 5* recruit if he committed now or next Spring.

Unless he committed to UMKC. I think it does change perception a little, depending on the player.

[wu_shizzle]

Unless he committed to UMKC. I think it does change perception a little, depending on the player.

We can agree to disagree.

The comments from the summer AAU tournaments were that he was playing as well as anyone in his class and was going to be ranked in the top 50 to 100.

[The Mad Hatter]

I would argue that players who sign with a big name school having their stock go up can be attributed to one of two things:

1. A correlation/causation issue wherein signing with the big name school correlates with a rise in star rating, but is not caused by it. Instead, both the extentsion of an offer (and acceptance of it by the student) and the increased profile are caused by a third factor, namely an outstanding performance over a summer that both the offering school and independent scounts notice.

or

2. A player that is under the radar, perhaps because they do not play much AAU ball, is scouted and signed by a big name school. In turn, this causes the media to take note of this player in a way they hadn't previously and upon doing further scouting may see what the big name school saw. That same player signing with a less "brand name" school could not get the stars/ranking, not because the scouts would evaluate him any differently, but because they might not evaluate him at all.

In either case, the ranking the player gets after signing with the big name school is likely deserved, however, there may be plenty of other players out there who sign with schools the media pay less attention to (e.g. Ron Baker) who are equally deserving, but just don't get noticed. Had Ron signed with Kentucky, I can guarantee that his recruiting profile would have seen a bump, not because he didn't deserve it, but because the Kentucky name would force scouts to go out of their way to watch him.

[wufan]

I would argue that players who sign with a big name school having their stock go up can be attributed to one of two things:

1. A correlation/causation issue wherein signing with the big name school correlates with a rise in star rating, but is not caused by it. Instead, both the extentsion of an offer (and acceptance of it by the student) and the increased profile are caused by a third factor, namely an outstanding performance over a summer that both the offering school and independent scounts notice.

or

2. A player that is under the radar, perhaps because they do not play much AAU ball, is scouted and signed by a big name school. In turn, this causes the media to take note of this player in a way they hadn't previously and upon doing further scouting may see what the big name school saw. That same player signing with a less "brand name" school could not get the stars/ranking, not because the scouts would evaluate him any differently, but because they might not evaluate him at all.

In either case, the ranking the player gets after signing with the big name school is likely deserved, however, there may be plenty of other players out there who sign with schools the media pay less attention to (e.g. Ron Baker) who are equally deserving, but just don't get noticed. Had Ron signed with Kentucky, I can guarantee that his recruiting profile would have seen a bump, not because he didn't deserve it, but because the Kentucky name would force scouts to go out of their way to watch him.

Exceptional response!

[Dave Stalwart]

Exceptional response!

Agreed. That pretty much sums it up