With three of the rankings services releasing its Top 100 selections for 2010, I have decided to put the choices side by side. Also included the well respected Dan Olsen Report. The Olsen Report is highlighted in red. The Olsen Report ranks up to 300 players so his report includes more San Antonio area players. Included in these comparisons are past SA college players so you can decide how you feel about the rankings.
Player-Year /ESPN/ Olsen /ASGR/ BS
Arielle Roberson’11/ NA /#162-20 /NR /#78
Erica Donovan ‘11/ NR-90 /#125-20 /NR/ #95
Alexis Govan ‘11/ NA /#300-20- /NR /NR
Sune Agbuke’11 /NR-90/ #61-21- /#97 /#83
CeCe Harper ’10 /NR-90 /#305-20-/ NR /NR
Len’Nique Brown ’10/ NR-86 /#238-20-/ NR/ NR
Lyndsey Cloman’09/ ?/ #127-20+/ NR /NR
Meighan Simmons ‘10 /#24-95 /#8-25 /#14 /#11
Monica Engleman ‘09 /? /#245-20- /NR/ NR
Danielle Blagg ‘11/ NR-90/ NR-19 /NR /NR
Ebony Watkins '11 /NR-90 /NR-19 /NR/ NR
Asha Hampton-Finch /NR-85 /?/ NR/NR
Reports- ESPN, Olsen(Dan Olsen), ASGR(All-Star Girls Report), BS(Blue Star)
*NR- Not Ranked
*N/A- Not Listed(No Profile)
The Olsen Report ranks players and assigns them a number. For Example, Meighan Simmons was ranked #8 and received a rating of 25. Here are some observations of local players in the Dan Olsen Report:
-Alexis Govan(20-) is rated as high as CeCe Harper(Kansas) and Len'Nique Brown(USC). Arielle Roberson(20) and Erica Donovan(20) are rated higher than both Harper and Brown. Most SA basketball enthusiasts believe that the 2011 class is thinner than the 2010 in terms of overall talent. Dan Olsen obviously disagrees.
- Sune Agbuke is rated(21) and ranked higher(#61) than any other player in recent San Antonio history except Meighan Simmons.
- Compared to the ShesBallin Rankings, the Olsen Report is in agreement in regards to the Top 3 players. ShesBallin has Sune #1(#61), Donovan #2(#125), and Arielle #3(#162). However, Olsen has Govan ahead of Blagg.
The Blue Star Report is ran by the very well respected Mike Flynn. Flynn is a BOSS in the girls game. Here are a couple of observations and interesting notes with his rankings:
- Mike Flynn has numerous teams under his Blue Star banner. One of them is TeamXpress. Flynn is a major player on the Nike Circuit. In fact, while NO team under his banner is an official Nike team except his Philly Belles Club, the clubs under his banner can claim Nike because of his important standing on the national scene. To see which 23 teams are officially Nike teams, view Blue Star's site.
- The Blue Star associated kids tend to be ranked higher in its rankings than others publications. For instance, Nneka Enemkpali(TeamXpress/Texas commit) is ranked #25 by Blue Star. ESPN has her ranked #32 and ASGR has her ranked #52.
-Arielle Roberson Blue Star ranking is almost 100 spots above her Olsen Ranking. Blue Star has her ranked # 78 while Olsen has her ranked #162. This highlights the disparity in the "experts" opinions.
ESPN Hoopgurlz has Ebony Watkins rated as a 90. They have Len'Nique Brown rated as 86. I am a huge fan of both of the Wagner guards however I find it hard to believe that Watkins is that much better than Brown. In fact, I would venture to say that very few people would say that Watkins is better than Brown, period. Hoopgurlz attempts to project effectiveness on the next level. They apparently feel that the bigger Watkins will have more of an impact at the D1 level than Brown. Time will tell.
