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When it comes to recruiting, rankings are all the rage. Whether it’s football or basketball, landing top ranked classes can be the difference between a shot at the title or being mired in mediocrity.
The final iteration of rankings for the hoops class of 2019 released earlier this week on both of the most trusted recruiting sites — 247sports and Rivals. Rivals had two Oklahoma State recruits move down and two move up while 247sports moved three down and one up. Keylan Boone was not in the top 150 for either service.
Rivals
The big winners in the Rivals rankings were Avery Anderson and Kalib Boone. Anderson moved up 14 spots to No. 109 in the nation while Boone moved up 17 spots. The two who moved down did not move down significantly. Chris Harris Jr. dropped just two spots to No. 99 and Marcus Watson dropped three spots to No. 93.
With four four-star recruits and a three star recruit, Oklahoma State sits with the No. 21 class in the nation and fourth in the Big 12 behind Texas Tech (No. 12), Oklahoma (No. 16) and Texas (No. 20). TCU finished at No. 27. Kansas currently sits at No. 30 (though they’re not done yet) to give the Big 12 six teams in the top 30 of the nation.
247sports
The 247 rankings differed from Rivals slightly on two prospects and largely on the other two, but graded the class similarly — Oklahoma State finished at No. 22 and 4th in the Big 12.
Watson is down 26 spots in the latest rankings but still sits much higher than his Rivals ranking at No. 77. Similarly, Anderson fell 15 spots but is still higher than his Rivals ranking at No. 102. Chris Harris Jr. rose nine spots to No. 108 and Kalib Boone fell three spots to No. 146.
That’s a lot of numbers so here’s a table to clear things up a little.
Hoops Recruiting Rankings
| Player | Rivals Ranking | 247sports Ranking |
|---|---|---|
| Player | Rivals Ranking | 247sports Ranking |
| Avery Anderson | 109 (up 14) | 102 (down 15) |
| Marcus Watson | 90 (down three) | 77 (down 26) |
| Chris Harris Jr. | 99 (down two) | 108 (up nine) |
| Kalib Boone | 111 (up 17) | 146 (down three) |
| Keylan Boone | NA | NA |
Obviously recruiting rankings aren’t the end-all-be-all in terms of talent. Some guys will out-perform their ranking and some will underperform. But what is unmistakable is that this class is one of the better ones in recent memory. It doesn’t have the Marcus Smart-like top end talent, but it is deeper than most previous classes with four top 120 commits.
And remember, this doesn’t include transfer Jonathan Laurent and OSU still has one open scholarship available, so the class might not be done just yet.
In the words of Mike Boynton, the foundation has been laid.