This has been a very interesting discussion regarding the Rick Bolus Rankings...GC Pioneer it makes you think really seriously about doing what I asked you to do doesnt it?
Seriously though, my experience with Rick Bolus is that his top 24 are usually pretty accurate and then after that it gets a little suspect as far as ranking. Parents and players should approach it as follows:
If you are on the list then it is an honor. It means you are probably a pretty good player.It is not a guarantee that college coaches really consider that you are a top 25 player, top 50, etc. It is not even really a guarantee that you are good enough to play college basketball at any level...
If you are not on the list then that is fine too! I know of a handful Low/Mid NCAA Div 1/High NAIA--Top 25/High DII caliber players who are not anywhere in the top 100 and I know that they are definitely in the top 50 players in the state!
I do want to defend Rick here though. Some of you have touched on this. There is no way that he sees everyone in the state. He does depend on information being fed to him and seeing players play in his camp does obviously give him the chance to evaluate players first hand. However, I think it is unfair to downgrade the importance of this list as a recruiting service and there really is not anything political going on.He may just not have been told about a kid, may have caught them on a rough night, etc. Also, if a college coach is recruiting a kid and they are flying under the radar, do you think they call Rick Bolus to make sure that he gets her on the top 100 list?
The Rick Bolus list does serve a a reference for most coaches. However, I dont think anyone is going to depend solely on any one recruiting service or list when recruiting.
I hope this answers some questions about this particular list. It is valid but certainly not perfect.