These are professionals. You have to believe they see things that us parents do not. These verbals seem to be an ACC/Hop thing. I wonder if Maryland will still feel the pressure to verbal early once they move to the Big 10. Impossible to have the answers until these Boys get to College.
How come the IL verball list hasnt been updated in weeks?
At one interview; my son asked the head coach; why do you think that I'm a good enough player to choose so early?
The coach's answer was straight forward. He said, " this my job, my profession. This is what I get paid to do. It is not a hobby. I use my knowledge and experience to "see" who has what I need in a player in order for them to ultimately contribute to our team".
Here is how it typically went in the recruiting my son went through at a few schools:
The coaches (head and assistants) all are at different events the previous summer and see individual players and talent. They get together and confer on who they want to look at as a group. Those players then get "invited" to prospect camps that are supposed to be open to the public but are somehow typically limited to 45-60 blue chip players. Then all of the coaches can see the players as a group. These players are then reevaluated and are culled once again. The third look visit is when it starts to get interesting and the coaches then relay to the player and their parents what their goals are and that they are considering that player as a potential commitment player. From there it gets rolling really fast and "slots" are offered or not. It can be pretty heady and intimidating yet also very flattering.
The vetting process also included review of current academic class load and the previous year of grades. Assuredly they are a poor litmus for future success; but these guys seem to "know the ropes". A clandestine review of social media sites was also researched at a couple of interviews and it was related that his media profile is not seen in a negative context (get your kids off of Facebook, my space, twitter, etc !! They look at these areas for character development and or flaws. Make sure you know who is writing what that might be seen in a bad connotation. Get you kid away from that stuff ASAP)
So it's not just genetics and field performance that is being reviewed. Far from it. These guys do know what they are doing and it is very systematic so I don't see it as playing poker in their eyes. They are stacking the deck in their favor by doing their due diligence.
