A 12 months after 4 conventional school basketball powers gathered for the Last 4 with every bringing their very own assortment of former top-100 prospects and at the least one former McDonald’s All-American, the distinction couldn’t be extra placing in 2023. Between No. 4 seed UConn, No. 5 seed Miami, No. 5 seed San Diego State and No. 9 seed FAU, there may be not a single former McDonald’s All-American who might be suiting up in Houston this weekend for the nationwide semifinals.
It marks the primary time that is occurred for the reason that NCAA started seeding the match in 1979, and it is only one approach to outline the under-the-radar group of gamers who might be competing on the game’s grandest stage for a nationwide title. The very best rating any of the rotation gamers on this season’s Last 4 acquired as a highschool prospect within the 247Sports Composite was Jordan Hawkins‘ No. 51 rating within the Class of 2021. The UConn taking pictures guard is one in all simply eight former top-100 prospects receiving common taking part in time on a Last 4 staff this season, and 6 of them play for the Huskies.
By comparability, all 5 of Duke’s starters in final 12 months’s Last 4 have been ranked higher of their respective recruiting courses than even probably the most extremely touted participant on this 12 months’s Last 4. Actually, there are extra rotation gamers who have been unranked as highschool prospects within the 2023 Last 4 (12) than gamers who have been thought-about top-100 prospects.
“What’s separated them is their work ethic and their drive to achieve success,” FAU coach Dusty Might mentioned final week of his staff, which options no former top-100 prospects. “And possibly being just a little bit beneath recruited, it contributes to that. Nevertheless it’s only a actually particular group the place they like one another, they compete towards one another prefer it’s life and demise, after which they’re within the locker room hanging out for a number of hours. So it is a actually distinctive mix of personalities and characters, however the one commonality is they seem to be a very aggressive and hardworking group.”
Here’s a have a look at how every 2023 Last 4 staff’s rotation gamers ranked as highschool prospects within the 247Sports Composite. None have been thought-about five-star prospects.
No. 4 seed UConn
Common rating: 152.5
Unranked gamers: 1
Starters
Bench
No. 5 seed Miami
Common rating: 120.8
Unranked gamers: 2
Starters
Bench
No. 5 seed San Diego State
Common rating: 232.5
Unranked gamers: 3
Starters
Bench
No. 9 seed FAU
Common rating: 261
Unranked gamers: 6
Starters
Bench