I looked at RSCI Top 100 point guards for the past seven years on Sunday. I had so much fun taking a high level look at what was going on I decided to run the numbers for the rest of the positions that are used to classify recruits. Centers are always an interesting case. A lot of players you might think of as a power forward get classified as a center, but this group also includes players like Greg Oden and Dwight Howard. For the sake of complete analysis I’ve included the incoming 2012 class into the data now as well.
There a 138 centers (an average of 17 per season) in the Top 100. Many of these guys got there because they were abnormally tall. Where did they go to school? Are they really that tall? What years were the best? Let’s look at it.
Top 100 Centers by School (2004-2012):
- Kentucky – 7
- NBA – 6
- Arizona – 5
- Ohio State – 5
- Texas – 5
- Baylor – 4
- Duke – 4
- Pittsburgh – 4
- Wake Forest – 4
- Georgia Tech – 4
- North Carolina – 4
- Syracuse – 4
The seven Kentucky centers are: Daniel Orton, DeMarcus Cousins, Jared Carter, Nerlens Noel, Perry Stevenson, Randolph Morris and Willie Cauley. Not a great hit rate there, although it doesn’t include Anthony Davis, who apparently was a power forward. None of the other schools on this list are a surprise. We’re talking about BCS conference schools with a rich history for the most part. The NBA cleaned up pretty well in terms of big men before the league instituted its age restriction.
Top 100 Centers by Class (2004-2012):
- 2004 – 16
- 2005 – 11
- 2006 – 19
- 2007 – 14
- 2008 – 19
- 2009 – 15
- 2010 – 14
- 2011 – 13
- 2012 – 17
Considering the average is 17, centers are pretty evenly distributed in terms of class. That’s probably because teams always need height. So they’re never going to fail to find a couple guys that are 6’9″ or taller and stick them in a recruiting class. The people who do the rankings know that, so they’re ranked accordingly and you get this nice feedback loop. It could also be related to the fact that when in doubt services rank height. There were 19 recruits in the 90-100 range, which was the most of any bracket, tying 1-10. The next highest was right in the middle, 50-59, with 17.
Top 100 Centers by Height (2004-2012):
- 6’8″ – 22
- 6’9″ – 41
- 6’10” – 30
- 6’11” – 26
- 7’0″ – 12
- 7’1″ – 5
- 7’2″ – 2
It appears by the time you’ve reached 6’9″ though you’re solidly in center territory. The two 7’2″ centers were Hasheem Thabeet and John Riek. Notable 6’8″ centers include Dallas Lauderdale, Jared Sullinger, Luke Harangody, Rick Jackson and Samardo Samuels.
Nothing too revelational here in this group. If you’re a really talented center you’re going to go play at a big name school, be between 6’9″ and 6’11” tall. You could be in any class! Judging by all these factors I think that the most random Top 100 center recruit over the past eight years would have to be Akron’s Zeke Marshall. The 7’0″ center was ranked #60 by RSCI in 2009. What’s more impressive is that Marshall stuck it out, unlike another oddball, Aaric Murray, who transfered from LaSalle to Colorado.
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