Last week an article by Newsweek.com explored the world of high school basketball team rankings and particularly what Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.) is and why it’s ranked in various national polls. We take a deeper look at the program and what makes a team eligible for the Student Sports FAB 50.
Last week Newsweek.com published an article titled “Findlay Prep: A Top High School Basketball Team, With No School,” an expose into national high school basketball rankings and how national rankings compilers, including Student Sports, find it justifiable to include Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.), a basketball academy-type program whose roster all attend the Henderson International School in Henderson, Nev.
From our vantage point, the purpose of the article was to examine the fairness of Findlay Prep in national rankings alongside other public and parochial high schools across the United States and, for those that perhaps don’t closely follow the national high school basketball scene, to realize the innocence of high school basketball and the dream for a neighborhood team to win a state title and earn a national high school ranking is essentially dead.
As life-long followers of high school basketball and publishers of the deepest and most comprehensive set of national rankings in the industry, we wanted to let our readers be aware of the established guidelines in order for teams to be eligible for the Student Sports FAB 50. These guidelines have been in place for many years and are readily available on our website to coaches and fans.
* It goes without saying we do not rank teams with players on the roster that have completed eight semesters of high school i.e. 5th-year players. We do our best to ensure programs with players that fall under this category are not included.
* We do not rank programs that don’t follow age cutoff guidelines of the state association in which the program resides or the recommended date outlined by the NFHS (19 before September 1).
* Programs also must be recognized by a high school athletics governing body or be an associate member of a state association. Generally, programs must be allowed to play members schools of the state association in which the program resides and, outside of recruiting, follow all other rules of the high school governing body in that particular state.
In regards to the Newsweek.com article and Findlay Prep, we wanted to touch on some facts that were either overlooked, inaccurately portrayed or not covered by the article’s author.
*The article states, “Findlay Prep is ineligible to compete within the Nevada state high school system or to play for a state championship.” Findlay Prep is indeed formally recognized by the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association, Nevada’s governing body for high school athletics. The program is allowed to compete against NIAA member schools. In fact, Findlay Prep has been competing against NIAA schools since the 2007-08 season. If Findlay Prep wasn’t formally recognized by a high school athletics governing body, it wouldn’t be eligible for the FAB 50.
* The article mentions the Henderson International School only accepts students for grades one through eight. There is no mention that when Findlay Prep began in conjunction with the Henderson International School, there were high school-aged (9-12) students.
*The article mentions, “institutions such as Oak Hill Academy in West Virginia and Huntington Prep in Virginia, both of which are also perennially ranked in the Top 10, have been prep mainstays for decades.” While it’s true Oak Hill Academy has been a nationally ranked program for three decades, Huntington Prep (whose roster attends Saint Joseph Central Catholic in Huntington, West Virginia, not in Virginia) has been on the national radar for an even shorter amount of time than Findlay Prep.
Perhaps the above-stated quotes were not the true essence of the article. Perhaps it was to demonstrate that high school basketball is big business and traditional, neighborhood high schools have little to no chance of earning the mythical FAB 50 national title or a high ranking.
That is a misnomer.
The truth of the matter is Findlay Prep has lost sanctioned games to public high schools. Since the 2008-09 season, when the program was first eligible for the Student Sports FAB 50, the Pilots have finished as the No. 1 ranked team in the FAB 50 once.
There is still ample opportunity for traditional high schools to win state championships and earn high national rankings — even in Nevada. The Findlay Prep roster doesn’t include any players from another high school in Nevada. The rosters of high schools in Henderson, Las Vegas and the surrounding communities still have the same shot at winning a state title and earning a high national ranking, or a Hickory High-Bobby Plump type legend emerging, if Findlay Prep wasn’t around.
We aren’t naive and understand the presence of programs such as Montverde Academy, Findlay Prep and Oak Hill Academy means there is less opportunity for traditional high schools to earn a high spot in the FAB 50. On the other hand, our rankings are based on results, so if one team is able to beat a team like Findlay Prep and another loses to them, the team that beat them will be ranked higher than the other two. It’s that simple.
The main goals of StudentSportsBasketball.com is to give every high school-aged player an opportunity to be evaluated and recognized. The same applies to teams with regards to achievement.
One of the main reasons we rank 50 teams, as opposed to 25, is we realize basketball academy-type programs can potentially dominate the top of the national rankings. High school basketball has evolved since national rankings went mainstream in the 1980s and there are more fine teams and players than ever before.
We rank teams based on results, not based on the amount of recruits on the roster or reputation, and ranking 50 teams gives us the best basis to recognize as many good teams as possible that follow the rules and guidelines necessary to be a nationally-ranked program.
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