Last year is in the books and 2013 recruiting is nearly finalized. Rivals, Scout and ESPN have all updated their recruiting rankings for the class of 2013, so we took the time to update our Class of 2013 Big Ten Recruiting Rankings.
| Rank | School | # Commits | Rivals Avg. | Scout Avg. | ESPN Avg. | Rankings Avg. | Class Ave. Score | Class Cum. Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indiana | 6 | 3.83 | 3.83 | 3.83 | 3.83 | 134.82 | 1580 | |
| 2 | Illinois | 5 | 3.60 | 3.40 | 3.60 | 3.53 | 114.42 | 1275 | |
| 3 | Michigan | 3 | 4.33 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 4.11 | 105.60 | 845 | |
| 4 | Purdue | 3 | 4.00 | 3.67 | 3.33 | 3.67 | 92.64 | 785 | |
| 5 | Wisconsin | 5 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 2.80 | 2.93 | 90.35 | 1105 | |
| 6 | Ohio State | 2 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 81.52 | 540 | |
| 7 | Penn State | 4 | 3.00 | 2.75 | 2.25 | 2.67 | 74.52 | 855 | |
| 8 | Nebraska | 4 | 2.50 | 2.50 | 3.00 | 2.67 | 70.17 | 805 | |
| 9 | Michigan State | 1 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 45.30 | 245 | |
| 10 | Iowa | 1 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 42.53 | 230 | |
| 10 | Northwestern | 1 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 42.53 | 230 | |
| 12 | Minnesota | 1 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 2.00 | 2.67 | 37.48 | 215 |
After the jump we look team-by-team across the league as well as a breakdown of the top ten incoming recruits in the conference.
Top 10 Incoming Prospects
Noah Vonleh is the only consensus five star headed to the Big Ten but Michigan commitments round out two of the top three spots in the league. Here’s a breakdown including ranks at all three major scouting services and average rankings and composite score.
| Name | School | Avg Score | Rivals | Scout | ESPN | Avg Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noah Vonleh | Indiana | 100 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
| Zak Irvin | Michigan | 96.7 | 24 | 49 | 24 | 32 |
| Derrick Walton | Michigan | 95.0 | 37 | 42 | 35 | 38 |
| Troy Williams | Indiana | 93.3 | 47 | 66 | 42 | 52 |
| Kendrick Nunn | Illinois | 90.0 | 60 | 51 | 61 | 57 |
| Marc Loving | Ohio State | 90.0 | 67 | 64 | 62 | 64 |
| Kendall Stephens | Purdue | 90.0 | 61 | 68 | 66 | 65 |
| Malcolm Hill | Illinois | 90.0 | 62 | 72 | 68 | 67 |
| Stanford Robinson | Indiana | 90.0 | 56 | 59 | 98 | 71 |
| Kameron Williams | Ohio State | 90.0 | 79 | 87 | 58 | 75 |
Indiana
| Name | Position | State | Rivals | Scout | ESPN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devin Davis | SF | IN | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| Luke Fischer | C | WI | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| Collin Hartman | SF | IN | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| Stanford Robinson | SG | VA | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| Noah Vonleh | PF | MA | 5 | 5 | 5 | |
| Troy Williams | SF | VA | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Luke Fischer adds 4th star from Rivals and ESPN and moves into their Top 100s. Devin Davis and Collin Hartman earn their 3rd star from ESPN.
Illinois
| Name | Position | State | Rivals | Scout | ESPN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austin Colbert | PF | NJ | 4 | 3 | 4 | |
| Malcolm Hill | SG | IL | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| Maverick Morgan | C | OH | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| Kendrick Nunn | SG | IL | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| Jaylon Tate | PG | IL | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Austin Colbert adds 4th star from ESPN. Jaylon Tate adds 3rd star from ESPN.
Michigan
| Name | Position | State | Rivals | Scout | ESPN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Donnal | PF | OH | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| Zak Irvin | SF | IN | 5 | 4 | 4 | |
| Derrick Walton | PG | MI | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Zak Irvin gets his 5th star from Rivals.
Purdue
| Name | Position | State | Rivals | Scout | ESPN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bryson Scott | SG | IN | 4 | 4 | 3 | |
| Basil Smotherman | SF | IN | 4 | 3 | 3 | |
| Kendall Stephens | SG | IL | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Basil Smotherman gets a 4th star from Rivals.
Wisconsin
| Name | Position | State | Rivals | Scout | ESPN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vitto Brown | PF | OH | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
| Riley Dearring | SF | MN | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| Nigel Hayes | PF | OH | 3 | 3 | 4 | |
| Jordan Hill | SG | CA | NR | NR | 2 | |
| Bronson Koenig | PG | WI | 4 | 4 | 3 |
Nigel Hayes moves into the ESPN 100. Bronson Koenig drops to 3-stars on ESPN.
Ohio State
| Name | Position | State | Rivals | Scout | ESPN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marc Loving | PF | OH | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| Kameron Williams | SG | MD | 4 | 4 | 4 |
No changes for Ohio State.
Penn State
| Name | Position | State | Rivals | Scout | ESPN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payton Banks | SF | CA | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
| Julian Moore | PF | PA | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
| Geno Thorpe | PG | PA | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| Graham Woodward | PG | MN | 3 | NR | 2 |
Julian Moore drops to 2-stars on ESPN.
Nebraska
| Name | Position | State | Rivals | Scout | ESPN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nick Fuller | SF | WI | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| Nathan Hawkins | SG | TX | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| Leslee Smith | PF | KS | NR | NR | NR | |
| Tai Webster | PG | New Zealand | NR | NR | 4 |
Nebraska adds JUCO Leslee Smith. Nebraska also picked up a preferred walk-on in Tim Wagner but we’ll only track the scholarship players.
Michigan State
| Name | Position | State | Rivals | Scout | ESPN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gavin Schilling | PF | IL | 3 | 3 | 3 |
MSU finally gets a 2013 commit from Gavin Schilling.
Iowa
| Name | Position | State | Rivals | Scout | ESPN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Jok | SF | IA | 3 | 3 | 3 |
No change for Iowa.
Northwestern
| Name | Position | State | Rivals | Scout | ESPN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nate Taphorn | SF | IL | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Jaren Sina decommits after the firing of Bill Carmody.
Minnesota
| Name | Position | State | Rivals | Scout | ESPN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daquein McNeil | SG | MD | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Alvin Ellis and Alex Foster decommitted after the coaching change. Richard Pitino gets his first commit in McNeil.
Ranking Explanations
Every player is given a normalized score on a 100 point scale for each of the three major scouting services. That score breaks down like this:
| Player Score | |
|---|---|
| 100 = | 5* Player |
| 95 = | 4* and top 50 player |
| 90 = | 4* player not in top 50 |
| 85 = | Top 150 player or top 30 at position |
| 80 = | Top 40 at position |
| 75 = | Top 50 at position or 3* player unranked at his position |
| 70 = | Top 75 at position |
| 65 = | Top 100 at position or 2* player unranked at his position |
| 60 = | Top 300 player or 1* player unranked at his position |
| 50 = | Player who has no star rating or position ranking |
That much is relatively simple. Those scores are combined into two cumulative metrics: Class Average Score and Class Cumulative Score.
- Class Average Score: Average normalized scores by service multiplied by the square root of the number of commitments/3.25 (13 total scholarships over 4 years) as well as our additional factor the square root of average ranking over 3.
- Class Cumulative Score: Sum of all normalized score for all recruits based on all services
The system is far from perfect but we favor the current system to generate some sort of consistent, objective basis for comparing classes.
Special thanks to Trent Montemayor for compiling all of the data.
