Reclassification is very popular among American basketball players. It is the practice of making an athlete repeat a grade. Usually, repeating a grade is frowned upon. Previously, you only repeated a grade if you failed it. In today’s world, where there’s so much money involved in youth sports, reclassification rarely has anything to do with academic proficiency. It has to do with creating an advantage athletically. It’s especially common for male players since males can have late growth spurts. The extra year gives them more time to get bigger, faster, and stronger and improve their skills and abilities.
Development at the college level doesn’t happen anymore. NBA coaches and GMs talk about it regularly. They have to teach players things that most players used to know coming out of college. Part of development is not playing until you’re ready. The days of players waiting their turn as freshmen are dwindling. Players know they don’t have to wait because they can transfer every year. There is less and less development going on at all levels. Many players will play at multiple schools in their time in college. Will the rules change? Maybe. But until they do this is the way it is.
Currently youth basketball events are organized based on the players’ graduation year. Until youth basketball events are organized by the players’ birthday and until this is strictly supervised and enforced, the current climate won’t change. And given the amount of money and momentum that the current system has, there is no reason for it to change.
Back to reclassification. If I’m in middle school or high school and I’m looking at the future, why wouldn’t I reclassify? We’ve worked with numerous 17-year-old high school graduates. Do you honestly think they have a chance to compete against a 22-year-old college player? And right now, 22 is a young age for a college player. That player could be a sophomore depending on their situation. They wouldn’t have even played against each other in high school. College coaches who are under immense pressure to win aren’t going to take the chance.
Reclassification doesn’t work for everyone because they don’t take advantage of the extra time. They play against younger competition just to win a tournament. They don’t spend time working on their game. But reclassification has nothing to do with playing against younger players or anything like that. That’s a choice that some people make.
Getting recruited at the scholarship level is highly competitive. Especially for male players, the extra year of physical and mental maturity is important. The extra year to improve and enhance their skills is important. You can always reclass back. But as a former college coach, I would much rather have a more physically and mentally mature player. They are going to be better on and off the court. The problem is that so many players take an extra year to party or play against younger kids or whatever. What they don’t realize is that part of the evaluation process for coaches is not only the skill set of a player but what is the competition that you’re doing it against. If you’re scoring 30 against scrubs no one cares. It doesn’t matter if you reclassified or not.
Look at the transfer portal. This is where scholarship programs go first for players. As a high school player that is your competition, not your opponent in the AAU tournament.
Until the rules change, this is the world we live in. If you’re a scholarship player with NIL etc. you’re there to play basketball. Many of these players don’t even go to class. Their academics are online. Look at their travel schedules. It’s impossible for them to be in class consistently.
Athletes at the higher levels are employees. They are there to play their sport as a way to market the university and bring millions of dollars into the university. This is not your local AAU tournament. This is big business. The NCAA can talk about “student-athlete” all they want to. At some schools and at the lower levels, this is still true. But for many Division 1 athletes especially basketball and football, the revenue generating sports, academics are not the reason they are getting paid to play. The educational part of the equation is more of a speed bump instead of a purpose or a priority.
If you’re “shooting for the moon” but you’re not willing to reclass, your target just got a lot smaller. If you’re “D1 or bust”, and you’re not willing to reclass, it’s going to be very difficult for you. I didn’t say it was impossible. But the extra year gives you time that can make a huge difference. Playing against younger kids just to get wins or put up numbers won’t help. Spending your time partying won’t help. But if you take advantage of the extra time, you’ll have a much greater chance to play at a higher level.
