WCAC in Women's College Basketball

 So, this season (2022-2023), there are at least 59 D1 men's college basketball players that had spent time at WCAC schools.  What about in the women's game?

We took some 10-year olds to a girls' high school basketball game this weekend and their first major impression was "these kids move fast!"  The speed at which high school basketball is played in the WCAC is still something, after almost an entire season of watching up close, I find remarkable.  It may be that there are other high school leagues that match it, but night in and night out, an extraordinary level of athleticism is required to win games in the WCAC.

Mining data from rosters for women's college basketball teams is more difficult than with the men's, likely due to the differential in resources dedicated to the two sports.  Nevertheless, at a minimum, there are 45 D1 women's college basketball players that had spent time at a WCAC school for the 2022-2023 season.  This is a lot less than I expected, given the number of players in men's basketball with ties to the WCAC.  

To be sure, the DMV seems to also be over-represented in D1 programs compared to other regions of the country, but unlike in the men's game there are many more players at that level coming out of public high schools and private schools outside of the WCAC.  A review of rosters indicates that the most prolific school at turning out D1 women's basketball players in the area has been the New Hope Academy, and Riverdale Baptist has turned out a fair share as well.

Nine of the WCAC schools are represented on D1 rosters, led by St. John's College and Bishop McNamara with 10 each.  Eight D1 players came from St. Paul VI, while six are from Our Lady Of Good Counsel, four from Bishop O'Connell, three from Bishop Ireton, two from Elizabeth Seton, and one each from St. Mary's Ryken and Archbishop Carroll.  I could find no D1 player with a tie to the Academy of the Holy Cross.

The 45 players with WCAC ties played in 20 different conferences.  Eight played in the ACC, five in the Colonial, three apiece in the Ivy League, the SEC, the American Athletic Conference, and the America East.  The Big Ten, Conference USA, MEAC, Metro Atlantic, Northeast, and Sunbelt conferences each have two WCAC players, while the PAC-12, Big East, Mountain West, A10, Big South, Patriot, SWAC, and ASUN each have one WCAC player.

Of all of the teams in D1, Elon boasts the most from the WCAC (3), while NC State, Columbia, UCF, and Maine have two from the WCAC.  The other schools with WCAC players are: Maryland, Northwestern, UConn, USC, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Ole Miss, Cornell, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, University of North Carolina, Boston College, Appalachian State, Drexel, James Madison, Loyola (Maryland), Binghamton, Rice, Campbell, St. Bonaventure, Utah State, Central Connecticut, Stony Brook, Coppin State, Wichita State, Manhattan, Stetson, Mount St. Mary's, Western Kentucky, North Carolina Central, Wagner, and Texas Southern. 

WCAC in D1 Basketball

Because I have a kid playing WCAC basketball now, fairly often, I have found myself sitting in the stands marveling at the talent of some kid on the floor, leading me to look up the player's recruiting profile.  Most of the time, despite what seems to me to be incredible athletic talent and good basketball skills, the kid doesn't have offers that they've reported.  Some, of course, do, and these tend to be to high profile colleges, but most do not.  The kids are serious about basketball.  Their play reflects the amount of time, attention, and effort they have put into the game.  And, yet, the future for them in the sport beyond high school is not clear.

Living in Prince George's County has meant that we routinely meet people who played Division II and Division III basketball and who have continued to feed their passion for the game through youth coaching.  Basketball doesn't need Division I for validation.  The game is the game.  But there is no question that the D1 pedigree affords a cachet of respect and admiration that is otherwise not bestowed.

Just as with football, I was curious about the number of WCAC kids that are playing Division I basketball this season.  It is a much more difficult question to answer, as a lot more colleges participate in Division I basketball than Division I football and, as such, we are talking about the rosters of 363 teams.  The roster listings for many schools omits or does not fully report information about high schools and this also complicates the process.

Nevertheless, from what I have reviewed, there are at least 59 players who went to WCAC schools on the rosters of a men's basketball program competing in Division I this season.  There are 11 boy's basketball schools in the WCAC.  All but one, The Heights, seems to have representation in D1 basketball.  There are at least 12 players that had spent time at DeMatha in D1, followed by Gonzaga and St. John's with 10 each.  Bishop McNamara, Bishop O'Connell, and St. Paul VI each have 7 players in D1, while Archbishop Carrol and Good Counsel have 2, and Bishop Ireton and St. Mary's Ryken each have 1.

9 players in the Colonial Athletic Conference have roots in the WCAC, while the Big Ten and ACC each have 6 players from this high school league.  The A10, America East, and Mid-Eastern conferences each have 5 players from the WCAC, while the Big East has 4, and the SEC and Metro Atlantic each have 3.  The Northeast Conference has 2 players from the WCAC, while the Pac-12, Ivy, ASUN, Patriot, Big South, Southern, Big West, Ohio Valley, and Southwestern conferences each have one player from the WCAC.

Michigan, Howard, and Towson each have three players from the WCAC on their respective rosters.  Six colleges have two WCAC players on their rosters this year: Vanderbilt, Villanova, Miami, George Mason, Bryant, and Delaware. 

I don't know how impressive these numbers are compared to other basketball powerhouses.  Bishop Walsh gets listed a remarkable number of times on D1 rosters, but even it pales in comparison to Hargrave Military.  But 59 kids playing D1 basketball from one private school conference in the DMV seems like a lot.