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.