247 has Jones listed as our 2nd-highest rated recruit ever, behind Obaseki.

I searched Deandre Jordan, swearing that he was a 5*, but he was showed as a 0*

DJ was definitely a 5*. He knew he was only going to play 1 year and stayed close to home.

Finding historical player rankings is somewhat problematic if you're trying to compare apples to apples. This website is pretty good.

Using Claude Cowork on that site gives you this as our top ten:

1) DeAndre Jordan - 2007 - #13
2) Antoine Wright - 2002 - #18
3) Manny Obaseki - 2021 - #29
4) Nick Anderson - 2000 - #30
5) DJ Hogg - 2015 - #31
6) Tyler Davis - 2015 - #33
---> Dylan Jones - 2027 - #35
7) Elijah Thomas - 2015 - #40
8) Robert Williams - 2016 - #51
9) Jamal Branch - 2011 - #52
10) Savion Flagg - 2017 - #56

TexasAGGIEinAR said:

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DJ was definitely a 5*. He knew he was only going to play 1 year and stayed close to home.

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We also hired his AAU coach to be an assistant.

Absolutely wild career for Byron btw. Came back to UH as an assistant under Drexler, then joined the staff at Texas Southern, then McLennan CC. He was the coach of the Harlem Globetrotters before starting with the Houston Swoosh. Then he joined our staff for two years, then back to Texas Southern, then to PV where he was an assistant, he got the interim job with the head coach resigned in the middle of the season in 2016 and he's been the head coach at PV ever since.

247 didnt exist back then. It was Rivals or ESPN only basically.

I can remember when Melvin signed Antoine Wright. That following year, we had Senior Bernard King, Wright as a freshman and Nick Anderson coming off a really nice year the previous season. I honestly thought Texas A&M basketball was Tournament bound and we were going to witness the rise of the program. Boy was I wrong.

We did go 14-14 that year, which was at that time a high crest for the program. It was the next year (I am sure due to the devastating loss of unsung hero, Tomas Ress) when Wright was a sophomore where we went 0-16

We were also awful the year before Wright's freshman year, not coming off a decent year. His freshman season was the "decent" year. Although maybe you jist meant that Nick Anderson was coming off of a nice year.

Where is Jerald Brown on that list..! He was McDonalds All American same year as Kobe.. I thought when we signed him he was going to be a stud.. Barone ruined his confidence. Super nice kid needed more dawg in him

bobinator said:

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Finding historical player rankings is somewhat problematic if you're trying to compare apples to apples. This website is pretty good.

Using Claude Cowork on that site gives you this as our top ten:

1) DeAndre Jordan - 2007 - #13
2) Antoine Wright - 2002 - #18
3) Manny Obaseki - 2021 - #29
4) Nick Anderson - 2000 - #30
5) DJ Hogg - 2015 - #31
6) Tyler Davis - 2015 - #33
---> Dylan Jones - 2027 - #35
7) Elijah Thomas - 2015 - #40
8) Robert Williams - 2016 - #51
9) Jamal Branch - 2011 - #52
10) Savion Flagg - 2017 - #56

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That's a really rough list. And I think they are inflating Williams, as he was a late blooming 3 star.

Obaseki was highly rated due to athleticism. Hogg had so much potential. What a waste. Davis was a beast. Should have stayed his senior year. Branch and JMych were supposed to reshape the program. Why star rankings on basketball players before they reach Jr or Sr year are stupid. And Flagg. Lol. Awful.

So it's ok that Obaseki is 29 because of athleticism but you want Time Lord lower than 51 because why again?

That would be my recollection as well. With respect to incoming projection, Jerald Brown would fit in as #1 or #2 on that list. I'm fairly certain he was more highly regarded than Antoine.

Robert Williams is an interesting case. He was not that highly regarded, and I agree with you there is some retrospective manipulation in that positioning.

What it does point out is how weak recruiting site projections really are. I think if you had lined up everyone on that list for a fantasy try out in front the Texags community, it would have been unanimous that the special, generational athlete, was Robert Williams (even including Deandre who was a great athlete in his own right). I realize at the time he was not believed to be a basketball player, but when you're that level of athlete it doesn't matter, you're automatically one of the top 20 prospects in America.

I still fondly remember the shock and awe delivered on UNC and the commentators when that team, and Robert in particular made clear in the first five minutes that the Tarheels were facing a major deficit in athleticism. Good times.

There's not, that's why I like this site is it's an average of recruiting services available at the time. It's what CBB reference uses. Since services come and go it's probably the best site for tracking historical averages across years which as close as you can get for an apples to apples comparison.

In the final rankings for 2016, Williams was #82 by 247, and #51 by ESPN. He was #55 in the 247Composite ranking.

I think sometimes fans only remember the ranking when a player commits (which is also tracked on that site, I only used the final rankings) but Williams was a four star prospect basically the whole way.

Also everyone with eyes would have liked DeAndre the most. The most easy to project "this guy might be an NBA player even if he doesn't improve his skill level at all" athlete I've ever seen. He was absolutely freakish.

Williams was similar from a freakish athleticism standpoint but also several inches shorter.