Re-Ranking 2011's Basketball Recruits

Basketball Prospectus' Drew Cannon had the presence of mind to go through college basketball's class of 2011 and revisit where they're at after one year in the grind of a hoops season (SPOILER: the elites are driving around luxury automobiles on agent advances). Amongst them Ohio State's much regarded group of frosh get four in Cannon's top 101, though admittedly it brings us back to reflection that the group didn't quite make the instant impact perhaps some of us would've liked for them to.

Backup point guard Shannon Scott is slotted at 72nd, late season addition (and scarcely used) swing man LaQuinton Ross at 69th, "Flying" Sam Thompson at 63rd, and backup big Amir Williams the highest of the group at 53rd.

On Williams:

Williams didn't play much, just under 200 minutes, but he made a strong impact when he did. In limited time he posted offensive rebounding, defensive rebounding, and block rates that compare with anyone on this list (and, considering Anthony Davis is on this list, anyone in the country). Williams wasn't nearly as effective on offense, but he really wasn't bad. It's an extraordinarily small sample size, but there's reason to believe he can step in and be a game-changer right away as a rebounder-defender.

With Williams widely expected to be the Buckeyes' heir to Jared Sullinger at the 5 and the sure-to-be-shooting-infinity-times-a-game Deshaun Thomas commanding the bulk of the attention, Ohio State's 2012-2013 basketball success could be contingent on what Ohio State has in Williams. It certainly won't hurt that he'll have had a year to get acclimated to the flow and grind of Big Ten level hoops before having to eat the bulk of the minutes in the middle.

Michigan State's Branden Dawson also checks in at 24th and Michigan's Trey Burke 5th meriting inclusion in the so-called "elite class", proving once and for all he had nothing left to gain at the college level and should've gone pro. It's never too late to consider Europe, Trey.