Getting a basketball scholarship

I'm sure someone will be along with more specific information but here's the little that I know. This is based on my cousin's football scholarship, not basketball, but I would imagine they're similar.

High school career was everything. My cousin played football practically since birth, and was pretty much already penciled in as "future star quarterback" when he hit 9th grade. He was moved up from JV to varsity pretty quick his freshman year and was a starter by sophomore year. I honestly don't think there was a time the recruiters weren't after him. He was just one of those "born to play" people.

The moving thing didn't come up for him, so I can't say for certain, but my impression is that it would depend on your character's rep. If he's already "known," like my cousin was, I doubt it would matter as long as he quickly becomes a rising star at the new school. If he's on the bubble, though, not really a known entity, then moving out of state could cause him to start over at the bottom, so to speak.

The new school may actually be the biggest factor. Does the coach there know him? Will he be a major part of the team right away? Or by moving, is he relegating himself to bench duty while he tries to make a name? His recruiter will matter too...does he have one? Is it someone who really believes in him?

If the offer is on the table, the move won't change it.

Does he have equal competition at the new school? Not playing could be a problem. Also, it depends on the school giving the scholarship. Some must go to local players, etc.

If it's about receiving a scholarship from anywhere, he could worry about this from ninth grade until the end of Junior year, mid-Senior year. That's when the acceptance letters and scholarship offers would be out. Really good students and players have their acceptances and other info earlier. At least, that what I recall of timing. by late Sr. year decisions have been made.

To answer your question, college basketball coaches will start focusing in on standout high school players as early as their freshman years. Nearly all of them will play on club/travel squads as well as their high school teams, and those club/travel squads will play in tournaments with tons of other teams. College coaches swarm to those tournaments. The recruiting process really gets hot in their junior seasons and many players will commit to a college near the end of their junior year in high school. Others, especially a kid who is moving to a different state, might choose to wait until they are seniors to see how things shake out.

Two things are important. First, your last comment on him being on the lower end of the scale. What scale? If you mean basketball talent, then he's not getting a basketball scholarship from anyone. Some smaller schools provide scholarships or partial scholarships. A kid who is not the best of the best is not going to UConn or Arizona on scholarship, for example. They might go to Point Loma Nazarene, to give an example in my neck of the woods, but they'd still have to be pretty good.

The other thing to keep in mind is that basketball is the most seedy of all sports when it comes to recruiting. All kinds of shenanigans.

I don't know whether this is an issue, but where I grew up a student who voluntarily transferred schools (and maybe even involuntarily because of a move... I can't remember) was not allowed to play varsity sports for one year. Presumably this was to stop schools (or booster clubs or whatever) from illegally recruiting star players.

Again, if the scholarship is on the table and a letter of intent has been signed, probably a non-issue. But if he's not a star player, the scholarship probably would not have been offered that early. So if he's not allowed to play at the new school, that could be a big problem.

For what it's worth, scholarships and letters of intent are being offered as early as 7th grade these days...