I completely agree with you, Borna.  Perhaps the most striking finding in the data is just how swiftly there has been a huge increase in transfers at both the HS and college levels.

For Top 100 kids, perhaps one factor fueling the quick increase is the proliferation of basketball prep schools.  One of our own 2014 recruits, though not quite a Top 100 consensus player, is an example of that.

Fun with graphs!

See that grass over there?  It's greener.





NOW, GET OFF OF MY LAWN.

It starts well before high school. I had a talk with my son's AAU coach this summer and he was talking about how certain parents will move their kids from program to program to program in an ill-advised hunt for a program that will make their kid an instant star.  Finding the right fit is important but so is continuity.  Playing for a new team every year ultimately will have negative developmental effects IMO.  If the player already knows the system he's much more likely to be able to improve on the important little things that essentially determine how good of a player he can become. 

WHen put in that context you are absolutely correct. I included in my opine "anecdotal " evidence as to those of us who have been around basketball over the years and followed recruiting, summer ball (formerly known as AAU), college ball and parents of kids with Hoop Dreams far deeper than the Top 100 and into the Top 1000 the transfers, movement in SUmmer Ball teams, and disruption within programs goes far deeper. When you amplify those 8 % points in the Top 100 across 50 states and look at those HS and Club programs you see that a much bigger problem exists. Having lived in that system and counseling parents and athletes who are in a snit not to jump ship and to sit tight or improve attitudes and practice habits this article resonated with me.

Form the 80's to the 90's we did not see much movement. In the Early 2000's we saw a bit as kids like Robert Vaden won an Indiana HS Championship at Pike HS and then headed out to Prep School for his senior year. 2 College stops and a journeymans life in Europe he is still playing but seemingly never easy to get along with and not ever happy where he is.. INstead of learning to deal with things in the locker room and life he is indicative of an ever increasing me first attitude of players up and down the line who have talent but never play on cohesive teams.....much due to their own individual contribution to the team. I think 2006 was the year when things really started turning and that jump of 8 points reflected in the Top 100 what I saw in greater numbers down the line. It is also the time when I saw great coaches start getting their Principals licenses or stepping away from the game to just teach. The coaches I talked to over the years cite parents, fluid movement of kids that had been cultivated in their programs for years transferring to schools that played harder schedules or to play with guys they has played with in SUmmer Ball. as the reasons for leaving the game.

I was interested in the numbers because they reflect what I see....a growing shift in the culture of basketball at the lower levels. DOn't think Coach is playing your kid? MOve him. Don't agree with the style of play? Move him. Don't like the position he is playing (my boy gonna be a PG in college!) Move him. ................Never tell your kid.....Look son, the more positons you can play the more desirable you are,...or ..Look you earn your time in practice, if you do not bring it every day with 90 minutes of intensity you do not deserve to play. ....or.....you never know what style you are going to play  in College, learn to work within a system and maximize your skills.....or ...Look SOn, there are 341 D1 programs that need 3 or 4 players a year. If you are not working to be one of the best kids in your own HS program how do you expect , out of 50 states times that many schools with 15 guys on a squad, to be oney of the 12-1600 that get a scholarship in your recruiting class?  The best advice is .....Get in the gym with your kid and help him get better. Deal with his skills and honing them. There are times when a move to another program is a better situation. I know that. Lived it. By and large though the attitude that is behind that 8 point jump above is really confirmatory of a new attitude I see way down the line and is a bit distressing to actually see documented. What will be interesting is to see in the next 5 years where it goes. I see in the figures they have documented what I believed and was chastised for when I spoke out on an indiana HS board when a kid named Walt Offutt committed to tOSU as an 8th grader. Early commits are flawed. WIthout going into an equally lengthy conversation I will just acknowledge that they did an nice job with that info. Time always tells ..... but the game is changing and this is a pretty good indicator of how that has ripples from grade school to overseas and the NBA

I'm not surprised at this data. I've seen the same thing all the way down to 8-year-old travel teams in basketball and soccer.

I would be interested to see another graph showing the Division I coaching carousel. I bet the trend lines might be similar.

Good stuff.  Flat 
out good stuff.

Local SE Ohio kid has transferred this season (his senior) from a highly successful program to the IMG Academy in Florida for Football.  Cost of the year $53,000.00

Mike, and that club Volleyball is a racquet that needs to have some IRS agents looking into some of these organizations.  And many are selling a bill of goods without ever being honest, kind of like the Donald Trump school