This week, we released the latest updates to our Best of New England prospect rankings, including Top 50 ranked lists for the 2027 and 2028 classes, plus 20-player 2029 watch lists. After reading through each other's choices, Steve Hewitt and I had questions. We threw one question at each other for each of our updates....
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This week, we released the latest updates to our Best of New England prospect rankings, including Top 50 ranked lists for the 2027 and 2028 classes, plus 20-player 2029 watch lists.
After reading through each other's choices, Steve Hewitt and I had questions.
We threw one question at each other for each of our updates. Are certain schools geared for success based on the talent in our rankings? What positions are stronger in certain classes? These were just two of the topics we discussed.
Check out the full HoopWise Podcast episode, as well as each of our rankings, below.
Ethan: St. Thomas More has four boys in the top 10 of your 2027 rankings and five in the top 25. How good can this team be?
Steve: "I'm curious like what the starting five actually will look like because I guess you could play sort of smaller, with Greyson Pierce and DJ Hawkins as — I think they're like 6-7, 6-8. But it's so much like positional versatility, especially on defense. Declan Griffiths is probably the best shooter in New England. Grayson Pierce is a great shooter as well. I was looking through the rest of the roster too. They have a few guys coming off the bench that are gonna be really impactful. ... If I'm looking ahead to the season, it'd be hard to pick against them. But then you have Newman still."
Steve: Your 2028 rankings includes a lot of guards. Who are some in the back half who might be underrated?
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Ethan: "I'm gonna go down to the 40s, especially because the Boston Showstoppers were one of our best local teams, and I will shout out Jaida Rivera. ... It's a very high bar to clear if you're a small guard, and no matter what, every single time I watch Rivera, she is making a play and driving to the paint. She's a creative finisher around the basket. She defends with intensity at the point of attack, creates a ton of turnovers, very smart. She can shoot it a little bit too. So again, she's only 5-1. She just reclassified and transferred to Marianapolis, so she'll be with that team, which I think is gonna be kind of a AA sleeper, and again on the Boston Showstoppers. Every time I watch her, I'm like, man, I can't keep her off this list. She finds a way every time, every setting that I watch her play."
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