Who Are The Most Talented Teams In South Carolina?

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Every rankings update is its own embodiment of talent.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We break them down by class and position, and then we go to work trying to illuminate the masses to what we're seeing throughout the year. But a question that we get asked most - Who has the most talent in South Carolina? - has never been broken down quite like this.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After kicking around multiple metrics (most players ranked, for example) in the past, we've found a method that will answer that question once and for all.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Well, at least for now.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Using January's rankings update and a point system for each of the 508 players we've included in our rankings from the Class of 2023 right on down to 2026, we have a tangible figure assigned to every team in the state.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This was the numerical system we used for each rankings window:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>1-25 - 15 Points</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>26-50 - 13 points</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>51-75 - 11 points</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>76-100 - 8 points</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>101-125 - 6 points</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>126-plus - 5 points</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Translation: If a player was ranked in the top 25, he accumulated 15 points for his team. A player ranked from 26-50 doled out 13 points, and so on and so forth.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Obviously, this wasn't some quick or easy task, given how many players we believe have earned a coveted spot in our rankings. Take a look for yourself.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Class of 2023: 248 players</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Class of 2024: 151 players</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Class of 2025: 73 players</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Class of 2026: 36 players</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Clearly, that's a lot of data.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The only players we didn't include were mid-year transfers, of which there have been more than a handful that we know about so far. In the case of those players, we removed them from the tallies of not only their previous schools, but their current ones. After all, player transfers are not guarantees, and often we see players make a decision for the spring and then make another before the next season fires up.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Now that you understand the process, it's time to unveil what our numbers showed. Here are the 10 biggest collections of talent, with the points earned, the number of ranked players and each school's top-ranked player:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:table --> <figure class="wp-block-table"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>School</strong></td><td>Number of ranked players</td><td>Top ranked player</td></tr><tr><td>10. Westside (82)</td><td>7</td><td>[player_tooltip player_id='346189' first='Cutter' last='Woods'] (No. 5 overall), 2025</td></tr><tr><td>T8. South Florence (87)</td><td>9</td><td>[player_tooltip player_id='146356' first='LaNorris' last='Sellers'] (No. 2 overall), 2023</td></tr><tr><td>T8. Oceanside Collegiate (87)</td><td>8</td><td>[player_tooltip player_id='89337' first='Monroe' last='Freeling'] (No. 1 overall), 2023</td></tr><tr><td>7. Myrtle Beach (93)</td><td>11</td><td>[player_tooltip player_id='272701' first='John' last='Simmons'] (no. 12 overall), 2025</td></tr><tr><td>6. Byrnes (94)</td><td>11</td><td>[player_tooltip player_id='272705' first='Armoni' last='Weaver'] (No. 8 overall), 2025</td></tr><tr><td>5. Northwestern (102)</td><td>11</td><td>[player_tooltip player_id='89343' first='Jordan' last='Knox'] (No. 6 overall), 2023</td></tr><tr><td>4. Midland Valley (105)</td><td>11</td><td>[player_tooltip player_id='91348' first='Traevon' last='Dunbar'] (No. 7 overall), 2024</td></tr><tr><td>3. Summerville (118)</td><td>15 (most in state)</td><td>[player_tooltip player_id='272723' first='Ashton' last='Allen-Hawkins'] (No. 43 overall), 2025</td></tr><tr><td>2. James Island (119)</td><td>12</td><td>[player_tooltip player_id='448987' first='Wushi' last='Ravenel'] (No. 15 overall), 2024</td></tr><tr><td>1. Greenville (122)</td><td>10</td><td>[player_tooltip player_id='163871' first='Mazeo' last='Bennett Jr'] (No. 2 overall), 2024</td></tr></tbody></table></figure> <!-- /wp:table --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Of course, this exactly same metric might turn up dramatically different results in a year. The Class of 2023 will have moved on, and the next crop of high school freshmen will be in place.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For now, though, we have our answer.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Over the next three weeks, we are going to break down the top 10, team by team, ranked player by ranked player. We'll highlight positional strengths and describe what makes each program tick while giving you a glimpse of what its returning talent could accomplish in 2023.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Enjoy the ride, won't you?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->