Paul Biancardi: ESPN Recruiting Director on What Coaches Really Want

Join Cory Heitz and Paul Biancardi—ESPN’s National Director of Recruiting, former D1 head coach, and a walk-on turned basketball insider—as they pull back the curtain on college basketball recruiting, player evaluation, and the intangibles that separate good players from great ones. Paul shares hard truths about rankings, the myth of "exposure", and why character, efficiency, and coachability matter more than points per game. Discover why 94% of high school players won’t play college ball, how to avoid the "D1 Herpes" trap, and the one game every athlete should never play (hint: it’s the comparison game). This episode is packed with actionable advice for players, parents, and coaches navigating the prep-to-college pipeline.

💡 Key Topics:
📌 Recruiting realities: How college coaches really evaluate players (and why scoring isn’t everything)
📌 The exposure myth: Why showcases ≠ development and what to do instead
📌 Prep school pros/cons: When a fifth year helps—and when it doesn’t
📌 Parenting pitfalls: How well-meaning parents sabotage their kids’ recruitment
📌 D1 guard blueprint: The non-negotiable skills for modern college guards
📌 Rankings decoded: What they mean, what they don’t, and how to use them wisely

🏀 About Paul Biancardi:
Paul Biancardi is a basketball lifer—from walking on at Salem State under Tom Thibodeau to coaching at Boston College, Ohio State, and Wright State, to his current role as ESPN’s National Director of Recruiting. As a McDonald’s All-American Game selector and rankings architect, Paul has spent decades evaluating, coaching, and mentoring the next generation of basketball talent. His no-nonsense approach to player development and recruiting makes him one of the most trusted voices in the game.

🔗 Connect with Paul Biancardi:
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/paulbiancardi/
Twitter | https://x.com/PaulBiancardi
LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-biancardi-331113a9/
Website | https://www.coachbiancardi.com/

🔗 Connect with Cory:
 
Website | https://www.prepathletics.com
Twitter | https://twitter.com/PREP_Athletics
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/prep.athletics/
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/PrepAthletics
Email | coryheitz@gmail.com
Phone | 859-317-1166

🔖 Subscribe to the PREP Athletics Podcast:

iTunes | https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/prep-athletics-podcast/id1546265809?uo=4
Spotify | https://open.spotify.com/show/6CAKbXFiIOhoHinzsReYbJ
Amazon | https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/3c37179d-3371-47f9-9d97-fd569e8802a7/prep-athletics-basketball-podcast #AmazonMusic  

Transcript

Cory Heitz (00:00)
Hello friends and welcome to this week's episode of the prep athletics podcast. I'm so glad you're joining us today. And we've got a special one today. We've got ESPN national director of recruiting Paul Biancardi. And you might know Paul from Colin McDonald's all-star game. He works with ESPN on determining how players are ranked in the senior, junior and sophomore classes. Um, very smart at what he does. And he also has a former D1 head coach, D1 assistant.

And he tells this story of growing up in Boston, trying to play at Salem state and getting cut, getting injured, and then finally making the team as a walk on to play for future NBA head coach, Tom Thibodeau. So great information today, giving families and players the exact intel they need about rankings, about what coaches are looking for, about what you should do to get seen. it's such a, such a good episode with a lot of valuable information and it was a pleasure to have Paul on talking to us today.

If like this, please share this with a friend. I know there's a lot of people out there in your network that benefit from these podcasts. Share it with them, subscribe and all the major podcasting platforms and YouTube and go to our website, prepathletics.com. We've got so much great information on there for free to share with you guys. If you're wanting to learn more about prep school or find the right fit, and it would just appreciate you joining us today. So enjoy this conversation with ESPN director of recruiting, Paul Biancardi here on the Prepathletics podcast. Thanks so much.

Cory Heitz (01:49)
Paul, welcome to the podcast.

PB (01:51)
Cory, thank you for having me.

Cory Heitz (01:53)
Yeah, now give us some background. Where did you grow up and what got you in the basketball?

PB (01:59)
grew up in the city of Boston, right inside the inner city of Boston. It's a section called East Boston. When you grow up in the city, you play a lot of sports. I got to play football, baseball. We played street hockey and ice hockey. And then I got into basketball last. And it was the easiest one for me to play because all you needed was a pair of sneakers and a basketball. And there were plenty of outdoor courts to go shoot.

And once I started shooting and the ball started going in, I started to fall in love with the game.

Cory Heitz (02:35)
I love it. And then where did you end up going to college? Because I know you chose basketball as your main sport. Where'd you go after that?

PB (02:42)
Well, I went to high school at Pope John High School in Everett, Massachusetts, and I really wanted to play college ball, but I wasn't recruited. And I understand why I wasn't recruited. So I had to try to find a spot where I could walk on and go to school and at the same time, find a place where I could get admitted. And so I went to Salem State College. It's now Salem State University. So it's expanded over time.

and then I had a chance to try out for the team. The first year I tried out, I got cut. The second year I tried out, I broke my ankle. And the third year I tried out, Tom Thibodeau was the head coach at that time. He went from assistant to a head coaching position. So he liked what I brought to practice and he took me on as a walk-on.

Cory Heitz (03:38)
Gotcha. And what was Tom's coaching style like back then?

PB (03:42)
Same as it is now, demanding, intense, very, very into details, preparation, player development. He was big on then, still is today. That's why a lot of guys that he's coached, Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, and a lot of other guys, Jalen Brunson, they've really become NBA all-stars on the tips. So his style was one of just, we're gonna play man-to-man defense for the most part.

And our offense back then was a 3-out-2-in.

Cory Heitz (04:16)
Gotcha. Now growing up in Everett, did you know at all about the prep school option? Like was that talked about among your peers, families, or was that, I don't know. Just tell me when the time period you in, was that a big thing or not in Boston?

PB (04:30)
Well, it wasn't at the time and I grew up in East Boston, which is a little section of Boston, went to school in Everett. So I got on the bus and a couple of trains actually. It took me about 50 minutes every morning to go from East Boston to Everett. I had to take two different trains and a bus to get there. The prep school market was not a big thing back then. It wasn't talked about certainly. There was maybe one school that kids would go to.

MCI up in Maine, that had a big name back then. But kids went there because their grades weren't right and they wanted to get better and healthier academically, which would allow them to go to college because the admission policy for college back then was a little stricter than it is today.

Cory Heitz (05:21)
Yeah, for sure. Now, when you got out of college, you did some coaching and you've had assistant coaching spots at places such as Boston U, Boston college, Ohio state, St. Louis, and you were known as a great recruiter. So tell me this, what's the secret sauce? If a young coach out there is watching your kid that wants to get into coaching, wants to know how to become a great recruiter, what would you say to them?

PB (05:44)
Well, I started at Division 3. That's where I've kind of cut my teeth in the recruiting circles because you know this from what you do. Division 3 assistants get to do a lot of different jobs. When you move up in levels, you get categorized to certain jobs because there's so many people on staff. Division 3, there's only one, maybe two guys on staff with the head coach. I would say if you want to be a good recruiter, you have to be

really tuned into people. And everyone says, well, it's about relationships. It's about listening to other people. It's about staying in touch with other people. It's about being genuine. You can't be somebody else in recruiting and you can't be fast. You can't be transactional. You have to have a an authentic approach. Some people will like that. Other people will go in a different direction. And then you have to learn how to evaluate. That's

The biggest part of recruiting is evaluating prospects that can fit to your level and knowing who can play for your head coach and then being able to communicate well with people, care about other people and find a way to connect with other people. And when you do that, I think that's how recruiting works best.

Cory Heitz (07:04)
Now you mentioned evaluating, which I think is important in all of this. Is that something you just have a feel for? Is that something someone can develop?

PB (07:12)
that's certainly something that you can develop. Some guys have it early in their career. I talked to a lot of NBA scouts who have done this for 10, 15, 25 years. They have a real knack. They have a passion. They have an eye for the NBA level. I had to learn, like most people. mean, as a walk-on in Division III, you have to learn a lot. You start at the bottom. You work your way up.

And I think over the course of time, you develop the eye and you also develop a sense of what's important to you as a coach and you try to recruit that to your program. I think that's what coaches are doing today more so than ever before because there's so much money involved today that the evaluation has to be not only for the player, I'm sorry, the, yeah, for the player, but for the person. Coaches are going deeper into character traits than they ever have before.

Cory Heitz (08:12)
And why is that, do you think? Is it the money? Is it keeping him from transferring? What is it?

PB (08:17)
Well, they want to know who they're getting first of all, because they realize that they're only going to get somebody most likely for eight months. So you have to get you have to recruit who you really want and what they do. It's hard to look at somebody today and say, well, in two years, he could be this for us. Well, he may not be there in two years. So it's really important for for coaches to understand what they want in their program. Go after that.

But the character traits are huge because you need guys who are going to play at their best or give their best January, February. A lot of kids quit on their teams. A lot of guys are already thinking about transferring, you know, after the first semester. So you have to know who you're getting and understand that you want a guy who's a team guy, who's going to give his all. And at the end of the season, if he wants to transfer, that's fine.

And the money's big, so when people are giving money, they expect results. And with 10, 15 teams in a conference, only one team can win the conference, only so many teams can go to postseason play. And when donors and schools are shelling out thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars, in some cases millions, they want to see a finished product.

Cory Heitz (09:39)
Yeah. Good point. back to evaluating. When you walk into a gym now, Paul, and if you didn't talk to anybody and didn't have a, a scouting sheet and let's say it's an AU, an AU tournament where there's multiple games going on. Do you have the eye now where you can tell that guards D2, that guards low major, that guards high major, that guards mid major. Like, do you have the eye now you can pull that out pretty quickly or is there more research that has to go into that?

PB (10:06)
Well, you have to know what your graduation is, right? So if somebody's a senior, they don't have much time left in their recruitment and their evaluation has to be expedited a little bit faster because next year they're planning on going to college. They could go to junior college, they could go to prep school versus seeing a sophomore saying, well, you still have a couple of more years to polish up your game. What I do see when I sit down and I don't have any sheets in front of me, I look at

I I look at heart, I look at intensity, I look at competitiveness, and I'm looking at someone who's a great teammate and who's coachable. Then I can figure out the talent part of it. I can figure out the athletic ability. I can figure out the non-scoring attributes that a player has. For example, rebounding, on-ball defense, off-ball defense, shot blocking. I can see all those things.

over the course of a game or two. But I can't find out about your intensity, what's in here, what's between here. It's really important that I can evaluate that first, and that's the hardest stuff to evaluate. But in my mind, it's the most important because then I can decide how much you'll grow, how much potential you'll have in the game. When I see somebody who's lazy and I see somebody who's selfish, I say to myself, they have a long way to go.

regardless of their talent.

Cory Heitz (11:36)
Yeah. You know, I love what you said there. You didn't mention scoring or points per game at all. And I'm so glad you said that because you just mentioned all the intangibles that college coaches and scouts like you were looking at that. don't know if all the players and parents realize. So I just want to thank you for saying that as a, as a, as a trusted person in the basketball world, cause players and families need to hear this more and more. So yeah. And tell me this too.

PB (11:52)
Yeah, well.

But

when it comes to points, they're misleading because you have to have efficiency with your scoring, whether it's the free throw line, pain scoring, mid range or three point shooting, efficiency in every category is so important. So when somebody says they got 20 points, doesn't mean much unless I know how you got your points and I see it on film or I can see it live.

Cory Heitz (12:27)
That's great advice. So you went from all those years as assistant and then you actually became a head coach at the D1 level at Wright State. What was the biggest difference going from the assistant role to the head coaching role that you found to be the biggest adjustment for you?

PB (12:41)
Looking back, I should have delegated way more than I did. It's that control factor, right? You're in the Big East for seven years. You're in the Big 10 for six years. You're coaching against all the giants in the game. You're running a high level program at these two universities. And so everything is scripted. Everything is detailed and everything's important. And then you become a head coach and you can't do it all yourself. So.

I found that it was really important to delegate certain responsibilities to certain staff members. It wasn't that I didn't trust them because I hired a great staff. We're still friends today. They were all exceptionally good in different areas. It was just that I have to know everything and I have to make every decision. It doesn't really matter what color green the uniforms are.

I had to make sure I stepped out of meetings that really didn't have anything to do with winning, recruiting, practice, scouting, and leave that to assistants to do.

Cory Heitz (13:47)
Yeah. Now tell me this. This is what I find fascinating. You get the job at Wright State and you have to build out your assistants, right? And your staff. What's your logic on that? Are you trying to get an offensive specialist, a defensive specialist, a recruiting guy, a guy that knows this part of the country or this part of the country? Like walk me through the processes you've seen of how coaches build staffs.

PB (14:09)
Well, the way I did it, the first premise was, who do I trust and who will be loyal? Loyalty and trust to me was everything. I can figure out what you're good at and I can figure out what somebody else is good at. You want to bring in a level of expertise, whether it's offense, defense, scouting, academics.

any part of a college basketball program. Scheduling is certainly important, or it was important at that level now. Administrators mostly do the scheduling. So I had to find people that had my back, behind my back, that's what I call loyalty, and someone I could trust that would give me an honest answer, not a yes man, and somebody that would represent myself in the school in a way that would be credible.

I kind of worked that way first, almost like when you're looking at a player, you're looking at the intangibles first, you're looking at the traits, then you figure out, this guy's really talented on defense. This guy's an excellent recruiter. This guy's really good at scheduling. This guy is terrific at running drills and practice. Then you put all that together and that's how I did it. And the guys that I got, I was so happy. I feel like I just...

hit home runs in every way because they were all loyal and they were all trustworthy.

Cory Heitz (15:35)
that's great. That's great. Thanks for sharing that. so since 2008, you've been the ESPN national recruiting director, right? So you're the guy, kids that are at the highest level are looking to see where you've ranked them. So share with us out there. you know, how are these rankings decided and what might surprise people about picking the numbers and where they're ranked?

PB (15:57)
Well, when I was coaching, were scouting services for a long time and there will be for decades after I'm done. The way, the way I do it is I take it as as a high major assistant coach or a head coach. I build a list out. go to events, high school, grassroots, scout lives, take notes. And then you start to compare and contrast players based on their ability. Now.

Cory Heitz (16:05)
That's right.

PB (16:25)
what they could be in college, and then we project into the NBA draft. After the NBA draft, we don't project if somebody could be a good NBA player. That's up to the NBA folks to do. They draft guys based on who they think are gonna be the best NBA players. Certainly with contracts and injury and all the different distractions that come along in the NBA, you don't know if somebody's gonna really be a great player, even if they're drafted in the lottery, we'll say.

But we can determine who will be drafted second round, first round in most cases. So it's a combination of a criteria. Who are the best players right now in high school basketball? Who impact, who dominate the game at the high school level among the best high school players in the country? And then what's their projection, their potential for college? Do they play on a top team? Do they play, are they a centerpiece of a program?

Are they coming off the bench? How productive can they be? That's a huge part of this, the way, Corey. Productivity. As much as performance and potential is important, I believe that productivity is a great sign of future success. What you repeatedly do in a game.

Cory Heitz (17:46)
Yeah, love all that. Now help me on this. We've asked a lot of prep school coaches that have come on what attributes their future NBA players that were on their roster that made it to the NBA, what they had or what they possessed. And I would love to get your opinion because look, people would pay a billion dollars to have the formula to make it to the NBA. And it's easier to get struck by lightning twice than to make it to the league. So in your opinion, Paul, what does a player need to have to make it to that level?

PB (18:15)
Well, you need to master something in the game because the NBA needs the best players in the world and each team has different needs. Now, athleticism is a big part of basketball and sizes. Now, not all, not every NBA player is has great size. There are guys now, the league is more accepting of small guards now. And I think you can look at obviously Trey Young, not being a big physical guard, but being

an outstanding guard in the league. And there's others like him that have been drafted and are playing in the league because they bring a certain skill set. So I would say athleticism, physical tools are so important. You know, the ability, the explosiveness, the power, the strength, the speed, the lateral quickness, along with great size. mean, how do you, NBA guys, the first thing they want to know is how big, how big?

Cory Heitz (19:12)
Mmm.

PB (19:12)
You

know, what's their wingspan? What's their standing reach? Those are separating factors for the NBA. It's not the end all be all, but that's kind of a baseline for that. So if you're not physically gifted in that area, then you really have to step up in your scoring ability. And it's not just three point shooting, but three point shooting is a big part of today's game. It's mid range shooting. A lot of teams still love the mid range game. Be a high level free throw shooter.

be a great layup maker. And with all the analytics today, they keep track of what's your percentage, again, efficiency of scoring in the paint, scoring from mid-range, your free throws, your three-point shooting, where you shoot from. Those things are all kind of calculated now for the best players in the country. And then certainly it's rebounding in defense. If you can do something special outside of scoring, you're going to find a spot.

a guy that you and I both know by name, but you think of Dennis Rodman. He couldn't score outside the paint. He made millions of dollars because he was a ferocious rebounder. And we can name so many guys from the NBA that were great passers, rebounders, shot blockers, those things translate. So it's physical tools, high level skill, and what else do you bring to the game? Now, that's all the basketball part.

How competitive are you? How coachable are you? What type of teammate are you going to be in that locker room? Because there's a lot of personalities in an NBA locker room, college locker room. There's a lot of alpha dogs. There's a lot of know-it-alls. There's a lot of people that will be turned off by you speaking up. Can you be a leader? Leadership is huge. And the NBA is even digging in deeper, just like college coaches.

to somebody's character. I get asked a lot, what will he be like in a locker room? What will he be like in a timeout? What will he be like in the community? Those things matter more than ever. They always mattered, but now with the internet and social media, those things become very important.

Cory Heitz (21:19)
Hmm.

Absolutely. Yeah. Thanks for sharing all that. during your years doing recruiting and ranking, is there a kid you saw and you just weren't impressed and then he turned out to really just exceed your expectations, maybe even making it to the NBA.

PB (21:48)
You know, I usually look for the good in everyone. And I see guys that maybe I was surprised they made the NBA. Every year, I actually write an article every year about five guys that were not ranked but made it to the NBA. Weren't ranked in high school, but they made it to the NBA. And those guys usually, you know, they have a story.

Right, everyone has a story how it started, prep school, junior college, transfer, and then they make it. It could be five years later. So I don't, can't think of someone off the top of my head, but I will think about Fred Van Vliet. When I watched him in high school, watched him in college, I loved his toughness, I loved his competitiveness, his basketball IQ, and that's something I didn't mention.

But IQ is a big part of the game today with scoring and shooting. You have to make decisions right now. You can't be robotic when you play the game. And I think a lot of the robotic players are over training and under practicing. But for Fred's situation, I'm a little surprised, but not shocked how well he's done in the NBA. Not very big, but boy is he tough. He's tough, he's smart, and he's a great shooter. And another guy that...

Cory Heitz (22:42)
Mm-hmm.

PB (23:11)
Again, I'm not shocked, but I'm a little surprised on his success is Jalen Brunson. I watched Jalen Brunson in high school. I thought he was one of the greatest winners I've seen in a long time. His dad was a great player at Temple, Rick Brunson, who I coached against at Boston College. So I know the family and I love Jalen Brunson. He was a top 20 recruit out of high school. McDonald's All-American State Champion obviously brought Villanova a national championship.

Cory Heitz (23:17)
Mm.

PB (23:41)
I didn't see this type of success in the NBA. mean, he's a legitimate all-star. And when you look at him physically, he doesn't pass that physical eye test. But the heart, the competitiveness is second to none, very coachable, great teammate, always has positive body language, and his skill level went from good to great. I think he's a wonderful example of kids that aren't very big and have had great success.

Cory Heitz (24:13)
Yeah, yeah, those are two great examples right there. Let's go back to rankings here or advice. So if you've got a kid who's getting ready to graduate next year in the class of 2027, what should they do differently maybe to get to the college level than maybe kids were doing five to seven years ago before COVID? What adjustments do they need to make?

PB (24:34)
Well, let me give you some numbers first for everybody, because this is important. This isn't to discourage anyone, but this is the facts. There's a half a million kids that play high school basketball. That's a lot. And we rank 100 kids in the senior class. We rank 60 kids in the junior class. We only rank 25 in the sophomore class. So with each class, there's over 100,000 basketball players.

So when you're in the top 100, you're going to get recruited. Rankings don't determine recruitment, but it certainly helps that college coaches know these are the most talented and maybe the best players in their group. And a lot of other kids won't get recruited. In fact, there's only about 800 kids that go Division I. 4 to 6 % of the senior class, Cory, 4 to 6%, play college ball.

Division 1, Division 2, Division 3. That's it. Junior college. So 94 % is not going to play in college. But 100 % of those kids think they're going to play.

So some of it's talent, some of it's physical tools, some of it is great intangibles. Like I would have never been a walk-on if I didn't have the traits and the intangibles to make practice better, to make the bench better, to be better in the locker room, to be better on the scout team. That was my role. I knew my role, I cherished my role, I wanted the uniform, got it.

But there are kids that are more talented that didn't play because they get distracted as they get older and maybe they don't love the game. And that's a big part of it. You have to not just like what you do, you have to love it, you have to live it. So for today's player in 2007, 2027, think it's really important to have a balanced approach to improvement. And parents want to talk about rankings, they want to talk about highlights, they want to talk about accolades.

But if you don't improve and you don't develop, there is no accolades. There is no more highlights. There is no more, there's no recruiting. And I'm a staunch advocate of not using the word exposure. I think it's an empty word. I think it's a misunderstood word. And I think for the player in 2027, practice, go to camps, play.

organized basketball, high school and club basketball, and then be in the gym by yourself or with your teammates. If you have a trainer, that's great. If he's training you to be a better basketball player for your high school team and your club team, he's a good trainer. If he's constantly showing you moves, ball handling moves, footwork moves that you never use in a game, then you're wasting your time and money.

So it's really important how you practice, who you practice with. I would go to college camps. know, lot of colleges have what they call elite camps, they're one day camps. That's how you get better. You get drills, you get lectures, you get the right messaging. And that's been gone because of showcases. All showcases are just bad pickup basketball. You can see talent in a showcase, but you don't see good habits.

You don't see consistency. You don't see team play very, very often. So I'm not a big advocate of showcases. I'm a big advocate of camps and playing travel basketball and getting in the gym by yourself. There's nobody that can make you better, better than yourself.

Cory Heitz (28:35)
I love all that. but help me with this then. If you don't agree in exposure as much, how are these kids that are putting in all this hard work, how are they getting placed in college then? What's your recipe for that?

PB (28:46)
Well, because you got to play. The only way you can be seen is by playing high school basketball or grassroots basketball. That's how people see you. To me, that's opportunity. That's not exposure. Because if I watch you play in a grassroots game and you have a bad game, then you just got bad exposure. And my thought is, let me see him again. Maybe he's better than he showed. Maybe he had a bad day.

See, exposure is a one-hit wonder. Somebody has a great game and he's going to get recruited. What happens if he has a great game and then all of a sudden his games and performances start to decrease? Then that exposure wasn't real. See, I tell every kid and parent, coach, trainer, anybody who will listen, you don't have to prove yourself, but you have to improve yourself. That's your job.

So you get seen by playing, but your job as a parent and as a player is to get good. So when people see you, they see something they like. It could be the intensity that you bring. It could be the ball handling you bring. It could be your passing, decision making. It doesn't have to be shooting and scoring. In fact, most likely that won't get you recruited because most high school kids

are not very consistent and they're not very efficient. So bring things to the table that coaches will like so you can fit into their team. See, a coach is trying to find a roster of guys that fit together. They're not trying to build an All-Star team.

Cory Heitz (30:30)
Right.

PB (30:34)
And so that's why I...

Cory Heitz (30:34)
Yeah, you can't have 12 shooters

and scorers either, so you gotta have role players and... Yeah.

PB (30:39)
You gotta have someone to

rebound it. You have to have someone to pass it. You have to have someone to defend. And every coach behind closed doors says, this is the character of the player we want. We want to make sure his academics are in line with our school and that he's serious about academics. We can't have somebody who's ineligible. We can't have somebody we're gonna chase and find out if they went to class. We can't have somebody we have to babysit if they go to study hall. We can't have somebody who's gonna...

be disrespectful to a tutor or not show up for a tutor. So character, academics, and talent is what coaches discuss behind closed doors. And that's how they decide what they're looking for. You have no control if you get recruited, but you do have control over your character, over your academics, and how much you dedicate yourself to your sport.

Cory Heitz (31:36)
Good advice. Back to parents, what are they doing today in 2026 that's either helping their kids or hurting them as far as getting into college?

PB (31:46)
Well, I think parents hurt kids when they try to do everything for them. There's no doubt about it. I see it at every event. They try to make sure they're playing with the right team. And if they feel like they're not playing on the right team, they put them on another team. And if that's not right, they put them on another team. The transferring is a turnoff to college coaches. So stop trying to orchestrate and manipulate everything for your kid. Whether he's playing on a

nationally known circuit or an independent circuit. First thing is he has to get good and you only get good by playing. Playing means you're to make mistakes and then you correct and learn from those mistakes and move on from those mistakes. But you also have to play well. And every coach knows that when he watches somebody, he's going to see a little good and a little bad. That's why the evaluation has to be fluid. It has to be constant.

because kids change all the time. So parents, don't try to make everything happen for your kid. You can't step on the court and play for them. But you can encourage them. You can support them in terms of, you know, helping them reach their dreams. You drive them places, you pay for things, you hydrate them, you give them the right nutrition. Maybe you're getting them recovery tools to help them, you know, after a hard game. So there's a lot of things parents can do.

But the best thing a parent can do is not try to do everything for their kids. The kids have to perform on their own and tell your kid the truth if they ask. And don't coach them. That's the worst thing you can do is coach your own kid. Worst thing you can do. Because now the player says, should I listen to my parent or listen to my coach? Always gonna listen to your parent. Even if you disagree with what your dad says.

You're going to try to listen to your dad to make him happy and make him proud. And the best thing a parent could do is say, listen to the coach. Because the coach is there for a reason. If you want to coach the team, dad or mom, then you go coach the team. But if you're not coaching the team, your son has to learn how to listen to other people. And that's how you become coachable.

Cory Heitz (34:07)
Yeah, absolutely. Now, let me ask you this. There's this theory I've got. call it a D1 Herpes. And it's when a junior gets a call or a text from a D1 assistant. And from that point on, whether it's warranted or not, they think they're a D1 player and it just kind of, that's the kind of glasses they wear and their parents wear from then on out. So if they don't get D1, they're disappointed. In the rankings world, have you seen it? And obviously you have to name names where a kid gets a ranking and then like,

it changes how they play or how they act or how they come across.

PB (34:38)
Well certainly, it's called Entitlement.

know, players think that they're better than they are until they get beat. You know, you're never as good as you think you are. You're never as bad as other people say you are. So it's really important that you understand where your greatest opportunity is to play. Who do you fit with the best teammates wise and coach wise? And that's how you pick your school opportunity and fit. And with the with the portal. We just had COVID.

you know, four or five years ago and that COVID eligibility hurt a lot of kids. You have to find who you want to play for and who you want to play with. That's way more important than the level. Everybody wants to play at the highest level. Everybody wants to coach at the highest level, but you have to start somewhere first. And just because you get a phone call, an email, even if you take a visit, that doesn't mean they want you. That means they're recruiting you.

Cory Heitz (35:39)
All

PB (35:41)
And there's a huge difference between interest and offers. And even if you get offered, that doesn't mean it's the right opportunity for you. A lot of schools offer kids because they need insurance. They need backup to their backups or they need backup to somebody who may, if there's an injury, you don't know. So the idea is to go to the level where you're comfortable with your role.

and you're comfortable with your teammates, you like that locker room, you trust that head coach, you have a good relationship with the assistants, but you have to trust the head coach. Even if he is telling you things you don't want to hear, to me, that's the best head coach because you help people when you tell them the truth. You only help yourself when you tell them what they want to hear.

Cory Heitz (36:34)
Yeah, sage advice, sage advice. Now you being a former D1 assistant, D1 head coach, doing all the recruiting and rankings you're doing, you come across a lot of prep school kids. What is your thoughts on the benefits of prep school? And is there a difference between a prep school basketball player and maybe a kid just going to a normal public school?

PB (36:54)
Well, it depends why they go. I think kids go to prep schools or they have went to prep schools for physical development. They weren't strong enough. They were weak. Maybe they still got a growth spurt inside of them. The weight room needs to be addressed when they go to prep school so they can play or be ready to have the physicality for college. Academics, a lot of kids went to get eligible to make sure their transcript was good and that they could do college work.

And then some of the kids went to prep school because they were on that borderline between division three and two, two and one. They thought maybe another year of competitive high school basketball would get them recruited at a higher level. Sometimes that's true, sometimes it's not. Sometimes you end up at the same level. I don't want to say you wasted a year, but if you didn't go all out in prep school and maximize your opportunity there.

then you should have just went to college. Because recruiting usually only changes. The market will decide where you're to get recruited. The market sorts you out in all this. You have no control over who's going to recruit you. Again, you have control over how much you prepare, how much you dedicate yourself to the sport that you say that you love. But I think prep school is a wonderful thing. Because if you ask a freshman, think about this. How good can you be five years from now?

versus four years from now? And the answer is a lot better for the guys that practice it, love it, and live it. If you don't love it and live it, you can go to prep school for 10 years. It's not gonna change. See, a lot of parents and kids think, if I go somewhere, something will change. That's not true. You have to change and then go somewhere.

Cory Heitz (38:23)
Mm-hmm.

Right, right. Last big question here that we ask everyone that comes on the podcast and I'd love to get your take. What does it take to be a D1 guard in today's game?

PB (39:00)
Well, I'm going to start with efficiency, whether it's shooting, free throw line, threes, mid-range layups. You can't be a high volume guard, especially a small guard. You better be efficient and you better have deep range. Number two, your assist to turnover ratio is crucial. Two to one is good, three to one is great. And then be a standout on ball defender.

Be somebody who can get into the ball full court, certainly at half court, and not let your man go by you. Somebody who can work their way, as we like to say as coaches, fight over screens, get around screens, and be a good help defender. But you have to impact the game on both ends. To say you're a great three-point shooter, that could get you recruited, but maybe not to the level that you want to play at.

There's a lot of division one shooters, they're division three players, division two players, but they do have a good skill and sometimes you get recruited for that. I think you want to have some completeness to you. think completeness, you want to be consistent with your productivity and certainly be efficient in the numbers that we talked about. And then the secret sauce or the superpower, be a pain in the you know what defender, be pesky.

be aggressive, make defense important.

Cory Heitz (40:31)
Yeah, love that. Thanks for sharing all those tips. We're gonna finish with a couple quick hitters, all right? I'm gonna take you back to your playing days and who's the best player you ever played against.

PB (40:43)
Okay, well, playing days, best player I ever played against. Since I was not a good player, everybody was better, had I played against, but I'm trying to think of a well-known player that I played against back in the 80s. I would say a young man who went to Boston College, his name was Dewan Chandler. He played for Tom Davis, actually, so you go back, Gary Williams, then Tom Davis.

Cory Heitz (40:49)
No.

PB (41:11)
Duann Chandler was one of the best guards in the city of Boston. And to be on the court with him was, I was awestruck. And he was a great player at Boston College. was a great player in the state of Massachusetts.

Cory Heitz (41:26)
Okay, now this is a tougher one. In all years of coaching, head coach, assistant coach, all levels, who put up the best performance against you in a game?

PB (41:36)
That's a great question. I would say of all the guys that I coached against, Big 10, Big East, even as a head coach, Allen Iverson at Georgetown. He put up performances that you could remember. And the thing about AI was this. He can be quiet for five or six, seven minutes in a game and then just absolutely explode on you. In transition, steals, makes big shots.

He could take over the game. I gotta give you one more guy, because he was so prolific, but Ray Allen from Connecticut. He had monster games, unfortunately, against us at Boston College. And he was one of the greatest shooters I've ever seen, and Allen Iverson, some of the best performances I've ever seen.

Cory Heitz (42:13)
Hmm.

It's your favorite movie of all time.

PB (42:29)
Rocky.

Cory Heitz (42:31)
And last one, when you're not doing this basketball thing, what are your hobbies?

PB (42:38)
I love going to the beach. We have a dog. That's about it. just really I am consumed with basketball. If I'm not somewhere live, I'm watching it on film. If I'm not watching it on film, I'm watching games on TV like yourself, right? College basketball, NBA, and I always study the game, so I read about it a lot. But I would have to say having a dog. We've got a brand new dog here, so.

He's gonna take up a lot of my time and if I can ever get to a beach, that's a win.

Cory Heitz (43:14)
I'm gonna throw one more in here. What's your ideal basketball watching experience? Is it in a TV at home? Is it courtside? Is it in a sweaty AU gym in the summer? High school gym? Like, what's ideal for you? You could pick it.

PB (43:29)
I like being in a gym early in the morning or late at night and just kind of sitting there at half court and seeing the players at that moment in terms of, it's great to be courtside calling the McDonald's All-American game. That's cool, that's exciting. You don't know what's gonna happen, but there's so much talent in the gym. College games are exciting. It's just being in that sweaty gym.

early in the morning, late at night and see who has what in the tank. And you kind of find out who really loves to play because at 9 a.m. I want to see who wants it. And at 9 p.m. I want to see which team, which coach is putting it all out on the court in the middle of July or sometime in May. So I would say where most people don't think players become players is in the gym, right?

Cory Heitz (44:08)
Yeah.

PB (44:26)
The game's played on 94 feet and all the answers are in the gym. So anytime I can get to a good grassroots or a good high school game, I'm down for it.

Cory Heitz (44:39)
Is there anything you want to mention that we did not discuss during our time together, Paula?

PB (44:43)
No, just for the parents and the players. Rankings mean something, but they don't determine success. Make sure that you're constantly trying to improve yourself. And remember, you don't have to prove yourself to anybody. Scouts, media, parents, friends, nobody. I think that's really important. And my greatest piece of advice for myself and for any athlete is the one game they should never play.

is the comparison game. You can never win. Somebody's always going to be better than you, and you're always going to be better than somebody else. And it truly is a recipe for unhappiness. And when I see kids and parents start to compare, that's when I see players start to digress and not make improvement. You impress people when you improve.

When you start comparing yourself, I think you start to lose who you are and you start to kind of lose your love for what you're doing. Look, you can be happy for somebody else's success, but there'll never be another you. So why would you compare yourself to somebody else? It truly does take away from your growth. So that's one game for all us competitive people. Don't ever play it.

Cory Heitz (46:12)
love that. Paul, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. I appreciate the wisdom, your point of view, your background, and just all the knowledge you shared today.

PB (46:21)
Cory thank you for having me.

Cory Heitz (46:23)
All right ladies and gentlemen that was Paul Biancardi, Director of Recruiting for ESPN and former D1 Head Coach joining us today. If you like this podcast be sure to share it with a friend and subscribe on all the major podcasting platforms and we'll see you next time on the Prepathetics Podcast. Take care.