Recruiting Rankings Updated

The writers over at Rivals.com have been drooling over Jared Berggren this spring, and now have moved him up significantly in their Class of '08 rankings. I'll admit to getting caught up in the recruiting hype sometimes, but at least the guys at Rivals are seeing these kids play, whereas I have only seen clips, pictures and old highlight videos of some of the Badger recruits. So I am willing to be less skeptical of the rankings than some, as long as we all agree they have little bearing on a player's collegiate success.

With that said, Berggren is listed as #57 on the newly released Rivals150. Like Iman Shumpert (#41), Berggren shot way up the charts from #140 based on his AAU circuit play. He is now rated by Rivals as the 10th-best center prospect of '08. He and Jordan Taylor have gotten increased playing time on the Howard Pulley AAU squad with a couple of the other high-profile Panthers (USC-bound PG Angelo Johnson and sophomore Royce White) sitting out the recent Jayhawk Invitational. Both Berggren and Taylor were named first-team all-tournament. Taylor moved himself up to #99 in those same rankings as the junior class' 15th-best point guard.

In Berggren's case, the news is a relief to those, like me, who last fall saw his thin, fragile frame for the first time. It looks like he's started to really fill in quite a bit.