Shane Larkin and Trey Burke Are Two of the Best Point Guards in College Basketball, But Neither Were Highly Recruited

Larkin and Burke have come a long way from their high school days – Larkin was the 16th best point guard in his class according to Rivals and Burke, amazingly, was 26th. ESPN’s Recruiting Database basically had the two flipped – Burke was 15th and Larkin was 26th.

Larkin accepted a scholarship to DePaul, but transferred out due to a mysterious health ailment (which still hasn’t been made public). He had a tremendous year with the Hurricanes, making 1st team All-ACC and winning ACC Tournament MVP honors.

Burke was vastly under-recruited out of Ohio. He had lower-middle Big East teams after him (Cincinnati, Providence) as well as lower-middle Big Ten 10 teams (Iowa, Nebraska, Penn State). He is a near lock to win Big Ten player of the Year, and he’s a contender for the National Player of the Year award (with Georgetown’s Otto Porter and Indiana’s Victor Oladipo).