2024 Basketball Rankings Update: Cooper Flagg finishes on top and final thoughts on the class’ future

Now available are the final 2024 national basketball rankings. This signifies the senior class’s graduation from our high school rankings.

Expectations were rather low when they started their four-year trip through the national high school rankings. The 2024 class was also thought to represent the second part of a two-year decline in talent, following the widely accepted belief that the 2023 class was a weak set of prospects.

2024 has undoubtedly disproved those who doubted it, even though 2023 never fully did!
The 2024 class has surely improved with the addition of No. 1 Cooper Flagg (Duke signee), who reclassified from the 2025 class last summer. However, he isn’t the only rookie to boost the group’s talent level; No. 4, a fellow Duke pledge, Thanks to NBA Academy Africa, Khaman Maluach has moved up to the 2024 class. No. 9 Jayden Quaintance of Arizona State, another five-star talent, has also moved up from the 2025 class.

The founding members of the 2024 class have made rapid progress, which has been equally crucial in stabilizing the class. The most obvious example of this is No. 2 Ace Bailey, a signee of the Rutgers team, but he’s not the only one. Both No. 3 Dylan Harper (Rutgers) and No. 5 VJ Edgecombe (Baylor) have outperformed preconceived notions about them. Players who have advanced at a steady pace, such as No. 6 Tre Johnson (a commit from Texas), No. 8 Ian Jackson (North Carolina), No. 10 Liam McNeeley (Connecticut), and No. 12 Derik Queen (Maryland), have all been among the best in the class from beginning to end.

Although the group as a whole has performed better than anticipated, the process of determining our final rankings compels us to take into account how these players stack up against one another.

We selected two primary variables as our future projections for that comparison:

Who are the top college athletes going to be?

Who are the most promising long-term career prospects?

There are various answers to these questions, particularly in this class. However, they continue to decide the players’ positions when they move from the high school to the college game.

Let’s start by addressing Flagg and Bailey’s queries. The two prospects vying for the top slot in the class.

I think Flagg has the better floor in the long run, as well as as a freshman in college the next year. He is one of the early favorites to be selected first in the 2025 NBA draft since he is going to be a successful and extremely versatile two-way player. Is he the pinnacle of offensive alphas? That remains to be seen, and in the end, it may be the most important factor to consider when estimating his upside.

Regarding Bailey, he’s progressed so quickly. In the process, his mix of wing size, athleticism, and difficult shot-making ability has allowed him to show glimpses of true brilliance this season. If all goes according to plan, he may potentially have the biggest upside in the class. But compared to a player like Flagg, he also has a larger variety of possible outcomes. Bailey will have to become more adept at choosing his places and concurrently become used to a lot more structure at the collegiate level than he has experienced thus far.

Using the post-season tournaments, Harper, who will join Bailey in a historic Rutgers recruiting class next year, regained his ranking in the top three in 2024. He’s headed toward being a giant lead-guard because of his size, strength, length, and sense of play. Next year, he’ll probably be the top freshman guard in the nation. To reach his greatest potential, though, his shooting needs to become a weapon that can be used anywhere because he isn’t a particularly athletic person.

Regarding the remainder of the class, players like Queen and McNeeley should rank among the top freshman in college basketball the following year. Johnson and Miami-signed No. 7 Jalil Bethea ought to be prepared to help in the upcoming campaign. They could end up being two of the top freshmen scorers.

Edgecombe ought to be given the opportunity to have an effect right away as well. Scouts are most positive, though, about his long-term ceiling. In this group of high ceiling incoming freshmen, players like Maluach, Quaintance, and even No. 11 Drake Powell (a commit to North Carolina) might need a little more time to develop.