Hamga proves star rankings guarantee nothing

Lon Kruger was a no-star. All he turned out to be was one of the finest basketball players in Kansas State history. Lew Hill was a no-star. All he did was win a national junior college championship and become an All-Missouri Valley Conference player at Wichita State. Rene Rougeau was a no-star. All he can boast about is being the best all-around player on UNLV's roster today.

"They didn't have stars when I was playing," Kruger said.

Back then, stars were left to those who have use for them: Astronomers.

Things have changed for the worse.

Beas Hamga today is a confused 20-year-old searching for a new home. He's also a flawless example of how suspect rankings and overzealous expectations can lead to hasty decisions.

He is the poster boy for hype gone unrealized. He is one of many before and to come in college basketball.

Hamga was granted his release from the Rebels on Friday and now will look for playing time elsewhere, although what he assumes will be greener pastures has every chance of offering the same level of disenchantment he felt here.

He hasn't come close to proving he's near the player prep rankings advertised him to be, which speaks to a much larger problem than his frustration sitting the bench.

Simply, such rankings are more often than not absurd.

Internet sites and others who rank high school players serve a purpose, just not a legitimate one. They are an enjoyable hobby for fans, but anyone who accepts such evaluations as a definite gauge of long-term potential either works for those offering the ranking or is in desperate need of a life.

So few prospects are such obvious can't-miss greats, my 7-year-old daughter could rank them. Even she would have been OK with LeBron James getting five stars.

It's just the hundreds of others people guess at.

By one service Hamga was ranked as the nation's fifth-best center and its 26th-best player overall when arriving at UNLV. We now know how preposterous those claims were. It's not the first or even the 1,000th time.

The lunacy begins with a subjective number of stars being assigned to a player by someone who might watch the kid just a few times (if that) and often has questionable relationships with AAU coaches pushing players for their own benefit.

It continues with college coaches hyping the player once signed, with media relations officials writing releases and media guide bios highlighting such rankings, and with the media falling in line by repeating the same glowing information. We're part of the problem. We are guilty of feeding the beast like everyone else.

"You have to accept that's part of it and move on," said Hill, a fifth-year assistant under Kruger. "All of that stuff is part of the business now. ... But nobody seems to have patience -- (not) the kid's people (or) the kid himself. Look at the background of our program. Rene. Joel (Anthony). Gaston (Essengue). Joe (Darger). The only really good one right off the bat was Wink (Adams).

"Those other guys stayed and worked and developed and had patience. I think (Hamga) was going to be a good player for us, just not this year."

Did UNLV coaches miss on him as a recruit? We won't know until Hamga's career plays out, whenever and wherever that is. But this is certain: If you're near 7 feet on a team with little inside game -- or at least none that would worry good opponents -- and you can't get off the bench, you're at least a year or two from being able to contribute much at this level.

There's nothing wrong with that. Hamga is a redshirt freshman. He had time to grow and mature and add weight and eventually see more time.

But that's not the instant-gratification world we live in, and whether it was Hamga or those who advise him or both, the burden of living up to impractical expectations or believing ones that they wrongly bought into, the choice was made to leave.

I'm sure UNLV wanted him to stay, that Kruger wasn't at all forthcoming on a local radio show Thursday when asked about Hamga because he perhaps thought there was a way to salvage the situation. At least I'd like to believe it. You never really know. Coaches want more than anything to win. It's contained in their DNA.

I'm sure of this: The beast yet again proves itself as reliable as bald tires.

"Not being part of any of those (prep rankings) or having any stars by my name helped me a lot," Rougeau said. "There weren't any expectations of me out of high school, which allowed me to come in and work hard and get better. I'm still trying to prove myself each day.

"But you can either make it at this level or you can't. You have to understand not everyone is going to come in and play right away. I'm sorry Beas had to leave. He's a friend. I wish him the best. I hope it's the right move. But you have to either learn patience or move on.

"Five stars are nice for the fans to talk about, but you still have to prove you can play."

Maybe we should leave all the rankings to Rougeau. Let's hear it for a return to the time when reality trumped propaganda.

Leave the stars to the guys with telescopes.

Ed Graney can be reached at 702-383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.