2013 Class Signing Rankings: Early Edition – Dec. 3, 2012

Diamond DeShields headlines the top ranked signing research paper outline art history class for the 2013 class. *Photo by Ty Freeman

By: @ChrisHansenPSB

All but two of the class of 2013’s five-star prospects have signed a National Letter of Intent and 16 of those players helped build a signing class worth of top 20 status.

At the top two sports are the only two programs to notch three of the rare talents earning five stars.  North Carolina, who signed No. 3 Diamond DeShields of Norcross, Ga., No. 7 Allisha Gray of Sanderville, Ga., and No. 14 Jessica Washington of Tulsa, Okla., from the five-star top shelf, as well as highly regarded four-star prospect Stephanie Mavunga of Brownsburg, Ind., who is ranked 23^rd in the class.

Duke checks in with the No. 2 overall class with its trio of five-star prospects – No. 6 Rebecca Greenwell of Owensboro, Ky., No. 10 Oderah Chidom of Oakland, Calif., and No. 12 Kendall Cooper of Carson, Calif. – in addition to No. 32 Kianna Holland of Seneca, S.C.

The only other program to research paper thesis score multiple five-star prospects was Tennessee, who signed the top ranked player in the class, Mercedes Russell of Springfield, Ore., and No. 8 Jannah Tucker of Randllstown, Md.  The duo will be joined by Jordan Reynolds of Portland, Ore., a four-star prospect ranked 42^nd in the class.

Rounding out the top five are Notre Dame with the Irish signature signee being No. 4 Taya Reimer of Indianapolis, Ind., and Kentucky, who landed No. 5 Linnae Harper of Chicago, Ill.

Conference realignment makes the run down by conference almost worthy of analysis all by itself.  The ACC claims seven of the top 20 classes when given credit for the future addition of Notre Dame, leaving the Big East with just one class, Georgetown, in the top 20 once Rutgers moves to the Big Ten.

And speaking of the Big Ten, before realignment it would claim just two spots in the top 20 – Northwestern and Penn State —  but add Maryland and Rutgers and it ties the how do i finish my homework fast SEC for second in conference totals with four.

The Pac-12, which has stayed relatively quiet on the realignment front, after acquiring Colorado and Utah a year ago, checks in with three top 20 classes.   Conference powers Stanford and Cal signed the 6^th and 17^th ranked classes, respectively, while upstart Washington inked the No. 9 class nationally.

While the Big 12 didn’t come up with huge numbers in the 2013 class, the defending national champions, Baylor, did land a top 20 class, checking in at No. 11 with its four-player class.

With two five-star prospects set to sign late – Ieshia Small of Tallashassee, Fla., and Jessica Jackson of Jacksonville, Ark., the spring signing period could see a little movement, but buy and large it is obvious who the biggest winners in 2013 recruiting are.

Rankings are compiled by Peach State Basketball and the JumpOffPlus.com National Scouting Report contributors.