NABC 2026: What Basketball Coaches Are Telling Us About Recruiting

The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Convention is one of the premier gatherings in men’s college basketball—held in Indianapolis during the energy and excitement of Final Four weekend. Nearly 3,000 coaches from college and high school programs filled the Indiana Convention Center over three days.

For the Scorability team, NABC was an opportunity to talk to customers and go deep on our favorite topic: recruiting! We connected with coaches, explored how they approach recruiting, and learned what’s working as they build their rosters.

Here’s what stood out from our conversations on the floor.

The Scorability booth at this year’s NABC in Indianapolis.

Character isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s a roster decision

Basketball rosters are small. With only around 15 players on a team, the right fit is integral to grow chemistry, culture, and performance. Coaches know this, and they take it seriously.

Time and again, coaches told us they care deeply about who a player is off the court—in the locker room, in the community, and at home. Our character insights, including mentality assessments and coach evaluations, resonated strongly in these conversations. Talent matters, but so does being a good person. Successful programs require that coaches search out the full picture of a recruit before they ever step foot on campus.

High school coach relationships are everything

Across all levels, college coaches emphasized how much they rely on relationships with high school coaches to find and vet recruits. These relationships are built over years, and tools that support and strengthen those connections, rather than trying to bypass them, are the ones coaches trust.

The recruiting landscape looks different by division

Our NABC conversations reminded us how differently programs recruit depending on their division.

At the Division I (D1) level, the transfer portal and international students have become the primary roster-building strategy. For many of these programs, nearly 100% of roster additions come through those two channels. Traditional high school recruiting has taken a back seat.

Division II (D2), Division III (D3), NAIA, and JUCO (Junior College) levels take nearly the opposite approach. Coaches need high school students to fill their rosters, and coaches at these division levels largely lack dedicated recruiting tools and big budgets. Processes are disjointed, information lives in spreadsheets and email threads, and staff are stretched thin. There’s a real opportunity to bring structure and efficiency to these programs, and we’re excited to help!

International recruiting is growing

Several programs expressed strong interest in expanding their international recruiting. Basketball has a global talent base, and coaches are increasingly aware of it. International prospects are known to have strong skill sets and high basketball IQ. When a coach recruits outside of the United States, it increases their chances of finding hidden talent. Understandably, coaches are eager for tools that help them identify and evaluate talent across borders without having to start from scratch.

Verified data builds trust

These coaches want data they can rely on. When athletes self-report their measurables—height, wingspan, speed, etc.—a conflict of interest can result in inaccurate reporting. Coaches appreciated that Scorability verifies athlete data, removing that uncertainty and letting them make decisions with confidence.

Regional recruiting deserves better tools

For programs that recruit regionally, the ability to visualize geography matters. Several coaches lit up when they saw Scorability’s map feature. Knowing they can see every prospect in a target area is exactly the kind of assurance that helps smaller staff recruit smarter.

Camps are an untapped opportunity

On the camp and registration side, coaches were candid: most programs aren’t maximizing their camps, and it’s not from a lack of interest. It comes down to bandwidth. Smaller staff and tighter rosters mean camp operations can feel like more work than they’re worth. Our Ryzer customers spoke of a strong appreciation for the support they receive in this area, and there’s clearly room to help more programs unlock the full value of their camp programs.

What NABC reminds us about basketball recruiting

Basketball recruiting has its own rhythms, pressures, and constraints. Whether it’s a DI coach navigating the portal, a DIII coach working without dedicated tools, or an assistant coach trying to make the most of a regional recruiting territory, the common thread between coaches was a desire for reliable, organized, and decision-ready information.

If you want to learn more about what Scorability is doing for basketball programs, we’d love to connect.