Daniel Poneman

[Da Coach]

Daniel Poneman, who has posted on our board in the past, is one of the hardest working individuals in the field of scouting high school basketball players.

Here is a great article about Daniel from the New York Times-

Driven Young Man With a Basketball Mission
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/us/21cncsports.html

Daniel has decided to skip college for now to concentrate on his passion of reporting on high school basketball.http://www.chicagonewscoop.org/driven-young-man-with-a-basketball-mission/

Here is Daniel's original website IllinoisHS basketball.com-
www.Illinoishsbasketball.com
He is also quite active on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Daniel will soon start a new website that takes his scouting and networking regarding high school players to a national level.
Good luck Daniel!

 

[BradleyBrave]

Daniel Poneman, who has posted on our board in the past, is one of the hardest working individuals in the field of scouting high school basketball players.

Here is a great article about Daniel from the New York Times-

Driven Young Man With a Basketball Mission
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/us/21cncsports.html

Daniel has decided to skip college for now to concentrate on his passion of reporting on high school basketball.

Here is Daniel's original website IllinoisHS basketball.com-
www.Illinoishsbasketball.com
He is also quite active on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Daniel will soon start a new website that takes his scouting and networking regarding high school players to a national level.
Good luck Daniel!

Wow. Gutsy move in skipping college, but why not go for it? I personally think he could do both, college kids have an amazing amount of spare time and do have summers free.

 

[SFP]

Wow. Gutsy move in skipping college, but why not go for it? I personally think he could do both, college kids have an amazing amount of spare time and do have summers free.

Scouting takes a lot of travel time and college should be an investment so it helps you make a better living. If Daniel is doing what he wants and believes he can make a living to a standard he will be comfortable, then why not? He can always head to college if things do not work out. Bill Gates never finished college. Good for him to follow his passion and know what it is at a young age!

 

[Da Coach]

The difference with the Bill Gates comparison is that I do not see that a future in what DP is doing will ever translate into big revenue or a comfortable living. But it seems like it is a fun lifestyle, and if that's what his passion is I am happy to see him pursue it.

For the record, there have been many other people who have done what DP is doing or tried to do it. I still have dozens of bookmarked links to old recruiting websites that are no longer kept up or active.
I appears that nearly all who have done this have failed and eventually quit and went back to other pursuits.

 

[houstontxbrave]

The difference with the Bill Gates comparison is that I do not see that a future in what DP is doing will ever translate into big revenue or a comfortable living. But it seems like it is a fun lifestyle, and if that's what his passion is I am happy to see him pursue it.

For the record, there have been many other people who have done what DP is doing or tried to do it. I still have dozens of bookmarked links to old recruiting websites that are no longer kept up or active.
I appears that nearly all who have done this have failed and eventually quit and went back to other pursuits.

I bet a guy like Mel Kiper started out in a similar fashion... the more you meet the right people the more opportunities come your way. Do your passion and success will follow.

 

[Da Coach]

You are right- if you fill a niche that there aren't many others striving to fill, it can translate into a profession. But for every Mel Kiper, I'll bet there are a hundred others you've never heard of.


If I remember, when I can check into my old bookmarked sites, I can post some of the names of recruiting sites that are defunct and "experts" who are no longer in the business. There are probably 10 or more who concentrated just on Illinois hoops alone (and many more nationally).
One of the best, and the "Daniel Poneman of his time", was a young guy named Frank Rusnak who had a great site called Illinois High School Elite.
Prior to 2005, his was the best site for following Illinois high school players and recruiting. But he gave it up to go earn a living.
http://www.highschoolelite.com/

Also Scott Powers' Illinoishoops.com. Powers just abandonded his site this past year.-
http://www.illhoops.com/

There are many more, but I would have to check my old bookmarks to remember their names. Here is one that died a couple years ago-
http://www.windycitybasketball.com/index.php?id=1

And this site used to be pretty good and rated Illinois players accurately-
http://www.illinoishoops.s5.com/

http://illinoispreptoptimes.com/

http://botbscouting.blogspot.com/2008/09/we-wont-be-updating-site-as-much-as-in.htmlhttp://www.windycitybasketball.com/index.php?id=270

Funny how many of these old sites are still online- someone must still be paying the server bill to support these, even if the sites are defunct.

Others are no longer online-
http://www.illinoisprephoops.com/

 

[houstontxbrave]

You are right- if you fill a niche that there aren't many others striving to fill, it can translate into a profession. But for every Mel Kiper, I'll bet there are a hundred others you've never heard of.


If I remember, when I can check into my old bookmarked sites, I can post some of the names of recruiting sites that are defunct and "experts" who are no longer in the business. There are probably 10 or more who concentrated just on Illinois hoops alone (and many more nationally).
One of the best, and the "Daniel Poneman of his time", was a young guy named Frank Rusnak who had a great site called Illinois High School Elite.
Prior to 2005, his was the best site for following Illinois high school players and recruiting. But he gave it up to go earn a living.
http://www.highschoolelite.com/

Also Scott Powers' Illinoishoops.com. Powers just abandonded his site this past year.-
http://www.illhoops.com/

There are many more, but I would have to check my old bookmarks to remember their names. Here is one that died a couple years ago-
http://www.windycitybasketball.com/index.php?id=1

And this site used to be pretty good and rated Illinois players accurately-
http://www.illinoishoops.s5.com/

http://illinoispreptoptimes.com/

http://botbscouting.blogspot.com/2008/09/we-wont-be-updating-site-as-much-as-in.htmlhttp://www.windycitybasketball.com/index.php?id=270

Funny how many of these old sites are still online- someone must still be paying the server bill to support these, even if the sites are defunct.

Others are no longer online-
http://www.illinoisprephoops.com/

You get one life, if this doesnt work so what? Just like these you reference they atleast tried to do what they wanted. How knows what or why it didnt work but atleast they went for it.

The upside is incredible and the downside is well you have to move on and you have to maybe do something different but the ride likely will always be memorable.

 

[Beninator]

You get one life, if this doesnt work so what? Just like these you reference they atleast tried to do what they wanted. How knows what or why it didnt work but atleast they went for it.

The upside is incredible and the downside is well you have to move on and you have to maybe do something different but the ride likely will always be memorable.

Daniel is a good guy and he is trying to do something that he loves. I agree with your statement that if it doesn't work so what. He is young enough to try this type of endeavor and can always go to school if it does not work out. At least he will not look back and wonder "what if"! I wish him nothing but the best!