Girls’ high school basketball season is finally here, and this week Florida Prospects will provide an inside look on today’s Top 25 teams. With the state (FHSAA) increasing its classifications from six to eight, many participating schools believe this will provide a lot more excitement and opportunity for them participate in Lakeland this year.

The Florida Prospects staff would like to extend its warmest welcome to you and is honored to present our First Annual Florida Prospects Girls Thanksgiving Basketball Invitational.

With some of the top players in the nation coming from the state of Florida the past few years, the spotlight on Florida Boys Basketball has been shining brighter then ever. With the rest of the nation starting to realize the talent that the state has, now more than ever the state has seen a revolving door of college recruiters looking for the next great player.

This past weekend, 84 for 32 Hoops in injunction with Reebok hosted their third Reebok Headliner camp in Jacksonville Florida. The camp is designed to showcase some of the top underclassmen in the state, and it gives an opportunity for the top players of the camp to compete at Reebok University.

In 2007, the Reebok Basketball Breakout Challenge changed the course of history for John Wall. This summer, Reebok and John Wall are re-launching the Reebok Basketball Breakout Challenge to give deserving basketball players the chance to change their destiny as well. Starting Sunday May 15, 2011 in Jacksonville Florida.

The 2011 Florida Football class is shaping up to be one of the best classes throughout the nation. The class bolsters several players who will be highly ranked nationally with potentially the top player in the nation. Today Florida Prospects releases our Pre-Season Boys Top 100 for the class of 2012.

As Florida Prospects prepares to release its initial lists of 5 star football players for the class of 2012 we first wanted to share our grading process with you. Our grading scale is a combination of scores in 5 categories which are: Athleticism, Field Presence, Potential, Stature, and Technique. Here is a synopsis for what we look for in each category and a description of how we score the athletes as well as our general grading scale.

After losing to Miami Lourdes Academy in the state semifinals, Orlando Dr. Phillips Lady Panthers immediately set a goal of not only returning to Lakeland, but to go to the championship game. After a 51-41 victory over South Broward in their semifinal game, the Panthers has accomplished their team goal and now has their sights on a state title.

Tampa Sickles knew coming into the game that they had to be careful with the ball and keep the game at a low scoring pace against Winter Haven if they had a chance of winning the 5A semi-final game. Sickles was able to succeed in keeping the score low but, a season high 27 turnovers doomed the Gryphons as they lost 50- 42 to Winter Haven.

The 5A state semifinals game between Gainesville Buchholz and Ft. Lauderdale Dillard featured two teams with different championship histories. Buchholz had just made the final four after losing in the regional finals for three consecutive years by a total of eight points while Dillard had just won their fifth state title under legendary head coach Marcia Pender. In a game between two of the most physical teams in the state, Dillard hung on to defeat Buchholz 60-54 and to advance to the 5A state championship game on Saturday.

Besides playing for a national title, national signing day is the most important day for high school football players. Here is an update on some of the signings around the state.

Held each year in Orlando at Jones High School, FloridaProspects.com brings together teams from Central Florida and matches them against some of the best teams in the state. Robert Sumpter and his staff do a very good job and this year was no exception.