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It’s a busy time in basketball recruiting, with the major postseason events bringing a close to the 2012-13 high school season, the upcoming spring signing period (April 17-May 15) finishing out Class of 2013 recruiting and the start of the AAU season beginning a whole new cycle of recruiting.

So with all that going on, I had to dust off the notebooks from last week’s McDonald’s All American Game and National High School Invitational and combine them with a steady diet of what’s happening this week. College coaches are also now back on the road making stops at schools as they gear toward the last two weekends of April, which are prime evaluation opportunities on the travel team circuit.

Here’s a collection of news and notes from the world of basketball recruiting.

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CHICAGO -- It was a busy week of practices, college commitments and game action at the McDonald’s All American Game, culminating in No. 4 recruit Aaron Gordon earning MVP honors in Wednesday’s main event, one day after he made headlines by pledging to Arizona.

Here are 10 things I learned from this week’s McDonald’s game and practices, capped by a brief scouting report on all 25 players.

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This week’s Friday notebook includes a look at how Julius Randle committing to Kentucky might impact Andrew Wiggins, an ESPN 100 guard who might be close to deciding, Michigan State’s latest pledge and much more basketball recruiting news.

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No one has ever done this before.

Six McDonald’s All Americans and four top-rated players at their position in one class. The No. 1 recruiting classes four of the past five years. Unreal.

John Calipari sits atop the mountain of college basketball recruiting. He looks over the horizon, glares down at the masses of programs trying to scale the heights, and what does he do? He picks up the phone and offers the next round of guys likely to commit to him.

Yep, he’s got it like that.

It’s one thing to say, “This is the best recruiting class this year.” It’s on a completely different level to speak the following phrase: best recruiting class of all time. We’re not comparing Kentucky’s recruiting class to No. 2 Memphis or No. 3 Kansas anymore. Really what we’re talking about here is UK 2013 versus Michigan 1991, the “Fab Five.”

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This week’s Friday notebook includes a look at three elite recruits who’ll make their college decisions known in the next two weeks, why Michigan’s recruiting strategy works so well for the Wolverines, when Miami is likely to capitalize on this season’s success and much more basketball recruiting news.

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This week’s Friday notebook includes the latest on UNC’s chances with Andrew Wiggins, which college coach watched Julius Randle most recently, a 7-foot freshman from North Carolina and much more basketball recruiting news.

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It has been an eventful couple of weeks for ESPN 100 No. 3 overall prospect Julius Randle (Dallas/Prestonwood Christian). First, he returned to the court three weeks ago after being out since November with a fractured foot. Then on Monday he announced he would make his college decision March 20.

And on Wednesday, the McDonald's All American Games announced Randle has been added to the McDonald's roster as a 25th player. He will suit up for the East squad in the game, which will be played April 3 at the United Center in Chicago and televised live on ESPN at 9:30 p.m. ET.

The McDonald’s All American Games released the following statement: “Today, the McDonald’s All American Games Selection Committee is pleased to name Julius Randle of Prestonwood Christian Academy to the 2013 McDonald’s All American Team. As promised, we’ve been closely monitoring Randle’s play since his return to the court in February, and it’s been an inspiring return to watch. Randle has not only proven that he is capable of competing at the highest level, but truly deserving of the title McDonald’s All American.”

Why did this happen and what does it mean?

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The basketball world is flush with comparisons these days. Is Michael Jordan the greatest? Where is LeBron James in the conversation? Comparing players from different eras is tough. For this week’s Top 10 I set out to compare and rank frontcourt prospects from different classes and found it equally vexing.

Last weekend, I spent a few days watching freshman Harry Giles (Greensboro, N.C./Wesleyan Christian). This kid is special, and it got me thinking: On a list of best frontcourt players in the country, just how special would he be? And that’s where it got tough.

You have to reward the stud seniors for their ability to play at a high level over a long period of time while taking into account the talent of the next wave of prospects. So that’s what I did. The following is a mashup of classes and positions culminating in a list of the 10 (actually 11; I cheated at No. 10) best frontcourt players in the country regardless of class.

Score a player from list and you’ve entered rarified air in the paint and, in some cases, beyond.

Editor’s note: This top 10 list of frontcourt players is comprised solely of power forwards and centers as we considered small forwards to be wing players for purposes of this comparison.

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For PF Julius Randle (Dallas/Prestonwood), the visitation process is over. Five successful trips on the books and everyone knows what’s coming next.

“Win a state championship and announce with you guys on TV,” Randle said. “That’s pretty much it.”

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Talent evaluation is an inexact science. However, over the last 15 years, because of advances in technology and the ability to see prospects more, be it live on TV or through the Internet, we now know more about players on every level. However, what a college evaluator looks for and what an NBA talent evaluator sees differ.

Context is a big deal for NBA evaluators. In the Association, there aren’t 6-foot-2 shooting guards and sub 6-foot point guards had best be special talents. A 6-11 forward is likely to play facing the basket and 6-7 college power forwards find themselves having to transition to the wing in many situations. The NBA is a man’s game where strength and athleticism trump your collegiate production numbers. Size, length and measurable are tantalizing because of the largesse of the players on each NBA roster.

Sit NBA scouts in a gym at a major shoe camp or postseason all-star game and they’re more likely to see physical traits than the bigger picture with a player. Each year at the McDonald’s All American Game, you try and download the NBA scouts for what they’ve seen. A lot of times they become enamored with the biggest, fastest and most-upside laced players. A long, non-scoring seven-footer could carve out a role as a runner/rebounder (see Tyson Chandler) better than a 6-foot-3, 20 point per game score in college. It’s simply a different game on the NBA level played by giants at their position.

The NBA is a man’s league where size, length, athleticism and speed can trump basketball IQ and what your high school or college resume looked like. An NBA talent evaluator is more apt to see the physical abilities and how it translates to his league. While fans are enamored with the overall legacy of Tyler Hansbrough, an NBA scout sees the ceiling. He’s more intrigued by Roy Hibbert who owns a lesser resume but more NBA quantifiable attributes like length and size.

If an NBA general manager were to crank out the 10 most physically intriguing prospects in the senior class his list might look something like this.

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This week’s Friday notebook includes a continuation of the Aaron Gordon/Blake Griffin comparison, how Kentucky’s recruiting class made history again, which underclassmen visited Duke and Michigan State and much more recruiting news.

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There’s no arguing the quality of this year’s Jordan Brand Classic rosters, which were announced on Tuesday. The game is stocked with 22 players, and that means some of the fat has been trimmed off the event.

Typically, this event constructs its roster with elite prospects who have come up through the Nike system with an emphasis on potential pro players. The game is slanted toward talent and potential, not high school resumes.

However, that’s not what has me excited about this year’s game, which will be played April 13 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and televised live on ESPN2.

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As talent evaluators, we have our biases. Over the course of my 16 years in basketball recruiting, I’ve developed a huge bias toward rebounders.

I once learned a difficult lesson. In 2001, Emeka Okafor led the city of Houston with an average of 18.8 rebounds per game. That number comes right off the top of my head. I’ll never forget it. Even knowing that statistic, admittedly, I came up woefully short with Okafor’s ranking. At the time, he was tagged No. 81 in the country. He couldn’t score, but boy could he rebound and reject shots.

From the debacle of the Okafor ranking, a lesson was learned: rebounding translates. It’s why I voted for DeJuan Blair for the McDonald’s All-American Game as a senior, even though he didn’t make it. It’s also why I’m as committed as anyone to the guys who hang big board numbers. It’s the one statistic that shouldn’t be overlooked because it demonstrates activity, toughness and willingness to remain engaged no matter the score. You average 18 rebounds a game, that’s serious business.

One more anecdote on why board work is important in recruiting: Rebounding is why Will Yeguete is a Florida Gator. In the fall of his senior year, Yeguete grabbed 50 rebounds in the span of three games at the Nike Team Florida Fall Workout. A week later, Tom Crean flew a private plane to see him and offered. St. John’s brought him in for a visit. And a month later, Florida offered him a scholarship. If he doesn’t rebound, he’s not in the SEC.

This is a list-oriented column, so before we get to the top 10 rebounders currently among the prep prospect ranks, here’s a peak at my all-time high school top five. It was tough to leave off guys like Amar’e Stoudemire, Dwight Howard, Shelden Williams and Kevin Bookout (whom we renamed Kevin “Boxout” at the time), but this all-time top five is a fun list:

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