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Seth Shuchat

English Composition II

Mr. Leonard

5/2/2021

Mytakehoops

What does every great professional athlete have in common? They all played in high

school. Mytakehoops is a social media account that gives insight into the best basketball players

at the high school and early college levels. When I first stumbled onto this relatively small sports

account, having accumulated only 10,100 followers so far, I was impressed with the unique and

ingenious idea that this account presented. I am evaluating Mytakehoops based on its content,

presentation, and personal insight that the author adds.

Mytakehoops offers a unique experience into the top prospects of the highschool and

college classes. The posts focus on a specific player, and give all the information needed to know

who this player is. The post starts with the same format every time, first giving their name,

height, position, class and current high school or college. It goes on to list some minor details

such as past teams and prospect rank, which are nice to know, but not vital to the post. He gives

three different sources for prospect ranks, and this is great to give an unbiased view of how good

this player is, currently. The only reason I think it is unnecessary is due to the ranks constantly

changing and never being accurate. When the information is available, he will also give the

statistics on players throughout their high school careers. These statistics can include points,

assists, rebounds, turnovers, and steals per game. Sometimes, it can be difficult to find this

information, as I have tried in the past, so I credit the author for his effort to find these statistics.

Speaking of statistics, the page is seeing an incline in growth recently due to famous accounts,
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such as Lebron James Jr., following the account. A drastic increase in attention and following

can lead to more in-depth and consistent posts. Currently, the account posts every day or two, but

it takes breaks from time to time due to the account being a second priority to the author.

However, it would be hard to recognize this if he had not said so in his accompanying podcast.

Although his podcast is not the major focus of this article, I would be remiss if I did not include

it as it is insightful and shows a lot about how the author creates his posts. He also has guests,

including players from top college and high school teams. It adds to the account, not that the

account is not great to begin with.

Every post needs to grab your attention, and the posts on Mytakehoops is not an

exception. The first thing you will see on every post is the highlight reel of the player with great

edits and music blended in. The information is great to know, but if I do not know who this

player is, what he looks like, and how he plays, I cannot find the interest to read the information

about him. After watching the video, you dive into the information I have previously talked

about. The author separates his information into three defined paragraphs, statistics, strengths,

and weaknesses. The format is consistent throughout every post, wavering only when there is

additional information that is important to the individual player.

The insight that Mytakehoops gives is the most noticeable part of the entire account. It is

clear that the author does research on the players he talks about. He dives deep into their

strengths and weaknesses, as well as talking about what they need to improve to make it to the

next level. For instance, when reporting on an unranked player, Simon Wheeler, he is able to go

in depth on his dribbling style, speed, ability to “attack the rim,” and passing. He relates

Wheeler’s dribbling style to Kyrie Irving, a well known NBA player. He then addresses

Wheeler’s weaknesses, such as his size, physicality, and rebounding. He goes on to make the
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comparison of Wheler to NBA point guard Ish Smith, because of their “shifty” movements and

overall frames. The player comparisons are great for people like me, who mainly watch the

NBA, so that we can get a deep understanding of how these players work. I did not know who

Simon Wheeler was or what a “shifty” player means, but I know exactly how Ish Smith plays.

In the end, Mytakehoops is a great basketball account that is great at offering a unique

experience to anyone who follows the account. It offers basketball watchers who only watch the

NBA a chance to learn about the up-and-comers. Some may say that the lack of opinions gives it

a bland taste, and I agree. It seems completely unbiased and removes as many opinions as

possible, but this gives it a great, reliable viewpoint. The point of the account is not the typical

opinion account, but rather an informational account that dives into these players. It is a great

change of pace from the typical account that disregards players because they are not top

prospects. I strongly recommend this account to anyone who loves basketball. Mytakehoops can

be found on Instagram and it’s accompanying podcast can be found wherever you listen to

podcasts.