Sometimes it seems as if the top 100 lists of high school basketball players are determined by having the players jump as high as they can, marking the wall at the spot of the apex, pulling out a tape measure and assigning a number based solely on that.

It’s easy to see how it happens that way because players often are scouted at AAU tournaments, where multiple games are being played at once, so many skilled players are going against each other, and the quickest way to stand out is to sky and jam.

When the leapers happen to play as under control and intuitively as Kansas State freshman Bill Walker, that scouting approach works. More often, it backfires.

Crafty players with subtle skills and athleticism don’t crack the top 100. Some of the mad leapers who never develop a feel for the game end up leading to their coaches being labeled “good recruiter, bad coach.”

Jared Dudley, Boston College’s clever senior forward from San Diego, has earned Al Skinner a “good coach, OK recruiter” label.

Skinner, not a self-promoter, deserves the good coach label. It’s the “OK recruiter” that doesn’t make sense. Try exceptional. The most underrated aspect of recruiting lies in evaluating talent, projecting how it will fit at the high Division I level. As was the case with Craig Smith, the senior star of last year’s BC team, Skinner looked beyond the obvious and saw a higher ceiling than others saw.

Dudley, bypassed by Division I schools except Boston College, Creighton and San Diego State, is not the favorite for the Wooden Award, but is a legitimate candidate. Wisconsin’s Alando Tucker, Ohio State’s Greg Oden, North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough, and LSU’s Glen “Not As Big Baby” Davis all will make strong cases.

“He’s like a composite of little bits of guys who were winners,” said Bill Raftery, who will be analyzing the BC-Kansas game for CBS today, of Dudley. “If they need them to score or get a big rebound, they do it. He’s the guy diving on the floor making the big defensive play, getting to the free-throw line. Just keep watching him. He’s a terrific basketball player. He’s experienced now and he has a great confidence level. From what you read, he was overlooked and didn’t have many offers. He believes in himself and comes in with a little bit of a chip on his shoulder.”

A throw-back forward, Dudley has elements of a center’s game and a guard’s. Kansas is blessed with more defensive options than most against such a versatile threat. Brandon Rush slides his feet more like a guard than a 6-foot-6 forward. Although he doesn’t have the bulk of a post player, he is as long as one. Julian Wright is long and explosive. Perhaps the most frustrating player for Dudley to try to score against would be Darrell Arthur, if only Self could trust the freshman to stay out of foul trouble.

Watching how KU tries to defend Dudley will make for fascinating viewing, but an even better path to victory for the Jayhawks lies in defensive twin terrors Russell Robinson and Mario Chalmers harassing tough, talented BC point guard Tyrese Rice into coughing it up and triggering the break.

Whatever the outcome, it will make for better theater than KU beating up on Winston-Salem State.