Before we moved to Edmond a couple of years ago, I coached my older son in Houston (The Woodlands) and we would have 300+ kids to draft from. They did it by age, so 5 & 6 yr Olds, 7 & 8, 9 & 10, etc. We could only have 2 protects, so you basically had a new team every year. From my experience, I'll say this. Age makes a big difference...a kid may be a stud one year when he's one of the older kids, but the next year he's just another player when he has to move up a division. Everyone is drafting from the same pool of players, but everyone views talent differently. Some coaches draft better than others and that is important...but coaching is important and maybe more so than the draft. It was always the same 3 or 4 coaches playing for a championship every year with different teams.
Personally, I think you can look at BA black as a perfect example. Obviously they had a good draft last year, but they were coached extremely well. You could have put those coaches on the sideline of any of the other BA team and they would have had similar type success. Same thing could be said for the Bixby, Jenks Maroon, Lincoln Christian, Glenpool, Norman, etc coaches. They all have plans and get their players to execute. As a coach, you know it when you see it and play against it. Having some studs always helps as well.