The high school basketball season is over and you didn't get that concrete offer from those Division I schools you thought were so interested in signing you.

You are too old to play AAU 17U basketball throughout the summer and are at the critical point of what to do next. You are officially an unsigned senior. To get some insight, NYCHoops.net spoke with College Coaches and experts

Real talk: Many unsigned seniors are unrealistically holding on to that thread of hope that the D-I coach who saw them play and said he liked and is recruiting them is going to offer them a scholarship. Jason Curry of Big Apple Basketball, Inc., a non-profit organization that provides college exposure to student athletes, cautions unsigned seniors about hanging by a thread. "Recruiting doesn't necessarily equal a scholarship. The goal is to be in school, play basketball and not have to pay for your education," said Curry

Unsigned seniors are at the crossroads. By definition they don't have a scholarship offer and it is, quite frankly, very late in the game. This is the point where they must weigh their options carefully and seriously ask themselves some tough questions. But this time, they have to stop procrastinating, look in the mirror and answer those questions, honestly.

Division I, Division II or Division III?

Real talk : At this stage of the game, the majority of D-I schools have already filled their quota of scholarships for the 2015 class and have refocused their efforts towards the class of 2016 and younger. In addition, 95% of the unsigned senior showcases throughout the state and country can only be attended by D-II, D-III and Junior Colleges (JUCO), greatly limiting the possibility of last minute D-I looks.

"If you're mostly being recruited by mid-majors or division II's then that's where you probably belong," says Larry Harrison assistant coach at West Virginia.

Division II and Division III coaches say that they rev up their recruiting towards the end of the high school year and into the summer primarily because the majority of student-athletes don't want to even entertain going to D-II or D-III until their backs are against the wall. In addition, because of NCAA restrictions, D-II, D-III and JUCO's have more access to unsigned seniors at events like the iS8/Nike, Rumble in the Bronx and other local college exposure events.

While Dayton is a Division I school, Flyers assistant coach Allen Griffin says that unsigned seniors should not sleep on Division II schools. Coach Griffin believes that division II schools are an under-utilized resource for unsigned seniors. "There are some D-II schools that are better than some D-I schools," said Coach Griffin. "The NE-10 is probably the best Division II conference in the league."

If an unsigned senior has a Division II offer, Curry says the choice is simple. "You don't want to lose out on something definite to hold out for something that's not a sure shot," he said.

Should an unsigned senior go Prep?

Real talk: If an unsigned senior is dead set on rolling the dice for Division I offer, going to a Prep School (also known as Post Graduate school) is an option. Whether or not it's a realistic option is open for debate.

"Going to a prep school buys you some time on the circuit and you could play in places like the Hoop Group events and possibly get some D-I looks," said Coach Griffin,

Coach Harrison says there are some defined parameters regarding the benefits of going prep. "If you're 6'9" or 6'10' and you think you want to play D-1 then it might be worth going to a year of prep because big men usually develop late but if you're 5'9" to 6'5" then a year of prep probably won't help," he said.

One Big East coach said that most, if not all, unsigned seniors have already been evaluated by Division I colleges on the AAU circuit but added that one possible exception would be if they hadn't played on the circuit at all for some reason. "Then I could see him going prep but that usually doesn't pan out either," he added.

The rules for attending a post graduate school versus going to a Junior College have also changed in recent years. Unsigned seniors should check with the NCAA to see which option they qualify for.

At the end of the day

Real talk : At the end of the day, all the coaches we spoke with agree that it's an individual decision. Curry said he can empathize with a student-athletes desire to "exhaust all options" in the quest to achieve his or her dream but Coach Allen warns that unsigned seniors must also be practical. "They need to go where they can have a career and not just sit on the bench," he said, alluding to aiming for a D-1 only to underachieve.

Ultimately, a student-athlete's choices are his/her own but exploring ALL the available options gives them the highest probability to achieve the goal of obtaining a free education while playing the sport they love.