What are recruits looking for? Can we have a serious discussion?

[downthehatch]

Obviously this is an important question to some of us; we have multiple threads going as I type this. But I'd like to see if we can collect any information about what are recruits really looking for when they choose a program.

The one factual bit I can add to this discussion comes from a Christmas party last year. I was talking with a former Division 1 player who said "The only thing high school players care about is increasing their chances of making it to the NBA."

OK, I can remember one other tidbit. Jason Kidd got so frustrated trying to sort through what all the competing coaches were saying and figuring out what was true and what wasn't, that he gave up and chose Berkeley because it was close to home.

 

[LineSkiCat]

All I know is that it's more about location and campus and less about winning a college title than many people here think. I'm not saying college is 100% a pass-through for these kids, but I do think it plays a big role. Most recruits think they are going to the NBA no matter what (right or wrong) and they want to go to a place that's comfortable for them.. whether it's close by, in a big city, where the weather is nice, near the water, etc..

 

[CBBCrazy]

I think some want to please the family and handlers, others want opportunities for family jobs. All want the best chance to get to the NBA but, the things I stated get in the way some times. I am sure there are many more.

 

[Rhavicc]

Everybody has their individual motives. Kentucky may be significantly more appealing to next year's class, and it was obviously very, very appealing 2 seasons ago, and even last season. Recruiting is fluid because everybody's different. A lot of kids that want to be at UK never get an offer, so our recruiting pool is very small. Smaller than maybe every other college in the NCAA.
That said, I'm content with this class because we replaced everything we needed to replace from last season, and we won't have to worry about Cal trying to manage so many egos next season.

 

[KMKAT]

Whatever recruits are looking for, its not to go up against players as good as they are.

Zimmerman and Newman come to mind.

Brown's decision was to stay out of the spotlight for sure.

 

[LineSkiCat]

My only argument against the "spotlight" motif, is that it seems Duke has never had that issue. UNC, before their cheating, never really had that issue. I get that the BBN spotlight may be a bit brighter.. but not so much that it should steer kids away from Kentucky, but still be fine with playing for UNC/Duke.

 

[LineSkiCat]

In all honestly, it's probably just a weird batch of kids. Kentucky might have gotten to them too late after we lost 7 players. Cal never thought we'd lose that many.. so maybe he was fine with the incoming class and losing 5 guys. We would have had a great 2-guard in Devin Booker and another big man getting starter minutes. That would have been good enough.

 

[3rex]

Minutes

Exposure

To be "the man."

not necessarily in that order

 

[WildMoon]

Everyone is different. Everyone wants different things.

Most likely common theme amongst top rated players are urge to play in NBA.

However, how to achieve that is completely different amongst people and the way people think is the right way to achieve that is different.

 

[KyFaninNC]

This class is JUST not that strong. Sure we missed on a few 5 stars, but I like the guys we have coming in. Only guy I really wanted to add was Ingram, but he was never leaving the state.

 

[Catfan2226]

Everybody has their individual motives. Kentucky may be significantly more appealing to next year's class, and it was obviously very, very appealing 2 seasons ago, and even last season. Recruiting is fluid because everybody's different. A lot of kids that want to be at UK never get an offer, so our recruiting pool is very small. Smaller than maybe every other college in the NCAA.
That said, I'm content with this class because we replaced everything we needed to replace from last season, and we won't have to worry about Cal trying to manage so many egos next season.

Well said!

 

[JonathanW]

Every kid is different, and prioritize and weight the various factors differently.
These factors include:
- location, subdivided by near home, near other family, near a big city, near the ocean or other attractions, how fun was his visit to that campus/city
- school, academic focus, ease of FR classes, availability of tutors (these are probably at the bottom of the weighting for most)
- family/friends/handlers, wanting to please them & where they want them to go
- NBA aspirations, subdivided by how successful has school X been at getting players to the NBA, at getting all-stars to the NBA, at developing players for the NBA
- coaches & teams, subdivided by the head coach, the assistant coach(es), how confident a player is that the coach will stay, how does his game fit into the style played by that coach, how does he fit onto that roster (competition for minutes), how well did he mesh with the players there on his visit, how well does he mesh with the players who have signed to go to that school, who else is that school recruiting
- winning, can he win at the school, will he be on tv, can he win a championship there (I think this one is weighted much lower than most think)

 

[GOING FOR #9]

These recruiting threads wanting to know what's wrong are what's wrong