I'm not sure how this works or if I am way off base.

Recruiting cycle #1 finishes. Going into recruiting cycle #2. I notice a school had one scholarship to give out and they already filled their spot. They are in on another recruit, so I figure they can't sign him. A couple of cycles pass and the recruit signs with the other school. The school does not have walk ons, does not have a player leaving early.

How is this possible? Will they just be able to cut someone after this recruit signs? I'm completely lost on this.

They shouldn’t be able to over sign. There’s usually an explanation, like an upcoming 5th year senior (he will appear as a senior, but if you look at his stats, his first year will have been academically ineligible). They may have also cut a player *before* signing the recruit, but they wouldn’t be able to sign the recruit without the open scholarship.

Yeah, they would need an open scholarship to sign that player. Either a player left early for the NBA draft, or they cut a player. You can look for that team on the Recruiting Class Rankings and see exactly how many scholarships they have available and/or filled.

I’ve eyeballed an opponent roster before to see the same thing... thinking they don’t have any open spots. Then a careful count of their roster shows 11 players instead of 12. Doh!

You can rescind scholarships .. look at the link on "World Schedule" under schedule on your team:

World Schedule (whatifsports.com)

There is a 2 day period in the 2nd recruiting cycle where you can rescind scholarships and sign more players.

The easiest way I look, so you don't have to pick a team apart, is under "class rankings" on the recruiting tab. And check how many openings that school has. That location is always accurate. If you make cuts it immediately updates. When EEs declare, it updates.

You can't click that option until the first signing cycle for D1s begin.

Thanks for all the responses. I'll have to gander back and figure it out!

Posted by topdogggbm on 12/8/2020 8:01:00 PM (view original):
The easiest way I look, so you don't have to pick a team apart, is under "class rankings" on the recruiting tab. And check how many openings that school has. That location is always accurate. If you make cuts it immediately updates. When EEs declare, it updates.

You can't click that option until the first signing cycle for D1s begin.

+1. this is a great page to scout openings left, even though I'm not interested in the rankings themselves