I've been in D1 several seasons with different teams and I can't get any consistency in recruiting good players. It seems to be random. I know it depends on your prestige. I get up to a B or so then lose prestige after I have a bad recruiting cycle. I could use a mentor to help me. I know the basics.

This may sound harsh, but it seems like you don't have a good grasp on talent evaluation. You have a couple guys on your d3 team that are better than some on your d1 team. How is this possible.

I always tell people at d1 to first learn how to build a dominate d2 program with your d1 team. If you can't take the prestige and budget advantage of a d1 team and build a team better than almost any d2 team in your world, you're not even looking at the right players and need to totally rethink your style and approach. Happy to help you evaluate players via site mail if you want.

Sitemail me. More than happy to help

Also would be glad to help you out via sitemail.

I've had good luck building up D1 squads at least into consistent NT teams. I recruit on the thesis that every player on my team needs to at a minimum be 80+ in ATH and Def by their JR year. Players that don't reach that will just get killed on one side of the court. It dangerous to have complete hard-line in a game like this but more than a couple exceptions your team just wont complete (and the exceptions better be in the 70s not lower). I would rather take a player that contributes little else but can at least play defense than one that has other skills but will just get massacred on defense. I recommend being really diligent about maintaining these floors (even at the expense of taking walk-ons if you cant fill them). Next step is to find 1.5 guys that can handle the ball, 2 guys that can hits 3s, and 3 guys that can rebound (all need to meet the defensive minimums). Other ancillary skills aren't worth investing in to start. Fill the rest of the team with defenders and players you think can grow into one of those three roles.

You asked specifically about recruiting, but I will also highlight that your Manhattan team has way too many games on the non-conference you will never win. You should schedule no one you don't think you can at least compete with. Spend some time finding Sim-AI opponents that you think will have an RPI in the high two digits/low 100s and feast of them. That's a better strategy than getting walloped by the big dogs.

Lastly, it's going to be very hard to consistently get a team above B/B+ with a D prestige in an empty conference. I sure you took the best team you could get / dont want to move, but realistically it's just very difficult. If your goal is to really complete in the NT you are going to need to move to a better conference.

Posted by raider45638 on 2/18/2021 2:45:00 AM (view original):
I've been in D1 several seasons with different teams and I can't get any consistency in recruiting good players. It seems to be random. I know it depends on your prestige. I get up to a B or so then lose prestige after I have a bad recruiting cycle. I could use a mentor to help me. I know the basics.

What Benis said is absolutely true ...

The basic concept is .. you have to scout players to level 3 or level 4 .. where you can THEN project their abilities.

You have todo these projections to find players that fit your system.

You then need to recruit those players based on your Prestige and win battles to make your team better.

I am not trying to sound insulting .. this is just the process.

It is significantly harder in D1 .. because there are more coaches and they know the recruits that they want. It is KEY that you learn who you can beat in a battle and only battle if you have a decent chance of success.

Take up cubcub (and texashick) on their offers and I will also give you some pointers if you want.. Though I am more D2 oriented.

This is my strategy in recruiting and it works well for me and others I have mentored...

At low and mid D1 my focus is to build a strong core of players and try to get one superstar per class. When I get to B prestige I will shoot for 1-2 per class.

Load up on core players that can play two or more positions. That will allow you to go after superstars at any position rather than being locked into certain ones.

A strong core will keep you in NT contention every season to keep prestige from crashing. The superstars are what can push you to the next level.

This worked well at San Diego State, Southern Mississippi, Manhattan, and other nonmajor D1 schools I have made into regular NT participants.

Disclaimer: I still lack a D1 nonmajor National Title but have several Elite Eight and Sweet 16 appearances with nonmajor D1 teams. Some of those teams were legit contenders for the National Title but got upset earlier than expected.