Recruiting frustrations are making me want to quit, even as I really enjoy the game otherwise.

I can recruit and do so quite well at both the division 2 and division 3 levels. My teams are consistently in the upper echelon in terms of class rankings.

For whatever reason that simply hasn't translated into division 1. My 2nd and third class both had top 10 calibur players at their respective positions, but my first class was horrible and the two or three classes since that third one have been horrible. The two good classes were seemingly flukes.

Last season I was looking good on two top tier players for the majority of the first recruiting cycle. Had very high interest and was the only one with very high and then I was overtaken by other teams for both players.

This in spite of using all my attention points on the two players (had enough for two more players but decided to try this going all in strategy since nothing else was working and accepting a couple of walkons if needed)

I used every single home visit at my disposal, promised both starting spots and max number of minutes, used one of the available campus visits on both players.

and still they went with another school. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but it's looking like it's going to be another season of settling for recruits in the 100-150ish range.

I want to enjoy the game, but this knowing no matter what I do, I'm not going to get quality recruits is really taking the fun out of it.

D1 is tricky.

You have to balance, what you need, who is available, how likely you are to land them, the timing of your actions, who your battling, who you're battling is battling and probably a few other factors.

My general strategy is to try to lock up one player at a time. I don't know if that helps but if it makes you feel better I have like 200 seasons at D1 and zero championships.

Only going one player at a time to target... Say you have three recruits.

By the time the first player you targeted was (hopefully) willing to sign, wouldn't you be so far behind the proverbial 8 ball that you would have to settle for average to mediocre players or walkons for your other two players?

I could be wrong and please do correct me if so, because I simply can't seem to replicate my 2nd and 3rd nationally highly ranked recruiting classes. It just seems like you would fall so far behind the moderate and even more so the high and very high teams that it would be impossible to catch up.

As stated in the original post, I want to keep playing. I even lucked into Michigan my real life favorite college basketball team, but man alive are these recruiting frustrations real.

I mean sure enough a new recruiting cycle started yesterday. Used my 60 recruiting points on two players I targeted and per usual first update... Very low with at least one other team very high

Wash rinse repeat it seems.

I'm a stubborn gal and not one to ask for advice on things very often, but at this point when it comes to division 1 recruiting I'll take all the advice I can get.

Hey!

Feel free to either sitemail me or reach out on the discord since most don't check the forums actively.

Just to touch on some things you've mentioned. D1 is the hardest to recruit. The ceiling for targets isn't as high and everyone wants those top guys.

1. "because I simply can't seem to replicate my 2nd and 3rd nationally highly ranked recruiting classes" isn't how you want to look at the rankings. The rankings on the site are pretty poor and most don't even understand how they work. If you're pulling in a strong class, you'll know it.

2. "I even lucked into Michigan my real life favorite college basketball team, but man alive are these recruiting frustrations real". Congrats on the Michigan job! Just to keep you posted though, Michigan is notoriously a harder job in this game with MSU being right next door with their A+ baseline.

3. "I mean sure enough a new recruiting cycle started yesterday. Used my 60 recruiting points on two players I targeted and per usual first update... Very low with at least one other team very high". Sounds like they just sent offer + promises I think. Promises are a key in staying in the battle early to show people you're invested. I use 25+start on almost anyone, double if they're a "wants to play" preference.

Sitemail with questions!

Let me know if you get on discord and we can message. I’m just finishing up my first couple recruiting sessions at D1 and figuring how to recruit there. Happy to share notes if you’re interested, and try to grow together.

I think it is important to decide which players you want to target early and try not to waver unless it just looks impossible. With a B prestige it's hard to beat an A+ unless you have a really big AP and Preference advantage. I usually pretty much know who I am going after once the first cycle has processed. Sounds like you are pretty good at picking who to focus on though.

I have this saved from a long time ago. I am not 100% sure this is right, but I have no reason to believe it is not right. This has to do with prestige.

Basically if you were an A- prestige, then an A+ prestige would only need to do 71% of the AP/HV/CV you would for the same effect. But some A+ teams are like A+++ so it could be even lower odds.

So, looking at this, if you are a B prestige, then an A prestige would only have to do .87/1.31 or 66% of the effort for the same effect - all other things equal.

So you want to try to look at how many openings the opponent has, see if you can detect the battles they are in, and things like that as well. If they only have 2 openings and you have 5, then you could go with 80AP per cycle, and their maximum would be 60.

A+ = .71

A=0.87

A- = 1

B+ -= 1.14

B = 1.31

B- = 1.5

C+ = 1.72

C = 1.97

c- = 2.25

D+ = 2.56

D = 2.9

D- = 3.27

Posted by chapelhillne on 8/4/2024 7:46:00 AM (view original):
I think it is important to decide which players you want to target early and try not to waver unless it just looks impossible. With a B prestige it's hard to beat an A+ unless you have a really big AP and Preference advantage. I usually pretty much know who I am going after once the first cycle has processed. Sounds like you are pretty good at picking who to focus on though.

I have this saved from a long time ago. I am not 100% sure this is right, but I have no reason to believe it is not right. This has to do with prestige.

Basically if you were an A- prestige, then an A+ prestige would only need to do 71% of the AP/HV/CV you would for the same effect. But some A+ teams are like A+++ so it could be even lower odds.

So, looking at this, if you are a B prestige, then an A prestige would only have to do .87/1.31 or 66% of the effort for the same effect - all other things equal.

So you want to try to look at how many openings the opponent has, see if you can detect the battles they are in, and things like that as well. If they only have 2 openings and you have 5, then you could go with 80AP per cycle, and their maximum would be 60.

A+ = .71

A=0.87

A- = 1

B+ -= 1.14

B = 1.31

B- = 1.5

C+ = 1.72

C = 1.97

c- = 2.25

D+ = 2.56

D = 2.9

D- = 3.27

My gosh, is this right? No wonder I'm always getting killed on the rolls!

Michigan State is always a tier 1 school. But zedonk has been there in IBA since before time. It will take a long term strategy to put Michigan on the right trajectory. I’d suggest starting with a team of 80+ Athleticism regardless of their rating. IBA back when I was in that world was the most competitive world too, but that might of changed by now too.