Just curious if anyone has had success recruiting a team based on overall defense ratings. I know some of these cross over such as speed and athleticism for outsides and rebounding can be a big offensive weapon too. I can see this really working in DIII where i am now. Maybe not so much in DI where players are just too damn talented on offense. 

yup...i think you'll find that most top D2 and D3 teams are going to be that way because their athleticism and defense ratings are significantly better than most of the teams that they play

Defense is VERY important, especially in D3, more so I think than LP and PER.

Well I have heard coaches say that the best way to get a bad team turned around pretty quickly is to recruit ATH, DEF and speed. ATH players draw fouls so if you can recruit a player like this who may lack offensive talent but can hit FT's, you end up getting a player who can still produce offensively and is excellent defensively. DEF is important at all levels. I had a PF who had 86 Ath 100 def 20 Lp and Per and he avged over 10 pts a game his senior year, won def player of the year, and he was a guy most coaches passed on because he was a big with no LP.

Most of the top D3 and D2 programs build their teams off of Ath/D first, and then worry about the other things.