Understood, dems da breaks (an using phone autocorrect as you guessed).
Not sure its what I want to do on either side. Will play out the string and may see what the other side is like next year, but my curiosity is quickly getting satisfied that D3 and D2 are significantly more fun add they ate more evenly balanced

I don't know who you were battling, but if it was a Big East school, they each had $40K+ in tourney money for recruiting. That alone may have equaled your recruiting budget. Also, I think most coaches would realize that the tight message meant that you had around $10K in each recruit. For a Big 6 school with money to throw around, the tight message is not a deterrent.

duke, just because you'll have 6 ships next season doesn't mean you have to be predatory. Some folks don't like the "poaching" (bullshit term) and that's cool. With 6 ships you will present a much different profile to potential poachers. You can always recruit like you did this time, identify some reasonable targets and get them early and sit back and wait to defend - with 2 ships you lacked the bankroll, but with 6 folks may be more wary of taking you on...

For a Big 6 school with money to throw around, the tight message is not a deterrent.

IMO the very tight message on 2 recruits when only starting with 2 ships in a mid major conference without a lot of post season cash actually screams poach me - it tells everyone you have spent a good chunk of your cash already on those guys and don't have enough left to defend them both - in this case either... when I have a lot of cash I try to find recruits I like early and get on them. If I miss first couple cycles for some reason, or all my primary targets are snatched up by the big time schools, I flip it and wait til last day for some of the battles to shake out and then look for schools like duke's that didn't have a lot of money and see if they've got anyone worth taking. I know that lots of other folks do the same...have to try to avoid looking weak if possible...

Best of luck next season.

Or I would imagine you could wait on the 'big boys' to drop some of their "Backup options' once they need them no longer?

Duke - I get your frustration. I have a mid-major team with a C+ prestige. It took awhile to learn to exercise patience because of it. For too many seasons I jumped in early on player's that looked awesome. The problem is that they look awesome to everyone, including the bigger boys. When I have two open slots, I typically now select the player I want that is at or just above my station in life watch for a few cycles. If a major conference team does not pick up on them I go all in. If I lose the player, no big deal, but I have maximized my effort. Picking that one player is key. The better he looks, the better he looks to everyone else.

When I have 6 open scholarships, I tend to follow dacj501's model. I identify who I like, put a little in to get considered, and then hold onto my stash to see what happens. I don't commit much early.