I sure a lot of new users (like me) have this question in DII and DIII: I was wondering the main ratings you should focus on when trying to build a program up from a prestige that is quite low (C+, C, C-). I read aejones' post and although that was very useful, I felt he was more geared toward A and A+ prestige teams. Is there a specific target for most players in ATH and DE? This is assuming a non-press D and a non-fastbreak offense. Thanks.

It's not quite a one-size-fits all. I tend to divide players into "littles" and "bigs". Note: I'm just playing D2 these days.

Littles
I don't worry much about ATH in particular, given that the player has good speed. I'd like a little's ATH + SPD + DEF to amount to 170 at a minimum, for a starter. That's my floor for a competent defender. Beyond that, I want the best PER, BH, PASS that I can get.

Bigs
I care more about ATH here. Low 50s is the bare minimum for me to consider. That's assuming very good REB and DEF and/or BLK ratings. I want three of those to add up to at least 200. I'll let BLK slide some to get the others, but that's not necessarily going to be a popular (or correct) view. Of course LP is desirable in bigs. I'd like at least one of my starters to have pretty decent BH/PASS for a big (I favor passing). Think 30+.

HOWEVER. There are a lot of combinations that can add up to a good player. The key is this: get incrementally better as time goes on. Your early classes are not going to be as good as your later ones. Sign the best guys you can and see how they perform. They will be flawed players at first - like a little with not-so-good BH but good PASS. Don't be afraid of those guys when you start out! When you sign their eventual replacements, just try to make them better than the guy you had before. Repeat. That's how you build a solid team.

One other note: At D2, I like the Rule of 70. A player with an LP or PER of at least 70 will be able to score at least a little. A rating of 70 in any other category is good to very good. If you have players with a bunch of ratings that start with a 7 or higher (and are at least two digits long, duh) you're going to have a good D2 team.

For Defense in D3, 50-60 is averagish for a NT quality type team. There are certainly reasons to go below that though.

ETA: I somehow missed the part of specifically asking for Ath/Def...at D3 I try and get my Ath/Spd/Def for my smalls to total at least 150...at D2, at least 180 when taking over a team with horrid prestige (C, C-, worse...at higher prestiges those numbers would be higher, I'm talking building from ground zero). As you build those three categories, you can start to pull in other skills to build your team.

Another way I've always looked at things...Take the player's total rating and subtract their WE, STA and DUR. Then add 28 for each high-high, 20 for each high, 10 for each avg and 5 for each low potential area NOT INCLUDING the potentials for STA, DUR and FT.

At D3, I won't go after a player who scores below 375 without some clear overriding reason (a big with amazing ath/reb/LP projections whose overall score is low because of a per of 1 and high durability, for instance). A player with a score of 400+ is a rare commodity that I consider worth going after hard from the beginning. Below 375, the players cluster and seem to me to be a dime a dozen, so if nothing grades out to a 375+, I'm content to wait for signings and later drops to see what comes down because I don't perceive myself to really be losing anything major at that point.

For D2, the number scheme changes to 450 as my bottom cutoff (players that rank out in the 430-450 range are all over the place), 475+ seem to be a rarer breed and that's where I try to look.

To be clear, I'm not saying this captures all the good recruits or filters out all the garbage. But I've found it's a pretty useful rule to insulate me from grabbing for too low a talent too soon in recruiting or overspending on a player that might be a mirror image of 4 others out there that I could grab on the cheap later in signings.

Stamina can be rather important?

Thanks, rednu!