Would better recruits be interested in for instance a C prestige program in a big conference like Big 10 or Pac 10 then the same level Prestige C in a much smaller conference?  Trying to decide what school I want to jump to from D2.  The big conferences are full so not being able to get decent talent would make it impossible to get to the point of competiting, or going into a smaller conference and having a chance to do fairly well.

Another consideration is the extra money for recruiting from the postseason.  That's the advantage the Big 6 C prestige school has over the mid-major C prestige school.  (There may also be a conference aspect to recruiting as you suggested, I'm not sure.)

Also, something that trumps the rest is baseline prestige.  The higher the baseline prestige of the school, the easier it is to improve the prestige.  So you don't have to do as much to bootstrap a Big 6 school as most other schools.  Most non-Big 6 schools in DI and a D baseline prestige which makes it difficult to get to the B range and difficult to stay there.

It's certainly not impossible to build up a Big 6 school in even a killer conference.  Take a look at BC in Naismith.  The ACC has been an absolute terror in Naismith, but Stull was able to take a bottomed out BC squad and rebuild them.

Posted by acroth2 on 5/12/2011 9:38:00 AM (view original):
Would better recruits be interested in for instance a C prestige program in a big conference like Big 10 or Pac 10 then the same level Prestige C in a much smaller conference?  Trying to decide what school I want to jump to from D2.  The big conferences are full so not being able to get decent talent would make it impossible to get to the point of competiting, or going into a smaller conference and having a chance to do fairly well.

You're looking at it somewhat wrong.  I understand what you mean by wanting decent talent, but if you go to a smaller school with minimal conference competition, you can build up a program pretty fast with proper scheduling methods and astute recruiting.