I am making the jump from D3 to D2, and I just had a few questions about the transition.

1. I know players will be better than at the D3 level, but how much of a leap am I looking at. I know this is a very vague question, but any advice on the topic would be appreciated.

2. When recruiting pull-downs, is there a cap for how highly ranked of a player you can get? I have seen differing opinions on the matter, anywhere from "any player can be had" to "no ranked player will sign with D2". Again, I'm sure opinions will differ, but any advice you can offer is great.

3. Any other general advice for the transition?

As additional info, here is the team I am taking over if you would like to add any advice or comments about the current state of the team.
http://whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/Ratings.aspx?tid=13206

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help.

1. Ratings difference is going to depend to some degree on your prestige.  A high prestige D3 team is likely to have players who would be competitive on a medium prestige D2 team.  The biggest difference will be the money.  Going from $3000 per slot to $5000 doesn't sound like much, but it does give you much more leeway on buying FSS reports and pursuing/battling for pulldowns.

2. I don't think there's a hard cap, but I have observed there being a practical cap.  The general wisdom pre-2-3 update was that you could safely contend for recruits that were 10 rating points higher than the highest listed 4-year recruit in your Division, and +25 points if he was within 70 miles.  That formula seemed to work pretty well prior to the update but in both of my D3 and D2 schools this past recruiting cycle, my unscientific, anecdotal observation is that the formula has dropped a few points.  You can still sign players at the upper range of your rating, but it's likely to require more effort (Scouting Trips, Home Visits, etc).

Also, I signed one ranked player prior to the update (I've only been in this for a few seasons).  During the past recruiting cycle, low D1 teams (mostly Sims) swept up most of the ranked players and none of them would even talk to me.  Perhaps someone with a higher prestige would have a different experience, but the point being that D1 teams have more incentive to reach down into the area where D2 teams used to be able to recruit.  I'll still make phone calls to ranked recruits within 70 miles, but I have no illusions about them talking to me.

Looks to me like you have a nice squad to start with.  Your guards have decent speed, but if I were coaching I'd be going after more ATH for my bigs and more DEF for everybody.  Since you're playing Man,  both of those stats are going to matter a lot more than if you were a zone team.

Thanks for the advice and quick response. I've never seen that formula for pull-downs before, but it looks interesting. I'll have to look back at some of my D3 recruiting to see if it seems to hold true. More ATH and DEF are definitely well up there in my priorities for recruiting.

not that ethan said this explicitly, but I want to make sure to clear up any possible confusion: while zone can help hide a poor defender, it is much more effective if the players have good def, just like the other defenses are...

Another thing to mention about the difference between D3 and D2.  My D2 team has been able to pull down a lot more players than I have in D3.  The past 2 seasons in D2, I think I've only taken 2 players who weren't pulldowns (one was a transfer). 

Due to smaller funds, my D3 team hasn't pulled down nearly as many kids.  The advice I've gotten is that in D3, it's better to wait for drop-downs so you can recruit them as a D3 recruit.  It takes patience I'm usually short on, but it does seem to be the more logical approach.

D2s have much shorter reach now, and I don't think anybody is certain on how short it really is just yet. SFs and Cs are the easiest to get, for example if you can get the 150 ranked SF or C you'll probably only be able to get the the 180 ranked PG,SG,PF. Your best bet is to target a bunch of players early and send out calls to see who will talk to you.

Thanks for all the advice folks, and keep it coming. Anyone have any advice about the differences in areas other than recruiting? Any big differences in game-planning I should be aware of?

Kmason-I haven't been able to recruit a top 200 player in the past 2 seasons at an A prestige. Are you still able to get top 200 guys?

A+ can definitely still get at #130s and probably a bit further

i'm at A- and was able to get a 160 something and a (i think) 130 something.

cmon bills i thought you were supposed to be good at this :D