I'm at UNC Asheville with one of my teams. I've noticed North Carolina is especially hard to recruit. I find myself battling for in-state recruits with the southeastern teams, northeast teams, and it seems there are more D1 schools in NC than in other states.

On the flip side, are there any states that are easier to recruit?

This is essentially an impossible question to answer as it's almost entirely based on the human coaches in your area. On the east coast and in California, human populations are denser but there are also significantly more recruits so it's alot easier to pivot to a different player. You also have more "relative" recruiting dollars as you are typically recruiting players closer to you. The flip side is the "middle of the country" has fewer coaches but fewer players who are generally further away. Both situations have pros and cons and require altering your recruiting strategy. When I pick a new school, I do spend some time looking at the other coaches in that area.

If I had to make the broadest of broad general statements that come down to almost entirely my experience and the human populations in those worlds, my favorite places to recruit are:

High D1: East Coast or California
Low D1: Eastern side of the South (from Texas to Alabama)
D2: VA/NC/SC/Georgia or where there aren't alot of low D1 coaches (alot of times this is the Northwest)
D3: California (or the two cheat codes that are PBAU and Colorado)

Best

Easiest locations to maintain a ridiculous success streak with massive prestige (A++ to A+++): Illinois/UCLA
High D1 (A+): Minnesota/UT/CO
Mid D1 (B- to A): UT/CO
Low D1 (D- to C+): Texas/MS/LA/AL/UT/CO/MT
D2: Anywhere there aren't D1 coaches, ideally the Big Sky is pretty empty and the Great NW conference is a top option. Unfortunately, Big Sky is becoming very popular.
D3: Puget Sound, Colorado, PBAU, California

Worst
Hardest locations to maintain a ridiculous success streak with massive prestige (A++ to A+++): Duke/UNC
High D1 (A+): NC/VA/HI
Mid D1 (B- to A): NC/VA/Northeast/HI
Low D1 (D- to C+): MN/Northeast/HI
D2: Anywhere there are a lot of D1 coaches
D3: Anywhere there are a lot of D2 coaches

Why is everyone so big on Colorado and PBAU in D3?

Posted by hockey1984 on 1/31/2022 3:37:00 PM (view original):
Why is everyone so big on Colorado and PBAU in D3?

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?msa=0&mid=1kbUc9t84nFETwawUWsgUbU02QXQ&ll=37.97723816789904%2C-95.610838&z=4

Not that WIS will do this (or even can without throwing a huge wrench into things), but it would be interesting to see schools realigned into their current divisions. The PBA advantage just made me think about that again.

Posted by cubcub113 on 1/31/2022 1:53:00 PM (view original):
Best

Easiest locations to maintain a ridiculous success streak with massive prestige (A++ to A+++): Illinois/UCLA
High D1 (A+): Minnesota/UT/CO
Mid D1 (B- to A): UT/CO
Low D1 (D- to C+): Texas/MS/LA/AL/UT/CO/MT
D2: Anywhere there aren't D1 coaches, ideally the Big Sky is pretty empty and the Great NW conference is a top option. Unfortunately, Big Sky is becoming very popular.
D3: Puget Sound, Colorado, PBAU, California

Worst
Hardest locations to maintain a ridiculous success streak with massive prestige (A++ to A+++): Duke/UNC
High D1 (A+): NC/VA/HI
Mid D1 (B- to A): NC/VA/Northeast/HI
Low D1 (D- to C+): MN/Northeast/HI
D2: Anywhere there are a lot of D1 coaches
D3: Anywhere there are a lot of D2 coaches

I would add Texas to D3 (Austin, East Texas Baptist, Texas Tyler, Sul Ross State, etc.). There's competition in D1 and D2, for sure, but so many players slip through the cracks at D1 and D2 in the area and there's not a lot of competition from other D3 schools.

Schools in the south in general like in Mississippi and Louisiana also can find a lot of scraps at D3 and may not be able to compete directly with PBAU but they still have an OK geographical advantage for Florida talent.

Posted by ja_tbfl on 1/31/2022 4:14:00 PM (view original):
Not that WIS will do this (or even can without throwing a huge wrench into things), but it would be interesting to see schools realigned into their current divisions. The PBA advantage just made me think about that again.

I've been thinking this as well. My college was NAIA when they made HD but are D2 now. It'd be cool if they were added and the conferences were realigned. It would create a major stir though for sure.

Worst
D1- Nebraska - Middle of a wasteland
D2- Any of the Hawaii or Puerto Rico schools if there is another human on the island.
D3- Anything in the Northeast - just too many D3 schools

Posted by baseball4309 on 1/31/2022 5:29:00 PM (view original):

Posted by ja_tbfl on 1/31/2022 4:14:00 PM (view original):
Not that WIS will do this (or even can without throwing a huge wrench into things), but it would be interesting to see schools realigned into their current divisions. The PBA advantage just made me think about that again.

I've been thinking this as well. My college was NAIA when they made HD but are D2 now. It'd be cool if they were added and the conferences were realigned. It would create a major stir though for sure.

Where did you play?

Posted by ja_tbfl on 1/31/2022 7:33:00 PM (view original):

Posted by baseball4309 on 1/31/2022 5:29:00 PM (view original):

Posted by ja_tbfl on 1/31/2022 4:14:00 PM (view original):
Not that WIS will do this (or even can without throwing a huge wrench into things), but it would be interesting to see schools realigned into their current divisions. The PBA advantage just made me think about that again.

I've been thinking this as well. My college was NAIA when they made HD but are D2 now. It'd be cool if they were added and the conferences were realigned. It would create a major stir though for sure.

Where did you play?

I played baseball at Emmanuel College in GA. They have an excellent D2 basketball program.

Posted by baseball4309 on 1/31/2022 7:56:00 PM (view original):

Posted by ja_tbfl on 1/31/2022 7:33:00 PM (view original):

Posted by baseball4309 on 1/31/2022 5:29:00 PM (view original):

Posted by ja_tbfl on 1/31/2022 4:14:00 PM (view original):
Not that WIS will do this (or even can without throwing a huge wrench into things), but it would be interesting to see schools realigned into their current divisions. The PBA advantage just made me think about that again.

I've been thinking this as well. My college was NAIA when they made HD but are D2 now. It'd be cool if they were added and the conferences were realigned. It would create a major stir though for sure.

Where did you play?

I played baseball at Emmanuel College in GA. They have an excellent D2 basketball program.

Yep, I remember when Emmanuel (along with a fair amount of others) were making the NAIA-to-D2 transition. I've worked at both NAIA and D2 schools so I've always had an interest in basketball at those levels. In fact, I believe the last athletic department I worked in played Emmanuel in men's basketball a few years ago.

Posted by TRrrr on 1/31/2022 7:23:00 PM (view original):
Worst
D1- Nebraska - Middle of a wasteland
D2- Any of the Hawaii or Puerto Rico schools if there is another human on the island.
D3- Anything in the Northeast - just too many D3 schools

agree with D2 and D3.

I don't find Nebraska bad at all, I've had plenty of success there. The reality is that you have the whole state to yourself about 80% of the time. You'll get some solid players and you can reach into CO/TX/WI. Bonus points if MN is lower prestige than you.

Posted by TRrrr on 1/31/2022 7:23:00 PM (view original):
Worst
D1- Nebraska - Middle of a wasteland
D2- Any of the Hawaii or Puerto Rico schools if there is another human on the island.
D3- Anything in the Northeast - just too many D3 schools

agree with D2 and D3.

I don't find Nebraska bad at all, I've had plenty of success there. The reality is that you have the whole state to yourself about 80% of the time. You'll get some solid players and you can reach into CO/TX/WI. Bonus points if MN is lower prestige than you. But give me that over NC/VA area, FL area, NE pretty much any day.

Tex is right, it is almost entirely dependent on what coaches are in the world with you, and where they are. Recruit gen does play a part, because the quantity and quality of the no-star guys in your backyard you can summon up for cheap does matter, but the truth is that D1 scouting and recruiting budgets are large enough that you always have to assume there are other guys keeping an eye on your gems, and it is really no problem to come in from more than 500 miles away.

Every location is going to have advantages and disadvantages based on geography and recruit gen, magnified by the specific world population. The key is always going to be figuring out how to effectively battle those around you *when you need to*, and what rocks to turn over to find the hidden gems in your world.