say you have three schollies, 80 AP.

you know 10 ap means around, 8 cycles to unlock the scholly, sometimes a bit more or a bit less, Depending on the recruit. 20 ap is around 4 cycles, 40 2 cycles, 80, 1 cycle. Once you hit the scholly, next cycle opens up more like promised minutes, promised start, then next one hv and so on. I say normally because you need ap.

so at 3 schollies, you can go

10-10-10-10-40
20-20-40
10-30-40
40-40
60-20

I went 60-20 : scholly was not opened after the first cycle but I saw a A team in the mix so I told myself, it's a wasted cause. I rearranged my ap to 20-20-40 but kept on my first target to see if the a would make a move... By the time I switched my ap towards a new recruit, at least two or three did the same and sims got into my other recruits also. On one of the player, we are more than 10. I am now stuck to 40-40 if I want to win one of the two rolls. I let my first target go. If i give up on the recruit, I need to start over to unlock stuff, If I drop my ap to get unto other options, will I be able to compete on my two primary targets? Of course, I offered time asap, went on a cv asap ( only 5 possible). But still, even if I want to strategize, it seems the outcome is always the same : roll. A+ teams, A can fear away others, not me.
So I could wait on
The second sessioon but my experience, it gets even tougher and D 1 talent is not there. How to fix these situations?

With 3 D1 scholarships, you can max 2 recruits, if they're local enough. If they're not local, I'd drop them. If they are local, you may as well roll, or at least try to. With APs, I'd try to spare 10-15 to try to unlock a juco or 3 as backups, before 2nd session.

With D1 recruiting, You get $3,000 per recruit plus $5,000, as does every other D1 coach. For 3 players, that would give you $14,000

It costs $9900 recruiting cash to go all in on one recruit who is 850 miles away. At 50 miles, that all in cost (20 HVs and 1 CV) is $4,600. At 300 miles the all in cost is $6,400.

So you (and every other coach who has 3 openings) could go all in on 3 recruits who are w/in 50 miles ($13,800), all in one recruit who is 850 miles away ($9900), or 2 who are 300 miles away ($12,800).

If you are a D-1 team and you go all in, there is a good chance you will be high or very high on that recruit. If you are high or very high on a recruit, you have a decent shot at getting him. I have only gone all in on one recruit where I fell to moderate .. and that was a D2 team (me) battling a D1 team .. he should have gotten that recruit :)

Here is a shocker .. you get less money PER recruit for lower sized classes. If you have a 1 recruit class, you have $8K/recruit. If you have 6 recruits, you get $3833/recruit. So you will have to prioritize and take some recruits where there is not an all in battle.

The key to finding good recruits where there is not an 'all in' battle is scouting and projecting where a player will end up. I find guys all the time not in the top 100 who are (by my rating system) top 10 at their position. In order to find these guys, you need to get them to at the very least, Scouting Level 2. (I would like Scouting Level 3, where there is also potential). You then need some method for progressing attributes (to determine if the player will be what you want as a JR/SR) and ranking those players.

When I do this, I find guys who are very good .. but not in the top 100 overall and sometimes not even listed in the top 100 at their position. This is because the rating system does NOT take into account potential, but you can do so.

If you find several players in session 1 who are Moderate for Div-II teams or Div-III teams, but they have not offered a scholarship, that means they COULD have very little effort in those players. Use a category in the recruit pool to mean guys you want where you can get them from a D-II or D-III team (maybe red). You can come back and unlock one of those guys quickly and if you offer a guy who is Early, before the end of the 1st period, or Whenever .. there is a decent chance that with zero recruiting dollars (and only a scholarship offer and maybe 10 mins playing time) you can sign a good player. If you do that with one player, you can go 'all in' with 7K each on 2 guys that are w/in 300 miles. If you get two players on the cheap .. you can go 'all in' on one player pretty far away with $14K.

Many people have discussed the cheapest way to get as many as possible recruits to at least scouting level 3. I'm not going to go re-discuss that, here is a link to one

As an example, here are my backup guys for 2 guards I wanted at Wichita State (projected at MAX):

Name

A

SPD

REB

DE

BLK

LP

PE

BH

P

WE

ST

DU

TOT

Larry Gaddy

63

90

30

71

9

58

88

84

71

37

91

75

767

Brent Wagner

64

82

29

70

25

35

82

88

98

78

100

82

833

I don't like either of them on DEF .. but as backups that I got for zero recruiting cash, they are quite good. In fact, Gaddy projects as the best overall SG and Wagner as the best overall PG on my team if/when maxed out.

Hughes I know I am getting back-ups and will open these plans once I land a bonafide star. My point is : it's impossible to avoid the roll, even if I go all-in. But I was just thinking out loud what was my strategy. My experience on rolls has been awful, lost 4 rolls so far, never won one. And the backups I got were not as good as expected. But I blame myself for scouting too deep some recruits I should not have.. Internationals mostly. So I could not find the hidden gems. This time, I haven't done this. We'll see. But the roll is the part of the strategy I do not get...

AP : Would it possible to get AP to unlock stuff a bit faster? It would greatly improve strategy. Don't reduce the value, just reduce the time it takes to unlock stuff so we can open up options more easily.

Wants to play... I mean, isn't that obvious that all players want to PLAY? It should be an edge for rebuilding team, but it's not 50% of the time.

Wants to start : FOR STARS, it's a no-brainer, it should also be a preference. That'd give an edge to teams with lower prestige also.

I agree with the concern of the roll. I recently went all in on a recruit who was 60 miles from me (A+ MSU) and I had 4 Very Good preferences and 1 Bad. Both WIsconsin and I got to Very High and I lost him to Wisconsin. That was with 1,299 AP, 20 HV and 1 CV.

The issue becomes if I go all in on 2-3 recruits when I have 6 openings and the dice roll goes the wrong way on all 3. People keep saying that you can plan better but I had a Marquette Team that was B prestige push me on a recruit and I had to do a lot more than I planned when I didn't think he would be a player someone would battle for. A team can't come back from that (losing all 3 dice rolls) and it means the coach would want to jump ship and move to another team during the job period because the following year he may have 9 openings.

Posted by gvsujulius on 11/23/2016 11:09:00 AM (view original):
I agree with the concern of the roll. I recently went all in on a recruit who was 60 miles from me (A+ MSU) and I had 4 Very Good preferences and 1 Bad. Both WIsconsin and I got to Very High and I lost him to Wisconsin. That was with 1,299 AP, 20 HV and 1 CV.

The issue becomes if I go all in on 2-3 recruits when I have 6 openings and the dice roll goes the wrong way on all 3. People keep saying that you can plan better but I had a Marquette Team that was B prestige push me on a recruit and I had to do a lot more than I planned when I didn't think he would be a player someone would battle for. A team can't come back from that (losing all 3 dice rolls) and it means the coach would want to jump ship and move to another team during the job period because the following year he may have 9 openings.

This is exactly the point I have made. Once you lose the rolls, you are basically left without options. This time, i am more cautious. But I have a player I consider important where 10 teams are on his considered list.

And yes , five stars takes longer to unlock. Unlocking stuff dépends on the value of the recruit.

We need more options when we lose rolls. I am trying to see if I can better scout now, but I am not sure once I get to scouting gems, there will be anything not signed nor deeply invested by other teams. Not sure at all.

Posted by gvsujulius on 11/23/2016 11:09:00 AM (view original):
I agree with the concern of the roll. I recently went all in on a recruit who was 60 miles from me (A+ MSU) and I had 4 Very Good preferences and 1 Bad. Both WIsconsin and I got to Very High and I lost him to Wisconsin. That was with 1,299 AP, 20 HV and 1 CV.

The issue becomes if I go all in on 2-3 recruits when I have 6 openings and the dice roll goes the wrong way on all 3. People keep saying that you can plan better but I had a Marquette Team that was B prestige push me on a recruit and I had to do a lot more than I planned when I didn't think he would be a player someone would battle for. A team can't come back from that (losing all 3 dice rolls) and it means the coach would want to jump ship and move to another team during the job period because the following year he may have 9 openings.

I don't think this is a problem for the game to fix, it's something for coaches to adapt to in gameplay. This scenario is why I suggest it's no longer a dominant strategy to organize classes for maximized resource allocation. If you have 6 scholarships, you need to come away with at least 3 players, or you're really behind the 8 ball. If you lose all your rolls, and you end up with only plan Bs and Cs AND take walk-ons to boot, your team is going to suffer. This is why I say the premium is now on long-term planning and more balanced classes, so you always have somewhat capable guys to plug into holes, replacements already on campus. Especially at high D1 where you have to navigate potential early entries as well.

"Here is a shocker .. you get less money PER recruit for lower sized classes."

Actually, it is the other way around. One recruit gets the full base amount applied to himself. Multiple recruits dive up the base amount among themselves.

"Also, am I to understand that the higher the prestige, the faster recruits unlock? And do 5 stars take more AP's to unlock than 3 stars?"

Yes and yes. A team with higher prestige has stronger AP's. A higher recruit requires more overall effort.

Well, you are not going to lose all the dice rolls all the time AND coaches can only do one or two guys with lot of cash.. so you CAN find other guys out there where they do not have cash invested. It takes time and you will have to battle. But I have 10 teams, and I just lost 2 recruits at d1 and had to find two backups. It happens. But sometimes I win the recruit as well. I won 2 VH/VH battles this week as well. That's how it works now.

Hughes - you could lose the dice rolls in a single recruiting session is what I am saying. I had 6 openings last year and will continue to have 6 openings, not by choice but because I can't sign more than 2-3 players in one session. If you go all in on 3 players and lose you don't have much money to go after anyone who is moderately good enough to play for an A+ D1 squad.

Posted by gvsujulius on 11/23/2016 3:02:00 PM (view original):
Hughes - you could lose the dice rolls in a single recruiting session is what I am saying. I had 6 openings last year and will continue to have 6 openings, not by choice but because I can't sign more than 2-3 players in one session. If you go all in on 3 players and lose you don't have much money to go after anyone who is moderately good enough to play for an A+ D1 squad.

That is true .. you can lose the dice rolls in a current season. Then you can take 3 walkons (or 2 or 1) and recruit again next season with the same amount of resources.

And the other guys you are battling against will, on occasion also lose some dice rolls to you next season. So it balances out in the end since everything is based on probability.

So, we have to adjust our expectations. Some times, you take a walkon .. OR .. you grab a guy who plays awesome defense for your bench.

TBH, I have never NOT been able to find a player who is good enough to be on the team. Not a superstar, for sure .. but a contributor. Teams are not going to look like they have in the past at the top of D-1 .. teams are going to have some role players on them now.

I think having 9 or 10 players is now the norm.

Posted by zorzii on 11/23/2016 6:53:00 PM (view original):
I think having 9 or 10 players is now the norm.

That or a couple of role players on the team. Everyone we recruit does not have to be a stud starter as a senior any more. And it will be that way across all the high level teams .. therefore in relation to one another, the teams will be competitive. And the coaches who develop the best strategies will have a few better players than the others.