A great college basketball coach is defined by an ability to mold young players into a cohesive unit. But before any of that, you have to find the raw talent and skills. That's why recruiting is the heart of the game.

The first step in recruiting is scouting for players. This phase begins at the beginning of the season and continues until the end of recruiting. In order to recruit a player, you must first discover him via one of the scouting options: Assistant Coach Search, Camp, or Scouting Service. The exception is the top 100 ranked players, as they are visible to all schools from the start.

Each team has a scouting budget for the season, based on division and number of openings for the following season. This budget is used to pay for the various scouting options. This is separate from your recruiting budget, so you don't necessarily need to save any of it for the recruiting session, although it's probably a good idea to do so.

Each recruit's ratings/preferences are gradually revealed though these scouting actions. There are 4 levels of information. Level 1 is only 4 ratings: Physical, Offense, Defense, and Work Ethic. Level 2 is a letter grade (A, B, C, D, F) for each rating. Level 3 uses the same letter grades, but extends them to +/- to give more accurate information (e.g. A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, etc.). Level 4 reveals the actual number for each rating. Also, potential for each rating will be revealed at Levels 3 and 4, with Level 3 giving you just Low, Average, High and Level 4 exposing the Very Low, Low, Average, High, Very High categories.

Each scouting action on a player increases the scouting level on that player by one level. For example, if you first discover a player in a camp, then later purchase the scouting service covering his state, he would be scouted to Level 2. Alternatively, you could discover a player by way of assistant coach search, then do an individual scouting trip to get to Level 2. So the tools all work in combination to reveal deeper information.

Recruit preferences become visible at Level 2 scouting. They are:

• Playing time
  • No preference
  • Wants to play right away (you get a boost if you promise him minutes)
• Distance
  • No preference
  • Far from home (credit is adjusted up if you're far from his home and down if you're close)
  • Near home (credit is adjusted up if you're close to his home and down if you're far away)
• Recent school success
  • No preference
  • Wants success (credit is adjusted up if school has been successful in the past 4 seasons and down if not)
  • Wants rebuild (credit is adjusted down if school has been successful in the past 4 seasons and up if not)
• Offensive system
  • No preference
  • Flex, Motion, Triangle, or Fastbreak (credit is adjusted up if school is running the preferred offense, which is determined by finding the most common primary offense used in games in the current season)
• Defensive system
  • No preference
  • Zone, Man-to-Man, or Press (credit is adjusted up if school is running the preferred defense, which is determined by finding the most common primary defense used in games in the current season, with partial credit given for combo defenses)
• Play style
  • No preference
  • Fast Tempo (credit is adjusted based on the school's tempo in the current season, which is determined using possessions per game)
  • Perimeter Offense (credit is adjusted based on the school's tendency for perimeter shots in the current season, which is determined using percent of total FGA that are 3-pointers)
  • Paint Offense (credit is adjusted based on the school's tendency for paint or mid-range shots in the current season, which is determined using percent of total FGA that are 3-pointers)
  • Strong Defense (credit is adjusted based on the school's defensive performance in the current season, which is determined using points allowed per possession)
• Coach longevity
  • No preference
  • Long-time Coach (credit is adjusted based on how long the coach has been at the school)
• Conference Strength
  • No preference
  • Strong Conference (credit is adjusted based on the strength of the school's conference, which is based on the average prestige of teams in the conference)

These preferences will impact the amount of interest a recruit has in your school, based on how well your school matches up with his preferences. For example, if a recruit wants to play close to home, the distance between your school and the recruit's home will impact every recruiting action for better or worse.

You can send your assistant out to scout up a maximum number of players. You can ask that he either discover new players or further scout players you have already discovered. You cannot choose which players he further scouts. However, you do have the option to select the division you want him to search and the position, if you want.

Additionally, you can select the maximum distance and the number of players you want him to scout (in increments of five). Cost is based on the number of recruits specified to find. If the assistant can't find the number of recruits that you requested, you'll be charged only for the number that were found.

There are two types of camps: private and public. You can host your own private camp and invite players within a certain radius, and choose the number of players you want to invite. The pool of players at these camps is random and based on geography (within X miles of the school's location). Cost is based on number of players in the camp.

Additionally, there are public camps each season scattered throughout the country - which are scheduled for early in the season. There are 2 camps per region of the country - Standard and Elite. Standard camps include a mix of D2 and D3 recruits, while Elite camps are D1 and D2. Camps enable you to discover more players, or advance the players that come by one or two levels. Each camp draws a random pool of players based on geography (players within the area covered by the camp). Any school may choose to attend these public camps. Cost is based on number of players in the camp.

The scouting service allows a school to scout all players within a state and projected division (e.g. Alabama DII). You can only scout one division at a time. If you are at D3, you may also want to scout D2 and D1. You can also scout international players, at the cost of a normal state.

The cost for each purchase is based on number of players. You'll get information on every player located in the select state/division. There is no minimum per state, or discounts for multiple states.

Once a player has been discovered by one of the other scouting tools, a coach may begin to do individual scouting trips for a player. Scouting trips are used to gain a more accurate picture of a player's talent level. The cost of these trips is based on distance, so the further the player is from your school, the higher the cost.

With about 5-6 games left in the regular season, the first recruiting period will begin. This period runs until the start of the postseason. Then, after the job period is complete, a second recruiting period will be held to complete the process. Recruits may begin signing with teams about 3 days after the start of the first recruiting period. No recruiting or signings will take place between period 1 and period 2, although scouting will still be allowed.

Each school is allocated a recruiting budget based on division and openings for the following season. This budget will be used for home visits and campus visits. In addition to that budget, each school is assigned a pool of attention points based on the number of openings. These points essentially represent the low level recruiting actions like letters, calls, and texts. These points may be allocated to recruits in any manner, so a coach can put all of his points on one player or spread them out to many players.

Attention points are a tool to replace low-level actions such as phone calls, letters, and texts in the previous version of Hoops Dynasty. These points may be allocated to recruits in any manner, so a coach can put all of his points on one player or spread them out to many players.

Every team gets 20 attention points, plus 20 per open scholarship (capped at six scholarships). This is where you can sometimes beat out a more powerful team, if you use all of your Attention Points on one guy. The value of attention points depends on several things, including your school's prestige and how well your school fits the player's preferences. You can sign a player using only Attention Points and a scholarship.

The coach may reassign points at any time. So he may take 5 points away from Player A and put them on Player B to start building interest with that player. Reassigning points doesn't affect any interest that's already accumulated, but will affect interest going forward. When each recruiting cycle runs (every 6 hours at approximately 5am, 11am, 5pm, and 11pm ET), the team receives recruiting credit for each recruit with assigned Attention Points.

When a player signs, that team’s attention points will be reduced based on the number of Opening Allocation of Attention points still available divided by the # of openings.

This means if you have 6 or fewer openings at the start, then you will lose 20 Attention Points each time a recruit signs (The Attention Points already assigned is reduced evenly among the allocated players based on their percentage of the available allocated Attention Points).

If you have more than 6 openings, then you will lose less than 20 (ex. 8 openings but 140 AP, with first signing will lose 120/8 or 15 AP leaving you with 125 AP with 7 openings still).

Once you've built up a certain amount of recruiting credit for a recruit, home visits and campus visits become available. The cost of these is based on the distance between the recruit and the school. These actions have a much higher value than the attention points. A recruit may only visit a particular school's campus one time, and may only go on 5 total campus visits.

Many players want to get on the court right away. Once you've built up a certain amount of recruiting credit for a recruit, you can promise a starting spot or minutes. These options are free and valuable, but must be honored if the recruit signs, or he will react negatively and possibly transfer.

When a player redshirts, that means he sits out an entire season and doesn't lose a year of eligibility. However, he still practices and improves during that season. This is useful for a coach when the player isn't likely to play much right away.

A coach may want to inform the recruit that he will be redshirted. This will generally have negative value, but will ensure that the recruit will accept a redshirt if signed, without losing work ethic. You can change your mind about this later, but then the recruit will expect to NOT be redshirted.

During the active recruiting periods, you can submit recruiting actions (e.g. home visits, promises) as well as allocate attention points. Then, a process will run every 6 hours (at 5am, 11am, 5pm, and 11pm ET) to process any pending recruiting actions. You'll get recruiting credit for those actions at that time.

For attention points, you'll get recruiting credit for the allocated attention points at each of the above-mentioned cycle times. For example, say a coach assigns 10 points to Player A and 20 points to Player B. When each cycle runs, those points are counted toward building interest for the recruit in that school. The more points assigned to a player, the more credit that school gets.

For each recruiting action that generates credit, the amount of credit is modified by the school's prestige as well as how your school matches up with the recruit's preferences.

To be able to officially sign a player, you must offer him a scholarship. A scholarship may be offered at any time for free once unlocked, but it's important to know that it may be accepted at any time after the start of the signing period, so a coach should only offer one if he's sure he wants to sign that player.