But the number of good players you have is critical. 25 guys with a slightly lower average per recruit is way better than 12 with a slightly higher average.
In the end it's about building an entire roster. That's where this
Team Talent Composite that 247 does now is really interesting. It's essentially a "recruiting class ranking" for the entire roster of teams.
Lots of interesting data to pore over there, but just as a sanity check, Cubit's team in 2015 was 60th in the country in talent, and Lovie in 2018 was 61st.
I expect we will make a jump when this comes out ahead of next year. I'm not exactly sure how it handles redshirting transfers so it will depend some on that. But that is the list we're trying to climb.
It goes back only to 2015 unfortunately, but here's the Illinois numbers:
2015: 60th nationally, 13th Big Ten (ahead of Minny)
2016: 64th nationally, 13th Big Ten (ahead of Purdue)
2017: 64th nationally, 13th Big Ten (ahead of Purdue)
2018: 61st nationally, 12th Big Ten (ahead of Purdue and Rutgers)
It would be a wonderful resource if they backfill their old recruiting data into this and develop it for basketball too, let's hope they do that.