Top 10 or 5 nationally is a tough nut to crack when your base is in the state of Illinois.
Think about it a little differently. Who is our competition? Who is in the way of where we want to go? It's the Big Ten West. Here are the Big Ten West's national recruiting rankings over the past several years, counting backwards:
Nebraska: 25th, 31st, 32nd, 17th, 25th
Wisconsin: 36th, 37th, 33rd, 57th, 56th
Iowa: 42nd, 59th, 62nd, 55th, 43rd
Minnesota: 50th, 52nd, 52nd, 61st, 72nd
Northwestern: 47th, 56th, 67th, 54th, 60th
Purdue: 73rd, 68th, 71st, 56th, 33rd
We were in the talent mix with these teams anyway. Under freakin Beckman. Now we have a better paid, better qualified staff than any of them. Start grabbing top 30 classes with a handful of four stars that are well-scouted good fits and good kids that will stay in the program, and the cream is going to rise here over time. Brick by brick.