Every recruit is different. The more boxes you check off, though, the better your chances. If the results so far are an indicative, I'd still put us in the sleeping giant category. Underwood said it himself, that recruiting is all about relationships. We tend to look at it through a more rational lens, but it's anything but.
Imagine for a moment you're an 18 year old consensus top-100 recruit. You're going to get offers from at least a dozen schools, and interest from many more. You've got a lot of well-meaning "experts" in your ear, as well as family with their own concerns. What makes you excited about a school? Could be anything. The coaching staff has to have what you want, and it has to build trust. It's more of a craps shoot than people realize.
Winning will help. Every big win we get shows we're on the uptick. Guys going to the league are a big deal, especially guys you can point to that came from further down the rankings, where you can take more credit for their development. Returning to the tournament is desperately needed. And relationships will always trump all that. Some of this stuff will take time. When we show more, though, I believe we'll come out on top far more often.
I guess what I'm saying is this staff is all over it, and it's great that they're looking far and wide, but we need to give them credit for the process right now as much as the results. They know better than anyone that the only thing that counts is the results. We won't really care where they pull talent from, as long as they can win with it.
My 2 cents....
Great post.Great perspective. Really great. God help me, I'm sounding like Trump. Although, i don't think he knows what perspective means
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