Recruiting

[Scoman]

I think I read somewhere that the recruiting process was changed in this version,is this correct?.

[Wayne23]

No. There were changes made to the difficulty of recruiting though. Easy isn't as easy; nor is Normal. PointGuard will have too tell you about Hard and Brutal; I don't use those.

[PointGuard]

The recruiting PROCESS is the same, but here's some changes in RECRUITING for CB2018:

a. AI should be more aggressive now in using its recruiting options every week
b. Late in the year both teams and players should be more aggressive in making/taking offers.
c. AI is more aggressively going after JC players than in CB2017.

With regard to Easy, Normal, Hard, Brutal...I THINK as the level of recruiting difficulty increases that with each succeeding level recruits are less likely to be responsive to phone calls, they may provide a little less info during the phone calls, they're less likely to do campus visits, building interest within a recruit becomes more difficult, and the likelihood of signing high quality recruits becomes more challenging. This is PROBABLY more noticeable at low and middle level prestige programs. It's MY OPINION that Hard and Brutal are more like what's encountered in real life.

Also, in CB2018 there are more TRANSFER players each year and the AI is more aggressive in going after transfer players.

[Double Dribble]

Hoping for some advice on recruiting. I have landed two top 25 classes as Arizona, but I had to resort to bribes to do it and just recently the Houston Baptist Huskies were put on probation so if they are going after the Baptists, it is only a matter of time before they get to me

1. As an Arizona type program, what type of recruiting guide should I get?
2. Do you only recruit players who show interest in the program? If they don't show interest, how long do you pursue them until you bail?
3. Is there anything advantageous ,other than a bribe, that you can do to pique interest? Like offering a scholarship early?
4. Do phone calls do anything other than help with the pitch? ie will calling help keep the recruit interested, or will it just annoy him?
5. What's the difference between scouting on film and in person?
6. If I want to find athletic guys, is the best way just to sort by steals and evaluate?
7. Have you put together championship teams with underrated guys because they fit your system?

I think that's what I got for now. Thanks for the help!

[vols410]

Hoping for some advice on recruiting. I have landed two top 25 classes as Arizona, but I had to resort to bribes to do it and just recently the Houston Baptist Huskies were put on probation so if they are going after the Baptists, it is only a matter of time before they get to me

1. As an Arizona type program, what type of recruiting guide should I get?
2. Do you only recruit players who show interest in the program? If they don't show interest, how long do you pursue them until you bail?
3. Is there anything advantageous ,other than a bribe, that you can do to pique interest? Like offering a scholarship early?
4. Do phone calls do anything other than help with the pitch? ie will calling help keep the recruit interested, or will it just annoy him?
5. What's the difference between scouting on film and in person?
6. If I want to find athletic guys, is the best way just to sort by steals and evaluate?
7. Have you put together championship teams with underrated guys because they fit your system?

I think that's what I got for now. Thanks for the help!

I'll give it a shot and answer what I can based on what works for me.

2. Nope! Don't leave it at just the interested recruits. I feel like (at least at smaller schools) the vast majority of players I sign were not interested to begin with.

The biggest thing for me is the first visit, and this is how I determine who to actually pursue. If a player still has interest, or recently became interested after the visit, I feel like I've usually got a good shot. On the other hand, I've never landed a recruit who had 0 interest post-visit. Keep an eye out for the emails also. The "visit was not worthwhile" message is usually a kiss of death for me.

As for offer timing, I always send mine out on August 21, per some advice PointGuard dished out a while ago. That works well for me.

For finding the underrated guys, I find those based off of performance in the camps. If you are targeting a top 100 player who didn't play well at camp, but then a player ranked 220 who was top 25 at his camp, I always go with the second player, and that tends to give me much better results.

[novafan14]

Hoping for some advice on recruiting. I have landed two top 25 classes as Arizona, but I had to resort to bribes to do it and just recently the Houston Baptist Huskies were put on probation so if they are going after the Baptists, it is only a matter of time before they get to me

1. As an Arizona type program, what type of recruiting guide should I get?
2. Do you only recruit players who show interest in the program? If they don't show interest, how long do you pursue them until you bail?
3. Is there anything advantageous ,other than a bribe, that you can do to pique interest? Like offering a scholarship early?
4. Do phone calls do anything other than help with the pitch? ie will calling help keep the recruit interested, or will it just annoy him?
5. What's the difference between scouting on film and in person?
6. If I want to find athletic guys, is the best way just to sort by steals and evaluate?
7. Have you put together championship teams with underrated guys because they fit your system?

I think that's what I got for now. Thanks for the help!

1. I would think you can afford both the regional and national recruiting reports at a top program like Arizona (and the camps too)
2. I don't usually pay too much attention to the initial interest, i will defn pursue guys that show no initial interest and continue pursuing until they make a campus visit and if it doesn't go well then, then i remove him from my call list. I've gotten plenty of guys that started with no initial interest (not a guarantee but I would stay persistent)
3. I always max out my campus visits each week and then when september rolls around, defn max out your home visits...that seems to be the best way to influence their interest in my experience
4. I don't think there is a downside to calling recruits, i always keep calling until they take my call
5. i haven't seen a real benefit to scouting in person so i don't use it too often, i just watch film which is a lot cheaper and save my $$ for home/campus visits
6. I believe there a rating on the scouting report for athleticism (ATH)
7. I'm still only in year 3 at my small school so can't really say...i've landed a couple of good jucos that have helped with quick success though and were probably overlooked a little bit since they were JUCOs

[PointGuard]

Hoping for some advice on recruiting. I have landed two top 25 classes as Arizona, but I had to resort to bribes to do it and just recently the Houston Baptist Huskies were put on probation so if they are going after the Baptists, it is only a matter of time before they get to me

1. As an Arizona type program, what type of recruiting guide should I get?
2. Do you only recruit players who show interest in the program? If they don't show interest, how long do you pursue them until you bail?
3. Is there anything advantageous ,other than a bribe, that you can do to pique interest? Like offering a scholarship early?
4. Do phone calls do anything other than help with the pitch? ie will calling help keep the recruit interested, or will it just annoy him?
5. What's the difference between scouting on film and in person?
6. If I want to find athletic guys, is the best way just to sort by steals and evaluate?
7. Have you put together championship teams with underrated guys because they fit your system?

I think that's what I got for now. Thanks for the help!

vols410 and novafan14 gave good advice. Here's my 2 cents worth:

1. Hey, you have lotsa bucks when at a program like 'Zona, so definitely buy the Gold National. That will give you the most info on the top recruits nationally which is who you really are going after. Also but the the basic int'l...that way you have some info on the international guys and can go after good int'l recruits. You might also want to buy the basic regional reports (particularly the West report if at Arizona) if you want info on recruits who didn't make it into the national report.
2. You can build interest in many recruits who are not initially interested in your program by calling them, scouting them, getting them to visit your campus, and, most importantly, doing home visits (Sept 11 thru Oct 2) and pitching the the things they are most interested in.
3. All the things I mentioned in #2. Some recruits will snap up an early scholarship offer, others could care less. Sometimes I make early offers, but I also like to withhold at least some offers to see who's at the top of my list come September.
4. Phone calls can CREATE interest in a player who isn't presently interested. Once you have interest and have all the info you want, more phone calls probably aren't going to change anything.
5. Film fills in the info on their specific skills but doesn't create interest (since they don't know you're watching them on film). Scouting in person provides specific comments for you to analyze and can create interest.
6. There's an Athleticism rating for each recruit, so that's the best. Also like vols said, sometimes there are specific comments you get on a recruit that will help you determine athleticism.
7. It's been a long time since I had a championship team since I now coach at low prestige programs and tend to jump down to other low ones once my team gets successful. Wayne's your guy to best answer this question. But I think to have true national championship caliber teams you need to have highly skilled players and you get that through recruiting top guys by the bucket fulls (since some of yours will jump to the pros after their freshman year).

(Obviously there are different ways to recruit, so experiment and ultimately you will find the way that best works for you and is the most fun.)

[Wayne23]

You can put together a Final Four team with guys who fit your system, but you'll need mostly top 40 or top 50 recruits and transfers.

Generally, in recruiting, persistence can pay dividends, but don;t spend a lot of money on guys who aren't showing at least Low interest.

Phone calls help, but I'm told that once all the categories are filled in, there's no point. Watching film gives info; I keep doing it. Home Visits help, and getting them to visit campus helps A LOT.

I don't hesitate to bank a scholarship if I don;t get players I want.

[Double Dribble]

Thanks for the tips guys. Looks like, I can send out an initial call to all players whether they are interested or not and their response will be a good gauge of where to go from there.

I am about to embark on my first bribe free recruiting season. Wish me luck!

[PointGuard]

If I really am interested in a guy, I sometimes keep calling and calling even when they blow me off repeatedly...some eventually succumb to my persistence.