Recruiting Tips

[inno]

Hello! I'm still pretty new to the game, but I get the basic grasps of the coaching and recruiting tips. Are there any advanced tips for recruiting better, especially when you're starting out at a smaller school?

[Wayne23]

Spend your money wisely and save some recruiting dollars for the Spring; it is often possible to snag decent players who weren't offered by the schools they wanted. I try to have about $40,000 available for recruiting. Often foreign players can be grabbed in the Spring.
Call players only until you have hit every category in Pitch Areas. Not sure if General Information helps or not but I hit those two as well.
If a player shows even minor interest, keep after them.
With a low Team Prestige school stay in state and in area unless of special circumstances- your SAT score and Academic rating are very high. You can sometimes get a good player who has Academics at #1.
I like my Recruiting Assistant to be my best assistant (Others disagree and want the bench coach to be #1). Your ratings are WAY more important than the assistants' ratings.
I watch film twice in July, once in August, and every week after I offer to guys until they commit to me or someone else- obviously to the guys I've offered to.
Start off on the Easy setting. After a season or two I move to Normal. After that it's up to you. I stay at Normal.

[Chris]

Hello! I'm still pretty new to the game, but I get the basic grasps of the coaching and recruiting tips. Are there any advanced tips for recruiting better, especially when you're starting out at a smaller school?

FULL VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhjju94Tgc4

[JoFleecy]

I like my Recruiting Assistant to be my best assistant (Others disagree and want the bench coach to be #1).
I watch film twice in July, once in August, and every week after I offer to guys until they commit to me or someone else- obviously to the guys I've offered to.

I'm curious, do you need your recruiting assistant to have both high recruiting and high scouting ratings?
Also with the film thing, do you mean to say that watching film will bump up recruits interest in me potentially? If you ever played CH2k8, you call every week to build tiny bits of interest..is it like that?
I was under the impression myself that I only ever had to watch film on each recruit 1 time.

[Wayne23]

Hoping PointGuard will chime in here, which he will, most likely today; he and I have been around here for a very long time and his views are worth paying attention to. We come at the game somewhat differently, which will give you greater perspective.
Watching is cheap so I do it. I think it helps, but if it doesn't it gives me more info about the player.
It definitely helps if the Recruiting assistant is high or relatively high in both areas but the Recruiting area is the more important.

[fatfish89]

I hope you don't mind me asking a questions about recruiting on here as well, but how do you guys decide when you have a diamond in the rough. I have very good player development stat and idk if the assistant matters more than me or not but what does a diamond in the rough look like? does he have high ratings like A's in multiple stats but a mid grade star rating like 3 or are they more like the 2 star who top tens in regional and national camps but doesn't have the best ratings?

[Wildcat18]

I hope you don't mind me asking a questions about recruiting on here as well, but how do you guys decide when you have a diamond in the rough. I have very good player development stat and idk if the assistant matters more than me or not but what does a diamond in the rough look like? does he have high ratings like A's in multiple stats but a mid grade star rating like 3 or are they more like the 2 star who top tens in regional and national camps but doesn't have the best ratings?

That will depend on the situation. Sometimes, I find guys are best at positions other than the one they're listed at. My current save I had a 1-star recruit who was listed at PG who started at SG for me for 4 years. He had A in outside shooting and defense, a B in steals, passing, ball handling, free throw shooting, and athleticism, and an F in pretty much everything else. Couldn't block a shot, couldn't get offensive rebounds, yet was one of my "Big 3" who transformed the team from not even a .500 record to the elite 8 in 4 years. Interestingly, none of those 3 played their "listed" position: the two players listed at SG played PG and SF, and this guy played SG. He averaged 38% from three for his career, and was a great 3-and-D player.

[PointGuard]

fatfish, JoFleecy, and inno: The mechanics involved as to how recruiting is done are really only known to the developer. So while we may have our own feelings about things, we may well be wrong. Actually I like it that way. I don't want to know how the sausage is made or be able to game the game. With that in mind, here are my THOUGHTS (which are really just my OPINIONS) on what you asked:

Diamonds in the rough>>>For me it's more of a guess than anything. But I base my guess on a combination of: skills and overall ratings, star rating, HS/JC stats, comments about performance at camps, comments from his coach, upward or downward movement in the ratings...then let this all mesh together within my mind...this mainly determines who I'm most interested in but (to a lesser degree) who I think may be under-evaluated.

Recruiting asst ratings>>>I typically coach at lower prestige colleges where the budget is low so I try to get as high a Recruiting skills rating as possible and can't really be overly concerned about his other ratings. I don't now if his Scouting rating really has much effect on how well he performs for you. Of course if you coach at a program with tons for $$, then go after the very best rated asst's you can get. They'll do better for you and give better evaluations.

Watching film>>>I used to watch and rewatch film as much as I could afford. But now I really use used it to get the player skills ratings (if I don't get those via the recruit attending the camp(s) that I attend. I didn't feel I was getting much, if anything, from watching film once I had those skills ratings for a recruit. Watching film does not create or increase the interest level of a recruit...after all, he doesn't know I'm watching it. If I'm loaded with $$ that I can't burn through with recruiting, I blow it on booze and whores...ok, ok, just kidding but if you have a few dollars to spare...

Recruiting tips at low prestige basketball program>>>Wayne's comments were on target. Do a search on "recruiting within the DDSCB2021 portion of this forum...there are several threads re recriuiting with comments from different players and you'll see there is a wide degree of varying thought. The amount of my recruiting budget I prefer to have at a low budget program is $25K to $50K...the amount I need obviously depends upon how many scholarships I have available that year (I prefer that I have 2-4 each year). I buy the basic regional scouting report and if I have the money the basic national report and I attend the regional camp and if I have the money one of the national camps. I tend to have a high number of recruits on my list (but others rightly prefer to keep this much smaller). In developing my list, I focus primarily on the positions I need most, I start by looking at my state's recruits (focusing on who's the best as well as who already has interest, then regional, and might add a few national recruits but realize the not many HS kids from outside my region will get interested in Podunk U plus I won't have the $$ I need to go after them aggressively. I recruit aggressively each and every week in the summer and autumn meaning I use all my calling/texting time (to create and build interest and to gather info on their and their parent's primary interests), watch film for those who are not attending the camps I am going to, scout in person, try to get them to visit my campus. offer scholarships, and then when I can do home visits, maximize those. Like Wayne said, if you don't fill all the scholarships by November, then save a little money so you can do some minimal recruiting thru the winter and then do home visits in the spring. Bottom line though..experiment and do what you feel you want to do and what you feel works best for you. Others do things quite differently from what I do and they get some good recruits. This game (whether it's recruiting or game play) can be done is so many different ways and that's what makes it interesting and challenging.

I agree with Wayne about setting Recruiting Level at EASY when you start and then graduate on up the recruiting difficulty ladder. But once you get the hang of things, do NOT be intimidated by HARD or BRUTAL recruiting levels, even at low prestige programs...I believe they add to the fun and challenge...you still will be better than the AI overall. And if you're at a school like Dixie State, does it really make sense to be able to lasso a bunch of 4 and 5 star players who were just frothing at the mouth to talk to you and visit your college? Come now! Even if they live in St. George, UT, they probably want the hell out of there (sorry to those of you who live there...I was just using it as an example). And by the way in November 2021. "In a close vote, the Utah State Senate passed a bill renaming Dixie State University to "Utah Tech University." Senators voted 17-12 to rename the university, moving away from connotations with the Civil War South and the Confederacy." I'd say, about freakin' time!

[Wayne23]

I hope you don't mind me asking a questions about recruiting on here as well, but how do you guys decide when you have a diamond in the rough. I have very good player development stat and idk if the assistant matters more than me or not but what does a diamond in the rough look like? does he have high ratings like A's in multiple stats but a mid grade star rating like 3 or are they more like the 2 star who top tens in regional and national camps but doesn't have the best ratings?

YOU matter a lot more than the assistant but the assistant does matter. The higher your recruiting ratings and your assistant's recruiting ratings, the more accurate is the analysis of your players and the players you are recruiting- keep that in mind. A diamond in the rough can happen because you have low ratings and they are not accurate. I advise playing the two exhibition games during the week of 11/6, and giving everyone playing time. This will give you a bit of a feel for who is better than their listed ratings, who is worse, and who is about right. Then in the first few games continue to give playing time to anyone who you think might help you. You may lose a few that you could have won, but down the line you're more likely to have the right lineup in the game.
Your question is more about recruiting, and for that, the same principles apply regarding accuracy. So sometimes it can be guesswork if your ratings are low. You sort of get a feel for it after you've done it for awhile but there are always delightful surprises and major disappointments. But then, that's true in the "real world" (whatever that is).

[Wayne23]

fatfish, JoFleecy, and inno: The mechanics involved as to how recruiting is done are really only known to the developer. So while we may have our own feelings about things, we may well be wrong. Actually I like it that way. I don't want to know how the sausage is made or be able to game the game. With that in mind, here are my THOUGHTS (which are really just my OPINIONS) on what you asked:

Diamonds in the rough>>>For me it's more of a guess than anything. But I base my guess on a combination of: skills and overall ratings, star rating, HS/JC stats, comments about performance at camps, comments from his coach, upward or downward movement in the ratings...then let this all mesh together within my mind...this mainly determines who I'm most interested in but (to a lesser degree) who I think may be under-evaluated.

Recruiting asst ratings>>>I typically coach at lower prestige colleges where the budget is low so I try to get as high a Recruiting skills rating as possible and can't really be overly concerned about his other ratings. I don't now if his Scouting rating really has much effect on how well he performs for you. Of course if you coach at a program with tons for $$, then go after the very best rated asst's you can get. They'll do better for you and give better evaluations.

Watching film>>>I used to watch and rewatch film as much as I could afford. But now I really use used it to get the player skills ratings (if I don't get those via the recruit attending the camp(s) that I attend. I didn't feel I was getting much, if anything, from watching film once I had those skills ratings for a recruit. Watching film does not create or increase the interest level of a recruit...after all, he doesn't know I'm watching it. If I'm loaded with $$ that I can't burn through with recruiting, I blow it on booze and whores...ok, ok, just kidding but if you have a few dollars to spare...

Recruiting tips at low prestige basketball program>>>Wayne's comments were on target. Do a search on "recruiting within the DDSCB2021 portion of this forum...there are several threads re recriuiting with comments from different players and you'll see there is a wide degree of varying thought. The amount of my recruiting budget I prefer to have at a low budget program is $25K to $50K...the amount I need obviously depends upon how many scholarships I have available that year (I prefer that I have 2-4 each year). I buy the basic regional scouting report and if I have the money the basic national report and I attend the regional camp and if I have the money one of the national camps. I tend to have a high number of recruits on my list (but others rightly prefer to keep this much smaller). In developing my list, I focus primarily on the positions I need most, I start by looking at my state's recruits (focusing on who's the best as well as who already has interest, then regional, and might add a few national recruits but realize the not many HS kids from outside my region will get interested in Podunk U plus I won't have the $$ I need to go after them aggressively. I recruit aggressively each and every week in the summer and autumn meaning I use all my calling/texting time (to create and build interest and to gather info on their and their parent's primary interests), watch film for those who are not attending the camps I am going to, scout in person, try to get them to visit my campus. offer scholarships, and then when I can do home visits, maximize those. Like Wayne said, if you don't fill all the scholarships by November, then save a little money so you can do some minimal recruiting thru the winter and then do home visits in the spring. Bottom line though..experiment and do what you feel you want to do and what you feel works best for you. Others do things quite differently from what I do and they get some good recruits. This game (whether it's recruiting or game play) can be done is so many different ways and that's what makes it interesting and challenging.

I agree with Wayne about setting Recruiting Level at EASY when you start and then graduate on up the recruiting difficulty ladder. But once you get the hang of things, do NOT be intimidated by HARD or BRUTAL recruiting levels, even at low prestige programs...I believe they add to the fun and challenge...you still will be better than the AI overall. And if you're at a school like Dixie State, does it really make sense to be able to lasso a bunch of 4 and 5 star players who were just frothing at the mouth to talk to you and visit your college? Come now! Even if they live in St. George, UT, they probably want the hell out of there (sorry to those of you who live there...I was just using it as an example). And by the way in November 2021. "In a close vote, the Utah State Senate passed a bill renaming Dixie State University to "Utah Tech University." Senators voted 17-12 to rename the university, moving away from connotations with the Civil War South and the Confederacy." I'd say, about freakin' time!

Just adding that I have no idea how much good watching video does but since real life coaches do it, I do it. $20 a pop is cheap!