Basketball vs Football Recruiting

[Crazy Balki]

So, something occurred to me. I always seem to run across the always prevalent argument that ND has trouble recruiting because the weather in South Bend is unfavorable. This makes things difficult to constantly get top-level recruits.

Let's translate this to basketball shall we? Then how is it that Kentucky, Syracuse, UConn or Kansas get the highest level recruits. True, they are elite basketball schools, but so is ND in regards to football, and they sport weather that is unfavorable. Hartford has winters that are on par with South Bend, as does Syracuse, NY. Lexington, KY isn't exactly a hot spot location, so while the basketball is good, the area isn't really all that much. Kansas is smack dab in the middle of Tornado Alley and the state is a baron wasteland.

Why is it that basketball recruiting relies less on location than football? Is it because the recruits are there longer in football? Is it because they play outside? It seems that if you're lucky you'll be out for the NBA draft in 2 years, compared to 3 in football. That's one whole year difference. Football is a "get used to it" type of deal. You may not like playing in that kind of weather, but if you plan on going to the NFL you damn well better get used to it, because odds are you'll be playing in it a majority of the time.

Not a big discussion, but it always intrigued me how ND's location seemed to always be a huge disadvantage, especially with a school just across the state line with equally as bad weather recruiting extremely well. Just seems like an often discussed issue.

 

[arrowryan]

So are you asking why Notre Dame doesn't get more 5 stars? I have always thought that Notre Dame doesn't get as many 5 stars because of the great academic challenge. If a recruit was picking between UCLA and Notre Dame and didn't really give a shit about academics, his decision wouldn't be a tough one

UCLA- great weather, beautiful women, easy classes, and pretty good football.

Notre Dame- great football, great academics, shitty weather 4-5 months out of the year, average women, and there isn't shit to do in South Bend if you're not 21 (trust me on this one).

So although Notre Dame offers great academics, that doesn't really matter if he doesn't really care about the education he will be receiving

 

[koonja]

There's about ten reasons why ND can't recruit in hoops, but two that stand out are: 1) Basketball elite recruits are even bigger divas than football recruits and want all of the flash and flare, and 2) It's much easier to project professional outlook when you only have to play one year in a minimal contact sport, so the value of education for top recruits is null. HSers that are NBA bound already know they could get drafted if there wasn't the one-done rule, so they don't need a solid school as a backup plan 99.9% of the time.

Duke gets away with it because they have a mount rushmore coach and program. Sort of like why ND sometimes gets elite recruits in football.

 

[mtnd15]

I would argue that basketball is completely different than football. The major talent centers include New York, Chicago, Indiana. These are northern areas where the players are less likely to be averse to living in cold climates. I don't actually believe our location hurts us in bball from a climate perspective all that much.

The real issue is Notre Dame is simply not anywhere near the program level of those schools. We are a football equivalent of BYU (first example I thought of) - a team that has had fabulous past success, is decent now, but will likely never win a title going forward.

Frankly, upper echelon basketball recruiting is more shady, and the players less interested in education than in football in my opinion leaving less big name players qualified / compatible for ND to begin with.

Further, I can't see the administration being OK with even targeting obvious One and done guys. We know our lane and we stick in it. I think we don't even want to try and recruit in the way those schools do, and couldn't if we tried. We are just lucky that in football we do have superpower status, and there are so many high level players out there we can land that are qualified, compatible kids.

 

[GoldenDomer]

I feel the academic rigors are much more of a reason than the weather. If Notre Dame had the same level of academic standards as those warm weather schools, we would steal some of those studs.

Go to college, do a shit load of work, go to the league vs. Go to college, don't do nearly the work, go to the league.

You decide.

 

[BobbyMac]

Because basketball is played inside?

 

[BobbyMac]

There's about ten reasons why ND can't recruit in hoops, but two that stand out are: 1) Basketball elite recruits are even bigger divas than football recruits and want all of the flash and flare, and 2) It's much easier to project professional outlook when you only have to play one year in a minimal contact sport, so the value of education for top recruits is null. HSers that are NBA bound already know they could get drafted if there wasn't the one-done rule, so they don't need a solid school as a backup plan 99.9% of the time.

Duke gets away with it because they have a mount rushmore coach and program. Sort of like why ND sometimes gets elite recruits in football.

D1 is anything but. Elbows in your grill on every shot and no huddles to catch your breath after a whole 7 seconds of play. There's a reason why college basketball players go to the NFL HOF and not the other way around.

.

 

[House16]

I think basketball recruiting has a chance to pick up in a major way once Campus Crossroads finishes up and Rolf's is converted into a basketball facility. Our facilities currently are some of the worst in the ACC, so some new facilities to wow the recruits could work wonders.

Still it's a very valid point that of the top 60 CBB recruits, maybe 3 of them could get in here, want to have to work academically, and don't want to go to a blue blood instead. Jackson comes to mind. Our program has a big uphill battle to climb. Getting actual facilities will be a good start though.