A Look at WCB Recruiting Over 10 Years
by dillon77 (2020-05-13 10:10:54)
Edited on 2020-05-13 10:15:11
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"The Her Hoop Stats Newsletter" looked at Hoopgurlz charts over a 10-year stretch (2010 onwards), looked the results and did some comparisons. I've pulled out some paragraphs (quotation marks noted) and added some of my own dash points.

"These (top) 10 programs have dominated the recruiting landscape. They rank 1-10 for the highest number of both top-100 and top-10 recruits (with a few other schools technically tied for 10th in top-10 recruits). These 10 programs alone account for 26.5% of top-100 recruits and 68.0% of top-10 prospects. This domination has largely translated on the court as well, as these 10 programs have accounted for 32 of the 40 most recent Final Four appearances."

- That's 80% of Final Four appeances by 10 schools.

- UConn (11), Tennessee and Duke (10 each) have had the most Top Ten recruits.
- Duke (33), Stanford (29), Maryland & Louisville (28) and UConn (27) have the most Top 100 recruits.
- ND is at 24 (Top 100) and 6 (Top 10) recruits. (This is not counting 2021 Top Ten recruit Olivia Miles and Top 100 recruit Sonia Citron).

However, as the article points out, "these leaderboards are also a great example that recruiting doesn’t guarantee success. Duke, who has the most top-100 and second most top-10 commitments over the past 10 years, hasn’t appeared in the Final Four since 2005-06. Texas has gotten past the Sweet 16 just one time since 2002-03. Recruiting is an important part of developing a program, but it’s not the only part."

- It's (recruiting) not the only part. Fans of Texas, Tennessee and Duke are probably knocking the sides of their head once reading these articles.

- On the other hand, Vic Schaefer's Mississippi State's teams are nowhere to be found. All power to him for finding needles in the haystack (even if they're 6'7") and developing them.

- And Muffet knew how to maximize the recruits she did have, judging by the run of Final Four appearances. A certain Top 10 transfer helped add to that pool.

Anyways, the entire article is attached. Kudos to Stoli on the Boneyard for posting.



This is amazing
by BB Junky  (2020-05-13 13:35:22)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

I would never have though ND was so far down the list. Shows what a quality coaching staff and "recruiting to a system" will do for you. What tremendous testimony this is to MM.

stat missing how many top recruits stayed at original school
by NDoggie78  (2020-05-13 11:13:11)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

Look how many recruits Louisville and Duke have lost. And even UConn - and ourselves - haven't kept all the highly ranked recruits in those numbers.

It would be interesting to add two more columns:
Top Ranked Recruits Who Transferred OUT
Top Ranked Recruits Who Transferred IN
Great article, thanks, and, yes, a couple of pieces missing.
by BabaGhanouj  (2020-05-13 12:10:17)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

As NDoggie says, there are recruits out of high school and recruits out of college. For example, I was just reviewing my recruiting information from South Carolina. For the 2016-17 season they received as transfers, for one year only (both elected for the draft), Allisha Gray and Kaela Davis. They won the championship that year.

I've been putting together more sophisticated charts with, not just top 10 or top 100 recruits, but average ratings for all recruits at each college, with the years spent there, in order to really pinpoint the best recruiting schools vs. the best performance schools. (Mississippi State, as Dillon mentioned, has done crazy well with little. Their highest rated recruit, by far, was Rickea Jackson last year.) My charts have a few other bells and whistles, but I think the article covers the ground pretty well.

It matters where in the top 10 the recruit is ranked. UConn has been master of receiving the no. 1 recruit, which has served them well.

If next year's season progresses, I'll be presenting some of the stats with possible conclusions for discussion. Hopefully I'll even have some criteria to judge if some rating services are better than others in predicting college success.