Sort of agree. But then schools like TCU, Ole Miss, A&M, UVa and Miami are making splashes this off season when compared to better programs like Duke, Stanford, ND, or State.
Overpaying for players is not "making a big splash". Miami and UVA are bottom half of the ACC teams for a reason (poor coaching, first and foremost)--the players they bought don't move the needle (aren't demonstrably better than the talent they lost, if they are better). Most people here can't name Miami's major acquisitions--because they're not coming from major programs (SMU, UF, and Quinnipiac are not major programs). UVA overpaid for a player who didn't make an All-SEC team last year (or ever). I'm not remotely moved by their moves. UVA's second-best player moved to Ole Miss, so the player they overpaid for is, at best, a replacement (and, at worst, someone who can't fill the shoes of the departed player).
Ole Miss and TCU are not in the same category as those bottom-half ACC teams you named earlier. The implication is that they're supposed to be "have nots", but that's not the case. Ole Miss has a coach who resonates with recruits and sizable NIL funds (SEC $$). TCU has a coach who resonates with recruits and has sizable NIL funds (Texas $$). Are these not resources? Also, TCU and Ole Miss have been second weekend NCAA Tournament teams recently. Both coaches have been accused of tampering, but those are allegations at this point.
Texas A&M has money to offer (and their offseason recruiting hardly qualifies as a "splash"). Coaching is beyond awful, but the $EC--it ju$t mean$ more.
Meanwhile, Duke is highly selective with regard to transfers (Kara prefers to build through the high school ranks, and Duke has the best incoming ACC freshman IMO). Kara also pissed away a shot at the Final Four with questionable coaching decisions made down the stretch of the South Carolina Elite Eight game. Stanford is coming off of an embarrassing 16-15 season with a clueless coach and still doesn't have the ACC-caliber athletes they need to be more than a bubble team in 25-26. To suggest that they're a "better" program is insane. Notre Dame folded down the stretch and experienced a mass exodus due mainly to the head coach mismanaging the roster (which was a Final Four caliber roster). She fumbled the bag. State made it as far in the NCAA Tournament last season as Ole Miss (and not as far as TCU despite having, IMO, more talent than TCU--especially on the perimeter) and pissed away a shot at the Elite Eight due to questionable coaching decisions made down the stretch of the LSU game.
I realize State is not some blue blood in WBB, but they have a good history and certainly have built a respectable program in the last 6 or 7 years. They have a very good coaching staff. Nice facilities. Fan interest. A lot of things you’d imagine would be a selling point for potential transfers - yet the 4 players they have publicly been in on and had visit all signed elsewhere. Dunn to USC, Jennah to A&M, Judd to Texas, and Kitts to Ohio State. They also showed interest in Saurez who went to TCU.
Re Dunn: USC was a JuJu injury away from possibly making the Final Four, so let's not act as though NC State is somehow ahead of them as a program. JuJu won NPOY, and I don't think that an ACC player has won NPOY in quite some time. Kara Dunn chose a program that is, at worst, on the same level as NC State. They did make it further in the NCAAT than State this year.
Re Jennah: Again, SEC money talks. Also, not many people are talking about Jennah (very few actually care).
Re Judd: Texas has $$ (their facilities for WBB are SICK), plays in the SEC, and is coming off of their most successful season in two decades. I don't see where losing a recruit to Texas is an issue. They have resources. Yet, despite having resources, they lost a recruit (Chavez) to Oklahoma.
It's also worth noting that Judd transferred within the conference (SEC to SEC).
Re Kitts: Kitts is totally unproven, so I'm not sure she counts as some major recruiting miss.
Your team is getting its clock cleaned on the recruiting trail and it stinks--I get that. But oh well--that's life.