Pure speculation on my part here, but it seems like UConn recruiting is rather cyclical. Geno brings in one or two really good classes and is pretty successful at keeping them together. In the next two or three years of the cycle, his follow on recruit classes become rather thin (see the classes immediately following the Stewie, Mo, Morgan and the KLS Pheesa classes). I suspect this is because most elite recruits (with the exception of recruits who have the confidence to challenge established players for playing time) realize that they will have to "wait their turn" at UConn. They may decide to go to one of the other power programs that have more open rosters and more chances for court time as underclasswomen.
It will be interesting if that same sort of thing happens at South Carolina after Dawn's two recent monster classes. With Dawn being the USA Olympic team coach and SC's recent success, they could be considered the "shiny new thing" in WCBB so she might be able to sustain her cycle of top classes a bit longer than UConn. Geno is certainly a draw for recruits, but we unfortunately have to accept the fact that he is approaching retirement. He certainly has put together a good foundation for the next few years though.
Geno's best teams usually haven't been overflowing with talent, but they have the right mix of players who fit into their spots without a lot of really talented players riding the pine. His smaller roster approach has backfired in recent years due to several transfers and early WNBA entrants, so I think he's now opting for larger classes and larger rosters to combat the transfer movement. A lot of other coaches are utilizing transfers and grad transfers, but Geno hasn't had great success with that. Next year if no one transfers, UCONN will have 14 scholarship players on the roster which is more than any other season in at least 10-15 years...maybe his largest roster ever.
UCONN always seems to have a death grip on #1 recruits too. They've now landed 5 of the last 7 top recruits, and UCONN is almost always a finalist for #1 recruits. Most of the others they've missed on (Jones, Cox, Wilson, Ogwumike) all had UCONN as finalists, and all 4 chose their school to play close to home or be with family. Going further back, only 3 top recruits over the last 20 years haven't had UCONN as a finalist (Mercedes Russell, Brittney Griner and Candace Parker.) 85% have had UCONN as a finalist and 60% have ended up picking UCONN if you include Hunter transferring in. Any fear of Geno retiring or recruitment declining in coming years seems unfounded to me considering the historical precedent, and the fact that UCONN has #1 kids on board from 2020 and 2021, and already has the #2 player from 2022 all committed or enrolled.
More often than not, UCONN lands the 1-2 top 5 kids (usually the #1 recruit) and a couple of kids in the 11-50 range. Some years just 1-2 kids, but a common pattern is that the top recruits typically play more of a supportive role as freshmen, but still log big minutes or make an impact. As sophomores they morph into primary starters and become huge contributors.
The less heralded kids (usually ranked 11-50 in recruiting rankings) don't often get a lot of playing time early and either end up transferring or paying their dues for another season in a smaller role before taking on a larger role as juniors/seniors. Occasionally you'll get unexpected impact players from a less touted player like a Kia Nurse or Anna Makurat, but often times they primarily ride the bench or maybe get blowout minutes as freshmen.
By the time everything shakes out, he usually has 3-4 starters who were ranked as top 5 recruits (a couple of whom are upperclassmen) and maybe 1-2 less heralded upperclassmen starting. Bench contributors are often freshmen or sophomores who are high energy players that will take on bigger roles the following year. It's a good blend of youth and experience, and you typically avoid ego issues instead of loading up with all top 10 kids. The players who aren't happy with smaller roles weed themselves out, and the cycle repeats. It clearly works since I don't think UCONN has had a top player transfer out, maybe ever, aside from EDD which was a unique situation.
In regards to South Carolina, Dawn's approach hasn't seemed quite as methodical over the years as Geno's, largely because she's been building a juggernaut reputation rather than already having one established. She's landed 2 absolutely massive classes, but big classes usually do not stick together since playing time issues arise. She does have playing time available for all of her 2019 kids, but I see inevitable playing time concerns for her 2021 class when all of those freshmen will likely be coming off the bench. The following year, in all likelihood at least 2 or 3 of those players will still be coming off the bench. Feagin, Rivers, and Johnson are all ranked as top 5 recruits by various publications. Most top 10 recruits are not on board with coming off the bench for half of their career.
I'm guessing it will still work well for Dawn even if 1-2 big names end up transferring. And she'll still recruit quite well, especially since she has done fantastic in the transfer market. The benefit of this approach is that by the time your best kids are upperclassmen, the teams created are really, really good. We've seen this happen recently with Oregon in 2020, Notre Dame in 2018/2019, Baylor in 2019, and Mississippi State in 2018. All of those teams had championship caliber teams, and all were dominated by upperclassmen.
I'm not sure if this all makes a lot of sense or if it's mostly rambling thoughts, but that's my take on different recruiting philosophies.
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