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Message: [QUOTE="TeamFirst!, post: 4196923, member: 11538"] It's complicated. Maybe full implementation of title 9 and the gradual exposure of women's basketball have increased the pool of young girl players and now there are so many of them that they are spread around to the top 5 teams generally, rather than 1. It's a tripartite world now maybe, rather than a bipolar world. Or a Multilateral world rather than unipolar. In addition, sometimes even the strongest programs are going to miss. For example, Boston. South Carolina had what it took to attract Boston and her ability alone was enough to skew additional recruiting ability ergo at least temporary success in SC. Of course South Carolina has had additional great players and the more you add and develop the easier future recruitment can be. Staley may well also have created a style of play which will dominate going forward. She has focuses on big, strong, athletic girls especially in the paint and they out muscle and out defend the competition in ways other teams cannot currently match. That approach may well be the future and Geno probably sees it. Ergo Ice Brady and Ayanna. He needs to attract a different sort of recruit in order to compete. Staley doesn't always get the top prospect but it seems she gets her share of extremely athletic and strong talent. Saxton and Amihere are very important components to her team currently and that is not to mention many other large and athletic girls in many slots on that team. No wonder they rebound and defend extremely well. They are bigger, stronger, faster. Uconn has done a lot of things well and since I'm a new women's basketball fan of only about a year's vintage, I can only speculate but I can see a number of approaches that appear to be a part of their success. One area that is pretty clear is the ability to attract some of the very best talent. The top talent like CW, Azzi, Paige etc... that know they can play anywhere and their plan is just to become a great WNBA talent and they see Geno as the messiah in that regard. The NYC media market, the historic exposure of Uconn's success, the population density of the Northeast etc...are probably factors as well. Uconn is to a degree the best opportunity for that sort of player. The management is a proven commodity and the environment is part of a major media market. It's a launching pad for top talent. Baylor, Tennessee etc... attract a different type of player which may be more risky but sometimes also has an advantage sometimes. To a degree recruitment is all cultural right? There is a fit for everyone. Teams like Arizona may emerge simply because they have an emerging coach with talent and ability to relate to players, and that enables them to both get a lot out of their players and over time build a strong recruiting program. We may see UCLA emerge in part from the impact of NIL for example and media exposure. LA is a huge media and advertising market which in part dominates the entire nation and that may skew recruiting going forward. I can't think of many other reasons for Kiki to go there, for example, as compared to Stanford or Uconn. I think it's probably a tripartite world though overall. Stanford obviously also has a historic dominance in a number of sports , and many women's sports especially. The academics and the culture is great also. I loved visiting that school. The academics might intimidate a lot of players but it's also a niche for a lot of top achievers as well. For example, Lexie and Lacey Hull. From studying their program some it appears that Lexie keeps trim by eating a lot of fruit. She's a smart player who has gotten every ounce of ability out of herself. Those are the sort of people who often are champions in a lot of things. Intelligence is kind of important in any endeavor, especially in achieving excellence. It may also preclude them from some recruits but even Stanford has attracted some great athletes. I think Lauren Betts might skew their recruiting going forward, in similar ways that Boston might have. It may be that she is good enough to put them over the top in comparison to Uconn and SC the next few years. I see Stanford as our biggest competitor going forward for recruitment. Or not also right? Each of those teams have an incredible amount of talent and coaching ability. [/QUOTE]

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