"Not sure it benefitted coaches. Betting on 8th graders and tying up scholarship money was like buying a lottery ticket"
Yet the to schools were still better at identifying talent
Most of the coaches can identify talent. Not all coaches can convince the talent they want to go to their school. Do you think the coaches at schools that are constantly outside the top 25 - 30 are there because they can't identify the talent? No, they are not top programs because for the most part the top talent choses to go to the top programs. The other teams have to take the players that are left over or find a compelling reason for s top prospect to choose a lesser program. Look at the programs that are Top 20 just about every year.
Maryland, North Carolina, Boston College, Northwestern, Virginia, Duke, Notre Dame, Princeton, Penn, Syracuse, Penn State, Stony Brook Florida, Stanford, USC throw in Georgetown, Hopkins, Loyola and Even JMU who may not have been as consistent but has always been competitive and plays tough shedule.
For the Top Prospects that is a great list of schools to choose from. The bottom line is the best players can chose the right fit academically, socially, financially, Geographically etc...
The players that recieve offers from the above list will usually choose one of those schools.
