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Message: [QUOTE="IthacaMatt, post: 360246, member: 405"] A couple obervations - as our recruiting has been hitting new highs these past few years, we've seen more commitments come in late October rather than in the summer. Next point, we have been really stacked for the past several years, and our classes are balancing out more, meaning we typically only have around 3 scholarships per class, rather than having a mega-class of 5 kids, followed by a couple smaller classes until the winners and losers shake out, kids transfer and then we repeat the big class. With fewer 'ships per class, we obviously have greater time between commitments. Final point, we are drawing elite talent at a level we have not seen since the late 80s. Even the 2002 and 2003 classes were comprised of maybe 1 elite player, and the rest of the guys in the 30s to 50s ratings, with a big man rated in the 70s to 100. We are now gunning for the top center every class the past several years, along with elite talent at other positions. Those guys are more concerned about NBA auditions, not paying their dues in a program until it's their turn to shine. Those guys take their time - even waiting until spring to see who has declared for the NBA after a great NCAA tournament run. So we have to get used to waiting longer to get the quality of guys we are competing for. Probably the most important thing to happen to our program is Dion Waiters making the draft lottery after being a bench player. We've never had that before; that has only happened with teams like North Carolina coming off a championship. What that does is allow us to honestly say to a player, "Look, it's all about how well you play, not whether you start. Just look at Dion; he was famous for NOT starting, and wound up in the lottery. That can happen to you, too." Dion's scenario played out just about perfect for our future recruiting, allowing us to stockpile quality players a bit more than we might otherwise be able to. [/QUOTE]

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