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[QUOTE="Cusefan95, post: 4607833, member: 173"]
I think sometimes we view geographical hotbeds for recruiting like they are set in stone - that’s not reality. A decade ago I remember reading about struggles of Indiana Hoosier basketball.  One thing the article talked about was that Indiana basketball hit a dip right after the 2002 championship game loss.  Unfortunately for them, that coincided roughly with Payton Manning turning the Colts into a perennial contender, and the Malice in the Palace in 2004 dampening interest in hoops.  The result was high school football grew in popularity in the state while basketball dipped - not enough to turn Indiana or Purdue into football powers but enough of a shift to hurt basketball recruiting.

Syracuse being mostly awful for two decades has probably contributed to the drop off in high school football (at least in upstate NY).  The Bills being a dumpster fire for most of that stretch probably didn’t help either.  I don’t know that the local recruiting area will ever be as “good” as it was 30 years ago (demographic shifts are not in favor of that) - but a string of 8 win plus seasons along with the Bills being good might move the needle enough that it’s not the utter wasteland we have right now.

As with everything, winning can conceal and sometimes help correct a lot of issues.
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