Hardwood - Suggestions: Make interest level a larger factor in timing of commitments

Forum >> Suggestions >> Make interest level a larger factor in timing of commitments

Post ID	Date & Time	Game Date

#8709	12/23/2019 11:20:21 am	Jan 16th, 2010
pschwartz Joined: 05/07/2019 Posts: 857 Inactive	I am going to move a small discussion from here - http://onlinecollegebasketball.org/forum/0/5/980 One frustrating part of recruiting that does not mimic real life is the timing of when recruits commit. I know that some recruits want to commit early while others want to wait until the very end - that happens and is fine. However, when a recruit only has low interest (or in some cases interest below 'low') they should not be committing early in the season, regardless of their desire to commit early. As an example - http://onlinecollegebasketball.org/prospect/63617 This was one of my backup options that did not have any other schools listed with any interest. He committed on update #15. He wasn't interested in any school at that time so why is he committing? On the flip side - http://onlinecollegebasketball.org/prospect/60138. I have had him on 'Very High' interest since the beginning of the season. A couple other teams are on low. It makes no sense that he has not committed yet. I propose these changes (in order of importance): 1. If a recruit only has 'Low' interest or below they will not commit to a school until the last 10 recruiting updates. I think this makes sense because why would a player choose to go to a school he is not that interested in attending? They would wait until the end of the recruiting season to see if they get better offers (i.e. more interest) 2. If there is a sizable gap from the highest interest school to the 2nd highest that recruit should commit in the near term (within 7 days). What that gap is I don't know, but maybe top school is on 'High' and 2nd school is on 'Low'. 3. Maybe factor in new contacts coming in. If a recruit is on medium and hasn't had any other contacts from other schools in a week (so almost a month in-game) then they commit. These changes will allow users to better plan their recruiting strategy and allow for better backup options. If I lose out on a target I can go after one of my 'low' targets. Right now that is a risk because that 'low' target might decide to commit early and take up a scholarship. Obviously, I don't how how the sausage is made in regards to when recruits make their commitment decisions so these might not be doable, but I think we could probably figure something out.

#8727	12/25/2019 1:56:01 pm	Jan 23rd, 2010
El jefe Joined: 07/06/2018 Posts: 689 Temple Owls I.1	Very much agree with this

#8732	12/26/2019 10:35:24 am	Jan 28th, 2010
Gophy2611 Joined: 12/26/2018 Posts: 34 Inactive	pschwartz I 100% agree. I have a player who has been on some level of high all season. No one else has interest over low and it doesn't appear there are even new teams targeting him this season. He should have committed to me weeks ago. And now after the last 2-3 seasons of recruiting I'm worried some other team will have missed out on all their guys and somehow swoop in and beat me out ( I have no idea how they'd have enough contacts to do that but that's beside the point).

#9046	01/24/2020 10:42:37 am	Oct 23rd, 2010
pschwartz Joined: 05/07/2019 Posts: 857 Inactive	Ok, I have some examples that are kind of ridiculous: http://onlinecollegebasketball.org/prospect/66480 This player committed to Whitman College earlier today despite having no interest in any schools. http://onlinecollegebasketball.org/prospect/68896 This player committed to Fairleigh Dickinson earlier today despite not having any interest in attending there. He did have low interest in another school but they didn't offer a scholarship. I get that some players want to commit early but this is nuts. No one would commit to a school that they have no interest in. Of the 21 players that committed today 9 of them only had Low interest or below in schools. Why are they committing? The second guy I listed above is actually not that bad of a player (102 SI, 11 POT,) and could get on a better team by just waiting rather than committing to a team he has no interest in. Updated Saturday, January 25 2020 @ 6:16:31 am PST

#9055	01/25/2020 12:42:11 am	Oct 23rd, 2010
basoy6658 Joined: 12/23/2019 Posts: 183 Azusa Pacific Cougars III.1	+1

#9057	01/25/2020 10:44:23 am	Oct 27th, 2010
ESac Joined: 07/28/2018 Posts: 38 Inactive	Last season, I saw Jack Burke and was thinking of trying to recruit him. I kept him in my recruiting tab. He had no one recruiting him. The day before I was about to add points to him, he commits to Coe. I knew for a fact he had no interest in any school. Long story short: +1.

#9069	01/26/2020 2:15:51 pm	Oct 30th, 2010
admin Joined: 01/24/2017 Posts: 2470 Hardwood Administrator	I keep tweaking the recruiting process to make things more realistic...it is a bit like turning a big ship though and takes time. Please keep in mind, unseen interest (something below low) doesn't necessarily mean no interest. And some players, in RL, commit because they only get one D1 offer and they jump on it. The intention is to have higher rate players commit early in general -- but not completely. Also, there are some mechanisms for higher interest levels to commit earlier. Not every prospect will behave the same though...and recruiting is not intended to be easy and entirely deterministic. Steve

#9072	01/27/2020 2:17:31 am	Oct 30th, 2010
Ichabod Joined: 07/03/2018 Posts: 39 Inactive	*I keep tweaking the recruiting process to make things more realistic...* The last two season's Div-I National Champions closed out their season with unfilled scholarships remaining. That's about as unrealistic as you can get in recruiting cycles. A will to resolve recruiting might rectify, but tweaks don't hold the solution.

#9076	01/27/2020 10:17:03 am	Nov 3rd, 2010
hockeytrb99 Joined: 02/04/2018 Posts: 123 Pittsburgh Panthers V.11	I think most D1 schools in real life don't fill all all their scholarship slots each year.