If your recruiting of HS players has never been better, then I wouldn't expect to see them taking significant # of transfers the way Ohio State did and UNC did and Jacksonville did. Jacksonville doesn't recruit at that level. Ohio State's recruiting has fell off. UNC does but they develop their talent poorly clearly because no one is stepping up. Syracuse's recruiting fell off markedly, that's why they took so many guys.1766 wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2023 1:46 pmThe recruiting of HS athletes has never been better under Coach Brecht. The staff has never been more excited with what they have coming in. He's playing the portal game just like everyone else who can play it is.jrn19 wrote: ↑Wed May 03, 2023 9:24 pm Rutgers was 37-23 from 2016-2019 and 9-11 in Big Ten play recruiting at largely the same level they are now. They didn't get in the tournament in those years but as discussed there was a degree of tough luck in there; Hartford doesn't win the America East in 2016 and Marquette doesn't win the Big East Tournament in 2017 and they likely get in both years. Have a decent shot at winning a game. With the transfer portal the way it is now available then to add a couple of players here and there to bolster the roster - the Kirst brothers; a Brian Cameron, Bartolo - I don't think it's out of the question at all they could have had success they had last few years. Brecht did a great job identifying a way to improve his roster and then did a great job assimilatng them into the program and made the most of it.
However, this year was clearly diminishing returns with it and that'll be the case long term. You didn't get Colin and Connor Kirst from Portal 2.0 like you did with 1.0 and didn't get a Bartolo and Jacoby from 3.0 like you did with 2.0. Like HF16 said, if the goal is to take 5-6 guys every year, the way they've been doing, I don't see it panning out.
I do think they continue to be a Top 20 program the way they were before and sprinkle in some more talent at need spots as I wrote above. I think the difficulty is Hopkins appears to be on an upward trajectory as opposed to downward unlike 2016-2019, Penn State is continuing to recruit at a really high level, and you also now have Michigan starting to break through and get results in B1G play (albeit haven't beat Rutgers yet) and they are recruiting better HS talent than Rutgers. That Top 3 in the B1G could be fortified and the 4th spot with Michigan could be tough to battle it out with for, where as back in pre-COVID, you knew you were never dropping lower than 5th.
however, I do think they're in a way better spot than Ohio State, so maybe that's still the case.
Once the portal game ends, it ends for everyone. I get Rutgers has had a lot of success with it which for some odd reason draws ire to Rutgers specifically for some strange reason. Coach Brecht should be commended for that. Around the program he most certainly is. He saw the opportunity before anyone else and took advantage of it. You want a coach who is able to do that.
If the high school talent is there, you only need 1 or maybe 2 impact additions. You don't take 5 guys