There is a pretty interesting article on ESPN Insider about the recruiting process at Cincinnati.
http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/ncbrecru...t?id=12543
Summary of the article:
Their motto is "Don't recruit ... get."
They look for who would be a good fit for the program and what it would take to get them. They ask "Is he a Bearcat?" This means is he tough, will he fit in, understand the program, etc. Some people won't be, and they don't waste time pursuing those guys. Toughness is a big part of this question.
They use the example of Quadri Moore - he's getting minutes off the bench, and if he continues to buy into their core values, his role will increase.
They do not want to spend time on a lot of top recruits just because they are highly ranked recruits. Being in the mix or on someone's final list is unimportant. They don't waste much time chasing players they are not likely to get.
They've been to 4 straight NCAA tournaments with only 1 top 25 recruiting class (No. 24 in 2013).
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Sometimes I wonder if our recruiting process is the complete opposite of this. We seem to go after a bunch of top guys, and someone comes in and gets them at the end. Or, if we end up getting some good recruits it is just a mashup of the best players we could get. They don't seem to share any common characteristics. I don't even know what our core values would be. I wonder if we would be more successful if we recruited certain types of players instead of trying to go after just the best available.