3Cats4CAL;842222523 said:
I understand the reasoning with Boyd and PG playing time,,, but what about schools like UConn and Duke and Stanford etc who don't have any problem with continuously getting top/highly ranked recruits (Stanford also getting Ogumike and Samuelson clans) ???
You've named the obvious big ones, but there really aren't too many "etc"eteras out there. I think it is likely that Cal will have to build more of a track record, keep nailing down the elites that they can, find strong filler/role players before they can potentially break into that group. It just ain't that easy. It takes time.
I also don't feel like we have "lost" too many of these big names recently. Frankly, it sounds like we very well could have had Simon and maybe another, but the whole idea of "fit" and of course all of the technical details about actually qualifying etc. is were a some may slip through the cracks.
Contending for PAC-12 titles, making a Final Four appearance or two should go a long way towards helping Cal reach that truly upper echelon of recruiting, but let's face it, we/Cal don't have the pedigree yet. Yet! Naturally we all hope we are headed there, but I am willing to allow a few years to build towards that level.
Having said all of that, I do think this team is going to struggle now and then this season and that if they can pull off a top 10 finish that will be huge feather in their caps because I see much room for improvement. But I believe that the overall trajectory of the program is headed upward and I also think the team can be very good for at least a few years with the talent lined up. A few recruiting breaks here and there will set them up to reach the final four again.