Earlier this month, we started our Sales Pitch series by ranking the schools in the ACC based on the quality of their enticements for men’s basketball recruits and then moved on to the Big East, where we examined whether anyone in the league can close the recruiting gap on Villanova. Last week was the Big Ten, with the biggest first tier we’ve seen of any conference so far.
This week, we continue our exercise by taking a look at the Pac-12, which hasn’t won a national championship since 1997 but comes off its best NCAA tournament in years, highlighted by UCLA’s run to the Final Four. There are multiple fertile recruiting areas within the footprint of the league, while the Pac-12 has also been an attractive destination for international prospects.
As a reminder, ESPN spoke with a wide variety of anonymous coaches across college basketball’s top seven leagues (as rated by KenPom and other relevant metrics systems), as well as nationally relevant programs beyond those conferences, for our Sales Pitch feature. Over an eight-week period, we’ll rank the programs in order of which have the best sales pitches for recruits and transfers.
Tier 1
The top two recruiting jobs in the Pac-12 are clear. UCLA and Arizona were No. 1 or No. 2 for every coach polled, with the Bruins receiving more first-place votes.
UCLA has more tradition and history than any program in college basketball, laying claim to 11 national championships and 19 Final Four appearances — including one this past season. Its brand is one of the biggest in the sport and the Bruins have produced countless pros. But the biggest edge UCLA has on Arizona? Fertile recruiting area.
“UCLA has the inherent advantage of local recruiting,” one coach said. “[The staff] can drive all over and be back on campus for practice, or have practice and then go to a game that night. Phoenix is getting better, but it’s not like Los Angeles. There’s only a couple places in the country, in the world, more bountiful with talent than Southern California. L.A. produces so many kids. They have great tradition. I don’t care who the coach is, they’ve always gotten big-time talent. The team Mick Cronin took over, people said [the talent level was] down, but it’s the most talented team he’s ever coached.”
Arizona, which also received No. 1 votes, has its fair share of history, winning a national championship in 1997 and reaching four Final Fours. The Wildcats also recruited as well as any program in the country under Sean Miller — though those efforts were not without controversy — landing a top-seven recruiting class in seven straight seasons. Coaches in the league say Arizona’s biggest advantage is its atmosphere and fan base.
“Arizona has led the conference in attendance for like 36 straight years,” one Pac-12 coach said. “There’s a fan base where, whether it’s a down year or a top-five team, they’re going to sell the building out. It’s a city with a million people, and it’s the only show in town. UCLA, as great a year as they had, Pauley Pavilion is going to be half-full next season. The other thing is Arizona fans travel better than any fans out west. At the conference tournament, Vegas is Tucson North.”
“The fan base at Arizona is the best in the league and it’s not even close,” another coach added.
One coach also said the expectations at UCLA can make it difficult. Steve Alford was fired two seasons after his third Sweet 16 in four years. Ben Howland went to three Final Fours and was fired the same season he won a Pac-12 regular-season title.
“Going to the Final Four doesn’t move UCLA. You gotta hang banners,” he said. “Big-time coaches weren’t banging down the door to go to L.A. [to replace Alford].”
UCLA’s cachet and brand gives it the overall edge over Arizona, with the Bruins still considered by many to be one of the true bluebloods of the sport.
“You wear a UCLA polo, you get in the door for any kid,” one coach said.
Tier 2
There was a drop-off after the top two, but every coach polled had Oregon in the third spot, clearly above the middle of the pack in the league.
The Ducks don’t have the history and tradition of UCLA or Arizona, nor do they have a fertile recruiting base locally, but their resources and facilities are second-to-none in the Pac-12. They also have the power of the biggest shoe company in sports behind them.
“The Nike thing is real,” one coach said. “The power of that brand and what they’ve produced, both in basketball and football, they’re in a class by themselves.”
Multiple Pac-12 coaches pointed out that Dana Altman — “pound for pound the best coach in the league,” as one coach said — has built his rosters differently than other schools in the league, which has given Oregon an advantage. The Ducks aren’t overly reliant on high school prospects from the West Coast. They have been among the first programs to consistently hit the transfer portal every spring, and they also have done a great job landing prospects from Canada. The Ducks’ most recent commitment? Quincy Guerrier, a Canada native who transferred from Syracuse.
“They have a niche in recruiting, in the way they recreate their roster every May, June, July,” one coach said. “And they do it better than anybody.”
“They can get big-time players. It’s not a great destination, but the brand and being Nike helps,” another coach said. “They get one or two All-Americans, but mainly it’s transfers. They’re in a different space than UCLA and Arizona.”
Tier 3
USC Trojans
Arizona State Sun Devils
Washington Huskies
Stanford Cardinal
This is the biggest tier, and there’s a case to be made that there’s a drop-off after USC and Arizona State. But Washington and Stanford both were some distance ahead of Tier 4, so the Huskies and Cardinal remain solidly in the middle of the pack.
USC arguably recruited better than anybody in the league in the 2019 and 2020 classes, landing five-stars Evan Mobley, Onyeka Okongwu and Isaiah Mobley. The Trojans made some early splashes on the recruiting trail after Andy Enfield took over in 2013, but had inconsistent on-court success. Things began to turn after Alford missed on a few local kids and Enfield hired Eric Mobley (Evan and Isaiah’s dad and a former NBA player) as an assistant coach. Mobley, combined with highly rated assistant Jason Hart, began to make strong inroads in southern California, including with top grassroots programs.
“UCLA was getting Compton Magic kids. USC hires the Mobleys’ dad. They got Onyeka and the Mobleys. They changed the blueprint, moved it over to USC and USC benefited from it,” a longtime Pac-12 coach said. “But they don’t have to get Compton Magic kids to be good. It’s an L.A. team. Great academics. Beautiful campus, beautiful weather. They’ve had NBA players. L.A. feeds the entire Pac-12 and whatever UCLA misses on, you should be able to get. And there’s enough talent where you should be able to be right there with UCLA. And there are some kids in that city that would rather go to USC.”
That said, it’s still clearly the little brother to UCLA in Los Angeles and the challenges UCLA faces — lack of atmosphere, hot-and-cold fan base — are the same at USC.
“They obviously don’t have the tradition and history that UCLA has, and if an elite kid wants to stay in L.A., he’s going to UCLA. USC had second-choice after that,” one coach said. “And it’s a football school.”
A school similar to USC in terms of playing second-fiddle inside its state is Arizona State — but the Sun Devils have improved as a recruiting job in the last several years. Five-stars Luguentz Dort and Josh Christopher both picked Arizona State, as did a number of ESPN 100 prospects.
“I still think it’s a goldmine,” one coach said. “It has everything. It’s a goldmine waiting to burst. It’s a good location, the facilities are good enough. The arena is old, but that’s it. More and more prep schools are there, so the talent level is there in the state.”
“The strength is that there’s a million prep schools. The weakness is there’s a million prep schools,” another coach said. “Now everyone is coming into your territory to pluck kids. Normally nobody would know about Arizona kids until it’s too late.”
Arizona State faces some of the same issues as USC, though.
“Both Arizona State and USC have great campuses, they’re both big-time spots in great cities,” a coach said. “But there’s a lot going on in [the] Phoenix [area] and L.A. outside of Arizona State and USC basketball. Both programs have been very good at times over the last 20 years, but it’s not like fans are foaming at the mouth to get to games.”
Washington ranged anywhere from the fourth-best recruiting job in the league to the seventh-best recruiting job in the league with those we polled. The Huskies have one of the best recruiting bases in the league in Seattle, and they’ve produced NBA player after NBA player from the city. They had a nice stretch of success under Lorenzo Romar, going to three Sweet 16s in six years, but they’ve only been to one NCAA tournament since 2011.
“When they were really good, Romar kept all the kids in Seattle there,” one longtime coach said. “And then he sprinkled in a couple L.A. kids, a couple Fresno kids. [Mike] Hopkins has got a couple kids on a bounce-back transfer. Those kids normally never left. I’ve recruited up there, but I really don’t like doing it. It’s hard to get kids out of there. And if things don’t go right, they’re quick to go home.”
“If Washington wants a Washington kid, no one’s getting him,” another coach said. “Especially if the Washington people want him there, he stays.”
On the flip side, as one coach pointed out, the talent level in the program is heavily reliant on keeping Seattle kids home for college. Outside of Markelle Fultz and Isaiah Stewart, most of the best players to play at Washington in recent years have come from inside the state.
“Seattle has had a lot of great players come through there,” a Pac-12 coach said. “But that job and their success is dependent on local Seattle kids. When [the local talent is] great, Washington is loaded. When they’re just OK, they’re middle of the pack. And when they dip down, they’re down at the bottom. It’s been like that for 30 years. There’s [only] so much [talent] between there and L.A. Romar was a monster recruiter, but he wasn’t getting the best of the best from Southern California. Look at this class. They got Jackson Grant, but Nolan Hickman is going to Gonzaga. Paolo [Banchero] is going to Duke. Shane Nowell is going to Arizona. There’s so much pressure to get those kids. When you don’t get them, it can be tough.”
Stanford also generated some mixed feedback, with some coaches putting it down in Tier 4, while others placed it ahead of Washington and closer to USC and Arizona State. The Cardinal quietly have a strong history and tradition, going to the Final Four in 1998 and reaching 11 straight NCAA tournaments in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They’ve also produced a surprising number of NBA players.
Their biggest advantage is clear: Elite academics.
“Stanford, unlike any other school in the country that can give scholarships, you can get in any door you want to with any parent, because of the academics,” one coach said. “People say, well, can they get guys into school? If there’s a top 100 kid in the country that is academically proficient, Stanford is going to be in the conversation. I don’t think people realize the talent they’ve had there over the years. If you’re a big-time academic kid, they’re going to be able to get their foot in the door. It’s an Ivy League institution that can give out four-year athletic scholarships.”
The Cardinal landed five-star forward Harrison Ingram and ESPN 100 point guard Isa Silva in 2021, following five-star forward Ziaire Williams in 2020. They also just had Tyrell Terry selected with the first pick in the second round of last year’s NBA draft.
“They get good internationals and they’ve gotten a McDonald’s All-American two straight years,” one coach said. “It’s Stanford. It’s a brand. The name carries weight.”
Tier 4
Utah Utes
California Golden Bears
Colorado Buffaloes
This is a three-team tier, clearly a step above the two teams in the bottom tier.
Utah has a lot going for it, and it wouldn’t take much for the program to move into the tier above. The Utes have a strong fan base, excellent facilities and plenty of resources. There’s not a ton of recent success, with only three NCAA tournament appearances since 2005, but Rick Majerus led them to a national title game appearance in 1998 and 10 NCAA tournaments in an 11-year span.
“It’s got an underrated fan base, underrated tradition. They’re the main state school. Great facilities, great fans, very good football, which allows them to have money. There’s a big investment there,” one coach said. “Job-wise, you can say they’re right there with Washington. They’ve had good talent. Timmy Allen was from Phoenix. Andre Miller, Keith Van Horn were both from Southern California. It’s a really good city and state for basketball. They love basketball. College of Southern Idaho and Salt Lake Community College, two powerhouse JUCO programs, are right in their backyard.”
Despite all that, it hasn’t resulted in a great deal of recruiting success. Since ESPN’s recruiting database began in 2007, Utah has landed a total of two ESPN 100 prospects. The rise of Wasatch Academy in the state could help, but it also means that bigger programs will come to the area to recruit.
“Kids outside the state don’t really go there,” one coach said. “And they’re going to have the same issues Arizona State is having. You have these elite prep schools, but now everyone’s taking their best players. They’re good in JUCO, you can get a JUCO kid there. Love their facilities. But Larry Krystkowiak didn’t suddenly forget how to coach. Kids were just not going there.”
On paper, California should probably be closer to Stanford than the bottom of the league. Similar location, both high-level academic institutions, the Golden Bears have produced pros and recruited five-star prospects. But it hasn’t happened that way. Over the last four years, they’ve won a total of 15 Pac-12 games and they haven’t landed an ESPN 100 prospect since Cuonzo Martin left in 2017.
“They should be right there with Stanford,” one coach said. “They can get kids that can’t get into Stanford. But they’ve been mismanaged by administrators. They don’t really have a practice facility. They use a rec gym. Beautiful campus, beautiful views. It means something to get a degree from Cal. The arena is good enough. It’s got tradition, it’s had great players. There shouldn’t be a gap to Stanford.”
The school has had serious financial issues in recent years, however, and that’s had an impact on the basketball program.
“It’s a s***t show. They have no money,” a Pac-12 coach said. “They’re the fourth-best high-major team in the state.”
Colorado doesn’t have a wealth of inherent recruiting advantages, but every coach polled singled out the Buffaloes as the program that has recruited above its weight class most effectively in recent years. In fact, Tad Boyle’s staff reeled in the No. 9-ranked recruiting class for 2021.
“It’s the main college basketball school in the state,” one coach said. “They do a great job evaluating talent. Spencer Dinwiddie, McKinley Wright, those kinds of guys. Jabari Walker. He was a great eval. They got him out of a prep school in Phoenix. It doesn’t matter where he was ranked, he was one of the best freshmen in our league. They can dip into the Midwest and get a really good Nebraska kid, a west Kansas kid. Minnesota. And because of the Pac-12 footprint, they can recruit the West Coast. Then they mix in overseas guys.”
As one coach put it, though, much of the recruiting success Colorado has had comes from its ability to unearth under-the-radar guys or develop players within the program. Between Chauncey Billups in 1997 and a recent run of NBA players starting with Alec Burks a decade ago, there wasn’t overwhelming talent coming through Boulder.
“It’s not a great recruiting job, it’s an evaluation job,” he said. “They do a really good job in evaluating.”
Tier 5
Oregon State Beavers
Washington State Cougars
Every coach polled ranked these two schools at the bottom of the league for recruiting — despite Oregon State’s stunning run to the Elite Eight this past season.
The Beavers have some level of tradition, but it’s almost entirely from more than 30 years ago. Before this year’s March success, the program had been to the NCAA tournament once since 1990. There have been very few pros during that timeframe too. It’s essentially Gary Payton, Gary Payton II, Brent Barry and a couple of journeymen.
“The biggest issue is location,” one coach said. “They’ve got a practice facility, they’ve upgraded the facilities. Corvallis was voted one of the best college towns. They love their Beavers and they will support it. The university is the main thing happening. And it has some history; it’s top 25 all-time in wins. But you have to get lucky there. It’s hard to get a kid from the state. They want to go to Oregon or Gonzaga. They don’t grow up thinking Oregon State is a basketball school.”
Given that the Beavers hadn’t made the dance since 1990 prior to his arrival, Wayne Tinkle getting to two NCAA tournaments in the last six years is an impressive achievement.
“I give Wayne Tinkle all the credit in the world,” a Pac-12 coach said. “But their biggest thing going forward is how do they get the next Ethan Thompson. They have to mine under-the-radar guys. Like the kid they have now, Warith Alatishe. You have to do a great job evaluating and developing.”
Washington State was clearly at the bottom, and like Oregon State, much of that had to do with location. Pullman is on the opposite side of Washington to Seattle (although they have landed a couple of very talented players from there), south of Spokane and near the Idaho border. It’s not exactly a talent-rich locale.
“It’s so isolated,” one Pac-12 coach said.
“It’s the most difficult job in the league,” another said. “No one really wants to go up there and play. I think they just got a Marriott there. The weather isn’t great. It’s hard to get to. The campus and arena are actually nice.”
There is some optimism around the league for what Kyle Smith is building with the Cougars, however.
“The best thing they did was hiring Kyle Smith,” one coach said. “They had no identity from a recruiting standpoint. He’s going the transfer/international route, which he should. The mistake he didn’t make, which a lot of coaches make when they get a high-major job, he didn’t sit at the big boy table and start thinking he could shop with the rest of the Pac-12. If you see all your colleagues at the same gym, leave. You have no shot.”
For both Oregon State and Washington State, two schools not located in recruiting hotbeds, avoiding year-to-year rebuilds is key.
“The most important thing is retention,” one Pac-12 coach said. “That’s what makes Washington State, and to some degree, Oregon State and Corvallis hard. It’s one thing to convince kids to go there, it’s another thing to keep them.”