Hu11abaloo said:
while generally speaking i agree with you, in this era of one-and-done, that statement holds less weight. the students you're talking about, specifically the ones that can go to duke or kentucky, are largely the ones that already know they're going to the draft in a year, and are always the highest tier recruits. it is possible to convince top tier texas talent to come to a&m, knowing full well they'll take advantage of one-and-done (deandre jordan), or even perhaps two-and-done, if they're really secure in their future and love a&m (robert williams). we can play the card of "you're going to the draft regardless; why spend a year in BFE kentucky or north carolina when you can stay close to home?"
the landscape is shifting and more dynamic now. this is more an advantage for non-perennial basketball schools like ourselves vs the traditional powers... kentucky, duke, etc. we should be able to recruit the best texas recruits in this day and age...
I don't think the "close to home" pitch helps much for most one-and-dones. MAYBE one every now and then, but they're already thinking NBA, so moving away from home isn't an issue.
We don't have anything to sell a typical one-and-done type player over a school like Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, etc.
Now, every so often you'll find a kid that wants to play close to home, or that really likes the idea of winning a title for a school that hasn't won one before and that sort of thing, and maybe we've got a shot.
But the key for us is like I said, use the next tier of players to build a solid foundation year-in-year-out and then if you get lucky and grab one of those guys take advantage. Texas is so loaded with players that you can build an elite team out of the next tier guys by coaching them up and keeping them in your program and building and then sprinkling in the elite guys when you get them.
The other thing is that some years there aren't any one-and-done types and most other schools are going to stay out of Texas and in those years we need to clean up. That's basically what happened in 2015 when we got the #2, #3 and #4 players in Texas.