How much does weather affect midwest/Big Ten recruiting?

Wondering this as I note the glamour programs these days in football and basketball - Florida, USC, Duke and North Carolina, Texas, UCLA, etc., etc., etc.

Meanwhile, it seems schools like Purdue, Indiana, Michigan State and Notre Dame have difficulty recruiting in one sport or both.

Are elite kids today not tough enough to play in the Big Ten??

 

Not tough enough?

Let's see. I've got a choice to freeze my ass off and play in the Big Ten, or I can play in the SEC (or ACC or Pac-10, for that matter). Not really that tough a choice, unless I grew up cheering for a Big Ten school.

 

Duke is a "glamour program" in football? UNC?

Weather is a selling point, but it's not the be-all, end-all.

 

But I would think that's directly an effect of the kind of athletes they get.

 

No sh!&. I'd say they're "not glutton for punishment" enough.

If I'm a football recruit the moment USC/Florida/LSUTennessee/Cal Berkeley calls, the decision is made. So much to offer over a college town where you spend a third of the year trying to keep warm.

 

Well then why the hell is Eric Gordon going to Indiana? You really think Sampson will be playing the same style next year?

 

It's a little difficult to throw all the time in the Big 10 in football - snow tends to make that kind of game a bit tough. Hoops, there's no explanation.

$$$$$$$

 

A third of the year? You've clearly never spent time along Lake Michigan. October to May is legitimate teeth-chattering season.

 

He's from Indianapolis. And he won't have to deal with Bobby's temper or Mike Davis' lack of coaching acumen.

I guess we have conclusively identified the newest Big Ten fanboy here.

Cadet: Is it true that in Canada, what is called summer elsewhere is simply called "two weeks in July"?

 

Not being Canuckistan, I can't say for sure. But I swear lakefront areas get two or three weeks of nice weather in May/June, a blanket of humidity through September, two or three weeks of nice weather in October, and then the cryogenic freeze sets in.