How much does weather affect midwest/Big Ten recruiting?

Which of those teams has ever been elite in both football and basketball at the same time in the first place? Notre Dame's recruiting efforts aren't hampered by the weather but by high recruiting standards. And I'll still take their athletic program over Duke's.

Ohio State has no problems. Michigan has no problems attracting people; its hoops program has been hurt by probation. Wisconsin's been a major player in basketball and football for a few years now.

Has the Big Ten ever been more than OSU and Michigan on a long-term basis anyway?

 

Take away the top 10 percent of recruits who attract national attention, and schools recruit against their conference peers for about 90 percent of their players, I'd estimate. Not that much difference weather-wise between the Big Ten schools.

Same with the ACC, except for Boston College, and the Big 12 North plains/cold), and Big 12 South (Texas, Okieland), and the SEC. For the most part, consistent weather.

Biggest difference might be the Pac-10, with remote Wazzu, where snow isn't unusual; the Oregons and UDub, in the November-April rain belt, and the California/Arizona schools, which have some of the best weather in the country nine months of the year.

 

There's also just the fact that so many elite high school players come out of Fla., the South, Texas and southern California (I'm talking football here). The weather doesn't help, but most of those people aren't going to go North in the first place. Why would they?