[Hank 91]

The two-star pipeline is still there, it just no longer flows to Stanford. What we're seeing now is the answer to the Big Question: What would happen if this great coaching staff continued to get great kids, put them in the same locker room together and allowed them to push each other, just as they always have, but now instead of two-, three-, and the occasional four-star player, we're talking about three-, four-, and the occasional five-star player?

I don't think our recruiting classes will ever match up star-for-star with Alabama and Ohio State and those types on a year-to-year basis, but the overall quality of our student-athletes will more than make up the difference. Think back to the mid 90s when UCLA basketball was loaded with blue-chip recruits, and Stanford had to struggle along with the kids no one wanted -- you know, people like Brevin Knight, Mark Madsen, Arthur Lee, Peter Sauer, guys like that. We couldn't match UCLA's talent, but we still beat them. In the years that followed, once the blue-chippers started coming to Palo Alto (Jaron and Jason Collins, Casey Jacobsen, Josh Childress) the teams got even better. (You might point out that those teams never got to a Final Four, but I'd counter that the tournament is kind of a crap shoot.)

Anyway, I like the way our recruiting is going, both with respect to 2014 and the overall picture.

[Hank 91]

The two-star pipeline is still there, it just no longer flows to Stanford. What we're seeing now is the answer to the Big Question: What would happen if this great coaching staff continued to get great kids, put them in the same locker room together and allowed them to push each other, just as they always have, but now instead of two-, three-, and the occasional four-star player, we're talking about three-, four-, and the occasional five-star player?

I don't think our recruiting classes will ever match up star-for-star with Alabama and Ohio State and those types on a year-to-year basis, but the overall quality of our student-athletes will more than make up the difference. Think back to the mid 90s when UCLA basketball was loaded with blue-chip recruits, and Stanford had to struggle along with the kids no one wanted -- you know, people like Brevin Knight, Mark Madsen, Arthur Lee, Peter Sauer, guys like that. We couldn't match UCLA's talent, but we still beat them. In the years that followed, once the blue-chippers started coming to Palo Alto (Jaron and Jason Collins, Casey Jacobsen, Josh Childress) the teams got even better. (You might point out that those teams never got to a Final Four, but I'd counter that the tournament is kind of a crap shoot.)

Anyway, I like the way our recruiting is going, both with respect to 2014 and the overall picture.