Come on man. Those guys weren't at the level of these kids at these privates coming out of HS.
I am not saying they were at the same level as Anthony Harris or Jeremy Roach but we were able to get some good local talent. Folarin Campbell, Will Thomas, Cam Long, Jonathan Arledge, Lamar Butler, Isaiah Tate, etc all were recruited by power 5 conference teams but chose Mason over them. I can't speak for all of them but I can tell you with 100% certainty that Folarin and Will chose Mason because it was close to home and they were going to get immediate playing time. All I am saying is we should not shy away from going after these kids just because they are "NBA caliber players"