NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Non-Big Dance teams with bright futures

Only 68 teams make the NCAA Tournament each year. Which NCAA Basketball teams that missed the Big Dance this season have the brightest recruiting futures?

The NCAA Tournament represents one of the most exciting events in the entire sports year. But because only 68 teams are invited to the Big Dance every year, that leaves 285 programs sitting at home watching the excitement unfold. For some programs, making the NCAA Tournament is a major accomplishment while for others it is simply an expectation. So, of those NCAA basketball programs that are looking at getting back to the Big Dance next season, or at least in the near future, which ones are dominating on the 2019 recruiting trail?

Even with the way that the transfer market has exploded in recent years, easily the best way to build a consistently successful program is by landed top-end recruits and developing them into stars. And while not every program can do this, there are some that can and even they have down seasons from time to time. Additionally, though, there are some programs who also strike gold on occasion and put together an elite recruiting class that nobody saw coming.

So while all of the programs in this article are not going to dance on your television screen this season, it is important to take note of their recruiting classes to prepare for the future. Now, without any further ado, let’s dive into the current top-10 recruiting classes that have been put together by teams that are not competing in the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

(Note: All rankings used in this article were found via 247Sports and statistics are from either KenPom or Sports-Reference.)