@rdelawder12 - How much cerveza y tequila did you drink last night? I didn't realize Cinco de Mayo was celebrated so robustly in Rhode Island...
- HOF is not the only opportunity in ASA Class A for outside berths. Every region can - and most do - host Class A National Qualifiers that are open to any team.
- Nationals are about getting the best teams they can - and anyone else that will pay to play.
- People hear/assign all kinds of reasons for why PGF was started. Your stated reason is not the main one and it's twisted a bit - West Coast teams were tired of almost always having to travel back east for Nats and made worse by the fact they'd finish in at least half the top spots. The real reason was the established Gold coaches weren't getting their way with ASA regarding multiple issues, so they started PGF out of frustration. They now get to run PGF however they want and PGF's existence has resulted in ASA becoming more responsive.
- ASA Nationals are geared towards determining a champion, not recruiting. Unfortunately, they screwed the pooch and lost most of the top teams to PGF. The diverse representation does provide a great experience for the participants along with visibility into the level of play across most of the country (with the obvious exception of the West Coast).
- Spazsdad already posted on in-state vs out-of-state scholarships. However, he missed the fact that a partial scholarship to an in-state kid is more appealing than the same percentage to an out-of-state kid because they are left with a smaller amount to pay. It is magnified at schools where it costs very little for in-state kids to attend (e.g. Texas?). So, some schools can be successful offering a smaller percentage to an in-state kid than an out-of-state kid.
- Colleges will recruit where they can get the best players for their program. The most competitive programs will go where the best players are competing against each other, regardless of geography. The other programs will go where their budget allows and where they have a good chance at recruiting the best players they can get for their program.
- I'm not interested in looking up players from the top 25 college teams because I doubt the usefulness of it for determining where the best young players are competing today. Feel free to do it yourself and share your results.
- A ton of money is wasted by parents chasing college scholarships with a haphazard and shotgun approach. The most efficient thing would be the development of recognized classifications of showcase events by a target level/group of colleges (academically and athletics). Teams could form along particular classification(s) and schedule accordingly. This would also be beneficial for colleges in alloting their limited number of recruiting days. I know it's a pipe dream, but wouldn't it be nice...