Final Four teams heavily recruit talent in their backyards

By DAVE SKRETTA
AP Basketball Writer

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The four blueblood programs that have descended upon the Superdome for the men’s Final Four all have the ability to recruit on a national scale. Their coaches are able to hop aboard a jet on a moment’s notice to sit in a living room or take in a game. Yet all of the teams in New Orleans have pulled talent from their own backyards. Kansas has mined stars from Kansas City, Villanova from the fertile recruiting grounds of Philadelphia, and Duke and North Carolina have gone head-to-head for local talent with their campuses separated by about 10 miles.