I’ve always seen them not as a coronation of impact/performance, but as an indicator of respect within the conference. So about the massive 0regon snub this year… Wilner verified it as historically unprecedented… but of course he won’t wade into those waters too deeply.
I know they neg-recruited Smalls, but are they really that bad across the conference? Seems like that’s a bad model, will come back to bite them- but of course, they don’t care as much about local kids because they cast a wider net.