Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For Carnegie Mellon or WashU? In terms of academic requirements. Thanks

My DD was recruited for a sport at multiple UAA schools including WashU and CMU. She was a top recruit and offered by both schools. There wasn't much if any relief in academic standards at either school. I would assume that the 25th pct is necessary and that 50th pct is your target.

That’s our experience as well, DC had an 4.8/3.97 GPA, 33 ACT. The athletes we know that attend CMU or WashU are all strong students.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You need to be able to touch the net.[/quote]

With one hand or two?

I don't think there's a lot of leeway academically for basketball players at WashU or CMU. This is not Duke or Michigan. They'll be bright kids who were good players in high school, but not D1 standouts. And there's a million good students and basketball players who didn't grow up to be 6'7. So I would expect WashU and CMU players to be pretty smart - certainly enough to handle the normal course work. CMU and WashU are not in significant conferences, so with the way things are going, it's more like club sports. And would pursue accordingly. No dumbass is playing there. But it's a definite boost on an app.

Would reach out to the coaches if this a good student with some demonstrable skills. [/quote]

This is an example of how you say that you know nothing about college sports and recruiting with directly saying that you know nothing about D3 sports or recruiting in general.

The UAA is one of the most competitive D3 conferences in the country (along with the NESCAC.) and the level of athletic talent is high. There will be some D1 caliber athletes on every team. Every player isn't D1 caliber but you find plenty of kids who were targeting Ivies but didn't quite make it and fell back to high academic D3 rather than lower academic mid-major D1 schools.[/quote]


You lost me at "one of the most competitive D3 conferences in the country..."

You know very well major D1 programs are different. And Ivies should be in D3, skill-wise. Columbia basketball is technically in the same division as Florida and Duke. But it's just a technicality, and they are not the same. Different realities.

To the original question, I think you need to be both pretty smart and a very good player for WashU and CMU. Basketball is the most competitive sport there is for scholarships. [/quote]

Princeton made it to the Sweet 16 just three years ago and Yale beat Auburn in the 2024 tourney.

Ivy teams are definitely better than D3 teams…by a large margin.[/quote]

And recent rulings with NIL and the NCAA have changed everything.

There was a time when a good Princeton team could compete in the tournament. But that time is gone. It's a different era.

Harvard and Cornell typically have good hockey teams, but in basketball and football, it's over. It's impossible for Ivy schools to have competitive teams in the major revenue sports going forward. And at the WashU and CMU level - it's basically club sports. Not to disparage those players. But there are thousands and thousands of very good but not quite D1 players out there.

But if you can get a scholarship out of them, great. Better than riding the bench at an SEC school. [/quote]

[b]You are mixing apples and oranges. First of all, Ivies and D3 don't give athletic scholarships.
[/b]
Ivies have not been remotely competitive in football in decades. They have been able to put up a fight in basketball. Agreed that this will be more difficult under the new construct, but not impossible. Basketball only has five players on the court. All you need are a few very good (but not great) players who work well as a team and you can challenge a top team. There are some (though admittedly not many) basketball players who are very good but not great who recognize that their future is not in basketball and are relatively low income so can get a full ride to an Ivy via financial aid. So under the new way they are missing out on NIL (since Ivies have largely sworn this off) but they likely weren't getting a ton anyway. And they are getting a free Ivy League degree. Which over the long run is worth a lot more than a few grand of NIL and a degree from a no name school.[/quote]
True, but while D3s don't give athletic scholarships, they may give some other scholarships/merit money. Do they give more to their top athletic prospects and call it a merit scholarship? They likely wouldn't admit it, but I would like to know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to be able to touch the net.

With one hand or two?

I don't think there's a lot of leeway academically for basketball players at WashU or CMU. This is not Duke or Michigan. They'll be bright kids who were good players in high school, but not D1 standouts. And there's a million good students and basketball players who didn't grow up to be 6'7. So I would expect WashU and CMU players to be pretty smart - certainly enough to handle the normal course work. CMU and WashU are not in significant conferences, so with the way things are going, it's more like club sports. And would pursue accordingly. No dumbass is playing there. But it's a definite boost on an app.

Would reach out to the coaches if this a good student with some demonstrable skills.

This is an example of how you say that you know nothing about college sports and recruiting with directly saying that you know nothing about D3 sports or recruiting in general.

The UAA is one of the most competitive D3 conferences in the country (along with the NESCAC.) and the level of athletic talent is high. There will be some D1 caliber athletes on every team. Every player isn't D1 caliber but you find plenty of kids who were targeting Ivies but didn't quite make it and fell back to high academic D3 rather than lower academic mid-major D1 schools.

You lost me at "one of the most competitive D3 conferences in the country..."

You know very well major D1 programs are different. And Ivies should be in D3, skill-wise. Columbia basketball is technically in the same division as Florida and Duke. But it's just a technicality, and they are not the same. Different realities.

To the original question, I think you need to be both pretty smart and a very good player for WashU and CMU. Basketball is the most competitive sport there is for scholarships.

Princeton made it to the Sweet 16 just three years ago and Yale beat Auburn in the 2024 tourney.

Ivy teams are definitely better than D3 teams…by a large margin.

Ivies also lower the academic threshold for athletes more than JHU, CMU, MIT, Chicago. Wash U's standards are lower to begin with and seem to go lower for athletes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to be able to touch the net.

With one hand or two?

I don't think there's a lot of leeway academically for basketball players at WashU or CMU. This is not Duke or Michigan. They'll be bright kids who were good players in high school, but not D1 standouts. And there's a million good students and basketball players who didn't grow up to be 6'7. So I would expect WashU and CMU players to be pretty smart - certainly enough to handle the normal course work. CMU and WashU are not in significant conferences, so with the way things are going, it's more like club sports. And would pursue accordingly. No dumbass is playing there. But it's a definite boost on an app.

Would reach out to the coaches if this a good student with some demonstrable skills.

This is an example of how you say that you know nothing about college sports and recruiting with directly saying that you know nothing about D3 sports or recruiting in general.

The UAA is one of the most competitive D3 conferences in the country (along with the NESCAC.) and the level of athletic talent is high. There will be some D1 caliber athletes on every team. Every player isn't D1 caliber but you find plenty of kids who were targeting Ivies but didn't quite make it and fell back to high academic D3 rather than lower academic mid-major D1 schools.

You lost me at "one of the most competitive D3 conferences in the country..."

You know very well major D1 programs are different. And Ivies should be in D3, skill-wise. Columbia basketball is technically in the same division as Florida and Duke. But it's just a technicality, and they are not the same. Different realities.

To the original question, I think you need to be both pretty smart and a very good player for WashU and CMU. Basketball is the most competitive sport there is for scholarships.

Princeton made it to the Sweet 16 just three years ago and Yale beat Auburn in the 2024 tourney.

Ivy teams are definitely better than D3 teams…by a large margin.

And recent rulings with NIL and the NCAA have changed everything.

There was a time when a good Princeton team could compete in the tournament. But that time is gone. It's a different era.

Harvard and Cornell typically have good hockey teams, but in basketball and football, it's over. It's impossible for Ivy schools to have competitive teams in the major revenue sports going forward. And at the WashU and CMU level - it's basically club sports. Not to disparage those players. But there are thousands and thousands of very good but not quite D1 players out there.

But if you can get a scholarship out of them, great. Better than riding the bench at an SEC school.

Penn introduced an NIL program for basketball players starting this year and managed to get a kid that played at Duke and UVA and retained an all-Ivy player. Basketball is actually the one (and really only) revenue sport they are prepared to start spending some $$$s to compete and I would imagine other Ivies will follow.

Generally a really great post but note that Power was a huge recruiting mistake at Duke and warmed the bench, then warmed the bench at UVA as well on a team that wasn't very good. So saying he "played" at those schools is a bit of an overstatement, though it is still a solid pickup for an Ivy.

The Ivies are torn about NIL. I am generally not a fan of it at all, but unfortunately it has become a necessary evil so good for Penn for getting involved. I know people involved with some of the other Ivy basketball programs and they were refusing to have anything to do with NIL, which their players were not happy about. I have not spoken to any of them in a while so this might have changed. The players aren't looking for big bucks like Alabama quarterbacks, just a bit of extra spending money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to be able to touch the net.

With one hand or two?

I don't think there's a lot of leeway academically for basketball players at WashU or CMU. This is not Duke or Michigan. They'll be bright kids who were good players in high school, but not D1 standouts. And there's a million good students and basketball players who didn't grow up to be 6'7. So I would expect WashU and CMU players to be pretty smart - certainly enough to handle the normal course work. CMU and WashU are not in significant conferences, so with the way things are going, it's more like club sports. And would pursue accordingly. No dumbass is playing there. But it's a definite boost on an app.

Would reach out to the coaches if this a good student with some demonstrable skills.

This is an example of how you say that you know nothing about college sports and recruiting with directly saying that you know nothing about D3 sports or recruiting in general.

The UAA is one of the most competitive D3 conferences in the country (along with the NESCAC.) and the level of athletic talent is high. There will be some D1 caliber athletes on every team. Every player isn't D1 caliber but you find plenty of kids who were targeting Ivies but didn't quite make it and fell back to high academic D3 rather than lower academic mid-major D1 schools.

You lost me at "one of the most competitive D3 conferences in the country..."

You know very well major D1 programs are different. And Ivies should be in D3, skill-wise. Columbia basketball is technically in the same division as Florida and Duke. But it's just a technicality, and they are not the same. Different realities.

To the original question, I think you need to be both pretty smart and a very good player for WashU and CMU. Basketball is the most competitive sport there is for scholarships.

Princeton made it to the Sweet 16 just three years ago and Yale beat Auburn in the 2024 tourney.

Ivy teams are definitely better than D3 teams…by a large margin.

And recent rulings with NIL and the NCAA have changed everything.

There was a time when a good Princeton team could compete in the tournament. But that time is gone. It's a different era.

Harvard and Cornell typically have good hockey teams, but in basketball and football, it's over. It's impossible for Ivy schools to have competitive teams in the major revenue sports going forward. And at the WashU and CMU level - it's basically club sports. Not to disparage those players. But there are thousands and thousands of very good but not quite D1 players out there.

But if you can get a scholarship out of them, great. Better than riding the bench at an SEC school.

Penn introduced an NIL program for basketball players starting this year and managed to get a kid that played at Duke and UVA and retained an all-Ivy player. Basketball is actually the one (and really only) revenue sport they are prepared to start spending some $$$s to compete and I would imagine other Ivies will follow.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to be able to touch the net.

With one hand or two?

I don't think there's a lot of leeway academically for basketball players at WashU or CMU. This is not Duke or Michigan. They'll be bright kids who were good players in high school, but not D1 standouts. And there's a million good students and basketball players who didn't grow up to be 6'7. So I would expect WashU and CMU players to be pretty smart - certainly enough to handle the normal course work. CMU and WashU are not in significant conferences, so with the way things are going, it's more like club sports. And would pursue accordingly. No dumbass is playing there. But it's a definite boost on an app.

Would reach out to the coaches if this a good student with some demonstrable skills.

This is an example of how you say that you know nothing about college sports and recruiting with directly saying that you know nothing about D3 sports or recruiting in general.

The UAA is one of the most competitive D3 conferences in the country (along with the NESCAC.) and the level of athletic talent is high. There will be some D1 caliber athletes on every team. Every player isn't D1 caliber but you find plenty of kids who were targeting Ivies but didn't quite make it and fell back to high academic D3 rather than lower academic mid-major D1 schools.

You lost me at "one of the most competitive D3 conferences in the country..."

You know very well major D1 programs are different. And Ivies should be in D3, skill-wise. Columbia basketball is technically in the same division as Florida and Duke. But it's just a technicality, and they are not the same. Different realities.

To the original question, I think you need to be both pretty smart and a very good player for WashU and CMU. Basketball is the most competitive sport there is for scholarships.

Princeton made it to the Sweet 16 just three years ago and Yale beat Auburn in the 2024 tourney.

Ivy teams are definitely better than D3 teams…by a large margin.

And recent rulings with NIL and the NCAA have changed everything.

There was a time when a good Princeton team could compete in the tournament. But that time is gone. It's a different era.

Harvard and Cornell typically have good hockey teams, but in basketball and football, it's over. It's impossible for Ivy schools to have competitive teams in the major revenue sports going forward. And at the WashU and CMU level - it's basically club sports. Not to disparage those players. But there are thousands and thousands of very good but not quite D1 players out there.

But if you can get a scholarship out of them, great. Better than riding the bench at an SEC school.

You are mixing apples and oranges. First of all, Ivies and D3 don't give athletic scholarships.

Ivies have not been remotely competitive in football in decades. They have been able to put up a fight in basketball. Agreed that this will be more difficult under the new construct, but not impossible. Basketball only has five players on the court. All you need are a few very good (but not great) players who work well as a team and you can challenge a top team. There are some (though admittedly not many) basketball players who are very good but not great who recognize that their future is not in basketball and are relatively low income so can get a full ride to an Ivy via financial aid. So under the new way they are missing out on NIL (since Ivies have largely sworn this off) but they likely weren't getting a ton anyway. And they are getting a free Ivy League degree. Which over the long run is worth a lot more than a few grand of NIL and a degree from a no name school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to be able to touch the net.

With one hand or two?

I don't think there's a lot of leeway academically for basketball players at WashU or CMU. This is not Duke or Michigan. They'll be bright kids who were good players in high school, but not D1 standouts. And there's a million good students and basketball players who didn't grow up to be 6'7. So I would expect WashU and CMU players to be pretty smart - certainly enough to handle the normal course work. CMU and WashU are not in significant conferences, so with the way things are going, it's more like club sports. And would pursue accordingly. No dumbass is playing there. But it's a definite boost on an app.

Would reach out to the coaches if this a good student with some demonstrable skills.

This is an example of how you say that you know nothing about college sports and recruiting with directly saying that you know nothing about D3 sports or recruiting in general.

The UAA is one of the most competitive D3 conferences in the country (along with the NESCAC.) and the level of athletic talent is high. There will be some D1 caliber athletes on every team. Every player isn't D1 caliber but you find plenty of kids who were targeting Ivies but didn't quite make it and fell back to high academic D3 rather than lower academic mid-major D1 schools.

You lost me at "one of the most competitive D3 conferences in the country..."

You know very well major D1 programs are different. And Ivies should be in D3, skill-wise. Columbia basketball is technically in the same division as Florida and Duke. But it's just a technicality, and they are not the same. Different realities.

To the original question, I think you need to be both pretty smart and a very good player for WashU and CMU. Basketball is the most competitive sport there is for scholarships.

Princeton made it to the Sweet 16 just three years ago and Yale beat Auburn in the 2024 tourney.

Ivy teams are definitely better than D3 teams…by a large margin.

And recent rulings with NIL and the NCAA have changed everything.

There was a time when a good Princeton team could compete in the tournament. But that time is gone. It's a different era.

Harvard and Cornell typically have good hockey teams, but in basketball and football, it's over. It's impossible for Ivy schools to have competitive teams in the major revenue sports going forward. And at the WashU and CMU level - it's basically club sports. Not to disparage those players. But there are thousands and thousands of very good but not quite D1 players out there.

But if you can get a scholarship out of them, great. Better than riding the bench at an SEC school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to be able to touch the net.

With one hand or two?

I don't think there's a lot of leeway academically for basketball players at WashU or CMU. This is not Duke or Michigan. They'll be bright kids who were good players in high school, but not D1 standouts. And there's a million good students and basketball players who didn't grow up to be 6'7. So I would expect WashU and CMU players to be pretty smart - certainly enough to handle the normal course work. CMU and WashU are not in significant conferences, so with the way things are going, it's more like club sports. And would pursue accordingly. No dumbass is playing there. But it's a definite boost on an app.

Would reach out to the coaches if this a good student with some demonstrable skills.

This is an example of how you say that you know nothing about college sports and recruiting with directly saying that you know nothing about D3 sports or recruiting in general.

The UAA is one of the most competitive D3 conferences in the country (along with the NESCAC.) and the level of athletic talent is high. There will be some D1 caliber athletes on every team. Every player isn't D1 caliber but you find plenty of kids who were targeting Ivies but didn't quite make it and fell back to high academic D3 rather than lower academic mid-major D1 schools.

You lost me at "one of the most competitive D3 conferences in the country..."

You know very well major D1 programs are different. And Ivies should be in D3, skill-wise. Columbia basketball is technically in the same division as Florida and Duke. But it's just a technicality, and they are not the same. Different realities.

To the original question, I think you need to be both pretty smart and a very good player for WashU and CMU. Basketball is the most competitive sport there is for scholarships.

Princeton made it to the Sweet 16 just three years ago and Yale beat Auburn in the 2024 tourney.

Ivy teams are definitely better than D3 teams…by a large margin.

Yup. And Princeton just had a player transfer to Florida (with the expectation of playing a lot at Florida). And Yale had a player transfer to Michigan who was just taken in the first round of the NBA draft (Danny Wolf). These aren't common but they are not totally rare either.

Duncan Robinson transferred from Williams to Michigan and ended up in the NBA but that is a much more unique situation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can look up the bios of the players for those schools and similarly situated Division III schools (e.g. Johns Hopkins, UChicago, etc.).

Being great enough at basketball to be recruited is going to be the hard part. Even at these schools, the players were generally All-State-level high school basketball players or competed with them in AAU programs. These aren’t just “smart kids who happen to play basketball on the side”. They are “elite basketball players that are also smart.” You can say that about recruited athletes in virtually any sport at the high academic Division III schools.

Wouldn't call D3 basketball players "elite"

We are D3 made it to the TBT championship this year and the majority of the players actually play Pro ball in Europe. They may not be Top 25 level players but pretty Elite overall.

Of course they are not Top 25. They are not even Top 200

That is likely true, basketball is an inexpensive sport to field. Using something like Massey if you rank them all together the top D3 programs are around 250 which is only ok until you realize that here are over 450 DI basketball programs, 300 DII basketball programs, and 400 D3 basketball programs. The top D3 schools are better than almost of the DII programs as well so you're looking at the top 25% for the top teams. Those kids would be pretty elite athletes by any standard. The real take away is when one realizes just how incredible any high level DI basketball player actually is at their sport.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can look up the bios of the players for those schools and similarly situated Division III schools (e.g. Johns Hopkins, UChicago, etc.).

Being great enough at basketball to be recruited is going to be the hard part. Even at these schools, the players were generally All-State-level high school basketball players or competed with them in AAU programs. These aren’t just “smart kids who happen to play basketball on the side”. They are “elite basketball players that are also smart.” You can say that about recruited athletes in virtually any sport at the high academic Division III schools.

Wouldn't call D3 basketball players "elite"

We are D3 made it to the TBT championship this year and the majority of the players actually play Pro ball in Europe. They may not be Top 25 level players but pretty Elite overall.

Of course they are not Top 25. They are not even Top 200

Top 150 are usually high D1 after that it's low D1 and then D2 and then D3. So in the over 500 plus rank range for D3.

D2 is strange…I doubt Colorado College has a better basketball team than many D3 teams.

Sorry Colorado School of Mines

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to be able to touch the net.

With one hand or two?

I don't think there's a lot of leeway academically for basketball players at WashU or CMU. This is not Duke or Michigan. They'll be bright kids who were good players in high school, but not D1 standouts. And there's a million good students and basketball players who didn't grow up to be 6'7. So I would expect WashU and CMU players to be pretty smart - certainly enough to handle the normal course work. CMU and WashU are not in significant conferences, so with the way things are going, it's more like club sports. And would pursue accordingly. No dumbass is playing there. But it's a definite boost on an app.

Would reach out to the coaches if this a good student with some demonstrable skills.

This is an example of how you say that you know nothing about college sports and recruiting with directly saying that you know nothing about D3 sports or recruiting in general.

The UAA is one of the most competitive D3 conferences in the country (along with the NESCAC.) and the level of athletic talent is high. There will be some D1 caliber athletes on every team. Every player isn't D1 caliber but you find plenty of kids who were targeting Ivies but didn't quite make it and fell back to high academic D3 rather than lower academic mid-major D1 schools.

You lost me at "one of the most competitive D3 conferences in the country..."

You know very well major D1 programs are different. And Ivies should be in D3, skill-wise. Columbia basketball is technically in the same division as Florida and Duke. But it's just a technicality, and they are not the same. Different realities.

To the original question, I think you need to be both pretty smart and a very good player for WashU and CMU. Basketball is the most competitive sport there is for scholarships.

Princeton made it to the Sweet 16 just three years ago and Yale beat Auburn in the 2024 tourney.

Ivy teams are definitely better than D3 teams…by a large margin.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can look up the bios of the players for those schools and similarly situated Division III schools (e.g. Johns Hopkins, UChicago, etc.).

Being great enough at basketball to be recruited is going to be the hard part. Even at these schools, the players were generally All-State-level high school basketball players or competed with them in AAU programs. These aren’t just “smart kids who happen to play basketball on the side”. They are “elite basketball players that are also smart.” You can say that about recruited athletes in virtually any sport at the high academic Division III schools.

Wouldn't call D3 basketball players "elite"

We are D3 made it to the TBT championship this year and the majority of the players actually play Pro ball in Europe. They may not be Top 25 level players but pretty Elite overall.

Of course they are not Top 25. They are not even Top 200

Top 150 are usually high D1 after that it's low D1 and then D2 and then D3. So in the over 500 plus rank range for D3.

D2 is strange…I doubt Colorado College has a better basketball team than many D3 teams.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can look up the bios of the players for those schools and similarly situated Division III schools (e.g. Johns Hopkins, UChicago, etc.).

Being great enough at basketball to be recruited is going to be the hard part. Even at these schools, the players were generally All-State-level high school basketball players or competed with them in AAU programs. These aren’t just “smart kids who happen to play basketball on the side”. They are “elite basketball players that are also smart.” You can say that about recruited athletes in virtually any sport at the high academic Division III schools.

Wouldn't call D3 basketball players "elite"

We are D3 made it to the TBT championship this year and the majority of the players actually play Pro ball in Europe. They may not be Top 25 level players but pretty Elite overall.

Of course they are not Top 25. They are not even Top 200

Top 150 are usually high D1 after that it's low D1 and then D2 and then D3. So in the over 500 plus rank range for D3.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can look up the bios of the players for those schools and similarly situated Division III schools (e.g. Johns Hopkins, UChicago, etc.).

Being great enough at basketball to be recruited is going to be the hard part. Even at these schools, the players were generally All-State-level high school basketball players or competed with them in AAU programs. These aren’t just “smart kids who happen to play basketball on the side”. They are “elite basketball players that are also smart.” You can say that about recruited athletes in virtually any sport at the high academic Division III schools.

Wouldn't call D3 basketball players "elite"

We are D3 made it to the TBT championship this year and the majority of the players actually play Pro ball in Europe. They may not be Top 25 level players but pretty Elite overall.

Of course they are not Top 25. They are not even Top 200

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to be able to touch the net.

With one hand or two?

I don't think there's a lot of leeway academically for basketball players at WashU or CMU. This is not Duke or Michigan. They'll be bright kids who were good players in high school, but not D1 standouts. And there's a million good students and basketball players who didn't grow up to be 6'7. So I would expect WashU and CMU players to be pretty smart - certainly enough to handle the normal course work. CMU and WashU are not in significant conferences, so with the way things are going, it's more like club sports. And would pursue accordingly. No dumbass is playing there. But it's a definite boost on an app.

Would reach out to the coaches if this a good student with some demonstrable skills.

This is an example of how you say that you know nothing about college sports and recruiting with directly saying that you know nothing about D3 sports or recruiting in general.

The UAA is one of the most competitive D3 conferences in the country (along with the NESCAC.) and the level of athletic talent is high. There will be some D1 caliber athletes on every team. Every player isn't D1 caliber but you find plenty of kids who were targeting Ivies but didn't quite make it and fell back to high academic D3 rather than lower academic mid-major D1 schools.

You lost me at "one of the most competitive D3 conferences in the country..."

You know very well major D1 programs are different. And Ivies should be in D3, skill-wise. Columbia basketball is technically in the same division as Florida and Duke. But it's just a technicality, and they are not the same. Different realities.

To the original question, I think you need to be both pretty smart and a very good player for WashU and CMU. Basketball is the most competitive sport there is for scholarships.