Accomplishments are always better measuring sticks than subjective rankings.
It depends on what you are trying to measure. Recruiting rankings are certainly often wrong. But the fact remains that, while players are being recruited, rankings matter a lot. Rankings are a representative measure of how coaches see the talent level of the players being recruited. So successfully signing highly rated classes reflects well on a coaching staff’s ability to recruit.
If they don’t pan out, it could be because the coaching staff isn’t great at coaching. Or perhaps because they weren’t good at recognizing true talent, where it differed from the recruiting rankings, and thus recruited overranked players. Or perhaps because of injuries, off court issues, etc. Or maybe being recruited over by players who simply beat them out. Or perhaps because of chemistry issues, whether with coaches or players. Or maybe they got homesick, etc. Or maybe all of the above.
So on court results that were not great doesn’t mean a high recruiting class ranking wasn’t justified. *shrug*
