Everyone needs to understand that the vast majority of 4 and 5 star rated high school recruits are going to be average COLLEGE basketball players.
These were top 5 recruits, not just 5 star players, meaning that as seniors in high school they were expected to be one of the 5 best players in the entire country. For a measuring stick...let's see how Tennessee players have improved at Tennessee compared to their peers in the top 5.
Class of 2011: Tennesesee has Massengale and Burdick. Who were the other 3 players in the top 5 class?
Kaleena Mosqueda Lewis-won three championships and was a 2x All American
Elizabeth Williams-a 4x All American, although I'd argue she really didn't improve much under McCallie...but still, a 4x All American
Krystal Forthan-never played collegiate basketball
Class of 2012: Tennessee landed #5 recruit Bashaara Graves who won NFOY and was a stud that year. I remember UCONN fans complaining about their inconsistent freshmen while praising Graves. Graves peaked as a freshman and didn't make All-SEC her last three years after earning a nod as a freshman. How did the rest of the top 5 players pan out?
Breanna Stewart-became one of the best collegiate players ever
Moriah Jefferson-2x All American and one of the best collegiate PGs ever
Alexis Jones-was a fantastic combo guard for two years at Baylor and was twice named All-Big 12. Likely makes an AA roster as a senior if she didn't get injured midseason.
Jewell Loyd-another 2x All American who would've been a 3x All American if she didn't jump to the pros after her junior year.
Continuing on to 2013, Tennessee had Mercedes Russell and two years of Diamond Deshields. Who else was top 5?
Taya Reimer-had a good sophomore year at ND but then quit and regressed at Michigan State. Overall underachieved big time.
Kaela Davis-was an impact player at GT and a key contributor on SC's title team in 2017. Overall underachieved.
Linnae Harper-impact player as a senior, overall underachieved.
I can maybe give Holly a pass on 2013 because it was a weird class with almost all of the top players transferring, but I don't think she did anything to help Deshields improve, and Russell was the #1 kid in her class and wasn't drafted in the first round of the WNBA. That on its own is telling.
Onto 2014, I'll give Nared a break since she wasn't a top 5 recruit, she was #6 recruit.
#1 A'ja Wilson-went on to be a 4x All American and NPOY
#2 Brianna Turner-so far has been a 2x All American
#3 Ariel Atkins-was underutilized at Texas, has been a stud as a pro so far
#4 Jordin Canada-standout point guard for years in the Pac-12, 3rd team AA as a senior
#5 Kelsey Mitchell-4x All American and 2nd all time in NCAA history for career points
#6 Jaime Nared-1st/2nd team All SEC as a senior, 2nd team All-SEC as a junior
So in summary, you look at the top 5 recruits from the 2011-2014 classes, out of 19 players (not counting Forthan), 5 went to Tennessee. 9 of the 14 players who didn't choose Tennessee became AP-All Americans (with 8 of them winning AA honors in multiple seasons), while 0/5 did at Tennessee. Holly took 2 NFOYs and wasn't able to make them into All-Americans. Holly is the only coach to ever land a #1 HG recruit (looking at years 2006-2015) and not develop her into an All-American.
I know most 4 and 5 star players don't become All-Americans, but if you're landing top 5 recruits, you should be developing some of those players to an AA level.