I think it would have been a great benefit to have stronger Chicago ties and I think Howard would have provided that.
i don't think you can make a living at kstate recruiting illinois and indiana. and if you have three of your four coaches from that area, that is clearly your intention.
Why not use the resources that are available to you to the most of their capability?
I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I don't think there's a metro in the entire country that produces more talent than Chicago. Consider all the quality players from there recently that didn't play in the Big 10. Jake Pullen, Iman Shumpert, Javale McGee, Jerel McNeal, D.J. Cooper just off the top of my head - I'm sure there's DOZENS more than that - and that's not even counting the blue chips who went elsewhere like Collins, Scheyer, and Davis
XRM originally from Canada is an example of a non-Chicago recruit that Howard had done a great job with, he was clearly capable of uitilizing of his home base and effectively branching out from that.