Take SMC for example. It's in San Francisco. It has no HC. It's no worse than us for basketball. So if it's a basketball decision, BYU isn't a better choice than SMC. It's at best equal. And if it's a lifestyle choice, BYU is worse — it's a mormon school with a bunch of lifestyle restrictions that don't apply anywhere else.
I just can't imagine that BYU being a strict, conservative, puritanical, mormon school doesn't factor in to recruits' decisionmaking. It seems like it has to. All other things being equal, why would any non-LDS kid choose that?