The Courier Journal and USA TODAY Network, in partnership with Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, has examined how much each public school in a Power Five conference has been spending to recruit athletes in football and men's basketball.

Here are 10 things that stood out:

1. Most with the least: Wisconsin

Wisconsin ranked last among the 52 Power Five public schools in recruiting spending for both football and men's basketball from the fiscal year 2013 through 2018.

In football, Wisconsin's six-year total was roughly $1.63 million, which was about $500,000 less than any other Power Five public program. Meanwhile, Wisconsin collectively spent $439,566 in men's basketball recruiting in the six years, a total that was surpassed by Indiana and Kentucky in each of the past six years alone.

Nonetheless, the Badgers' football program has averaged more than 10 wins each of the past six years, during which the Badgers' men's basketball team reached two Final Fours.

Others who've done a lot with a little include (national ranking out of 52 Power Five public schools in parenthesis):

Iowa (44), Washington State (48), Mississippi State (50) and Oklahoma State (51) in football.

Michigan (29), Michigan State (31), Virginia (32), UCLA (45), North Carolina (48) and Maryland (49) in men's basketball.

Additionally, Ohio State's football program has been a national powerhouse despite ranking 24th nationally and seventh (of 13) in the Big Ten for the six-year period.

Read more:The cost of college football recruiting is now through the roof

2. SEC leads the way nationally

In football over the six-year period from 2013 to 2018, the nation's top four public-school recruiting spenders — and eight of the top 15 — were in the Southeastern Conference.

The top three — Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee — each spent more than $9 million during the six-year period (no one else reached $7 million) and collectively spent about as much as the bottom 11 programs of the 52.

3. Conference call: Ducks out West

In contrast to the SEC, the highest football spender in the Pac-12 Conference — Oregon — was only 16th nationally during the six-year period.

Oregon was only 27th nationally in men's basketball spending, yet the Ducks led the Pac-12 in both sports, making that league the only one in which one school spent the most for both football and men's basketball recruiting.

Here were the six-year leaders in each conference for each sport (national rank and next highest conference school in parenthesis):

Football

ACC: Florida State (6th, $289,405 more than Clemson)

Big 10: Penn State (5th, $590,158 more than Michigan)

Big 12: Oklahoma (7th, $1.33 million more than Iowa State)

Pac-12: Oregon (16th, $806,005 more than Utah)

SEC: Georgia (1st, $600,334 more than Alabama)

Men's basketball

ACC: Louisville (4th, $383,085 more than NC State)

Big 10: Indiana (1st, $789,833 more than Illinois)

Big 12: Kansas (3rd, $872,939 more than Texas)

Pac-12: Oregon (27th, $43,171 more than Arizona)

SEC: Kentucky (2nd, $1.12 million more than Texas A&M)

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4. Rising and falling: football

From total amounts spent on recruiting in 2013 to total amounts in 2018, which schools' recruiting expenditures increased the most percentage-wise for football?

Georgia (351.7%)

Texas A&M (326.3%)

Florida State (271.4%)

Louisville (247.1%)

Texas (232.1%)

Clemson (190%)

Of 52 Power Five public schools, only six spent less in 2018 than 2013 to recruit in football:

Auburn (-21.8%)

Georgia Tech (-21.6%)

Arizona State (-19.5%)

Texas Tech (-14.1%)

Illinois (-6.6%)

Mississippi State (-3.3%)

5. Rising and falling: men's basketball

From 2013 totals to 2018 totals, which schools' recruiting expenditures increased the most for men's basketball?

Texas (284.9%)

LSU (280.2%)

Rutgers (205.9%)

Oklahoma State (182.9%)

Ole Miss (173.4%)

Minnesota (153.1%)

Of 52 Power Five public schools, only seven spent less in 2018 than 2013 to recruit in men's basketball:

Auburn (-82.8%)

North Carolina (-50.2%)

Louisville (-43.9%)

Tennessee (-8.2%)

Oregon State (-5.1%)

Utah (-4.9%)

Kansas State (-1.6%)

More coverage:U of L, UK football not big recruiting spenders compared with others

6. Speaking of Auburn

As noted above, Auburn — according to numbers reported annually to the NCAA — experienced the largest percentage drop in spending for both football and men's basketball.

Auburn's reported men's basketball recruiting spending was $464,946 in 2013 and a paltry $79,837 for the fiscal year ending in 2018. That probably was related to an AL.com report this month that Auburn secretly self-imposed sanctions on Bruce Pearl's program that meant "Auburn did not conduct recruiting on any kind from September 2017-April 2018."

The Tigers' decrease in football recruiting spending wasn't as steep (they still ranked fourth nationally for the entire six-year period). But Auburn spent the most of all Power Five public schools in 2013 ($1.38 million). In 2018, the Tigers were 16th.

There could be financial background here: Auburn's athletic department recently cut all program budgets by 10%, according to AuburnSports.com.

7. Men's basketball over football?

In the fiscal year 2018, only one Power Five public school spent more to recruit for men's basketball than football: Indiana.

The Hoosiers spent $739,722 to recruit for men's hoops, which was first in the nation. IU spent $692,972 in football recruiting in 2018, which ranked 34th nationally out of 52 Power Five public schools.

Kentucky was third in men's basketball spending in 2018 at $645,160, but the Wildcats spent $791,863 to recruit for football, which was 25th nationally in that year's rankings.

See also:The costs to be great in college football are soaring

8. UNC's surprising figures

Perhaps the biggest outlier between the recent success of a powerhouse program and its recruiting spending has been North Carolina men's basketball.

According to numbers reported to the NCAA, the Tar Heels spent more in 2018 to recruit for women's basketball ($199,855) than men's basketball ($159,501), a trend that goes back five years.

In football, UNC spent $984,871 in 2018, up from $525,674 just five years before that.

Yet in men's basketball recruiting, UNC dropped from $320,304 in 2013 to no greater than $159,501 in each of the following five years.

9. Rivalry watch

Here are six-year football recruiting expenditures when compared for some of the sport's gridiron rivalries, ranked in order of the largest differences:

Georgia ($9.73 million) and Georgia Tech ($3.67 million)

Oklahoma ($6.32 million) and Oklahoma State ($2.14 million)

Clemson ($6.1 million) and South Carolina ($3.3 million)

Alabama ($9.13 million) and Auburn ($6.97 million)

Iowa State ($4.99 million) and Iowa ($2.85 million)

Michigan ($5.95 million) and Ohio State ($4 million)

Oregon ($4.82 million) and Oregon State ($3.69 million)

Florida State ($6.39 million) and Florida ($5.29 million)

Ole Miss ($3.34 million) and Mississippi State ($2.47 million)

Kentucky ($3.5 million) and Louisville ($2.84 million)

Texas A&M ($5.23 million) and Texas ($4.75 million)

Arizona ($3.3 million) and Arizona State ($3.09 million)

Indiana ($3.14 million) and Purdue ($2.98 million)

Check out:What has changed for Louisville football quarterback Jawon Pass?

10. Would you believe?

A few additional takeaways from the numbers:

Of the four schools to make the 2019 Final Four in men's basketball, none ranked higher than 17th nationally (out of 52 Power Five public schools) in recruiting spending during the six-year period from 2013 to 2018. They were: Auburn (17th), Texas Tech (21st), Michigan State (31st) and Virginia (32nd).

Iowa State outspent Texas in football recruiting for five years in a row from 2013 through 2017. That was before the Longhorns upped their football recruiting spending nearly $1 million in 2018, going from 21st nationally in 2017 to fourth in 2018.

For the collective six-year period from 2013 to 2018, Illinois and Minnesota each reported higher football recruiting expenditures than Ohio State.

Nebraska and Illinois ranked third and fourth in the Big Ten for football during the six-year period and have had nine (of 12) losing seasons between them.

Arkansas spent more than LSU to recruit in football in the six years from 2013 to 2018. The Tigers, in fact, ranked eighth in the SEC during this period despite winning at least eight games in each of the six seasons. The Razorbacks went 31-44 the past six seasons.

In 2018, LSU ranked seventh nationally in recruiting for men's basketball. The $511,401 the Tigers spent on hoops was an increase of more than $318,000 from the previous year.

In the six-year period, Kansas spent more to recruit in football than Texas Tech, West Virginia, Kansas State and Oklahoma State. The Jayhawks haven't won more than three football games in a season since 2009.

Of the bottom 11 spenders nationally among Power Five public schools in men's basketball, seven were in the Pac-12.

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And a disclaimer ...

Keep in mind these numbers were gathered via open records requests of Power Five public schools. Figures were not available for private institutions, meaning colleges such as Duke, Miami of Florida, Notre Dame, Southern Cal and Syracuse were not accessible to be included in this research.

Editor's Note: Dollar amounts used for this story were reported by schools through the annual NCAA Financial Report process. In a small number of cases, the reported recruiting totals differed slightly from those supplied directly by the schools via separate requests, including totals from the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville that were used in previous coverage by the Courier Journal.

USA TODAY's Steve Berkowitz contributed to this report.

Gentry Estes: 502-582-4205; gestes@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @Gentry_Estes. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/gentrye.