I see your correlation but also, when Cooper has two division one players in McNeil & Kunkel they went to the state championship game, now to your point they got down early to a hot shooting BG team and couldn’t recover.
Their defense, the last two years they haven’t had any d1 talent and have been beaten out by Cov Cath who had multiple D1 players and then this year beaten in overtime by Beechwood who has arguably the top sophomore in statw and a for sure D1 player.
I would be on the side of more, the style has kept them in games with teams with more talent.