Sorta the case, sorta not. Did you consider Kocha Delic a "top CHL talent" before he stepped on Miami's campus and started producing? I did, but most did not. Same goes for Teydon Trembecky at Michigan Tech. Oliver Peer (Bemidji State) and Giovanni Morneau (Lindenwood) were good in junior and then in USports for a year, coming into the NCAA at a much older age and have been productive right away.
Others, you're most certainly correct.