Nice story about former Tartan great, Jake Sullivan

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MennoSota

MennoSota

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http://m.startribune.com/jake-sulli...ring-machine-is-finding-his-range/505360762/#

The frosted doors welcoming MSP International passengers slide open every few minutes. A family waiting 20 feet away looks each time, hoping to see someone they have missed dearly appear.

The kids are fidgety, but their dad is calm. He squats to let his 5-year-old climb onto his back, careful not to squish the bouquet of flowers he is holding in his left hand. He’d made a quick stop at a florist on the way here. A moment like this deserves a fresh arrangement.

Jake Sullivan hasn’t seen his wife in nearly seven months. She was supposed to be gone only 10 days when she left for Africa to finalize their adoption of an 11-year-old boy with HIV.
...
 

I read this story. Fascinating. I knew him when he was a freshman and worked at the school but didn’t know about his health concerns.
 

He was insane in high school. I played against him a few times growing up in AAU - he had Steph Curry range and incredible accuracy. Was he recruited by the U?
 

C'Mon Man said:
He was insane in high school. I played against him a few times growing up in AAU - he had Steph Curry range and incredible accuracy. Was he recruited by the U?
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I kind of think the U passed on him because he was only 6' and he wasn't a true point. He wasn't really what Clem was looking for. But, I could be remembering poorly
 

MennoSota said:
I kind of think the U passed on him because he was only 6' and he wasn't a true point. He wasn't really what Clem was looking for. But, I could be remembering poorly
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Cue the "Clem couldn't recruit in state" takes
 


MennoSota said:
I kind of think the U passed on him because he was only 6' and he wasn't a true point. He wasn't really what Clem was looking for. But, I could be remembering poorly
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Clem wasn't the coach when Sullivan graduated. Clem left after the 98-99 season. Sullivan's first year in college was 2000-2001. But yeah, he should have landed Sullivan for the Gophers, after he was fired. Completely agree!
 

I remember watching Sullivan in that state title game. Man, he could get buckets from ANYWHERE. Amazing competitor too.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Clem wasn't the coach when Sullivan graduated. Clem left after the 98-99 season. Sullivan's first year in college was 2000-2001. But yeah, he should have landed Sullivan for the Gophers, after he was fired. Completely agree!
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Jake wanted to play at the U badly, but Clem didn't recruit him hardly at all. Clem was fired in March of 1999 and Jake signed with Iowa State in November of 1999, so Clem was the Gophers coach responsible for recruiting him through Jake's junior year. By the time the scandal happened and Monson got here, he had no chance at Jake. While Clem had a streak where he got most of the best players in the state, that started changing at the tail end of his career at the U. It wasn't that most kids wanted to leave the state like we are seeing now, it was more that he wasn't recruiting the players who wanted to be here that ended up being stars - obviously El-Amin we originally got the commitment from and then Russ punched him and he went to UCONN, but Sullivan and Troy Bell both wanted to play here and Clem didn't want them for some reason. Darius Lane wanted to play at the U but he and Joel apparently didn't get along and didn't want to play together. We made the right choice at the time in taking Joel, but Darius would have been a good player at the U.

It would have been interesting to see what Clem could have done with the amount of talent the State is producing now.

Go Gophers!!
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Clem wasn't the coach when Sullivan graduated. Clem left after the 98-99 season. Sullivan's first year in college was 2000-2001. But yeah, he should have landed Sullivan for the Gophers, after he was fired. Completely agree!
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Thanks for the snark...and the accurate reporting. Your memory is acute.
 




I played against Jake Sullivan in basketball a ton growing up. I kept him under 20 once. . .he didn't play in the second half because they were up by like 40, but still, I kept him to like 18 that game.

Watching him warm up was one of the craziest things I've ever seen. I remember him standing at the three point range, hitting a countless threes and not needing a rebounder (he'd make them so that they hit the back part of the rim and bounce back to him). It was insane.

He is the greatest shooter I've ever seen in person.
 


BleedGopher said:
Jake wanted to play at the U badly, but Clem didn't recruit him hardly at all. Clem was fired in March of 1999 and Jake signed with Iowa State in November of 1999, so Clem was the Gophers coach responsible for recruiting him through Jake's junior year. By the time the scandal happened and Monson got here, he had no chance at Jake. While Clem had a streak where he got most of the best players in the state, that started changing at the tail end of his career at the U. It wasn't that most kids wanted to leave the state like we are seeing now, it was more that he wasn't recruiting the players who wanted to be here that ended up being stars - obviously El-Amin we originally got the commitment from and then Russ punched him and he went to UCONN, but Sullivan and Troy Bell both wanted to play here and Clem didn't want them for some reason. Darius Lane wanted to play at the U but he and Joel apparently didn't get along and didn't want to play together. We made the right choice at the time in taking Joel, but Darius would have been a good player at the U.

It would have been interesting to see what Clem could have done with the amount of talent the State is producing now.

Go Gophers!!
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Interesting tidbit about Darius Lane and Pryz. I was well aware of the Bell/Sullivan snubs but hadn't heard that one.

Do you recall if Clem showed any interest towards Jibrahn Ike, while we're taking this stroll down late 90's MN high school ball lane?
 



MennoSota said:
Thanks for the snark...and the accurate reporting. Your memory is acute.
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It is...but google helps me confirm as well. I was just a kid during the Haskins era, at least most of it. No internet, games weren't always televised. Hard to explain to my younger coworkers that the Gophers were a powerhouse.
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
Interesting tidbit about Darius Lane and Pryz. I was well aware of the Bell/Sullivan snubs but hadn't heard that one.

Do you recall if Clem showed any interest towards Jibrahn Ike, while we're taking this stroll down late 90's MN high school ball lane?
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We had very little interest. Ike was a great HS player who could score at will, but was probably a bit too slow for high major teams, but you could tell he was a good player. A similar player a few years back who I really wanted the Gophers to offer was Quinton Hooker from Park Center. The kid could flat out play, but the big schools were not knocking on his door due to his size, but he went on to have a great career at ND.

Go Gophers!!
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
It is...but google helps me confirm as well. I was just a kid during the Haskins era, at least most of it. No internet, games weren't always televised. Hard to explain to my younger coworkers that the Gophers were a powerhouse.
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Powerhouse might be hyperbolic, but they consistently competed in the NCAA tournament under Clem. 97 was an incredible season.
 

BleedGopher said:
Jake wanted to play at the U badly, but Clem didn't recruit him hardly at all. Clem was fired in March of 1999 and Jake signed with Iowa State in November of 1999, so Clem was the Gophers coach responsible for recruiting him through Jake's junior year. By the time the scandal happened and Monson got here, he had no chance at Jake. While Clem had a streak where he got most of the best players in the state, that started changing at the tail end of his career at the U. It wasn't that most kids wanted to leave the state like we are seeing now, it was more that he wasn't recruiting the players who wanted to be here that ended up being stars - obviously El-Amin we originally got the commitment from and then Russ punched him and he went to UCONN, but Sullivan and Troy Bell both wanted to play here and Clem didn't want them for some reason. Darius Lane wanted to play at the U but he and Joel apparently didn't get along and didn't want to play together. We made the right choice at the time in taking Joel, but Darius would have been a good player at the U.

It would have been interesting to see what Clem could have done with the amount of talent the State is producing now.

Go Gophers!!
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This is how I remember it as well. I think Monson gave it a shot and knew he could play college ball, but it was too late in the game then. With the timing of things and scandal, it's not likely Jake would have come anyway, but passing up on Bell is the biggest local recruiting blunder in my lifetime. I think it was simply the coaching staff believed that Minnesota produced only big men, and guards couldn't make it in big college ball. How wrong they were. It was a different era then, with local guys not necessarily getting as much national exposure they do now.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
It is...but google helps me confirm as well. I was just a kid during the Haskins era, at least most of it. No internet, games weren't always televised. Hard to explain to my younger coworkers that the Gophers were a powerhouse.
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Most -- maybe all -- the games were televised in the 90s on Midwest Sports Channel. More than are televised today.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 

Hates Monikers said:
Most -- maybe all -- the games were televised in the 90s on Midwest Sports Channel. More than are televised today.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
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A good share on tape delay, however. The difference is that we were sold on BTN so every game would be on TV and that was a croc. MSC never told us every game would be on live TV.
 

Hates Monikers said:
Most -- maybe all -- the games were televised in the 90s on Midwest Sports Channel. More than are televised today.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I don’t think I had that channel as a kid. Not to mention, I think all but 2 Gopher games are televised this year. I doubt that MSC televised all the non-conference games. But I could be wrong.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
I don’t think I had that channel as a kid. Not to mention, I think all but 2 Gopher games are televised this year. I doubt that MSC televised all the non-conference games. But I could be wrong.
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I didn't get cable until 1998 (ONE YEAR TOO F-ING LATE) and they even had the exhibitions on MSC. Hence, the footage of the fight against the Phillipines National team.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
I don’t think I had that channel as a kid. Not to mention, I think all but 2 Gopher games are televised this year. I doubt that MSC televised all the non-conference games. But I could be wrong.
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Yes, they televised all the NC games. I don't remember many being on tape delay, like Holy Man said, but I could be wrong about that.

It feels like the Gophers had more games televised this year than they have the past few seasons, but I could be wrong a out that, too.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 

My memory is not always the best so I could totally be making this up but I feel like it happened. I believe it was a playoff game, it was Sullivan and Tartan against Michael Bauer and Hastings. Tartan was up comfortably really late in the game. Hastings brings in a kid from the end of the bench, hadn’t played all game. Sullivan was guarding this kid on defense. The kid catches the ball, swings the ball across from one side to the other but sticks his elbow out hitting Sullivan across the face. Kid gets a T and gets taken out of the game. He played like 15 seconds.
 

I played against this guy as well. Best shooter I have ever seen. He could make it from anywhere and he had some handles also. Not sure why Clem didn't want him, but this guy was an absolute scoring machine. They had a nice little run at Iowa State with him as well. Made a sweet sixteen or maybe Elite 8 with him?
 


Obviously, the "bigger picture" is that success in athletics is no guarantee to success or happiness in life. It's easy to see some kid throwing TD passes or sinking 20-ft jumpers, and thinking they've got it made. But athletic ability is no shield against life and all the other problems that can happen. It's Great to see Sullivan getting help for his issues and finding a purpose. Also for he and his wife having the calling to adopt kids and offer them a better life.
 

Go Gophs said:
I played against this guy as well. Best shooter I have ever seen. He could make it from anywhere and he had some handles also. Not sure why Clem didn't want him, but this guy was an absolute scoring machine. They had a nice little run at Iowa State with him as well. Made a sweet sixteen or maybe Elite 8 with him?
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His freshman year, ISU lost as a 2 seed in the first round to Hampton. It turned out to be his only game in the big dance.
 


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STrib: Justice Sullivan lands Gophers football scholarship offer

Big Ten football teams are lining up to woo Eden Prairie sophomore Justice Sullivan, with Iowa making a recent scholarship offer, and the Gophers adding theirs Thursday night.

Sullivan is the son of Jake Sullivan, who was a standout basketball player at Tartan and Iowa State and the subject of Chip Scoggins’ remarkable profile earlier this month in the Star Tribune.

Jake and his wife, Janel, adopted Justice from Ghana and have seen him grow into an ‘A’ student and multi-talented athlete. In track, he competes in the 100-yard dash, high jump and shot put. He started for Eden Prairie’s state runner up team as a 6-2, 215-pound defensive end.

He figures to have offers from across the country in coming months, so it'll be interesting to see where he eventually signs.

http://www.startribune.com/justice-sullivan-lands-gophers-football-scholarship-offer/506193472/

Go Gophers!!
 

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