Marcus writes his annual "MN recruits like to play at wi article": Why do so many Minnesota boys basketball recruits land at wisconsin?

BleedGopher

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Doesn't he get sick of writing this same article every year:

Wisconsin basketball coach Greg Gard points back to his days as a Milwaukee assistant under Bo Ryan in the late 1990s as when recruiting in Minnesota really started for him.

And now Gard can't imagine where his program would be without Minnesota talent.

The Badgers established a recruiting pipeline across the border that's been challenging the Gophers for two decades, well before coach Ben Johnson took over at Minnesota in 2021.

Few things have frustrated Gophers hoops fans more over the years than seeing so many top Minnesota boys basketball players head to the Badgers. It's almost as bad as losing to them on the court.


Go Gophers!!
 



Doesn't he get sick of writing this same article every year:

Wisconsin basketball coach Greg Gard points back to his days as a Milwaukee assistant under Bo Ryan in the late 1990s as when recruiting in Minnesota really started for him.

And now Gard can't imagine where his program would be without Minnesota talent.

The Badgers established a recruiting pipeline across the border that's been challenging the Gophers for two decades, well before coach Ben Johnson took over at Minnesota in 2021.

Few things have frustrated Gophers hoops fans more over the years than seeing so many top Minnesota boys basketball players head to the Badgers. It's almost as bad as losing to them on the court.


Go Gophers!!
One less article fit him to write - playing chess ♟️
 
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regardless of what you think about Wisconsin - Wisconsin has a system. They know how they want to play. They know what type of player fits that system. They identify recruits that they believe will fit the system and they go after them.

And, if they can find recruits who fit their system - and they are close in proximity - all the better.

Lakeville North has turned out several players who may not be actual clones, but they are very similar in body type and playing style. and Wisconsin has been successful in establishing that pipeline.

if MN wants those type of players to stay home, then MN needs to out-recruit Wisconsin.
 

Outside of "Sack Puncher" Davison, which Minnesota player had much of an impact for the skunks?
Jon Leuer and Jordan Taylor were very good, probably the most recent players from Minnesota to actually be stars at Wisconsin, but they were 15 years ago now. Jared Berggren was pretty good too. Nate Reuvers was third team all Big Ten once. Tyler Wahl has been good, but he's from Lakeville, and was in the same class as Isaiah Ihnen. And there's your Riley Dearrings, Alex Illikainens, and Joe Hedstroms who didn't do much or didn't even have scholarship offers here, not to mention a number of walk-ons as well.

We haven't been losing NBA players to Wisconsin. We haven't been losing 20 ppg scorers to Wisconsin. Johnny Davis, Ethan Happ, Frank Kaminsky, Bronson Koenig, Sam Dekker, none of those dudes were from Minnesota.
 




regardless of what you think about Wisconsin - Wisconsin has a system. They know how they want to play. They know what type of player fits that system. They identify recruits that they believe will fit the system and they go after them.

And, if they can find recruits who fit their system - and they are close in proximity - all the better.

Lakeville North has turned out several players who may not be actual clones, but they are very similar in body type and playing style. and Wisconsin has been successful in establishing that pipeline.

if MN wants those type of players to stay home, then MN needs to out-recruit Wisconsin.
much clapping
 

regardless of what you think about Wisconsin - Wisconsin has a system. They know how they want to play. They know what type of player fits that system. They identify recruits that they believe will fit the system and they go after them.

And, if they can find recruits who fit their system - and they are close in proximity - all the better.

Lakeville North has turned out several players who may not be actual clones, but they are very similar in body type and playing style. and Wisconsin has been successful in establishing that pipeline.

if MN wants those type of players to stay home, then MN needs to out-recruit Wisconsin.

Nothing you said there is wrong. So, your last sentence begs the question: Does Minnesota want those players? Maybe not that much. Personally, I think the biggest tall local white boy recruiting miss over the last 15 years or so didn't go to Wisconsin either: Roseville's Mike Muscala who went to Bucknell. I'm not counting someone like Chet because he was destined for a top flight program and he was more versatile than those other guys.
 

Jon Leuer and Jordan Taylor were very good, probably the most recent players from Minnesota to actually be stars at Wisconsin, but they were 15 years ago now. Jared Berggren was pretty good too. Nate Reuvers was third team all Big Ten once. Tyler Wahl has been good, but he's from Lakeville, and was in the same class as Isaiah Ihnen. And there's your Riley Dearrings, Alex Illikainens, and Joe Hedstroms who didn't do much or didn't even have scholarship offers here, not to mention a number of walk-ons as well.

We haven't been losing NBA players to Wisconsin. We haven't been losing 20 ppg scorers to Wisconsin. Johnny Davis, Ethan Happ, Frank Kaminsky, Bronson Koenig, Sam Dekker, none of those dudes were from Minnesota.
I was just going back to the Gard era. Point taken on Reuvers and Wahl. So basically, there have been three players in the last eight years who may have made the Gophers a better team and Marcus feels this is worth harping on the last three years or so!
 




Doesn't he get sick of writing this same article every year:

Wisconsin basketball coach Greg Gard points back to his days as a Milwaukee assistant under Bo Ryan in the late 1990s as when recruiting in Minnesota really started for him.

And now Gard can't imagine where his program would be without Minnesota talent.

The Badgers established a recruiting pipeline across the border that's been challenging the Gophers for two decades, well before coach Ben Johnson took over at Minnesota in 2021.

Few things have frustrated Gophers hoops fans more over the years than seeing so many top Minnesota boys basketball players head to the Badgers. It's almost as bad as losing to them on the court.


Go Gophers!!
What's also befuddling is why is this article being written now? The Gophers don't play Sconny until January 23rd; the three MN preps getting time on the court are combining for 21 ppg, which isn't bad, but isn't exactly lighting the world on fire. If you feel the need to file this column yet again, why wouldn't you wait a couple months? Especially with a legit team on the schedule this week.

On another note, a quick Wikipedia search informed me that Jon Leuer is married to Brian Billick's daughter, Keegan, who played basketball for Ohio State.
 

Perhaps if the Gophers started winning on a consistent basis more players would want to stay home and play for us. Just a thought. Look, I know we all pretend that we're some kind of elite program guys but face the facts: We're not. Winning generally begets winning.
 

Perhaps if the Gophers started winning on a consistent basis more players would want to stay home and play for us. Just a thought. Look, I know we all pretend that we're some kind of elite program guys but face the facts: We're not. Winning generally begets winning.
Exactly who are these people who are pretending that the Gophers are an elite program?
 


Perhaps if the Gophers started winning on a consistent basis more players would want to stay home and play for us. Just a thought. Look, I know we all pretend that we're some kind of elite program guys but face the facts: We're not. Winning generally begets winning.

Perhaps you haven’t seen the current sophomore class or the class that just signed. May want to actually look at the kids Johnson is signing from before you post. Just a thought. And literally no one on this board pretends we are “some kind of elite program.” Is this your first day being a Gopher basketball fan or something?
 




Perhaps you haven’t seen the current sophomore class or the class that just signed. May want to actually look at the kids Johnson is signing from before you post. Just a thought. And literally no one on this board pretends we are “some kind of elite program.” Is this your first day being a Gopher basketball fan or something?
What makes you think he’s a Gopher basketball fan? 🤔
 

Perhaps if the Gophers started winning on a consistent basis more players would want to stay home and play for us. Just a thought. Look, I know we all pretend that we're some kind of elite program guys but face the facts: We're not. Winning generally begets winning.
Who’s pretending we’re an elite program other than Spaulding and Barney?
 



Perhaps you haven’t seen the current sophomore class or the class that just signed. May want to actually look at the kids Johnson is signing from before you post. Just a thought. And literally no one on this board pretends we are “some kind of elite program.” Is this your first day being a Gopher basketball fan or something?

Lol. Settle down. :)
 



Interesting. Nobody on wisconsin is killing it to where i need them at minnesota. Hows ben carlson doing? Pretty good start for him, but not at wisconsin.
 




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