Nolan Groves

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www.startribune.com

Gophers offer 2025 Orono guard Nolan Groves

Minnesota 2025 Gatorade Player of the Year Nolan Groves recently decommitted from Yale and has since received offers from the Gophers, Wisconsin and Texas Tech.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com
If this article is completely factual in that it asserts that Ben never attempted to recruit Groves, (the 2025 Gatorade Player of the Year in Minnesota). It's just another major indictment on what was going on with the program. I don't care if you don't think you have much of a chance, but to not even make the recruiting pitch to the kid is ridiculous.
 



99Gopher said:
If this article is completely factual in that it asserts that Ben never attempted to recruit Groves, (the 2025 Gatorade Player of the Year in Minnesota). It's just another major indictment on what was going on with the program.
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Where does the article assert that?
 

matt said:
Where does the article assert that?
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Quote from Orono coach Barry Wohler - "Ben Johnson showed zero interest, and it’s unfortunate." I may be wildly off the mark here, but I'm assuming zero interest means he didn't attempt to recruit him.

And a second article source if you need it:
www.twincities.com

Men’s basketball: Minnesota’s top recruit is listening again

Orono’s Nolan Groves, the Gatorade Player of the Year in Minnesota, is back on the market, and the Gophers have made him an offer.
www.twincities.com www.twincities.com
 

99Gopher said:
Quote from Orono coach Barry Wohler - "Ben Johnson showed zero interest, and it’s unfortunate." I may be wildly off the mark here, but I'm assuming zero interest means he didn't attempt to recruit him.

And a second article source if you need it:
www.twincities.com

Men’s basketball: Minnesota’s top recruit is listening again

Orono’s Nolan Groves, the Gatorade Player of the Year in Minnesota, is back on the market, and the Gophers have made him an offer.
www.twincities.com www.twincities.com
Click to expand...
Well was committed to Yale so Ben went out on the local recruiting trail which Richard never did. Whatever got a new coach now that hopefully USAF eventually is positive about his results. Some kids develop late.
 




minnyrules11 said:
Well was committed to Yale so Ben went out on the local recruiting trail which Richard never did. Whatever got a new coach now that hopefully USAF eventually is positive about his results. Some kids develop late.
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Richard never did? Yet he still landed better MN talent than Ben did. Amazing.
 

99Gopher said:
Quote from Orono coach Barry Wohler - "Ben Johnson showed zero interest, and it’s unfortunate." I may be wildly off the mark here, but I'm assuming zero interest means he didn't attempt to recruit him.

And a second article source if you need it:
www.twincities.com

Men’s basketball: Minnesota’s top recruit is listening again

Orono’s Nolan Groves, the Gatorade Player of the Year in Minnesota, is back on the market, and the Gophers have made him an offer.
www.twincities.com www.twincities.com
Click to expand...
Thanks. That quote isn’t in the Strib article linked in your previous comment, but I see it in this Pioneer Press one.
 


99Gopher said:
www.startribune.com

Gophers offer 2025 Orono guard Nolan Groves

Minnesota 2025 Gatorade Player of the Year Nolan Groves recently decommitted from Yale and has since received offers from the Gophers, Wisconsin and Texas Tech.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com
If this article is completely factual in that it asserts that Ben never attempted to recruit Groves, (the 2025 Gatorade Player of the Year in Minnesota). It's just another major indictment on what was going on with the program. I don't care if you don't think you have much of a chance, but to not even make the recruiting pitch to the kid is ridiculous.
Click to expand...
No really. No one else did either and the kid was 5'10 just a couple seasons ago from what I've read. Kid matured and is a completely different athlete now. He was named player of the year after Ben was fired and was committed to Yale.
 




99Gopher said:
www.startribune.com

Gophers offer 2025 Orono guard Nolan Groves

Minnesota 2025 Gatorade Player of the Year Nolan Groves recently decommitted from Yale and has since received offers from the Gophers, Wisconsin and Texas Tech.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com
If this article is completely factual in that it asserts that Ben never attempted to recruit Groves, (the 2025 Gatorade Player of the Year in Minnesota). It's just another major indictment on what was going on with the program. I don't care if you don't think you have much of a chance, but to not even make the recruiting pitch to the kid is ridiculous.
Click to expand...
He has grown multiple inches, gained 30 pounds of muscle, and can now routinely dunk.

He was short, thin, and lacked athleticism. Johnson didn't go after him because he wasn't a high major player.

However Groves both grew and developed his body. That changed everything. You can't predict kids will grow a lot more at that age.

Johnson didn't screw up.
 


TruthSeeker said:
He has grown multiple inches, gained 30 pounds of muscle, and can routinely dunk.

He was short, thin, and lacked athleticism. Johnson didn't go after him because he wasn't a high major player.

However Groves both grew and developed his body. That changed everything. You can't predict kids will grow a lot more at that age.

Johnson didn't screw up.
Click to expand...

Groves is exactly the type of local player the Gophers/Ben should have been keeping an eye on. He didn't just grow last week. He was 6' 4" and averaged 34 PPG this season in your backyard, how do you not notice that?

Even if you think he lacks certain things to make him a high major player, this is exactly the type of player you offer your 10th, 11th, 12th scholarship to and see if they can develop over a few years. Those are the scholarships Ben didn't even care to use most years.

This is exactly what Niko did at CSU, and will do going forward here. This is what PJ also does with local football recruits. Not every recruit has another high major offer.

Johnson absolutely screwed up. He was a very lazy recruiter and this is more proof of it.
 

I've seen Groves play several times including both times vs Benilde this year. I don't think he's ready for Big ten minutes as a freshman, but he improved a lot from his junior year to sr year and really has a nose for scoring esp in transition. He's not a great shooter but that would be his path to minutes. He has the physical size and athleticism and could definitely develop.
 

I think what is not discussed often enough with NIL is the playing time portion of the calculus. Of course the kids want $ but playing time contributes to that. If a kid gets 200-300k but isn't in the top 8 of the rotation they will pick somewhere else for half the money.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Groves is exactly the type of local player the Gophers/Ben should have been keeping an eye on. He didn't just grow last week. He was 6' 4" and averaged 34 PPG this season in your backyard, how do you not notice that?

Even if you think he lacks certain things to make him a high major player, this is exactly the type of player you offer your 10th, 11th, 12th scholarship to and see if they can develop over a few years. Those are the scholarships Ben didn't even care to use most years.

This is exactly what Niko did at CSU, and will do going forward here. This is what PJ also does with local football recruits. Not every recruit has another high major offer.

Johnson absolutely screwed up. He was a very lazy recruiter and this is more proof of it.
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Quoted for truth!

Niko is proving his worth already, and hitting the pavement. Not acting like he is above certain players and acting salty for missing out on a guy. This is a relationship business now, more than ever. I don't want to keep hitting on Ben, this is more of an endorsement of the groundwork Niko is doing.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Groves is exactly the type of local player the Gophers/Ben should have been keeping an eye on. He didn't just grow last week. He was 6' 4" and averaged 34 PPG this season in your backyard, how do you not notice that?

Even if you think he lacks certain things to make him a high major player, this is exactly the type of player you offer your 10th, 11th, 12th scholarship to and see if they can develop over a few years. Those are the scholarships Ben didn't even care to use most years.

This is exactly what Niko did at CSU, and will do going forward here. This is what PJ also does with local football recruits. Not every recruit has another high major offer.

Johnson absolutely screwed up. He was a very lazy recruiter and this is more proof of it.
Click to expand...
In this case though, Groves was committed to Yale well before he blew up. He's only getting all this attention now because he decommitted and is now available again.
 

kix4kix said:
I think what is not discussed often enough with NIL is the playing time portion of the calculus. Of course the kids want $ but playing time contributes to that. If a kid gets 200-300k but isn't in the top 8 of the rotation they will pick somewhere else for half the money.
Click to expand...
How do you know this? 🤔
 


GophersInIowa said:
In this case though, Groves was committed to Yale well before he blew up. He's only getting all this attention now because he decommitted and is now available again.
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There is nothing preventing a coach from offering and recruiting a kid that is verbally committed somewhere. Giving someone like Groves the opportunity to play at a higher level, and make some money, may be something he was waiting for. Taking an educated guess that is probably what restarted his recruitment in the first place.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Groves is exactly the type of local player the Gophers/Ben should have been keeping an eye on. He didn't just grow last week. He was 6' 4" and averaged 34 PPG this season in your backyard, how do you not notice that?

Even if you think he lacks certain things to make him a high major player, this is exactly the type of player you offer your 10th, 11th, 12th scholarship to and see if they can develop over a few years. Those are the scholarships Ben didn't even care to use most years.

This is exactly what Niko did at CSU, and will do going forward here. This is what PJ also does with local football recruits. Not every recruit has another high major offer.

Johnson absolutely screwed up. He was a very lazy recruiter and this is more proof of it.
Click to expand...
There are certainly many things about Ben that aren't defensible, but he certainly can identify talent early in the process. Pharrell Payne and Cam Christie are guys that came here. Danny Wolf, Ryan Dunn, and Milan Momcilovic, are among the guys who visited.

Ben didn't go after a kid was short, not super athletic, and doesn't have an outstanding skill when he was in 10th or even 11th grade. Those kids end up at mid-majors or lower. That's where Groves was headed. Nor did Niko. There was clearly no Colorado State offer or interest.

I'm glad that we're in on him now, but looking back on this situation with hindsight and blaming it on Ben is ridiculous. There are dozens of kids like 10th grade Groves in MN. You can't recruit them all with the hopes that they'll add 6 inches, bulk up, and add enough skills to maybe relevant at the Big 10 level. That's why kids most of us haven't heard of go on to play for low or mid majors, develop, and then transfer up to high majors a few years later. This kid may be able to jump that step.
 

GrayShouldPlayReceiver said:
Anywhere except WI, please! It’s the classic type of kid that they develop and we have to hear about it ad-nauseum.
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The good news is that Niko can give him a convincing sales pitch about developing him to his potential. The bad news is that Wisconsin can, too.
 

I'm far from a supporter of Ben Johnson (in fact, I'm one of his biggest haters), but to blame him for not recruiting Groves is not only dumb, but also stupid. He didn't have a high-major offer until a few days ago. You can't simultaneously say the Gophers are settling for low-major talent and then complain when they don't offer low-major players.

I also saw a guy on Twitter comparing Groves to Perich. Yes, I'm sure Groves is a once-in-a-generation type player who immediately starts and is one of the best freshmen in the country.
 

GophersInIowa said:
In this case though, Groves was committed to Yale well before he blew up. He's only getting all this attention now because he decommitted and is now available again.
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It was just a verbal commitment, and that means very little in today's world. His new interest also came before he decommitted, it always works that way.

Yale has also been the best Ivy league program over the past decade with a history of finding under the radar recruits and developing them into really good players. If they were interested, there's no reason the Gophers shouldn't have been as well.

How many MN recruits hit the transfer portal this year that were not recruited out of high school that we would have loved to take now? There were many. Those are the guys you can fill out the end of your bench with and develop a program with, rather than not even trying.

It's the not trying for so many local recruits that has always bothered me and many others about Ben. Well after the fact that the Gophers problems were always someone else's fault. It was never his, just ask him.
 

dpodoll68 said:
I'm far from a supporter of Ben Johnson (in fact, I'm one of his biggest haters), but to blame him for not recruiting Groves is not only dumb, but also stupid. He didn't have a high-major offer until a few days ago. You can't simultaneously say the Gophers are settling for low-major talent and then complain when they don't offer low-major players.

I also saw a guy on Twitter comparing Groves to Perich. Yes, I'm sure Groves is a once-in-a-generation type player who immediately starts and is one of the best freshmen in the country.
Click to expand...

It's pretty amazing how all of these top programs around the country can be so successful by pulling in all of this low to mid major talent they recruit via the transfer portal.

But instead of recruiting under the radar local recruits, lets just not use those scholarships at all. Talk about stupid..
 

Oatmeal Savage said:
There are certainly many things about Ben that aren't defensible, but he certainly can identify talent early in the process. Pharrell Payne and Cam Christie are guys that came here. Danny Wolf, Ryan Dunn, and Milan Momcilovic, are among the guys who visited.

Ben didn't go after a kid was short, not super athletic, and doesn't have an outstanding skill when he was in 10th or even 11th grade. Those kids end up at mid-majors or lower. That's where Groves was headed. Nor did Niko. There was clearly no Colorado State offer or interest.

I'm glad that we're in on him now, but looking back on this situation with hindsight and blaming it on Ben is ridiculous. There are dozens of kids like 10th grade Groves in MN. You can't recruit them all with the hopes that they'll add 6 inches, bulk up, and add enough skills to maybe relevant at the Big 10 level. That's why kids most of us haven't heard of go on to play for low or mid majors, develop, and then transfer up to high majors a few years later. This kid may be able to jump that step.
Click to expand...
There's far too much logic being applied in this post to deny it's legitimacy.

Ben's gone...I prefer to focus on what the new guy can get done as he establishes his recruiting network locally and nationally. If you win on the court, recruits will start paying more attention, too.

Just a hunch but I think we get this kid unless the TT money is outrageous.
 

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