All Things Baboucarr Ann Recruitment Thread (Updated: Commits to wisconsin)

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Married@SiebertField said:
Here’s an original idea: Let’s start beating Wisconsin in basketball. It might help. We don’t seem to lose Minnesota kids to Wisconsin football these days—just say’in.
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In fact, we're raiding Wisconsin for quite a few football players. Winning DOES make a HUGE difference.
 

60's Guy said:
We don't have that many opportunities to be in the running for that elite of an athlete. We will give the scholarship to somebody but it likely won't be somebody who reminds you of the Baylor players from last year's tournament.
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Perhaps, but if they land Ahmed Nur or Isiah Santos, than it's a wash on the athlete side. It sucks, he's a good player going to a rival and we wanted him, but it seems like the pool Niko is swimming in for highschool talent is guys around Ann level, guessing if he doesn't land what he wants he will bank the scholly, for more proven commodities in the portal
 

There's a reason he jumped on Wisconsin offer. Multiple offers doesn't mean commitable offers. He is not as highly regarded as he was last summer. If you saw him this past year it was difficult to see the hype. Looks the part physically, but wasn't even best player on his HS team. Will be interesting to see how he does.
 

I used to sweat personnel and recruiting battles a lot more when we had bad coaches with the hope an accumulation of talent would overcome a coach’s flaws. We have a quality coach that I think over the course of the next decade will prove himself to be one of the best in the conference, I’ll sleep well at night trusting his player evals and focusing on guys who want to be Gophers.

Saw Nolen Anderson walking across the Stone Arch a couple evenings ago, looked a happy guy. The guys who stay home will be remembered, the guys who went to Madison will be quickly forgotten.
 



GopherNuts said:
I used to sweat personnel and recruiting battles a lot more when we had bad coaches with the hope an accumulation of talent would overcome a coach’s flaws. We have a quality coach that I think over the course of the next decade will prove himself to be one of the best in the conference, I’ll sleep well at night trusting his player evals and focusing on guys who want to be Gophers.

Saw Nolen Anderson walking across the Stone Arch a couple evenings ago, looked a happy guy. The guys who stay home will be remembered, the guys who went to Madison will be quickly forgotten.
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People talk about Davidson here all the time. Might be hated or disliked, but not all forgotten.
 


gopherbadgerman said:
Lots of Spin going on here.

On to the next player now.
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Or it could just be the reality of the situation. It's not unusual for teams to back off on certain players after initially being very interested.

It seems from those that follow recruiting closely, the Gophers were not as invested lately in recruiting him as they once were.
 

The Deliberate Stranger said:
Perhaps, but if they land Ahmed Nur or Isiah Santos, than it's a wash on the athlete side. It sucks, he's a good player going to a rival and we wanted him, but it seems like the pool Niko is swimming in for highschool talent is guys around Ann level, guessing if he doesn't land what he wants he will bank the scholly, for more proven commodities in the portal
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Technically if this 5 for 5 rule stays in place, we have zero open scholarships next year. This could be a factor in some HS kids jumping on offers this week.
 



howeda7 said:
Technically if this 5 for 5 rule stays in place, we have zero open scholarships next year. This could be a factor in some HS kids jumping on offers this week.
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That's a good point all around. The timing of the rule change really screwed the 2027 HS class. Potentially a lot less options for them. I guess technically Nixon and Lorenson are the equivalent of walk-ons and could be easily pushed out if they really needed to.

It might just make sense to have a short list of top talents you want, go after them and if you strike out, it's not a big deal.
 

GophersInIowa said:
That's a good point all around. The timing of the rule change really screwed the 2027 HS class. Potentially a lot less options for them. I guess technically Nixon and Lorenson are the equivalent of walk-ons and could be easily pushed out if they really needed to.

It might just make sense to have a short list of top talents you want, go after them and if you strike out, it's not a big deal.
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Even with this, I don't see them trying to fill all 15 scholarships with guys who expect to play. It's a recipe for a bad locker room. Ben couldn't even keep 9 guys happy.

There will still be guys leaving, but you might want to replace them with portal guys. Will be a tough year to recruit.
 

gopherbadgerman said:
People talk about Davidson here all the time. Might be hated or disliked, but not all forgotten.
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People talk about Brad because he was dirty, otherwise they’re relevant for one day a year and that’s when they sit behind the Badger bench at The Barn after they’ve all moved back to civilization.

Is it disappointing? Sure but locals Medved think suit our program will stay home as our upward trajectory starts this season. So I’m not worried about Ann or Nur for that matter, we just have to make sure we provide the NIL backing Niko needs to maximize this thing and the rest will take care of itself.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Or it could just be the reality of the situation. It's not unusual for teams to back off on certain players after initially being very interested.

It seems from those that follow recruiting closely, the Gophers were not as invested lately in recruiting him as they once were.
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Could very well be true. The tone on him sure seemed to change as soon as he signed somewhere else though.
 



GopherNuts said:
People talk about Brad because he was dirty, otherwise they’re relevant for one day a year and that’s when they sit behind the Badger bench at The Barn after they’ve all moved back to civilization.

Is it disappointing? Sure but locals Medved think suit our program will stay home as our upward trajectory starts this season. So I’m not worried about Ann or Nur for that matter, we just have to make sure we provide the NIL backing Niko needs to maximize this thing and the rest will take care of itself.
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I don’t look at this is a knock on mevid at all. The kid just decided to play somewhere else. No harm in that. My only real comments were about the tone on the player, changing as soon as he decided to play somewhere else.
 

gopherbadgerman said:
I don’t look at this is a knock on mevid at all. The kid just decided to play somewhere else. No harm in that. My only real comments were about the tone on the player, changing as soon as he decided to play somewhere else.
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I think when a recruit commits, it’s the first time people actually look at the player and their recruitment objectively. Which is why there’s often times a dip in a recruit’s ranking. Ann has been an intriguing prospect because as a younger HSer his physical profile sticks out in his age group hence the early offers. But his development has seemingly stagnated (I know there’s questions about his jumper) and that’s reflected in the offers he’s receiving this year compared to last. While someone like Nur is exploding as a prospect with higher profile interest.

Wisconsin seems like a good spot for him as he’ll be able to develop away from the spotlight with a game that needs fine tuning. He’s not plug and play, he’s not a make or break prospect which is why I think people are reaching a ho hum conclusion.
 

Ann is a player I really wanted the gophers to get. He had a career high of 47 pts against Eden Prarie, no pushover, as a jr. 6-5 185 with wide shoulders, athleticism, and length. He would have been a nice replacement for what Palmer will provide in the open court and on defense, with an ever-evolving offensive game.

With big time guard Max Iverson graduating, Ann could average 25 next year. I just have to be patient with Niko, and in a couple of seasons, maybe other states best players will be choosing the gophers, instead of the other way around.
 

Tucker32 said:
There's a reason he jumped on Wisconsin offer. Multiple offers doesn't mean commitable offers. He is not as highly regarded as he was last summer. If you saw him this past year it was difficult to see the hype. Looks the part physically, but wasn't even best player on his HS team. Will be interesting to see how he does.
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Gac vibes?
 

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