4 year guys who never improved.

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march madness

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I guess these would be players I saw play in high school who had some publicity but never quite became the players you would have hoped.

I remember Mike Bauer comming in with good atheleticism and him being very skinny. He came in with 2 division 1 skills:shot blocking and streaky 3pt shooting. I don't recall him aquiring another skill. He did put on some weight. In his defense he was injured quite a bit. He always looked great in the Pulley League.

Hargrow was an athletic guard who was supposed to have good defensive potential. He wasnt a scorer and never became one. He didnt even like to pass the ball to certain players. I guess his defense was ok. I remember watching him play Cretin and Joe Mauer and Mauer ate him alive his senior year.

Schilling was supposed to be the next Sam Jacobsen. He was a great leaper and he had a good outside shot. Unfortunately it wasnt a "jump shot". He also had a habit of letting his shorts drop to his knees at Hopkins and I remember my uncle and I wondering about him. During his time at the "U" he never learned the midrange game. It was either above the rim stuff or 3's. I think he finished his career ok wherever that was?

Most of my post are positive, I am just venting about dissapointment and what might have been.
 

Wasn't Schilling a Minnetonka guy? He was a disappointment on and off the floor. I can't remember where he went after he left the U though either.
 


march madness said:
I guess these would be players I saw play in high school who had some publicity but never quite became the players you would have hoped.

I remember Mike Bauer comming in with good atheleticism and him being very skinny. He came in with 2 division 1 skills:shot blocking and streaky 3pt shooting. I don't recall him aquiring another skill. He did put on some weight. In his defense he was injured quite a bit. He always looked great in the Pulley League.

Hargrow was an athletic guard who was supposed to have good defensive potential. He wasnt a scorer and never became one. He didnt even like to pass the ball to certain players. I guess his defense was ok. I remember watching him play Cretin and Joe Mauer and Mauer ate him alive his senior year.

Schilling was supposed to be the next Sam Jacobsen. He was a great leaper and he had a good outside shot. Unfortunately it wasnt a "jump shot". He also had a habit of letting his shorts drop to his knees at Hopkins and I remember my uncle and I wondering about him. During his time at the "U" he never learned the midrange game. It was either above the rim stuff or 3's. I think he finished his career ok wherever that was?

Most of my post are positive, I am just venting about dissapointment and what might have been.
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I don't remember Schilling having a very good leaping abiblity at all. Slow and couldn't jump.
 



Adam Boone - just an all around disapointment but I wonder why he got hyped in the first place
Ben Johnson- freshman of the year at NW, brought pretty much nothing to the table at the U
Hargrow - just never became what he could've been
L Mac - was a shooter as a frosh at Okie, was a shooter as a senior. With him it was more of him never learning to be a PG
 

Dan Coleman: The most frustrating Gopher player to watch of all time.
 


Shane could really sky for his height and appearance. HE never really had much opportunity to show it as a Gopher but I remember seeing a few practice dunks..impressive.
 





Many good names already mentioned. I'll add Johnny Gilbert from Mpls. Henry, Russ Archambault, Spencer Tollackson.

It's interesting to see that just about every player Tubby has brought here looks like they are able to play at the Big 10 level. Monson signed some players who weren't ready to play at the Big 10 level, not even the D-I level. (Miles Webb, Kevin Payton, and wasn't there a kid from the Houston, Texas area that never even saw the floor?) Clem also had some guys that didn't appear ready to play in the B10, but by the time most of them were seniors, they were functional players. (Miles Tarver, Dusty Rychart (not recruited, but walked on), even Hosea.
 

I'd argue against Johnny Gilbert. He was always a big, strong guy with no offensive skills. Those guys usually are what they are (see: Colton Iverson). Gilbert was a starter on a very good OU squad and made the most out of his skill set IMO
 



Jonathon Williams never seemed to get better.

Hoffarber is in danger of getting on this list.
 

Maybe it's because Dan Coleman's 4 years of play mirrored my first four years at the U, but he has got to be #1 on this list. He started all four years, made freshman all big-ten team, and never learned how to rebound, make a post move, or shoot from beyond 15 ft consistently. He also choked on free throws every time it mattered. THANK GOD FOR TUBBY
 

If you name Sanden

Was it Loge that came in with him...I guess he did not last 4 years.
 

Many of these guys not here for 4 years:

Connell Lewis
David Holmgren
Paul Van den Einde
Barry Wohler
 

Winnipegopher said:
Jonathon Williams never seemed to get better.

Hoffarber is in danger of getting on this list.
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Agree 100% about Williams.

But can't agree with you about Hoffarber. He has become a much better all around basketball player in terms of ball handling, rebounding, and defense. The complaint about him is he has lost his confidence in his shot.
 

oops

My bad, Shilling was on Minnetonka's loaded team: with Kuppe, Boone, and a great pg (name). Shane could shoot and jump. The problem was he wasn't a quick jumper and he had a chest level grade school release.
 


Swaggerson said:
Was it Loge that came in with him...I guess he did not last 4 years.
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loge didn't even play a game for us. i remember he was a top fifty recruit at a time when the state of mn produced very little h.s. talent. the guy just kind of disappeared.
 

ChemEGopher said:
Maybe it's because Dan Coleman's 4 years of play mirrored my first four years at the U, but he has got to be #1 on this list. He started all four years, made freshman all big-ten team, and never learned how to rebound, make a post move, or shoot from beyond 15 ft consistently. He also choked on free throws every time it mattered. THANK GOD FOR TUBBY
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I'm with you. I think DC was by far, the most disapointing for me because I had such high expectations for him. I thought he'd be another Quincy Lewis...and he just never seemed to get that fire in his belly. With that being said, nice guy, and he's playing overseas and I hope he has a long career over there.

Here are some more on my list:
Brandon Smith - very highly regarded and people kept talking about the athleticism (oops, my bad, these are 4 year players).
Spencer Tollackson - I thought with the promise he showed his Freshman year, he'd be a huge upgrade from Hagen (another one I'd like to add - love you Spence, but not on the court)
Moe Hargrow - After his sophomore year, I was so excited for him - and when he returned, he had regressed
Bauer - Same with Bauer, I know he was plagued with injuries, but I felt he got worse too

I'm going to stop now, because I feel bad - a lot of these guys represented the U well, and graduated. I'm not saying they sucked, but didn't live up to my expectations - that's why I've learned to not use the word potential as much as I used to.
 

Gopherphile said:
loge didn't even play a game for us. i remember he was a top fifty recruit at a time when the state of mn produced very little h.s. talent. the guy just kind of disappeared.
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...along with part of his hand in a hunting accident.
 

Not four-year guys as it turned out ...

... but folks thought there'd be more to 'em than there turned out to be:
  • Aliou Kane
  • Miles Webb
  • Jordan Nuness
  • Kerry Wooldridge
I call that span of time "The Desert Years"
 


Just thought of this from another thread. I'm sure that he improved during his 4 years with the Gophers, but Jim Peterson is an example of someone whose NBA career was much better than his college career.
 

Say what you will about Clem, but Miles Tarver was living, breathing proof that Clem knew exactly what he was doing. A genius recruiting move!
 

GopherLady said:
I'm with you. I think DC was by far, the most disapointing for me because I had such high expectations for him. I thought he'd be another Quincy Lewis...and he just never seemed to get that fire in his belly. With that being said, nice guy, and he's playing overseas and I hope he has a long career over there.

Here are some more on my list:
Brandon Smith - very highly regarded and people kept talking about the athleticism (oops, my bad, these are 4 year players).
Spencer Tollackson - I thought with the promise he showed his Freshman year, he'd be a huge upgrade from Hagen (another one I'd like to add - love you Spence, but not on the court)
Moe Hargrow - After his sophomore year, I was so excited for him - and when he returned, he had regressed
Bauer - Same with Bauer, I know he was plagued with injuries, but I felt he got worse too

I'm going to stop now, because I feel bad - a lot of these guys represented the U well, and graduated. I'm not saying they sucked, but didn't live up to my expectations - that's why I've learned to not use the word potential as much as I used to.
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I disagree on Hagen. He was pretty bad at first. By the time he graduated, I thought he was a very reliable, serviceable BT center. He greatly improved over his 4 years.
 

pharmacygopher said:
I disagree on Hagen. He was pretty bad at first. By the time he graduated, I thought he was a very reliable, serviceable BT center. He greatly improved over his 4 years.
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Agreed, Hagen went from being a freshman walk-on to a HM All-Big Ten player his senior year.

That's quite an improvement in my book.
 

Hagen improved a lot over the years.

I also totally forgot about Loge. Didn't he play HS ball in Morris, MN?
 

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