All Things 2013 Basketball Recruiting Thread UPDATED 5/15: Malik Smith a Gopher!

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MadtownGopher said:
Dumbest post of the day.

How about we give Pitino more than a few weeks before we lump him in with Tubby and his "spring recruits." My god man, give the guy some time.
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+1

I think the only part I agreed with is that it isn't a fair comparison.
 

My guess is Freeman saw how many two guards we have and thought he had a better shot at playing early at Baylor, maybe it's a sign of how much of a shot we have at Vaughn and Wittstead
 



jaymil said:
It seems as if the Gophers chose Mathieu over Freeman. I know that sounds crazy, but with the timing of the commitments it's almost as if Freeman was waiting for Mathieu to make a decision. I mean, Freeman did choose visiting Minnesota over Baylor, right? Could be a coincidence I guess. I could see Pitino favoring Mathieu if he was that desperate for a true PG. Sometimes a player's ranking doesn't tell the whole story.
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I kind of agree with this. It does in fact seem we were going to get one and not the other. My only disagreement is I'm speculating that due to the Gophers not wanting to use up schollies on 3 guards/wings this spring, they were only going to take the first one to commit. They want to have as many scholarships for next year as they can.
 


Pitino's system needs a G who is lightning quick and can apply intense defensive pressure the length of the court. At least on video, I can't think of the last time we had a player this quick. We will see if he can hold up and be productive in the rugged Big Ten. He should be able to penetrate the lane and hopefully do some positive things, which would be a welcome change.
 

balds said:
Pitino's system needs a G who is lightning quick and can apply intense defensive pressure the length of the court. At least on video, I can't think of the last time we had a player this quick. We will see if he can hold up and be productive in the rugged Big Ten. He should be able to penetrate the lane and hopefully do some positive things, which would be a welcome change.
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+1
 

EG#9 said:
Man, I am disappointed. I can't help but worry a bit that Pitino is falling in to the same hole Tubby did with regards to Spring recruits. If you look ONLY at offers the Gophers landed a guy who was a decommit from FIU (and had several solid mid major offers) and a guy who chose the Gophers over Ole Miss and Pepperdine. On just that surface level, it looks very similar to adding a Oto and a Julian. Obviously, there are a lot of variables that don't make this a fair comparison. Adding Freeman would have been a big early get for the new staff and I really thought they were going to land him.

The way I see it is we have added two Spring recruits, but I don't feel significantly better about this team for 2013-2014. I thought it was an 8th-10th place team in the conference prior to the additions, and feel the exact same way after them. It seems like it might have been better to save the scholarships for the fall and just take our medicine this upcoming season.
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McNeil at least at one point had some good major conference offers including Louisville and Mathieu reportedly had offers from Memphis and UCLA, among many more.
 

jaymil said:
It seems as if the Gophers chose Mathieu over Freeman. I know that sounds crazy, but with the timing of the commitments it's almost as if Freeman was waiting for Mathieu to make a decision. I mean, Freeman did choose visiting Minnesota over Baylor, right? Could be a coincidence I guess. I could see Pitino favoring Mathieu if he was that desperate for a true PG. Sometimes a player's ranking doesn't tell the whole story.[/QUOTE

+1

Point guard was the number one need, and it certainly appears that once Dre made his decision, then Freeman chose Baylor. I wonder if Pitino was the one who had Dre move his decision day up 2 days? The Hollins' are going to secure most of the minutes at the 2 & 3, and as good as Freeman appears to be, really wasn't a huge need.
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WILLBGOPHER said:
jaymil said:
It seems as if the Gophers chose Mathieu over Freeman. I know that sounds crazy, but with the timing of the commitments it's almost as if Freeman was waiting for Mathieu to make a decision. I mean, Freeman did choose visiting Minnesota over Baylor, right? Could be a coincidence I guess. I could see Pitino favoring Mathieu if he was that desperate for a true PG. Sometimes a player's ranking doesn't tell the whole story.[/QUOTE

+1

Point guard was the number one need, and it certainly appears that once Dre made his decision, then Freeman chose Baylor. I wonder if Pitino was the one who had Dre move his decision day up 2 days? The Hollins' are going to secure most of the minutes at the 2 & 3, and as good as Freeman appears to be, really wasn't a huge need.
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I think Freeman was a huge need. We don't have a 3rd scoring option, unless I'm missing something.
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Freeman wasn't a huge need? Freemans, Vaughns, and Alvin Elliss, if you will, are always a huge need. You can usually frudge at the PG, but sooner or later you need someone to put it in the hole. There are so few players who can score at all 3 levels you can never pass up on one. All good teams have at least 2 on the floor and another or so, waiting his turn on the bench. I have no problem with Mathieu, but I've never seen a team that would take him over Freeman.
 


Blackhammer said:
According to CBS sports he never visited the Baylor campus. Baylor seems to be recruiting at a surprisingly high level. Wonder if anyone is watching?
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They always have. The problem is they under-perform once they get there (Jones III, Perry and Austin, Isaiah)
 



howieramone said:
Freeman wasn't a huge need? Freemans, Vaughns, and Alvin Elliss, if you will, are always a huge need. You can usually frudge at the PG, but sooner or later you need someone to put it in the hole. There are so few players who can score at all 3 levels you can never pass up on one. All good teams have at least 2 on the floor and another or so, waiting his turn on the bench. I have no problem with Mathieu, but I've never seen a team that would take him over Freeman.
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+10000
 

howieramone said:
Freeman wasn't a huge need? Freemans, Vaughns, and Alvin Elliss, if you will, are always a huge need. You can usually frudge at the PG, but sooner or later you need someone to put it in the hole. There are so few players who can score at all 3 levels you can never pass up on one. All good teams have at least 2 on the floor and another or so, waiting his turn on the bench. I have no problem with Mathieu, but I've never seen a team that would take him over Freeman.
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So everyone complained we didn't have enough ball handlers and guys that could legitimately log minutes at PG. Pitino does a marvelous job (given the short period of time he had) to completely satisfy this need with two really intriguing prospects. Now the complaint is we don't have enough wings/scorers? Please. We need some front court help. If there was position on this team that was "fine" it was the sg/sf/wing position. Sure those players you named are good-great recruits, but we aren't going to suffer next year because we didn't get them. If we suffer it will because we don't have enough depth in the front court and/or we have a new coach with a completely different system.
 



Good to have Mathieu on board. We haven't had a real PG since Al Nolen broke his foot 2.5 years ago. Freeman $electing Baylor without even vi$iting is odd. I gue$$ $cott Drew is a heck of a recruiter.
 

I just have a tough time comprehending us recruiting a top talent like Freeman, and then not taking him when we (if) had the chance. Austin Hollins is our only true wing and he's graduating. We needed Freeman.
 

MadtownGopher said:
So everyone complained we didn't have enough ball handlers and guys that could legitimately log minutes at PG. Pitino does a marvelous job (given the short period of time he had) to completely satisfy this need with two really intriguing prospects. Now the complaint is we don't have enough wings/scorers? Please. We need some front court help. If there was position on this team that was "fine" it was the sg/sf/wing position. Sure those players you named are good-great recruits, but we aren't going to suffer next year because we didn't get them. If we suffer it will because we don't have enough depth in the front court and/or we have a new coach with a completely different system.
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+1
 

Freeman was a big fish that got off the hook, and it stings. His recruitment would have been a breakthrough, and the Gophs would have been a legitimate tournament contender next year with him. However, I can't help but suspect that his situation interacts with Vaughn's somehow. I think landing him might have made it less likely for us to get Vaughn, and Vaughn's serious consideration of the U made it less likely getting Freeman. Those are two stud scoring machines, nine stars between them.

Really glad to get Mathieu. Even if he's only 5-9, his quickness, hops and ball handling will make a huge difference over our aggregate point guard situation last year. I still remember how good Aaron Robinson (5-9) was by his senior year, and he was nowhere near the athlete or as highly regarded as Mathieu is.
 

howeda7 said:
Good to have Mathieu on board. We haven't had a real PG since Al Nolen broke his foot 2.5 years ago. Freeman $electing Baylor without even vi$iting is odd. I gue$$ $cott Drew is a heck of a recruiter.
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Scott Drew is a heckuva recruiter. You are correct. To insinuate that he can only nab players because of illegal benefits ($$$) is ignorant. Baylor, like Minnesota, is in a major conference with downright awesome facilities, a strong fan base and a great home court advantage. Waco -- which can stand on it's own -- is in a nice area of the country south of Dallas.
 

JimmyJamesMD said:
I just have a tough time comprehending us recruiting a top talent like Freeman, and then not taking him when we (if) had the chance. Austin Hollins is our only true wing and he's graduating. We needed Freeman.
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Last time I check Austin Hollins is NOT graduating and will be playing a ton of minutes next year. The staff can fill the wing need in 2014 with Vaughn, Whitehead, or the other dozen or so 4 star recruits they have offered.

Believe it or not, Freeman would have been a bench player next year. He's not going to start over Dre or Austin, and he wasn't a point guard.

Maybe this staff knows how to manage the roster just fine, lets see how it plays out.
 

JimmyJamesMD said:
I just have a tough time comprehending us recruiting a top talent like Freeman, and then not taking him when we (if) had the chance. Austin Hollins is our only true wing and he's graduating. We needed Freeman.
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Last time I checked we have Wally Ellenson(6'4"), Austin Hollins(6'4"), Joe Coleman(6'4")(despite how much you will protest) Oto(6'8")(despite how much you like/hate him) as wing players. They may not be the wings you'd personally like but our roster is far from void of them. We can't take more wing players while lacking a true point or post depth.
 

MadtownGopher said:
No but something seemed to be up because Freeman committed to Baylor without ever visiting and they didn't even have an open scholarship yet.
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That still doesn't mean we automatically picked Mathieu over Freeman.
 


Tim1406 said:
Last time I checked we have Wally Ellenson(6'4"), Austin Hollins(6'4"), Joe Coleman(6'4")(despite how much you will protest) Oto(6'8")(despite how much you like/hate him) as wing players. They may not be the wings you'd personally like but our roster is far from void of them. We can't take more wing players while lacking a true point or post depth.
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Yes, you can. A 3 point shooter/zone buster like Freeman is much more important.
 

howieramone said:
Yes you can. A 3 point shooter/zone buster is much more important.
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That should be Hollins for us. No way can you argue with me that Peyton Siva(29%) and Russ Smith(33%) were better 3pt shooters than Coleman(30%) Austin(34%). Andre(42%) was very similar to Hancock(40%). Sure I guess we missed a Ware(41%). But Ahanmisi(39%) was awfully close. Just to compare to the National Champions. Our size of those shooters might not be the same but when going up against a zone you're not playing man to man. Our inability to break a zone wasn't because of our shooting.

Freeman shot 33% in 4 games at Adidas Nationals 2012, I can't find more information on his 3pt%. Limited sample size prevents me from truly argue this point.

I love Stats.
 

BigGopherFan said:
Scott Drew is a heckuva recruiter. You are correct. To insinuate that he can only nab players because of illegal benefits ($$$) is ignorant. Baylor, like Minnesota, is in a major conference with downright awesome facilities, a strong fan base and a great home court advantage. Waco -- which can stand on it's own -- is in a nice area of the country south of Dallas.
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I know much of the area in between Dallas and Austin, and Baylor is not an ideal place to some standards for a college. It's the only major city in 1.5 hours driving distance each way, and it's actually pretty sketchy. Baylor itself has some nice facilities like you mentioned along with a good fan base, but there really isn't a whole lot going on around campus, and there aren't many places you can grab a bite to eat on the actual campus. It's just a different culture/lifestyle for a Norfolk, VA kid.

I sure hope he did his due-diligence and visited the campus before he committed. Still, best of luck to him, and Coach Scott Drew always has my support for being a really nice , funny, down to earth coach.
 

Really weird what has happened at Baylor. Rarely do you see a team go from a traditional doormat to a program landing 4* and 5* recruits every year, even in spite of never winning anything, ESPECIALLY after they had hit rock bottom following the Dave Bliss scandal. Going to Waco, TX is never going to be on my Bucket List.
 

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