What? McNeil had offers from Louisville and Washington at one point. When he committed to FIU, he had standing offers from Rutgers, VCU, and Oklahoma.
And how can you be disappointed with Mathieu? He's highly regarded - offers from UCLA(!), Ole Miss, Pepperdine, and Memphis (got pulled very recently) - and fills a need.
McNeil had offers from Louisville and Washington like Alex Foster had offers from Purdue and Wisconsin. McNeil was offered by Howland when his seat was scorching hot and his other good offer (Memphis) seemed to have been clearly as a plan B in case something went wrong with a current player or another target.
There are plenty of reasons either or both Spring Recruits might be great additions to the Gopher roster. The point I was making was that if you just looked at these additions in a vacuum of offers, they look awfully similar to previous Spring recruits who have struggled to be impact players. Allerik Freeman doesn't fit that same profile from an offer perspective, and is a kid most could easily see being a significant piece on a good team.
General negative thoughts on the new commits:
McNeil- Not considered a point, but doesn't shoot it well from deep. This team needs both a point, and a guy who can shoot it from deep. He's another combo guard who doesn't appear to have a great offensive skill.
Mathieu- Size is a concern as is his ability to shoot it from deep. A little over a year ago, he didn't do enough as a frosh to get Moorhead State(!) to offer him a scholarship. There are some Limar Wilson type red flags here.
General Positive thoughts on the new commits
McNeil- By all accounts is an active and willing defender. He certainly appears to have the athleticism to play in one of the best conferences in America and looked better (to me) than Mizzou commit Shane Rector in the clips of their battle shown on YouTube. His HS coach raves about his intangibles and Richard Pitino thought enough of him to recruit him twice. This isn't some no name kid who was going to FIU, he was in the Rivals 150 as recently as late last year.
Mathieu- Very quick kid who should be able to both handle pressure himself and pressure full court defensively. He won a player of the year award in high school as a senior and then two years later won an All American at the JUCO level. He's been able to get past his size to not only play, but excel at two different levels and I love the desire he showed to not give up on his dream after Moorhead State didn't put him on scholarship.
A huge reason to me why the comparison between past Spring recruits and this years Spring recruits does not work is that Pitino may need these kids from an athletic standpoint. He could really want to play 'Dre off the ball and/or feel like he just can't go in to the season with Mav being a turned ankle away from being his starting point guard. Coach Pitino also might feel like he wants a couple of guys on the roster who don't know Tubby, don't know the old way of doing things, and only have loyalty to him as the guy who recruited them.
What I was hoping people would get out of my original post is that we likely wouldn't be happy with these kids if Tubby brought them in. Neither guy jumps off the page in comparison to what the rest of the conference is bringing in and, at least on paper, neither is likely to change the fortunes of next years team. Coach Pitino absolutely gets the benefit of the doubt with me, but that doesn't mean I will praise him for these recruits (like I would have with Freeman). I love the names Coach Pitino has the Gophers associated with for the 2014 class and hope that he can land 2-3 of them.
