All Things 2023 Gophers Basketball Recruiting Thread

[Spottedmuskie]

Well guess what... Anjay Lee had a Kansas offer too right? Let’s just see how it plays out. My opinion is he’s not that level of player and that’s no knock to the kid. But I’ll stand on that. If he goes higher congratulations to him.

Dan Oturu, Amir Coffey. Was Lee's offer committable?

 

[Dakota2]

Lee was a different time. Today we compete against Kansas and money.

Well guess what... Anjay Lee had a Kansas offer too right? Let’s just see how it plays out. My opinion is he’s not that level of player and that’s no knock to the kid. But I’ll stand on that. If he goes higher congratulations to him.

 

[SoMpls]

Dan Oturu, Amir Coffey. Was Lee's offer committable?

Don’t know? There’s a big difference between interest, an offer, a committable offer, and signing. Lee’s “final 3” were Kansas, Stanford, and St. Thomas. See how this works?

 

[Holy Man]

Kansas seems to think differently......

Just being polite and hospitable.

 

[Gophs24]

 

[bga1]

These are the battles Ben was hired to win. I hope he does. This is a pretty important kid to get.

 

[Blackhammer]

Important, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Let’s have a plan B, and C. Seen too many local kids string us along and go elsewhere and say we were the second choice.

 

[bga1]

Important, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Let’s have a plan B, and C. Seen too many local kids string us along and go elsewhere and say we were the second choice.

That is the lesson of Cory Joseph, as told by Tubby Smith. Never get stuck on one PG.

 

[jovs]

These are the battles Ben was hired to win. I hope he does. This is a pretty important kid to get.

Probably going to be battling a couple hundred thousand of NIL, going to be tough to overcome that.

 

[Tucker32]

I agree and not trying to minimize his talent or potential. I just don’t see him as a lead guard at a top ACC, SEC, Big 12 type school. Big Ten yes along with most PAC 10 schools. Unless he doesn’t wanna play locally I think the Gopher will have a good chance to get him.

I think Gophers have a great chance too. Don’t understand difference between ACC, Big 12, SEC and Big ten or PAC. The Big Ten stronger than SEC almost every year, and consistently one of top three with Big 12 and ACC. Anyway, he did just pick up that Kansas offer (Big 12) and already had a Louisville offer (ACC). Kansas is a blue blood, Louisville close.

All that doesn’t matter. The kid is good.

 

[bga1]

Probably going to be battling a couple hundred thousand of NIL, going to be tough to overcome that.

We understand this, so I find it hard to believe that Coyle and the boosters won't be working on some companies behind the scenes. If the town can't put together 10 million + a year to compete for football and basketball players in this new NIL landscape then we just won't be competitive. It certainly can be done. Chances are the price of poker is only going to get higher over time so they had best get rolling on the initiative.

A good example of how this works is now Miami U. You can bet there are kids that wouldn't have considered them, but will now, after the deal that Pack inked. The ADs that rally their local businesses early will get a head start.

 

[BarnBurner]

We understand this, so I find it hard to believe that Coyle and the boosters won't be working on some companies behind the scenes. If the town can't put together 10 million + a year to compete for football and basketball players in this new NIL landscape then we just won't be competitive. It certainly can be done. Chances are the price of poker is only going to get higher over time so they had best get rolling on the initiative.

A good example of how this works is now Miami U. You can bet there are kids that wouldn't have considered them, but will now, after the deal that Pack inked. The ADs that rally their local businesses early will get a head start.

AD’s can’t do anything. Anything. Anything.

 

[bc2211]

We understand this, so I find it hard to believe that Coyle and the boosters won't be working on some companies behind the scenes. If the town can't put together 10 million + a year to compete for football and basketball players in this new NIL landscape then we just won't be competitive. It certainly can be done. Chances are the price of poker is only going to get higher over time so they had best get rolling on the initiative.

A good example of how this works is now Miami U. You can bet there are kids that wouldn't have considered them, but will now, after the deal that Pack inked. The ADs that rally their local businesses early will get a head start.

I thought we were still short on our fundraising to cover costs expended on the practice facility? If that’s the case, hoping companies put up cash for 1-2 years of a basketball player might be a stretch. I skip over these conversations, so forgive me if I’m completely off here.

 

[bga1]

I thought we were still short on our fundraising to cover costs expended on the practice facility? If that’s the case, hoping companies put up cash for 1-2 years of a basketball player might be a stretch. I skip over these conversations, so forgive me if I’m completely off here.

You make a good point. I have no idea where they are at on that issue. The classic old problem persists: You have to spend money to make money. They have traditionally gone cheap on big things and spent money on little things that didn't help them. We have had great non- revenue sports and garbage revenue sports teams- although Fleck certainly has raised football a notch. Ideologically, the U is woke and cool, but in a practical sense, stupid.

This was my big concern with the Ben Johnson hire- they went cheap, get an inexperienced low cost coach, a diversity hire (can we be honest here?) to take on one of the toughest situations in the Big Ten- creating zero buzz in the community. Business people invest in winners. They are not going to be as excited about going all in on NIL for a losing squad. I think Ben is great as a person and his coaching looks good, so far, as well. The perception in the community is that the losing isn't going to start any time soon. We can all argue about whether we could have gotten Musselman for 4 million, until the cows come home, but I can tell you this- had we gotten him, we would also have a big NIL program going right now. That extra few million comes back into the coffers fast with a successful program and then the ball starts rolling down hill.

That's done and gone. Now they have a huge sales job to do with local business leaders that they have to come up with a big pile of cash to deal with this situation if we are ever going to have a winner here. Coyle is going to have to convince a Lou Nanne type to get that done with the big hitters around town.

 

[Gophs24]

Probably going to be battling a couple hundred thousand of NIL, going to be tough to overcome that.

Time to step up Kemps!! we promised every single poster on this board will go buy a gallon of ice cream!

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Companies aren't going to do it unless they get something out of it. It'll likely need to be an alum with deep pockets.

 

[VolitileGopher]

I am very excited by the fact that I think in his 1+ years of being the head guy Ben has seemed to get in early on guys. I think that shows a good eye for talent. Sounds like Dilione is going to blow up soon, much the same as little Peja Stojakovic who not a lot where on early but now i see he has a Kentucky offer. The only thing that I don't feel resonates as much today is the "hey you believed in me first" type thing. We could be all in on a guy way early, but if Duke/Kent/AZ/Baylor etc come calling I dont think we have a shot. That has nothing to do with Ben its just kids today, show them the NIL and tv contract and they jump (which by the way i dont blame them for at all!). Hopefully we get a few kids like Henley that sign before they really blow up and can be studs here.

Speaking of NIL. Where in the blue hell are the boosters in this state? Ok. We have 2 D1 schools now, but to say that St. Thomas is on the level of the U is ridiculous after 1 season on this level. That said, anyone with a clue should realize that when this team is humming, they literally own the sports/cultural landscape in Minnesota. You can't tell me that some NIL money wouldn't be money well spent in order to be connected to a successful Gopher program. Why wasnt' Tre Holloman offered 50K to pitch cars for a dealership? Best advertising expenditure ever. Would definitely build good will with the local consumers.

 

[leib0039]

Speaking of NIL. Where in the blue hell are the boosters in this state? Ok. We have 2 D1 schools now, but to say that St. Thomas is on the level of the U is ridiculous after 1 season on this level. That said, anyone with a clue should realize that when this team is humming, they literally own the sports/cultural landscape in Minnesota. You can't tell me that some NIL money wouldn't be money well spent in order to be connected to a successful Gopher program. Why wasnt' Tre Holloman offered 50K to pitch cars for a dealership? Best advertising expenditure ever. Would definitely build good will with the local consumers.

Just my opinion but I think the team has been down quite a while, that I think makes it tougher. Take a look at Miami, they make a little run, suddenly they have $400k to throw at a kid. So it is certainly a catch 22 in a way because in todays CBB landscape you need to spend money to get kids, well how do you get donors to want to spend money, its by getting good kids and winning. Can't have one without the other whether you like that or not.

The other thing I personally think is this NIL thing being a bit of the wild wild west, I think up and coming companies want to get out ahead of it and be a pioneer of it. I think established companies like say Target, Best Buy, General Mills etc I dont think are rushing to pay an unproven 18 yr old kid a few hundred thousand dollars when they can put that into naming rights of a stadium or a known quantity.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

Speaking of NIL. Where in the blue hell are the boosters in this state? Ok. We have 2 D1 schools now, but to say that St. Thomas is on the level of the U is ridiculous after 1 season on this level. That said, anyone with a clue should realize that when this team is humming, they literally own the sports/cultural landscape in Minnesota. You can't tell me that some NIL money wouldn't be money well spent in order to be connected to a successful Gopher program. Why wasnt' Tre Holloman offered 50K to pitch cars for a dealership? Best advertising expenditure ever. Would definitely build good will with the local consumers.

Always easier to spend someone’s else’s money - the large NIL money will be from boosters and not local businesses- 50k buys lots of local commercial spots -

Also Minnesotans are notoriously tight with their cash, so I don’t expect their to be line of alums writing checks

 

[bga1]

Speaking of NIL. Where in the blue hell are the boosters in this state? Ok. We have 2 D1 schools now, but to say that St. Thomas is on the level of the U is ridiculous after 1 season on this level. That said, anyone with a clue should realize that when this team is humming, they literally own the sports/cultural landscape in Minnesota. You can't tell me that some NIL money wouldn't be money well spent in order to be connected to a successful Gopher program. Why wasnt' Tre Holloman offered 50K to pitch cars for a dealership? Best advertising expenditure ever. Would definitely build good will with the local consumers.

Where is this successful program you speak of?

You are 100% correct. I hope they are working this HARD. Otherwise, you can have all the local connections and love in the world and you will still lose a kid to $100k a year offer elsewhere.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Where is this successful program you speak of?

You are 100% correct. I hope they are working this HARD. Otherwise, you can have all the local connections and love in the world and you will still lose a kid to $100k a year offer elsewhere.

This is definitely part of it. Finding NIL sponsors is like recruiting. If you aren't winning, it's harder to find people willing to dump that cash into endorsement deals. However, it's hard to win at a high level without those endorsement deals.

 

[bga1]

This is definitely part of it. Finding NIL sponsors is like recruiting. If you aren't winning, it's harder to find people willing to dump that cash into endorsement deals. However, it's hard to win at a high level without those endorsement deals.

Especially, after the same group of people that you need now, dumped 120 million on you for the practice facility that was going to make the Gophers competitive...

 

[bc2211]

Just my opinion but I think the team has been down quite a while, that I think makes it tougher. Take a look at Miami, they make a little run, suddenly they have $400k to throw at a kid. So it is certainly a catch 22 in a way because in todays CBB landscape you need to spend money to get kids, well how do you get donors to want to spend money, its by getting good kids and winning. Can't have one without the other whether you like that or not.

The other thing I personally think is this NIL thing being a bit of the wild wild west, I think up and coming companies want to get out ahead of it and be a pioneer of it. I think established companies like say Target, Best Buy, General Mills etc I dont think are rushing to pay an unproven 18 yr old kid a few hundred thousand dollars when they can put that into naming rights of a stadium or a known quantity.

IMO Miami is only comparable to USC. These two schools have a history or glorifying the collegiate players (watch the ESPN docs on these teams). $400k isn’t showing up in Miami because of a recent run, it’s showing up because they are The U, and when they are on top it’s a party.

 

[alchemy2u]

Always easier to spend someone’s else’s money - the large NIL money will be from boosters and not local businesses- 50k buys lots of local commercial spots -

Also Minnesotans are notoriously tight with their cash, so I don’t expect their to be line of alums writing checks

Exactly…. Very few legitimate major corporations are going to be spending a lot of money on NIL’s just to boost the local college sports team. They will only enter the game on nationwide “stars” that can boast brand recognition.

Most of the large money will come from the local fanatics that want to buy players to help their team win. They will do it in the name of their local car dealership or septic tank cleaning business. They can then pretend to be a BMOC.

 

[Fleckoff]

Important, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Let’s have a plan B, and C. Seen too many local kids string us along and go elsewhere and say we were the second choice.

Those would be Elmarko Jackson, Freddie Dilione and Jamari McDowell

 

[Dakota2]

Exactly…. Very few legitimate major corporations are going to be spending a lot of money on NIL’s just to boost the local college sports team. They will only enter the game on nationwide “stars” that can boast brand recognition.

Most of the large money will come from the local fanatics that want to buy players to help their team win. They will do it in the name of their local car dealership or septic tank cleaning business. They can then pretend to be a BMOC.

Doesn't Joe Mauer own a car dealership?

 

[ecoperson]

Those would be Elmarko Jackson, Freddie Dilione and Jamari McDowell

Thanks for pointing this out. Fans need to do a little digging to find information. It is out there. I would like to consider putting together a crowd-sourced list/table of prospects here on the GopherHole that we could all reference and update as new information became available. Could be similar to what I put together for the portal. Would others find this valuable?

 

[Hates Monikers]

Doesn't Joe Mauer own a car dealership?

His brother does, but none of the Mauers have any affiliation or relationship with the U.

 

[ecoperson]

His brother does, but none of the Mauers have any affiliation or relationship with the U.

Other than hopefully growing up Gopher fans as it was Minnesota's only D-1 school!

 

[BBJones]

Other than hopefully growing up Gopher fans as it was Minnesota's only D-1 school!

Growing up in Minnesota didn't prevent Mauer from signing with Florida State to play football after high school.