All Things Gophers Basketball 2017 Recruiting Thread

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DeathClutch said:
Are you talking about Sims? Hard to know what you're talking about when you get facts wrong. If so:

A: He is a four-star recruit

B. How could Washington be a contingency to Jericho when they don't even play the same position?
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Gary Trent, Jr.
I am amazed at how many people aren't upset over our self-exclusion from recruiting him.

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We went 1 for 2 in this cycle. Washington was the priority at guard, Sims was the priority at forward. Anyone who is saying it was a failure to not get Wright are the type of pessimistic people that will never be satisfied with Gopher athletics.

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Ewert86PC said:
Gary Trent, Jr. I am amazed at how many people aren't upset over our self-exclusion from recruiting him. Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
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When did Gary Trent Sr. Transfer to the U? Did I miss that season of Gopher basketball?
 


scher215 said:
When did Gary Trent Sr. Transfer to the U? Did I miss that season of Gopher basketball?
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I was confused as well, but I think Jericho Sims is the "5-star recruit" he's referring to, even though Sims is not, and has never been, a 5-star.
 


Cayman said:
I was confused as well, but I think Jericho Sims is the "5-star recruit" he's referring to, even though Sims is not, and has never been, a 5-star.
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We're all baffled and confused by Ewert.
 

Wright was the contingency plan. Washington was always the #1 guy. Quiet as kept Wright was falling. His finally 4 turned into a final 2. Schools were taking him off there list as players started committed, including the Gophers. If he didn't commit to Dayton he would've had to restart his recruiting process. Also remember we had another PG comming in this weekend that had a higher ranking then Wright. Gophers got there #1 recruit at PG. Missed on there #1 target PF (Sims). Have an equal target to John comin in next week. Let's see what happens.
 

SoMpls said:
Wright was the contingency plan. Washington was always the #1 guy. Quiet as kept Wright was falling. His finally 4 turned into a final 2. Schools were taking him off there list as players started committed, including the Gophers. If he didn't commit to Dayton he would've had to restart his recruiting process. Also remember we had another PG comming in this weekend that had a higher ranking then Wright. Gophers got there #1 recruit at PG. Missed on there #1 target PF (Sims). Have an equal target to John comin in next week. Let's see what happens.
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John already committed to Marquette. Guessing you mean French?
 





When you have only two scholarships to fill in a class and you get the #65 overall player in the country at the biggest position of need with plenty of time to get another player, that is a GREAT start to a class no matter how you want to look at it. Anyone who feels like this class is a failure must have a ****ty life.
 

If French joins Washington on campus next fall and the other talented players all remain here and healthy might this be the best roster since the late 90's?
 

I'm still trying to figure out who McKnight and Randy Beer are...
 



All this thread tells me is that my dog has more knowledge of college recruiting than Ewert!
 

Ewert86PC said:
One and he was the contingency plan when we got snubbed by a five-star legacy recruit.
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This did not happen.

To be honest, not being able to recruit highly rated children of former Gopher MBB players is more damning of this program than anything.
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This happens all the time. Yeah it sucks we didn't land him but his father playing for Minnesota hardly guarantees anything.
 

Timberwolves who went to Ohio State don't count as Legacy Gophers, Ewert. I do think he means Trent but didn't realize that Gary didn't play for the Gophers.
 

GophersInIowa said:
This did not happen.



This happens all the time. Yeah it sucks we didn't land him but his father playing for Minnesota hardly guarantees anything.
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Gary Trent Sr. Did not play for the Gophers. Also, the Gophers did actually recruit Trent Jr. He's been to a ton of games and practices. He's actually from Ohio and Ohio St. Didn't crack his top 5.

If you're talking about Sims I believe they had a good shot until he kept climbing in the rankings. The Gophers also maybe took him too lightly. Don't think they expected him to blowup like he did this summer. Hard to compete with NC, Kansas, and Texas. We did want Shaka Smart to be our coach right?
 

SoMpls said:
Gary Trent Sr. Did not play for the Gophers. Also, the Gophers did actually recruit Trent Jr. He's been to a ton of games and practices. He's actually from Ohio and Ohio St. Didn't crack his top 5.

If you're talking about Sims I believe they had a good shot until he kept climbing in the rankings. The Gophers also maybe took him too lightly. Don't think they expected him to blowup like he did this summer. Hard to compete with NC, Kansas, and Texas. We did want Shaka Smart to be our coach right?
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Ohio State was a serious player in Trent Jr.'s recruitment until Jeff Boals, Matta's lead assistant, took the Stony Brook job. Boals and Gary Sr. both played together in college at Ohio and are really good friends.
 

Oops...there I go correcting Ewert and I was wrong, forgot Gary went to Ohio, Shaq of the Mac.
 

WorkingMyTailOff said:
If French joins Washington on campus next fall and the other talented players all remain here and healthy might this be the best roster since the late 90's?
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I would say since the 09-10 team. Of course we only saw them at fall strength during midnight madness
 

Frank Grimey Grimes said:
We went 1 for 2 in this cycle. Washington was the priority at guard, Sims was the priority at forward. Anyone who is saying it was a failure to not get Wright are the type of pessimistic people that will never be satisfied with Gopher athletics.

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+1000
 

As is usually the case, the truth lies somewhere in-between the two schools of thought.

Washington is - on paper - a good "get" for Pitino - although, to be fair, his list of offers is not overwhelming. Still, he's rated as a 4*, and that counts for something.

But, it is possible to praise Pitino (and his staff) for landing Washington, and STILL be disappointed about the in-state recruiting. Let me say this - MN fans (IMHO) tend to somewhat over-rate the local recruits, because they see them play more often and are more familiar with them. But, based on the rankings, a lot of people thought highly of the in-state recruits, and none of them chose the Gophers. Unless you're a mind-reader, it's hard to know how much interest the Gophers had in some of the recruits, but they clearly tried to recruit Sims, and they tried to recruit John - and missed on both. I realize no one bats 1.000 on recruiting, but it's still concerning when you can't land good kids from your own backyard.

Now, the 2nd recruit in this class gains a lot more prominence - because some fans will be comparing that recruit to the ones that got away. prepare to see a lot of posts about how recruit x "isn't as good as .......(fill in the blank)...."
 

GopherMac said:
Timberwolves who went to Ohio State don't count as Legacy Gophers, Ewert. I do think he means Trent but didn't realize that Gary didn't play for the Gophers.
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Gary Trent played for Ohio, not Ohio St. Nevermind, saw you corrected it.
 

WorkingMyTailOff said:
If French joins Washington on campus next fall and the other talented players all remain here and healthy might this be the best roster since the late 90's?
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Unless French has a 7'4" wingspan like Mbwakwe, the team won't have the frontcourt to compare with the 09-10 team.
 

Where is French rated in comparison to Sims, Reuvers, and John?

Washington is the highest rated PG we were after according to some sites. So why should we care about Davidson and Wright?

And don't bring up missing on Trent. He was never coming here!

If Pitino gets French, we should all be doing cartwheels and he should get another year based solely on recruiting.
 

per Marcus: Minnesota basketball talent boom bypassing Gophers so far

The Gophers offered six in-state seniors, believed to be the most in over a decade.

They got none.

Missing out on top local prospects happened to former U coaches Dan Monson and Tubby Smith, too, and Pitino experienced it his first year. You lose some, but you usually get some, too.

The state has four seniors ranked in the national top 100.

“It was a big year in Minnesota this year,” Rivals.com recruiting analyst Eric Bossi said. “And I’m sure they would’ve liked to have somebody. I’m sure it’s something that causes them some concern. I’m sure it’s something that causes the fan base a little bit of concern.”

Recruiting analysts said Pitino did the right thing by taking the better player in Washington. Wright had a chance to make a commitment earlier but didn’t.

“It’s important to get the right kid,” Pitino said last month. “Obviously, if he’s from the state, that’s great. But you’ve got to get the right fit on and off the court. We’ve got some momentum with good kids, some good players from our home state that’s worked out great. We want to continue to do that.”

“If there’s any room for concern [for Gophers fans], it might be that guys like Davison and Sims who were maybe a bit under the national radar [went elsewhere],” Bossi said. “And you had a little more time to work on them before other people came in. Maybe there can be some questions asked about what type of evaluation was done on them.”

http://www.startribune.com/minnesota-basketball-talent-boom-bypassing-gophers-so-far/393491051/

Go Gophers!!
 

short ornery norwegian said:
As is usually the case, the truth lies somewhere in-between the two schools of thought.

Washington is - on paper - a good "get" for Pitino - although, to be fair, his list of offers is not overwhelming. Still, he's rated as a 4*, and that counts for something.

But, it is possible to praise Pitino (and his staff) for landing Washington, and STILL be disappointed about the in-state recruiting. Let me say this - MN fans (IMHO) tend to somewhat over-rate the local recruits, because they see them play more often and are more familiar with them. But, based on the rankings, a lot of people thought highly of the in-state recruits, and none of them chose the Gophers. Unless you're a mind-reader, it's hard to know how much interest the Gophers had in some of the recruits, but they clearly tried to recruit Sims, and they tried to recruit John - and missed on both. I realize no one bats 1.000 on recruiting, but it's still concerning when you can't land good kids from your own backyard.

Now, the 2nd recruit in this class gains a lot more prominence - because some fans will be comparing that recruit to the ones that got away. prepare to see a lot of posts about how recruit x "isn't as good as .......(fill in the blank)...."
Click to expand...

The other important factor about local kids: they often go elsewhere and greatly exceed their rankings, leading their teams to glory. All of the Gopher coaches going back to Clem have missed recognizing local talent that gets away. That goes all the way back to Troy Bell and Jake Sullivan.

The purpose of this post isn't to criticize those coaches but to highlight the advantage of recruiting locally. A lot of these kids are under-scouted and have hidden upside.
 

We also need to remember that Pitino landed Coffey, Hurt, and Jarvis Johnson (realize he can't play now) in the last few classes. These were some of the top guys in their classes from MN.

We aren't going to land every MN kid every year. Kids' interests as well as coaching interests are just not going to allow that to happen.

In my opinion it seemed like Pitino and company offered and were recruiting Washington long before Wright. They were recruiting John long before Sims and missed on both. Overall they likely are very happy with Washington and know they have work to do on the second scholorship.
 

Bad Gopher said:
The other important factor about local kids: they often go elsewhere and greatly exceed their rankings, leading their teams to glory. All of the Gopher coaches going back to Clem have missed recognizing local talent that gets away. That goes all the way back to Troy Bell and Jake Sullivan.

The purpose of this post isn't to criticize those coaches but to highlight the advantage of recruiting locally. A lot of these kids are under-scouted and have hidden upside.
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I don't think Minnesota High School Basketball is the Siberia it used to be when we missed on these guys you mentioned. Recruiters are on these guys much much earlier than the old days.
 

Otis said:
I don't think Minnesota High School Basketball is the Siberia it used to be when we missed on these guys you mentioned. Recruiters are on these guys much much earlier than the old days.
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It depends on what you call the old days. Monson took Rico Tucker over Ben Woodside in 2005. Heck, Ross Travis just graduated from Penn State. I think he was undervalued in retrospect and would have looked good in Maroon and Gold. Jordair Jett came out in 2010, and I don't think we offered him (correct me if I'm wrong). I do distinctly remember posters on this board playing up his shortcomings. But he ended up leading Saint Louis into the Sweet Sixteen. Quite honestly, I could go on and on.

Again, not a criticism of those decisions; just a general theme of local guys being undervalued - that you can find good players under rocks around here. In some ways, that we see local guys play in our home towns with all their warts might cause us to underrate them.
 

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