All Things Joshua Ola-Joseph Recruitment Thread (Class of 2022; Osseo HS; Gophers Offered)

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Mainstreeter said:
Sean Williams from Rivals forecasts Ola-Joseph to the Gophers. This is the same gentleman who forecast Payne to the Gophers about a week ago.
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Obviously would've loved to have Tre and Heide. I don't know enough about King and Watson to have an opinion on them. But Carrington, Payne, and Ola-Joseph would be the start of a really solid class IMO, and I'd be really excited for them to be at the U.
 

Marooned said:
Obviously would've loved to have Tre and Heide. I don't know enough about King and Watson to have an opinion on them. But Carrington, Payne, and Ola-Joseph would be the start of a really solid class IMO, and I'd be really excited for them to be at the U.
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I don't think anyone here will disagree about Carrington, Ola-Joseph and Payne. Considering the status of the program, that would be more than solid.

It's clear the staff has very specific skill sets in mind as the re-build the roster. Many of these players - at least initially - are probably undervalued recruits as they know they can't compete against more established programs.

Let's assume Johnson will take a total of four, perhaps five, for this class. What if they land 1-2 of the following: Danny Wolf (big), Ahjany Lee (big), Colin Smith (wing), Jasen Green (wing), BB Knight (wing), Ryan Dunn (wing), Jayden Pierre (point).

That would be a class to build on. Would have to make Gophers faithful ecstatic no?
 

NorCalGopher said:
I don't think anyone here will disagree about Carrington, Ola-Joseph and Payne. Considering the status of the program, that would be more than solid.

It's clear the staff has very specific skill sets in mind as the re-build the roster. Many of these players - at least initially - are probably undervalued recruits as they know they can't compete against more established programs.

Let's assume Johnson will take a total of four, perhaps five, for this class. What if they land 1-2 of the following: Danny Wolf (big), Ahjany Lee (big), Colin Smith (wing), Jasen Green (wing), BB Knight (wing), Ryan Dunn (wing), Jayden Pierre (point).

That would be a class to build on. Would have to make Gophers faithful ecstatic no?
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Ecstatic? No. Just a few short months ago people would have been OUTRAGED if you told them that this new coach, hired solely due to his alleged world class recruiting of Minnesota, would lose Holloman, Heide, and also be the first Minnesota coach ever to lose a kid (or two?) to Iowa State. Yes, we can craft narratives that the staff likes Carrington better than these guys and that both the Iowa State guys were not even takes for this staff. You could also make a case based on rankings that Kendall Blue who committed to St Thomas and DJ Jefferson who committed to Tulsa are better than any of the 3 local kids who could end up in this Minnesota class.

There's a lot of truth to the idea that the rankings are really off this year because of Covid-19, so it's entirely possible that the group of Minnesota kids potentially coming to the Gophers are much better than their current rankings and much better than many other currently committed Minnesotan's. It's also true that one of the 3 would represent a big recruiting win in the way Holloman would have. I would expect any Minnesota coach to land kids with these offer lists (if they wanted them) whether they ever set foot in Minnesota before last Spring or not.

- I want to see one of the national guys promote Payne anywhere near the way Ryan James has before I buy in on him being a top 100 (or better) guy. He very well could be, but there is a vast disparity betweent his rankings/offers/buzz outside of Minnesota and what it is on Minnesota message boards. I truly have an open mind and will praise the staff if Payne either sees a significant uptick in offers/rankings by the Fall signing period or (more importantly) becomes a force in the B1G.

As far as nationally, you list just Colin Smith who is currently a consensus top 100 prospect in the '22 class. So a class of 4 or 5 with at the most 1 top 100 prospect should have people ecstatic? They staff specifically didn't take transfers with eligibility who could start for more than one year so they could sell this '22 class on immediate shots/roles when they hit campus. They didn't do that with the idea of bringing in a group of guys who all will not be (on paper) better than an average high major recruit.

I was expecting Holloman and/or Heide with another top 100 type kid from out of state as a baseline given A. Why Johnson was hired and B. Johnson's strategy towards roster building for '21. Even at that baseline I was (am) worried that it wouldn't be nearly enough talent to overcome the experience gap as a leader of a program and game day head coach that we face. Those who claimed "we didn't get it" when Ben was hired certainly expected that much for '22 ...and a MUCH better roster for '21 as well. I am in a wait and see mode to how this class finishes up, but ecstatic should be off the table for anyone unless there are major unexpected developments between now and November.
 

EG#9 said:
Ecstatic? No. Just a few short months ago people would have been OUTRAGED if you told them that this new coach, hired solely due to his alleged world class recruiting of Minnesota, would lose Holloman, Heide, and also be the first Minnesota coach ever to lose a kid (or two?) to Iowa State. Yes, we can craft narratives that the staff likes Carrington better than these guys and that both the Iowa State guys were not even takes for this staff. You could also make a case based on rankings that Kendall Blue who committed to St Thomas and DJ Jefferson who committed to Tulsa are better than any of the 3 local kids who could end up in this Minnesota class.

There's a lot of truth to the idea that the rankings are really off this year because of Covid-19, so it's entirely possible that the group of Minnesota kids potentially coming to the Gophers are much better than their current rankings and much better than many other currently committed Minnesotan's. It's also true that one of the 3 would represent a big recruiting win in the way Holloman would have. I would expect any Minnesota coach to land kids with these offer lists (if they wanted them) whether they ever set foot in Minnesota before last Spring or not.

- I want to see one of the national guys promote Payne anywhere near the way Ryan James has before I buy in on him being a top 100 (or better) guy. He very well could be, but there is a vast disparity betweent his rankings/offers/buzz outside of Minnesota and what it is on Minnesota message boards. I truly have an open mind and will praise the staff if Payne either sees a significant uptick in offers/rankings by the Fall signing period or (more importantly) becomes a force in the B1G.

As far as nationally, you list just Colin Smith who is currently a consensus top 100 prospect in the '22 class. So a class of 4 or 5 with at the most 1 top 100 prospect should have people ecstatic? They staff specifically didn't take transfers with eligibility who could start for more than one year so they could sell this '22 class on immediate shots/roles when they hit campus. They didn't do that with the idea of bringing in a group of guys who all will not be (on paper) better than an average high major recruit.

I was expecting Holloman and/or Heide with another top 100 type kid from out of state as a baseline given A. Why Johnson was hired and B. Johnson's strategy towards roster building for '21. Even at that baseline I was (am) worried that it wouldn't be nearly enough talent to overcome the experience gap as a leader of a program and game day head coach that we face. Those who claimed "we didn't get it" when Ben was hired certainly expected that much for '22 ...and a MUCH better roster for '21 as well. I am in a wait and see mode to how this class finishes up, but ecstatic should be off the table for anyone unless there are major unexpected developments between now and November.
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How can you be so so ……..negative?????

😉
 



EG#9 said:
Ecstatic? No. Just a few short months ago people would have been OUTRAGED if you told them that this new coach, hired solely due to his alleged world class recruiting of Minnesota, would lose Holloman, Heide, and also be the first Minnesota coach ever to lose a kid (or two?) to Iowa State. Yes, we can craft narratives that the staff likes Carrington better than these guys and that both the Iowa State guys were not even takes for this staff. You could also make a case based on rankings that Kendall Blue who committed to St Thomas and DJ Jefferson who committed to Tulsa are better than any of the 3 local kids who could end up in this Minnesota class.

There's a lot of truth to the idea that the rankings are really off this year because of Covid-19, so it's entirely possible that the group of Minnesota kids potentially coming to the Gophers are much better than their current rankings and much better than many other currently committed Minnesotan's. It's also true that one of the 3 would represent a big recruiting win in the way Holloman would have. I would expect any Minnesota coach to land kids with these offer lists (if they wanted them) whether they ever set foot in Minnesota before last Spring or not.

- I want to see one of the national guys promote Payne anywhere near the way Ryan James has before I buy in on him being a top 100 (or better) guy. He very well could be, but there is a vast disparity betweent his rankings/offers/buzz outside of Minnesota and what it is on Minnesota message boards. I truly have an open mind and will praise the staff if Payne either sees a significant uptick in offers/rankings by the Fall signing period or (more importantly) becomes a force in the B1G.

As far as nationally, you list just Colin Smith who is currently a consensus top 100 prospect in the '22 class. So a class of 4 or 5 with at the most 1 top 100 prospect should have people ecstatic? They staff specifically didn't take transfers with eligibility who could start for more than one year so they could sell this '22 class on immediate shots/roles when they hit campus. They didn't do that with the idea of bringing in a group of guys who all will not be (on paper) better than an average high major recruit.

I was expecting Holloman and/or Heide with another top 100 type kid from out of state as a baseline given A. Why Johnson was hired and B. Johnson's strategy towards roster building for '21. Even at that baseline I was (am) worried that it wouldn't be nearly enough talent to overcome the experience gap as a leader of a program and game day head coach that we face. Those who claimed "we didn't get it" when Ben was hired certainly expected that much for '22 ...and a MUCH better roster for '21 as well. I am in a wait and see mode to how this class finishes up, but ecstatic should be off the table for anyone unless there are major unexpected developments between now and November.
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The three current MN targets aren't ranked, so they don't have a current "ranking". No one who watched any of the kids play this summer will argue that Blue or Jefferson are better than the two kids committed. Of course you bring that up because you've been bitching about the hire since March.

You would expect any MN coach to loan them? I guess you missed the last coach who quite literally missed on kids exactly like this for 8 years. We lost Roddy to Colorado State.

I don't think national guys have ever watched Payne play a basketball game. I don't think he'll be ranked very high, I'm sure the other two will receive rankings higher than Jefferson and Blue.

When's the last time MN landed a top 100 recruit from out of state? You expect Johnson to do that in his first recruiting class? This all comes back to you being disappointed with the hire and will hold up some unrealistic goal over his head.
 

NorCalGopher said:
I don't think anyone here will disagree about Carrington, Ola-Joseph and Payne. Considering the status of the program, that would be more than solid.

It's clear the staff has very specific skill sets in mind as the re-build the roster. Many of these players - at least initially - are probably undervalued recruits as they know they can't compete against more established programs.

Let's assume Johnson will take a total of four, perhaps five, for this class. What if they land 1-2 of the following: Danny Wolf (big), Ahjany Lee (big), Colin Smith (wing), Jasen Green (wing), BB Knight (wing), Ryan Dunn (wing), Jayden Pierre (point).

That would be a class to build on. Would have to make Gophers faithful ecstatic no?
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Estatic... No... But it will shut some people up.. myself included
 


Johnnyboy18 said:
The three current MN targets aren't ranked, so they don't have a current "ranking". No one who watched any of the kids play this summer will argue that Blue or Jefferson are better than the two kids committed. Of course you bring that up because you've been bitching about the hire since March.

You would expect any MN coach to loan them? I guess you missed the last coach who quite literally missed on kids exactly like this for 8 years. We lost Roddy to Colorado State.

I don't think national guys have ever watched Payne play a basketball game. I don't think he'll be ranked very high, I'm sure the other two will receive rankings higher than Jefferson and Blue.

When's the last time MN landed a top 100 recruit from out of state? You expect Johnson to do that in his first recruiting class? This all comes back to you being disappointed with the hire and will hold up some unrealistic goal over his head.
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Signing a top 100 from out of state is not unrealistic. Wow.
 




BarnBurner said:
Signing a top 100 from out of state is not unrealistic. Wow.
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I don’t think it’s unrealistic in many/most years, but I do think it’s not always realistic in your first class depending on previous relationships with recruits. That being said let’s see who we end up with. Rankings this year are not great as well as evaluators haven’t seen this class much. So I am taking them with a much bigger grain of salt than I normally do.
 


manderson1984 said:
I don’t think it’s unrealistic in many/most years, but I do think it’s not always realistic in your first class depending on previous relationships with recruits. That being said let’s see who we end up with. Rankings this year are not great as well as evaluators haven’t seen this class much. So I am taking them with a much bigger grain of salt than I normally do.
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In nearly any power conference job this attitude of not getting a top 100 from out of state as an expectation is laughable. Here, just the opposite.
High, high expectations.
 



Johnnyboy18 said:
When's the last time MN landed a top 100 recruit from out of state? You expect Johnson to do that in his first recruiting class? This all comes back to you being disappointed with the hire and will hold up some unrealistic goal over his head.
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2017 - Isaiah Washington
2019 - Isaiah Ihnen

But I'm not expecting Johnson to do that in his first class or two.

Carrington, Payne, and Ola-Joseph would be a large step in the right direction after a terrible first offseason.
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
2017 - Isaiah Washington
2019 - Isaiah Ihnen

But I'm not expecting Johnson to do that in his first class or two.

Carrington, Payne, and Ola-Joseph would be a large step in the right direction after a terrible first offseason.
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Ihnen was ranked by one service and they had him at 106 (close enough).

I think the team won't be terrible this year but we shall see. I also don't think people should be doing backflips or bitching about the three MN kids rumored. Everyone should be in wait and see mode regarding the team and the recruiting cycle.
 





BarnBurner said:
Johnson is the coach.
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lol....was a simple reply from someone saying Pitino did it twice and were told Ben was supposed to be better....was simply stating a fact that if he is going to use Pitino as a comparison then Ben has 2 more classes after this one to prove if he is better at it then Pitino was
 



Gophs24 said:
lol....was a simple reply from someone saying Pitino did it twice and were told Ben was supposed to be better....was simply stating a fact that if he is going to use Pitino as a comparison then Ben has 2 more classes after this one to prove if he is better at it then Pitino was
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Pitino gone. Johnson responsible. Easy to point to Pitino now. No need to talk about Pitino.
 

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