All Things JP Macura Thread UPDATED 7/11: GOPHERS offer JP!

Maybe I missed it, but I kept seeing on Twitter that "An offer was expected soon" when JP was visiting. Does anyone know if we offered or not? If we didn't and he's officially visiting Butler today I don't think that goes over well for us...
 


@TheGopherReport 13h

@jpmacura lists Butler, Kansas State and Minnesota as his top 3 schools on 247. Official to Butler starts tomorrow. Still no offer from UMN

Glad that ISU didn't get in his top schools!
 

FWIW, Ryan James believes that there is basically no chance Macura ends up in maroon and gold. From what I can tell, he seems to think that he is upset about the lack of interest and that Pitino has identified guys he wants more.

Is that insider information? He hasn't tweeted that.
 




IndyStar: Minnesota guard on his Butler official visit, timetable on decision

After taking an official visit last week, Minnesota native J.P. Macura said Butler “is pretty high” on his list of college choices.

“Right there at the top,” Macura said on Monday. “I don’t really have a list, but right up there with some other schools like Iowa State and Kansas State.”

Macura is a 6-5 guard from Lakeville North with a reputation as an outstanding outside shooter, but he’s quick to point out that he’s not “just” a shooter.

“I feel like I have a pretty good feel for the game,” he said. “I can shoot, but also think I see the floor pretty well.”

Macura checked in at No. 126 in the most recent 2014 national rankings by Rivals.com. He listed more than 20 total offers, picking up one most recently from Xavier last week.

“I like Xavier a lot too,” he said.

Macura said his official visit to Butler (his only official visit so far) went about as well as he expected.

“I like the coaching staff a lot and the players too,” he said. “I had a great time hanging out with the team. They have a good history and almost always make the (NCAA) tourney.”

Butler’s move to the Big East Conference was made official today, which certainly doesn’t hurt its chances to land Macura.

“I think that’s awesome,” he said of the move. “It’s a higher level of basketball and better competition. I talked about that (with the coaches).”

While Butler has plenty of competition for Macura from schools that have offered (Boston College, Florida State, Iowa State, Kansas State and Saint Louis among them), the biggest competition could come from a program that hasn’t: Minnesota.

Minnesota coach Richard Pitino was hired in April and is still evaluating Macura. He’s made two unofficial visits to campus since April.

“They are recruiting me, but (Pitino) hasn’t seen me play yet so I’ll have to play pretty well in July,” he said.

Macura said his recruiting “could change a little bit” if Minnesota does offer. He doesn’t have another visits planned, though he will be back in Indianapolis in July with his AAU team for the Adidas Invitational.

http://blogs.indystar.com/recruitingcentral/archives/3646

Go Gophers!!
 


Some interesting quotes from JP. After reading some posts on here I thought there was no chance of him being a Gopher???
 



Yep. Wonder how long we can go without offering him though. It's starting to get pretty late in the game.
 

Yep. Wonder how long we can go without offering him though. It's starting to get pretty late in the game.

If we don't offer during or right after the Adidas Invitational Classic, JP will be bitter and/or Pitino is not interested. I think we'll know soon enough.
 

JP is a 4 year guy would be the highest rated and recruited in state player not to be offered by the U. If Pitino thinks JP is Big Ten he should offer and not worry about who he might have signed if JP comes on board.
 





I don't think he is talking about the past (could be wrong) but Jett was ranked slightly higher than Lockett.

Lockett (80) was barely ranked higher than Macura (126). It's only the beginning of July and JP has a slightly better offer list than Lockett ever did, too. Not saying JP's better or worse than Lockett was, but the point remains. Very, very rarely do we not offer an in-state kid like Macura.
 


I don't think he is talking about the past (could be wrong) but Jett was ranked slightly higher than Lockett.

Not really. He had a higher grade by 1 on ESPN, but Scout had Lockett as a 4-star and Jett as a 2-star. Rivals had Lockett as a 4-star and Jett as a 0-star. Lockett was a top 100 player on 2 of the 3 sites, Jett was a top 100 player on 0 sites.
 





Trent give a verbal to ASU before the basketball season of his junior year even started. JP has a better offer list... and is still the highest recruited and highest rated uncommitted in state senior to be not offered by the U.
 

Trent give a verbal to ASU before the basketball season of his junior year even started. JP has a better offer list... and is still the highest recruited and highest rated uncommitted in state senior to be not offered by the U.

Macura is 9 spots higher than Lockett on Scout, but 46 spots lower than Lockett on Rivals. I don't know if you can just flat out say Macura is the higher rated recruit. Also, Lockett probably would have picked up better offers if he hadn't committed so early. Either way, it isn't over yet. Pitino could very well offer him after the adidas Invitational.
 

Seems to me he has a problem with his shot that B1G defenders will be able to shut down. His release point seems relatively low. If he has to adjust for that, no telling how that will affect his efficiency?
 

Macura is 9 spots higher than Lockett on Scout, but 46 spots lower than Lockett on Rivals. I don't know if you can just flat out say Macura is the higher rated recruit. Also, Lockett probably would have picked up better offers if he hadn't committed so early. Either way, it isn't over yet. Pitino could very well offer him after the adidas Invitational.
Just sayin that Trent committed very early prior to his Jr basketball season starting....His ratings I see appear to be is final ratings (not available to be offered0coming out 18 months after he picked ASU. Trent is higher rated although it is probable the Gophers would have offered him if he was interested in them and did not commit very early in his high school career. That being said JP has better offers and is the highest rated in state kid not offered by the U as an available high school senior to be. Gophs did error on not offering Trent early on his prep career.
 

I think some people are getting overly concerned with the timing of the offer. The Gopher staff has been up front with him and said they're waiting for coach Pitino to watch him play. Brad Stevens, Fred Hoiberg, Leanord Hamilton, Bruce Weber, etc. have seen Macura play before offering him.

It appears to me that Macura is going to play in front of Pitino in July to see if an offer comes in. If he's smart and not an egotistical kid, he'll wait a couple weeks to expand his options and hopefully get the in-state offer. It's not like Pitino is stiffing the kid - a la Tubby Smith - he's recruiting Macura but waiting to watch him before offering. As fans, wouldn't we want our head coach to see the kid play? I favor Pitino's strategy over a jump the gun strategy.
 

I think some people are getting overly concerned with the timing of the offer. The Gopher staff has been up front with him and said they're waiting for coach Pitino to watch him play. Brad Stevens, Fred Hoiberg, Leanord Hamilton, Bruce Weber, etc. have seen Macura play before offering him.

It appears to me that Macura is going to play in front of Pitino in July to see if an offer comes in. If he's smart and not an egotistical kid, he'll wait a couple weeks to expand his options and hopefully get the in-state offer. It's not like Pitino is stiffing the kid - a la Tubby Smith - he's recruiting Macura but waiting to watch him before offering. As fans, wouldn't we want our head coach to see the kid play? I favor Pitino's strategy over a jump the gun strategy.

How did Orlando stiff the kid? He just recently exploded and still doesn't have a B1G offer. I hope we sign J.P. but he is not a program changer, hence Pitino is making him wait to see what else comes thru the door. If anyone is stiffing him it's Pitino.
 

FWIW, Jerry Meyer and Ryan James were tweeting about Macura and both guessed the reason Pitino has not offered Macura was due to him feeling confident about the other SG's he's offered (Vaughn, Whitehead, etc.)
 

FWIW, Jerry Meyer and Ryan James were tweeting about Macura and both guessed the reason Pitino has not offered Macura was due to him feeling confident about the other SG's he's offered (Vaughn, Whitehead, etc.)

I think this is something most of us GHers have suspected as well.
 

My apologies for inserting my opinion. I just don't see it as such a negative thing to wait until Pitino sees him play to offer. If he legitimately is considering the U - which by every indication he is - then I think the debate over the timing of an offer is overblown. That's my only point.

People get really silly and defensive about in-state players. If any MN HS player is worth a damn at all, there will be tons and tons of people bitching about it if he doesn't end up a Gopher.

My thoughts:

1. I don't care, at all, if a player is from Dinkytown or Sri Lanka. I want guys who can play. The only reason to care where anyone is from is that local players are more likely to sign due to proximity. Should we kick the Hollins "brothers" off the team because they're from Tennessee?

2. The coaches are paid to evaluate and offer talent. If he's not comfortable offering him before seeing him play (or not comfortable offering him at all), that's his prerogative and the type of choice he's paid 7 figures to make. If a player is "missed", well, he might pay with his job. It's easy for all of the keyboard jockeys to bitch and moan about who should be offered and who shouldn't, because they don't have 1/100th of the skin in the game that the coaching staff does.
 




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