All Things Kerwin Walton Recruitment Thread (Class of 2020)

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MnplsGopher said:
Question for bball recruiting experts here: is it necessarily a "bad thing" if Twin Cities recruits "don't bother" to use up one of their official visits on the U of Minn?? I mean, it's really nothing for them to drive to campus. They can do that any time they want, and probably can pop down for free games, VIP box seats, free food, etc., all the time, and probably do, is my wild guess.
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There are zero recruiting experts, some just scout, research and follow it closer than others. There is a pretty big difference between a official and unofficial visit. Walton taking a UNC visit is big news because it is UNC. They have a ton to sell and right now have a huge recruiting roll going. None of it excites me and i will tell you why. Many fans here dislike my my admiration for UVA but follow along as a example. They always lose Virginia kids to Duke, UNC, Kentucky. They had a verbal commit from Sacha Killyea Jones, he backed out and went to Kentucky. That open scholarship ended up going to Deandre Hunter, who turned out better ? I f the U does not get Walton we have no clue if the guy that does come will not be better. Look at Gabe, he turned out way outperforming his ranking, out playing at least 50 % of the guys ranked above him. Do not get me wrong, i want Walton here but only if this is where he is dying to play.
 

Has Walton even given a final list, does he plan to? I still have hope until he puts one out with the Gophers not on it, he is planning some more upcoming visits (reportedly) maybe the Gophers will be added at that point.
 

WriterGoph said:
For comparison's sake, everyone was very excited that Garcia chose to take an official to the U even though he has been on campus a ton and taken a number of unofficials already. My opinion is that it shows a definite level of interest if a local recruit is willing to take one of their 5 officials with us. Plus, the experience (because of what the school is able to provide and pay for) on an official is quite a bit different than an unofficial.

That said, it's feasible Walton could not take an official with us, but still commit to the U. I don't know how much he has been on campus off the top of my head. On the other hand, I cannot remember a local recruit committing to us recently without taking an official.
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Agree that an official visit is important, and I think there's stuff they're allowed to do on an official that they can't on an unofficial, like I think they can put recruits in hotel and take them out to fancy meals on the school's dime. I've seen recruits post pictures from a photoshoot kind of thing after official visits here where they put on a Gopher basketball uniform and get pictures taken in different poses and whatnot, which I don't think they do for unofficial visitors.

Michael Hurt, Daniel Oturu, Jarvis Omersa, and Gabe Kalscheur all committed before taking an official visit here, but they all took an official eventually, and they were all relatively early commits. Hurt and Oturu I think both committed in January of their junior year, and Omersa and Kalscheur committed in July in the summer between junior and senior year. The last two Minnesota kids who waited until fall before committing here were Amir Coffey and Jarvis Johnson, and they both took officials here before committing. Joe Coleman I think is the last one before that and that was a long time ago, so it's harder to find info, but I feel like he probably took an official here before committing.

Long story short, the pattern says that Minnesota kids who decide earlier on to play for the Gophers will commit before taking an official, but kids who wait until fall will not commit here without taking an official.
 

Cayman said:
Agree that an official visit is important, and I think there's stuff they're allowed to do on an official that they can't on an unofficial, like I think they can put recruits in hotel and take them out to fancy meals on the school's dime. I've seen recruits post pictures from a photoshoot kind of thing after official visits here where they put on a Gopher basketball uniform and get pictures taken in different poses and whatnot, which I don't think they do for unofficial visitors.

Michael Hurt, Daniel Oturu, Jarvis Omersa, and Gabe Kalscheur all committed before taking an official visit here, but they all took an official eventually, and they were all relatively early commits. Hurt and Oturu I think both committed in January of their junior year, and Omersa and Kalscheur committed in July in the summer between junior and senior year. The last two Minnesota kids who waited until fall before committing here were Amir Coffey and Jarvis Johnson, and they both took officials here before committing. Joe Coleman I think is the last one before that and that was a long time ago, so it's harder to find info, but I feel like he probably took an official here before committing.

Long story short, the pattern says that Minnesota kids who decide earlier on to play for the Gophers will commit before taking an official, but kids who wait until fall will not commit here without taking an official.
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Good info. Thanks for pointing those out. I feel like we all agree it would be better off if Walton takes an official.
 

WriterGoph said:
Good info. Thanks for pointing those out. I feel like we all agree it would be better off if Walton takes an official.
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If a local kid won't give the U an official, then I take it as they look at the U as a fall back school. It is too bad, wasn't the U one of the first to give him an offer, before he blew up? As it turns out, he could have gone to the U if he wanted, but we may not have room.

As built points out, many times the "next kid in line" ends up as good or better than the one that got all of the attention! You have to have players that want to be here at the U.
 


alchemy2u said:
If a local kid won't give the U an official, then I take it as they look at the U as a fall back school. It is too bad, wasn't the U one of the first to give him an offer, before he blew up? As it turns out, he could have gone to the U if he wanted, but we may not have room.

As built points out, many times the "next kid in line" ends up as good or better than the one that got all of the attention! You have to have players that want to be here at the U.
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Just could care less where they are ranked or where they are from. Have seen programs build conference winners and final 4 teams with classes ranked below 50. But what they had was kids that loved the idea of playing for the school they wanted, no matter if they had so called bigger offers or not.
 

builtbadgers said:
Just could care less where they are ranked or where they are from. Have seen programs build conference winners and final 4 teams with classes ranked below 50. But what they had was kids that loved the idea of playing for the school they wanted, no matter if they had so called bigger offers or not.
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You could put together a team of super fans/Gopher Hole posters who "love the idea of playing for the Gophers". Don't think we would win a single game though. Talent matters, and the more talented kids tend to be ranked higher. Sometimes kids exceed expectations and sometimes they fall short, but there is a strong correlation between rankings and college/pro success.
 

Keyser Söze said:
You could put together a team of super fans/Gopher Hole posters who "love the idea of playing for the Gophers". Don't think we would win a single game though. Talent matters, and the more talented kids tend to be ranked higher. Sometimes kids exceed expectations and sometimes they fall short, but there is a strong correlation between rankings and college/pro success.
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The bigger key with kids is development and how you can help them grow. Nate Mason was not highly ranked, niether was Murphy. I'd say they ended in the top 70 in their class at the end of the day. Tons of Jarret Culvers of the world who were 3 stars that become a ton better than guys ranked higher than them. The rankings are really only good at picking the top 10 kids in a class. The rest is a crapshoot and an algorithm of the accumulation of offers
 

Keyser Söze said:
You could put together a team of super fans/Gopher Hole posters who "love the idea of playing for the Gophers". Don't think we would win a single game though. Talent matters, and the more talented kids tend to be ranked higher. Sometimes kids exceed expectations and sometimes they fall short, but there is a strong correlation between rankings and college/pro success.
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Not a question of wanting good players, everyone does. Anyone can rank the top 10 in a class but after that it is finding the ones that fit what you do well and make them into a team. Look at the non blue bloods that did not recruit at the top level but built elite winners, conference championship teams on players that stayed in the program. If you have juniors and seniors they can compete and beat the blue blood first years.
 






LesBolstad said:
Football? What we talkin' bout again?
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Not aware of any articles with similar research for the NBA draft otherwise I would have posted that instead, but I didn't think anyone would argue that recruiting rankings matter for one sport and not the other. Regardless of your position on how much recruiting rankings matter, pretty sure everyone holds the same opinion for both sports.
 



Keyser Söze said:
Not aware of any articles with similar research for the NBA draft otherwise I would have posted that instead, but I didn't think anyone would argue that recruiting rankings matter for one sport and not the other. Regardless of your position on how much recruiting rankings matter, pretty sure everyone holds the same opinion for both sports.
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Not an apples to apples conversation. Football has 7 rounds a year for those kids to get drafted. Also football is easier to predict as far as pros. Basketball is a little different outside the top 5-10, rest of the NBA draft picks are a crap shoot. Also most NCAA championships teams the last 5-10 years have had 1-2 top 20 kids in their class. They kill in the 50-150 range and develop them for 3-4 years

This is what makes a guy like Walton to have a chance to be so valuable. 3-4 year guy who Hs chance to develop.
 
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Keyser Söze said:
Not aware of any articles with similar research for the NBA draft otherwise I would have posted that instead, but I didn't think anyone would argue that recruiting rankings matter for one sport and not the other. Regardless of your position on how much recruiting rankings matter, pretty sure everyone holds the same opinion for both sports.
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Not making that argument but football is a totally different animal. Villanova, UW,UVA, Butler , Xavier all built incredibly strong programs, UVA and Nova elite with very few top 25 kids especially if you pull the data from when kids were offered. Of course you want better players but great staffs can find great players from way outside the top 25, develop them and win big. Your not going to win many recruiting battles against the blue bloods but you can beat them another way. Give me 5 Gabe's, one for each positions and you will contend at the top of the conference every year. UW did it, UVA was built with smart crafted players that were valued on a set of intangibles undervalued by the internet scouts. This was done intentionally with a far better eye. Thinking well, reacting quickly, court awareness, preprioception, length not height , quickness not speed, character and on and on.
 

manderson1984 said:
Not an apples to apples conversation. Football has 7 rounds a year for those kids to get drafted. Also football is easier to predict as far as pros. Basketball is a little different outside the top 5-10, rest of the NBA draft picks are a crap shoot. Also most NCAA championships teams the last 5-10 years have had 1-2 top 20 kids in their class. They kill in the 50-150 range and develop them for 3-4 years

This is what makes a guy like Walton to have a chance to be so valuable. 3-4 year guy who Hs chance to develop.
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Also add to the NBA that you’ve got a bymch of international guys on top of it. Much different draft profile
 

It sure would be nice to hear an “inside scoop” from a poster about Walton. Isn’t there someone on this board who has a cousin who used to work with the husband’s nephew of an aunt of a neighbor of Walton who heard a comment about recruiting coming from an open window of the Walton home while walking their dog on the sidewalk in the Walton’s neighborhood?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Bordergopher said:
It sure would be nice to hear an “inside scoop” from a poster about Walton. Isn’t there someone on this board who has a cousin who used to work with the husband’s nephew of an aunt of a neighbor of Walton who heard a comment about recruiting coming from an open window of the Walton home while walking their dog on the sidewalk in the Walton’s neighborhood?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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If he's leaning towards the Gophers, I completely agree. If it's somewhere else, you're full of crap.
 

Everyone knows you walk your dog right next your neighbors’ windows!
 


What’s the latest with Walton? Is he waiting until spring to commit?
 

Gold Vision said:
What’s the latest with Walton? Is he waiting until spring to commit?
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This is one of the stranger recruitments I've seen as far as lack of info. But he is scheduled to visit UNC next weekend. Guessing maybe some news after that.
 



Bordergopher said:
Do we have a chance?


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Sure. That UNC visit is heavy on impressive. Hall of Fame coach, huge brand, Jordan stopping by. Lets see what they can tell him about playing time.
 

builtbadgers said:
Sure. That UNC visit is heavy on impressive. Hall of Fame coach, huge brand, Jordan stopping by. Lets see what they can tell him about playing time.
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Don't have to take real classes....

I would never let my kid attend a school that disregards his educations so much in favor of winning! UNC has cheated those students out of a real education and a future after basketball! They took advantage of those players, used them and spit them out when they were done. No sense of responsibility or integrity as an institution! UNC should have lost their accreditation as a university.
 

Agree with ever word of this. The issue is that many players and families see it differently.
 

Lot of UNC buzz for 4* combo guard R.J Davis who announces tomorrow. 247 crystal balls are trending UNC more and more by the day. I’ve figured Walton’s good as gone due to the lack of Gophers chatter in his recruitment but I do wonder whether he circles back now that he’s made a few trips.
 

alchemy2u said:
Don't have to take real classes....

I would never let my kid attend a school that disregards his educations so much in favor of winning! UNC has cheated those students out of a real education and a future after basketball! They took advantage of those players, used them and spit them out when they were done. No sense of responsibility or integrity as an institution! UNC should have lost their accreditation as a university.
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Not going to derail this thread, so I won't reply to this after this post. Feel free to PM me if you like.

I don't agree that UNC should've lost accreditation because one dept of one college in the university was rotten. That would mean scientists doing research on cancer would lose their grants, people doing all kinds of amazing work across the university would have their work be in jeopardy. The value of the degrees earned by tens of thousands of students would be risked.

That was never going to happen, and I agree with that.


Now, if we had been talking about many departments all across the school, letting students get no-show A's, and it was some provable conspiracy .... then I would agree with you about accreditation.



Let's also make it clear: UNC could have, and SHOULD have been punished by the NCAA. A sports punishment. That's completely different from punishing the school by taking away accreditation.
 

MnplsGopher said:
Not going to derail this thread, so I won't reply to this after this post. Feel free to PM me if you like.

I don't agree that UNC should've lost accreditation because one dept of one college in the university was rotten. That would mean scientists doing research on cancer would lose their grants, people doing all kinds of amazing work across the university would have their work be in jeopardy. The value of the degrees earned by tens of thousands of students would be risked.

That was never going to happen, and I agree with that.


Now, if we had been talking about many departments all across the school, letting students get no-show A's, and it was some provable conspiracy .... then I would agree with you about accreditation.


Let's also make it clear: UNC could have, and SHOULD have been punished by the NCAA. A sports punishment. That's completely different from punishing the school by taking away accreditation.
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Disagree. UNC needs to maintain certain academic standards and is responsible for upholding those standards. They themselves said that there was nothing wrong with the classes so that means it represents the academic standards of the university. As such they should lose their accreditation across the board. UNC decided that it was more important to keep the basketball records intact than it was to respect the academic reputation of the university. It was their choice to discredit the university.

UNC should have come clean for the sake of all those other students and academic reputation of the school. But obviously, they value the cheating athletic programs more than any of their regular students. That is why I would NEVER let my kid go to a school that has such warped priorities!
 

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