All Things Nolan Winter Recruitment Thread (Class of 2023, Gophers Offered, Son of Trevor)

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I have said Winter is very important because he is truly the kid Johnson was brought here to get. MN kid with DEEP MN roots, losing him to WI was what they said in the presser was not going to happen anymore. Now, is he a true impact player or not, that may be up for debate but I see no way the optics of him going to WI are anything other than bad. Im not saying he is the difference between 14th and Final Four but to say he doesnt matter its fine if he goes to WI are absurd IMO.

Now to the point of " I grew up maroon/gold how can a kid ever consider an IA/WI, i could NEVER do that". Sure thats easy to say, 99.9% of us dont have that ability/option. Look at it logically, Winter goes hey kids of my mold have gone there (both WI and IA) won, and sometimes made the next level. Furthermore, you get places and things feel different, you get all the love shown to you, its not something you can say for sure how it affects you. Its no different than money/power, well all say ohh if I had a billion dollars I would give to all these causes and be the best person. Thats easy to say, in reality when you get in that spot who knows, maybe you would be a great person, maybe you would be a total jack--s who treats people with less like trash.
 

howeda7 said:
I don't think he's quite a big enough recruit for the local TV stations to make a big deal about it.

That said, the best advise is to assume he's a Badger and be pleasantly surprised if he's not.
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This is the template of Minnesotans
 


Bob_Loblaw said:
You live in Golden Valley and spend your time trolling a terrible basketball program, we don't confuse you with someone with taste.
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What's wrong with Golden Valley? Its like across the street from me! (gfs family lives there too)

The rest I agree with ;)
 



Like it or not, there is a fundamental difference between the sport environment in Madison vs the Twin Cities.

When the Badgers play in Madison, that is the #1 event in the city. When the Gophers play in MN, they are fighting for attention with the Wolves, the Wild, maybe Gopher Hockey, and off-season discussions about the Vikings.

for some kids, that might not make a difference. but for other kids, it might matter.

on the flip side, when the team is not playing, there is a hell of a lot more to do in the Twin Cities.
In Madison, your choices are drinking, drinking, drinking and passing out.
 


SelectionSunday said:
Makes some sense.

I suspect the Winters aren’t overly impressed with the leadership (Gabel) at the U of M. She’s weak, and hasn’t made student safety on campus a priority. That stuff filters down. And Minneapolis has kind of turned into a cesspool.
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Dumb. She is not a weak leader, and has made it a priority. If you actually go down there, there are many visible changes.
 

seems a bit odd. one crystal ball flipped to WI and even that is just a 4. I think Martice Mitchell had about 6 crystal balls ahead of his MN decision.
 






Man, this one hurts. Again, not that I think Winter is a LeBron/Durant level player, but when you schtick is to lock the border down and the legacy of all legacy kids goes to WISCONSIN....ouch.

If he turns out to be a high level B1G player its going to be a LONG LONG few years.

Ben better close on Evans because if he doesnt the locals are going to be getting restless.
 




fan of Ray Williams said:
Two things I want: Nolan to commit to the Gophers and learning what PBU means.
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Well, I did learn what PBU means. Half full?
Nah. Even though a fan knows it’s coming, there is still that small glimmer of hope. Then extinguished. Today, I don’t wish him the best. Not in me today.
 



If everyone returns after this season that can, they’d have two spots to fill, correct? So do we think they’ll just try to get one more guy (hopefully Evans) and then fill any unexpected openings with transfers?
 


leib0039 said:
Man, this one hurts. Again, not that I think Winter is a LeBron/Durant level player, but when you schtick is to lock the border down and the legacy of all legacy kids goes to WISCONSIN....ouch.

If he turns out to be a high level B1G player its going to be a LONG LONG few years.

Ben better close on Evans because if he doesnt the locals are going to be getting restless.
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Hopefully the restlessness calms down when they watch Payne, Garcia, Battle, and Carrington play..,
 

Ski U Mah Gopher said:
If Nolan was set on going to a "non-city" school, he should have been straight with Coach Johnson. If he led him on with interest, that's on Nolan.
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I don’t think he was set on that. I think he was a gopher lean until this summer. 17 year olds do change their mind and priorities.
 


I think Ben has done well so far as a recruiter. Added some nice transfers and has done well getting some high school kids to commit and sign.

I think the public perception on this will be a bigger issue than losing Winter. It’s the status quo. Its what the casual fans see. It will get media coverage.
 

Bad loss,Probably at least an eventually rotation player, he had size and shooting ability and both parents went to the U . Are you kidding me. Seems like Minneapolis is a place kids want to leave not come to. Evans is a big maybe so we might be done until transfer time
 
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MaxyJR1 said:
It hurts and shows that work has to be done on the court to likely start getting these kids to stay. We are only in year #2. Show improvement and keep building local ties and we will be ok.
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Agreed that continuing to build local ties will help, and it does seem like that's happening. Losing Winter hurts, but I hope everyone will stay away from the ledge on it. We just lost the top 2 recruits in the state, and here is my take on it:
Chatman: After watching both Chatman and Carrington play last year a number of times, it was clear that Chatman was a superior talent. The kid has a lot of skills. But when I watched the way they led their teams there was a significant difference.

Carrington was the first on the floor, always encouraging and respectful to his teammates, listening (or at least pretending to listen) to his HS coach, and showing positive energy throughout. I saw very little of that from Chatman. At times he was disrespectful of his coach outwardly (I don't have knowledge of his coach's competence, but that shouldn't matter) and occasionally chastised teammates. He didn't show any evidence of being a good teammate and showing the kind of leadership skills most teams would want. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind seeing him in a Gopher uniform. His talent is undeniable. But I think I know the reason Ben moved on when Christie committed

Winter: This is a talented kid as well. He'll need to gain strength to be effective at the Big Ten level, but he can shoot it and handle it fairly well for a kid his size. And here's the thing: Most people think Betts has better upside at the same position. He's also a great shooter with a 7-1 wingspan. So Chatman and Winter are both tough guys to miss on, but when was the last time a Gopher coach achieved something like getting the #1 kid in Illinois, getting a 4 star from Colorado, and is very close to getting a kid who is one of the top 5 centers in the country? Back away from the ledge, everything is going to be OK.
 


Again, right or wrong, I think this amplifies the need for on court success THIS year. I know its only year 2 but you are losing on MN kids that you said wasnt going to happen. If the team is in that 13th-14th place tier again, its going to crank that heat up. There will no hanging your hat on "well we get all the MN kids you wanted" thing when we are losing the Winters and lesser extent Chatmans of the world. I sure hope we are really good this year, we land Evans and in 8 mo we could care less about Winter at WI, but there is a lot of uncertainty between there.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
I think Ben has done well so far as a recruiter. Added some nice transfers and has done well getting some high school kids to commit and sign.

I think the public perception on this will be a bigger issue than losing Winter. It’s the status quo. Its what the casual fans see. It will get media coverage.
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Yep. KARE 11 has a story on it--naturally. Not waiting until the usual end of broadcast time for sports. We have the story within the first 10 minutes. F 'em.
 


leib0039 said:
Again, right or wrong, I think this amplifies the need for on court success THIS year. I know its only year 2 but you are losing on MN kids that you said wasnt going to happen. If the team is in that 13th-14th place tier again, its going to crank that heat up. There will no hanging your hat on "well we get all the MN kids you wanted" thing when we are losing the Winters and lesser extent Chatmans of the world. I sure hope we are really good this year, we land Evans and in 8 mo we could care less about Winter at WI, but there is a lot of uncertainty between there.
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I agree that it amplifies the need for on court success, but the bigger picture is that Johnson is a guy that can recruit. I don't think he said he was going to get all of the MN kids, nor is that ever possible. In the case with Winter, it was very close, and it was unfortunate it was the Badgers. With Chatman, I don't think it would have mattered who was recruiting him from here. Sometimes circumstances stack up against you. I don't doubt that he'll be getting a lot of quality MN kids in the future, and will bring in some quality players from outside of the state as well, as it should be. Again, in a few years I think we'll all be happy about the hire.
 

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