Andy Katz: Top 10 Sophomores in the Country (#2. Daniel Oturu, Minnesota)

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Would Oturu be more highly thought of if had attended a blue blood?
 
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Haliburton had an offer from Pitino. Wisconsin kid with no Wisconsin or Marquette offer.
 




No love for Maryland's Smith? Thought he was supposedly the man.
 


I would love to see Oturu stay another year but I'd also love to see him go top 10 in the draft to make other top MN talent think twice about having to go to duke to make the NBA.
 







bottlebass said:
I would love to see Oturu stay another year but I'd also love to see him go top 10 in the draft to make other top MN talent think twice about having to go to duke to make the NBA.
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I honestly don't think players avoid staying home and playing for Minnesota out of fear of not getting into the NBA, I feel it's a combination or one or the other of two main factors. #1 and probably the lesser likely, some kids just want to get out on their own, away from under the watchful eyes of their family, friends and neighbors. #2 and probably the most important factor, is the idea of winning a Natl Title AND THEN going off into the NBA. This could be because the idea of being on a Championship team is just very tempting, but it's possible the attention that comes from being one of the keys on that Title winning team, might get the player bumped up a few spots higher than they would otherwise?


Key for UMn and for the time being, Pitino, is probably just needing some luck. Many of the football guys acknowledge that Fleck's team came darn close to losing some of those games, and some argue that the team went relatively unscathed by the injury bug that sometimes plaques teams. I remember the year Willie Middlebrook got injured, and our good defense transformed into a defense almost anyone could pass on, and that season fell well below pre-season expectations. It was possibly the beginning of the end to Glen Mason's career here. The first sign he wasn't as good of a recruiter as some may have thought he was. He seemed to be able to fill out a starting lineup with good players, but he never really seemed to build up the depth that would have, for example, helped when Middlebrook went down.

Tying this back to basketball, there have been higher expectations for the Gophers going into each of the last couple of seasons, but we lost Curry each of the last 3 seasons now haven't we, and Springs' injury towards the end of his last season, Coffey was hobbled for awhile, a couple other players were as well, add onto the injury thing a player getting booted for an accusation of scandalous behavior and another leaving arguably a year earlier for the NBA than at least some may have felt he should have? I mean, sure, all of these things happen to most teams out there, but all I'm saying is with a little good luck keeping anything from happening for just one of the last 3 years or maybe limiting the # of negatives to 1 or 2 instead of 2-6, the team could have that breakout season that shows players that Pitino can get it done here and/or that it simply can be done here, WITHOUT them on the roster. They see that it can be done, then imagine how their coming here would add even more talent to the roster and who knows, maybe we become the next UConn or Gonzaga or more?


Maybe a top notch recruit choosing to take a chance on Minnesota could even be that bit of luck? I mean, with the young talent we have on the team right now, if someone like Oturu thought next year could be THE YEAR if he stayed because of who was joining the team next year, that might be enough of a reason for him to do just that?
 


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