Coleman and Hopkins vs East

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exiledinduluth

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Had the pleasure of seeing Joe Coleman play in Duluth yesterday. Will be a nice addition. Everyone talks about Chambers (listed at 6-0 but is more like 5-10) for Hopkins but East junior point guard Taylor Stafford is one to watch. Quicker, better ball handler, great shooter- 36 points and the Gophers hopefully are watching.

Junior Johnny Woodard from East matched up well with Coleman, same type of player just a bit more muscle.

Hard part is Hopkins is so deep compared to East so it is hard to compare players.

Hopkins has a very athletic junior forward/center Stahl who was more impressive than Singleton who is a senior at Hopkins.

A real treat to see so much talent on one court!!!!
 

I also was at this game. I was impressed with Duluth East. They are a much better team since Diami Starks graduated, as they now share the ball and have much better chemistry.
Woodard is a more complete player than Rodney Williams at this point, and has the competitive edge of a winner. I'm surprised the Gophers aren't giving him a look.
Stafford is quick, but tends to be out of control and turns the ball over a lot. He's about 5-9 and thin, but apparently has grown a lot in the past year.
Like Hopkins, Duluth East gets a lot of help with transfers.
 

I was also in attendance for this game. I came very surprised and confused on how Siyani Chambers is a 4-star recruit on Rivals. And Woodard is unranked and Stafford does not have a Rivals. If Woodard played on Hopkins and played with the supporting cast that Coleman plays with, he would definitely be a higher recruit than what he is. And judging from this game Stafford owned Chambers, through speed, shooting and dribbling.
 

Chambers has stagnated from his early hype. At this point, he's a low major at best, in my opinion.
 

Anyone (JohnnyGopher?) know why the Gophers aren't after Woodard? I've heard things about academics, attendance, etc, but most are just rumors. The kid plays great defense, is a tenacious rebounder and has explosive offensive skills.
I've watched Duluth East for years, and they've had some guys who could help the Gophers. Cory Johnson (Valpo) is one, and I think Diami Starks (Columbia) could have contributed this year the way things have turned out.
Are they still leary after the Rickert mess? Or is there a perception that Northern guys aren't good enough?
Duluth East will be playing some section games in Elk River in a few weeks and will likely get to state out of a weak section. A good chance to see Woodard (and Stafford) in person if you haven't.
 


The world is very flat when it comes to recruiting these days. They all play together and against one another on the AAU circuit. It has nothing to do with some sort of geographical stigma.
 

I don't know anything about Woodard, but I'm absolutely certain that nothing about Rickert is a factor.

Monson did go after Cory Johnson hard, he just lost out to Iowa State. Cory's college career didn't really take off until he transferred to Valpo.
 

Facts34 said:
The world is very flat when it comes to recruiting these days. They all play together and against one another on the AAU circuit. It has nothing to do with some sort of geographical stigma.
Click to expand...

I'm by no means a Duluth East or Northern Minnesota cheerleader. I'm just asking a question.
As a longtime student of the game it's my opinion Woodard has a far better skill set than Rodney Williams did at the high school level.
 

playhosea! said:
I don't know anything about Woodard, but I'm absolutely certain that nothing about Rickert is a factor.

Monson did go after Cory Johnson hard, he just lost out to Iowa State. Cory's college career didn't really take off until he transferred to Valpo.
Click to expand...

Monson did not go after Cory Johnson hard. He would occasionally show up at a game but that was about it. He was much more interested in Bryce Webster.
Wisconsin showed more interest than Minnesota did, but cooled after they got Joe Krabbenhoft who was a similar player to Johnson in high school.
You are correct that Johnson really didn't fluorish until he got to Valpo.
 



I guess if the standard you're using for recruiting "hard" is whether Cory Johnson was the singular #1 player on the Gopher recruiting radar that year, you might be right. I do know Monson offered Johnson a scholarship and attempted to land him.
 

Offered him a scholarship as a sophomore, which often doesn't make it a lock. So did Wisconsin, Marquette, Iowa and Green Bay. All cooled a short time later.
 

I'll never forget the 2006 AAA title game. Cory Johnson was scoring about 25 ppg and Cameron Rundles was scoring about 15. Put them head to head, however, and I don't think Johnson scored 10. Rundles just ate him alive. A good quick defender could stop Cory. And Rundles was a great defender. Not to mention, he wasn't much of an offensive player, really, but he was so quick that he could get open anytime anywhere, and occasionally the ball would fall in the hole. Yet Cory started at Iowa State and Rundles at Montana. Rundles was a vastly better player, it just didn't show up as long as Cory could beat up on a bunch of weak high school opponents. Rundles exposed him big time.
 

PS. Hopkins has such great depth? How many kids did they play? I saw them play 6 guys until it was time to empty the bench. And yet they play the high pressure defense all over the court that most people say you need 2 platoons to play. Not Hopkins. 5 guys play like that for as many minutes as necessary. Those kids have got to be in phenomenal shape.
 



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