GopherHole chats with Harrison Barnes

[station19]

The 1982 class was ranked #1 in the country. D Mitchel, C Holmes, M Hall, T Tucker, G Stallings (who later changed) and Leo Rautins.

I think I got those all correct.

 

[MillionMoves]

wasn't Mychael Thompson the #1 recruit in the nation?

No, it was Darryl Mitchell out of West Palm Beach in 1978 that was the Gophers only #1 national recruit (by some recruiting services)

 

[Mikie S]

Mychal (at that time Michael)Thompson wasn't even the top recruit for the Gophers that year. It was Mark Olberding and Mark Landsberger who everyone was excited about .

IIRC, Mychal was the #4 scorer on his #1 ranked high school team. Two teammates got scholarships to Houston and Mychal, along with Osborne Lockhart, headed north.

 

[GopherGod]

What are the chances that Tubby hires his coach Jake Sullivan as a grad assistant since Ryan Saunders is leaving in an attempt to lock up Barnes. I know this happens quite a bit and Sullivan is a local kid who obviously has an interest in coaching. I know when Billy Donovan hired Mike Miller's brother as GA it helped lock up him.

 

[UWOle]

What are the chances that Tubby hires his coach Jake Sullivan as a grad assistant since Ryan Saunders is leaving in an attempt to lock up Barnes. I know this happens quite a bit and Sullivan is a local kid who obviously has an interest in coaching. I know when Billy Donovan hired Mike Miller's brother as GA it helped lock up him.

I would be surprised if Tubby were to do something like that. In addition, I have heard that Sullivan has a pretty good thing going down in Iowa with his AAU program. I believe he has a very nice facility for the program.

 

[tjgopher]

What are the chances that Tubby hires his coach Jake Sullivan as a grad assistant

Sullivan probably can't afford the pay cut from elite AAU coach to a grad assistant.

I also don't think Sullivan will have a big say in where Harrison Barnes goes. Sounds Barnes' mom rules the roost (which is good). And, that is why the Gophers have a shot - from the sounds of it - Mrs. Barnes likes Mr. Smith and staff.

 

[MRJ]

I was pretty surprised (and impressed for that matter ) with how well spoken and rational Barnes is when talking about college. With a lot of kids, it's hard to know exactly where they are at. But Barnes has been extremely straightforward, or at least it feels like it.

I also like the fact that he did stick around the have kind of an "unofficial" meeting with Tubby and got a look at the facilities. That tells me he'll probably take an official visit at some point. In any case, it's pretty obvious the U is on his radar and he's going to give them a nice look.

And at this point, that's all we really need to know.