Imagine this lineup.

[DeathClutch]

PG Jordan Taylor
SG Blake Hoffarber
SF Royce White
PF Trevor Mbakwe
F/C Jon Leuer

This would be close to a national championship contending starting lineup here. All guys from Minnesota as well. This just shows how important it is to keep the top in-state talent. Tubby, to his credit, has been doing that since he's been in Minnesota. Too bad we couldn't have hired him a year earlier. Maybe we would have Leuer and Taylor playing for us right now.

 

[brucekaupa]

PG Jordan Taylor
SG Blake Hoffarber
SF Royce White
PF Trevor Mbakwe
F/C Jon Leuer

This would be close to a national championship contending starting lineup here. All guys from Minnesota as well. This just shows how important it is to keep the top in-state talent. Tubby, to his credit, has been doing that since he's been in Minnesota. Too bad we couldn't have hired him a year earlier. Maybe we would have Leuer and Taylor playing for us right now.

Wouldn't Trevor have graduated by now...if he'd gone straight to MN?

 

[DeathClutch]

No. When he transfered from Marquette to Miami-Dade Junior College, he didn't have to sit a year. If he was recruited by us his freshman year, he probably wouldn't have had to sit out last year, so he would currently be a senior.

 

[panndder]

Replace Leuer with Cole Aldrich and have a bench of Leuer, Nolen, Lockett, Williams, and Anthony Tucker.

 

[Monty519]

Why do we do this to ourselves? LOL

 

[bga1]

Why do we do this to ourselves? LOL

Since recruiting is neither done with a shotgun or with a crystal ball in hand these lists are amusing but irrelevant. Couldn't most every major college within 75 miles of a metro area come up with a local list like that? The idea that we can go off Doug Woog style and go all Minnesotan is absurd. Kids will go where they want to go. You can never close the borders, you can only improve your odds. Certainly Tubby has done that.

 

[brucekaupa]

Even Clem didn't land Khalid...

 

[gopherbadgerman]

Khalid would have been so awesome in Maroon and Gold. Hell of a college player, one of the best of the lat 20 years, IMO...

 

[Juicer]

Khalid would have been so awesome in Maroon and Gold. Hell of a college player, one of the best of the lat 20 years, IMO...

Agreed. Khalid was unbelievable in high school and college. I played him twice in high school, and he was so much better than everyone else it was rather ridiculous.

 

[jmag21]

Agreed. Khalid was unbelievable in high school and college. I played him twice in high school, and he was so much better than everyone else it was rather ridiculous.

He was, although they almost lost to some small school in the championship game of one of those years. I was there at Target Center, and it was a great game. Nobody expected the farm boys to keep it as close as they did, and they almost won.

 

[ShowinGoldyLove]

He was, although they almost lost to some small school in the championship game of one of those years. I was there at Target Center, and it was a great game. Nobody expected the farm boys to keep it as close as they did, and they almost won.

I believe it was Staples-Motley; they did have a pretty good squad for a couple of years there.

Side note: wasn't that the game that Rainey was declared ineligible and the North crowd keep going nuts about it?

 

[brucekaupa]

I believe it was Staples-Motley; they did have a pretty good squad for a couple of years there.

Side note: wasn't that the game that Rainey was declared ineligible and the North crowd keep going nuts about it?

And wasn't that the game when Khalid hit the 3 at the buzzer? Stone cold.

 

[josh087]

And wasn't that the game when Khalid hit the 3 at the buzzer? Stone cold.

I think that was the semifinal game against St. Thomas Academy. Epic 3, followed by the dance on the scorers table.

 

[Monty519]

Haha, I remember that. That's back when they played at the old Roy Wilkins Auditorium I think. Ah, the days of two classes lol.

 

[GopherRock]

Khalid El-Amin and Minneapolis North's reign of terror all took place at the old St. Paul Civic Center, where the court was a country mile away from the nearest seats.

I still maintain that, to this day, had Khalid's winner vs. Staples-Motley rattled clear, the state tournament would still be a Sweet 16, and we wouldn't have this four-class CF the League came up with now.

 

[Juicer]

Khalid El-Amin and Minneapolis North's reign of terror all took place at the old St. Paul Civic Center, where the court was a country mile away from the nearest seats.

I still maintain that, to this day, had Khalid's winner vs. Staples-Motley rattled clear, the state tournament would still be a Sweet 16, and we wouldn't have this four-class CF the League came up with now.

I agree. I played in the state tourney in '96, the last year of the sweet 16 format IIRC. That was the year of Khalid's 3 to beat St. Thomas in the quarterfinals. He had like 9 threes that game, it was a ridiculous performance.

The sweet 16 was an awesome format. Even the smaller schools didn't have to play the larger schools until the quarterfinals. It made for a much more interesting tourney. I wish it was still that way. To this day it is tough to watch A and AA state tournament games.

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

I believe it was Staples-Motley; they did have a pretty good squad for a couple of years there.

Side note: wasn't that the game that Rainey was declared ineligible and the North crowd keep going nuts about it?

That's likely because Staples-Motley had their own form of "recruiting" back in the day, whether it was coaches adopting elite athletes or offering parents of athletes jobs in the S-M area.

 

[NateDawgUM]

You can do this for most states. Hell, Oregon could have Kyle Singler and Kevin Love if they managed to keep them home and around for 4 years...

 

[GophersInIowa]

I agree. I played in the state tourney in '96, the last year of the sweet 16 format IIRC. That was the year of Khalid's 3 to beat St. Thomas in the quarterfinals. He had like 9 threes that game, it was a ridiculous performance.

The sweet 16 was an awesome format. Even the smaller schools didn't have to play the larger schools until the quarterfinals. It made for a much more interesting tourney. I wish it was still that way. To this day it is tough to watch A and AA state tournament games.

The "smaller schools" that made it far in the sweet 16 format were generally schools that now play in AA like Staples Motley. The 200 or so schools that play in the current A class had very little shot of going far. The very small schools just don't have the depth and height to compete with the larger schools.

It was fun for a few years but was glad they went away from it. But I'm a little biased as I'm from a very small school. I do think they should combine the AAA and AAAA classes. It's ridiculous how easy it is for the big schools to get to state.

 

[WilliamsArenaGuy]

The "smaller schools" that made it far in the sweet 16 format were generally schools that now play in AA like Staples Motley. The 200 or so schools that play in the current A class had very little shot of going far. The very small schools just don't have the depth and height to compete with the larger schools.

It was fun for a few years but was glad they went away from it. But I'm a little biased as I'm from a very small school. I do think they should combine the AAA and AAAA classes. It's ridiculous how easy it is for the big schools to get to state.

Agree with that. There was little wrong with two classes. Four is ridiculous. When it was two classes, they could have had a game between the champions and it would have been about the same as the Sweet Sixteen.

I know both perspectives. I went to RTR (three tiny towns in the southwest corner). In the late '80's, we had a dream team that could have competed with the big schools. Aside from Todd Bouman, we had guys that were 7'0", 6'8", and 6'6". That was a once in a lifetime situation. Every other year, they generally have a 6'4" or so guy playing center.

In the 2000's, we won two straight titles, but it just was not the same under that format. On the flipside, I now work for a big city school. Recently, we were in the tourney. It meant almost nothing compared to what I experienced in the '80's. We only had to win three games to get to state, and once there, were in an 8 team field with three other teams from the SAME conference. That doesn't feel like anything.

I liked the Sweet Sixteen, and have no opposition to the two class format. But what they have done in the last 15 years is ruin a once excellent tournament for players and fans.

 

[sunnyday2]

North beat Staples in the '95 final. El-Amin's buzzer-beater was in the '96 semi vs. St. Thomas.

I was never a big supporter of four classes but to say they "ruined" the tournament is silly, because it's still a great event. You still hear people lamenting the single-class format, when the small town schools had the chance to knock off the big city teams. But the fact is that they rarely did. The so-called Cinderellas pretty much consist of Fosston 1913, Gaylord 1926, Glencoe 1931, Mountain Lake 1939, Lynd (runner-up) in 1946, Gilbert 1951, Edgerton 1960 and Sherburn 1970. That's not a lot of Cinderellas.

 

[Juicer]

North beat Staples in the '95 final. El-Amin's buzzer-beater was in the '96 semi vs. St. Thomas.

I was never a big supporter of four classes but to say they "ruined" the tournament is silly, because it's still a great event. You still hear people lamenting the single-class format, when the small town schools had the chance to knock off the big city teams. But the fact is that they rarely did. The so-called Cinderellas pretty much consist of Fosston 1913, Gaylord 1926, Glencoe 1931, Mountain Lake 1939, Lynd (runner-up) in 1946, Gilbert 1951, Edgerton 1960 and Sherburn 1970. That's not a lot of Cinderellas.

The 1996 final had North versus Fertile-Beltrami. While North won the game handily, it was still fun to see and had a different "feel" than the current format (a better feel in my opinion, but I am biased). That year also had New London-Spicer in the tourney, who lost in the first round but had beaten North earlier that year. It doesn't happen as much anymore with open enrollment being an unfortunate reality, but it is always fun to see the little guys go against the big guys.