"It definitely is surprising," Jackson McAndrew on not receiving Gophers' offer

[TonyLiebert]

 

[GopherOhana]

officials to wisconsin, creighton, iowa. would he even take an official to the U?

 

[max2shifty]

What are we doing Ben

 

[Big Ten Championship]

Unbelievable we haven’t at a minimum tried to develop a relationship with him.

 

[BleedGopher]

There are rumors that he’s Creighton bound but unless he and his family have specifically told the staff “don’t recruit me” it’s very odd that we haven’t contacted him since the Fall. There has to be more to the story here, or we really must have a different evaluation of him compared to programs much more successful than us.

Thanks for the interview Tony.

Go Gophers!!

 

[cjbfbp]

What are we doing Ben

What Johnson & Company are doing is pursuing transfers very actively which is exactly what they should be doing right now. This kid is not a critical component for the near future. Johnson has one 2024 freshman commit and might be enough depending upon how the roster shakes out after next season.

 

[stocker08]

Odd that he doesn't at least get an offer.....unless Johnson and staff simply see something that they don't like.

 

[60's Guy]

People ripped Pitino for not recruiting certain people saying he was lazy. Coaches have reasons for who they go after. It ain’t because we can’t be bothered.

 

[Roland Brooks]

officials to wisconsin, creighton, iowa. would he even take an official to the U?

He was at minimum at 6-8 UST games with his dad

 

[Off-GridTNgopher]

Thought Ben was going to lock down the MN kids.....

 

[USAF]

What Johnson & Company are doing is pursuing transfers very actively which is exactly what they should be doing right now. This kid is not a critical component for the near future. Johnson has one 2024 freshman commit and might be enough depending upon how the roster shakes out after next season.

Oh FFS. Theyre too busy??

 

[TheRealUncleRico]

Didn’t realize once there are rumors that a kid is leaning to a different school that you should just throw in the towel. After all there’s never been a 17 year old kid who’s changed his mind after making a decision before. Agree with some other posters though, these kids have to be made a priority as early as possible. You don’t have to land them all but if you can get some ever now then it would be a great step in the right direction for this program. You’re not going to get any if you’re offering this late. Build the relationships very early and make it feel like the other schools have to pry them away from you as opposed to the other way around.

 

[jovs]

I thought he wanted shooters, show me a 6'9" guy in the country that shoots the ball better than he does. I am starting to lose faith if it is based on evaluation, add his competitiveness to the equation and it's a no brainer.

 

[2nd Degree Gopher]

I have known this family for quite a while. I don’t have any inside scoop on what he’s thinking about college and I wouldn’t share it if I did. Jackson is a great kid with wonderful, successful parents. His Mom is a UW grad (I think) and his Dad played basketball at UND. (One of his teammates there was Ben Jacobson, the head coach at Northern Iowa.) They are not anti-University of Minnesota people, but they also didn’t grow up here or as Gopher fans necessarily. With his family having other allegiances, Jackson isn’t a kid who grew up loving the Gophers or dreaming of a Minnesota offer. I think it’s quite likely that he would have opted to go elsewhere even if Minnesota had been in on him early. That said, to hear him say he hasn’t had contact from the coaches at the U since last fall is inconceivable to me.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

evaluation is part of coaching and recruiting.

all coaches are not going to evaluate all players the same. coaches presumably are looking for certain skills and characteristics.

which is a nice way of saying that - if the Gophers have not gone after a certain kid, it's because they like other kids more.

c'mon - does anyone here really believe that if the Gopher coaches thought a certain kid was going to be a great player, that they would ignore him?

you recruit the players you want to recruit. and then you succeed or fail based on the results.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

Kinda makes my stale joke about kids having to contact Ben ummmm

 

[CentralGopher]

Who?

 

[2nd Degree Gopher]

c'mon - does anyone here really believe that if the Gopher coaches thought a certain kid was going to be a great player, that they would ignore him?

I doubt anyone thinks that they would ignore a kid who they thought was going to be a great player. I do, however, have significant and growing doubts about whether they:

1) are very good at identifying those kids in a timely manner and

2) are capable of successfully recruiting those kids to become (and stay) Gophers.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

Thorson!!!!!

 

[BarnBurner]

Pitino was regularly bashed for not recruiting "unattainable" kids. Let the games begin.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

I doubt anyone thinks that they would ignore a kid who they thought was going to be a great player. I do, however, have significant and growing doubts about whether they:

1) are very good at identifying those kids in a timely manner and

2) are capable of successfully recruiting those kids to become (and stay) Gophers.

So JOJ and Payne don’t count ?

 

[Cayman]

I doubt anyone thinks that they would ignore a kid who they thought was going to be a great player. I do, however, have significant and growing doubts about whether they:

1) are very good at identifying those kids in a timely manner and

2) are capable of successfully recruiting those kids to become (and stay) Gophers.

There have been numerous instances of Ben Johnson offering guys early who later shot up the rankings. Andrej Stojakovic and Dennis Evans were both borderline top 100 guys when we offered them, and both ended up in 5-star range, with Evans of course committing here until Louisville tampered and bought him away from us. He also shifted priorities from then 4-star Ahjany Lee, who is not playing high-major, to Pharrel Payne, a then 0-star recruit, who was our best freshman.

 

[erickjohnson11]

What are we doing Ben

He's shown no interest in going to Minnesota, so why spend valuable time going down a dead end road. He'll be at Creighton...

 

[GophersInIowa]

I’ve seen it multiple times that the Gophers were told awhile ago to not waste their time because there’s no chance he goes to MN.

 

[howeda7]

If the number one reason you got the job is your in state recruiting prowess, it seems like any Minnesota kid that has multiple power 6 offers ought to have a Minnesota one too, even if you know you have almost no shot.

 

[Duker]

If the number one reason you got the job is your in state recruiting prowess, it seems like any Minnesota kid that has multiple power 6 offers ought to have a Minnesota one too, even if you know you have almost no shot.

Why waste time on someone who doesn’t have interest in your program. I want people who want to be Gophers.

 

[howeda7]

Why waste time on someone who doesn’t have interest in your program. I want people who want to be Gophers.

How much times does that take? We're contacting 87 people in the portal. Every top kid in Minnesota should get the nod of an offer if they're a power 6 talent and at least an occasional contact until they commit.

 

[SanDiegoGopherFan]

Him and Ben arent close

 

[2nd Degree Gopher]

So JOJ and Payne don’t count ?

Sure, they count. All the hits and misses do. I have growing concerns about this staff's ability to identify, recruit and retain enough quality players to successfully compete in the Big Ten. If you think things are going great in those regards, that's swell, we just disagree.

 

[stocker08]

I guess if he made it known that he had no interest in the Gophers.....and/or the other way around.....there may not be a reason to offer the scholarship.