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

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formerlybis said:
You want to get the best players, period, wherever they're from. And, a lot of kids want to get away from home for college, so that's at least somewhat understandable, especially for suburban metro kids. Still, it's not really debatable that Johnson's most prized asset in getting the job was his local ties. I think the "not a fit" narrative is a rationalization equivalent to "we've cooled on him" that you say when you don't have a shot. Other, more successful P6 programs don't seem to have that issue...
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Better in state recruiting doesn’t mean you have to recruit and land every top in state guy. Especially when you have a really limited number of scholarships to work with the way you do in basketball.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Better in state recruiting doesn’t mean you have to recruit and land every top in state guy. Especially when you have a really limited number of scholarships to work with the way you do in basketball.
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Agree with the bolded. I do think at least being in contact with all P6-level talent isn't an unreasonable expectation, though - it doesn't take a ton of resources to do so, especially locally. Kids can and do change their minds.
 

formerlybis said:
Agree with the bolded. I do think at least being in contact with all P6-level talent isn't an unreasonable expectation, though - it doesn't take a ton of resources to do so, especially locally. Kids can and do change their minds.
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And in this instance the kid stated we were in contact with him. However, after said contact no offer was extended. He has not heard from the Gophers since last fall.
 

formerlybis said:
Agree with the bolded. I do think at least being in contact with all P6-level talent isn't an unreasonable expectation, though - it doesn't take a ton of resources to do so, especially locally. Kids can and do change their minds.
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If the determination has been made that we aren’t interested in a recruit or a recruit isn’t interested in us then how much more contact needs to be made?

And again, we are making a lot of assumptions based on very little information. We don’t know what kind of contact there was prior to last fall when we apparently stopped contacting him.
 

Oatmeal Savage said:
If his Dad or some coach made it clear there was no way he'd go to the Gophers, then why offer. It just becomes performative. The kid and his family would know that Coach Johnson is just trying to make it appeared like he tried. Do we just offer scholarships so the kid can puff our his chest about how many D1 or high major offers he has.

And in an interview like this, what is he going to say? "No offer since I told them there was no chance." No. He's being diplomatic to a Gopher-focused questioner.

Would I like him? Yes. Are Johnson and Thorson incompetent recruiters? While many on here want to label them as such, I don't think that fits.
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I agree. The kid also plays a position we currently have in excess - small ball PF who isn't a rim protector (Olo-Joseph, Betts). From the little that I've seen of him, I don't think he'll ever be a wing in the Big 10. He seems like a redundancy and not so good where you add the talent despite the less than ideal "fit".

This isn't just because he's a Gopher, but McAndrews reminds me of Betts and from watching games on youtube, I prefer Betts.I think McAndrews is a good ball player but I don't blame the staff for not offering.
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
That's all fine and I have zero issues with Ben not continuing to pursue him if he has no interest in being here.

But when Pitino did the same thing is was repeatedly called 'lazy recruiting', and now it's 'smart not to waste resources'.
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Exactly. And the same gh posters that said those things about Pitino are now excusing the choice. Hypocrisy.
 

Come on people do you really think Ben is gping to spend time recruiting someone that the new Gopher staff will enjoy.
 

Crappie said:
Exactly. And the same gh posters that said those things about Pitino are now excusing the choice. Hypocrisy.
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Prove it. Give an example of a poster that bashed Pitino for local recruiting but is now giving Johnson a feee pass for the same thing.

I’ll help you out. You won’t find them because they don’t exist.
 




MNVCGUY said:
Prove it. Give an example of a poster that bashed Pitino for local recruiting but is now giving Johnson a feee pass for the same thing.

I’ll help you out. You won’t find them because they don’t exist.
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Ah, ok. You were one of them so I understand your position.
 

Crappie said:
Ah, ok. You were one of them so I understand your position.
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Thanks for confirming that you are just making stuff up out of thin air. One thing I have been very consistent on is not giving a crap where a recruit is from as long as they can play. But again, if you have actual proof of this double standard that doesn't exist please feel free to share it.

Seems like there are enough things to gripe about in relation to the program without having to go out and make something up by pretending Johnson is getting some sort of free pass in recruiting that Pitino didn't get.
 


MNVCGUY said:
Thanks for confirming that you are just making stuff up out of thin air. One thing I have been very consistent on is not giving a crap where a recruit is from as long as they can play. But again, if you have actual proof of this double standard that doesn't exist please feel free to share it.

Seems like there are enough things to gripe about in relation to the program without having to go out and make something up by pretending Johnson is getting some sort of free pass in recruiting that Pitino didn't get.
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Your consistency comes from your inability to state the obvious when it comes to cbj.
 



Crappie said:
Your consistency comes from your inability to state the obvious when it comes to cbj.
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lol....nice comeback....so no proof then of anyone giving Johnson a free pass that they didn't give Pitino in recruiting. Got it.

I've been very consistent in regards to Johnson. I'm willing to let year 3 play out and if it is as rough as years 1 and 2 I will be fully on board with pulling the plug and bringing in someone else.
 

MNVCGUY said:
lol....nice comeback....so no proof then of anyone giving Johnson a free pass that they didn't give Pitino in recruiting. Got it.

I've been very consistent in regards to Johnson. I'm willing to let year 3 play out and if it is as rough as years 1 and 2 I will be fully on board with pulling the plug and bringing in someone e
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Your posts speak for themselves, mn.
 


MNVCGUY said:
If the determination has been made that we aren’t interested in a recruit or a recruit isn’t interested in us then how much more contact needs to be made?

And again, we are making a lot of assumptions based on very little information. We don’t know what kind of contact there was prior to last fall when we apparently stopped contacting him.
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Correct. A big part of recruiting is building a relationship by two-way communication. If McAndrews camp said to the Gophers "no chance," are you going to continue to call, text, and follow him? In the real world we call that stalking and people get restraining orders.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I 100% agree with that....I feel the exact same way about your posts.
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Some posters have been spot on regarding a number of topics here on the bb forum the past couple years.

Others, not so much. Your performance cheerleading is great. Being correct, well.....
 

"You spin me right round baby right round like a record baby right round round round..."

Now it's okay for Ben to miss on MN kids.... Even though that was the point of emphasis in his presser when hired. These same people would have been all over Pitino for missing out on a MN kid .....
 

Off-GridTNgopher said:
Now it's okay for Ben to miss on MN kids....
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Technically, he didn't "miss" because he really didn't swing.

Johnson has received commitments from 6 Minnesota kids (Battle, Sutherlin, Carrington, Payne, Ola-Joseph, and Asuma) in two years. I'd say that's good enough for now. You don't want to recruit all Minnesota kids. That's a questionable strategy from a talent standpoint and could possibly give the creeps to non-native recruits. Show me a school that recruits almost completely in-state and I'll show you a very low level program.
 


Off-GridTNgopher said:
"You spin me right round baby right round like a record baby right round round round..."

Now it's okay for Ben to miss on MN kids.... Even though that was the point of emphasis in his presser when hired. These same people would have been all over Pitino for missing out on a MN kid .....
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Well, the brilliant posters here wont admit it, but, yes, that is the case.
 

Off-GridTNgopher said:
"You spin me right round baby right round like a record baby right round round round..."

Now it's okay for Ben to miss on MN kids.... Even though that was the point of emphasis in his presser when hired. These same people would have been all over Pitino for missing out on a MN kid .....
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Will request the same thing from you that I did from Crappie.....show some proof of posters that are giving Johnson a free pass in recruiting local players that didn't give that same pass to Pitino.

Maybe you will have better luck finding these fictional posters than he did.

Emphasizing in state recruiting doesn't mean you have recruit and land every in state prospect. Johnson's job is to recruit the best players he can regardless of what state they come from. Not sure why some have such a hard time understanding that.
 


cjbfbp said:
Oh my God, thanks! How could I forget them? So, 8 in two years. That's even better. To my knowledge, Pitino had only 9 committed Minnesota kids in 8 years.
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Who cares about Pitino? Surely not any MN fan. Except you, apparently.
 

Let's segment local HS talent (oversimplified):

1 - high-end players with blue-blood offers/possible one-and-dones (Suggs, Holmgren, the Joneses)
2 - players with P6 (successful) team interest
3 - players with P6 (lesser) team interest (I'm thinking of Butler, DePaul, and their ilk)
4 - players with mid-low major interest (Summit League or MVC type)

The last few cycles have not produced anyone in category 1. You might have a case for Garcia since he did end up at a blue-blood, but he was a transfer-in.

Category 2 is where you want to spend your time and resources. There's only a few of these, so you want to have a good hit rate. If I'm not mistaken, the only ones are Chatman and Winter this year. Then you've got Freitag, Robison, Asuma, and McAndrew next year. Unless something changes, that looks like a hit rate of one out of six (and btw, UW could go 4/6 on these).

I get that there's lots of reasons why you don't go after guys, but doesn't this concern you?

I'm not sure how many category 3 and 4 guys there are, but these days, you let them go, see if they develop and try to get them in the portal on the rebound. This is now really a minor league system.
 

First off, is McAndrew a difference maker for a B1G team?

Most likely not.

Is he better than guys who are in the roster?

That’s debatable.

Last question. Should a coach who has finished last in the conference be interested in a player who may improve his team and is from the state on the jersey’s front?

Probably!

Look, I have no love for Johnson or Pitino. I think the Athletic Directors responsible reached as far as Pitino going with Gaston and Bakary. (Need some wingspan to do that.) Johnson not filling his scholarship limit with B1G level players or kids who could become that in the era of the portal, when you could get kids to leave very easily, is just as idiotic as recruiting four year stiffs and wasting scholarships.

Recruit players, sign players, make sure they can play or have potential to play B1G basketball.

Some of these guys who historically have gotten scholarships are just a waste.

Id rather see the unused scollies ho to the equipment kids who do their jobs for free.
 

formerlybis said:
Let's segment local HS talent (oversimplified):

1 - high-end players with blue-blood offers/possible one-and-dones (Suggs, Holmgren, the Joneses)
2 - players with P6 (successful) team interest
3 - players with P6 (lesser) team interest (I'm thinking of Butler, DePaul, and their ilk)
4 - players with mid-low major interest (Summit League or MVC type)

The last few cycles have not produced anyone in category 1. You might have a case for Garcia since he did end up at a blue-blood, but he was a transfer-in.

Category 2 is where you want to spend your time and resources. There's only a few of these, so you want to have a good hit rate. If I'm not mistaken, the only ones are Chatman and Winter this year. Then you've got Freitag, Robison, Asuma, and McAndrew next year. Unless something changes, that looks like a hit rate of one out of six (and btw, UW could go 4/6 on these).

I get that there's lots of reasons why you don't go after guys, but doesn't this concern you?

I'm not sure how many category 3 and 4 guys there are, but these days, you let them go, see if they develop and try to get them in the portal on the rebound. This is now really a minor league system.
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I get where you are coming from and obviously we would all love to see as many top in state guys choose to stay home as possible. But the reality is there is only so much any coach can do. You make your pitch, other teams make theirs and the 18 year old picks where they want to go to school.

It is frustrating as heck when local kids go star somewhere else but it is what it is, and it happens everywhere in the country.

In the end you need to find category 2 guys, but it doesn't matter where they grew up.
 

Crappie said:
Your consistency comes from your inability to state the obvious when it comes to cbj.
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Everybody knows the obvious about the state of Gopher basketball and the record of the coach. Nothing is gained by hammering on it.

What is also obvious is that he will continue to be head coach a third season. Since the strongest aspect of his poor performance has been recruiting, most here prefer to see what the next roster looks like. There will be more additions.
 

Dakota2 said:
Everybody knows the obvious about the state of Gopher basketball and the record of the coach. Nothing is gained by hammering on it.

What is also obvious is that he will continue to be head coach a third season. Since the strongest aspect of his poor performance has been recruiting, most here prefer to see what the next roster looks like. There will be more additions.
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Everyone knows the obvious, and wont state the obvious.
 

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