Jack Robinson commits to Wisconsin

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Wealthier white kids not wanting to go to a campus in an urban area.

Hmm.
 

balds said:
My kid has been at many of the same AAU tournaments over the years, going back to when he was in 6th grade. Also in the same HS conference, so I've seen him a lot.

First off, he's a really good shooter with a quick release. He's also a very smart player and a good passer. Where he falls off for me is his in between size and questionable athleticism for the Big Ten level. Thinking of some of the 6'4/6'5 SG/SF's that the Big Ten typically has, I see him struggling to win athletically, especially off the dribble. If he does get a favorable size matchup he's capable in the post. I've seen him really struggle in some SSC conference games against athletic defenders.

He's a solid player, and he still has two years of HS left. He could easily grow and/or improve a lot more, but I don't see this as a huge miss, especially in light of us bringing in a similar sized Cam Christie (and hopefully more like him).
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I've only seen him play once and he wasn't much of a ball handler either. I think he'll be a decent offensive basketball player but I really don't think he'll do much else.
 



Blackhammer said:
Jordan Taylor was a huge miss But he probably doesn’t count? Many of the others were role players . Wahl would start for us this year. One every other year would be more accurate Annoying would best describe it. Mcandrews from Wayzata will likely end up in Wisconsin as well Plenty of good players around to stress the burbs too much But Frietag would be a huge get.
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I said if you go back 30 years (15 for Taylor) you can find 2 or 3 that turned out to be good.

I mentioned Leuer...I guess I always need to mention Taylor by name too, or else you guys will. I better mention that Davison was okay.

But other than that, it's no big deal. I highly disagree that we should try to emulate Wisconsin's recruiting style.
 


Ben has been very clear that he doesn't just recruit Minnesota players and that not all Minnesota players will be the best fit for what he wants each year.

It is more of a fan perception and bias than it is a recurring miss when some Minnesota kids go play at another school.

We are not getting all of the kids that play HS basketball in Minnesota. Get over it.

Now just do not expecting us Gopher fans to root for some kid we never heard of that happens to be playing some college BB at some other school.
 

Blackhammer said:
Jordan Taylor was a huge miss But he probably doesn’t count? Many of the others were role players . Wahl would start for us this year. One every other year would be more accurate Annoying would best describe it. Mcandrews from Wayzata will likely end up in Wisconsin as well Plenty of good players around to stress the burbs too much But Frietag would be a huge get.
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Not to split hairs, but I don’t know if Wahl starts on this team. I don’t think he unseats Garcia or Battle, and he isn’t big enough to play C. Last year, yes.
 

If this kid were to hail from Illinois, or Virginia, or wherever I doubt any of us would care.
I'm sure there are plenty of other 3-star, 6'-6", small forwards out there that can do all of the same things mentioned earlier in this thread.
 

I think recruiting is about finding the right fit and best possible player that you can get to come to your school. If the Gophers didn't want these type of recruits to play for them then why make a scholarship offer?

As for MNJay saying that there basically hasn't been a lost recruit from Minnesota to Wisconsin, I'd think the on court results would speak for themselves. Not saying that the gophers and coach Johnson won't end up with a great class, just that something from a recruiting perspective has been working for Wisconsin for 20+ years. Either way good luck to the gophs going forward, it's a great rivalry in hoops and will only get better with an improved gopher team.

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MNJay said:
I said if you go back 30 years (15 for Taylor) you can find 2 or 3 that turned out to be good.

I mentioned Leuer...I guess I always need to mention Taylor by name too, or else you guys will. I better mention that Davison was okay.

But other than that, it's no big deal. I highly disagree that we should try to emulate Wisconsin's recruiting style.
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In the last 15 seasons, Wisconsin has won 68% of their Big 10 games. They have won the Big 10 four times, and finished in the top half of the conference every single season except for 2017-2018. They went to the Sweet 16 7 times and the Final Four twice.

No one is saying we should copy Wisconsin but to play it off like the numerous MN players didn't help to drive their success is a cope. They have gotten a ton of talent from MN and they have won at a rate that we could only dream of.

Have you watched the Gophers over the last 15 years? You don't think some of those guys, even as depth, would have helped us a ton? You're rolling your eyes at guys like Wahl? He went for 11 and 7 while leading the team in steals and blocks. Yep, we don't want guys like that.

It's one thing to say that you're not going to stress about the players leaving - it happens everywhere and I like the guys we have coming in. It's another thing to try to perpetuate some fantasy that WI hasn't pulled talent out of MN (besides Leuer) and we don't want to recruit those kinds of players. Hate to break it to ya, but we are recruiting them. We just aren't getting them yet.
 

Blackhammer said:
Jordan Taylor was a huge miss But he probably doesn’t count? Many of the others were role players . Wahl would start for us this year. One every other year would be more accurate Annoying would best describe it. Mcandrews from Wayzata will likely end up in Wisconsin as well Plenty of good players around to stress the burbs too much But Frietag would be a huge get.
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Who would Wahl start ahead of? He's not bad, but totally a different type of player than what Ben is recruiting. He doesn't shoot well or handle the ball well - not a multiple position type of player. Fits Wisconsin's system well. Part of the reason I think we see these type of kids go there. Their skills fit. He's wouldn't start ahead of Garcia or Battle here - he can't shoot or handle ball. He'd play, but I don't know that he'd start. He's not going to guard a reasonable 5.
 

MNBadgerGuy said:
I think recruiting is about finding the right fit and best possible player that you can get to come to your school. If the Gophers didn't want these type of recruits to play for them then why make a scholarship offer?

As for MNJay saying that there basically hasn't been a lost recruit from Minnesota to Wisconsin, I'd think the on court results would speak for themselves. Not saying that the gophers and coach Johnson won't end up with a great class, just that something from a recruiting perspective has been working for Wisconsin for 20+ years. Either way good luck to the gophs going forward, it's a great rivalry in hoops and will only get better with an improved gopher team.

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You must have missed the era of suburban dads trashing the gophers in the papers for not recruiting their kids hard enough, knowing full well the head coach (Smith/Pitino) could not react to the comments because it would violate NCAA recruiting rules.
 

bc2211 said:
You must have missed the era of suburban dads trashing the gophers in the papers for not recruiting their kids hard enough, knowing full well the head coach (Smith/Pitino) could not react to the comments because it would violate NCAA recruiting rules.
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Do you think Tubby recruited and Pitino recruited the suburbs hard?
 



Bob_Loblaw said:
Do you think Tubby recruited and Pitino recruited the suburbs hard?
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I have no idea (I’ve heard plenty of people complain that they didn’t). my point is that if they didn’t at least feign interest (see Davison), the local newspapers printed negative feedback. Hence my response to the question of why we would recruit players we don’t want. Obviously this view is from 10,000 feet.
 


MNBadgerGuy, Bob_Loblaw, and other Badger fans love to tout the Badgers' record vs the Gophers' record.

But I will NEVER agree to adopt their local recruiting style. I want a coach like Clem. Or a coach who recruits guys like Evans, Garcia, Payne, & Christie. I don't want Winter, Robinson, Wahl, Carlson, Crowl, etc., etc.

Sam Dekker, Johnny Davis...yes. When they pull someone like that out of Minnesota, then I will worry about them.
 

The love in the Lakeville area for the badgers extends well beyond basketball specifically, or sports in general. There are simply a lot of badger alums living in the area, and they all want to tell you how much fun it was to party in Madtown. Lots of cars driving around with badger window stickers too.

By contrast, I have yet to meet anyone south of the river who will admit to being a hawkeye grad. Doesn’t mean they’re not here, but they don’t wear their love for iowa on their sleeves like badger alums/fans do.
 

MNJay said:
MNBadgerGuy, Bob_Loblaw, and other Badger fans love to tout the Badgers' record vs the Gophers' record.

But I will NEVER agree to adopt their local recruiting style. I want a coach like Clem. Or a coach who recruits guys like Evans, Garcia, Payne, & Christie. I don't want Winter, Robinson, Wahl, Carlson, Crowl, etc., etc.

Sam Dekker, Johnny Davis...yes. When they pull someone like that out of Minnesota, then I will worry about them.
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I'm only saying this because I'm obviously a die hard Badger fan but isn't the record kind of important?

I know, I know. . .my fellow Badger fans and I seem to get bogged down on unimportant things like wins.
 

Fan of Ray Christensen said:
The love in the Lakeville area for the badgers extends well beyond basketball specifically, or sports in general. There are simply a lot of badger alums living in the area, and they all want to tell you how much fun it was to party in Madtown. Lots of cars driving around with badger window stickers too.

By contrast, I have yet to meet anyone south of the river who will admit to being a hawkeye grad. Doesn’t mean they’re not here, but they don’t wear their love for iowa on their sleeves like badger alums/fans do.
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I think there are fewer Iowa fans than Badger fans because we have reciprocity with WI.
 

Would be interesting to know how many undergrad alumni of each Big Ten school live/work in the various counties of the TC metro.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Yeah, I agree. I don't sleep over missing out on Winter and Robinson. I really like the class that Ben has put together.

I think we are going to continue having difficulty recruiting in the suburbs (and potentially outstate). There is, at least, a perception that MPLS has gone downhill in the last few years and that perception is pretty strong in the suburbs.
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It will be interesting to watch and it really depends on the kid. I think outstate we have good opportunities because of location to an airport.
Ben’s doing a good job imo on trying to identify players who value being here whether they are local or out of state. Robison was one like liked a lot and more than Winter, but it seems like we have others whom we like more. He also would have a tough path with Christie, Carrington, and Henley ahead of him
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I think there are fewer Iowa fans than Badger fans because we have reciprocity with WI.
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True, but most of the badger alums I know—and it’s not like I know dozens of them—moved from wisconsin to the TC metro because the higher paying jobs are here.

Regardless, going to school in Madison is viewed positively down here, and it’s a fertile recruiting ground for high school kids whether they play sports or not.
 


Gopherfan84 said:
It will be interesting to watch and it really depends on the kid. I think outstate we have good opportunities because of location to an airport.
Ben’s doing a good job imo on trying to identify players who value being here whether they are local or out of state. Robison was one like liked a lot and more than Winter, but it seems like we have others whom we like more. He also would have a tough path with Christie, Carrington, and Henley ahead of him
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100%. I think Ben's doing a fantastic job, I really like our current group of FR and his classes just keep getting better.
 


Tucker32 said:
Who would Wahl start ahead of? He's not bad, but totally a different type of player than what Ben is recruiting. He doesn't shoot well or handle the ball well - not a multiple position type of player. Fits Wisconsin's system well. Part of the reason I think we see these type of kids go there. Their skills fit. He's wouldn't start ahead of Garcia or Battle here - he can't shoot or handle ball. He'd play, but I don't know that he'd start. He's not going to guard a reasonable 5.
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Wahl would start with Garcia and Battle if he was a Gopher. There may be times you would have to devise a way to help out defensively in the middle but with three pretty active forwards that should not be a problem.

If he gets position and the ball down low he is pretty effective, force him out on the floor his productivity goes way down.
 



a possibly simpler explanation:

a kid from Lakeville North goes to Wisconsin. He comes home for breaks, etc and tells his buddies and former teammates how much he likes it in Madison. that leads to another kid going to Wisconsin and so forth. Now you have a "pipeline" built up between the Wisconsin coaches, the coaches at Lakeville North, and the LN players.

whether intentional or not, it also seems as if LN plays a style and produces athletes who fit the "Wisconsin" mold.

give Ben Johnson time and hopefully he will create his own pipelines with schools that produce the type of athletes that Johnson is looking for.
 

Lakeville hasn’t been a primary reason Wisconsin’s success. Taylor (Benilde), Davidson (Maple Grove) have. Lueuer is average. But mostly, it’s guys like Kaminsky, Davis etc that have led to their success. This kid would be buried on the bench here most likely. I think the only kid from Lakeville that’s ever really panned out is that kid who went to Xavier (Forgot his name). So, not a loss at all to imo.
 

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