Jahlil Okafor's in-home visits
- Thread starter SelectionSunday
- Start date
In a dream world, recruits would tell the truth regarding their thoughts on certain schools.
For instance, someone asked Rashad Vaughn the other day... "Rashad, do you have a UCONN offer and what are the chances you go there?"
Vaughn's response: "yea, and idk"
It's like... You sure as heck do know, you know there's no way you're going there. So do people a favor, and tell them it's doubtful.
I would have a lot more respect for recruits who told the truth in stead of stringing fans and media along, that being said... it IS their personnel recruitment and they shouldn't have to tell us.
For instance, someone asked Rashad Vaughn the other day... "Rashad, do you have a UCONN offer and what are the chances you go there?"
Vaughn's response: "yea, and idk"
It's like... You sure as heck do know, you know there's no way you're going there. So do people a favor, and tell them it's doubtful.
I would have a lot more respect for recruits who told the truth in stead of stringing fans and media along, that being said... it IS their personnel recruitment and they shouldn't have to tell us.
I hope that if Jones and Okafor are a package that they don't go to Duke at least. That would be lame as hell. I don't think that would be an ideal situation for either of them. Certainly not Okafor, as K hasn't exactly helped many centers to become NBA stars lately, and having little former Duke guard Wojo as the position coach for the center position can't be ideal.
Coach K I think is the most overrated coach in college basketball, and I'm not saying he's a bad coach but he gets way too much credit for his coaching because he has had more talented players enlisted in service than almost any coach in the country. And I say it that way because he specializes in getting guys who are talented but aren't necessarily eager to go pro that will stay longer than anyone else and provide the most bang for the buck over the course of four years. He has rosters loaded with 5 star recruits but can't seem to find enough talented players to build a deep bench and rides his starters pretty hard usually which hurts the team in the long run as often his teams have disappointed in March in recent years. Since the tide turned and players starting going pro "early" much more regularly, his success in making deep tourney runs has declined at an extraordinary rate. Only one Final Four since 2004 at Duke. One. You'd be hard-pressed to find another program who has had as many McD's AAs as Duke with as many years in college as his AAs have had without at least 2 F4s since then.
Coach K I think is the most overrated coach in college basketball, and I'm not saying he's a bad coach but he gets way too much credit for his coaching because he has had more talented players enlisted in service than almost any coach in the country. And I say it that way because he specializes in getting guys who are talented but aren't necessarily eager to go pro that will stay longer than anyone else and provide the most bang for the buck over the course of four years. He has rosters loaded with 5 star recruits but can't seem to find enough talented players to build a deep bench and rides his starters pretty hard usually which hurts the team in the long run as often his teams have disappointed in March in recent years. Since the tide turned and players starting going pro "early" much more regularly, his success in making deep tourney runs has declined at an extraordinary rate. Only one Final Four since 2004 at Duke. One. You'd be hard-pressed to find another program who has had as many McD's AAs as Duke with as many years in college as his AAs have had without at least 2 F4s since then.
Olberding was top 5 in the country and stayed.
XMan
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2008
- Messages
- 4,782
- Reaction score
- 407
- Points
- 83
Mark Olberding
Kevin McHale
Sam Jacobsen
Joel Pryzbilla
Rick Rickert
kris Humphries
Royce White
Rodney Williams
WhoFellDownTheGopherHole?
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2011
- Messages
- 3,641
- Reaction score
- 2,579
- Points
- 113
We're going to land all of them. The Big 3, and Okafor, and..throw in a random tag-a-long recruit. For one season, for one moment in time, the Gopher Men's BB team will be EPIC. The movie made about it will be the biggest thing in basketball film since 'Hoosiers'. ('Air Bud II' non-withstanding). The Pitino Pedigree will override The Great Minnesota Sports Curse and allow us all a bountiful respite. It will be glorious.
Dream big, achieve big!!!! Love it
matt
Let's get weird
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2010
- Messages
- 5,152
- Reaction score
- 4,057
- Points
- 113
Thanks. What a great wake up comment for another shltty April day.
HouseOfHagen
Member
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2010
- Messages
- 294
- Reaction score
- 8
- Points
- 18
While it would make for a great movie, please don't forget about the film, "The Air Up There." Give credit where credit is due. Kevin Bacon was genius in that movie!
McHale was not considered a big time recruit. He was a rare guy that got better at every level he went up. Jacobson was big time as was Rickert. Pryz was a notch down- top 25/top 50 range.
XMan
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2008
- Messages
- 4,782
- Reaction score
- 407
- Points
- 83
It was a different time when McHale and Olberding were going through but they were pretty well recruited kids. My memory has Pryz highly ranked as well. I can't say if he was or was not better than a 25th ranked player, but he was a McDonalds All American.
Another reason to string this out is as a courtesy to one's summer teammates. I know of one girl who was set to announce her choice a year ago (about now) when her AAU program prevailed upon her not to, because if she did nobody would come to see her, and nobody would come to see the AAU team, and nobody would see her AAU teammates. It would not be good for the team or the teammates, so she relented, and ultimately verballed about 6 months later. I don't know how often this happens, maybe this was a once in a lifetime, but it happened.
XMan
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2008
- Messages
- 4,782
- Reaction score
- 407
- Points
- 83
Never thought about that but it makes some sense.
Bad Gopher
A Loner, A Rebel
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2008
- Messages
- 23,308
- Reaction score
- 10,573
- Points
- 113
With God as my witness, Gibbons had him rated 3rd in the nation.
That dog could run some mean routes.
WILLBGOPHER
Member
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2011
- Messages
- 244
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 16
Minnesota is a very distant third behind MSU and Duke.
Blackhammer
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2010
- Messages
- 1,706
- Reaction score
- 582
- Points
- 113
I just remember Steve Lingenfelter outplaying in badly in the state championship. I believe by the time he stepped on the court for the Gophers he was bigger and a much better player than in high school. I think it was a big surprise to fans and even Jim Dutcher how he good he was as a frosh.
Pryz? The ESPN college basketball encyclopedia has Gibbons' top-25 each class over a span of decades, since 1978 when Ralph Sampson was #1 in the class. He had JP #4 in the 1997 class according to the encyclopedia.
XMan
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2008
- Messages
- 4,782
- Reaction score
- 407
- Points
- 83
So anyway, we haven't had a ton of top 25 players over the past thirty years, but most of them did sign with the gophers. I bet we also get Vaughn and Travis. Then Illikainen, Ellenson and J. Johnson the following year.
Ron Johnson Super Fan
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2009
- Messages
- 1,270
- Reaction score
- 218
- Points
- 63
I like your vision. Hopefully it becomes reality.