Jalen Suggs recent interview

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CPTMidnight said:
Apparently, if Mark Few was getting busted for drinking and driving here in Minnesota instead of out west Jalen would have stayed at home. Were there other coaches that would have been acceptable to you Jalen? Tubby? Monson? Krzyzewski might be a good option considering things were not working out at Duke...

Maybe if there is a "one-and-done" with big ego we can just ask him who he wants to be the coach for the year to avoid this kind if embarrassing situation.

(Not a shot at you Keyser - just think it is funny how this dude is inserting himself into the conversation)
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You are right and it also emphasizes another point. The U was not considered “good enough“ or a “joke” to many in the AAU crowd. They thought it was beneath them to go to the U.

Hopefully, Ben will make the U the “go-to” school.
 



oak_street1981 said:
Suggs showed a huge lack of character by putting these silly lies out there. For a kid worth millions now, needing nothing from anyone ever again, he sure took the lowest road possible.

There was zero chance he was ever coming to Minnesota, at least in the last 18 months of the recruiting process and everyone who is honest knows it. He really comes across as an entitled, weasel here; attacking a guy that got fired and will never defend himself.

The MHA Golden Boy was flat out making it up as he went along and everyone knows it. This makes him look awful, and I have no idea what his motivation was.

My plan was to post nothing about this false story Suggs decided to put out there for some odd reason, but then I heard Trent Tucker talking about it on the In the Zone show with Dave S. on Sunday. Dave was not buying the story at all and asked Trent Tucker to weigh in and as is his nature Trent dodged, waffled, then took the Suggs position 100 percent.

Dave S. was correct, but he fixated on the absurdity that a one and done NBA top 5 pick would risk injury and play one season of football at Minnesota with Tanner Morgan clearly on the throne, which is correct, but he have him a pass on "Richard did not kiss my ass enough" BS story.

Classic Trent Tucker, never take a risk, never tell the real story, just lay in the weeds while taking the "company" line and protecting those you perceive as your allies, and make sure you offend no one. There is a reason this guy is a total wash out as a TV commentator.
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It’s impressive that you have sources closer to Jalen Suggs than Jalen Suggs himself. You should post more often about your inside info.
 

GopherBlood666 said:
If he flat out said Pitino and the state of the program were not on par with his talent that would be honesty and we could not argue.
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He literally said Pitino’s recruiting (or lack thereof) was the reason he didn’t commit and people are arguing that it isn’t true even after several other MN recruits publicly agreed lol.
 
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Coach: Seems like a headcase and a one-and-done that we have little chance at anyway. Skip...
Player: It was recruiting and the coach.

Why are we still talking about a Gonzaga alum recruited by the New Mexico coach?
 

CPTMidnight said:
Coach: Seems like a headcase and a one-and-done that we have little chance at anyway. Skip...
Player: It was recruiting and the coach.

Why are we still talking about a Gonzaga alum recruited by the New Mexico coach?
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Did you miss the part where several other players chimed? One player saying something like that would be one thing, but when several others respond and imply having the same experience, it makes it pretty clear that there was a legit problem.

The only reason it's still being talked about is because for some reason there are people who believe they understand the mindset and opinions of several players better than the players themselves.
 
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Keyser Söze said:
Did you miss the part where several other players chimed? One player saying something like that would be one thing, but when several others respond and imply having the same experience, it makes it pretty clear that there was a legit problem.

The only reason it's still being talked about is because for some reason there are people who believe they understand the mindset and opinions of several players better than the players themselves.
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Pitino was fired; not following why we are trying to come up with reasons he should be fired?
 

Keyser Söze said:
Did you miss the part where several other players chimed? One player saying something like that would be one thing, but when several others respond and imply having the same experience, it makes it pretty clear that there was a legit problem.

The only reason it's still being talked about is because for some reason there are people who believe they understand the mindset and opinions of several players better than the players themselves.
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Ill fix it.

Coach: Seems like a headcase and a one-and-done that we have little chance at anyway. Skip...
Player: It was recruiting and the coach.
Other Players: "Yup"
 



Gopher Teeth said:
Pitino was fired; not following why we are trying to come up with reasons he should be fired?
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I'm just responding to the idea that people know better about a recruit's opinion than the recruit himself, which is hilarious. I'll stop responding though and allow those people to "do their own research".
 

Keyser Söze said:
I'm just responding to the idea that people know better about a recruit's opinion than the recruit himself, which is hilarious. I'll stop responding though and allow those people to "do their own research".
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I am not sure people are saying he does not know his own opinion. They are saying he is a lying and attention-seeking nutjob.

...if you would have paid more attention to me I might have gone to the prom with you but you didn't so I went to the prom with this Gonzaga guy - who was really cool. Other Players: Ya, me too, we all wanted to go to the prom with you when you offered. You didn't call me , you didn't bring me flowers - broke my 17 Y.O. heart :(

Anyways, We just stopped back to the high school to let you know how much you missed out on, Loser.



LOL - OK guys. Don't trip over your skirts.
 

CPTMidnight said:
I am not sure people are saying he does not know his own opinion. They are saying he is a lying and attention-seeking nutjob.

...if you would have paid more attention to me I might have gone to the prom with you but you didn't so I went to the prom with this Gonzaga guy - who was really cool. Other Players: Ya, me too, we all wanted to go to the prom with you when you offered. You didn't call me , you didn't bring me flowers - broke my 17 Y.O. heart :(

Anyways, We just stopped back to the high school to let you know how much you missed out on, Loser.



LOL - OK guys. Don't trip over your skirts.
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Translation: "I spent 2 or 3 years defending an obvious failure in Pitino. Damned if I'll admit I was wrong just because I was wrong."
 

Keyser Söze said:
Did you miss the part where several other players chimed? One player saying something like that would be one thing, but when several others respond and imply having the same experience, it makes it pretty clear that there was a legit problem.

The only reason it's still being talked about is because for some reason there are people who believe they understand the mindset and opinions of several players better than the players themselves.
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You do realize the other players were clearly mocking Jalen right?
 



USAF said:
Translation: "I spent 2 or 3 years defending an obvious failure in Pitino. Damned if I'll admit I was wrong just because I was wrong."
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Easy there USAF. Dont strain yourself with the logic.
 


I won’t try to speak for anyone else, but the reason I think that this is BS is because what he’s really saying is that if Pitino had showed him more love, then he would have accepted a FOOTBALL scholarship to the University of Minnesota and presumably been prepared to devote his full attention to the football team through late December or early January before shifting to basketball. By rule it would have to be football scholarship, so unless PJ was willing to use up one of his scholarships to only have him for the first handful of games, it makes no sense. Gonzaga was a basketball choice. To say that he would have given up being primarily a basketball player if Pitino had come to more of his practices seems suspect to me. Could it be true? I suppose, but if he really wanted to be a football player first, I’d think that he would have chosen a school where that was possible.
 
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USAF said:
Fans: "Why oh why won't top local recruits stay home?"

Top local recruit: "The coach."

Fans: "The recruit is lying!!1!"
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I was begging for Pitino to be canned (so I'm not defending him), but you'd really only believe Jalen if you have the memory of a goldfish. The top recruits have been leaving before Pitino got here and they left since he left. Matthew Hurt chimed in and echoed the sentiment, I really can't imagine a program doing more to make themselves appealing to Matthew Hurt.

But man, I hope I'm wrong. Now that we got rid of Pitino, I can start expecting the U to land all of these top recruits.
 

2nd Degree Gopher said:
I won’t try to speak for anyone else, but the reason I think that this is BS is because what he’s really saying is that if Pitino had showed him more love, then he would have accepted a FOOTBALL scholarship to the University of Minnesota and presumably been prepared to devote his full attention to the football team through late December or early January before shifting to basketball. By rule it would have to be football scholarship, so unless PJ was willing to use up one of his scholarships to only have him for the first handful of games, it makes no sense. Gonzaga was a basketball choice. To say that he would have given up being primarily a basketball player if Pitino had come to more of his practices seems suspect to me. Could it be true? I suppose, but if he really wanted to be a football player first, I’d think that he would have chosen a school where that was possible.
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100%. Jalen was a one-and-done basketball player and he knew that. It worked out perfectly for him, so I don't even begrudge his decision. But he just wanted to seem like "the good guy" in that interview rather than say "I chose greener pastures".
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
100%. Jalen was a one-and-done basketball player and he knew that. It worked out perfectly for him, so I don't even begrudge his decision. But he just wanted to seem like "the good guy" in that interview rather than say "I chose greener pastures".
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If you look at this whole thing realistically, as a one and done player, the whole story is clearly BS, by Suggs, and worse yet even makes Richard Pitino look like sort of a victim.

The whole podcast was poorly thought out and probably regretable for all involved.

The episode is distasteful and cheapens Jalen Suggs, but I have no doubt he really does like playing football, and maybe part of him regrets that he never will know if he could have been the next Patrick Mahomes, an an elite shut down corner. Maybe that interview was a way his inner doubts about lost ambitions leaked out.

This charitable interpretation makes Suggs a much more sympathetic character if at all valid, as opposed to the liar and egomaniac he appeared to be initially.

I'll stand by my earlier assertion that Trent Tucker is a diction challenged, ass kissing, risk adverse, conventional thinking lackey. Suggs pretty much could have said anything and good old TT would have backed it up, after a bunch of waffling. Never trust a 6'6" guard that does not go hard to the hole and throw down a hammer dunk once in a while! Soft people settle for mid range jump shots! (a joke)
 
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Bob_Loblaw said:
100%. Jalen was a one-and-done basketball player and he knew that. It worked out perfectly for him, so I don't even begrudge his decision. But he just wanted to seem like "the good guy" in that interview rather than say "I chose greener pastures".
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Jalen is very brand savvy. By keeping this idea alive that he could have been a great college football player as well as a basketball player, it helps his brand.

Jalen will have little exposure until the Futures game on all-star weekend. The Magic have 2 games scheduled on NBATV as their only national games this year. No TNT and no ESPN.

If you want to watch him, need to buy League Pass.
 

7866Fan said:
Jalen is very brand savvy. By keeping this idea alive that he could have been a great college football player as well as a basketball player, it helps his brand.

Jalen will have little exposure until the Futures game on all-star weekend. The Magic have 2 games scheduled on NBATV as their only national games this year. No TNT and no ESPN.

If you want to watch him, need to buy League Pass.
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I like watching him play basketball, I'll be watching.
 

When it was just Suggs I was thinking, probably BS. Now that several players have said it, I have to believe that there was a lot of interest from various players and we just failed to capitalize on it. Most likely, a lot of them would have still went elsewhere but I don't think it's crazy to think that we could have retained a few.
 

Obi-Wan Okogie said:
When it was just Suggs I was thinking, probably BS. Now that several players have said it, I have to believe that there was a lot of interest from various players and we just failed to capitalize on it. Most likely, a lot of them would have still went elsewhere but I don't think it's crazy to think that we could have retained a few.
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I don't begrudge any player for picking whatever college they want and I can certainly understand not wanting to play for Pitino, but these guys are full of sh!t.

What more could the U have done to try to convince the Matthew Hurt? I try not to rip on Michael Hurt, he played hard for us and he'll forever be a Gopher, but we simply could not have done more for him or that family. He should have been too embarrassed to chime in.

Jalen Sugg is flat out lying. There is zero chance he was going to play football and basketball at the U. Zero. He only said it because he didn't even know the rule (which shows how little time he actually thought about actually playing football). Jalen made all of the right choices with his career (in HS choice and college choice), I really don't begrudge him for that. He has just always been cringe, so he also wants to seem loyal to his roots. He isn't, he chose elsewhere and that's totally cool.

Like I said earlier in the thread, I hope that I'm wrong and that these guys aren't 100% full of sh!t. That means the floodgates will open for these local blue chip recruits. But I won't hold my breath.
 

GopherBlood666 said:
If he flat out said Pitino and the state of the program were not on par with his talent that would be honesty and we could not argue.
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Exactly, Suggs said Pitino didn't recruit him hard enough, a bit of a difference there.
 

So why are kids who were never coming to the U slamming Pitino? Coach Johnson has also said negative things about Pitino. This crap is all related. Some pretty petty crap.
 

jovs said:
Exactly, Suggs said Pitino didn't recruit him hard enough, a bit of a difference there.
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Not to rehash it all again, but Suggs was at many of the Gopher home games. The only way he could have gotten more attention was if he was already on the team.

Recruiting goes both ways, if a coach feels he is getting the cold shoulder or being played, he is not going to waste his time. Reports are that many in the state BB community would laugh and mock Pitino, he surely knew about it.
 

alchemy2u said:
Not to rehash it all again, but Suggs was at many of the Gopher home games. The only way he could have gotten more attention was if he was already on the team.

Recruiting goes both ways, if a coach feels he is getting the cold shoulder or being played, he is not going to waste his time. Reports are that many in the state BB community would laugh and mock Pitino, he surely knew about it.
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I agree it has to go both ways and I really would not want my kid to play for Pitino. I thought he played Amir Coffeey out of position for most of his career. I think he probably hurt Marcus Carr's stock. I know casual fans see the numbers, but playing hero ball and dribbling the air out of the ball does not impress pro scouts. So I get it. I really do get recruits choosing to play elsewhere.

Suggs is lying that he was going to play basketball and football at the U. He didn't even seriously look into it or he would have known the rule (and then immediately ruled it out and never mentioned it again). Maybe he is misremembering his own past, I don't know.

Essentially, he dumped his HS sweetheart to date a super model. And I get it. But you don't need to take cheap shots on your into the NBA, especially ones that are clearly not true.
 

alchemy2u said:
Not to rehash it all again, but Suggs was at many of the Gopher home games. The only way he could have gotten more attention was if he was already on the team.

Recruiting goes both ways, if a coach feels he is getting the cold shoulder or being played, he is not going to waste his time. Reports are that many in the state BB community would laugh and mock Pitino, he surely knew about it.
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That was more as a favor to Sizzle AAU for future recruits on why Suggs got offered those free tickets. I think Suggs wanted to go to MN to be honest, but his family was not a fan of Pitino for numerous reasons. Obviously to call it out like he did was ridiculous
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I agree it has to go both ways and I really would not want my kid to play for Pitino. I thought he played Amir Coffeey out of position for most of his career. I think he probably hurt Marcus Carr's stock. I know casual fans see the numbers, but playing hero ball and dribbling the air out of the ball does not impress pro scouts. So I get it. I really do get recruits choosing to play elsewhere.

Suggs is lying that he was going to play basketball and football at the U. He didn't even seriously look into it or he would have known the rule (and then immediately ruled it out and never mentioned it again). Maybe he is misremembering his own past, I don't know.

Essentially, he dumped his HS sweetheart to date a super model. And I get it. But you don't need to take cheap shots on your into the NBA, especially ones that are clearly not true.
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I think the hero ball didn't help, but more his unwillingness to defend and play hard consistently hurt him more with scouts. They could all play together as to be honest too. What position do you think Coffey should've played? Not disagreeing with your assessment just curious since he played two different ones
 

Gopherfan84 said:
I think the hero ball didn't help, but more his unwillingness to defend and play hard consistently hurt him more with scouts. They could all play together as to be honest too. What position do you think Coffey should've played? Not disagreeing with your assessment just curious since he played two different ones
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Yep, I think that hurt him too. I don't know how much of that had to do with playing more minutes than anyone in college basketball or not, but I don't think it helped him.

I think Coffee should have been more like a 3&D wing type. He obviously could handle a bit for a wing and that's a plus but it didn't transform him into a PG. He should have had considerably more shots (especially 3s) off of ball rotations and not off the dribble. He should have been more of a terror cutting. He would have been a difficult cover. You can envision Amir popping out to the extended elbow and being a threat to shoot, drive or cut right back to the hoop.
 

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