Jalen Suggs recent interview

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This is absolutely ridiculous and makes my blood boil. What an incompetent coach. Unbelievable
 


I call bs. Even RJ was like what do you mean, you wanted more attention? Suggs says no, but then proceeds to say exactly that.

It sucks that Pitino couldn’t build an okay relationship with him and other local players - and that’s part of the reason he’s gone - but I believe that recruiting has to be a two way street. If Suggs actually wanted to be at Minnesota for the sake of being a gopher, then he would have been. The same with McKinely Wright. If you are in the top 100 and are ready to commit to Minnesota, then you shouldn’t commit somewhere else. You can’t have it both ways/have your cake and eat it to.
 

Well, he is a crybaby... I guess Richard should have gone over to Suggs' house and tucked him into bed and maybe read him a bedtime story or two. I imagine singing some bedtime lullabies would have been over the top, though. I dunno... can Richard sing?

With any luck I'll get to see Chet sobbing after defeat in his one-and-done season. Fingers crossed...
 








I don't believe this. It's fine if he didn't like Pitino or Pitino wasn't the right guy or whatever but I find it hard to believe that he didn't recruit him "hard enough." He was never coming here and he should just leave it at that.
 

bc2211 said:
I call bs. Even RJ was like what do you mean, you wanted more attention? Suggs says no, but then proceeds to say exactly that.

It sucks that Pitino couldn’t build an okay relationship with him and other local players - and that’s part of the reason he’s gone - but I believe that recruiting has to be a two way street. If Suggs actually wanted to be at Minnesota for the sake of being a gopher, then he would have been. The same with McKinely Wright. If you are in the top 100 and are ready to commit to Minnesota, then you shouldn’t commit somewhere else. You can’t have it both ways/have your cake and eat it to.
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I tend to agree with what you are saying, but he expected more respect and attention out of Pitino. I think Pitino thought he was still recruiting at Louisville or Florida, where he learned to coach and where they didn’t have to put on the hard sell.
 

laazrakit said:
Well, he is a crybaby... I guess Richard should have gone over to Suggs' house and tucked him into bed and maybe read him a bedtime story or two. I imagine singing some bedtime lullabies would have been over the top, though. I dunno... can Richard sing?

With any luck I'll get to see Chet sobbing after defeat in his one-and-done season. Fingers crossed...
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First off....I call major BS on this. Second....one of my good friend's sister is engaged to I believe one of the assistant coaches for the women's team at Minnehaha, and has said that he was a whiny baby. Commonly wouldn't try. Everyone saw Gonzaga's opening game where Suggs went down with an injury and it looked really bad the way he was milking it. Believe he had to be lifted off the court. Sat with his head down and a towel over his head while a trainer looked at him,, then all of a sudden he was on the side flexing it, then walking around, then running, and then back in the game. What a warrior.

Yeah....he's just trying to get attention.
 

alchemy2u said:
I tend to agree with what you are saying, but he expected more respect and attention out of Pitino. I think Pitino thought he was still recruiting at Louisville or Florida, where he learned to coach and where they didn’t have to put on the hard sell.
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I'm not sure that's it. Pitino was 0 for whatever when it came to recruiting the very highest rated Minnesota (and national) prep players and he may have just figured that enough was enough and that he should concentrate his efforts elsewhere. I'm certainly not a fan of Pitino but if he figured after a number of years of trying to get five star players that those targets were mostly a waste of time, I could understand that logic.
 
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So we’re calling Suggs a liar? One of many knocks on Pitino is he doesn’t recruit. Puts the majority on his assistants. JG basically admitted on KFAN that Pitino bragged about his assistants doing the recruiting. When you’re a top recruit like Suggs, Chet, Jones’s you wanna talk to the head coach. Few and Coach K were always around. Shoot Minnehaha was on the way to and from his drive to work. Wouldn’t have hurt to stop by
 


I'm sure the first couple of posters in this thread are nice people and good fans, but you're an absolute moron if you believe this. Suggs was never going to play football, Pitino was recruiting him for years, I've had season tickets for well over a decade, and I started seeing Suggs in a guest seats when he was in Middle School. Unless he wanted a Rick Pitino Louisville hooker special, he had every opportunity to commit to the U. Suggs to Gonzaga was done the spring of his Junior year at the latest. I get that Suggs wants to keep a good rep in his hometown and the people who don't follow this stuff closely will probably believe it, but this is just pure crap and quite frankly a little Bush League on his part, but the truth of the matter is, when you have the rare gift to be a Pro athlete, you can't control when you're born/grow up, can't control who drafts you, but the one time he had control of where he would play, he chose to leave the state and that's fine, but own your choice and don't make up these half assed excuses to justify it when it's really not necessary.
 

SoMpls said:
So we’re calling Suggs a liar? One of many knocks on Pitino is he doesn’t recruit. Puts the majority on his assistants. JG basically admitted on KFAN that Pitino bragged about his assistants doing the recruiting. When you’re a top recruit like Suggs, Chet, Jones’s you wanna talk to the head coach. Few and Coach K were always around. Shoot Minnehaha was on the way to and from his drive to work. Wouldn’t have hurt to stop by
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Yes, Suggs is at the very least embellishing. As others mentioned, how much attention is necessary? Pitino would have taken Suggs commitment as a freshman at Minnehaha and he knows that. Bringing this stuff up now, when coaches aren't allowed to comment on recruiting, is pretty weak. It's cool if he is trying to compliment PJ as a football coach, but he shouldn't have to dog Pitino in the process.
 

I am with those who call BS on this. It strikes me as a somewhat immature young man seizing on an opportunity to try to buttress his standing in his home state by shifting responsibility for his decision to leave onto the guy who is no longer here.
 

Fleckoff said:
I'm sure the first couple of posters in this thread are nice people and good fans, but you're an absolute moron if you believe this. Suggs was never going to play football, Pitino was recruiting him for years, I've had season tickets for well over a decade, and I started seeing Suggs in a guest seats when he was in Middle School. Unless he wanted a Rick Pitino Louisville hooker special, he had every opportunity to commit to the U. Suggs to Gonzaga was done the spring of his Junior year at the latest. I get that Suggs wants to keep a good rep in his hometown and the people who don't follow this stuff closely will probably believe it, but this is just pure crap and quite frankly a little Bush League on his part, but the truth of the matter is, when you have the rare gift to be a Pro athlete, you can't control when you're born/grow up, can't control who drafts you, but the one time he had control of where he would play, he chose to leave the state and that's fine, but own your choice and don't make up these half assed excuses to justify it when it's really not necessary.
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From a teenager, about what you would expect , unfortunately people pay attention to the things he says.
 

I’m typically the Grand marshal of a crap on Pitino parade but I always found it interesting that none of the big boys went hard after Suggs (interestingly, same with Chet). Particularly Kentucky, I don’t think there’s been a PG in the last few years that was more of a Calipari guard than Jalen but there was next to no interest in him from them or any of the other blue bloods. My assumption is that the Suggs camp and by extension the Sizzle program are difficult to deal with.

There may be expectations that many blue bloods aren’t even going to consider but a school like Gonzaga that’s chasing a championship season or many up and comers would more likely be willing to put up with. I find it fascinating some of the early offers that have gone out to Sizzle prospects all from the same group of schools. Let’s face it, favors are done by programs to land a big fish but coaches have egos too and the more seasoned guys aren’t going to play the game to inflate your AAU program.
 

Complete lip service....He said on ESPN multiple times last year how fortunate he was to play for a program that has a chance at a national championship every year....He certainly wasn't getting that here......I'm sure guys like Izzo, coach K, etc. gave him plenty of attention....Why didnt he go there?....It's a savvy move by him if he plans on living here, working here when he is done with basketball.
 

GopherBlood666 said:
Yes, Suggs is at the very least embellishing. As others mentioned, how much attention is necessary? Pitino would have taken Suggs commitment as a freshman at Minnehaha and he knows that. Bringing this stuff up now, when coaches aren't allowed to comment on recruiting, is pretty weak. It's cool if he is trying to compliment PJ as a football coach, but he shouldn't have to dog Pitino in the process.
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I get it but let’s not act like this isn’t the knock on Pitino. He never truly integrated himself in the local HS scene. Ask anyone who’s affiliated with HS basketball in MN. It’s his job to sell the university. Not as easy as saying if you wanna come you can.
 

GopherNuts said:
I’m typically the Grand marshal of a crap on Pitino parade but I always found it interesting that none of the big boys went hard after Suggs (interestingly, same with Chet). Particularly Kentucky, I don’t think there’s been a PG in the last few years that was more of a Calipari guard than Jalen but there was next to no interest in him from them or any of the other blue bloods. My assumption is that the Suggs camp and by extension the Sizzle program are difficult to deal with.

There may be expectations that many blue bloods aren’t even going to consider but a school like Gonzaga that’s chasing a championship season or many up and comers would more likely be willing to put up with. I find it fascinating some of the early offers that have gone out to Sizzle prospects all from the same group of schools. Let’s face it, favors are done by programs to land a big fish but coaches have egos too and the more seasoned guys aren’t going to play the game to inflate your AAU program.
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Sizzle? I thought D1 was the issue with the Gophers. Didn’t Carrington play for Sizzle?
 

tmvander said:
I don't believe this. It's fine if he didn't like Pitino or Pitino wasn't the right guy or whatever but I find it hard to believe that he didn't recruit him "hard enough." He was never coming here and he should just leave it at that.
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I believe it's possible that with a little more early begging, he might have gotten him to soft commit for a time after his sophomore year with the lure of playing both sports. But he ultimately would have decided to focus on basketball and bailed, IMO.
 

cjbfbp said:
I'm not sure that's it. Pitino was 0 for whatever when it came to recruiting the very highest rated Minnesota (and national) prep players and he may have just figured that enough was enough and that he should concentrate his efforts elsewhere. I'm certainly not a fan of Pitino but if he figured after a number of years of trying to get five star players that those targets were mostly a waste of time, I could understand that logic.
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To me that's enough of an indictment of Pitino's incompetence right there. You're coaching a team that represents the state of Minnesota and you are not succeeding recruiting talent from the state, so you give up? No wonder his teams' attitude was when the going gets tough, just give up.
 

Ewert86PC said:
To me that's enough of an indictment of Pitino's incompetence right there. You're coaching a team that represents the state of Minnesota and you are not succeeding recruiting talent from the state, so you give up? No wonder his teams' attitude was when the going gets tough, just give up.
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I'm have been as big a Pitino basher as anyone, but to criticize him for not getting Suggs, who was never coming here is ridiculous.....Suggs can create any narrative he wants now...If he really wanted to stay home and play for the gophers I'm sure Pitino had a roster spot for him.
 

SoMpls said:
Sizzle? I thought D1 was the issue with the Gophers. Didn’t Carrington play for Sizzle?
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The guy who runs Sizzle (@grassrootshoops) would openly laugh on Twitter at the suggestion of Suggs playing for the Gophers.
 

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