Jeronne Maymon left Marguette today. Which brings up the question will Vander Blue want out of his LOI, considering Maymon is the main reason Blue chose Marquette. Should the Gophers be interested in Maymon, thinking Blue might follow?
Jeronne had been a freshman forward at Marquette until yesterday, when it was announced that he was leaving MU effective immediately. Maymon is Madison Memorial's all time leading scorer (ahead of Wesley Matthews) and rebounder (ahead of Keaton Nankivil). Jeronne was a great HS player, but is a bit of a tweener at the high major level, not quite tall enough to play PF and not enough perimeter skills (at this point, at least) to play SF. He also had academic struggles at Memorial such that he had to put forth quite an effort at the end to qualify. On top of that, his father is rather out-spoken and creates quite a stir at most games. On Saturday, he was behind the MU bench yelling at the UW student section, apparently giving them the bird at one point. UW never recruited him seriously, nor did MU while Crean was there.
I would highly doubt that Tubby will look at Maymon. If you think what you're going through with White and Mbakwe is embarrassing or distracting, keep an eye on MU over the coming days and weeks. Vander has signed a LOI with MU, and while he could probably get out of it if he really wanted to, he would likely have to sit out next year. I assume he will stay with MU. I am sure there would be a place for him at UW though if he so desired.
Minnesota wasn't in his final five, but I think they were in on J-May for quite awhile..
Of course we weren't in his final five; we never offered.
Think Kris Humphries minus 3 inches, offensive skill and a former drug dealing dad that makes 3 years olds at sporting events look civilized.
Recruit Jeronne with the hope Blue will follow, talk about long shot.
Minnesota wasn't in his final five, but I think they were in on J-May for quite awhile.. Maymon would be a great addition to the Gophers. He's only 6'6" but 250 and built like an absolute tank. Big East and Big Ten ready body right now.
Vander's mom said last night that her son is still committed to Marquette and that he's going to go to be a Warrior , 'End of Story'. (well, she said Golden Eagle, but..)
There are various theories floating around - my guess at this point is that Jeronne's dad was in his ear and in the face of Buzz Williams, Marquette's coach, about J-May having to essentially play the 5. Mr. Maymon has dreams of the NBA for his son and playing the 5 at 6'6" doesn't 'help' that dream.
When you look at a Minnesota team.. you've got a great coach, it's relatively near Madison (as compared to say, U-Southern Cal, which was likely #2 behind Marquette), familiarity with the Gophers from the recruiting process, and certainly having to play the 5 doens't appear to be an issue (RSIII, Colton, EE, etc.).
J-May is capable of being a great college player, and will be greatly missed by Marquette (assuming the story doesn't change drastically in the next few days). I wouldn't be surprised if Minnesota is strongly looking at the possibilities of the young man coming to the U and wouldn't be surprised if it happened.
Anyway, as a Minnesota fan, being excited if J-May were to wind up at the U would make sense - but because he's a player himself. The Vander Blue angle is a bit far fetched - but again, J-May alone would provide plenty of reason to be excited, especially with Royce and Trevor potentially never playing for the Maroon and Gold.
I would bet that the Wisconsin message boards and every other team that recruited him are lighting up with the possibility of Maymon coming to their respective team. Let's be honest, he has about a 10 percent chance of coming to the Gophers.