Leuer or Hoffarber

[dingo]

If I recall correctly Monson had one scholarship remaining (thanks to the must have Engen Nurumbi, dont even get me started) and both Hoffarber and Leuer wanted to be Gophers. Monson offered Hoff and the rest is history. Both so far have turned out to be above average Big Ten players, but my question is who would you rather have for 4 years.

Cant say both, but having a Leuer type sure would be nice on the Gophers this year. Instead we got Engen 2.4 minutes and 0.7 points for one season!

 

[ShowinGoldyLove]

Monson offered Hoff and the rest is history.

Wrong.

As I understand it, and as I've seen it published...Monson had one scholarship, and offered it to both of them, saying the first one to commit gets it (as is typical with offers going out to more players than scholarships available in college recruitment).

Leuer didn't like the fact that the U was late to his recruitment, and ended up signing with Wisconsin. Word was that he wasn't the biggest fan of Monson either, despite liking the U. Since Bo and UW had been on him from the start, and given the state of our program at the time, I don't blame him.

Hoffarber then was able to grab the last remaining scholarship. It wasn't a case of the U picking Hoffarber over Leuer; Leuer picked Wisconsin over the U.

 

[Juicer]

Wrong.

As I understand it, and as I've seen it published...Monson had one scholarship, and offered it to both of them, saying the first one to commit gets it (as is typical with offers going out to more players than scholarships available in college recruitment).

Leuer didn't like the fact that the U was late to his recruitment, and ended up signing with Wisconsin. Word was that he wasn't the biggest fan of Monson either, despite liking the U. Since Bo and UW had been on him from the start, and given the state of our program at the time, I don't blame him.

Hoffarber then was able to grab the last remaining scholarship.

That's what I recall too. Hoff was getting major offers from Louisville, Notre Dame, etc. Leuer was a late bloomer to some degree, can't blame him for going to Wisky with Monson running the show...

 

[GVBadger]

Leuer was a top 100 recruit. So he was a late bloomer and well regarded. I think it has worked out well for both sides. Too bad he got hurt, but if he is good to go next year, he is going to have a huge senior year. I love Hoffarber as well, can't believe the grief he gets from some Gophers fans.

 

[9194Gophs]

No complaints, Hoffarber is playing great & I think it will continue through his senior season.

I can't believe I forgot about Engen Nurumbi. Prof that there is a huge gap between most D1 and D2 players. Turns out he had success in his final year at the level he belonged. http://athletics.gcu.edu/readMore.php?id=2009-03-25 18:02:28

Busch is doing alright for Colorado State, but same could probably be said for him if he would have went to Winona. It's not about playing pro-ball, he's working a masters degree and contributing at a decent D1 program, good for him. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/player/profile?playerId=27038

 

[dingo]

Yes, now that I think about it... that is how I remember it going down. But I thought Hoff accepted the scholarship before Leuer took the UW offer.

I never understood Monson taking on Nurumbi. You dont take on such a raw player coming from the Junior College ranks. Maybe the most over matched/lost player I recall ever suiting up in my 20+ years of watching gopher hoops. (Alou Kane, cracks top 5)

 

[march madness]

Usually if all things talent/potential being equal, you take the bigger player. I am very happy to have the Hoff though. If we had the two bigs we wouldnt even talk about missing out on Leuer, would we?

 

[oleboy41]

I still believe that if Monson was canned 5 years ago we're a top 10 team this year. Even if we didn't get Tubby but just got a good, solid coach we'd have probably gotten Aldridge (who liked the U but wouldn't play for Monson) and Leuer. Now maybe the rest of the roster would be different (assume Joseph and RSIII wouldn't be here but other players of similar caliber would be), but our starters would most likely be Nolen, LW, DJ, Leuer, Aldrich. That's a top 10 starting 5 because Nolen's lack of O is offset by having Leuer, Aldrich and LW as legit scoring threats, plus you have the defensive trio of Al, DJ and Cole

 

[howeda7]

I still believe that if Monson was canned 5 years ago we're a top 10 team this year. Even if we didn't get Tubby but just got a good, solid coach we'd have probably gotten Aldridge (who liked the U but wouldn't play for Monson) and Leuer. Now maybe the rest of the roster would be different (assume Joseph and RSIII wouldn't be here but other players of similar caliber would be), but our starters would most likely be Nolen, LW, DJ, Leuer, Aldrich. That's a top 10 starting 5 because Nolen's lack of O is offset by having Leuer, Aldrich and LW as legit scoring threats, plus you have the defensive trio of Al, DJ and Cole

It's hard to say. This is a good job and Tubby's not the only good coach we could have gotten. But dont' forget it would have been Joel Maturi making the hire. So we may have ended up with Todd Licklieter or someone worse. And FWIW, 5 years ago we made the NCAA tournament in what was considered Monson's strongest year. I don't recall a huge drum beat for him to be fired at that time.

As it is, it's possible we'd be a top 10 team right now anyway, if we had our full roster available. While even then top 10 would be a reach, it's very likely we'd at least be top 25.