Neal: Ben Johnson stabilized the Gophers. Next step: Keeping his stars while finding more.

The point was and is that we didn’t offer all 25, as common sense and a marginal amount of sports knowledge would dictate that not all 25 received D1 offers and hence won’t play D1 basketball. What about this is confusing you?

I never said that me, you or him could know every specific offer, but a modicum of effort at looking at the sites would provide the plurality of kids who were offered, as that’s why pay sites attract subscribers, for information you generally can’t find here. The article could have referenced that and therefore Ben (get it?), more accurate.

I’ve lived here for 25 years, so I look at it from my prism and the experience; I Asked my buddy a NYer by birth, who moved to MN as a Hazleton Alum, the biggest difference between the two geographies, and he said in MN mediocrity is acceptable, while it isn’t in NY - so that’s my East Star now.

Savvy?
What's Hazleton?
 


My bad, I forgot the correct spelling-

Hazelden Rehab in Center City. Lots of East Coasters make the trek there and stay and rebuild their lives in MN.
Figured you meant Hazelden or Hazeltine. Kinda funny he came here to use our top flight treatment facility, then say we accept mediocrity.
 

Figured you meant Hazelden or Hazeltine. Kinda funny he came here to use our top flight treatment facility, then say we accept mediocrity.

He never said all of MN is mediocre, simply you can get by with it in MN and not NYC, as it’s far more competitive - which I have found to be accurate .

Norm probably said it best-

 



Now are the days when I go to GH and am relieved when I see that there isn't a thread started about somebody entering the portal.
Give it a week or so. My guess is lots of negotiations are going on now. There may even be conversations between players about whether to stick around together and make a run at it next year. If they do, they solidify their place as local heroes. But that doesn’t generate any immediate cash.
 






Give it a week or so. My guess is lots of negotiations are going on now. There may even be conversations between players about whether to stick around together and make a run at it next year. If they do, they solidify their place as local heroes. But that doesn’t generate any immediate cash.
Precisely the reason The Prophet made his announcement before the season ended. He's a leader.
 


Never said it was packed with Blue Bloods, did I? You can’t put words in people’s mouths, that’s just rude.

He was the second ranked player in the state, per the recruiting service you posted and the highest ranked PG - the onlyother 100 ranked player in the state, besides McAndrew - I’ll take him over the lowered ranked All Metro players.

Are you an out-state hater?? I thought you’d be more friendly following such a rural team as Kansas.
How is Eli King doing? I ask to make a point…these rankings of high school players are pretty much meaningless. Every year countless 4 star, high 3 star, and in some cases 5 star prospects (from these ranking sites) lay eggs…and transfer to lower levels. These rankings should be reviewed after 3 college playing years for accuracy. Let’s see who is better in 3 years (the metro players or Asuma as an example).
 

How is Eli King doing? I ask to make a point…these rankings of high school players are pretty much meaningless. Every year countless 4 star, high 3 star, and in some cases 5 star prospects (from these ranking sites) lay eggs…and transfer to lower levels. These rankings should be reviewed after 3 college playing years for accuracy. Let’s see who is better in 3 years (the metro players or Asuma as an example).
Not sure you have to wait the full 3 years with basketball since players tend to see the court quicker but you definitely shouldn't evaluate a football recruiting class for at least 3 years if not more.

But I agree that for the most part high school rankings are meaningless once you get beyond the elite players. Rankings tend to be pretty solid when it comes to identifying the best of the best (although even there it is 100%) but once you get beyond those guys it becomes a crap shoot.
 



How is Eli King doing? I ask to make a point…these rankings of high school players are pretty much meaningless. Every year countless 4 star, high 3 star, and in some cases 5 star prospects (from these ranking sites) lay eggs…and transfer to lower levels. These rankings should be reviewed after 3 college playing years for accuracy. Let’s see who is better in 3 years (the metro players or Asuma as an example).
When Ben signs one of these ranked players...you say it's not important.

But when he fails to sign one of these ranked players...then it's important and you blast him.
 


Certainly not packed full of blue bloods. I would expect our coach to win the majority of these epic recruiting battles when it comes to an in-state kid.


To circle back to this, you do realize Cam had a plethora of better offers than ours, including Sparty, where his brother attended.
 



So which Iron Range town did you grow up in? Hibbing perhaps, since your mom lives on Side Lake.

Didn’t grow up there; spent lots of time there with Mom’s family in Hibbing and now at Side Lake during her golden days.


I grew up in Alex
 
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I liked him providing Rickert’s perspective as Ben’s former teammate and it was positive overall.

Still the article is a bit disingenuous when commenting about how out of the 25 (first, second team and honorable mention) metro players, none are coming to the U; a more correct analysis would be how many of them did we offer and not receive commitments from? We obviously didn’t offer them all and it’s lazy writing bereft of research.
Is the writer a Badger?
 



The point was and is that we didn’t offer all 25, as common sense and a marginal amount of sports knowledge would dictate that not all 25 received D1 offers and hence won’t play D1 basketball. What about this is confusing you?

I never said that me, you or him could know every specific offer, but a modicum of effort at looking at the sites would provide the plurality of kids who were offered, as that’s why pay sites attract subscribers, for information you generally can’t find here. The article could have referenced that and therefore Ben (get it?), more accurate.

I’ve lived here for 25 years, so I look at it from my prism and the experience; I Asked my buddy a NYer by birth, who moved to MN as a Hazleton Alum, the biggest difference between the two geographies, and he said in MN mediocrity is acceptable, while it isn’t in NY - so that’s my East Star now.

Savvy?
Hmmm...NCAA football -Mediocre is generous

NCAA Basketball _ Been a while

Yankees-The gold standard. Can't really argue that.

Jets? :ROFLMAO:

Islanders? Been a while

Giants -I'll give them that. Consistently solid.

Knicks? Overall pretty mediocre
 

Hmmm...NCAA football -Mediocre is generous

NCAA Basketball _ Been a while

Yankees-The gold standard. Can't really argue that.

Jets? :ROFLMAO:

Islanders? Been a while

Giants -I'll give them that. Consistently solid.

Knicks? Overall pretty mediocre

Not everything is a sports comment.

Ironically, my friend was a bookie, back when you needed to know a guy to do that type of activity.
 

Not everything is a sports comment.

Ironically, my friend was a bookie, back when you needed to know a guy to do that type of activity.
So you "know" a guy... NICE!!!
seinfeld-bookie.png
 


Certainly not packed full of blue bloods. I would expect our coach to win the majority of these epic recruiting battles when it comes to an in-state kid.

When Isaac debuted in the State Tournament, Quincey Lewis was doing the color commentary and was gushing all over Isaac. He's been well known and he's been a force in AAU ball.
He is a great kid and he will be a fantastic player for the Gophers. He has a tight family so my guess is he sees the Gophers as the place where his family can be close enough to come down and watch. He is a quite assassin without an ego.
 

I prefer the out state. I prefer to work there and live there. Thankfully those options are all in my daily diary.
Cherry is not on the map you are correct. However smaller towns like Forbes, Zim and Leonidas are, hell even Kinney and Pengilly show up

As for his recruitment compared to Metro, my point was less competition. The Metro kids had bigger schools after them, i.e. the Badger, Creighton, Virginia, Baylor, etc. The last thing I want to do is to speak for someone else.
Cherry
 

By the way, the Hibbing airport can easily accommodate a leer jet from any coach in the nation and the drive from there to Cherry takes 15 minutes.
Asuma had scouts at his door.
 

By the way, the Hibbing airport can easily accommodate a leer jet from any coach in the nation and the drive from there to Cherry takes 15 minutes.
Asuma had scouts at his door.
Yes it can and larger if need be.
 




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