Three-star Minnesota signee Jacob Ross has requested his release from his National Letter of Intent and will reopen his recruitment

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How does that work, does Niko have a “I regret to inform you” conversation with him, or does the kid make the call because the coach who recruited him got canned and he’s not interested in playing for the new guy?
 

WindyCityGopher said:
How does that work, does Niko have a “I regret to inform you” conversation with him, or does the kid make the call because the coach who recruited him got canned and he’s not interested in playing for the new guy?
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Generally most schools will honor the scholarship if the kid wants to stay. But they can make it clear he'll be buried on the bench and never play if they want him to move on.
 




Understandable, good luck to him. Also a little surprising though when you look at the makeup of the current roster.
 


Like Betts...I'm not sure who is advising some of these guys. Many schools don't recruit freshmen anymore. There are over 1000 guys in the portal who are older with some tape in many cases.
Hopefully, for his sake some school is begging him to go there.
You were willing to play for Ben and his track record but not the new guy with two players on the roster?
Big Ten school...NIL/revenue sharing... he was going to get paid something to play basketball plus attend an elite school with a respected coach and he says ... naw?
 



I could see a coach having an honest conversation saying "I am going to try to bring in a transfer or two to play your position and even possibly a recruit or two. I am not saying you will not play, but I want you to know if you stay you are going to have to compete for the starting job and minutes."

Then kid as interpreting that as disrespect or he is not wanted vs. it is just truth sharing.
 

60's Guy said:
Like Betts...I'm not sure who is advising some of these guys. Many schools don't recruit freshmen anymore. There are over 1000 guys in the portal who are older with some tape in many cases.
Hopefully, for his sake some school is begging him to go there.
You were willing to play for Ben and his track record but not the new guy with two players on the roster?
Big Ten school...NIL/revenue sharing... he was going to get paid something to play basketball plus attend an elite school with a respected coach and he says ... naw?
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My gut is he was urged to look for other opportunities. It’s a new world for high school recruits financially but it still does have a lot to do with playing time and marketing themselves. Sitting on the bench for a couple of years gets him a scholarship and maybe a little cash but risks having nothing after that. Going to a lower profile school gets him a chance to play and prepare for a bigger payday down the road.
 

howeda7 said:
Generally most schools will honor the scholarship if the kid wants to stay. But they can make it clear he'll be buried on the bench and never play if they want him to move on.
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I directly know of at least one case where the opposite is true. New coach comes in and recruit told his offer was rescinded. It got reported as the player decommitted. He found another school out of state to give him a scholarship and he was a low minutes rotational player his entire college career.

It’s traumatic for the player - I saw it up close. But, this has been the world even before NIL - probably intensified now. New coach needs to be unburdened by previous commitments who don’t fit or (coldly) not good enough.

My guess is this was not the player’s decision.
 

Holy Man said:
My gut is he was urged to look for other opportunities. It’s a new world for high school recruits financially but it still does have a lot to do with playing time and marketing themselves. Sitting on the bench for a couple of years gets him a scholarship and maybe a little cash but risks having nothing after that. Going to a lower profile school gets him a chance to play and prepare for a bigger payday down the road.
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My guess is that the kid asked for a salary increase and was turned down.
OBTW, my "Niko is a disaster" post was 100% satire.
I like the guy!
 



gophernut1 said:
I could see a coach having an honest conversation saying "I am going to try to bring in a transfer or two to play your position and even possibly a recruit or two. I am not saying you will not play, but I want you to know if you stay you are going to have to compete for the starting job and minutes."

Then kid as interpreting that as disrespect or he is not wanted vs. it is just truth sharing.
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What did CBJ tell him during recruiting? You'll be starting, 6th man, 20 minutes per game. It can't be much different between CBJ and Medved for a 6-6 3-star recruit.
 

From what I have heard CBJ say in the past- it sounds like he tried to sell the players on how he would use them and what other player he has developed like him in the past. As we could see on the court, Ben was more an individual player recruiter than a system recruiter. I have to believe that Niko will be a system recruiter and look for guys that will thrive on what he is going to do. So a Marcus Carr, who was great for the Gophers under Pitino might not fit with Niko's scheme. Of the three players recruited Ross appeared to be a JOJ type of player who liked to get up the floor, run and dunk (he looks like a great athlete), whereas the other two looked like they would fit well in what Niko does.

I doubt that Niko told him he didn't want him- Ross is a good player- but Ross probably didn't hear what he wanted to hear about how he would be used. Niko ran a slow pace (241st) so a get out and run guy like Ross might not like that.

I will be a little concerned if we don't get the other two.
 

60's Guy said:
Like Betts...I'm not sure who is advising some of these guys. Many schools don't recruit freshmen anymore. There are over 1000 guys in the portal who are older with some tape in many cases.
Hopefully, for his sake some school is begging him to go there.
You were willing to play for Ben and his track record but not the new guy with two players on the roster?
Big Ten school...NIL/revenue sharing... he was going to get paid something to play basketball plus attend an elite school with a respected coach and he says ... naw?
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When you have zero relationship, none, with the coach you are going to play for it is an easy decision for an incoming freshman. It is way more about the coach than the school imo.
 

bga1 said:
I will be a little concerned if we don't get the other two.
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Don’t be. Medved has no relationship with them. If they decommit (or are let go, the result is the same), there are plenty of fish in the transfer portal which is a better source of known production anyway. Let him go after his own guys, not get stuck with the previous regime’s talent decisions.
 


Where were his other offers? I can’t imagine those offers would still have an opening at this point.
 

CentralGopher said:
Where were his other offers? I can’t imagine those offers would still have an opening at this point.
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Lots of offers, but none that are all that exciting:
  • Old Dominion
  • Fordham
  • VCU
  • Radford
  • Townson
  • Kansas State
  • Albany
  • Coastal Carolina
  • College of Charleston
 

bga1 said:
From what I have heard CBJ say in the past- it sounds like he tried to sell the players on how he would use them and what other player he has developed like him in the past. As we could see on the court, Ben was more an individual player recruiter than a system recruiter. I have to believe that Niko will be a system recruiter and look for guys that will thrive on what he is going to do. So a Marcus Carr, who was great for the Gophers under Pitino might not fit with Niko's scheme. Of the three players recruited Ross appeared to be a JOJ type of player who liked to get up the floor, run and dunk (he looks like a great athlete), whereas the other two looked like they would fit well in what Niko does.

I doubt that Niko told him he didn't want him- Ross is a good player- but Ross probably didn't hear what he wanted to hear about how he would be used. Niko ran a slow pace (241st) so a get out and run guy like Ross might not like that.

I will be a little concerned if we don't get the other two.
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I generally agree with your sentiments. It's probably not a fit, but not because of tempo. Ben was running dang near the slowest offense in all of CBB (357).

I love the JOJ reference. Niko's system has no room for low-IQ, low-motor players, even if they are highly athletic. I remember there was a countdown on the hole about when JOJ would get his first season assist, and we were about 8-10 games into the season, lol.
 

Full Speed Ahead said:
Lots of offers, but none that are all that exciting:
  • Old Dominion
  • Fordham
  • VCU
  • Radford
  • Townson
  • Kansas State
  • Albany
  • Coastal Carolina
  • College of Charleston
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College of Charleston. Great Uni (the version that reads "the College") and Chris Mack.
 


Calipari might be one foot out the door!

VCU not a bad choice for the guy, or Charleston.

Interesting to see where we're at, if Niko really telling folks to leave. We have Asuma and Grove right now, maybe Parker Jefferson and the other recruit. 4 players at the most right now
 


USAF said:
John...wouldn't a player transferring out open up a scholarship?
It's not like the portal is manufacturing players out of thin air. The number of scholarship basketball players hasn't changed.
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The distribution is the thing…majority of the top 100 teams want proven players. They recruit transfers and older players from Europe.
Freshmen are left with school choices they don’t want to go to…if they find an opportunity. Maybe it evens out after the Covid extra year guys but now they added junior college free passes.
Definitely, less opportunity for freshmen at Top 100 programs. Duke is an exception to date but those are Top 10 recruits.
 

60's Guy said:
The distribution is the thing…majority of the top 100 teams want proven players. They recruit transfers and older players from Europe.
Freshmen are left with school choices they don’t want to go to…if they find an opportunity. Maybe it evens out after the Covid extra year guys but now they added junior college free passes.
Definitely, less opportunity for freshmen at Top 100 programs. Duke is an exception to date but those are Top 10 recruits.
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I actually think that the new trend actually gives us a chance to sign more top 50, top 100 HS players. The guys that used to get sold on playing for a marquee team are now looking at bench time. We may offer a few of those guys a playing time shot.

If Duke, Kentucky and others are only taking perhaps two HS players instead of 4....more for us.
 

Big Dawg said:
I waiting for the documentary with a college athlete who de commits or goes in portal then never gets picked up or has to go down a level. I’m hearing it happens often
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I'm sure it will get made. Not everyone comes out better off. Risk is to go in and be stuck with no spot when the music stops
 

formerlybis said:
Don’t be. Medved has no relationship with them. If they decommit (or are let go, the result is the same), there are plenty of fish in the transfer portal which is a better source of known production anyway. Let him go after his own guys, not get stuck with the previous regime’s talent decisions.
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100%.
 

USAF said:
John...wouldn't a player transferring out open up a scholarship?
It's not like the portal is manufacturing players out of thin air. The number of scholarship basketball players hasn't changed.
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You can maybe make an argument that guys finding loopholes to absorb scholarships for 6-7 years limits some opportunities for incoming Freshman.

In general, you're spot on, though.
 

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