So this article made me simultaneously angry at Marcus Fuller and Richard Pitino. I am angry with Fuller, because I feel like Gopher basketball deserves more from it's beat writer from the biggest paper in the state. This article is completely misleading as the Gophers didn't "miss" on a number of these guys. There are so many kids listed that never had an opportunity to commit to the Gophers. Coach Pitino has plenty of misses in-state, but to list all these guys like all "offers" are actually offers doesn't help his reader. Pitino missed on Jericho Sims. He will miss on Zeke Nnaji. He didn't miss on Brad Davison or Tyrell Terry. As the beat writer, Marcus should know this and provide some context to what he writes. In-state recruiting is a concern, but it would be so much more beneficial to approach it from 1 of 2 ways: 1. Why did Richard Pitino fail to land players he viewed as a priority? or 2. Why did Richard Pitino not make players X, Y, and Z a priority who have gone on to have success at schools X, Y, and Z? This could lead to conversations about recruiting style, playing time, style of play, location, facilities, winning/lack of winning, confidence in player development, etc, etc.
Now my anger at Pitino is because some of this is his doing. It's factually correct that he offered Brad Davison, but everyone including Pitino knew he was going to Wisconsin when he made that offer. There are several players that follow a very similar path, but I am using Davison because I could find the exact dates. The Gophers offered him on July 7, 2016 and he would commit to Wisconsin on July 11, 2016. At some point in his tenure, Pitino decided he needed to offer Minnesota kids even if he didn't really want them. This results in all but the hardest of hardcore fans commenting on social media "Gophers lost another kid to the Badgers" . I really don't understand how it benefits Pitino/The Gopher brand to do this, but the only thing I can think of is that maybe it's important in maintaining Howard Pulley/D1Minnesota relationships?