Tubby in Iowa Recruiting Harrison Barnes

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No new info but still on the trail -

From Charlie Walters this morning:

Gophers men's basketball coach Tubby Smith was in Ames, Iowa, this week recruiting 6-foot-6 Ames High School's Harrison Barnes, who might be the top junior shooting guard in the country.
 

Sheesh if we could land this kid we would be stacked at the guard position in 2010. Go get 'im Tubby!
 

A friend of mine ran into Roy Williams last week at a Des Moines-area casino (Prairie Meadows). Apparently, Williams was killing time after visiting with Barnes and his family in Ames. Will be interesting to see if we are in Barnes' top considerations.
 

I believe FOT thought he would end up at one of the top five programs. I just have to think, and I could really be off base, that given our proximity to Ames, amongst other things, that we would have a better than average chance at him. Would be pretty cool. :)
 

Long Shot

As Dave Telep said in his interview, this one would be hard to pull off. Not only are all the top programs after him, but he has storng ties to the Cyclones, so if he stays in the area, he'll probably stay home.

However, he would be an awesome pick-up.:)
 


Barnes

Many people believe that Barnes may be on track for a "one and done" collegiate career. Perhaps Tubby is trying to lure him with the position that he is the last piece of the puzzle for a Gopher NCAA title run in 2010.
 

Iowa State landed Chris Colvin as a 4 star point guard. That has to enhance the Cyclones chances of keeping Barnes at home.
 


Roy, Barnes really is quite a prospect. I was very impressed with what I saw of him in May at the Sabes event. He is a very skilled player already, and sounds like smart, hard-working, good kid. He is apparently very capable in the classroom as well. Unfortunately for programs like Minnesota and Wisconsin (UW has shown interest since last year, but has no scholarship available), Barnes has progressed to the point where he has his pick of any school in the country. UNC's scholarship situation is pretty tight, so much so that they have only offered one prospect in the 2010 class, Barnes. Iowa St. probably still has a chance given Barnes' connections to that program and school, but I would expect him to end up at Kansas, Duke or UNC.

One correction on Shooter's comment. Barnes is a SF, not a SG. If he doesn't grow anymore from his current 6'6" height, he may have to play SG in the NBA. But for college, he looks like an ideal SF. He has a very nice-looking shot, handles the ball well, but can also post up and rebound well. Very complete player. Too bad he will likely be outside the Big 10.
 



UNC and Duke and a little Kentucky are the schools that come up the most about Barnes, and I think MN knows it's an extreme longshot but Ames is pretty close and Tubby can easily drive down or stop by on his way to Chicago, which is one of the nations hotbeds for 2010 kids. I also have heard that the ties to Iowa State are overblown outside of being his hometown.
 


Barnes is a "one and done" type player for sure. I would be suprised if he stays for more than a year no matter where he ends up. He will have his choice of schools any school at all. Purdue was on the trail for a while until they filled up 4 year players. Personally I think Minnesota is the best positioned school after the Blue Bloods(Duke, UNC, UCLA, UK, KU) and the home town school. I really wouldn't worry about UK to much because they have a stud SF out of Indianapolis. Pretty much if he wants go some place different(i.e. not Duke, UNC etc) and wants to get of Ames, IA to me Minnesota seems like the logical choice. But if I had to make a guess right know he ends at Iowa State.
 




Tubby is racking up frequent flyer miles between MSP and Ames. He must feel differently. It is amazing how quickly he has raised the stature of Gopher BB.
 


I would probably drive between Ames and Dinkytown.

SO that makes me wonder--does Tubby have access to a private plane for his recruiting trips (not for the recruits themselves)? For some place like AMes that has little or no scheduled service--and even Des Moines is pretty limited--a private plane is a huge advantage over commercial flight in the sense of quickness and flexibility. As FOT said, it's probably just easy (and cheaper) to drive to Ames than to take a commercial flight.
 

As FOT said, it's probably just easy (and cheaper) to drive to Ames than to take a commercial flight.

It's only about 200 miles and once you're in Iowa it's like the Autobahn. :)

That Tubby could be building a relationship is optimistically encouraging. Tubby has recruited some awfully big names in his career so I wouldn't put this one past him. Maybe Rodney and Royce keep in touch with him after the Nike Challenge ? Who knows. :)
 

People are mentioning Duke as a potential place. I thought coach K stayed away from one and done kids, or am I mistaken?
 




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