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BigGopherFan

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Wow, I think we all knew deep down that Cory Joseph was NEVER going to be a Gopher, but to see it official feels like real punch in the gut. The thing that frustrates me the most is that his older brother couldn't even get him on board. It makes me think Devoe wasn't really pushing for Cory to come to Minnesota in the first place.

Cory has stars in his eyes, and for some reason, doesn't see Minnesota as a place where he can fulfill his hoop dreams. Can you blame him? Texas has all the glitz and glamour that every big time program shares. Minnesota cannot compete in the long run against teams like Texas that pump out NBA level talent on an annual basis.

Where does this leave Minnesota? This has to be the roughest year in terms of off the court developments in Gopher history. We went from fantasizing about Cory and Royce hooking for ally-oops to praying we can even have a true power forward and point guard on the roster.

We went from the most imposing 2010-11 frontcourt in the league (Iverson, Mbakwe, White) to signing unknown European transplants in hopes of just "filling a spot."

People seem to think everything will be just fine again if the Gophers get Royce back. But lets face it, what are the chances of him joining the team? The same as Cory signing with Minnesota about a month ago?

Not good...
 

Wow, I think we all knew deep down that Cory Joseph was NEVER going to be a Gopher, but to see it official feels like real punch in the gut. The thing that frustrates me the most is that his older brother couldn't even get him on board. It makes me think Devoe wasn't really pushing for Cory to come to Minnesota in the first place.

Cory has stars in his eyes, and for some reason, doesn't see Minnesota as a place where he can fulfill his hoop dreams. Can you blame him? Texas has all the glitz and glamour that every big time program shares. Minnesota cannot compete in the long run against teams like Texas that pump out NBA level talent on an annual basis.

Where does this leave Minnesota? This has to be the roughest year in terms of off the court developments in Gopher history. We went from fantasizing about Cory and Royce hooking for ally-oops to praying we can even have a true power forward and point guard on the roster.

We went from the most imposing 2010-11 frontcourt in the league (Iverson, Mbakwe, White) to signing unknown European transplants in hopes of just "filling a spot."

People seem to think everything will be just fine again if the Gophers get Royce back. But lets face it, what are the chances of him joining the team? The same as Cory signing with Minnesota about a month ago?

Not good...

I disagree.

http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/boards/showthread.php?t=16972
 


Wow, I think we all knew deep down that Cory Joseph was NEVER going to be a Gopher, but to see it official feels like real punch in the gut. The thing that frustrates me the most is that his older brother couldn't even get him on board. It makes me think Devoe wasn't really pushing for Cory to come to Minnesota in the first place.

Cory has stars in his eyes, and for some reason, doesn't see Minnesota as a place where he can fulfill his hoop dreams. Can you blame him? Texas has all the glitz and glamour that every big time program shares. Minnesota cannot compete in the long run against teams like Texas that pump out NBA level talent on an annual basis.

Where does this leave Minnesota? This has to be the roughest year in terms of off the court developments in Gopher history. We went from fantasizing about Cory and Royce hooking for ally-oops to praying we can even have a true power forward and point guard on the roster.

We went from the most imposing 2010-11 frontcourt in the league (Iverson, Mbakwe, White) to signing unknown European transplants in hopes of just "filling a spot."

People seem to think everything will be just fine again if the Gophers get Royce back. But lets face it, what are the chances of him joining the team? The same as Cory signing with Minnesota about a month ago?

Not good...


i agree 100% to the above.
people may not like the things you say on this board BGF, but at least you aren't afraid to express your opinion. i for one disagree with half the sh!t you type, but i commend you for not insulting people like, say, Friend of Tubby.
 

i agree 100% to the above.
people may not like the things you say on this board BGF, but at least you aren't afraid to express your opinion. i for one disagree with half the sh!t you type, but i commend you for not insulting people like, say, Friend of Tubby.

Look it up, bubba.

Texas severely UNDERACHIEVES in basketball.
 


Moron. Idiot. Whatever.

Texas, glitz and glamour? In BASKETBALL??? Not exactly. No team has done less with more talent than Texas Longhorns in 2000's. In FOOTBALL maybe so. But NOT basketball.

Oto Osenieks was not signed just to fill a spot.

"Moron. Idiot. Whatever."
Honestly, does that have to be the FIRST thing you respond with? Can you just respectively disagree and state your point?
Anyway, bottom line, Texas is a better basketball program than Minnesota. Not even the craziest of Gopher nut would argue that.
Just in case though, here are some facts:
TEXAS
NCAA Appearances: 28
Sweet 16s since 1975: 7
Final Four Appearances: 3
First round draft picks since 2000: 5

MINNESOTA
NCAA Appearances: 11
Sweet 16s since 1975: 4
Final Four Appearances: 1
First round draft picks since 2000: 2
 

"Moron. Idiot. Whatever."
Honestly, does that have to be the FIRST thing you respond with? Can you just respectively disagree and state your point?
Anyway, bottom line, Texas is a better basketball program than Minnesota. Not even the craziest of Gopher nut would argue that.
Just in case though, here are some facts:
TEXAS
NCAA Appearances: 28
Sweet 16s since 1975: 7
Final Four Appearances: 3
First round draft picks since 2000: 5

MINNESOTA
NCAA Appearances: 11
Sweet 16s since 1975: 4
Final Four Appearances: 1
First round draft picks since 2000: 2

i agree with you BGF. not sure if you have seen it this week but the craziest of Gopher's nut has agrued this point all week.
 

Wow. You really expect lil bro to just do whatever big bro wants? Devoe must have been pushing for Texas since he didn't get his brother to come.

"The thing that frustrates me the most is that his older brother couldn't even get him on board. It makes me think Devoe wasn't really pushing for Cory to come to Minnesota in the first place."
 

wow BGF is deffinately a texas fan, same with scools12. But Royce white isnt coming here? Remember he WANTS to come here. He probabaly begged Tubby on thursday. So i think is chances of coming back just got a lot better with an open scholarship.
 



Texas is and always will be a FOOTBALL school. No questions asked. The #1 priority at Texas is FOOTBALL. The #2 priority at Texas is SPRING FOOTBALL. Basketball is just something to fill the time in between.
 

Wow. You really expect lil bro to just do whatever big bro wants? Devoe must have been pushing for Texas since he didn't get his brother to come.

"The thing that frustrates me the most is that his older brother couldn't even get him on board. It makes me think Devoe wasn't really pushing for Cory to come to Minnesota in the first place."

No, Devoe wasn't pushing for Texas, but it seems like he wasn't pushing for Minnesota either. Probably just staying out of it and letting Cory make his decision by himself. Um, believe it or not, but younger brothers sometimes look up to their big brothers.
 

wow BGF is deffinately a texas fan, same with scools12. But Royce white isnt coming here? Remember he WANTS to come here. He probabaly begged Tubby on thursday. So i think is chances of coming back just got a lot better with an open scholarship.

I sincerely doubt Royce White begged to come back Thursday. Why would you assume that? Royce hasn't displayed in any fashion that he WANTS to be a Gopher. Didn't he WANT to be a Gopher when he signed? We all know how that played out. Placing your bets on him playing is a great setup for disappointment.
 

Texas is and always will be a FOOTBALL school. No questions asked. The #1 priority at Texas is FOOTBALL. The #2 priority at Texas is SPRING FOOTBALL. Basketball is just something to fill the time in between.

Bingo. Texans obssess about football like no other. Everything else is secondary.

As for Cory Joseph, this is a move to get into the NBA, play with his best buddy Thompson, and little more as far as I can see. And for the record, FOT is correct. No other school has squandered more elite talent than Texas, which is why they are not an elite program, regardless of what the recruitniks say regarding Barnes and his program. The man himself has gone on record as saying he prefers getting kids to the NBA over getting to the final four and his track record certainly shows it.

As such, I don't care how Cory Joseph does with the Longhorns. I don't wish him success or failure. I'll simply know he, Thompson and Barnes will be spending lots of time day-dreaming about all the money he and Thompson will make in the NBA someday.
 



Why don't we focus on the team we have. It's not like our class is filled with a bunch of walkons.

Good Lord it's one recruit that said no. Other schools have lost recruits and managed to survive. The drama is a bit over the top even for obsessed sports fans.
 

How in the world can you blame Devoe for cory not coming here???? Devoe was probably saying, "yeah man, itd be great to play together. you me and mo. BUT Cory, this is your life, and it would be irresponsible of me to force u to play here if u dont want too. go where you see fit, it is your decision and i respect what you choose" The only person who's opinion mattered in this was Cory, and if he made the choice for himself and not for anyone else congrats. and great job devoe for giving him the space that he needed to make his own decision. You can say Devoe wasnt a good recruiter, but in the end he probably was being a good brother, as cory constantly said "Devoe wants whats best for me" that sounds like Devoe is doing the right thing for his family and his brother.

Secondly, how can you say this season will be a failure???? No team full of all-stars wins tournaments just ask Texas, memphis, kentucky, etc. - actually, just ask jon calipari, the only one's who are consistantly there are Coach Izzo at MSU and Coach K at Duke. but because they usually have no role players. Tubby knows you sometimes just need to recruit role players and hope they either develop into stars later or are good role players now. We have a blooming star right now, a 4 star, heavily recruited one actually, in Devoe Joseph. Who was already a much better "get his own shot" guy than Westbrook was last year. Imagine what he will do starting next to the quickness and distribution skills of Al Nolen.

The gophers were an underachieving team last year. No one will argue with that. They were pre season ranked and barely made the tourney (due, a lot, to off court issues) but lets look at the differences in the teams.

Lost
Lawrence Westbrook
Paul Carter
Devron Bostick
Damien Johnson

Gaines / Still Could Gain
Austin Hollins
Elliott Eliason
Mo Walker
Oto Osenieks
Royce White
Trevor Mbakwe
Al Nolen

and dont forget we still have even better developed Ralph Sampson, Colton Iverson, ESPN top 100 Rodney Williams (who at one point was said by nbadraft.net to be a top 5 if he waited to go pro after his junior year), Blake Hoffarber,. just cuz we didnt get cojo, stop ignoring the great talent this team already has. Devoe proved in the BTT that he has the mind set to carry this team. People wanna give Norhtern Iowa's Ali credit for that gutsy three vs. Kansas, well lets give similar credit (although not in the NCAA) to Devoe for his huge performance against MSU, a final four team!

Don't forget, Cory learned much of his game, especially his jumpshot, FROM Devoe. Throw in we have a top 5 three point shooter in the nation, and five guys over 6-9 currently, with the chance to still add height in royce and trevor??

how can anyone feel badly about this team next year!
 

Agreed with most of what you said. While I'm not in awe of this recruiting class, we had a good one last year priovided that we can get White and Trevor back in uniform it's ok to have ONE off year. They will probably redshirt Elliason and possibly Otto unless he can shoot the lights out. Joseph will need to step up and provide the loss of Westbrook's shooting and it should work out. I wouldn't be surprised if Tubby lands a PG of Cory's caliber next year. It will be a top priority. I like next year's team.
 

Moron. Idiot. Whatever.

Texas, glitz and glamour? In BASKETBALL??? Not exactly. No team has done less with more talent than Texas Longhorns in 2000's. In FOOTBALL maybe so. But NOT basketball.


+1

Losing a top recruit to Texas in BASKETBALL, a brother of one of our players, is not something we should easily accept.

We have a better coach and, historically, a better program. Minnesota fans need to get over their (our) self-defeating loser attitude. In basketball we should have a perennial top-20 program.
 

+1

Losing a top recruit to Texas in BASKETBALL, a brother of one of our players, is not something we should easily accept.

We have a better coach and, historically, a better program. Minnesota fans need to get over their (our) self-defeating loser attitude. In basketball we should have a perennial top-20 program.

however, we play in the big 10, a historically, slow paced, grind it out conference. Cory wanted to play fast tempo, quick basketball, something that wouldnt happen every game in the big10.

Gophers are still a good team and a good program, the biggest lost from last year is Damien, IMO, and losing westbrook prolly helps the team, with all his personal issues. and we replace damien with trevor (who players have said, in practice anyway, is easily the best defender on the team) and a Jr. devoe will easily step up for westbrooks scoring. so right there, we essentially at least have the same or a better team, plus add the new recruits and possibly royce? IMO, gophers are fine.
 

Why don't we focus on the team we have. It's not like our class is filled with a bunch of walkons.

Good Lord it's one recruit that said no. Other schools have lost recruits and managed to survive. The drama is a bit over the top even for obsessed sports fans.

I agree.... He wouldn't be the last either. It only made in more painful because he has a brother that plays for the U. But having a family (big brother) in the team is not a guarantee that the little brother will follow.
 

+1

Losing a top recruit to Texas in BASKETBALL, a brother of one of our players, is not something we should easily accept.

We have a better coach and, historically, a better program. Minnesota fans need to get over their (our) self-defeating loser attitude. In basketball we should have a perennial top-20 program.

TEXAS
NCAA Appearances: 28
Sweet 16s since 1975: 7
Final Four Appearances: 3
First round draft picks since 2000: 5

MINNESOTA
NCAA Appearances: 11
Sweet 16s since 1975: 4
Final Four Appearances: 1
First round draft picks since 2000: 2
 

+1

Losing a top recruit to Texas in BASKETBALL, a brother of one of our players, is not something we should easily accept.

We have a better coach and, historically, a better program. Minnesota fans need to get over their (our) self-defeating loser attitude. In basketball we should have a perennial top-20 program.

Do you really think kids care what a program did in the 1980's? Over the past 10-15 years Texas has been far and away better than the Gophers. Horrible take, IMO...

Then why dont we have a top 20 program? Who do you put the blame on? Clem? Monson? Tubby? Maturi? Not trying to pick a fight, just curious why you think that.
 

My heart sank when I read Cory chose Texas, but the team will move on. I know we lost a couple of guys, and I will definitely miss Damian, but we have some talent returning and some underrated recruits coming in. Iverson and Sampson should be more consistent and we will still have scoring at the guard positions with Devoe and Hoffarber. Rodney should be much improved as well and I'm very excited to see what he will do with more minutes and a year of experience under his belt. I think Hollins will do better than some people are expecting (which won't take much, since certain people on this board think you'll be a failure unless you're a 5-star) and Walker is a very good recruit as well. I'm not expecting Eliason to play next season, as he will likely be redshirted, but he probably has more potential than people give him credit for too and will probably be a solid player by his junior year.

Cory didn't come, but Minnesota will move on.
 

My heart sank when I read Cory chose Texas, but the team will move on. I know we lost a couple of guys, and I will definitely miss Damian, but we have some talent returning and some underrated recruits coming in. Iverson and Sampson should be more consistent and we will still have scoring at the guard positions with Devoe and Hoffarber. Rodney should be much improved as well and I'm very excited to see what he will do with more minutes and a year of experience under his belt. I think Hollins will do better than some people are expecting (which won't take much, since certain people on this board think you'll be a failure unless you're a 5-star) and Walker is a very good recruit as well. I'm not expecting Eliason to play next season, as he will likely be redshirted, but he probably has more potential than people give him credit for too and will probably be a solid player by his junior year.

Cory didn't come, but Minnesota will move on.

Aren't all 3 star players underrated?
 

Aren't all 3 star players underrated?

What? Underrated means they're underrated, i.e. rated lower than they should be, not just rated poorly (and 3-stars is NOT rated poorly). If a 3-star is not good, then they are not underrated, they are overrated.

Edit: To be more clear if I wasn't already:

Underrated = rated lower than they should be (they deserve to be rated higher than they are).
Overrated = rated higher than they should be (they deserve to be rated lower than they are).

And for the record, I'm saying they are underrated by some people on this board, not all people on this board, just by some people on this board, such as yourself.
 


My heart sank when I read Cory chose Texas, but the team will move on. I know we lost a couple of guys, and I will definitely miss Damian, but we have some talent returning and some underrated recruits coming in. Iverson and Sampson should be more consistent and we will still have scoring at the guard positions with Devoe and Hoffarber. Rodney should be much improved as well and I'm very excited to see what he will do with more minutes and a year of experience under his belt. I think Hollins will do better than some people are expecting (which won't take much, since certain people on this board think you'll be a failure unless you're a 5-star) and Walker is a very good recruit as well. I'm not expecting Eliason to play next season, as he will likely be redshirted, but he probably has more potential than people give him credit for too and will probably be a solid player by his junior year.

Cory didn't come, but Minnesota will move on.

A "what if" roster looks like this:

F Williams, Osenieks
F Mbakwe, White & Dawson
C Sampson, Iverson, Walker & Eliason
G Hoffarber, Hollins
G Joseph, Nolen, Cobbs & Allen
 

A "what if" roster looks like this:

F Williams, Osenieks
F Mbakwe, White & Dawson
C Sampson, Iverson, Walker & Eliason
G Hoffarber, Hollins
G Joseph, Nolen, Cobbs & Allen

As much as I wish Cory would have become a Gopher, this roster still looks pretty good to me. If Royce makes it a priority to return to the Gophers and basketball in general and Tubby deems him worthy of returning, this could be a very good team. If Mbakwe returns too and Rodney earns a starting spot, this could be one of the most exciting teams in the country as far as dunks and blocked shots goes. I'm excited for that possibility.

Edit: Rodney doesn't necessarily have to earn a starting spot. He should get good minutes regardless and will be very exciting to watch either way.
 

Joseph

Joseph is a very good player but he will not be one and done. Selby, Irving and Knight are better point guards.

Texas is the one place I didnt want him to go. I wish him luck he has skills but any one and done would be one year at Texas- done and transfer... Lotta of guards down there and not much returning. Damian James was the glue and he is gone -they relied on alot of freshman(all who were top 100 recruits) and it failed.
 

They still make their own decisions regardless of whether or not they look up to them.

No, Devoe wasn't pushing for Texas, but it seems like he wasn't pushing for Minnesota either. Probably just staying out of it and letting Cory make his decision by himself. Um, believe it or not, but younger brothers sometimes look up to their big brothers.
 

As much as I wish Cory would have become a Gopher, this roster still looks pretty good to me. If Royce makes it a priority to return to the Gophers and basketball in general and Tubby deems him worthy of returning, this could be a very good team. If Mbakwe returns too and Rodney earns a starting spot, this could be one of the most exciting teams in the country as far as dunks and blocked shots goes. I'm excited for that possibility.

Edit: Rodney doesn't necessarily have to earn a starting spot. He should get good minutes regardless and will be very exciting to watch either way.

If Royce is back, he'll start. We don't have any other good wing players. Rodney is still very raw and Oto should be redshirted or be at end of bench.
 




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