Who has led the Gophers to the NCAA tournament?

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UpAndUnder43

UpAndUnder43

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Lots of talk about local recruits lately. I’m all for it, Minnesota has some very good high school hoops as of late. I looked through the last 40 years, isolated the tournament teams and then the top performers from each team. ** denotes a MN born player. Players generally listed in order of PPG, included other stats like rebounds and assists. Plenty of arguments to be made but I did my best

81-82: Randy Breuer**, Trent Tucker
88-89: Willie Burton, Melvin Newbern, Kevin Lynch**
89-90: Burton, Newbern, Lynch**, Walter Bond
93-94: Voshon, Randy Carter, Arriel McDonald
94-95: Voshon, Townsend Orr, Jayson Walton
96-97: Bobby Jackson, Sam Jacobsen**, Eric Harris, John Thomas**, Courtney James
98-99: Quincy, Kevin Clark
04-05: Vincent Grier, Jeff Hagen**
08-09: Lawrence Westbrook, Damien Johnson, Al Nolen
09-10: Westbrook, Hoffarber**, Johnson, Devoe Joseph, Ralph Sampson
12-13: Hollins, Hollins, Rodney Williams**, Mbakwe**
16-17: Nate Mason, Amir Coffey**, Murphy, McBrayer, Springs
18-19: Coffey**, Murphy, Oturu**, Kalscheur**

My takeaway? Local recruiting is great to supplement the roster but unless you’re getting the truly top guys it won’t be enough. The best teams in the last 40 years were led by non-Minnesotans. Times have changed, more talent here than ever, but it has to stay home. I don’t think Johnson would have landed Jones x 2, Suggs, etc. so you’re left with the next tier. Is that good enough?
 



UpAndUnder43 said:
Lots of talk about local recruits lately. I’m all for it, Minnesota has some very good high school hoops as of late. I looked through the last 40 years, isolated the tournament teams and then the top performers from each team. ** denotes a MN born player. Players generally listed in order of PPG, included other stats like rebounds and assists. Plenty of arguments to be made but I did my best

81-82: Randy Breuer**, Trent Tucker
88-89: Willie Burton, Melvin Newbern, Kevin Lynch**
89-90: Burton, Newbern, Lynch**, Walter Bond
93-94: Voshon, Randy Carter, Arriel McDonald
94-95: Voshon, Townsend Orr, Jayson Walton
96-97: Bobby Jackson, Sam Jacobsen**, Eric Harris, John Thomas**, Courtney James
98-99: Quincy, Kevin Clark
04-05: Vincent Grier, Jeff Hagen**
08-09: Lawrence Westbrook, Damien Johnson, Al Nolen
09-10: Westbrook, Hoffarber**, Johnson, Devoe Joseph, Ralph Sampson
12-13: Hollins, Hollins, Rodney Williams**, Mbakwe**
16-17: Nate Mason, Amir Coffey**, Murphy, McBrayer, Springs
18-19: Coffey**, Murphy, Oturu**, Kalscheur**

My takeaway? Local recruiting is great to supplement the roster but unless you’re getting the truly top guys it won’t be enough. The best teams in the last 40 years were led by non-Minnesotans. Times have changed, more talent here than ever, but it has to stay home. I don’t think Johnson would have landed Jones x 2, Suggs, etc. so you’re left with the next tier. Is that good enough?
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No, not good enough. Will always require talent from all over the world.
 



This is excellent work. It touches on some work I'm doing and we're reaching the same conclusion.

An all-Minnesota team will never happen, even with great in-state talent and ('til soon) the only D1 program. Gone are the days when NBA players come in and play as a reserve for two years before getting playing time. Remember Vinny Del Negro? I've gotta review that roster Iowa had in the late 80s.

With recruiting focused on filling needs and the variability of timing you'll have no interest in at least half of the recruitable targets each year.
 


UpAndUnder43 said:
Lots of talk about local recruits lately. I’m all for it, Minnesota has some very good high school hoops as of late. I looked through the last 40 years, isolated the tournament teams and then the top performers from each team. ** denotes a MN born player. Players generally listed in order of PPG, included other stats like rebounds and assists. Plenty of arguments to be made but I did my best

81-82: Randy Breuer**, Trent Tucker
88-89: Willie Burton, Melvin Newbern, Kevin Lynch**
89-90: Burton, Newbern, Lynch**, Walter Bond
93-94: Voshon, Randy Carter, Arriel McDonald
94-95: Voshon, Townsend Orr, Jayson Walton
96-97: Bobby Jackson, Sam Jacobsen**, Eric Harris, John Thomas**, Courtney James
98-99: Quincy, Kevin Clark
04-05: Vincent Grier, Jeff Hagen**
08-09: Lawrence Westbrook, Damien Johnson, Al Nolen
09-10: Westbrook, Hoffarber**, Johnson, Devoe Joseph, Ralph Sampson
12-13: Hollins, Hollins, Rodney Williams**, Mbakwe**
16-17: Nate Mason, Amir Coffey**, Murphy, McBrayer, Springs
18-19: Coffey**, Murphy, Oturu**, Kalscheur**

My takeaway? Local recruiting is great to supplement the roster but unless you’re getting the truly top guys it won’t be enough. The best teams in the last 40 years were led by non-Minnesotans. Times have changed, more talent here than ever, but it has to stay home. I don’t think Johnson would have landed Jones x 2, Suggs, etc. so you’re left with the next tier. Is that good enough?
Click to expand...
Al Nolen was local.
 





HitMeAgainIAmStillMoving said:
I know Up responded but maybe I will do that research to see if it is true. Fun to read the list of monster teams Gophers have had. We just punted eight years.
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Good luck on that project. Should be fun to see what you find. Not sure if you'll come up with much pre2000 that is comparable though.
 





Here's an interesting one, 1986-87 Iowa Hawkeyes that went on to the NBA:
  • Brad Lohaus
  • Kevin Gamble
  • Bill Jones
  • Roy Marble
  • Ed Horton
  • B.J. Armstrong
  • Les Jepsen
Al Lorenzen, who may have been named the Vanilla Gorilla?, was also on the team and considered pretty good. Matt Bullard was at Colorado that season, sat out the next on transfer, then played two years with the Hawkeyes before heading off to a long NBA career. He's another from that era.
 


For completeness sake - 1971-72: Clyde Turner, Jim Brewer, Dave Winfield**
 

SnoopDonkeyKong said:
I know you are truncating the list of top players. Just want to point out there were 6 NBA players when you include Bob Martin & Richard Coffey. Quite a group!
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Oh yeah. There are some really good teams. 96-97 also had Tarver, Quincy and the 7ft er from Slayton!!
 

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