Shama: Joseph Answer in but Other U Questions Remain

Joseph Answer in but Other U Questions Remain

Last week’s announcement by Cory Joseph that he won’t be coming to the University of Minnesota to play for the Gophers answered one major off-season question about coach Tubby Smith’s program, but several others remain. How those questions are answered will determine the success of the 2010-11 season.

Joseph is one of the elite prep guards in the country and chose Texas. Although the Gophers were on his final list of potential college programs, recruiting sources weren’t surprised he didn’t choose Minnesota. What raises concerns is that since being hired at Minnesota in 2007, Smith and his assistants have yet to convince an elite out of state player to become a Gopher.

Joseph has scoring and play making skills that the Gophers need, particularly at the point guard position. His brother Devoe, a junior next season, will likely play that position if Al Nolen doesn’t return. Nolen is another question in need of an answer. If he can become academically eligible and return for his senior season, the Gophers will have an experienced point guard who is among the best defenders in the Big Ten Conference.

This spring, reserve point guard Justin Cobbs has put the program and news media on alert. He’s made it known transferring to another school is a possibility, perhaps closer to his California home.

While the Gophers await the answer to Cobbs’ future, they can also ponder their front court questions. Paul Carter transferred to be closer to his ill sister but even prior to that announcement the Gophers were stuck in the Trevor Mbakwe and Royce White marathons.

Mbakwe’s basketball eligibility is tied to resolution of an alleged crime in Florida. He missed all of last season because of that situation. White dropped out of school earlier this year after not playing in any games because of off court incidents. White and the Gophers reportedly have interest in a White return, but guess what? There’s no answer yet.

The Gophers have a partial start on developing a competitive Big Ten team for next season with a backcourt of Devoe Joseph and Blake Hoffarber, and a center tandem of Ralph Sampson III and Colton Iverson. But this roster has unanswered depth questions in the backcourt and it’s speculation as to who will start at the power and small forward positions.

Mbakwe or White will likely be the starting power forward, if either is available. Carter’s absence opens the small forward position to a few players, but Rodney Willliams, a freshman last season who averaged 4.2 points per game, is the most likely candidate.

There are so many uncertainties about the program that fans are entitled to wonder “What’s next?” Another transfer or ineligibility? Perhaps the biggest question of all is why so many questions?

http://www.shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!

Presuming Elite = Top 25, McDonalds A-A

When is the last time Minnesota signed a Top 25 recruit from out of state?

Sometime in the 1990's, I presume?

Friend Of Tubby said:

When is the last time Minnesota signed a Top 25 recruit from out of state?

Sometime in the 1990's, I presume?

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I'm guessing Voshon Lenard or Quincy Lewis. All of the more recent were in-state (White, Humphries, etc.)

I don't think either Voshon or Q were top 25. I believe Voshon was ranked in the 40's and Quincy was lower than that.

Friend Of Tubby said:

When is the last time Minnesota signed a Top 25 recruit from out of state?

Sometime in the 1990's, I presume?

Click to expand...

Just shooting from the hip here, but the last McD all american from out of state might have been the infamous Kevin Smith in the mid '80s. I don't think Courtney James was McD AA.

Clem typically shied away from blue-chippers. Why waste his time? They ain't coming anyway. (words of his ass't coach). For the same reason he seemed to be intimidated by all the head coaches present at the juco national tournament and usually stayed away. Huge chip on his shoulder. Justified his own cheating.

Courtney James was kicked off his HS basketball team his senior year. Indiana and others passed on him and Clem took a chance recruiting him.

It had to be the 1980's...

Courtney and Ben Davis won State Championship his Senior Year

I think they beat Merrillville in the final. I have the tape as my mom lived in IN at the time.

Top 100 Since 1998

Top 100 Recruits

The following table lists all Top 100 recruits to have played at Minnesota since 1998.

Season Class RSCI Name Played Started Started% W L W% NCAA-W NCAA-Gms NCAA W% Yrs
2009 2007 91 Trevor Mbakwe 11 0 0.0 7 4 0.636 0 1 0.0 1
2009 2008 98 Devoe Joseph 33 2 0.061 22 11 0.667 0 1 0.0 1
2009 2008 64 Ralph Sampson III 33 24 0.727 22 11 0.667 0 1 0.0 1
2009 2009 31 Royce White 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0
2009 2009 46 Rodney Williams 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0
2007 2003 85 Lawrence McKenzie 126 83 0.659 71 55 0.563 1 2 0.5 4
2005 2000 33 Adam Boone 121 83 0.686 62 59 0.512 1 2 0.5 4
2005 2002 83 Vincent Grier 86 57 0.663 46 40 0.535 0 1 0.0 3
2003 2002 75 Aliou Kane 20 0 0.0 9 11 0.45 0 0 0.0 2
2003 1999 49 Michael Bauer 119 68 0.571 67 52 0.563 0 0 0.0 5
2003 2003 10 Kris Humphries 29 28 0.966 12 17 0.414 0 0 0.0 1
2002 2001 9 Rick Rickert 63 62 0.984 36 27 0.571 0 0 0.0 2
1999 1998 8 Joel Przybilla 49 45 0.918 29 20 0.592 0 1 0.0 2

Not so sure you don't have to go back to about 1980. I know Darryl Mitchell was very highly ranked, even number one recruit according to some people. That might have been mostly Sid-Speak though. He had a decent career, but people were sort of disappointed in his play considering his ranking. Same team and I don't know at all. Was Trent Tucker highly rated?

Huh?

Aliou Kane was a top 100 recruit?

Where's FOT's thread on the number of elite recruits Tubby's had at each of his previous stops?

Down with Goldy said:

Aliou Kane was a top 100 recruit?

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Yes it was us and North Carolina if I recall correctly

Kind of on the fence on Tubby's recruiting.

Positives: He's gotten every in state players we've wanted since his arrival. He landed some highly recruited (though not blue chip) players from out of state in Iverson, SampsonIII, and Joseph.

Negatives: Has failed to land that blue chip out of state player and has only come close once with Cory Joseph. Has failed to secure early commitments from top players for the '11 or '12 classes like much of our competition has in the Big Ten.

G4L- Clem got a rep as a lazy recruiter at a point in his career with the Gophers. That said, he was in on Chris Webber and Deon Thomas, among others, who we lost out on under questionable circumstances.

You have to remember we're still not a top basketball school. The top talent does not need to take risks. They can play for a top coach at a top school. It takes more than a great coach (salesman), it takes a great product too. Give him time. If we can go deeper in the dance a couple of years in a row, he'll have his product to sell.

Swede said:

Where's FOT's thread on the number of elite recruits Tubby's had at each of his previous stops?

Click to expand...

None at Tulsa. One at Georgia - Jumaine Jones.

Lots at Kentucky - Tay Prince, Keith Bogans, Marvin Stone, Cliff Hawkins, Jason Parker, Rashaad Carruth, Chuck Hayes, Kelenna Azubuike, Randolph Morris, Joe Crawford, Rajon Rondo, Jodie Meeks. All were HS A-A.

So far at Minnesota - just Royce White.

Mulligan said:

Not so sure you don't have to go back to about 1980. I know Darryl Mitchell was very highly ranked, even number one recruit according to some people. That might have been mostly Sid-Speak though. He had a decent career, but people were sort of disappointed in his play considering his ranking. Same team and I don't know at all. Was Trent Tucker highly rated?

Click to expand...

Mitchell was McD AA, but Tucker wasn't.

EG#9 said:

Kind of on the fence on Tubby's recruiting.

Positives: He's gotten every in state players we've wanted since his arrival. He landed some highly recruited (though not blue chip) players from out of state in Iverson, SampsonIII, and Joseph.

Negatives: Has failed to land that blue chip out of state player and has only come close once with Cory Joseph. Has failed to secure early commitments from top players for the '11 or '12 classes like much of our competition has in the Big Ten.

G4L- Clem got a rep as a lazy recruiter at a point in his career with the Gophers. That said, he was in on Chris Webber and Deon Thomas, among others, who we lost out on under questionable circumstances.

Click to expand...

First 2 classes were good. This class, not as good.

Gophers need a better showing on the court in 2011. 20 W in 2008 was good. 22 W in 2009 and 21 W in 2010 were not as good.

25+ W and NCAA W or 2 would really help.

Mitchell, Tucker et. al.

That was the incoming class when I was a freshman at the -U-.

Keep in mind two things - recruiting was not a big deal then (fall 1977, spring 1978), by which I mean that it certainly was to folks like Jim Dutcher and Jimmy Williams, but there was no 24/7 attention paid to it by fans and the national media. If you were interested, you went out and bought "Street and Smith's College Yearbook" and tried to read Sid's column in the Strib.

Second thing - memory is imperfect.

6 recruits. As others have posted, current Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings only stayed a day or two, and then went to a community college in Illinois. Bellevue I think. he eventually played two years for Purdue.

-Daryl Mitchell was described by Sid in spring of 1978 as a "top ten recruit".
-Gary Holmes and Mark Hall were described as "top 100" recruits.
-Noone really knew how to rate Leo Rautins. I think Sid called him 'the best player out of Canada' which didn't really tell us much, because no one at that time paid any attention to basketball in Canada.
-Trent Tucker turned out to be the best player in the class, but he was the lowest rated. If I recall correctly, he was described by Sid as "one of the best players out of Michigan". We beat out Detroit Mercy primarily for his services. One of Dick Vitale's (!) books very briefly describes recruiting Tucker when he was Detroit Mercy coach.

There wasn't as much travel/AAU in those days either. I do not claim to know Tucker very well at all, but I recall him saying in fall of 1978 in the dorm (a bunch of use were watching TV at Territorial Hall) that all of the players first met each other, they were reading each others' t-shirts about basketball camps they had attended, and trying to figure out who was better, who was more heralded. Eventually those guys all worked it out, to their credit, but they had a lot of trouble meshing in 1978-1979, and you could tell when watching them play....

But Mitchell would be the one who took more heat that year, as he was definitely the most heralded recruit.

Anderson8284 said:

That was the incoming class when I was a freshman at the -U-.

Keep in mind two things - recruiting was not a big deal then (fall 1977, spring 1978), by which I mean that it certainly was to folks like Jim Dutcher and Jimmy Williams, but there was no 24/7 attention paid to it by fans and the national media. If you were interested, you went out and bought "Street and Smith's College Yearbook" and tried to read Sid's column in the Strib.

Second thing - memory is imperfect.

6 recruits. As others have posted, current Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings only stayed a day or two, and then went to a community college in Illinois. Bellevue I think. he eventually played two years for Purdue.

-Daryl Mitchell was described by Sid in spring of 1978 as a "top ten recruit".
-Gary Holmes and Mark Hall were described as "top 100" recruits.
-Noone really knew how to rate Leo Rautins. I think Sid called him 'the best player out of Canada' which didn't really tell us much, because no one at that time paid any attention to basketball in Canada.
-Trent Tucker turned out to be the best player in the class, but he was the lowest rated. If I recall correctly, he was described by Sid as "one of the best players out of Michigan". We beat out Detroit Mercy primarily for his services. One of Dick Vitale's (!) books very briefly describes recruiting Tucker when he was Detroit Mercy coach.

There wasn't as much travel/AAU in those days either. I do not claim to know Tucker very well at all, but I recall him saying in fall of 1978 in the dorm (a bunch of use were watching TV at Territorial Hall) that all of the players first met each other, they were reading each others' t-shirts about basketball camps they had attended, and trying to figure out who was better, who was more heralded. Eventually those guys all worked it out, to their credit, but they had a lot of trouble meshing in 1978-1979, and you could tell when watching them play....

But Mitchell would be the one who took more heat that year, as he was definitely the most heralded recruit.

Click to expand...

Parade HS All-American teams (originally 15 players, then 25, now 40) were first named in 1957.

Scholastic Coach (magazine) A-A teams were named in 1956.

In addition to Street & Smith A-A teams, those 2 sources provided recruiting "buffs" like me with morsels of information.