Paul Jesperson, the stand out shooting forward from WI, receives Gopher offer

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fan of Ray Williams said:
Thanks for posting. Wonder why he's so interested in Virginia?
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Tony Bennett is from Wisconsin and is a very good coach. I know they had a tough year this past season, but I will assume they will be relevant in the ACC again soon.
 

Thanks for the answer. Sounds like the Gophers have their work cut out for them trying to land this kid.
 

UWOle said:
Tony Bennett is from Wisconsin and is a very good coach. I know they had a tough year this past season, but I will assume they will be relevant in the ACC again soon.
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Thanks, Ole - you are the expert on Jesperson, that's for sure. Please continue to share your tidbits.

My brother actually went to UVA - if he really is interested in academics, they are one of the top public schools in the nation. For anyone that's ever been there - it's also one of the most beautiful campuses in the nation. I won't even go into the weather too - because I don't want to sell UVA to him if he's reading this, haha!
 


GopherLady said:
Thanks, Ole - you are the expert on Jesperson, that's for sure. Please continue to share your tidbits.

My brother actually went to UVA - if he really is interested in academics, they are one of the top public schools in the nation. For anyone that's ever been there - it's also one of the most beautiful campuses in the nation. I won't even go into the weather too - because I don't want to sell UVA to him if he's reading this, haha!
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For what it's worth (zero), other than academics, weather, and campus, nothing about UVA basketball would appeal to me (a guy who never played a second of organized hoops, but i did dominate my hockey playing friends in Marty's driveway back in high school). These three things could be said of 100 schools across the US. If these are his only considerations, then he should go to Pepperdine.

All of his favorites are great schools. The other factors will come into play on this one - opportunity to play, opportunity to win, opportunity to get better, repoir (sp?) with coaches/teammates, etc, etc..

I know nothing about PJ, but based upon the quality of programs who are interested in him and the need he would seem to fill, I definitely hope he makes the right decision and comes here!
 

He's be a good get for the Gophs. Hope we can land him. He could be a all conference type player by his junior/senior year.
 

I had to look up........

Merrill, Wisconsin, cause I never heard of it. The google is very helpful. 155 miles from Madison, 190 from the Twin Cities, easy day trip for the family.

Come on over Paul.
 

TCF=UnitedWeStand said:
For what it's worth (zero), other than academics, weather, and campus, nothing about UVA basketball would appeal to me (a guy who never played a second of organized hoops, but i did dominate my hockey playing friends in Marty's driveway back in high school). These three things could be said of 100 schools across the US. If these are his only considerations, then he should go to Pepperdine.

All of his favorites are great schools. The other factors will come into play on this one - opportunity to play, opportunity to win, opportunity to get better, repoir (sp?) with coaches/teammates, etc, etc..

I know nothing about PJ, but based upon the quality of programs who are interested in him and the need he would seem to fill, I definitely hope he makes the right decision and comes here!
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I have no clue if those play into his decision factors (other than academics, which he said), I was just commenting on UVA as as school, as far as what you spoke to...

How about playing in the ACC, with a coach with strong connections in WI, that's rebuilding a program, and can also probably sell playing time better than we can? Those would certainly be appealing to many.
 



GopherLady said:
I have no clue if those play into his decision factors (other than academics, which he said), I was just commenting on UVA as as school, as far as what you spoke to...

How about playing in the ACC, with a coach with strong connections in WI, that's rebuilding a program, and can also probably sell playing time better than we can? Those would certainly be appealing to many.
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How about playing in the Big Ten? How about playing in conference that is likely (due to expansion) to be the biggest and most powerful conference in the country? How about playing for a coach who has won a national title and coached team USA? I'm also not sure UVA would offer more opportunity to play than MN would. They just signed two shooting guards this year, to go along with three forwards; four of these recruits are in the Rivals Top 150 (two are shooting guards, two are small forwards). Add to this class a shooting guard that was their leading scorer this year as a sophomore (will be a senior PJ's freshman year). A great recruiting class, which should be expected of a new first year coach, but still only maybe fourth or fifth best in the ACC this year (Duke, UNC, NC State and Wake Forest likely ahead in terms of talent, with G. Tech right there with UVA).

I'm not trying to argue with you, GL. I tried to be clear that for ME, personally, again, someone with zero experience playing organized basketball, nothing about UVA basketball would appeal to me.

Different strokes for different folks, however.
 

TCF=UnitedWeStand said:
How about playing in the Big Ten? How about playing in conference that is likely (due to expansion) to be the biggest and most powerful conference in the country? How about playing for a coach who has won a national title and coached team USA? I'm also not sure UVA would offer more opportunity to play than MN would. They just signed two shooting guards this year, to go along with three forwards; four of these recruits are in the Rivals Top 150 (two are shooting guards, two are small forwards). Add to this class a shooting guard that was their leading scorer this year as a sophomore (will be a senior PJ's freshman year). A great recruiting class, which should be expected of a new first year coach, but still only maybe fourth or fifth best in the ACC this year (Duke, UNC, NC State and Wake Forest likely ahead in terms of talent, with G. Tech right there with UVA).

I'm not trying to argue with you, GL. I tried to be clear that for ME, personally, again, someone with zero experience playing organized basketball, nothing about UVA basketball would appeal to me.

Different strokes for different folks, however.
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Jespersens high school coach played at UW Stevens Point so there is some type of relationship with Bennet.
 

GopherLady said:
Thanks, Ole - you are the expert on Jesperson, that's for sure. Please continue to share your tidbits.

My brother actually went to UVA - if he really is interested in academics, they are one of the top public schools in the nation. For anyone that's ever been there - it's also one of the most beautiful campuses in the nation. I won't even go into the weather too - because I don't want to sell UVA to him if he's reading this, haha!
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Charlottesville had 56 inches of snow this winter and they don't know how to plow roads here. It was awful. He needs to go to MN where the winter weather is not so severe! ;)
 





TCF=UnitedWeStand said:
How about playing in the Big Ten? How about playing in conference that is likely (due to expansion) to be the biggest and most powerful conference in the country? How about playing for a coach who has won a national title and coached team USA? I'm also not sure UVA would offer more opportunity to play than MN would. They just signed two shooting guards this year, to go along with three forwards; four of these recruits are in the Rivals Top 150 (two are shooting guards, two are small forwards). Add to this class a shooting guard that was their leading scorer this year as a sophomore (will be a senior PJ's freshman year). A great recruiting class, which should be expected of a new first year coach, but still only maybe fourth or fifth best in the ACC this year (Duke, UNC, NC State and Wake Forest likely ahead in terms of talent, with G. Tech right there with UVA).

I'm not trying to argue with you, GL. I tried to be clear that for ME, personally, again, someone with zero experience playing organized basketball, nothing about UVA basketball would appeal to me.

Different strokes for different folks, however.
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FWIW, the leading scorer you reference is no longer on the team, so that's irrelevant. However, I would also point that as great as UVa's brand-new arena is, I'd rather play in front of a packed Barn then a half-empty shiny new facility, which is what the JPJ is most nights that don't involve Duke, UNC or Maryland.
 

Some more info on Jesperson

Minnesota Extends Scholarship Offer to Merrill’s Jesperson, by Mark Miller.

http://mikeleebasketball.com/blog/m...p-offer-to-merrills-jesperson-by-mark-miller/

Here's part of the story:

Minnesota is the 12th scholarship offer from a NCAA Division I school for Jesperson, a fantastic perimeter shooter and three-year varsity performer at Merrill.

The Golden Gophers are the first Big Ten program to extend an offer to Jesperson, though Northwestern could pull the trigger during Jesperson’s scheduled unofficial visit to the school this weekend.

Arizona State, Butler, Colorado State, Green Bay, Loyola, Milwaukee, North Dakota State, Northern Iowa, San Diego, South Dakota State and Toledo previously extended offers to Jesperson, who averaged 20.5 points per game as a junior en route to earning first-team all-state honors among Division 1 schools from the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association.

Boston College, Florida State, Northwestern, Notre Dame and Virginia have shown recent interest in Jesperson, who will also take unofficial visits to Butler and Notre Dame this weekend.

“Paul’s best attributes are shooting the ball,” said Jason Jesperson, Paul’s older brother and coach with the Wisconsin Playmakers program. “He’s gotten better at taking the ball to the rim and finishing with contact.

“This past weekend, he had games with eight or nine three pointers, but he’s also had games of two or three threes and he still managed to get 25 points. He’s become a more complete player. He needs to continue to get stronger and improve his ball handling. I’d also like to see him work on his post game a bit so he can score when opponents put a 6-2 or 6-3 athlete on him.”
 

GL is right. UVA ranks high in academics and has a beautiful campus. Impressively, this young man takes academics seriously it appears. That said, our university offers a great experience too and is closer to home and family.
 

MinneMike said:
GL is right. UVA ranks high in academics and has a beautiful campus. Impressively, this young man takes academics seriously it appears. That said, our university offers a great experience too and is closer to home and family.
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It's refreshing to hear that. This guy knows that it is really difficult to get a shot at the NBA, even if you are a performer in college. More power to him, and I hope he chooses the Gophers.
 

NurumbiCongo said:
“This past weekend, he had games with eight or nine three pointers, but he’s also had games of two or three threes and he still managed to get 25 points. He’s become a more complete player. He needs to continue to get stronger and improve his ball handling. I’d also like to see him work on his post game a bit so he can score when opponents put a 6-2 or 6-3 athlete on him.”
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Exactly. The GH interview compared him to Hoffarber. If he's supposed to be big time, then he HAS to be able to post up and be a better scorer than Hoff. Being 6'7", there's no reason he should be able to get his shot off and be taken out of games like Hoff. Is he the next Robbie Hummel? I thought we already got a 6'9" "shooter" this spring when they signed that Latvian kid.
 

Jesperson video

Here's some Jesperson video from Mark Miller's Wissports.

http://www.wissports.net/sports/hoopsb/teamplayer.asp?pid=78479&tid=249

Go to the media part at the bottom and the videos are about 2 minutes each, 2 from high school and 2 AAU. He hits several shots in each clip. He's #20 in all. In the Playmakers vs. Playground tape, you can also enjoy his teammate Nimrod and Wisconsin 7 footer Evan Anderson is on the other team as is JP Tokoto.


Now time to get out of here and do some fishing.
 

Nice videos, Gordon Hayward much? Is jesperson like the second coming? :)
 


PavedWithGold said:
Exactly. The GH interview compared him to Hoffarber. If he's supposed to be big time, then he HAS to be able to post up and be a better scorer than Hoff. Being 6'7", there's no reason he should be able to get his shot off and be taken out of games like Hoff. Is he the next Robbie Hummel? I thought we already got a 6'9" "shooter" this spring when they signed that Latvian kid.
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This is why I'm still puzzled on the whole Oto thing. And I hate feeling like that, because hes a Gopher now and obviously I want him to be extremely successful. But I just think Jesperson, if we get him, would fill that role, and we could have banked Oto's scholarship and gone after someone else at another position, especially with the handful of solid local talent this class. I understand signing Maverick because that was an immediate need, but I'm still not sold on the Oto signing. Hopefully I am proven very wrong.
 

The Big L said:
This is why I'm still puzzled on the whole Oto thing. And I hate feeling like that, because hes a Gopher now and obviously I want him to be extremely successful. But I just think Jesperson, if we get him, would fill that role, and we could have banked Oto's scholarship and gone after someone else at another position, especially with the handful of solid local talent this class. I understand signing Maverick because that was an immediate need, but I'm still not sold on the Oto signing. Hopefully I am proven very wrong.
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Gophers had only 2 F on roster - Williams and Mbakwe.

Oto makes it 3 F - he can play either WF or PF.
 

Friend Of Tubby said:
Gophers had only 2 F on roster - Williams and Mbakwe.

Oto makes it 3 F - he can play either WF or PF.
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I guess we look at the positions a bit differently. I see Rodney as a 3 for the most part, and Mbakwe a 4, though I haven't seen Mbakwe play much, and am basing that mostly off what Ive heard and seeing his size. We've seen Tubby put Ralph and Colton out together with success, and now with Mo Walker providing some minutes he can pair them more often. As for the 3 position, we've had a SG there a lot under Tubby, so I think that's what we will see when Rodney is on the bench.

I get what you are saying, that we only have a couple of players that are Oto's type. I just think with the flexibility of the 3/4 spots, it isn't really a position of need. Obviously Tubby knows more about basketball then I ever will, and I know he saw talent or potential in Oto, or else he wouldn't have signed him. I guess I'm just worried we might be hamstrung by a lack of scholarships, and wonder if the Oto sch. would be better served for this class, especially if we might land a similar player.

I guess it's kind of nit-picky, but hey it's the offseason, there isn't much to talk about. :)
 

howeda7 said:
FWIW, the leading scorer you reference is no longer on the team, so that's irrelevant. However, I would also point that as great as UVa's brand-new arena is, I'd rather play in front of a packed Barn then a half-empty shiny new facility, which is what the JPJ is most nights that don't involve Duke, UNC or Maryland.
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Gotcha, thanks! I wasn't aware of this.
 

The Big L said:
.
I guess we look at the positions a bit differently. I see Rodney as a 3 for the most part, and Mbakwe a 4, though I haven't seen Mbakwe play much, and am basing that mostly off what Ive heard and seeing his size. We've seen Tubby put Ralph and Colton out together with success, and now with Mo Walker providing some minutes he can pair them more often. As for the 3 position, we've had a SG there a lot under Tubby, so I think that's what we will see when Rodney is on the bench.

I get what you are saying, that we only have a couple of players that are Oto's type. I just think with the flexibility of the 3/4 spots, it isn't really a position of need. Obviously Tubby knows more about basketball then I ever will, and I know he saw talent or potential in Oto, or else he wouldn't have signed him. I guess I'm just worried we might be hamstrung by a lack of scholarships, and wonder if the Oto sch. would be better served for this class, especially if we might land a similar player.

I guess it's kind of nit-picky, but hey it's the offseason, there isn't much to talk about. :)
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Osenieks is back-up to Williams at 3 and Mbakwe at 4. But Mbakwe is not certain to play. Needed depth at 3 and 4 spots. Oto is that.
 


For those of you lazy like me, and like to just watch it embedded :)

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