Crean/IU-UK/Gillespie Jobs Compared to Minn

Donate To GopherHole
A

akgopher

Active member
Joined
Nov 23, 2008
Messages
1,689
Reaction score
0
Points
36
The power structure of that region has changed. Indiana and Kentucky don't get first pick and the rest get the rejects anymore. Matta, Pearl, Calipari, and Pitino are going to keep winning a lot of the recruiting battles that traditionally automatically went to Kentucky and Indiana. Huggy is back there again too, and he'll continue to dominate the prospects in the penal leagues.

Minnesota keeps looking like a damn good job, with or without Tubby. We are extremely provincial and our prospects get a lot of encouragement to stay home and play. Is there another school that has a single presence in an area on par with our AAU program? If you can get the best player in the state 2 out of 3 years, you're likely a perennial top 25 team.

That's what made the Virginia rumors so absurd. Having Georgetown, Maryland, UNC, Duke, and Wake Forest in your backyard is a killer.
 

Agreed on most points, but I'm pretty sure Duke and Carolina are in everyone's backyard.

It's also a little bit less straight forward as far as getting the best player out of Minnesota. The class of 2009 is very good, but it doesn't look like subsequent classes are nearly as strong. Locking down the Kyle Sandens and Spencer Tollacksons of the world does not a top 25 team make. It helps to have Tubby when going out across the nation for solid talent to go with the top Minnesotans.
 

Kyle Sanden was 10 years ago, the landscape of prep basketball in Minnesota has changed greatly in that time.

Howard Pulley is an elite AAU program and will continue to churn out top level Division 1 players.
 


Had a long post and my browser crashed.

The crux: There are advantages to Minnesota's recruiting situation, but also disadvantages.

Here are a couple of main disadvantages.

1. The reality is that there is always going to be competition for kids, regardless of where they live. But with fewer top ones nearby, there is more pressure for a coach to land those kids. Sometimes a kid wants to get away, sometimes a kid needs to get away, sometimes a coach wants nothing to do with a local superstar. The last appeared to be the case with Michigan State and Eric Devendorf. My understanding is that Izzo didn't want the kid. That was OK because there were plenty of other top players in Michigan and Midwest and it wasn't a big deal. The reality is more players and more schools = more competition, but also choice for the coaches.

2. Minnesota's talent base isn't to the point where there are enough consistent Big Ten-level players on an annual level. There was a three year stretch where the state's Mr. Basketballs were Spencer, Busch and Bryce Webster. All played Division I. All played for the Gophers. None are elite players. You need good, solid four-year guys, but you also need stars.

3. Minnesota doesn't produce enough program changers. In the history of the McDonald's game, there have only been six Minnesota kids ever to play in it: Jim Petersen, Khalid, Pryz, Rickert, Humphries and Cole Aldrich. The reality is this: If a program wants to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament, that team better have some NBA-level players on the roster. Minnesota high school/AAU is much better, but it isn't there yet.
 



Minnesota's talent base isn't to the point where there are enough consistent Big Ten-level players on an annual level. There was a three year stretch where the state's Mr. Basketballs were Spencer, Busch and Bryce Webster. All played Division I. All played for the Gophers. None are elite players. You need good, solid four-year guys, but you also need stars.

As proven by this Hoffarber and Bruesweltz(star Trib) that player of the year awards don't go to the best college prospect.

2004 Spencer (118) 2005 James Davis (academics) and 2006 Bryce Webster (legit prospect-bust) 2007 Cole Aldrich and Jon Leuer (rated higher than Hoffarber) Trevor Mbwake 2008 Jordan Taylor (124) Jared Berggren (74) 2009 Royce White (19) Rodney Williams (95)

If Monson was more competent or Tubby here earlier we should have two of the three on our roster- Aldrich/Leuer/Taylor. I don't want to hear about available scholarships either because even Maturi acknowledged that a big reason why he canned Monson was because he was filling scholarships with garbage.
 

cduff: you asked:

"Maine, Vermont, Wyoming and Minnesota. Which of these 3 is not like the other?"

But Minnesota has Michelle Bachmann! None of the other three has a fruitcake like Ms. Bachmann. That makes Minnesota the odd one out of the pack of four you mentioned.
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
Kyle Sanden was 10 years ago, the landscape of prep basketball in Minnesota has changed greatly in that time.

Howard Pulley is an elite AAU program and will continue to churn out top level Division 1 players.
Click to expand...

This is an EXTREME oversimplification of the issue. Kyle Sanden was simply an example of a mediocre home state recruit. There are numerous other examples (some of which have already been laid out by other posters) of mediocre in-state talent.

It is true that we appear to have found a few gems through the local AAU pipelines. This does not mean that there is an sort of real increase in the amount of talented players in the area. This year there are a few national level prospects in Minnesota. Next year there isn't a single Minnesotan in the Rivals150.

It comes down to this: You either need to get the top players EVERY year (2/3 years isn't enough) or you need to supplement local talent with solid players from other parts of the country. I suppose I'm leaving out the 3rd option, which is believing a team full of Al Nolens can compete with North Carolina and riding your unicorn off into the sunset...
 



...and riding your unicorn off into the sunset...
Click to expand...

Right on the money Maroon Shower...

We always tend to think out local talent is either much better than it really is or not as good as it really is. It's that way every where. Obviously we have to recruit nationally to compete in the Big Ten. No way on earth can we compete on in state talent alone.

We should be able to have the "pick of the liter" when it comes to in state talent with Tubby at the helm. What local kid wouldn't want to play for Tubby? Very very few. But we have to be very selective on what Minnesota kids we take. That's going to open the door to arguments about some "good ones" that get away. Ask Lucia about how tough it is to always guess right on the top Minnesota players.

I know one thing, with Tubby we are going to get the right Gophers (Cole Aldridge and Jon Lurer types) way more often than the wrong Gophers (Brandon Smith and the Bryce Webster types).
 

akgopher said:
Minnesota's talent base isn't to the point where there are enough consistent Big Ten-level players on an annual level. There was a three year stretch where the state's Mr. Basketballs were Spencer, Busch and Bryce Webster. All played Division I. All played for the Gophers. None are elite players. You need good, solid four-year guys, but you also need stars.

As proven by this Hoffarber and Bruesweltz(star Trib) that player of the year awards don't go to the best college prospect.

2004 Spencer (118) 2005 James Davis (academics) and 2006 Bryce Webster (legit prospect-bust) 2007 Cole Aldrich and Jon Leuer (rated higher than Hoffarber) Trevor Mbwake 2008 Jordan Taylor (124) Jared Berggren (74) 2009 Royce White (19) Rodney Williams (95)

If Monson was more competent or Tubby here earlier we should have two of the three on our roster- Aldrich/Leuer/Taylor. I don't want to hear about available scholarships either because even Maturi acknowledged that a big reason why he canned Monson was because he was filling scholarships with garbage.
Click to expand...


AK,

How many guys on that list are true pros? Cole is a NBA player, after that we're guessing. Let's just say either Rodney or Royce makes it, that is still a very small list.

The basketball here is better, but I wouldn't say that it is good enough to win with. I still think being closer to more good players -- even with competition -- is better. In the Big Ten, I would say the Gophers are near the bottom in terms of talented natural recruiting base, ahead of Northwestern (because of who they have to recruit), Iowa and Penn State. And Penn State is close because of how well-known the school is in places like New Jersey.
 

You obviously need to recruit out of state, but hypothetically speaking how much better are we this year with Aldrich in the post and Leuer at 3 or even Taylor off the bench?

Next year's class is going to be lean and maybe Calcaterra or Thomas, but in a 3 year cycle if you can lock-up 4 of this of this crew of 8- Aldrich, Leuer, Taylor, Mbwake, White, Brueselwicz, Lockett, and Williams you should be a consistent top 25 program.

I don't see us as mediocre in terms of producing talent- I feel we are above average in terms of quality. Most programs needs to recruit out of state to be good. Look at Michigan, wasn't Draymond Green the top player last year, Illinois is down this year. We've had three straight classes of above average talent come out, we're due for a down year in 2010.
 





You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom