All things Djuan Piper Thread - UPDATED 4/6: New GopherHole Q&A

The guy has 30 followers.

But this is Gopher sports. I'm sure he's going Juco.
 


I'm not gonna put too much stock into what a guy with 30 followers tweets. There really weren't any specifics regarding Piper's commitment were there? The west coast is a couple hours behind us and he could just be announcing it on Twitter instead of an actual conference type setting.
 

Update from Ryan James:

Piper wants to commit to Minnesota but the coaches aren't comfortable enough with his academics to accept the commitment at this time. They are going to continue to look elsewhere but they'll keep in contact with Piper, he could possibly get things in order enough academic wise at the end of the school year but much needs to happen. Ryan is also now saying that if Piper is truly saying JUCO now that it is time to move on.

My own take:

Maybe things are different for basketball but recent football commit Ra'shaun Croney signed a letter of intent with a JUCO due to academic concerns but if he qualifies academically he'll be able to sign with Minnesota. Not sure why it wouldn't work the same for basketball but perhaps it does.
 

FML Seriously why are some of the most talented athletes such dumb asses, in high school you're pretty much guaranteed C as long as you show up.
 





Update from Ryan James:

Piper wants to commit to Minnesota but the coaches aren't comfortable enough with his academics to accept the commitment at this time. They are going to continue to look elsewhere but they'll keep in contact with Piper, he could possibly get things in order enough academic wise at the end of the school year but much needs to happen. Ryan is also now saying that if Piper is truly saying JUCO now that it is time to move on.

My own take:

Maybe things are different for basketball but recent football commit Ra'shaun Croney signed a letter of intent with a JUCO due to academic concerns but if he qualifies academically he'll be able to sign with Minnesota. Not sure why it wouldn't work the same for basketball but perhaps it does.

Where did you get this from?
 




F that noise. They aren't comfortable enough to accept the commitment? What the hell does that mean?

You have three scholarships to use up. You can't give him one? If he doesn't qualify it's not like you lose it.

Gopher sports I tell ya.
 

Update from Ryan James:

Piper wants to commit to Minnesota but the coaches aren't comfortable enough with his academics to accept the commitment at this time. They are going to continue to look elsewhere but they'll keep in contact with Piper, he could possibly get things in order enough academic wise at the end of the school year but much needs to happen. Ryan is also now saying that if Piper is truly saying JUCO now that it is time to move on.

My own take:

Maybe things are different for basketball but recent football commit Ra'shaun Croney signed a letter of intent with a JUCO due to academic concerns but if he qualifies academically he'll be able to sign with Minnesota. Not sure why it wouldn't work the same for basketball but perhaps it does.
I would think it would be the same way for basketball and football. Could it be the coaches really think there is no chance his academics improve enough to be able to get him in so they would rather just know for sure they have 3 scholarships to work with rather than theoretically having one saved for Piper?

So right now we are involved with Konate, Johnson, and probably a lot of transfers, but is there anyone else we know for sure we are recruiting?
 

F that noise. They aren't comfortable enough to accept the commitment? What the hell does that mean?

You have three scholarships to use up. You can't give him one? If he doesn't qualify it's not like you lose it.

Gopher sports I tell ya.

I'm guessing APR-related fears. It's all I can think of that makes sense. If he flat-out didn't qualify that's what Ryan would have said.
 



I would think it would be the same way for basketball and football. Could it be the coaches really think there is no chance his academics improve enough to be able to get him in so they would rather just know for sure they have 3 scholarships to work with rather than theoretically having one saved for Piper?

So right now we are involved with Konate, Johnson, and probably a lot of transfers, but is there anyone else we know for sure we are recruiting?

Milik Yarbrough maybe? Not sure if still interested
 

APR is a separate issue that's about graduating, this is admissions. I say let him sign and see how it plays out, but I guess if they know that there's no shot in hell than I guess it's better to put him out of his misery now, but letting him commit would show loyalty and that the program actually cares about him
 

Unbelievable. I don't get how this is an issue all of the sudden. How doesn't this get figured out way beforehand?
 

I would think it would be the same way for basketball and football. Could it be the coaches really think there is no chance his academics improve enough to be able to get him in so they would rather just know for sure they have 3 scholarships to work with rather than theoretically having one saved for Piper?

So right now we are involved with Konate, Johnson, and probably a lot of transfers, but is there anyone else we know for sure we are recruiting?

Yarbrough and Gueye is all I know.
 

Milik Yarbrough maybe? Not sure if still interested
Last I saw was that he was much more interested in the Gophers than the staff was in him but maybe if Piper is that big of an academic concern it could cause the staff to look into him more. I would guess the staff is probably involved with others that we don't know about too. Would really love if we could somehow land the St.Johns transfer Obepka even if he would have to sit a season.
 

This just ruins my night. How many times does Christmas have to be canceled before I stop expecting presents?
 



Unbelievable. I don't get how this is an issue all of the sudden. How doesn't this get figured out way beforehand?
Not saying this is the situation but how do we know this hasn't always been an issue and that maybe coaches told Piper his academics have to get to a certain level but he hasn't improved his academics enough to that point yet? Lot of things that can be happening behind the scenes that we don't hear about or see.
 

Maybe we should get the Seattle Weirdo guy from Twitter in here. Sounds like he's got some reliable sources ;)
 

I'm sure our coaching staff isn't in the business of screwing kids over, so *if* these rumors are true I'm guessing they made things clear to him about what he'd need to do academically to be admitted and it didn't work out.

I hope he commits and gets in, but if not, I hope the coaching staff has a backup plan in place.
 

Agreed. Wouldn't there have been some kind of warning signs weeks or even months ago if this is all true?

Not sure where you've been, but people have been saying for months that academics were an issue and that he might not qualify ... basically ever since we started recruiting him.
 

Wow I was at church this evening and when I got home I remembered that piper was going to announce tonight. Opened up gopher hole and this is what we get? A bunch of nothing and wondering if he will qualify? Bizarre.
 

Is it weird I want to cry right now? I can't handle this bad news/ heartbreak again after Reid. Ugh.
 

Is it weird I want to cry right now? I can't handle this bad news/ heartbreak again after Reid. Ugh.

Yeah, that's weird. Get a hold of yourself, scher.
 

Yeah, that's weird. Get a hold of yourself, scher.

I feel like I've been engaged and dumped twice now this season.

I hate this team. And this state. And Goldy. Burn it down. Burn it all down.
 

Is it weird I want to cry right now? I can't handle this bad news/ heartbreak again after Reid. Ugh.

Actually, after the Reid debacle this is pretty mild. I'm so used to Christmas being cancelled, the first thing I do when the new calendar comes is I cross it off.
 




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