Gaston Diedhiou Update

I'll take the mild summer temperature and cold winters over the heat in many of the southern states.

Did you see how excited Marquis Gray was to be back in the Twin Cities? That's the kind of testimonial we need to wave in front of these kids. This is a place that people love and want to live in.
 

I love how the blind supporters of this "great" University cannot understand that to create a winning culture you need the AD's office, the president's office, and the Admissions office on the same page in order to change this culture. The U of M has been Mediocre in Athletics for decades. I would like some investigative reporter to really dig in and find if this bureaucrat has some bias against athletics, foreigners, men, or some other personal hang up that skewed her decision. What about an appeals process? There are a lot of questions that I would like to see answered by officials at this Great University. I guarantee you that Richard Pitino will move on to another school without the barriers than try to fix these types of problems. As I said, this University should be embarrassed as I am sure the basketball staff is ashamed at the way the school handled this kid and the precedent this sends for future recruits.

Imagine if you are R Pitino and the BB Staff telling this kid that you passed all the NCAA requirement but you cannot get into this school because at Minnesota, we take our english seriously. Yes you could get into 95% of the other D1 schools but our standards are higher here, you should feel proud to be part of such an institution. That message does not resonate real well with most people. I thought we were supposed to be multi-cultural, International,
and create an environment for higher learning that supports our student Athletes. The Kid passed all the NCAA requirements and has the aptitude to do well based on the other hurdles he jumped.


Based on the Strib story, it seems as if I am correct as usual....
 

Based on the Strib story, it seems as if I am correct as usual....

And quite humble ;)

You've got some of it right. I still think you're way too doom and gloom over one low level recruit. But you definitely have planted a seed to watch develop... anxiously....
 




“We were surprised by it,” Pitino said. “Anytime you have a bright kid who is a full qualifier, you normally expect him to be admitted. Certainly, we had penciled him in on the roster as one of our frontcourt guys we could rely on and then, when he’s not admitted at the end of the day, it’s a bit of a curveball, a bit of a tough situation.

But GW said that Pitino was pleased but admissions not letting them in.

As a general rule, I'd be wary of what coaches say.

Things are often not what they seem if you accept only what you're told.

Consider what may actually be at play here and different ways of handling it. See if you don't conclude this path may be the best available.
 

But GW said that Pitino was pleased but admissions not letting them in.

HOOP DREAMS -- I'm not going to make any predictions here, but I'm not sure that this quote changes the original premise. If Pitino changed his mind about Diedhiou and the coaching staff decided it was in the best interest of the program to go in a different direction, the "poor English" premise would still be in effect today. We would ultimately see Diedhiou not get admitted in the winter and find himself at a different school in January. If that happens, it very well could be because his English isn't good enough per University guidelines and that's the end of the story. But I wouldn't be able to 100% rule out the alternative scenario that some have suggested/implied.
 

If's, but's, predictions, no predictions, opinions, facts, ... no wonder I'm a drunk.
 

HOOP DREAMS -- I'm not going to make any predictions here, but I'm not sure that this quote changes the original premise. If Pitino changed his mind about Diedhiou and the coaching staff decided it was in the best interest of the program to go in a different direction, the "poor English" premise would still be in effect today. We would ultimately see Diedhiou not get admitted in the winter and find himself at a different school in January. If that happens, it very well could be because his English isn't good enough per University guidelines and that's the end of the story. But I wouldn't be able to 100% rule out the alternative scenario that some have suggested/implied.

What you say could be true. However, I don't see Pitino faking outrage for the elaborate plot you describe. I don't see Norwood being in on the "game" and confirming Pitino's displeasure with the ruling. And I surely don't see Pitino playin' Teague and not keeping him in the loop if it is a basketball plan. It is what it is, Pitino is shocked Gaston isn't in school. If Pitino didn't want him in the program it would be a much simpler plan than involving admissions and having admissions turn him down.
 



But GW said that Pitino was pleased *with* admissions not letting them in.

Won't let me edit the previous post.

What you say could be true. However, I don't see Pitino faking outrage for the elaborate plot you describe. I don't see Norwood being in on the "game" and confirming Pitino's displeasure with the ruling. And I surely don't see Pitino playin' Teague and not keeping him in the loop if it is a basketball plan. It is what it is, Pitino is shocked Gaston isn't in school. If Pitino didn't want him in the program it would be a much simpler plan than involving admissions and having admissions turn him down.

I agree... I don't see the big conspiracy of; "Things are often not what they seem if you accept only what you're told"
 

What you say could be true. However, I don't see Pitino faking outrage for the elaborate plot you describe. I don't see Norwood being in on the "game" and confirming Pitino's displeasure with the ruling. And I surely don't see Pitino playin' Teague and not keeping him in the loop if it is a basketball plan. It is what it is, Pitino is shocked Gaston isn't in school. If Pitino didn't want him in the program it would be a much simpler plan than involving admissions and having admissions turn him down.

I don't disagree with you. To be clear, I'm not saying this is what has or will happen. I'm saying that I wouldn't be able to completely rule out that explanation if it did happen. I just didn't think the most recent quote really changed anything.

I do think the most likely scenario is we will see Diedhiou in a Gopher uniform in January and our 2015 class is set.
 

More admissions issues out there...

Freshman guard JaQuan Lyle was removed from the Oregon men’s basketball roster Tuesday and it remains unclear when he might join the team.
“JaQuan is not on our roster, we removed him today,” Greg Walker, Associate Director of Athletic Communications, told SNY.tv late Tuesday.

Sources said Lyle was cleared by the NCAA but was not admitted to the University. Walker could not comment on the specifics.
Oregon coach Dana Altman did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment.

“Something in the admission process is where the hangup is,” one source said. “I wouldn’t expect him to be part of the team, at least for now.”

Lyle, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard out of Huntington (W.V.) Prep, later Tweeted, “I’m good, y’all! I promise, just wait!!”
The Evansville, Ind., native committed to Oregon in March after initially committing to Louisville.

Oregon earlier denied admission to 6-9 Canadian power forward Ray Kasongo, who is now enrolled at the College of Southern Idaho.
Oregon appears to have made its admissions process more stringent for student-athletes after three players — Damyean Dotson, Brandon Austin and Dominic Artis — were booted from the program in May in the wake of rape allegations related to a March 8 incident.

http://zagsblog.com/articles/jaquan-lyle-removed-from-oregon-roster/#more-121707
 

More admissions issues out there...

Freshman guard JaQuan Lyle was removed from the Oregon men’s basketball roster Tuesday and it remains unclear when he might join the team.
“JaQuan is not on our roster, we removed him today,” Greg Walker, Associate Director of Athletic Communications, told SNY.tv late Tuesday.

Sources said Lyle was cleared by the NCAA but was not admitted to the University. Walker could not comment on the specifics.
Oregon coach Dana Altman did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment.

“Something in the admission process is where the hangup is,” one source said. “I wouldn’t expect him to be part of the team, at least for now.”

Lyle, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard out of Huntington (W.V.) Prep, later Tweeted, “I’m good, y’all! I promise, just wait!!”
The Evansville, Ind., native committed to Oregon in March after initially committing to Louisville.

Oregon earlier denied admission to 6-9 Canadian power forward Ray Kasongo, who is now enrolled at the College of Southern Idaho.
Oregon appears to have made its admissions process more stringent for student-athletes after three players — Damyean Dotson, Brandon Austin and Dominic Artis — were booted from the program in May in the wake of rape allegations related to a March 8 incident.

http://zagsblog.com/articles/jaquan-lyle-removed-from-oregon-roster/#more-121707

As if grades are a measurable correlation to sexual assault. If anything, the expereince of the three dismissed players should affect the subjective nature of recruiting and not the typically more objective admission process, unless there is more to the admissions process at Oregon than grades, core classes and test scores.
 



As if grades are a measurable correlation to sexual assault. If anything, the expereince of the three dismissed players should affect the subjective nature of recruiting and not the typically more objective admission process, unless there is more to the admissions process at Oregon than grades, core classes and test scores.

They've had two additional players (not sexual assaults) denied since the three were booted for the rape allegations. I'm not sure why you assumed I was implying a correlation of grades to sexual assault?
 

They've had two additional players (not sexual assaults) denied since the three were booted for the rape allegations. I'm not sure why you assumed I was implying a correlation of grades to sexual assault?

Oregon appears to have made its admissions process more stringent for student-athletes after three players — Damyean Dotson, Brandon Austin and Dominic Artis — were booted from the program in May in the wake of rape allegations related to a March 8 incident.

You didn't but the article did.
 

You didn't but the article did.

I thought he was saying that my initial post had nothing to do with what was going on here at Minnesota; I probably just interpreted it incorrectly. My point was that Minnesota isn't the only school that has lost recruits due to admissions. Two big-time schools, UCLA and Oregon, have now lost more highly rated recruits than that Gophers in the little bit of time since the Gaston news broke.
 

I thought he was saying that my initial post had nothing to do with what was going on here at Minnesota; I probably just interpreted it incorrectly. My point was that Minnesota isn't the only school that has lost recruits due to admissions. Two big-time schools, UCLA and Oregon, have now lost more highly rated recruits than that Gophers in the little bit of time since the Gaston news broke.

Sorry for the lack of clarity. My comment was about Oregon, not anything you wrote. Your original point is well taken. Seems like more high profile admissions issues this year than in the recent past. Either the process is getting more stringent or schools are digging deeper into a pool of borerline students to complete their rosters. Probably somewhere in between.
 

I thought he was saying that my initial post had nothing to do with what was going on here at Minnesota; I probably just interpreted it incorrectly. My point was that Minnesota isn't the only school that has lost recruits due to admissions. Two big-time schools, UCLA and Oregon, have now lost more highly rated recruits than that Gophers in the little bit of time since the Gaston news broke.

Yup, and speaking for myself, I got that from your post. Likely a biproduct on the elevated attention NW has brought to the student athlete / athlete student landscape.

I was also miffed that the article brought up 3 sexual allegations as reason to step up their admin standards.
 

What you say could be true. However, I don't see Pitino faking outrage for the elaborate plot you describe. I don't see Norwood being in on the "game" and confirming Pitino's displeasure with the ruling. And I surely don't see Pitino playin' Teague and not keeping him in the loop if it is a basketball plan. It is what it is, Pitino is shocked Gaston isn't in school. If Pitino didn't want him in the program it would be a much simpler plan than involving admissions and having admissions turn him down.

Anyone know when we hear good or bad on a second semester admission?
 

won't be for awhile

Anyone know when we hear good or bad on a second semester admission?

Richard said within the past couple days there is no date yet for Gas to retake the English test.
He is around school, stops by facilities etc but can't practice with the team. Richard seemed confident
it will happen. Semester ends the end of the December. If enrolled, he can't practice until after that.
 

The kid should have been allowed in school period. I hope he passes the objective standards the U has to be admitted and joins the team in January.

We probably (barring injury of course ) wont need him this year.....
 





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