All Things 2018 Gophers Basketball Recruiting Thread

I don't agree at all, sorry. A Big Ten job isn't OJT. And if setting the expectation of a Tournament appearance in year 6 is unreachable, that is Pitino's fault and speaks to exactly why he needs to be fired. If we're sitting here in April and saying that a Tournament appearance in 11 months is an unattainable goal - Pitino should've been fired after this season.

It can't and shouldn't be, 100% on RP's shoulders. things like injury, kids making bad choices, accusations that are unfounded....ect, play a HUGE roll in a season and out of the control of the Coach.

My guess is that RP is taking his time filling these scholarships because he has been burned by a few bad eggs in the past.
 

You always have a very defensive posture when you bring this up. Is it unfair to expect a coach at a Big Ten university to make the NCAA Tournament twice in his first 6 seasons? Is it unfair to expect a coach to do so when his predecessor was fired for doing it three times in the same period? Is it unfair to expect a Big Ten coach to win more than 35% of his conference games, let alone 40%?

My point is that it's illogical to fire him a year from now for not achieving what would, at this point in time, seem to be an unrealistic expectation. More logical would be to have let him go after this previous season or give him a couple years with the talented incoming class. You incorrectly interpret my stance as being defensive. It's more like I'm trying to foster more realistic expectations for next year. I see a lot of people who are going to be angry or heartbroken if they don't make the Tourney, and they probably won't.
 

Was Pitino ready for a Big 10 Job when he was hired, in your opinion?

Not even close, in my opinion. He's still young by Big Ten head coach standards right now, and he's already been on the job 5 years. Age isn't important in and of itself, but it is important insofar as that you have to have adequate time to build up the appropriate level of experience. He had one year of HC experience when hired - that's not enough if you don't have a long tenure as an assistant. At the Division I level, he had 7 years as an assistant and one as a HC - again, not even close to enough, in my opinion. Compare him to the Big Ten coaches hired since he started here:

Brad Underwood - 11 years HC (including 1 in the Power 5, and 7 at community colleges), 18 years assistant
Archie Miller - 6 years HC, 8 years assistant
Chris Holtmann - 6 years HC (3 in the Power 5), 13 years assistant
Chris Collins - 0 years HC, 15 years assistant
Steve Pikiell - 12 years HC, 13 years assistant
Greg Gard - 0 years HC, 25 years assistant

All were vastly more experienced than Pitino - some have been coaching almost as long as Pitino has been alive. The only one who even comes close is Collins, and even he had almost twice as many coaching years under his belt as did Pitino. I don't think it's a coincidence that he's not exactly setting the world on fire either - though, to be fair, he's doing far better against historical program standards than Pitino.

If we were looking to hire Pitino, right now, and he had spent the last 5 years at FIU or another mid-major job, he would fit the profile. We've paid the price for his inexperience over the last 5 years. You don't get treated with kid gloves at a major conference job because you're young and inexperienced - sorry. That's why they pay you a seven-figure salary.
 

It can't and shouldn't be, 100% on RP's shoulders. things like injury, kids making bad choices, accusations that are unfounded....ect, play a HUGE roll in a season and out of the control of the Coach.

My guess is that RP is taking his time filling these scholarships because he has been burned by a few bad eggs in the past.

That can explain away one season - what about the previous four? What were his excuses then? He didn't earn the benefit of the doubt for last season based on his previous body of work. Excuses work better when the excused results are a departure from the norm, not a continuation of it.
 

My point is that it's illogical to fire him a year from now for not achieving what would, at this point in time, seem to be an unrealistic expectation. More logical would be to have let him go after this previous season or give him a couple years with the talented incoming class. You incorrectly interpret my stance as being defensive. It's more like I'm trying to foster more realistic expectations for next year. I see a lot of people who are going to be angry or heartbroken if they don't make the Tourney, and they probably won't.

You're correct on one hand - the most logical thing would've been to fire him after this season. It's completely illogical to keep him beyond next season if he doesn't produce next season - what good is the "talented incoming class" if he can't utilize it to produce results? One could argue for keeping coaches forever if the basis is the putative talent of recruits.
 



You're correct on one hand - the most logical thing would've been to fire him after this season. It's completely illogical to keep him beyond next season if he doesn't produce next season - what good is the "talented incoming class" if he can't utilize it to produce results? One could argue for keeping coaches forever if the basis is the putative talent of recruits.

It depends what you mean by "produce." In my estimation, satisfactory performance would be making the NIT and exhibiting indications that another off-season of growth would yield a conference title contender and strong NCAA participant. What good is the talented incoming class? That they'll be in a position as sophomores to lead a team to a successful season and NCAA run.
 

This thread focuses on 2018 recruiting. If you want to discuss Pitino and NCAA expectations, please start a new thread. Additional off-topic posts in this thread will be deleted. Thanks.
 




Pitino has been a busy guy. Hopefully all this effort will pay off!
 


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Something I'm not sure I'll ever understand with recruiting -- Doing an in-home visit with a recruit just after his official visit. There's no doubt that Pitino has significant interest in Trey McGowens, and the interest must be mutual with him getting here despite a weekend blizzard. Then Pitino travels to go see him today. I like the dedication and the pursuit, but what could've possibly been done today that wasn't accomplished during his official visit?

Every coach does it, but I've just always wondered what purpose it serves. Let the kid breathe a little and give him time to think after getting wined and dined over a couple days. Or maybe he wants to get in his ear again before he has the chance to go to another campus. Like in NFL free agency, if you let the guy leave the team facility, it's over...
 

Something I'm not sure I'll ever understand with recruiting -- Doing an in-home visit with a recruit just after his official visit. There's no doubt that Pitino has significant interest in Trey McGowens, and the interest must be mutual with him getting here despite a weekend blizzard. Then Pitino travels to go see him today. I like the dedication and the pursuit, but what could've possibly been done today that wasn't accomplished during his official visit?

Every coach does it, but I've just always wondered what purpose it serves. Let the kid breathe a little and give him time to think after getting wined and dined over a couple days. Or maybe he wants to get in his ear again before he has the chance to go to another campus. Like in NFL free agency, if you let the guy leave the team facility, it's over...

In sales, which recruiting is, it takes so many touches to close the deal. It can happen with one touch but typically it takes more than 7 according to stats. Also, it's about perception and "show me don't just tell me"...they came to your "house" to visit. You return the respect by visiting their house. It says you are seriously interested...they are important to you. Plus like you also said other coaches do it...if you don't check that box and the other guy does you are falling behind in their eyes.

You might of heard kids feel entitled? They expect you to visit them, it's how it works. They want to be courted. High school kids also change their minds about hourly. You need to be the school they hear from the most...it's how they all gauge your interest, desire, sincerity etc. Right, wrong, agree, disagree it's the formula.
 

Something I'm not sure I'll ever understand with recruiting -- Doing an in-home visit with a recruit just after his official visit. There's no doubt that Pitino has significant interest in Trey McGowens, and the interest must be mutual with him getting here despite a weekend blizzard. Then Pitino travels to go see him today. I like the dedication and the pursuit, but what could've possibly been done today that wasn't accomplished during his official visit?

Every coach does it, but I've just always wondered what purpose it serves. Let the kid breathe a little and give him time to think after getting wined and dined over a couple days. Or maybe he wants to get in his ear again before he has the chance to go to another campus. Like in NFL free agency, if you let the guy leave the team facility, it's over...

Knowing a couple of families go through the recruiting process, it was obvious to them the in-home was as much about courting the kid as seeing what his family and home life are like. The on-campus and home visits are about contact, but I think they serve different purposes. One coach wanted to see the prospective player's bedroom before he got home from school just to get a sense of his personal organization. He was greeted with a list of dreams and goals, which included a dream to play for a different school. Coach was deflated.

My guess is the close proximity of Pitino's visits has to do with the urgency and timing of the recruiting.
 

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That's a nice list but only one of those is a for-sure 2018 candidate. I understand McGowens is a possibility for 2018 and should be courted but the immediate focus should be on 2018 recruits so I hope we hear more about them.
 

Something I'm not sure I'll ever understand with recruiting -- Doing an in-home visit with a recruit just after his official visit. There's no doubt that Pitino has significant interest in Trey McGowens, and the interest must be mutual with him getting here despite a weekend blizzard. Then Pitino travels to go see him today. I like the dedication and the pursuit, but what could've possibly been done today that wasn't accomplished during his official visit?

Every coach does it, but I've just always wondered what purpose it serves. Let the kid breathe a little and give him time to think after getting wined and dined over a couple days. Or maybe he wants to get in his ear again before he has the chance to go to another campus. Like in NFL free agency, if you let the guy leave the team facility, it's over...

Most coaches will try to make an in home visit after the recruit visits the school.

It allows the player to soak in the trip a little bit. When I was a junior going through recruiting I would take a a visit to a school and I had a couple coaches tell me to not make a commitment on the visit. That it was an in the moment decision and it leaves a higher possibility that I would back out of it. Then they would come and visit me a couple days later. Their goal was to give a chance to the recruit to think about the visit on the way home and be able to talk to your family about it.

The in home visit was more of a time to reflect on the visit and see where you stand on the decision. Most of the coaches went aggressive on the in home visit
 

Final 247 composite rankings for 2018

https://247sports.com/Season/2018-Basketball/CompositeRecruitRankings?InstitutionGroup=HighSchool

#47 Daniel Oturu
#185 Jarvis Omersa
#188 Gabe Kalscheur

Some of our other guard targets that we didn't get:

#12 Tre Jones
#54 Jalen Carey
#75 A.J. Green
#93 Jaelin Llewellyn
#100 Nate Hinton
#103 Marcus Zegarowski
#107 Jordan McCabe
#125 Montez Mathis
#145 Eric Hunter
#170 Brendan Adams
#196 Anthony Nelson

Courtney Ramey is still on the board at #38 if we're fortunate enough to get him, but I'm assuming he's kind of a long shot.
 


Final 247 composite rankings for 2018

https://247sports.com/Season/2018-Basketball/CompositeRecruitRankings?InstitutionGroup=HighSchool

#47 Daniel Oturu
#185 Jarvis Omersa
#188 Gabe Kalscheur

Some of our other guard targets that we didn't get:

#12 Tre Jones
#54 Jalen Carey
#75 A.J. Green
#93 Jaelin Llewellyn
#100 Nate Hinton
#103 Marcus Zegarowski
#107 Jordan McCabe
#125 Montez Mathis
#145 Eric Hunter
#170 Brendan Adams
#196 Anthony Nelson

Courtney Ramey is still on the board at #38 if we're fortunate enough to get him, but I'm assuming he's kind of a long shot.

With ESPN now counting 1/3 of the composite (due to the merger of 247 and Scout) I would not be relying so much on composite. 247 loves our guys this year --
#35 Oturu (4 star)
#123 Kalscheur (4 star)
#138 (Omersa) (the highest 3 star)

Rivals has not reranked recently, I think, and ESPN's rankings are bogus.
 

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Per Ryan James, Danya Kingsby is in the process of setting up a visit date with Minnesota.

Per Marcus Fuller, Payton Willis is currently visiting Minnesota.

If these 2 are likely to join the Gophers this year, I would still like to see a 2/3 grad transfer. I am still holding out hope that Trey will reclassify as a 2018, but we haven't heard anything related to that.
 

With ESPN now counting 1/3 of the composite (due to the merger of 247 and Scout) I would not be relying so much on composite. 247 loves our guys this year --
#35 Oturu (4 star)
#123 Kalscheur (4 star)
#138 (Omersa) (the highest 3 star)

Rivals has not reranked recently, I think, and ESPN's rankings are bogus.

I believe Rivals reranked within the last few days. They have Oturu at #56 and neither Jarvis nor Gabe are top 150. I think Jarvis was in a few months ago but must have fallen out.
 

"Payton Willis is currently visiting Minnesota" if only we had Vandy's "problems". They seem to be killing it with respect to recruiting
 

If these 2 are likely to join the Gophers this year, I would still like to see a 2/3 grad transfer. I am still holding out hope that Trey will reclassify as a 2018, but we haven't heard anything related to that.

Agreed. He needs two players who can contribute this year. If both of these accept, he has only one. The way things have gone over these last few years, he should assume the worst: at least 2 or 3 players will be injured, or suspended, or transfer, or just not be good enough to play any appreciable minutes.
 

Seems odd this article doesn't even mention that he is interested in U of M. Maybe he already crossed us off his list.

https://pittsburghsportsnow.com/201...rd-trey-mcgowens-very-high-on-pitt-and-capel/

Having a quality point guard is a priority for Jeff Capel so it isn’t surprising his first offer went to one.

Trey McGowens from Hargrove Military Academy (Chatham, Virginia) is a four-star recruit and rated by Rivals as the 75th-best player in the country. After getting the offer earlier in the week from Pitt, McGowens received a visit yesterday from Capel.

“It meant a lot to me that he trusts me and believes in me that much and made me his first offer,” McGowens said. “He could have called any other player in the country but he called me first.”

Following their meeting, McGowens had a lot to say about what stood out to him about Capel.

“He’s a straight-forward guy, McGowens said. “He tells you what he’d like you to work on and how he can help you get better. He played the point guard position for all four years at Duke. He knows what it takes to get there. Plus, he has the proof with all the players he’s worked with and they’re pros now. He told me that he’d improve me as a point guard by helping me be more vocal, help me with reads and also help me with my jump shot.”

It’s interesting that although he’s listed as a 2019 recruit, McGowens says that there’s a chance that he could move to the Class of 2018 but hasn’t made a final decision on that just yet.

Regardless of when he makes his decision, it sounds as though Pitt will be a serious contender for him.

“They’re very high up there because (Capel) and the other assistants could put me in a good position to get where I want to be and help me achieve my dreams,” McGowens said.

McGowens has over 31 offers but said the schools that are standing out to him right now are Pitt, St. John’s, Ole Miss, Clemson, TCU and Kansas State.
 

Seems odd this article doesn't even mention that he is interested in U of M. Maybe he already crossed us off his list.

https://pittsburghsportsnow.com/201...rd-trey-mcgowens-very-high-on-pitt-and-capel/


McGowens has over 31 offers but said the schools that are standing out to him right now are Pitt, St. John’s, Ole Miss, Clemson, TCU and Kansas State.

Well, if this information comes from the last couple of days or so, then that would be my interpretation.
 




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