All Things 2019 Gophers Basketball Recruiting Thread - Tweets, Links, Video, Analysis

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Let me paint a picture of just how pathetic Gopher basketball recruiting has been. Kyle Lindsted has had a long standing relationship with the Sherfield's, he even placed Grant at Sunrise Christian where he was formerly head coach (want another Gopher connection, Ed Conroy's son is also on staff at Sunrise). Grant visits Minnesota for the biggest home win of the season (arguably the most important win of the season) and takes in the questionable at best court storming and the Seniors standing on the table giving their speeches. There simply would not have been a better game for him to attend all season. Despite this he decides to wait to visit Wichita State who does not have a scholarship available at the time and already has commits from two small guards. In fact the Gophers had already lost a recruiting battle this cycle to Wichita State for Tyson Etienne a 6'1 175 combo guard who is actually rated higher (115) in the 247 composted than the similarly sized (6'2 180) combo guard Sherfield (135). So take away the absurdity of losing not one, but two recruiting battles to Wichita State and focus on the fact that the second battle we lost was for a kid who decided to be the 3rd 6'2 an under guard in this class for Wichita State instead of the 2nd small guard on Minnesota's entire roster.

Now lets look forward. If this staff can't beat out Wichita State and Wake Forest, who both missed the tournament, for a guard who visited for the exact perfect game...who can we expect them to beat out? If Lindsted's ties to Sunrise are his claim to fame, he's now lost kids to Wichita State, Vandy/Ole Miss, and Missouri that came out of that program. We didn't even really get a sniff from the highest rated kid of this Sunrise class, Malik Hall, who is going to Michigan State. That's simply not even close to acceptable from the "recruiter" on staff.

I would honestly laugh at how bad recruiting has been if I didn't badly want to see this program succeed. It's beyond scary that this is the first year we've had the new facilities and we are failing this badly on the recruiting trail.

Hopefully the staff can rally and pull some gems out (Shakur Juiston would help as an example). I'd feel a lot better if Pitino had shown an ability to identify under the radar talent, but his low rated recruits with few offers (Diedhiou, Gilbert, Harris) have almost exclusively been complete misses.
 

EG#9 said:
Let me paint a picture of just how pathetic Gopher basketball recruiting has been. Kyle Lindsted has had a long standing relationship with the Sherfield's, he even placed Grant at Sunrise Christian where he was formerly head coach (want another Gopher connection, Ed Conroy's son is also on staff at Sunrise). Grant visits Minnesota for the biggest home win of the season (arguably the most important win of the season) and takes in the questionable at best court storming and the Seniors standing on the table giving their speeches. There simply would not have been a better game for him to attend all season. Despite this he decides to wait to visit Wichita State who does not have a scholarship available at the time and already has commits from two small guards. In fact the Gophers had already lost a recruiting battle this cycle to Wichita State for Tyson Etienne a 6'1 175 combo guard who is actually rated higher (115) in the 247 composted than the similarly sized (6'2 180) combo guard Sherfield (135). So take away the absurdity of losing not one, but two recruiting battles to Wichita State and focus on the fact that the second battle we lost was for a kid who decided to be the 3rd 6'2 an under guard in this class for Wichita State instead of the 2nd small guard on Minnesota's entire roster.

Now lets look forward. If this staff can't beat out Wichita State and Wake Forest, who both missed the tournament, for a guard who visited for the exact perfect game...who can we expect them to beat out? If Lindsted's ties to Sunrise are his claim to fame, he's now lost kids to Wichita State, Vandy/Ole Miss, and Missouri that came out of that program. We didn't even really get a sniff from the highest rated kid of this Sunrise class, Malik Hall, who is going to Michigan State. That's simply not even close to acceptable from the "recruiter" on staff.

I would honestly laugh at how bad recruiting has been if I didn't badly want to see this program succeed. It's beyond scary that this is the first year we've had the new facilities and we are failing this badly on the recruiting trail.

Hopefully the staff can rally and pull some gems out (Shakur Juiston would help as an example). I'd feel a lot better if Pitino had shown an ability to identify under the radar talent, but his low rated recruits with few offers (Diedhiou, Gilbert, Harris) have almost exclusively been complete misses.
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There’s really not much else to say. It’s crazy how some of the hard core Pitino backers justify this miss and think Sherfield was scared away because of who would have been in front of him. He would have played big minutes as a true freshman. This recruiting class is a complete sh&t show.
 

EG#9 said:
Let me paint a picture of just how pathetic Gopher basketball recruiting has been. Kyle Lindsted has had a long standing relationship with the Sherfield's, he even placed Grant at Sunrise Christian where he was formerly head coach (want another Gopher connection, Ed Conroy's son is also on staff at Sunrise). Grant visits Minnesota for the biggest home win of the season (arguably the most important win of the season) and takes in the questionable at best court storming and the Seniors standing on the table giving their speeches. There simply would not have been a better game for him to attend all season. Despite this he decides to wait to visit Wichita State who does not have a scholarship available at the time and already has commits from two small guards. In fact the Gophers had already lost a recruiting battle this cycle to Wichita State for Tyson Etienne a 6'1 175 combo guard who is actually rated higher (115) in the 247 composted than the similarly sized (6'2 180) combo guard Sherfield (135). So take away the absurdity of losing not one, but two recruiting battles to Wichita State and focus on the fact that the second battle we lost was for a kid who decided to be the 3rd 6'2 an under guard in this class for Wichita State instead of the 2nd small guard on Minnesota's entire roster.

Now lets look forward. If this staff can't beat out Wichita State and Wake Forest, who both missed the tournament, for a guard who visited for the exact perfect game...who can we expect them to beat out? If Lindsted's ties to Sunrise are his claim to fame, he's now lost kids to Wichita State, Vandy/Ole Miss, and Missouri that came out of that program. We didn't even really get a sniff from the highest rated kid of this Sunrise class, Malik Hall, who is going to Michigan State. That's simply not even close to acceptable from the "recruiter" on staff.

I would honestly laugh at how bad recruiting has been if I didn't badly want to see this program succeed. It's beyond scary that this is the first year we've had the new facilities and we are failing this badly on the recruiting trail.

Hopefully the staff can rally and pull some gems out (Shakur Juiston would help as an example). I'd feel a lot better if Pitino had shown an ability to identify under the radar talent, but his low rated recruits with few offers (Diedhiou, Gilbert, Harris) have almost exclusively been complete misses.
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Making a mountain out of a mole hill. You do know that Sheffield was ready to commit to the U on his visit, but his family really wanted him to wait for the WSU visit (hometown school) before he decided. The home pressure was the key.

The transfer protocol has changed the recruiting landscape so dramatically that spring recruiting is now one of the highlights of the recruiting season. You need to look a little harder at his past recruits.


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EG#9 said:
Let me paint a picture of just how pathetic Gopher basketball recruiting has been. Kyle Lindsted has had a long standing relationship with the Sherfield's, he even placed Grant at Sunrise Christian where he was formerly head coach (want another Gopher connection, Ed Conroy's son is also on staff at Sunrise). Grant visits Minnesota for the biggest home win of the season (arguably the most important win of the season) and takes in the questionable at best court storming and the Seniors standing on the table giving their speeches. There simply would not have been a better game for him to attend all season. Despite this he decides to wait to visit Wichita State who does not have a scholarship available at the time and already has commits from two small guards. In fact the Gophers had already lost a recruiting battle this cycle to Wichita State for Tyson Etienne a 6'1 175 combo guard who is actually rated higher (115) in the 247 composted than the similarly sized (6'2 180) combo guard Sherfield (135). So take away the absurdity of losing not one, but two recruiting battles to Wichita State and focus on the fact that the second battle we lost was for a kid who decided to be the 3rd 6'2 an under guard in this class for Wichita State instead of the 2nd small guard on Minnesota's entire roster.

Now lets look forward. If this staff can't beat out Wichita State and Wake Forest, who both missed the tournament, for a guard who visited for the exact perfect game...who can we expect them to beat out? If Lindsted's ties to Sunrise are his claim to fame, he's now lost kids to Wichita State, Vandy/Ole Miss, and Missouri that came out of that program. We didn't even really get a sniff from the highest rated kid of this Sunrise class, Malik Hall, who is going to Michigan State. That's simply not even close to acceptable from the "recruiter" on staff.

I would honestly laugh at how bad recruiting has been if I didn't badly want to see this program succeed. It's beyond scary that this is the first year we've had the new facilities and we are failing this badly on the recruiting trail.

Hopefully the staff can rally and pull some gems out (Shakur Juiston would help as an example). I'd feel a lot better if Pitino had shown an ability to identify under the radar talent, but his low rated recruits with few offers (Diedhiou, Gilbert, Harris) have almost exclusively been complete misses.
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Not gonna lie...that’s a depressing recap.
 

alchemy2u said:
Making a mountain out of a mole hill. You do know that Sheffield was ready to commit to the U on his visit, but his family really wanted him to wait for the WSU visit (hometown school) before he decided. The home pressure was the key.

The transfer protocol has changed the recruiting landscape so dramatically that spring recruiting is now one of the highlights of the recruiting season. You need to look a little harder at his past recruits.


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I wish some of our hometown families would make their kids stay home.
 


Bordergopher said:
Bummer about Sherfield, but I have to give him credit for staying home and valuing his family and representing his home state. Too bad more of our MN kids don’t do the same.


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Plus Marshall is really respected as a great coach and has a record of getting guys to the NBA. Recruiting is really tough and then when you get them you have a huge challenge in getting everything out of them. Great coaches are really hard to find. Great teaching is a tremendous gift and very rare. There are not 25 truly gifted NCAA coaches out of 350 some. That grades out as a grade of A for those select few. Anyone can recall the great teachers they had and those that were just there. Keep knocking Pitino and staff. Jeter is a grinder with a keen eye but as always it will be determined by how well they do in the win-loss column .
 

EG#9 Post 1951
Pretty difficult to alibi or argue. We gotta do better. I do think Pitino coaches what he has well...we just never seem to have our first, second, third choices in recruiting. We are always left with diamonds in the rough.
You can make a lot of arguments about if we needed Sherfield....how good he is....if he woulda really have helped us etc But, you can't argue it's not an embarrassment to swing and miss with the relationships and expectations in place.
We gotta do better in recruiting. Each week that passes following mid April the pressure increases and the standards diminish of who we'll take. Big weekend.
 

Ozzy&Ray said:
Why do so many keep talking this way? You don't flex people to a 2 or 3 offensively. College basketball, and Richard, have moved away from a 1, 2, and 3 offensively... They have 3 guards, and ideally have three guards who can each guard three positions -- a traditional 1, 2, or 3, and if not, at least two of the positions. For the most part, Richard has that in place. Carr can guard at least two, Gabe 3 positions, Williams looks like at least 2 maybe 3, and Richard has said consistently that the strength Willis brings is he can guard 3 positions. Yes, most teams look to a lead guard, a 1, but the other 2-3 positions are largely interchangable on offense.

It really is not about position on offense as much as it is who you can guard. Look at the four teams in the Final Four, all of them had four players who played on the perimeter offensively, and one who played inside. Virginia only had one starter bigger than 6'7, as did TTU and Auburn. MSU had two big guys, but really only one played inside offensively.
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Coaches want combo guards that are versatile . Length of wing span is huge because those guys guard multiple positions and play big. Far more important than how tall you are. Then it becomes critical and flexible to have that ultra quick guard who can heat up ball pressure and get up into the other teams ball handler. Hunter for UVA has a 7'3 wing span and is cat quick, he can take the other team best player at 4 different positions and that allowed the use of Clark. Hunter was a true swiss army knife who is actually just scratching the surface. He is the 3rd national defensive player of the year in 5 years from UVA and that is how i wanted to see Coff used.
 

EG#9 said:
Let me paint a picture of just how pathetic Gopher basketball recruiting has been. Kyle Lindsted has had a long standing relationship with the Sherfield's, he even placed Grant at Sunrise Christian where he was formerly head coach (want another Gopher connection, Ed Conroy's son is also on staff at Sunrise). Grant visits Minnesota for the biggest home win of the season (arguably the most important win of the season) and takes in the questionable at best court storming and the Seniors standing on the table giving their speeches. There simply would not have been a better game for him to attend all season. Despite this he decides to wait to visit Wichita State who does not have a scholarship available at the time and already has commits from two small guards. In fact the Gophers had already lost a recruiting battle this cycle to Wichita State for Tyson Etienne a 6'1 175 combo guard who is actually rated higher (115) in the 247 composted than the similarly sized (6'2 180) combo guard Sherfield (135). So take away the absurdity of losing not one, but two recruiting battles to Wichita State and focus on the fact that the second battle we lost was for a kid who decided to be the 3rd 6'2 an under guard in this class for Wichita State instead of the 2nd small guard on Minnesota's entire roster.

Now lets look forward. If this staff can't beat out Wichita State and Wake Forest, who both missed the tournament, for a guard who visited for the exact perfect game...who can we expect them to beat out? If Lindsted's ties to Sunrise are his claim to fame, he's now lost kids to Wichita State, Vandy/Ole Miss, and Missouri that came out of that program. We didn't even really get a sniff from the highest rated kid of this Sunrise class, Malik Hall, who is going to Michigan State. That's simply not even close to acceptable from the "recruiter" on staff.

I would honestly laugh at how bad recruiting has been if I didn't badly want to see this program succeed. It's beyond scary that this is the first year we've had the new facilities and we are failing this badly on the recruiting trail.

Hopefully the staff can rally and pull some gems out (Shakur Juiston would help as an example). I'd feel a lot better if Pitino had shown an ability to identify under the radar talent, but his low rated recruits with few offers (Diedhiou, Gilbert, Harris) have almost exclusively been complete misses.
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This is a HUGE miss for Lindsted and this staff. Very disappointing. Im usually pretty optimistic with recruiting, but this was definitely plan A. I don't think there is a good plan B for guard.
 



John Galt said:
There’s really not much else to say. It’s crazy how some of the hard core Pitino backers justify this miss and think Sherfield was scared away because of who would have been in front of him. He would have played big minutes as a true freshman. This recruiting class is a complete sh&t show.
Click to expand...

Interesting to note we constantly read from some posters about Pitino's inability to lock down the borders. Can't keep the Minnesota kids at home. Blah blah blah. Almost an expectation that any kid raised in Minnesota is by definition almost obligated to stay home. Otherwise, clearly some fault of the head coach.

I wonder if these same posters view kids in Wichita the same way. "Sherfield should feel an obligation to stay home". "Marshall needs to lock down the borders". Blah blah blah. By that definition Pitino never had a chance to recruit this kid but yet we hammer away when we can't get the kid to turn his back on his hometown.

Let's see where this class is after the spring signing period ends.
 

Tommy Flanagan said:
This is a HUGE miss for Lindsted and this staff. Very disappointing. Im usually pretty optimistic with recruiting, but this was definitely plan A. I don't think there is a good plan B for guard.
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For the record, I'm disappointed about this one too. It seems like they had him in the bag when he was here on his visit. I guess you always need to try to lock down the recruit when he is in town.
 

Do you think his parents, who moved from Texas to Kansas to watch his son play at Sunrise, had anything to do with his staying home....hmmmmm.



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builtbadgers said:
Coaches want combo guards that are versatile . Length of wing span is huge because those guys guard multiple positions and play big. Far more important than how tall you are. Then it becomes critical and flexible to have that ultra quick guard who can heat up ball pressure and get up into the other teams ball handler. Hunter for UVA has a 7'3 wing span and is cat quick, he can take the other team best player at 4 different positions and that allowed the use of Clark. Hunter was a true swiss army knife who is actually just scratching the surface. He is the 3rd national defensive player of the year in 5 years from UVA and that is how i wanted to see Coff used.
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Totally agree.


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golfing18now said:
For the record, I'm disappointed about this one too. It seems like they had him in the bag when he was here on his visit. I guess you always need to try to lock down the recruit when he is in town.
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To draw a parallel with football, there are some who get upset when Fleck puts on the hard sell to get a recruit to commit right then and there. Upon further review, perhaps that's the way to go.
 


alchemy2u said:
Making a mountain out of a mole hill. You do know that Sheffield was ready to commit to the U on his visit, but his family really wanted him to wait for the WSU visit (hometown school) before he decided. The home pressure was the key.

The transfer protocol has changed the recruiting landscape so dramatically that spring recruiting is now one of the highlights of the recruiting season. You need to look a little harder at his past recruits.


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Pretty spot on. I thought Sherfield was kinda similar to Nate Mason and had potential to be really good but there are some grad transfers out there who might fill the Gopher need even better and then give you the scholarship back for that talented '20 class.
 

builtbadgers said:
Plus Marshall is really respected as a great coach and has a record of getting guys to the NBA. Recruiting is really tough and then when you get them you have a huge challenge in getting everything out of them. Great coaches are really hard to find. Great teaching is a tremendous gift and very rare. There are not 25 truly gifted NCAA coaches out of 350 some. That grades out as a grade of A for those select few. Anyone can recall the great teachers they had and those that were just there. Keep knocking Pitino and staff. Jeter is a grinder with a keen eye but as always it will be determined by how well they do in the win-loss column .
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Great post and I mean that!

This isn't the Wichita State of a dozen years ago. It's more like the Wichita State of three dozen years ago except with much, much better facilities (funded by Koch money). Marshall is a very accomplished coach and, undoubtedly, would be in a power six conference had Wichita State not come up with so much money to keep him. Of the two current players he has in the NBA, Van Vleet is a regular rotation player with one of the best teams in the league and rookie Shamet had a surprisingly good first year.
 

Gopherbbdude said:
http://m.startribune.com/gophers-lo...ntriguing-german-prospect-to-visit/508657662/
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Hopefully Ihnen doesn't slip away too.

"Ihnen gained exposure to college coaches recruiting internationally after playing with IBAM, which produced Stanford big man Oscar Da Silva and most recently 2019 NBA Draft prospect Joshua Obiesie. Ihnen played this season with Obiesie, who was on the World team in the Nike Hoop Summit over the weekend. Despite being just 190 pounds, Ihnen’s potential is intriguing with his athletic ability, length (7-4 wingspan) and perimeter skills for his size. He averaged 12.5 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and shot 35 percent from three-point range this season in the NBBL. In case you're wondering, that's Germany’s top basketball league for U19 players."
 

golfing18now said:
Interesting to note we constantly read from some posters about Pitino's inability to lock down the borders. Can't keep the Minnesota kids at home. Blah blah blah. Almost an expectation that any kid raised in Minnesota is by definition almost obligated to stay home. Otherwise, clearly some fault of the head coach.

I wonder if these same posters view kids in Wichita the same way. "Sherfield should feel an obligation to stay home". "Marshall needs to lock down the borders". Blah blah blah. By that definition Pitino never had a chance to recruit this kid but yet we hammer away when we can't get the kid to turn his back on his hometown.

Let's see where this class is after the spring signing period ends.
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I don’t ultimately care where a player is from. However, any school has a better chance at landing a local recruit as opposed to someone across the country. My view is based on the recruiting class as a whole which includes MN recruits we’ve missed on.
 

Man-o-life! Gopher basketball recruiting is a drudgery. It is Mid-April and they only have one signed and one commitment for 2019. All the top MN instate players are heading elsewhere.

Richard Pitino and the Gophers need to catch a break and get an unexpected surprise player.
 

mkAz said:
Hopefully Ihnen doesn't slip away too.

"Ihnen gained exposure to college coaches recruiting internationally after playing with IBAM, which produced Stanford big man Oscar Da Silva and most recently 2019 NBA Draft prospect Joshua Obiesie. Ihnen played this season with Obiesie, who was on the World team in the Nike Hoop Summit over the weekend. Despite being just 190 pounds, Ihnen’s potential is intriguing with his athletic ability, length (7-4 wingspan) and perimeter skills for his size. He averaged 12.5 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and shot 35 percent from three-point range this season in the NBBL. In case you're wondering, that's Germany’s top basketball league for U19 players."
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Really hope we can land him. He's very intriguing as a stretch 4 guy. Not sure if he'd contribute year one, but with so many scholarships available a guy with his length, athleticism and perimeter skills is a guy I want to gamble on. His skill set complements Oturu really well
 

NVM, I now see Fuller's blurb explanation.

"After being born and raised in Wichita, Sherfield moved to Texas with his family around middle school, but he returned for his senior year with his parents."
 
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Richard seems horribly lazy when it comes to recruiting especially when compared to his counter part Fleck. This is a dreadful class, zero in state guys and hoping that a guy from Germany can reach some potential. Yuck. Plus the promise of plenty of playing time from the 3/4/5 spot. A warm body at this point.
 

abrams said:
Richard seems horribly lazy when it comes to recruiting especially when compared to his counter part Fleck. This is a dreadful class, zero in state guys and hoping that a guy from Germany can reach some potential. Yuck. Plus the promise of plenty of playing time from the 3/4/5 spot. A warm body at this point.
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Everyone seems to ignore the fact that Pitino banked two guard transfers in Carr and Willis. They might not count for this class but they certainly will have the same if not bigger impact than high school recruits, plus they appear to be affecting the decisions of potential guys like Sherfield who apparently feel that playing time will be slim pickings this season (at least compared to what other programs are offering)
 

abrams said:
Richard seems horribly lazy when it comes to recruiting especially when compared to his counter part Fleck. This is a dreadful class, zero in state guys and hoping that a guy from Germany can reach some potential. Yuck. Plus the promise of plenty of playing time from the 3/4/5 spot. A warm body at this point.
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Think to a year ago when the recruiting for this cycle heated up. He had to think the 3-4-5 spots open for this year would be limited role players at best with Coffey, Curry, Oturu, and Omersa all on board. Curry got hurt again, Coffey may be gone but I bet he'll be back, tough to project how much PT would be available back then.
 

abrams said:
Richard seems horribly lazy when it comes to recruiting especially when compared to his counter part Fleck. This is a dreadful class, zero in state guys and hoping that a guy from Germany can reach some potential. Yuck. Plus the promise of plenty of playing time from the 3/4/5 spot. A warm body at this point.
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Well PJ has to recruit about 6 or 7 times the amount of players in a year... PJ didn't land the #1 or #2 guy in the state the last few years...one went to a "blue blood" and the other to a rival...
 

abrams said:
Richard seems horribly lazy when it comes to recruiting especially when compared to his counter part Fleck. This is a dreadful class, zero in state guys and hoping that a guy from Germany can reach some potential. Yuck. Plus the promise of plenty of playing time from the 3/4/5 spot. A warm body at this point.
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I'm glad you mentioned Fleck. He is probably as good of a recruiter as you will find anywhere. Yet he has not landed a single 5 * and just a few 4* players. Why? Because he is a lousy recruiter? Nope. We haven't been winning yet and it's cold up here. When one of those two things changes, then Fleck will get better and better players. For now, I am going to create as much of a carbon footprint as I can.....
 

abrams said:
Richard seems horribly lazy when it comes to recruiting especially when compared to his counter part Fleck. This is a dreadful class, zero in state guys and hoping that a guy from Germany can reach some potential. Yuck. Plus the promise of plenty of playing time from the 3/4/5 spot. A warm body at this point.
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Go stick you head back in the ground, you obviously do not know what you are talking about.
 

alchemy2u said:
Go stick you head back in the ground, you obviously do not know what you are talking about.
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Is this class dreadful? It's currently ranked 11th in the Big 10, last years 2018 class was 8th so you see how those ranking shake out. I'm just not impressed with Richards approach to recruiting.
 

John Galt said:
I don’t ultimately care where a player is from. However, any school has a better chance at landing a local recruit as opposed to someone across the country. My view is based on the recruiting class as a whole which includes MN recruits we’ve missed on.
Click to expand...

I really don't care either. but the advantage of recruiting an in-state kid is getting less and less every year....not just in MN.
 

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