Minnesota kids around college basketball




McKinley Wright looks really good for Colorado early on. Gonna be an All-Pac 12 caliber player before it's all said and done.

Was just coming to post about him. 11pts, 2.5ast, 3.5reb, 1.5stl in 28min per game over two games so far. Liked this kid a lot at Champlin but never saw him as a Gopher. Good kid and fun to watch.
 

That Denver squad that McKinley rolled through has a few MN kids getting big minutes too.

Joe Rosga (Cretin) is averaging 15 PPG again this year after averaging 15 last year also. Ade Murkey (St. Croix Lutheran) is averaging 25 minutes per game.
 



He looked great in those game clips. Wish him well.
 

Trae Berhow might be Pepperdine's best player as a freshman.
 

Seeing success from Minnesota guys all over the country is another reason why this can be a powerhouse program and also why Pitino would want to be here. There are not a lot of other talent rich states that have only one Division 1 basketball team.
 

That Denver squad that McKinley rolled through has a few MN kids getting big minutes too.

Joe Rosga (Cretin) is averaging 15 PPG again this year after averaging 15 last year also. Ade Murkey (St. Croix Lutheran) is averaging 25 minutes per game.

Minnehaha has a kid going to Denver too
 




Geno Crandall (DeLaSalle) has scored more points than all but one player in the country for North Dakota.

Watched him play quite a few times in high school and he was always a great athlete but it does surprise me how good of a scorer he's become.

Definitely was overshadowed by Travis, Jarvis, Sacar Anim etc. in high school and it looks like he's filled out quite a bit. He was a twig at DeLaSalle.
 

Much like the explosion in girls getting volleyball scholarships, I attribute the the abundance of players receiving basketball scholarships to the active club & traveling team culture in the state. There are more opportunities to improve and more opportunities to be seen nationally.
 

Seeing success from Minnesota guys all over the country is another reason why this can be a powerhouse program and also why Pitino would want to be here. There are not a lot of other talent rich states that have only one Division 1 basketball team.

There aren’t very many states that have only one D1 basketball team, period. Hawaii, Alaska (zero?), Wyoming, maybe Idaho, maybe Maine, New Hampshire and Delaware.
 



There aren’t very many states that have only one D1 basketball team, period. Hawaii, Alaska (zero?), Wyoming, maybe Idaho, maybe Maine, New Hampshire and Delaware.

Vermont. New Hampshire has 2 with Dartmouth I believe.
 

There aren’t very many states that have only one D1 basketball team, period. Hawaii, Alaska (zero?), Wyoming, maybe Idaho, maybe Maine, New Hampshire and Delaware.

Idaho has 3, I believe. Idaho, Idaho State, and Boise State.
 

Macura lit it up against Wisconsin tonight in a good match up. He was chirping at the crowd after Xavier pulled away in the last minute. Seems like a great basketball player with no self control.


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Macura lit it up against Wisconsin tonight in a good match up. He was chirping at the crowd after Xavier pulled away in the last minute. Seems like a great basketball player with no self control.


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I’m sure he wasn’t provoked by the needle dick chant.
 

Macura lit it up against Wisconsin tonight in a good match up. He was chirping at the crowd after Xavier pulled away in the last minute. Seems like a great basketball player with no self control.


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I've been mad about him not ending up with the Gophs until tonight. Xavier can have that dink. I can say I'm at total peace with the universe tonight.
 

I've been mad about him not ending up with the Gophs until tonight. Xavier can have that dink. I can say I'm at total peace with the universe tonight.

Yeah the dude is talented, but he might have brought further negative publicity to the program when Pitino was already catching flak for recruiting "low-character" players when Morris and Lofton got kicked off the team, McNeil assaulting is girlfriend, and the sex tape incident. I won't say I wouldn't want him on our team, but I think there's a chance he could have furthered negative perception of Pitino in his earlier years.
 

Macura lit it up against Wisconsin tonight in a good match up. He was chirping at the crowd after Xavier pulled away in the last minute. Seems like a great basketball player with no self control.


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I like the flavor. It's a free labor racket as it is - at least let the boys keep their heart and emotions.
 

This state has produced some pretty good basketball players for a while now, it has just been really hard to get them to stay home. Hopefully the class of instate kids coming in next year will start to change that trend and more of the top instate guys will stick around.

In the last 10 years there are 3 years where there were 5 star players from the state. Al total 4 players , none that were really serious about coming to Minnesota. Pitino has hardly missed on in state kids he targeted. This program will be suuccessful on 3 and 4 star kids from all over that stay 4 years and develop. Scouting those 3 stars better than most is essential. The state is pretty warm now but if you pull the data there are 20 states that produce a far higher number of high end players. the 10 best programs have players from all over. Heck make that the top 25 winningest programs of the last 5 years.
 

We'd be a top 5 team right now with Macura. Anyone who wouldn't want him is nuts.
 

I find myself rather okay with a Minnesota kid taunting the Skunks.
 

Yeah the dude is talented, but he might have brought further negative publicity to the program when Pitino was already catching flak for recruiting "low-character" players when Morris and Lofton got kicked off the team, McNeil assaulting is girlfriend, and the sex tape incident. I won't say I wouldn't want him on our team, but I think there's a chance he could have furthered negative perception of Pitino in his earlier years.

Macura also had an off court incident a few years ago, I believe in a bar.

Given what we now know or have observed over the last four years, I have to believe a large part of why we didn't land him is ego. Namely, I'll bet it didn't sit well with him being behind three high-priority 5-star recruits in state that year and having to waiting for his offer (Tubby never did offer; and he didn't get one from Pitino into well into his last summer of AAU ball, probably when it become apparent Vaughn wasn't coming) and constantly reading/hearing about Jones, Vaughn, and Travis.
 

Love J.P. Macura as a player. Winner. I enjoyed watching him play a big part in bringing down the Badgers. He's got some edge, nothing wrong with that. Kind of like Lawrence Westbrook was for the Gophers.

Wisconsin is going to be fine. It's early, still not a large sample of games, but feeling like I undersold Badgers with my preseason projection of 7th.
 

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Go Gophers!!
 


Ya between Coffey Dupree, and JP our wing depth would be insane. Hurt and Harris would probably never see the floor

You are making a huge assumption that we would have gotten Amir, Dupree, etc. if we had Macura. I find it very hard to believe. There is a domino effect (good or bad) when you bring in Macura and the resulting kids you recruit, PT available, personality fit, etc.

Go Gophers!!
 

Love J.P. Macura as a player. Winner. I enjoyed watching him play a big part in bringing down the Badgers. He's got some edge, nothing wrong with that. Kind of like Lawrence Westbrook was for the Gophers.

Wisconsin is going to be fine. It's early, still not a large sample of games, but feeling like I undersold Badgers with my preseason projection of 7th.

Badgers looked better than I anticipated last night. Davidson definitely belongs on a high major roster. I do think that their swing through Australia in the late summer has them a pace or two ahead of a lot of teams right now and that will level out as the season progresses. I saw pieces of both Ohio State and Nebraska last night as well and the bottom of the league looks really bad to start the season. The Spartans may lift the profile of the B1G, but top to bottom we are struggling.
 





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