Gopher Softball 2019

I think it’s shady on her part, and the Instagram post is distasteful, praising her time at the U, only to stab them in the back. And I’m glad she is gone because I wouldn’t want to play with a teammate that is selfish and is only thinking about herself.
 

I think it’s shady on her part, and the Instagram post is distasteful, praising her time at the U, only to stab them in the back. And I’m glad she is gone because I wouldn’t want to play with a teammate that is selfish and is only thinking about herself.

You are welcome to your opinion. I wish her the best and will miss watching her play in maroon and gold.

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I think it’s shady on her part, and the Instagram post is distasteful, praising her time at the U, only to stab them in the back. And I’m glad she is gone because I wouldn’t want to play with a teammate that is selfish and is only thinking about herself.

While her transferring is a kick in the gut and, as a team fan, I'm not happy about the whole deal, what about the post was distasteful?
 

The NCAA is to blame for this, all one has to do is look back when they seeded the Gophers horribly the other year. Every coach is probably using this to sell recruits that they do not have an opportunity to win a title at a northern school.


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The Gophers probably have the March 20th game against the Gators circled on the schedule.
 


The NCAA is to blame for this, all one has to do is look back when they seeded the Gophers horribly the other year. Every coach is probably using this to sell recruits that they do not have an opportunity to win a title at a northern school.


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Finally,finally, finally, finally to infinity.

Thank you
 

The NCAA is to blame for this, all one has to do is look back when they seeded the Gophers horribly the other year. Every coach is probably using this to sell recruits that they do not have an opportunity to win a title at a northern school.

What if she didn't like the coaching staff?
 

It is not selfish when a person leaves a situation so they can pursue their dreams somewhere else. In fact that is what is called the “American Dream” and it happens every day in the “real world”. So if you worked for a company that was not going to help you achieve your future goals you wouldn’t change jobs if given the chance? Because it would be selfish? And don’t make the argument that the instagram post was distasteful - the athletes don’t post these for themselves. They post the information for the fans like us and the media who are constantly wanting to know what is happening. If we don’t want to know why are we following the message board?
I think it’s shady on her part, and the Instagram post is distasteful, praising her time at the U, only to stab them in the back. And I’m glad she is gone because I wouldn’t want to play with a teammate that is selfish and is only thinking about herself.
 

Got an email today on buying softball season tickets. The ticket office is on top of it this year...about 2 months or so earlier than the last couple years if I recall correctly.
 



Top 2019 recruiting class rankings for Big Ten (Flosoftball)
#14 Michigan
#18 Wisconsin
#19 Penn State
#20 Ohio State
#21 Northwestern
#28 Illinois
#40 Indiana
#50 Maryland
#55 Nebraska
#61 Michigan State
#62 Iowa
#63 Purdue

Two teams did not make the top 91 - Rutgers and Minnesota.
 

That's interesting, especially after having so much success the past couple of years.
 

Means nothing. Flo weighs heavily on PGF. If the girls don't play on a team that plays in the PGF nationals FLO is not likely to rate them. We had a PGF All-American last year who could not crack the line-up. Yes she has transferred.

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Means nothing. Flo weighs heavily on PGF. If the girls don't play on a team that plays in the PGF nationals FLO is not likely to rate them. We had a PGF All-American last year who could not crack the line-up. Yes she has transferred.

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That explains a lot. Our top recruit never took part in events in the US.


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We will know by the end of 2020 season if this was a good hire or not.
 

FloSoftball uses information from Scout Softball skill camps, PGF tournaments, USSSA events, On Deck Softball events (Derek Allister) along with other college recruiting services. The ranking system is not random and most of the kids on their list also show up as top recruits on the other service’s lists. Regardless of the source we are being outpaced by the top teams in the BIG Ten and we don’t have 1 recruit that is considered a top 300 prospect. Playing against international competition is NOT a good thing – the best teams/all-around competition is in the US and typically you need to travel outside of the Midwest to find it. Michigan, Ohio State and Northwestern all have 4 players in the top 300. Those teams will ALL compete for the BIG Ten championship this season. Penn State has 5 players in the rankings. Minnesota is ranked on the same level as Rutgers!

Also I know for a fact that MN and Coach Trachsel have heavily recruited the PGF Nationals for the past several season. I have been at the event for the past 5 years and have seen and talked with the MN coaches including Jamie (both before and after she came to MN). It is not a lack of recruiting these ranked players that is concerning to me – it is the fact that they are not coming to MN for whatever reason.

Side note - our PGF All-American that transferred to Virginia Tech is going to be starting for her team this upcoming season . Minnesota was not a good fit for her but that doesn’t make her a bad player.
 

On rankings:

Does the fact that the class was only 3 players have an effect?
 

On rankings:

Does the fact that the class was only 3 players have an effect?

The rankings are based on quality AND quantity, but a small class could still be highly rated if you get the top players. Each player is assigned a value based on their ranking. The #1 overall recruit is valued at 300 points. The #300 recruit is valued at 1 point. The number of top 300 recruits you sign determines your total score. If your recruits are not in the top 300 they are worth 0 points so even if you sign a large class any recruit not in the top 300 does not improve your overall class ranking.

Example - Northwestern signed the #3, #50 and # 71 overall recruits (along with 4 other signees). Their total value was 773 points (298 + 251 + 230). NW's class was ranked #21. Penn State was ranked #19 - they signed 5 players in the top 300 - #s: 77, 85, 146, 172, 188 (224+216+155+129+113 = 837 total points). One could argue that NW getting 3 players ranked higher than any player Penn State signed is a better class - but Penn State also benefits from the quantity they signed.
 

Out of curiosity, have the Gophers' top players over the last decade been highly ranked by Flosoftball? For example, were these players highly rated by Flosoftball in high school (no specific order)? Say, Lindaman, Partain, Fiser, Houlihan, Groenewegen, Macken, Richardson, Moulton, T. Walker, etc.

I could be wrong, but it seems like it would be easy for Upper Midwest players to be underrated when youth softball media like Flosoftball focuses almost exclusively on PGF (basically California), Florida and Texas events.
 

FloSoftball uses information from Scout Softball skill camps, PGF tournaments, USSSA events, On Deck Softball events (Derek Allister) along with other college recruiting services. .....

Similar to my other post, this list could potentially seriously underrate many Upper Midwest players. The highest exposure PGF events are all in California with only a handful of Upper Midwest teams competing there (most Chicago - e.g. the Bandits). USSSA is mainly the Southern U.S. with only very recent exposure here. On Deck Softball is mainly West Coast and had their first ever Minnesota camp this summer and it was very lightly attended. I know almost nothing about Scout Softball so that's telling in itself.

As a side note, parents getting their kid's name on the FloSoftball's recruit list seems to be a sport in itself in the South and West Coast, but not so much here. While FloSoftball's lists might be dead on with the kids they have listed, I wonder how may very good players aren't on that list. I've never seen any stats on that.

edit addition to the above: I looked up Northwestern's highly-ranked recruits. All 3 ranked recruits played on well-known club teams in the Chicago area. The Chicago area PGF organization is getting very strong due to a guy named Dave Betcher who's doing a great job publicizing it. The 2 highest rated recruits played for the Beverly Bandits, an extremely well-known club team in PGF circles that plays often in West Coast events. The 3rd highest rated recruit played on another well-known Illinois PGF team. My point being....FloSoftball knows about these players because of Chicago PGF. There are plenty of good players not on those teams that don't get the publicity.
 
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I seem to be answering my own posts today. I checked to see what players on Allister's 2017 Gopher roster were FloSoftball Top 100 ranked players. There was only one. Amber Fiser at #67 in the 2016 class (very deserving - she played for the high profile Beverly Bandits). All American Lindaman not ranked by FloSoftball. BTW. Syd Smith was #31 in the 2015 class. Didn't see a list for Groenewegan's 2013 class but I highly doubt a Canadian would sniff their list.

Beverly Bandits and OC Batbusters players heavily populate the list.
 

I seem to be answering my own posts today. I checked to see what players on Allister's 2017 Gopher roster were FloSoftball Top 100 ranked players. There was only one. Amber Fiser at #67 in the 2016 class (very deserving - she played for the high profile Beverly Bandits). All American Lindaman not ranked by FloSoftball. BTW. Syd Smith was #31 in the 2015 class. Didn't see a list for Groenewegan's 2013 class but I highly doubt a Canadian would sniff their list.

Beverly Bandits and OC Batbusters players heavily populate the list.

I am not sure what list you are looking at - Lindaman was a 1st Team FloSoftball All-American in 2016. And she was 2nd team in 2014 and 2015.

https://www.flosoftball.com/articles/5052474-1st-team-flosoftball-all-americans-catchers
 


Rugger14 and Panthadad2 are correct. I’ve been reading these posts for a few years now, and it does irritate me when people put stock into recruiting rankings. By doing so, you are just buying into the marketing strategy of those companies who are selling a product, which are their events. There are several reasons that those rankings don’t mean anything:
1. Not everyone plays regularly in those events. Even if they do go play in some of them, they probably aren’t playing with the big name teams or coaches that are known to PGF or FloSoftball. It’s much about who you know. Case-in-point, all of our current freshmen who were recruited by Allister are listed as PGF high school All-Americans. Why? Because Allister told Derek and Joann Allister to put them on the list. Some of the girls didn’t even play high school softball, nor have they played in a PGF event.
2. At 16 years old, when girls are being recruited, it is impossible to rank among them without some type of 1000-player tryout, and to rank the top 100, you would be splitting hairs. Also, if you were to really have all of the best players in the country try out, and you were able to rank the top 100, many, if not most of the players on the current “top 100” list wouldn’t be there anymore, and ours certainly might. Besides that, most of the top 100 probably won’t even pan out as top players once they finally get to college.
3. At 16 and 17 years old, coaches are merely recruiting “potential”, not stats. Most don’t know your stats and don’t care about your stats, so a stats-based top recruit list is also meaningless. They recruit coachable ATHLETES, and hopefully, the coaching turns them into great softball players. (Side note: College coaches I've talked to say they won't even open an email from a recruiting service).

There are 286 Division 1 softball teams in the country competing to recruit the “best” players, whatever that means, and the best players will usually land at the power five conference schools. Minnesota has 1 Power Five school. Iowa has 2. Nebraska has 1. Wisconsin has 1, and Illinois has 2. We will not get top players from the south. Not because of the program, or because of the coach, but because it is Minnesota! Fortunately, we have the benefit of not having to compete too hard to get some of the very best thirty athletes in the Midwest, and yes, some would have made the “top 100” if they lived somewhere else.

Since I don’t look at the top 100 recruiting class, I don’t know if any of our current freshmen are on it, but I doubt it. I watched them play in the fall, and I tell you what, they are bringing a level of athleticism and versatility to the infield that I haven’t seen in the last four years I’ve been watching.

There is too much gloom and doom from some people on this forum. (Mr./Ms. Gameday, I’m coming for you next).
 


Mr/Ms Gameday,
I can’t tell if you are a teenager or just a complete bonehead! If you are going to say something like that, have something to say that backs up your insightful comment. Also, spell her name correctly.
If you don’t have anything with substance to say, I’ll help you out. I’ve watched both Allister and Trachsel closely. Both are great coaches, but have completely different personalities. Allister was a bit casual. Trachsel is very technical, intense and demands a lot out of her players on a daily basis to strive for perfection. This requires a lot of mental toughness on the part of the players, which was a big change for the upperclassmen. Some couldn’t handle the change, but others are thriving on it.
 

Mr/Ms Gameday,
I can’t tell if you are a teenager or just a complete bonehead! If you are going to say something like that, have something to say that backs up your insightful comment. Also, spell her name correctly.
If you don’t have anything with substance to say, I’ll help you out. I’ve watched both Allister and Trachsel closely. Both are great coaches, but have completely different personalities. Allister was a bit casual. Trachsel is very technical, intense and demands a lot out of her players on a daily basis to strive for perfection. This requires a lot of mental toughness on the part of the players, which was a big change for the upperclassmen. Some couldn’t handle the change, but others are thriving on it.

You only have two posts to your name, so who knows, but it sounds like you have some reason and evidence for what you are saying. Anyways, thanks for sharing.
 

Rugger14 and Panthadad2 are correct. I’ve been reading these posts for a few years now, and it does irritate me when people put stock into recruiting rankings. By doing so, you are just buying into the marketing strategy of those companies who are selling a product, which are their events. There are several reasons that those rankings don’t mean anything:
1. Not everyone plays regularly in those events. Even if they do go play in some of them, they probably aren’t playing with the big name teams or coaches that are known to PGF or FloSoftball. It’s much about who you know. Case-in-point, all of our current freshmen who were recruited by Allister are listed as PGF high school All-Americans. Why? Because Allister told Derek and Joann Allister to put them on the list. Some of the girls didn’t even play high school softball, nor have they played in a PGF event.
2. At 16 years old, when girls are being recruited, it is impossible to rank among them without some type of 1000-player tryout, and to rank the top 100, you would be splitting hairs. Also, if you were to really have all of the best players in the country try out, and you were able to rank the top 100, many, if not most of the players on the current “top 100” list wouldn’t be there anymore, and ours certainly might. Besides that, most of the top 100 probably won’t even pan out as top players once they finally get to college.
3. At 16 and 17 years old, coaches are merely recruiting “potential”, not stats. Most don’t know your stats and don’t care about your stats, so a stats-based top recruit list is also meaningless. They recruit coachable ATHLETES, and hopefully, the coaching turns them into great softball players. (Side note: College coaches I've talked to say they won't even open an email from a recruiting service).

There are 286 Division 1 softball teams in the country competing to recruit the “best” players, whatever that means, and the best players will usually land at the power five conference schools. Minnesota has 1 Power Five school. Iowa has 2. Nebraska has 1. Wisconsin has 1, and Illinois has 2. We will not get top players from the south. Not because of the program, or because of the coach, but because it is Minnesota! Fortunately, we have the benefit of not having to compete too hard to get some of the very best thirty athletes in the Midwest, and yes, some would have made the “top 100” if they lived somewhere else.

Since I don’t look at the top 100 recruiting class, I don’t know if any of our current freshmen are on it, but I doubt it. I watched them play in the fall, and I tell you what, they are bringing a level of athleticism and versatility to the infield that I haven’t seen in the last four years I’ve been watching.

There is too much gloom and doom from some people on this forum. (Mr./Ms. Gameday, I’m coming for you next).

Love the insight. Thanks for sharing.
 

Love the insight. Thanks for sharing.

Agreed. And like our newest member to the board, I'm a bit surprised/disappointed in all this negative talk regarding recruiting.

I guess six straight NCAA Tournaments, four out of five Big Ten Tournament championships, one regular season Big 10 title and five straight years of 40-plus wins doesn't lead to much equity for some folks.
 




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