All Things Dawson Garcia Recruitment Thread (Class of 2020): UPDATED: Gophers Offered

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Costa Rican Gopher said:
I agree on Ben. By all accounts he was responsible for recruiting Coffey & Oturu, and is supposed to be as plugged into the Mn AAU cicuit as anyone. We all want the best available player, but we also want to create a culture where Mn kids dream of being Gophers, and we're the team to beat for all the top Mn prospects.
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Agreed. As long as Minnesota keeps turning out top talent and Ben keeps getting classes like '22 along with Dawson, I think Ben will get closer to getting Dawson types right out of high school. If these young junior high kids see the U as "home" and an NBA destination, things will roll nicely. Of course, I'm a self-admitted homer and I see things the way I hope to see them. I just have a feeling things are on a very impressive upswing.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
Mn guys from the past 5 years that left the state:

Chet Holmgren, Kerwin Walton, Dawson Garcia, Dain Dainja, Jalen Suggs, Ben Carlson, Stephen Crowl, Matthew Hurt, Zeke Nnaji, Tre Jones, Gary Trent Jr, Race Thompson, Nate Reuvers, Jericho Sims, Brad Davison....obviously you can't land them all, but you're in the dance every year if you can keep most of them home.
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That's depressing......
 


ecoperson said:
The Red Sox underachieved for decades. The Patriots were a joke. My Boston friends STILL thought they were the best thing since sliced bread!

You have to admit that Minnesotans do not typically boast. I am saying that we need to be proud and have faith in our team NOT assume that something bad is going to happen which is why I was responding to a post in the first place.
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This guy is the Jungian archetype for vast majority of said MN Sports Fans -

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60's Guy said:
Garcia in portal to play closer to home
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Thanks and per the article -

With Garcia moving on, UNC is now only one scholarship over the NCAA’s 13-scholarship limit. It is unclear who may or may not stay, but there have been rumblings that we will receive more news soon.

So maybe, definitely(?), Walton is the other one to move on so they can get to the limit?
 






Costa Rican Gopher said:
Mn guys from the past 5 years that left the state:

Chet Holmgren, Kerwin Walton, Dawson Garcia, Dain Dainja, Jalen Suggs, Ben Carlson, Stephen Crowl, Matthew Hurt, Zeke Nnaji, Tre Jones, Gary Trent Jr, Race Thompson, Nate Reuvers, Jericho Sims, Brad Davison....obviously you can't land them all, but you're in the dance every year if you can keep most of them home.
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McKinley Wright IV
 





Costa Rican Gopher said:
Mn guys from the past 5 years that left the state:

Chet Holmgren, Kerwin Walton, Dawson Garcia, Dain Dainja, Jalen Suggs, Ben Carlson, Stephen Crowl, Matthew Hurt, Zeke Nnaji, Tre Jones, Gary Trent Jr, Race Thompson, Nate Reuvers, Jericho Sims, Brad Davison....obviously you can't land them all, but you're in the dance every year if you can keep most of them home.
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IT'S NOT A MINNESOTA THING!

Every state faces this. I picked the stinking badgers, and the state of Virginia, since Virginia produces so much more talent and they also won a friggin' national championship in 2018, so you think they'd be able to keep their best talent "home", right? 8 of 115 ranked players (2017 - 2022) in VA stayed in state, and ZERO went to the University of Virginia. I did not cross reference to see if any of these players even had an offer from the 2 schools I'm focusing on, but that is not the purpose of this exercise.

WI guys from the past 6 years that left the state, or did not go to the badgers (ranked per 247):

Entire ranked class of 2022: Seth Trimble, Leon Bond, Danilo Jovanovich, Jeffery Brazziel, Learic Davis, Steven Clay, Anfrew Rohde, Donovan Short

Entire ranked class of 2021: Patrick Baldwin Jr, Tyrese Hunter, Brandin Podziemski, David Joplin, Kobe Johnson, Logan Landers

Class of 2020: Jalen Johnson, James Graham, Alex Antetokounmpo, Isaac Lindsey, Darius Hannah (the Davis boys stayed)

Entire ranked class of 2019: Deontay Long, David Skogman, Xzavier Jones, Nobal Days, Marcus Domask

Entire ranked class of 2018: Tyler Herro, Joey Hauser, Jordan McCabe, Tyrese Haliburton, Keshawn Justice, John Diener, Mitch Listau, Jordan Dinsmore

Class of 2017: Terrence Lewis, Philip Flory, Alou Dillon, Owen Hamilton (Kobe King stayed)

Virginia:
Class of 2022 - 13 players ranked, 1 stayed in state at VCU
Class of 2021 - 13 players ranked, 1 stayed in state at Richmond
Class of 2020 - 22 players ranked, 2 stayed in state at VT
Class of 2019 - 22 players ranked, 2 to George Mason, 1 to James Madison
Class of 2018 - 21 players ranked, 1 stayed in state at Old Dominion
Class of 2017 - 24 players ranked, 1 stayed in state at ODU
 

But the huge difference between places like Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, etc.:

they have huge amounts of other population and talent within a 5-6 hour drive.


Minnesota/Mpls, on the other hand, is an "outpost" of population. In 5hrs drive, you can get from here to Milwaukee/Madison, Des Moines, Omaha, and the Dakotas.


Certainly, and of course, you can still go farther out. And they have to, and do. But when you couple that extra distance, and the cold, it puts a bias against us. Might be small, but over decades it shows itself.
 

Unregistered User said:
IT'S NOT A MINNESOTA THING!

Every state faces this. I picked the stinking badgers, and the state of Virginia, since Virginia produces so much more talent and they also won a friggin' national championship in 2018, so you think they'd be able to keep their best talent "home", right? 8 of 115 ranked players (2017 - 2022) in VA stayed in state, and ZERO went to the University of Virginia. I did not cross reference to see if any of these players even had an offer from the 2 schools I'm focusing on, but that is not the purpose of this exercise.

WI guys from the past 6 years that left the state, or did not go to the badgers (ranked per 247):

Entire ranked class of 2022: Seth Trimble, Leon Bond, Danilo Jovanovich, Jeffery Brazziel, Learic Davis, Steven Clay, Anfrew Rohde, Donovan Short

Entire ranked class of 2021: Patrick Baldwin Jr, Tyrese Hunter, Brandin Podziemski, David Joplin, Kobe Johnson, Logan Landers

Class of 2020: Jalen Johnson, James Graham, Alex Antetokounmpo, Isaac Lindsey, Darius Hannah (the Davis boys stayed)

Entire ranked class of 2019: Deontay Long, David Skogman, Xzavier Jones, Nobal Days, Marcus Domask

Entire ranked class of 2018: Tyler Herro, Joey Hauser, Jordan McCabe, Tyrese Haliburton, Keshawn Justice, John Diener, Mitch Listau, Jordan Dinsmore

Class of 2017: Terrence Lewis, Philip Flory, Alou Dillon, Owen Hamilton (Kobe King stayed)

Virginia:
Class of 2022 - 13 players ranked, 1 stayed in state at VCU
Class of 2021 - 13 players ranked, 1 stayed in state at Richmond
Class of 2020 - 22 players ranked, 2 stayed in state at VT
Class of 2019 - 22 players ranked, 2 to George Mason, 1 to James Madison
Class of 2018 - 21 players ranked, 1 stayed in state at Old Dominion
Class of 2017 - 24 players ranked, 1 stayed in state at ODU
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Virginia would be a good comparison if North Carolina, Duke & Kentucky bordered us.
 

Gophers_4life said:
But the huge difference between places like Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, etc.:

they have huge amounts of other population and talent within a 5-6 hour drive.


Minnesota/Mpls, on the other hand, is an "outpost" of population. In 5hrs drive, you can get from here to Milwaukee/Madison, Des Moines, Omaha, and the Dakotas.


Certainly, and of course, you can still go farther out. And they have to, and do. But when you couple that extra distance, and the cold, it puts a bias against us. Might be small, but over decades it shows itself.
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The other huge difference to me is we should be the only show in town for college basketball. No other D1 schools (now St. Thomas) but you'd think we'd hook into a few more impact kids. Look at our list vs Wisconsin's.....I've never heard of 1/2 the kids from WI (other than that 2018 class). Minnesota has had a huge run of talent and unfortunately the Gophers have whiffed on a high percentage. Hoping Ben will change that.
 

cheeseheadgophfan said:
The other huge difference to me is we should be the only show in town for college basketball. No other D1 schools (now St. Thomas) but you'd think we'd hook into a few more impact kids. Look at our list vs Wisconsin's.....I've never heard of 1/2 the kids from WI (other than that 2018 class). Minnesota has had a huge run of talent and unfortunately the Gophers have whiffed on a high percentage. Hoping Ben will change that.
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Excellent list provided, but for an even deeper dive we’d need to know how many were offered by WI and VA as well.
VA is also perennially a Top 25 ranked university (both public and private).
 
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Unregistered User said:
IT'S NOT A MINNESOTA THING!

Every state faces this. I picked the stinking badgers, and the state of Virginia, since Virginia produces so much more talent and they also won a friggin' national championship in 2018, so you think they'd be able to keep their best talent "home", right? 8 of 115 ranked players (2017 - 2022) in VA stayed in state, and ZERO went to the University of Virginia. I did not cross reference to see if any of these players even had an offer from the 2 schools I'm focusing on, but that is not the purpose of this exercise.

WI guys from the past 6 years that left the state, or did not go to the badgers (ranked per 247):

Entire ranked class of 2022: Seth Trimble, Leon Bond, Danilo Jovanovich, Jeffery Brazziel, Learic Davis, Steven Clay, Anfrew Rohde, Donovan Short

Entire ranked class of 2021: Patrick Baldwin Jr, Tyrese Hunter, Brandin Podziemski, David Joplin, Kobe Johnson, Logan Landers

Class of 2020: Jalen Johnson, James Graham, Alex Antetokounmpo, Isaac Lindsey, Darius Hannah (the Davis boys stayed)

Entire ranked class of 2019: Deontay Long, David Skogman, Xzavier Jones, Nobal Days, Marcus Domask

Entire ranked class of 2018: Tyler Herro, Joey Hauser, Jordan McCabe, Tyrese Haliburton, Keshawn Justice, John Diener, Mitch Listau, Jordan Dinsmore

Class of 2017: Terrence Lewis, Philip Flory, Alou Dillon, Owen Hamilton (Kobe King stayed)

Virginia:
Class of 2022 - 13 players ranked, 1 stayed in state at VCU
Class of 2021 - 13 players ranked, 1 stayed in state at Richmond
Class of 2020 - 22 players ranked, 2 stayed in state at VT
Class of 2019 - 22 players ranked, 2 to George Mason, 1 to James Madison
Class of 2018 - 21 players ranked, 1 stayed in state at Old Dominion
Class of 2017 - 24 players ranked, 1 stayed in state at ODU
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Great analysis!

I’d be curious as to what places did best at keeping their top talent over that time frame. Might provide some insight as to what may keep the local talent home.

Style of play at WI and UVA? Dysfunction at MN and other VA schools?

Really nice work!
 


Costa Rican Gopher said:
I'm with you 100% on being the windshield for a change, instead of the bug. I'm also hoping Garcia stays home, and along with Battle, can help sway some of the home grown talent to stick around. If we could just keep our home grown players in-state, we'd compete for the B1G title every year. My point was that if this happens, it kind of fell into the staff's lap, and doesn't necessarily point to their outstanding recruiting efforts.
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No argument. But part of my point is that even good golfers miss two-foot putts, and this kind of thing is never a slam dunk. Not gonna name names, but our recent experience with Gopher staffs undervaluing local athletes has given me a complex about this kind of thing. Texas should never have been the first school to offer Garcia. We should have been on him with an offer at least 9 months before that happened.
 


cheeseheadgophfan said:
The other huge difference to me is we should be the only show in town for college basketball. No other D1 schools (now St. Thomas) but you'd think we'd hook into a few more impact kids. Look at our list vs Wisconsin's.....I've never heard of 1/2 the kids from WI (other than that 2018 class). Minnesota has had a huge run of talent and unfortunately the Gophers have whiffed on a high percentage. Hoping Ben will change that.
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I still have a hard time calling it a whiff when we lose a top rated instate guy to Duke, Carolina, Gonzaga....I also think fans sometimes struggle to understand why a high school kid with tons of exciting opportunities doesn't have the same love for the University of Minnesota (using us as an example but this applies basically everywhere) that a diehard fan does.

Obviously we all want kids growing up wanting to be a Gopher but it is tough to fault a kid for chasing an opportunity to go play at a top school, especially in basketball.
 

Bad Gopher said:
No argument. But part of my point is that even good golfers miss two-foot putts, and this kind of thing is never a slam dunk. Not gonna name names, but our recent experience with Gopher staffs undervaluing local athletes has given me a complex about this kind of thing. Texas should never have been the first school to offer Garcia. We should have been on him with an offer at least 9 months before that happened.
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Rumor has it, part of the reason Ben Johnson left the U, was because he was underwhelmed by the effort the former head coach put into recruiting. From everything I've heard, we won't be getting out worked for local recruits anymore.
 

PeterMac05 said:
Enough with all this chitter chatter, has anyone heard anything about Dawson? A visit? Talks with other schools? Why haven’t we heard anything about this
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Info like that is going to be pretty tough to come by unless he puts it out there on social media. All we can do is just wait and see what happens.
 

Gophers_4life said:
But the huge difference between places like Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, etc.:

they have huge amounts of other population and talent within a 5-6 hour drive.


Minnesota/Mpls, on the other hand, is an "outpost" of population. In 5hrs drive, you can get from here to Milwaukee/Madison, Des Moines, Omaha, and the Dakotas.


Certainly, and of course, you can still go farther out. And they have to, and do. But when you couple that extra distance, and the cold, it puts a bias against us. Might be small, but over decades it shows itself.
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So do we just pack up the tents and fold the program like U of Chicago, aspire towards the middle of the B1G, or work our tails off to overcome this? This board has talked about all of the reasons that it is more difficult to win here countless times.

As I have said many times, our fans need to play a bigger role in elevating the status of this program in the community. Let's face it... the U has competition here in the pro leagues that many P5 schools are not up against.

The U suffers from a visibility problem in the TC. In some areas of outstate MN, you are more apt to see UND, NDSU, IA, ISU, and WI gear than Gopher gear. This needs to change. We need the U of M to be the dominant brand.

Here is a short list of some easy ways to make a difference in elevating the brand:
  1. Wear your Gopher gear proudly at every opportunity. Organize a wear our Gopher jersey to work tradition on Fridays.
  2. Buy Gopher gear as gifts... especially for children and new friends from out of state.
  3. Donate Gopher gear and toys for Toys for Tots drives and similar requests for donations.
  4. Provide Gopher gear/toys/tickets to charity auctions.
  5. Attend as many games with the target market in #2 as possible to help inculcate a love for the program or, at minimum, a connection to the program.
  6. Be a super fan... decorate your office/cube with Gopher paraphernalia, steer conversations away from the Vikes and to the Gophers at every opportunity, or organize a team function to include a Gopher connection like a game or tour of TCF, etc.
  7. Try to emphasize the positive and be less negative... the target market in #2 picks up on this negativity which lessens their positive perception of the program. Once lost, this target market is nearly impossible to gain back.
We can't be a national brand until we are a local one. We CAN make a difference.

Row the Boat, Ski-U-Mah, Go Gophers!
 

MNVCGUY said:
I still have a hard time calling it a whiff when we lose a top rated instate guy to Duke, Carolina, Gonzaga....I also think fans sometimes struggle to understand why a high school kid with tons of exciting opportunities doesn't have the same love for the University of Minnesota (using us as an example but this applies basically everywhere) that a diehard fan does.

Obviously we all want kids growing up wanting to be a Gopher but it is tough to fault a kid for chasing an opportunity to go play at a top school, especially in basketball.
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We can be a top school in all sports!
 

ecoperson said:
We can be a top school in all sports!
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Agree but it doesn't happen overnight. Football is making progress but is up against 50+ years where the program was irrelevant on the National stage.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Agree but it doesn't happen overnight. Football is making progress but is up against 50+ years where the program was irrelevant on the National stage.
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As I wrote in a post on this thread this morning, we as fans can make a difference. In addition to the easy suggestions that I included there, fans can attend AAU tournaments wearing their Gopher gear. Blues and reds in the stands are a dime a dozen and blend in together. Maroon and gold is unique and catches the eye!
 

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