ESPN: 2014 Big Ten Hoops Recruiting Primer

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mcal24

mcal24

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Don't know how many of you saw this. Bold prediction of Tyus to the Gophers, Travis to the Spartans? I guess we'll see.

http://insider.espn.go.com/college-...537/2014-big-ten-basketball-recruiting-primer

Here's the Gopher's part if you don't have insider.

Minnesota Golden Gophers
Who they have: No 2014 recruits so far.

Who they want: New Gophers head coach Richard Pitino is going hard after three local ESPN 100 stars: point guard Tyus Jones, shooting guard Rashad Vaughn and power forward Reid Travis. Jones would have to forget about playing with Jahlil Okafor if he picks the Gophers. Shooting guard Marial Shayok and center Goodluck Okonoboh are also being pursued aggressively.

Storyline to watch: Which one of the local Big Three pops first, and will the Gophers benefit from their decisions?

Bold prediction: Jones shocks the recruiting world by not going to college with Okafor, instead staying home to be close to family and friends, and picks the Gophers.

Overall recruiting trend: With the recent coaching change, Minnesota is currently trending down. But with time, expect Pitino to turn that trend upward sooner than later.
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Do we really have any shot at Okonoboh? Seems like we haven't heard anything on him for a long time even before Tubby was fired. Has Pitino reached out to him at all?

And for the sake of trolling, I'll give "lazy recruiter" Tubby a pat on the back for offering a guy who ended up being a top 50 and possibly top 25/5-star prospect fairly early, looks like we offered back in late 2011, although it looks like he might have been a 2013 guy at that time.
 

Those are some strange predictions. Maybe this writer is just trying to be different. But I think the only way Tyus Jones would pick the Gophers is if something (bad) came up with his family that caused him to have to stay here. And as for Reid Travis, MSU may look like it makes sense to an outsider and he said he'll visit, but people in the know have been saying for a long time that MN is a good bet and if not MN then it'll be one of the elite academic schools (namely, Stanford).

P.S. Same article also predicts John Groce will land the #2 player in the country, Cliff Alexander. LOL
 

Wasn't there an ESPN recruiting article that stated Gavin Schilling was leaning towards signing with us? I feel like these types of articles are always way off.
 


MadtownGopher said:
Wasn't there an ESPN recruiting article that stated Gavin Schilling was leaning towards signing with us? I feel like these types of articles are always way off.
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I think Schilling was pretty much a lock for the Gophers, then Jabari Parker chose Duke over MSU, Izzo then went after Schilling, Schilling then switched from Gophers to Sparty.
 


Cayman said:
Do we really have any shot at Okonoboh? Seems like we haven't heard anything on him for a long time even before Tubby was fired. Has Pitino reached out to him at all?

And for the sake of trolling, I'll give "lazy recruiter" Tubby a pat on the back for offering a guy who ended up being a top 50 and possibly top 25/5-star prospect fairly early, looks like we offered back in late 2011, although it looks like he might have been a 2013 guy at that time.
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Nope, no real chance here. Okonoboh hasn't mentioned any interest in Minnesota, and it sounds like its really between the big dogs for him. (i.e. Duke, Indiana, Syracuse, etc)
 

These are the recruits who seem to be realistically considering us right now in 2014...

Rashad Vaughn, Josh Perkins, JaQuan Newton, Isaiah Whitehead, Reid Travis, Terry Larrier, Marial Shayok, and Wade Baldwin. (All top 120 recruits)

I personally wouldn't throw Brandone Francis in there because of his offer list, but I wouldn't say there is absolutely no chance with him.
 



GameDay said:
These are the recruits who seem to be realistically considering us right now in 2014...

Rashad Vaughn, Josh Perkins, JaQuan Newton, Isaiah Whitehead, Reid Travis, Terry Larrier, Marial Shayok, and Wade Baldwin. (All top 120 recruits)

I personally wouldn't throw Brandone Francis in there because of his offer list, but I wouldn't say there is absolutely no chance with him.
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If you added Macura and Cohen, I think we're in position to get 3 or 4 on your list.
 

ESPN is either on something or onto something. Maybe they do know something? Or maybe they're becoming the new Sports Illustrated, who just throws stuff out there, and nobody ever holds them to account for being right or wrong.
 

What are the odds that ESPN picks someone else to do the "bold" predictions for Duke and predicts that Jones goes there?
 

howieramone said:
If you added Macura and Cohen, I think we're in position to get 3 or 4 on your list.
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I'm sorry, I completely missed out on Cohen! Just escaped my mind I guess. And Macura wasn't listed because he wasn't in the top 120 or so recruits considering us. He is a 70 grade, all the others are 80+.
 





Let's face it - the preview mags and sports networks can throw stuff at the wall all day long. If they get something right, they'll trumpet that as proof of their genius. But they never mention the other side of the coin - the 99% of the predictions they got wrong. I'd love to have that kind of a deal at work - get one thing right, and you get to forget about everything else you screwed up.

I have NO "insider" information, but based on everything I've read, I just don't see Jones going to the Gophs. Maybe if Pitino had been hired sooner, he might have been able to do something, but with a new coaching staff coming in this late in the game, my gut tells me that Travis is the only 1 of the "big 3" that the Gophs have a realistic chance to land. (But - I would be happy to be wrong if they could land Vaughn, too.)
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Let's face it - the preview mags and sports networks can throw stuff at the wall all day long. If they get something right, they'll trumpet that as proof of their genius. But they never mention the other side of the coin - the 99% of the predictions they got wrong. I'd love to have that kind of a deal at work - get one thing right, and you get to forget about everything else you screwed up....
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Just get a job with Obama.
 

OSUfan said:
What are the odds that ESPN picks someone else to do the "bold" predictions for Duke and predicts that Jones goes there?
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I noticed they did the recruiting piece for the ACC, and the odds are 100%. They did have someone else write the piece and predict Jones to go to Duke. So now ESPN has predicted Jones (and Okafor) both to pick two different schools in the same series of columns.
 

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