Have you seen that anywhere but posted (and then repeated) on this site? I don't subscribe to any of the services and don't know what the paid "insiders" have said about it, but that certainly wasn't the impression left by the interview.
Your inference would seemingly involve Henley and Evans; do if you gonna count those that leave (that happens most every place) then give credit for the converse as well - that’s my point,
It depends if you have a vision for what your team looks like and if the player fits that vision. The kid can play but does John see a fit for what he wants to do? Again he can only take so many kids each year.
I honestly don't remember where I've seen it but it wasn't just here. And it was by different people at different times.
I am not sure what you are trying to say, I think you left a word out of your response.
I’m saying the majority of the roster which has stayed, is something he deserves credit for IMO. I’d be much more concerned with h losing a MN Freshman, vs. Henley or Evans in the NIL era. It was obvious Ben was letting TT know he wasn’t part of the plans but his lack of PT.
It certainly could have happened, I don't know. But at one point last summer, his only offer was St. Thomas. Later, Northern Iowa offered and then Nebraska. I doubt he would have rebuffed a Minnesota offer at that point. By mid-September, wisconsin and Creighton offered and Iowa offered in November. Perhaps by that point he figured he had better options than Minnesota, but that wasn't always true.
If his Dad or some coach made it clear there was no way he'd go to the Gophers, then why offer. It just becomes performative. The kid and his family would know that Coach Johnson is just trying to make it appeared like he tried. Do we just offer scholarships so the kid can puff our his chest about how many D1 or high major offers he has.
Exactly. He was responding to a question that was expecting that response and Tony set up that question in that manner and even followed up with a dig after his response. I don’t know enough about Tony, but it lacks context and continues a narrative that Ben is a poor recruiter or not trying, when it isn’t always the case. He has missed on PG’s and is maybe doing well without $$$$$$. I’m glad McAndrews was honest and doesn’t string us along.
If you coach the Gophers you don't offer a Minnesota kid unless you 100% believe he would be a good fit and you want him on your team. Same holds true in football because in-state kids would be the most likely recruits to quickly accept an offer from the home state school.
The recruitment of Asuma proves your point - good post.
I agree with everything you said, but the optics just don’t make sense to me in this case. Talent isn’t the issue so how are you able to determine the kid isn’t a good fit when it appears you haven’t spent any time personally vetting him out.
Agreed, although if the answer to that question was “yes,” you wouldn’t think he’d describe the lack of a Gopher offer as surprising.
No. No one who knows basketball could see that and that’s not a knock on Grove. Read some tea leaves here, if McAndrew is that good (I think he is) and the gophers are pursuing him, then there is a reason beyond the staffs ability to recognize talent no matter what he says in an interview. If Tony wanted to press McAndrew he’d asked about who contacted first and how those interactions went.
There's always next year.... ugh. No wonder we love mediocrity.
Assuming that’s true, when did this conversation supposedly take place? Before he had any offers? When his best offer was Northern Iowa? Before wisconsin or Iowa offered? It’s just my opinion, but if he is a player the Gophers wanted and they were late to the table, that’s still a problem.
I don’t think there’s anything to suggest that the gophers want him. Also, if rumblings are correct, you don’t waste your time chasing after a guy ranked 174 if he’s told he he doesn’t want you. There are only so many hours in a day and it would be foolish to waste your time on him. This guy is statistically more likely to be the next illikanen than the next Wahl.
Agreed. Complete guess since I didn’t watch the interview, but the question was probably loaded and achieved its exact purpose - to keep the build the fence crowd fired up.
I call BS on that one. The only people making comments like that are the ones that don't get how recruiting works or are obsessed with the idea of landing recruits from Minnesota.
Just because they haven't been in direct contact with him since the fall (according to Jackson) it doesn't mean they haven't vetted him. This is kind of like the Eli King transfer situation where a lot of assumptions are being made on little to no information.
If the Gophers don't want him, that's fine and I have no issue with Johnson and the staff devoting resources to players they feel better fit their plan. Time will tell whether that was a good evaluation or not and, ultimately, he will succeed or fail as coach based in large part on whether he and his staff can successfully identify, recruit and retain enough Big Ten quality players. But the narrative is that they stopped contacting him because he said he would never go to the U, not because he didn't fit their plans.
Don’t disagree that there are posters on this board obsessed with recruiting MN players. I also bet those posters are not happy about Johnson not going after McAndrews. There is no double standard.