I live in a college town and help students with college choices. Tons of them do not want to our flagship school, University of Colorado, because they grew up here. They just want a change. Boulder is a great town, CU is a fun school....but the majority of the students with whom I work do not want to go there. So don't blame Ben or any coach too much....
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STrib: Imagine a Gophers hoops team with mostly Minnesota talent; Ben Johnson's close to making it happen
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Spottedmuskie
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Oh for sure, Hutchinson loves Lindsay Whalen and the Gophers during her years thereHaving Minnesota kids in the program builds a fan base. If a guy from your high school is on the team, don't you cheer for him just a little bit louder? If a small town sends a guy to Minnesota, I can promise you that entire town will watch the games (and subsequently become fans). I agree the typical fan doesn't care but if you want to build support throughout the state, it is important to have Minnesota guys on the roster year after year.
There are numerous examples of high profile athletes who go to their hometown school and CREATE their own buzz. If you are P5, the national TV media will find you and feature you.
The point of my post was to always be searching for MORE reasons to stay versus go. They may not all be weighted the same but they add up. If the blue bloods have an insurmountable advantage, it would seem that the only viable alternatives are either folding the program or accepting mediocrity.
Quitting is not my style and I will keep searching for solutions and every advantage I can to help the program succeed. I can only hope that Ben and his staff have that same mindset.
I think most are not carrying a loser mentality as much as acknowledging the challenges and hurdles ahead. As fans, we feel powerless to make a difference. All we see are the unsatisfactory results.The loser mentality in this thread is sickening.
I have proposed some ideas to Coach Johnson for the fans to engage more fully in the success of the program. The staff is understandably too busy at the moment but I expect that we will continue the conversation after May 1.
Your "viable" alternatives are both silly. The only serious viable alternative is to steadily improve and to become a school that top talent, whether local or distant, wants to join the band wagon.There are numerous examples of high profile athletes who go to their hometown school and CREATE their own buzz. If you are P5, the national TV media will find you and feature you.
The point of my post was to always be searching for MORE reasons to stay versus go. They may not all be weighted the same but they add up. If the blue bloods have an insurmountable advantage, it would seem that the only viable alternatives are either folding the program or accepting mediocrity.
Quitting is not my style and I will keep searching for solutions and every advantage I can to help the program succeed. I can only hope that Ben and his staff have that same mindset.
This is certainly one of the reasons that we lose recruits. They want to try somewhere different.I live in a college town and help students with college choices. Tons of them do not want to our flagship school, University of Colorado, because they grew up here. They just want a change. Boulder is a great town, CU is a fun school....but the majority of the students with whom I work do not want to go there. So don't blame Ben or any coach too much....
The solution is for us to be the somewhere different for athletes from across the nation. Jaden Henley is Ben's first high school recruit from out of state. He is ranked in the Top 200.
That's why my next paragraph says that we need to keep searching for solutions versus just throwing our hands up in the air.Your "viable" alternatives are both silly. The only serious viable alternative is to steadily improve and to become a school that top talent, whether local or distant, wants to join the band wagon.
We can't accept mediocrity. We need to keep striving for ways to break through. Many on this board have told me that this is all on the U, the AD, and the coaches. I think the fans and broader community play a vital role too. This is why I am searching for ways to do so that do not ruffle the feathers of the NCAA.
The real reason recruiting Minnesota is important is because in the past couple decades the state has produced far more D1 talent than the population suggests. NDSU doesn't worry about how many football recruits they get from N. Dakota. They focus on Minnesota.Without a winning history how many 4* guys like Garcia are even going to consider Minnesota, Tubby was a good recruiter when he first came to Minnesota, how many 4* or 5* guys did he get from other states. Getting the top in state recruits builds a foundation and a winning tradition making it much easier to recruit top level guys from other states. That is why I think recruiting Minnesota is important.
If we had the level of high school basketball talent as Iowa nobody would be worried about getting local kids.
Spaulding!No!
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Garcia signed with the gophs?Similar to his cbj backing into Garcia.
Just doesn't matter much. When a guy puts on our uniform and takes the court or the field, he is ours. Nobody cared where Jordan Murphy came from. He, like all before and after, was a Minnesota Golden Gopher.Having Minnesota kids in the program builds a fan base. If a guy from your high school is on the team, don't you cheer for him just a little bit louder? If a small town sends a guy to Minnesota, I can promise you that entire town will watch the games (and subsequently become fans). I agree the typical fan doesn't care but if you want to build support throughout the state, it is important to have Minnesota guys on the roster year after year.
I admire your dedication and efforts to build fan support and I imagine Ben will too while realizing, as he does, that it's all on him. As a fan I'm glad we have folks like you but I'm really, really happy we have Ben Johnson.That's why my next paragraph says that we need to keep searching for solutions versus just throwing our hands up in the air.
We can't accept mediocrity. We need to keep striving for ways to break through. Many on this board have told me that this is all on the U, the AD, and the coaches. I think the fans and broader community play a vital role too. This is why I am searching for ways to do so that do not ruffle the feathers of the NCAA.
It is. The product they bring is the starting point. In the 70's with Musselman and Dutcher and in the 90's with Clem the Barn was selling out. They brought in talent and had teams that worked hard.That's why my next paragraph says that we need to keep searching for solutions versus just throwing our hands up in the air.
We can't accept mediocrity. We need to keep striving for ways to break through. Many on this board have told me that this is all on the U, the AD, and the coaches. I think the fans and broader community play a vital role too. This is why I am searching for ways to do so that do not ruffle the feathers of the NCAA.
Spaulding!No!
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Ben Jonson would get under Shakespeare’s skin as they would be deep in their cups at the Mermaid.