STrib: Minnesota talent ready to make unprecedented impact in NBA draft

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manderson1984 said:
25% of the top 100 went out of state and that’s in states with better programs than ours and in some states multiple. Im not saying I wouldn’t love MN kids but we’ve got about the same amount of MN kids as Wisconsin or Iowa or many other programs have of kids in our state. In state recruiting is not even a top 3 issue with why we are losing
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I actually agree with you. I've always thought there's been enough talent here and I still think there is this year. Looks like you may or may not agree recruiting as a whole as been that good as I read through that again. More direct coaching issues the problem IMO.

We aren't winning though so I'm hoping the new coach, we'll call him Craig Smith, is able to utilize Minnesota kids with his own program/culture/identity. Sweeter with Minnesota kids and they are here to be had. At least a couple of 'em. But yes I would also prioritize wins, no matter where the kids are from, over focusing strictly on MN kids. Just seems like the potential to have both is there.

Still think that's pretty impressive what Keats did with this years class at NCST.
 
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Block M said:
I think Pitino is an above-average college coach. His recruiting tactics are just not "aggressive" enough. He takes "no" for an answer. Many college coaches do not (Bruce Pearl; Bill Self; Archie Miller; you know the type). I see Pitino leaving after the year for another school if the team makes the NCAA.
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I have to take the 'jblass' angle on this one and comment; I am curious as to why you think his coaching is 'above-average'. Could you expound on it a bit.
 

skiumah1 said:
I actually agree with you. I've always thought there's been enough talent here and I still think there is this year. Looks like you may or may not agree recruiting as a whole as been that good as I read through that again. More direct coaching issues the problem IMO.

We aren't winning though so I'm hoping the new coach, we'll call him Craig Smith, is able to utilize Minnesota kids with his own program/culture/identity. Sweeter with Minnesota kids and they are here to be had. At least a couple of 'em. But yes I would also prioritize wins, no matter where the kids are from, over focusing strictly on MN kids. Just seems like the potential to have both is there.

Still think that's pretty impressive what Keats did with this years class at NCST.
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Keatts recruits at a very high level, let's see how he coaches among the giants at the top of the ACC.
 

manderson1984 said:
The top kid in North Carolina is a five star kid and he's going to MICHIGAN!! It even happens in the state with two of the top 5 programs in the country.
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I really don't think it's the same thing.
Duke never offered that kid, signed two top 50 players at that position, and already has Hurt and Baker.
UNC signed three five star recruits, one of them being a player at the same position who committed super early in the process and is basically ranked the same as that in-state player.
When you win as much as those coaches/programs you earn a lot of goodwill from your fan base to the point where they just trust you.
If Pitino signed three five star players in a class or went to a few Final Fours then he would gain a ton of goodwill.
My point is that those programs recruit on a totally different level than we do, and the hometown advantage with recruits doesn't matter because they can get whoever they want. For a program like ours, we need to use that hometown advantage when it is there.
And if you look at the number of top NC recruits committing to a in-state school it is much higher than the number of top MN recruits committing to a MN school, though the obvious comeback to that would be that there are multiple major conference D1 programs in that state vs 1 here, which is fair.

Basically I just don't think it is comparing apples to apples.
 
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bizzle22 said:
I really don't think it's the same thing.
Duke never offered that kid, signed two top 50 players at that position, and already has Hurt and Baker.
UNC signed three five star recruits, one of them being a player at the same position who committed super early in the process and is basically ranked the same as that in-state player.
When you win as much as those coaches/programs you earn a lot of goodwill from your fan base to the point where they just trust you.
If Pitino signed three five star players in a class or went to a few Final Fours then he would gain a ton of goodwill.
My point is that those programs recruit on a totally different level than we do, and the hometown advantage with recruits doesn't matter because they can get whoever they want. For a program like ours, we need to use that hometown advantage when it is there.
And if you look at the number of top NC recruits committing to a in-state school it is much higher than the number of top MN recruits committing to a MN school, though the obvious comeback to that would be that there are multiple major conference D1 programs in that state vs 1 here, which is fair.

Basically I just don't think it is comparing apples to apples.
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Exactly. 100%.
 


manderson1984 said:
25% of the top 100 went out of state and that’s in states with better programs than ours and in some states multiple. Im not saying I wouldn’t love MN kids but we’ve got about the same amount of MN kids as Wisconsin or Iowa or many other programs have of kids in our state. In state recruiting is not even a top 3 issue with why we are losing
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I don't disagree at all. We are not a stagnating program because we don't land top in state prospects. Rather, I believe that we don't land our own state's talent because we are a stagnating program. And we are a stagnating program due to a lack of effective leadership that has been ongoing for far too long. Out inability to recruit Minnesota is indicative of a larger problem.
 

manderson1984 said:
You think NC state fans would like to win like others in the conference that don’t care where the guys are from or be happy cause they got the local guys?
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I think that they can win with this class that they are about to bring in. Bravo to them. The programs "that don't care where the guys are from" include Duke, UNC, and Virginia. Two of the most recognizable college basketball brands in the country and the reigning champs. Totally unfair comparison. We would be absolutely ecstatic with the class that NC State just pulled.
 

builtbadgers said:
That is why Bennett finds players all over the world. The highly competitive nature of that region leaves slim pickings in the region so Pennsylvania for Hunter, Georgia for Brogdon, Indiana for Guy, N.Y. for Jerome, Perrantes came from California, Harris from the state of Washington, Thompson from California at WSU, all before winning the finale game. Basketball people, coaches recruits always thought he would win the final game. Now recruiting will be even better. None of those were blue blood recruits or regional. Find players first that fit your academic and character traits, that fit what you want to do. That will out work anyone. They can come from anywhere. Great coaches get players anywhere they coach and make them into great teams.
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Yes. I agree. I am saying that it is not fair to compare the U of M to Virginia. We are more or less an island that in-state talent should theoretically flock to if a coach is able to make us consistently successful (even with recruits from outside of MN). Virginia is not able to take advantage of this because they are in a much more populated area surrounded by some of the most legendary brands in college basketball.
 

BleedGopher said:
per Marcus:

Tre Jones, Daniel Oturu and Zeke Nnaji had summer practices together in Minnesota high school gyms so quiet you could hear their sneakers squeak on the hardwood.

Now those three former AAU teammates will try to make some noise in the next NBA draft.

Throw in McKinley Wright, Freddie Gillespie, Tyrell Terry and a few others from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, and Minnesota natives are filling up draft projections.

www.startribune.com

Minnesota talent ready to make unprecedented impact in NBA draft

Daniel Oturu, Tre Jones, Zeke Nnaji and others. College basketball players from Minnesota made names for themselves throughout the nation in bigger numbers than ever before.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!
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Oof, article drops Wright, Terry, and Gil with no mention of Hurt
 



EsteGuey said:
I don't disagree at all. We are not a stagnating program because we don't land top in state prospects. Rather, I believe that we don't land our own state's talent because we are a stagnating program. And we are a stagnating program due to a lack of effective leadership that has been ongoing for far too long. Out inability to recruit Minnesota is indicative of a larger problem.
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Great post.
 


EsteGuey said:
I don't disagree at all. We are not a stagnating program because we don't land top in state prospects. Rather, I believe that we don't land our own state's talent because we are a stagnating program. And we are a stagnating program due to a lack of effective leadership that has been ongoing for far too long. Out inability to recruit Minnesota is indicative of a larger problem.
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Don’t disagree at all either, it’s why I think is should be a smaller focus and angst to our fans. We should be more worried about the other things that matter more.
 

EsteGuey said:
I think that they can win with this class that they are about to bring in. Bravo to them. The programs "that don't care where the guys are from" include Duke, UNC, and Virginia. Two of the most recognizable college basketball brands in the country and the reigning champs. Totally unfair comparison. We would be absolutely ecstatic with the class that NC State just pulled.
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I think we can win with our classes too. It’s relevant to the point that kids are more transient now and don’t stay local.
 








bizzle22 said:
I really don't think it's the same thing.
Duke never offered that kid, signed two top 50 players at that position, and already has Hurt and Baker.
UNC signed three five star recruits, one of them being a player at the same position who committed super early in the process and is basically ranked the same as that in-state player.
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This is all fair and reasonable, but I wish this sort of context would be applied to our own in-state recruiting. There are people mad that we didn't get Tyrell Terry when we already had Isaiah Washington and Marcus Carr on the roster. Apparently Tyler Wahl was a miss even though Isaiah Ihnen has shown to be better so far. Brad Davison is among the most disliked players in college basketball, and he was neither a primary ball-handler nor a post player, which is what we were pursuing for most of that recruiting cycle with the two scholarships we had available. Others are upset that we aren't taking guys who ended up at mid-majors.

It really does seem like there are some people who either expect us to regularly beat more successful and prestigious programs for Minnesota players, or would be okay with the team being worse as long as there were more Minnesota high school players on it, or are being disingenuous in acting like all of the 13 or so Minnesota kids on those 247 pages for the last two years are all examples of big recruiting screwups.
 

Spaulding!No! said:
In

pretty much what every bt foitball and basketball team has been for 50 yrs excluding OSU. I love the bt but yeah we are nothing nationally.
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What are you talking about?

Every year there are five big ten teams ahead of 6th place lol
 

builtbadgers said:
OK. So that is our upside in your opinion. Thank you.
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i think it starts with a couple top 6s and then you continue to get in with better players and achieve higher. I get a bad/down year or two will happen, but I think we should be top half 2 out of every 3 years personally.
 

Sounds like accepting mediocrity even with the added info to me.
 

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