2023 SF/PF Mackenzie Mgbako to Texas A&M via Portal

[RaceToTheTop]

26 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

In a battle between UL's 'ladies', Bill Self's bag men, and Rick Pitino's 'I know a guy in Queens', I'm riding with Gabe Cupps every time.

Pitino‘s caliber of ‘ladies’ at St. John’s don’t match up with what he had at Louisville.  St.John’s NIL money can only afford women willing to briefly show a bra strap.

[HoosierAloha]

8 hours ago, Ngw7183 said:

This one has a bit to play out. Too many getting worked up. This recruitment is all business. He left Duke for a reason. He won’t make a quick and emotional decision. The money, playing time and development for NBA is what matters. IU should win that equation 

Just my opinions. He could commit to Kansas tomorrow for all I know haha 

This seems to happen often. The recruit is looking for x, y, and z. IU definitely ahead of the competition when it comes to x, y, and z but then we don't "win" that recruitment. I wonder why that is and if the people saying what the recruit is looking for and how the programs stack up are bias. Odd

[Demo]

Top 100 ‘23 SF Brady Dunlap commits to St John’s. They still have a slew of open scholarships, but it’s notable to the limited extent that Dunlap is very much a scoring wing, which is the role Mgbako appears to be seeking. The Grant Nelson portal situation might also prove interesting in that his name has been tied to KU for some time.

fwiw

[IUFAN1976]

1 hour ago, HoosierAloha said:

This seems to happen often. The recruit is looking for x, y, and z. IU definitely ahead of the competition when it comes to x, y, and z but then we don't "win" that recruitment. I wonder why that is and if the people saying what the recruit is looking for and how the programs stack up are bias. Odd

I agree with Ngw, it’s you stirring up crap and reading way too much into it!

[cthomas]

Kids basically holding coaches hostage for what they demand doesn't sit quite right with me. Whatever ever happened to the "coach, what do you need me to do" mentality. It's a "me first" world now and I don't envy any coach trying to make that work. 

[Chris007]

10 hours ago, Ngw7183 said:

10 hours ago, Ngw7183 said:

Yet we have an 11 page thread and the majority of any post during the off season is about high school kids and what they plan to do.

I am sorry but I don’t understand the constant drum beating some do on this. Now, tweeting at them etc. yeah, that is over the top and fyi… are fans are the worst with it. 

Social Media is where recruiting is done in todays world. The problem is way too many don’t understand the nuances and read into things that can cause a feeling that it is irrelevant. X still follows Knecht who never visited but unfollowed Walker who just committed hmmm

I have a feeling they may use the new guy on this one. Ware. At this point though, it doesn’t matter. He will visit. 

This one has a bit to play out. Too many getting worked up. This recruitment is all business. He left Duke for a reason. He won’t make a quick and emotional decision. The money, playing time and development for NBA is what matters. IU should win that equation 

Just my opinions. He could commit to Kansas tomorrow for all I know haha 

I think St. Johns has money to offer, playing time, and Pitino can get you to the NBA, Louisville seems to have money, playing time and Payne knows the NBA. Kansas seems to be the only one who doesn't have a lot of playing time to guarantee. I think we have a 33.3% chance. Just my opinion though. 

[Alford Bailey]

19 minutes ago, cthomas said:

Kids basically holding coaches hostage for what they demand doesn't sit quite right with me. Whatever ever happened to the "coach, what do you need me to do" mentality. It's a "me first" world now and I don't envy any coach trying to make that work. 

Not a fan either but it’s been going on with HS kids for a while.

[go iu bb]

2 hours ago, HoosierAloha said:

This seems to happen often. The recruit is looking for x, y, and z. IU definitely ahead of the competition when it comes to x, y, and z but then we don't "win" that recruitment. I wonder why that is and if the people saying what the recruit is looking for and how the programs stack up are bias. Odd

People on message boards are just guessing at what a player is looking for or repeating what someone else who is probably also guessing says the player is looking for. So if you take those statements as gospel, that's on you. 

Even when a player says himself what he's looking for, that's only part of the equation and there are many other factors that he doesn't mention. 

[Alford Bailey]

We’re in the game. Letting it play out.

[Golfman25]

41 minutes ago, cthomas said:

Kids basically holding coaches hostage for what they demand doesn't sit quite right with me. Whatever ever happened to the "coach, what do you need me to do" mentality. It's a "me first" world now and I don't envy any coach trying to make that work. 

One of the things that made Phil Jackson a great coach was his ability to make professionals put all that BS aside and play as a team.  Easier back then without social media and stuff.  Many teams fail to achieve their potential due to competing interests.  Certainly a new world for college coaches. 

[Tom White]

1 hour ago, Golfman25 said:

One of the things that made Phil Jackson a great coach was his ability to make professionals put all that BS aside and play as a team.

Well, that and only taking jobs with teams who had 2-3 of the best players in the league. A lot of coaches could have won a lot of games with those teams.

[RaceToTheTop]

1 hour ago, Chris007 said:

I think St. Johns has money to offer, playing time, and Pitino can get you to the NBA, Louisville seems to have money, playing time and Payne knows the NBA. Kansas seems to be the only one who doesn't have a lot of playing time to guarantee. I think we have a 33.3% chance. Just my opinion though. 

In terms of St. John's and Pitino:

I think Pitino's shelf life of 'getting players to the NBA' isn't something that registers with players he's recruiting.  Its been 6 years since he was at Louisville and it's not like Iona players weren't going pro.  So the kids he's trying to bring in certainly haven't seen with their own eyes guys that developed under his watch and got there.

Pitino made a calculated risk and drove every player on the team out except for Joel Soriano.  The roster has finally started to fill out but IMO it's mostly been just guys that are okay or are roster fillers.....most of the better recruits he brought in were players he had Iona with him.  With Dunlap added, Torvik puts their roster for 2023 at 80th.  They still can pick up players, but so far the top dogs are biting for Pitino.  He certainly can offer a high caliber player the ability to have offensive freedom, but so far that hasn't worked either.

In terms of Louisville and Payne:

Louisville was horrible last year.  But I'm also seeing a team whose transfers out are finding good places.  Their best transfer in is Skyy Clark and no one seems to know what the heck is going on with him.  Can offer money and immediate offensive impact, but recruits seem to pretty turned off to the program now.

Kansas is Kansas. 

So I think if Mgbako goes to St. John's or Louisville it's mostly about touches and offensive focus.  Kansas, again, all depends on playing time.  All four spots have NIL money to offer.  

[Hoosierfan1901]

Visiting Louisville next week

[WayneFleekHoosier]

13 minutes ago, Hoosierfan1901 said:

Visiting Louisville next week

I guess we will have to wait it out then.  That's what all the signs kinda pointed to on this one.

[HoosierAloha]

4 hours ago, IUFAN1976 said:

I agree with Ngw, it’s you stirring up crap and reading way too much into it!

What did I read into it?

[HoosierAloha]

3 hours ago, go iu bb said:

People on message boards are just guessing at what a player is looking for or repeating what someone else who is probably also guessing says the player is looking for. So if you take those statements as gospel, that's on you. 

Even when a player says himself what he's looking for, that's only part of the equation and there are many other factors that he doesn't mention. 

A lot of this, it's almost like we're projecting onto the recruit. Odd

[Scotty R]

I know this is what college sports is about today but it makes me sick to my stomach. It just seems so wrong to me that college sports is about the college that has the best NIL.

[Scotty R]

36 minutes ago, Ngw7183 said:

Scott, you say this a few times a week. We all get it. You and many hate it.

Did you hate it when coaches received $5 mil contracts, schools pocketed TV money and grew their endowments while raising you took rates 30x? Or when some funneled it illegally but well known?  All this is money has always been in the game is going to athletes instead of schools solely now

The only reason we have this collectives BS is because they still didn’t want to share those funds and wanted to keep them. 

Either way, it is reality and time to get on board or get left behind like Purdue. 

Nope didn't bother me at all since the players was making over $50,000 a year the whole time.

[Tom White]

21 minutes ago, Ngw7183 said:

Don’t say Ledlum either because one of those boxes was money and we were not willing to go where some of these schools are unless they are a JHS type. 

Honestly, how do we know this? Did he actually come out and say that it was money?

[WayneFleekHoosier]

Nope didn't bother me at all since the players was making over $50,000 a year the whole time.

This is a head in the sand moment. Players have been getting perks, cars, bags of cash, since time eternal. When scouting services started doing top 100 rankings and 5 star rankings it made things even worse because there became an unofficial-official market value to the talent. This goes back to UCLA and Wooden and likely even before. Certain recruitments were very obvious.

Also, players aren’t picking schools 100% on NIL but the money is a huge part of it. And it always has been for the top rated players.
Top Players want 1. chance at making NBA. 2. Most want Winning teams 3. featured roles and then the money. But in what world would a player or person not want all those things if they are available.


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