by balla45 » Tue Apr 09, 2013 2:56 pm
UND was able to sign Quinton Hooker, which I absolutely did not see coming. He didn't play a lot of summer ball and did not improve as much as I thought he would athletically. His stock dropped a lot, in my opinion, due to those two things. I like his game a lot, but just that he didn't show a lot of athletic improvement from sophomore to junior year, and from junior year to senior year likely hurt him a lot. His skill level is definitely there, but he doesn't have a D1 body at this point. I still think he would have had a very solid chance had UND not been able to sign Hooker though.
A few of the MN kids had huge summers and had their stock rise dramatically, which took away some other scholarship opportunities that may have been there for a guy like Hagler. Just as an example, one player in particular in MN went from 0 offers to (I believe) 12, after playing for HP EYBL. I thought Hagler would have a similarly successful summer, as I feel that both players are similar.
The thing a lot of people may not realize is that there are athletes playing D2 who are better ball players than some guys who are playing D1. It is really easy to get crossed off of a recruiting list these days, and with so many players in MN who are high caliber D2 guys, they are usually going to get those chances, especially when the player is borderline.
For the most part, the Minnesota D2 schools, for the most part, do not seem to go after ND kids as much as the SD D2 schools. So now, if you are a D1 looking at who you will offer, and you have two kids who are fairly even, but one is a kid with 8 D2 offers, while the other is a kid with 2 D2 offers, which can happen simply because of market, who are you going to give the offer to and who are you going to ask to walk on?
~I have no patience for anyone who doubts me, none at all. My entire goal is to make them feel ashamed for writing me off.
Jordan Maurer
North Dakota Phenom - President
jordan.maurer@northdakotaphenom.com~Be phenomenal or be forgotten.
~It does not take talent to hustle!