Have you heard much on this? Who is helping Coach Fleck with all of the activity going on right now with recruits, getting settled, communication, etc? WMU staff coming over or current MN staff staying?

Thanks MJH...good work on all of these updates.

Also, please tell me Coach runs open practices.

How does the 2018 MN HS class look.
Thanks in advance.

Link: https://minnesota.rivals.com/news/van-dyne-talks-gopher-offer

Fleck coming to Minnesota might prove to be the difference in his recruitment.

asked to leave by Fleck apparently.

You can read the preview here.

A quick rundown of Ohio State's starting 5:

• #1 Jae'Sean Tate: Tough wing that plays more like a power forward and is most effective near the basket. Jump shot needs work but he's efficient and doesn't shoot a lot of threes. Smart and productive player on both ends of the floor.
• #13: PG JaQuan Lyle: Tall, skilled lead guard that gets in the paint with ease because of his size. Capable but inconsistent shooter. Could be a tough matchup for Nate Mason because of the size difference.
• #32: C Trevor Thompson: Lanky Virginia Tech transfer that rebounds and runs the floor well. Lone rim protector in the regular rotation with Bates-Diop injured. Efficient with the ball on the block. Battle with Reggie Lynch will be important as both are equally foul prone.
• #2: F Marc Loving: Can play either forward spot and can score at the basket or with jumpers.
• #0: PF/C Micah Potter: Big-bodied post player who can shoot from deep. Has been a below-average rebounder and poor shot blocker despite size. Motor is inconsistent.

My keys to the game

1. Reggie Lynch vs. Micah Potter: Without Bates-Diop, Thompson is OSU's only shot blocker and good rebounder. Potter is just as foul prone as Lynch and both fill the same, important role for their teams. Who will be able to stay on the court the longest?
2. Nate Mason defending JaQuan Lyle: Lyle has a four-inch size advantage on Mason, as he does most point guards. He's excellent at getting to the basket.
3. Dealing with the Buckeyes' size: OSU has a size advantage and the Buckeyes are significantly better near the basket than they are at the perimeter. Out of their starting back court and small forward, just one, Marc Loving, is a good three-point shooter. It will be interesting to see how the Gophers respond. Either McBrayer or Coffey will have to guard Jae'Sean Tate, and Tate will be far physically and a tough matchup. With OSU's size, Minnesota may also need to rely on jumpers more offensively.

Overall, I think Minnesota matches up pretty well with Ohio State, and the Gophers deserve to be the favorite. Should be an excellent game tonight and hopefully the Barn is as loud as it's been in years.

Who has and hasn't heard from Fleck is obviously a hot topic in the commits' group text. One of them told me today that only Blaise Andries, Trey Creamer, Bryson Jackson, Raheem Layne, Dominik London, and of course the new commits have heard from Fleck so far.

11:53 am update: Kitrell tells me he's heard from Fleck, and Fleck talked with Abojei late last night.

Richard Pitino
Opening statement…
“I am proud of these guys. To do it with Nate Mason not playing offensively his best game, Eric Curry hurt. Eric really gutted it out, we didn’t think he was going to play. He told me before the game, I think his teammates got to him because he told me ‘I’m going to play. I’m going to play’. He really stuck it out and gutted it out, gave us 12 good minutes. I think we showed our depth and that’s what I really liked. Akeem Springs was terrific; Amir Coffey was absolutely fantastic. Overall it was a great team win, proud to be sitting 15-2, we obviously have to move on and prepare for Michigan State.”

On the importance of Springs’ performance…
“It was very important. He hit big 3’s obviously but he also got five assists and one turnover. That pass at the end was really good, he hit the 3 to put it to nine. He made big plays. He is fearless, he’s tough, he plays good defense, makes good shots. That’s what good teams do. Like last game we were at Northwestern and Reggie steps up and makes good plays. At Purdue Nate Mason steps up and scores 30. We have got pretty good depth, we have to get Eric healthy, but overall a tremendous win.”

On team improvement…
“We obviously did not have a good year. We obviously had some issues off the court. We took ownership from them and we got better from it. We didn’t point fingers and say ‘It’s his fault’. It was our fault, its on me, but we got better from it. We did not sit there and say ‘No everything is fine’. But I will say, we had to take it from a lot of people, we had to band together and get closer because of it. And I am not saying that the criticism was wrong, rightfully so, that’s what happens when you lose games. But with that being said we had to sit there and we had to take it. We are not a boastful program so we just want our talking to be done on the court. What’s exciting is every game we have earned the respect back from our awesome fans. We have earned the respect back just by playing the right way. We have not arrived, not even close to arrived, but I think our fans appreciate the way that we play. I am extremely proud of our guys. I think they have taken great ownership.”

Thad Matta
On Minnesota’s performance…..
“Shot blocking. They had 12 of them. I think they got a great guard. Mason is so good because he can get two guys to commit to the ball and obviously when Akeem (Springs) was making shots. That's a heck of a weapon, but their big kid started scoring in there and got the best of us to start the game. We weren’t as active as we needed to be defensively.”

Akeem Springs
On closing games...
"Our non-conference schedule, playing in some of those close games, is really showing now. It's about having the confidence when it gets tight and when the other team makes a run. We know they're going to make a run. Ohio State is a good team; everyone in our conference is a good team. They're capable of putting together a bunch of buckets in a row. When that happens, we have to stay confident. I think our non-conference games and some of those close games we pulled out are really showing now."

On possibility of being ranked in the top 25...
"It would mean a ton. When you're at a mid-major, you're not going to be in the top 25 unless you go undefeated the whole year. It's an accomplishment and it just speaks to all of our hard work. I think that's more important than anything; it just speaks to how hard we're working. If you read some of the stuff people said about us before the season started, it's just showing that this is a positive step.The sky is the limit for us."

On how the year has been....
"It's been a rollercoaster. It's been up and down, but it's been a lot of fun. The reason it's so fun, if you watch us play and watch the bench, is because we're a team that is so close and so tight. It just makes everything that much better. Even though I came in late and I had a period where I was catching up to everyone, having a team that is so close and has accepted me is great. It's been fun."

Amir Coffey
On what they learned from Michigan State game...
"It taught us about finishing out games and keeping our composure when teams make runs. It's important to finish late in games."On how fans react to team.."It feels good. Based on the year we're having so far, it just feels good. We put a lot of work in during the offseason, and added some new pieces. We've been working hard, so to see a packed house and a lot of fans coming to watch us play feels good."

On change in team's confidence...
"We dropped one against Michigan State, but after that we had to pick our selves back up. The wins at Purdue and Northwestern really got our confidence up. I think that's good for us."

http://player.tout.com/twincities

Hope it works. Short clip.

Decommits. Says on Twitter it's apparent Fleck doesn't want him.

Link: Sassack talks commitment

Link: Ibrahim's admiration of Fleck draws him to Minnesota

The dead period ends on the 11th correct ?

What is the ETA on coaching hires ?

MJH? Do you have an update on Chambers? Has he be been contacted by Fleck and offered? If he has been offered is he weighing his option between us and Ole Miss? He would be my favorite WMU flip and probably my second favorite guy in the class behind Blaise.

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Fleck lands a big one. Olney (Md.) Good Counsel running back Mohamed Ibrahim, the nation's No. 36 running back, has committed. Ibrahim also holds offers from Iowa, Kentucky, and West Virginia. Ibrahim is now tied with Andries as Minnesota's highest-rated commit.

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From 247 article. The zone blocking and balance based off the run game reminds me of Mason a touch.

"Fleck’s offense is a spread-option style and emphasizes getting the ball to his best players in the system. Much of the foundation Fleck has on offense is built around the running game. They run zone blocking and often use an H-back to pave the way on the edge. In addition, he will call a zone running play with a bubble screen wrinkle on a consistent basis. When you watch tape of Western Michigan, you will see a plethora of formations and option designs that tailor to the best players on the field. Fleck does a great job of isolating his players and placing them in situations to be successful. Not to mention, he trusts his quarterback to make accurate reads and calls at the line of scrimmage on a consistent basis."

wren will hate it, but this latest recruit has me wondering what the over/under is right now for wins next season. I'll be conservative and say 7 wins, 'cause Coach Fleck says he isn't worried about wins in the early days, he's more concerned with installing the system.

tompowers2016@gmail.com

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This type of media is old, tired, people are standing up and refuting it. Do your part and
email this hack.

Purdue up 48-32 with 12 minutes remaining.

Link: Morgan ready to make Minnesota elite

Had technical difficulties late last night but will crank out stories today.

It will be interesting which way Fleck goes in the style of defense he brings to the B1G. Still waiting to see if he brings his WMU DC or stays with Sawvel.

Fleck opened up by saying that he hasn’t had more fun in coaching than the past two days. Said that it was “elite” and that he was very honored and humbled to be the head coach at the University of Minnesota.

He said they do want to have a spring game, although they are not sure when exactly it will be yet. He wants to sell out TCF Bank Stadium for the spring game.

On if he will receive or defer if he wins the coin toss, he said he will defer. He said he wants to get the ball after the half, after being able to make halftime adjustments. Says there’s “no better coaching staff in America at making adjustments than the one’s coming here”.

PJ additionally wants open practices for the public.

Fleck had an interesting story in his first year of coaching, he came to Minnesota and the first coach he reached out to was Dave Nelson at Minnetonka High School. He wanted to recruit some of Nelson’s players, but Nelson had to go let his dog out. Nelson invited Fleck over to his house to let his dog out, and he stayed and chatted with Coach Nelson for a half hour. Fleck said it was a unique experience and that he is grateful that Nelson was so generous to him as a first year position coach.

As far as recruiting current commits and new commits, Coach Fleck said when he got here they evaluated everyone as fast and thorough as they could, and noted that he has talked to all of the in-state Minnesota commits, and that they are all “on board”. He said they are continuing to evaluate the players out of state that are committed. The new players that he flipped from Western Michigan to Minnesota, he called them Big Ten Players that are excited to be Gophers.

For scholarships for next year, PJ said you can take 25 scholarships each year, regardless of the outcome of the investigation. Even if those players that are suspended leave, it will not add to the amount of scholarships they have available for this year, they will just be a few spots short on the back end. Coach said he is not concerned with that right now. He mentions a time at Wester Michigan where they only had 41 scholarship players available for spring ball. Coach said he took the job for the challenges.

Dave asked where he sees the team on January 1st of next year, Fleck said it is a process. A few times he re-iterated that he is not going to change the tradition, but change the culture of the team, and that his ultimate goal is to win a National Championship here. Fleck said he has taken some heat already for saying he wants to win a National Championship, but says “if that’s not your vision, then why am I here?” Going forward, everything that we will do will be at a National Championship level in terms of recruiting, facilities, academics, social life, spiritual life, etc.

Coach Fleck said he isn’t concerned with the wins right now, but is focused on what we can do now that will correlate to championships later. “We want to sustain an elite culture, at a high championship level consistently, for the next coming years.”

Coach Fleck will be announced at halftime of the Gopher Men’s Basketball game tonight at 6:30pm. He jokes “I might have Pitino throw me an alley-oop”. The past few days he says he’s been putting together his staff, with a ton of interest for this job, and also recruiting. That includes recruiting our current players to think that the University of Minnesota is the greatest university in the world.

PJ hopes to have his whole coaching staff hired by Thursday, and he’s heading to the National Coaches Convention in the next few days, and hopes to have the whole staff here on campus by next Sunday. PJ said that he is going to do everything he can, and has heard the fans as to which coaches fans want to keep, and he’s going to do everything he can to give them a role with Gopher Football (I assume he is talking about Sherels, among a couple other coaches).

He concluded with saying he is extremely excited to get working with Dave and Mike, and he wishes Sid a speedy recovery. Sid is one of the first people he met when he came to Minnesota, and that he looks forward to working with him in the future. He joked that “he may not have many fans here, but he has one in Sid”.

Does anyone have a way to get recent photos of the new athletic construction from the ground or the air?

PJ Fleck high energy big time recruiter...
New Athletes Village to go with amazing stadium/locker room
New early signing period coming soon

This will allow PJ to get big time kids on campus in the summer

I imagine his high school camp will be fun

my biggest takeaway from yesterday is that, for better or worse, Gopher football is not ping to be relegated to a complete second thought for twin cities sports fans anymore. They will be very high profile.

Some will be hoping Fleck and the program fall flat on their face. Hopefully many, many more will at the very least take a much bigger interest in the outcome of the program. And others may end up jumping on the boat.

Either way, the interest level in gopher football is going to be off the charts both locally and nationally, which is what many have been wanting for a long time.

I hope Fleck can deliver the culture change. It's going to be Much more difficult in this town than Kalamazoo but the upside is much greater too. Ski U Mah

I would personally like to see him stay at QB as he reminds me of Antwaan Randel-El, but will be interesting to see what Fleck decides.