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Gus Larson - 2021 Offer

SFspidur

Spider's Club
Gold Member
May 5, 2003
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We offered this guy back in October, but figured it was time for his own thread since he just picked up an offer from Penn. Also has offers from Yale and Brown, so obviously the academics are there.

6'10" big man out of Northfield Mount Hermon in CT. High school teammates with 2022 Rowan Brumbaugh, who we've also offered. Plays AAU with Mass Rivals, which we've been recruiting hard...Tyler Whitney-Sidney, Cam Tongue, Casey Simmons, Gianni Thompson. And of course Tyler Burton came through there.

http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/gus-larson
 
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I see what you're saying about NMH and the Ivy's. looking at last year's team and where the seniors went.
Darius Ervin 5'9" 165
18.1 ppg
Cornell

Prince Moses 6'7" 215
12.6 ppg
Brown

Zach Taylor 6'2" 185
12.4 ppg
Brown

Sam Silverstein 6'6" 200
9.3 ppg
Harvard

Ben Callahan-Gold 6'7" 205
8.5 ppg
walk on at Tulane

obviously a senior dominated team and Larson probably didn't get much playing time. he averaged 2.2 ppg.
 
Mooney can't win a top recruiting battle to save his life. We have a great team this year. This is our ceiling as a program under Mooney. 1-2 NCAA's every 9-10 years.

How hard were we recruiting him? I doubt this board would have been that excited if we landed him.

Larson ranked outside top 3,000

It might be a lot easier next year to land quality post players if we can go on a run in the tourney this year. I know that didn't work last time but overall we now do a better job of recruiting, have better facilities, and will be offering immediate playing time.
 
Don't know how hard we were recruiting him, but we had him for visit (maybe unofficial) awhile back, and if we were not we should have been. Or maybe don't recruit guys from NMH, b/c they are really specific to IVY.

In any case, we seemed to have whiffed on another big in this class. Hoping for a surprise, but I follow other teams and they are constantly getting in on new guys, we seem to have trouble in this regard,
 
I expect we'll see a few more offers from our staff, as the only two bigs left that we know about with offers are Mutombo (definitely not getting him) and Powell (not looking likely).

If we weren't going hard after Larson, who ARE we going after?
 
I think you were the only guy this fired up about Larson. from what I see he had 3 Ivy offers and us. nobody else. a smart big kid from Mass isn't getting PL attention? that doesn't seem odd to you?

some kids, and apparently everyone at that school, want Ivy for the advantages you get after college.
 
Hey, I'm definitely on board with the advantages of going Ivy. In fact, its a really smart move for 99% of these guys. Can't bash him for that. My daughter is applying to one Ivy league school. It's an incredible opportunity.

Sman, I will say a year ago I was not too high on him. But that short clip from one game and the write ups have me sold. He grew a ton in the last three years and to still be able to run the floor and have skill that he does. Imagine him in 2 years when he is fully comfortable with his size. I am also going to say I have to think that being at NMH actually seems like an indication that you are focusing on IVY and not going p6 (though Platek went to UNC to sit the bench mostly). I think the kid is legit.

Anyway, bottom line is we don't seem to be able to hit on our biggest need in this class, which is a replacement for Cayo - despite what Burton can do at the 4.
 
How hard were we recruiting him? I doubt this board would have been that excited if we landed him.

Larson ranked outside top 3,000

It might be a lot easier next year to land quality post players if we can go on a run in the tourney this year. I know that didn't work last time but overall we now do a better job of recruiting, have better facilities, and will be offering immediate playing time.
Not that it matters now...
But did this mean anything as to his ability?
 
yeah, I thought he looked good in the video too. but he didn't attract more interest. just us and 3 Ivy's. usually everyone jumps all over solid 6'10" guys.
he may develop, but despite a good video he did only average 2.2 ppg as a junior.
 
This turned out as expected - Congrats to Gus


Someone on the staff obviously wanted him or he wouldn’t have gotten an offer. Seems like this was a wasted effort because so many players from this particular high school go to the Ivies to play. However, I am sure Gus fit the academic profile that the admissions department likes to see.
 
Listened to that clip from Chris Mack, trolling Kentucky, the other day. It was hilarious. What I think is really underappreciated part of most coaches is that they are incredibly charming, funny, and engaging people. The good ones have a larger than life personality. And that really helps them in the recruiting game.

Is there anyone who after our 15 year experience with Chris Mooney who would describe him as incredibly charming, funny, or engaging? No, it is not who he is. He is a very nice, solid, soft spoken individual. You might want your daughter to marry Chris Mooney, but you would want your son to play for Chris Mack.
 
everyone that commits here cites him as a reason they came here.
Agreed, but most are not his own top choices for recruits (and that is the issue). We also have a very low transfer rate and I think that equates nicely with Mooney's nice guy persona. His players really do like and respect him.

But, he is just a lackluster salesman on the stump. No flash
 
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