As a Badger fan, one of the regular comments left by fans of lesser teams always revolves around Eaves and company bumping back players a year. This year, unfortunately Tyler Barnes was asked to come in in 2010 instead of joining the Badgers this year as planned. Much was made by gopher fans who apparently know every kid in their state about how Eaves was screwing this kid over and had he know this was going to happen, he wouldn't have verballed to UW.
Well gopher fans, I want you to tell me then how Nate Condon and Jake Youso feel right now. Both were 2009 gopher recruits before tDon had to pull the rug out from under them and tell them sorry but you'll have to wait another year to wear that ugly jersey. I wonder if they wish they would have left their commitment open and went somewhere else where NHL GM's aren't criticizing the progression of their draft picks and pushing players back since minnesota currently has so many untalented hacks that NHL teams don't want to bring them in.
Chris Heisenberg's recruiting blog provides all the proof that is needed. Take a look first at his final 2008 recruit spreadsheet and scroll down to minnesota. Condon and Youso are both listed as 2009 recruits, now look again at the 2009 recruit spreadsheet where Youso is now a 2010 recruit, Condon is listed as 2009, but if you are brave enough to link over and endure the utter horror of the gopher website you won't find Nate Condon on the roster. Instead you'll find Nate Condon on the Fargo Force USHL roster. Even better if you look again at the 2008 spreadsheet Nick Leddy is listed as a 2009 OR 2010 recruit. Sure he is a dman while Condon and Youso are forwards, but these little details have never stopped Badger haters from jacking Eaves for pushing off a year X OR year Y kid for another player to add to the roster.
I'm in no way saying that Eaves hasn't made a few poor decisions on the recruiting front w/ stockpiling players and bringing in guys like Bardis who weren't going to crack the lineup taking up spots on the roster, but Eaves isn't the only one guilty of pushing players back. Before gopher fans come over here on their high horse to bash Bucky's recruiting practices, maybe its time to take a look in the mirror (if your mom will let you out of the basement to look at one) and see your golden program and moron coach are guilty of the same crimes you decry others of committing.
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