DUBulldog wrote:Drake's academic rules effect their ability to recruit jucos more than high school kids. I know that both Phelps and Giacoletti tried to recruit the twin cities without success. The high school that this coach comes from is very solid academically in addition to winning 6 straight state championships. Drake has a current walk-on from his program who had something like a 33 on his ACT. His teams were known for in-your-face defense, so I'm guessing that will be his main area at Drake (in addition to recruiting Minnesota)
Minnesota should be fertile recruiting ground. Lots of good players up there and only one D1 school in the entire state. Outside of UM, Drake and UNI are probably the two closest D1 schools to Minneapolis (maybe one of the SD schools is closer).
UNI is closer to the heart of the Twin Cities than NDSU - even if only by about 30 miles. Yeah, that puts into perspective just how freaking far out there Fargo is (relevant to another topic on here but)
According to Google Maps (using the Target Center as the reference point for MPLS)
SDSU - 214 miles (3 hrs 50 mi)
UNI - 220 miles (3 hrs 22 min)
NDSU - 236 miles (3 hours 30 min)
Drake - 246 miles (3 hours 39 min)
SDSU is the closest by 6 miles, but it takes the longest to get there.
The difference between Drake and NDSU is traffic getting out of their town in through downtown.
However, having all 4 recruit the same city, as part of the same conference, would potentially "harm" pipelines that exist. Keeping those two in a conference that doesn't also involve UNI/Drake is beneficial to both UNI and Drake.