Ryan Mutombo 2021 commits to Georgetown

[jwp91]

There is a tendency in humans whereby if one member of a group is perceived to be attacked, then the group proverbially circles the wagons and attacks the attacker. If that is what you want to do here, then fine.

To the poster who posted that my points had merit and deleted it, thanks for your courageous support. Lol.

Hopefully Ryan can adjust his mentality before he gets here.

[thejerseytornado]

Oct 6, 2020 14:26:06 GMT -5 jwp91 said:

Contrary to your claim, I did not take Ryan out of context. Since I am 51 and retired, I have plenty of time to explain what I observed in the interview. And maybe I know a thing or two about leadership. Ryan said a lot of great things, but he proverbially stepped in it a couple of times. It looks to me that his fundamental posture is still 'me' oriented.

I can't speak to your experiences with leadership (fwiw, I'd say that an interview with an incoming recruit is not much evidence of said 17/18 year old's "leadership" potential for a basketball team), but I can say definitely from this thread that you definitely have experience proverbially stepping in it.

edit: and as I typed: the woe is me, you are all just succumbing to groupthink defensiveness routine. Fantastic example of leadership there.

[nattybumpo3152]

JWP91 Ryan is a high school kid. Leave him alone.

[x-centercourt400s]

Oct 6, 2020 16:00:07 GMT -5 thejerseytornado said:

Oct 6, 2020 14:26:06 GMT -5 jwp91 said:

Contrary to your claim, I did not take Ryan out of context. Since I am 51 and retired, I have plenty of time to explain what I observed in the interview. And maybe I know a thing or two about leadership. Ryan said a lot of great things, but he proverbially stepped in it a couple of times. It looks to me that his fundamental posture is still 'me' oriented.

I can't speak to your experiences with leadership (fwiw, I'd say that an interview with an incoming recruit is not much evidence of said 17/18 year old's "leadership" potential for a basketball team), but I can say definitely from this thread that you definitely have experience proverbially stepping in it.

edit: and as I typed: the woe is me, you are all just succumbing to groupthink defensiveness routine. Fantastic example of leadership there.

That humblebrag about "51 and retired" is quite in line with the rest of the poster's awful letter to Ryan.

Here's mine: "Ryan, Ignore puffed up internet posters who want to tear you down. Do your best, don't let people who don't know you tell you what to do or how to act, and we'll be there with you to enjoy the great ride we expect to see at Georgetown over the next few years."

[rockhoya]

Oct 6, 2020 14:51:11 GMT -5 HOYAPLAYA said:

Oct 6, 2020 14:29:59 GMT -5 blueandgray said:

The last thing Ryan needs is some of the people on this board parenting him. I think his parents are doing just fine.

Exactly. This nonsensical diversion on this thread is an example of small time fan thinking. If you follow big time recruiting (especially football), recruits talk all the time about "looking for a place where they could play right away", "turn the culture of the program around", "get the organization back on top/over the hump/to a new level", etc..,. This is typical recruit talk. It doesn't hardly alienate any existing players on the roster and is the mindset that has led them to be a top recruit in their sport. Very nice interview by the young man on the day of a great announcement for the program and of course we have to have a poster ruin it with a terrible take in the recruits thread. Fantastic!

Do we want “typical recruits”? Or do we want the cream of the crop (I.e. those that win)? Any program can recruit “typical” players, but it’s the players who are able to put the program above themselves that are usually the successful ones. Nothing wrong with striving for greatness.

[rockhoya]

Oct 6, 2020 14:55:04 GMT -5 augustusfinknottle said:

Could the “we’re not about the Instagram pictures or the captions”, etc. statements have been a shot at a recently departed Hoya?

Josh, Mac.

[jwp91]

Oct 6, 2020 16:00:07 GMT -5 thejerseytornado said:

Oct 6, 2020 14:26:06 GMT -5 jwp91 said:

Contrary to your claim, I did not take Ryan out of context. Since I am 51 and retired, I have plenty of time to explain what I observed in the interview. And maybe I know a thing or two about leadership. Ryan said a lot of great things, but he proverbially stepped in it a couple of times. It looks to me that his fundamental posture is still 'me' oriented.

I can't speak to your experiences with leadership (fwiw, I'd say that an interview with an incoming recruit is not much evidence of said 17/18 year old's "leadership" potential for a basketball team), but I can say definitely from this thread that you definitely have experience proverbially stepping in it.

edit: and as I typed: the woe is me, you are all just succumbing to groupthink defensiveness routine. Fantastic example of leadership there.

No where did I assess his leadership potential. I pointed out a leadership defect underlying his narrative- a ‘me’ orientation instead of a ‘we’ orientation. And I am not trying to lead any of you anywhere.

Good luck to you.

[rockhoya]

Oct 6, 2020 15:34:51 GMT -5 jmanhoyafan said:

agreed. The original post just screams "hey everybody, look how smart I want you to think I am!" terrible take and unnecessarily harsh.

This take just screams “I’m unwilling to try to learn from others, so let me mock their knowledge since I can’t understand where they’re coming from rather than just disagree”, but I guess that’s better.

Obviously the tone doesn’t come across well in a setting like this, but as a former athlete I wish someone had told me things like that at that age...

[jwp91]

Oct 6, 2020 16:08:20 GMT -5 x-centercourt400s said:

Oct 6, 2020 16:00:07 GMT -5 thejerseytornado said:

I can't speak to your experiences with leadership (fwiw, I'd say that an interview with an incoming recruit is not much evidence of said 17/18 year old's "leadership" potential for a basketball team), but I can say definitely from this thread that you definitely have experience proverbially stepping in it.

edit: and as I typed: the woe is me, you are all just succumbing to groupthink defensiveness routine. Fantastic example of leadership there.

That humblebrag about "51 and retired" is quite in line with the rest of the poster's awful letter to Ryan.
"

You can intepret it anyway you wish. It was a very efficient (3 word) attempt to explain why I may have some insight here compared to SRD on a message board.

[rockhoya]

Oct 6, 2020 15:57:20 GMT -5 jwp91 said:

There is a tendency in humans whereby if one member of a group is perceived to be attacked, then the group proverbially circles the wagons and attacks the attacker. If that is what you want to do here, then fine.

To the poster who posted that my points had merit and deleted it, thanks for your courageous support. Lol.

Hopefully Ryan can adjust his mentality before he gets here.

It may have been me. Nothing personal I just didn’t want to clog up the thread with multiple posts, so I stuck with the more objective takes.While I’m not necessarily endorsing it, your post obviously has merits and the only thing to debate is whether or not this is the right setting to impart those lessons. And the viability of that depends on the player themselves, everyone is different. Though a long shot, I think Mutombo is actually one of the few kids that age with the awareness to take something positive pout of your comments, rather than emotionally overreact like many posters have here, if he saw them. Of course that is speculation, but I say all that to say it’s not that hard to see where you’re coming from. You want Mutombo to be the best version of himself (so the Hoyas can be the best version of themselves). I have the feeling you hold yourself to the same standard. Personally, as a former athlete I wish someone had tried to teach me the importance of things like that at that age, and I wouldn’t have been too picky where the comments were coming from. Sometimes you learn more from the “haters” than you do those that want to tel you every interview (and thing) you do is perfect.

[mdtd]

He is a high school kid who just made a huge decision for his future and was asked to talk about himself. He's not going to come in and say "Yeah, I think Malcolm and Tim are better players." He's a player who wants to play and wants to bring in the most talent he can. A player of his caliber doesn't go to college to sit out. Also again, the "I know these things, you don't" defense is crazy. Man, you guys are looking way too far into this.

If you have a team of 11 guys who can't take one player saying "Aminu and I would be a great duo" or "I expect to play, I didn't go to college to sit" then what do you have? Do you think those guys could handle a season with Coach Ewing? I mean it's crazy. Alienating your teammates? Extreme overreaction. Nobody wants a player who doesn't have confidence. Legit, Pickett tweets out something along the lines of "nobody is better than me" (not using the exact words b/c they ain't allowed on this site) and we praise that, yet you are crapping on Ryan for saying "I'm not going to college to sit" and "Aminu and I would make a great duo?" Like what?

[rockhoya]

Oct 6, 2020 16:40:48 GMT -5 mdtd said:

He is a high school kid who just made a huge decision for his future and was asked to talk about himself. He's not going to come in and say "Yeah, I think Malcolm and Tim are better players." He's a player who wants to play and wants to bring in the most talent he can. A player of his caliber doesn't go to college to sit out. Also again, the "I know these things, you don't" defense is crazy. Man, you guys are looking way too far into this.

If you have a team of 11 guys who can't take one player saying "Aminu and I would be a great duo" or "I expect to play, I didn't go to college to sit" then what do you have? Do you think those guys could handle a season with Coach Ewing? I mean it's crazy. Alienating your teammates? Extreme overreaction. Nobody wants a player who doesn't have confidence. Legit, Pickett tweets out something along the lines of "nobody is better than me" (not using the exact words b/c they ain't allowed on this site) and we praise that, yet you are crapping on Ryan for saying "I'm not going to college to sit" and "Aminu and I would make a great duo?" Like what?

Lol the poster hasn’t defended anything and isn’t trying to be persuasive, he/she/they is just stating their opinion and experience. While it’s cute to sit there and say “the truth is in the eye of the beholder”, some things require one version of the truth. As in, one person is right and the other person is wrong. Objective truths if you will.

And if you think college athletes are somehow supremely mentally fortified to the point that they don’t take things personally and can be petty, I have many bridges you’d be interested. Enter 1b, John Wall... Age has nothing to do with it, we all have different personalities and perceive things differently. It is not a slight to suggest that an athletes competitive nature would overtake their rational thinking when one of their fellow teammates apparently overlooks their intended contribution to the team.

To your last point, those examples you cite are not the same. Ryan is a high school senior that hasn’t done anything against college competition yet, and Morko is a rising senior. Merit matters. Yes we’re living in a new era where freshman are much more ready to make the leap to the NBA, but that has also convinced a lot of young players who aren’t ready that the same is possible for them. As Ryan pointed out, everyone in college wants to make the league. It’s not enough to be talented.

[blueandgray]

Oct 6, 2020 15:57:20 GMT -5 jwp91 said:

There is a tendency in humans whereby if one member of a group is perceived to be attacked, then the group proverbially circles the wagons and attacks the attacker. If that is what you want to do here, then fine.

To the poster who posted that my points had merit and deleted it, thanks for your courageous support. Lol.

Hopefully Ryan can adjust his mentality before he gets here.

For the record...i feel badly that I was the first one to point out that there was something wrong with your post and feel badly that people are now piling on. I watched the interview a 2nd time to make sure I wasn’t unnecessarily harsh on you but after doing so, it simply reinforced that you were being hyper-critical and patronizing. It just came off as really “weird” as one poster wrote. That being said, I don’t think you’d be getting this reaction if you took some time to self-reflect and perhaps acknowledged that something was perhaps off-base with your post. If you think you absolutely did nothing wrong however, then all I can say is that you have to live with the consequences of your actions.

[HOYAPLAYA]

Oct 6, 2020 16:20:37 GMT -5 rockhoya said:

Oct 6, 2020 14:51:11 GMT -5 HOYAPLAYA said:

Exactly. This nonsensical diversion on this thread is an example of small time fan thinking. If you follow big time recruiting (especially football), recruits talk all the time about "looking for a place where they could play right away", "turn the culture of the program around", "get the organization back on top/over the hump/to a new level", etc..,. This is typical recruit talk. It doesn't hardly alienate any existing players on the roster and is the mindset that has led them to be a top recruit in their sport. Very nice interview by the young man on the day of a great announcement for the program and of course we have to have a poster ruin it with a terrible take in the recruits thread. Fantastic!

Do we want “typical recruits”? Or do we want the cream of the crop (I.e. those that win)? Any program can recruit “typical” players, but it’s the players who are able to put the program above themselves that are usually the successful ones. Nothing wrong with striving for greatness.

I'm not sure i get your point as typical recruits at big time programs all believe they can be the difference maker and most have played within the concept of a team so they get it. Yes, I want the typical recruit that is recruited by these organizations because they are confident and talented.

[rockhoya]

Oct 6, 2020 16:50:25 GMT -5 HOYAPLAYA said:

Oct 6, 2020 16:20:37 GMT -5 rockhoya said:

Do we want “typical recruits”? Or do we want the cream of the crop (I.e. those that win)? Any program can recruit “typical” players, but it’s the players who are able to put the program above themselves that are usually the successful ones. Nothing wrong with striving for greatness.

I'm not sure i get your point as typical recruits at big time programs all believe they can be the difference maker and most have played within the concept of a team so they get it. Yes, I want the typical recruit that is recruited by these organizations because they are confident and talented.

Basically I don’t want players who are satisfied to follow the status quo and be your average/typical player. I want players that want to be extraordinary. Your point is that is how “most” recruits would frame the answers. Well, “most” players don’t win in a remarkable fashion. Not everyone can be a winner. And to be clear I’m not talking empty wins, I’m talking about crunch time winning.

And if you’re still at a loss, maybe Meek Mill’s song Levels might help...

[HometownHoya]

Glad Ryan made the right choice. Excited to see him on the Hilltop next fall, hopefully he has a normal experience. Go Hoyas! Might have to go back and rewatch some of his latest game tape.

[jwp91]

Oct 6, 2020 16:37:14 GMT -5 rockhoya said:

Oct 6, 2020 15:57:20 GMT -5 jwp91 said:

There is a tendency in humans whereby if one member of a group is perceived to be attacked, then the group proverbially circles the wagons and attacks the attacker. If that is what you want to do here, then fine.

To the poster who posted that my points had merit and deleted it, thanks for your courageous support. Lol.

Hopefully Ryan can adjust his mentality before he gets here.

It may have been me. Nothing personal I just didn’t want to clog up the thread with multiple posts, so I stuck with the more objective takes.While I’m not necessarily endorsing it, your post obviously has merits and the only thing to debate is whether or not this is the right setting to impart those lessons. And the viability of that depends on the player themselves, everyone is different. Though a long shot, I think Mutombo is actually one of the few kids that age with the awareness to take something positive pout of your comments, rather than emotionally overreact like many posters have here, if he saw them. Of course that is speculation, but I say all that to say it’s not that hard to see where you’re coming from. You want Mutombo to be the best version of himself (so the Hoyas can be the best version of themselves). I have the feeling you hold yourself to the same standard. Personally, as a former athlete I wish someone had tried to teach me the importance of things like that at that age, and I wouldn’t have been too picky where the comments were coming from. Sometimes you learn more from the “haters” than you do those that want to tel you every interview (and thing) you do is perfect.

Thanks for your assessments here.

Clearly, this wasn’t the venue to make these comments. It didn’t work. Too many are unwilling or unable to understand as you point out....or something gets lost in the medium

When I listened to the interview, while there were a ton of positives, these two comments and what they revealed about how he was approaching the situation stood out like red sirens to me...while everyone else was absolutely gaga about what he had to say.. This will hold him back as a leader until he gets it fixed.

Hopefully, someone can help Ryan better observe himself about this. It is clearly a change he can make once someone reveals it to him.

Ryan showed tremendous leadership aptitude in that interview. Hopefully he will find a mentor who can tell it to him straight and accelerate his progress.

I agree that intervening with young adults like yourself when you were a college athlete on these topics can be very powerful and make their leadership journeys much easier.

[HOYAPLAYA]

Oct 6, 2020 16:56:38 GMT -5 rockhoya said:

Oct 6, 2020 16:50:25 GMT -5 HOYAPLAYA said:

I'm not sure i get your point as typical recruits at big time programs all believe they can be the difference maker and most have played within the concept of a team so they get it. Yes, I want the typical recruit that is recruited by these organizations because they are confident and talented.

Basically I don’t want players who are satisfied to follow the status quo and be your average/typical player. I want players that want to be extraordinary. Your point is that is how “most” recruits would frame the answers. Well, “most” players don’t win in a remarkable fashion. Not everyone can be a winner. And to be clear I’m not talking empty wins, I’m talking about crunch time winning.

And if you’re still at a loss, maybe Meek Mill’s song Levels might help...

I'm good. I'm pretty familiar with winning so don't need any advice from a song.

[HOYAPLAYA]

Oct 6, 2020 17:15:07 GMT -5 rockhoya said:

Oct 6, 2020 17:13:19 GMT -5 HOYAPLAYA said:

I'm good. I'm pretty familiar with winning so don't need any advice from a song.

What? You literally are the one who just admitted you missed my point. Sounds good though, the snarkiness DEFINITELY masks your lack of understanding 😉

No, you missed my point. I was taking about big time recruits that go to big time programs. Programs that are winning at a high level have high level recruits that talk about coming in and playing immediately. You somehow flipped that to typical recruits that don't know how to win on the biggest stage?? In fairness, I follow college football recruiting a hell of a lot closer than college basketball but his Ryan's statements were not out of line with statements made by kids going to the Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Oklahoma, etc.., in football. Are you telling me these kids don't know how to win and somehow alienate their future teammates. This is crazy talk and I'm Editeded at myself for even engaging in this back and forth at this point.

[jwp91]

Oct 6, 2020 16:50:05 GMT -5 blueandgray said:

Oct 6, 2020 15:57:20 GMT -5 jwp91 said:

There is a tendency in humans whereby if one member of a group is perceived to be attacked, then the group proverbially circles the wagons and attacks the attacker. If that is what you want to do here, then fine.

To the poster who posted that my points had merit and deleted it, thanks for your courageous support. Lol.

Hopefully Ryan can adjust his mentality before he gets here.

For the record...i feel badly that I was the first one to point out that there was something wrong with your post and feel badly that people are now piling on. I watched the interview a 2nd time to make sure I wasn’t unnecessarily harsh on you but after doing so, it simply reinforced that you were being hyper-critical and patronizing. It just came off as really “weird” as one poster wrote. That being said, I don’t think you’d be getting this reaction if you took some time to self-reflect and perhaps acknowledged that something was perhaps off-base with your post. If you think you absolutely did nothing wrong however, then all I can say is that you have to live with the consequences of your actions.

Blue & Gray, thank you very much. I hold you in high regard and appreciate that you took the time. My attempt to point out what I noticed didn't work. I do think there is something there for Ryan. It is not a difficult fix once he figures it out.

I guess the analogy that I might propose is that I recently learned that when evaluating a vertical leap and basketball athleticism that whether a player launches their jump from two feet or one-foot matters. Maybe it matters whether we are talking about the left foot or the right foot too. Until a few months ago, I thought vertical leap was vertical leap with no awareness of the additional nuances. Perhaps, there is a leadership nuance here about which I am aware. I have attempted to express it clearly and succinctly, but alas I have failed.

Best.