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On Tuesday night, the Class of 2018 recruiting world got a bombshell when top 50 prospect and Wisconsin native Tyler Herro elected to withdraw his commitment to Wisconsin and explore other options.
Following Herro’s announcement on Twitter, just slightly over two weeks after taking an official visit to Madison, well, let’s just say that Badgers fans did not take the news well.
AND NOW, THE GREATEST HITS OF PEOPLE INSULTING A 17 YEAR OLD ON THE INTERNET!
Bum
— Dave (@david_popelka) October 18, 2017
FIRST RESPONSE RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE! This one is slightly funny, though, as calling someone a bum is always funny.
Figures. The big shot schools throw bullshit in these kids heads and then they sit on the bench for four years. Could of been a star at UW
— badger_nation (@badger_nation5) October 18, 2017
Ok, quick lesson, everyone: COULD. HAVE. BEEN. Moving on: If anyone has an example of a top 100 player going to a “big shot school” and sitting on the bench for even one year, much less four years, please let me know.
Join Diamond Stone. Look how that ended for him. D-League bust.
— Nick Roth (@NickRo2) October 18, 2017
Enjoy!
Hey, check it out. These nerds are still upset about Diamond Stone going to Maryland. Nick, do you have any other comments?
A month before signing day?
— Nick Roth (@NickRo2) October 18, 2017
Unloyal.
Unfaithful.
Not what #Badger basketball is about.
We’ll be fine without Tyler “Herro”.
I’m dying over here. “UNLOYAL.” Oh my me, that’s amazing. That’s right up there with Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim referring to people as “disloyal,” and by “people,” I mean noted member of the media Andy Katz. And what’s with the quotation marks around Herro’s last name?
Way to be selfish and make your parents and family fly all over the country to watch you play. You could have at least stayed home for them.
— Colin (@cstein0120) October 18, 2017
What a weird thing to 1) worry about or 2) think that people should use as a reason to choose a college. HEADS UP, CALIFORNIANS! COLIN SAYS YOU CAN’T ATTEND HARVARD. Too far away!
Not me
— Jim Burton (@greyhairgymrat) October 18, 2017
Ok, this isn’t a reply directly to Herro, but it did end up going to him. I had to include this one just because of the show of respect from a Marquette fan being immediately shouted down by Jim here. The highlight? According to his bio, Jim has coached 500 middle school, high school, and junior college basketball games, but can’t respect a kid’s recruiting decisions. Sad!
How you gonna ask us to respect your decision after you been talking up this program for a year and now saying you’re too good? money talks
— Cade Koehler (@cadekoehler24) October 18, 2017
And now we have our first official “Tyler’s taking money to go somewhere else” complaint. There’s a lot of them, but I’m not going to put them all in here. Just pretend that there’s another one in between all of these, and that’s roughly the correct ratio.
Wtf are you doing???????
— Brock Gospodarek (@BrockGospodarek) October 18, 2017
The answer is “literally whatever he wants to do, because it’s his college choice and not yours, so maybe calm down.”
Typical Millennial No Morals No loyalty.
— Colin (@cstein0120) October 18, 2017
COLIN’S BACK, EVERYONE! Came back 12 minutes later to make sure that the 17 year old making the best possible decision for himself and his future knows Colin’s opinion. BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT MATTERS.
I hope Tyler Herro had some avocado toast for breakfast this morning just to annoy Colin some more.
Wisconsin wanted you for you right away, they didn't wait for you to explode into a better player. I'm shocked and saddened you'd do this
— WSAlum (@kth5379) October 18, 2017
I’m pretty sure that Greg Gard thought that Herro was top 50 in the country good when he was recruiting him two years ago. I mean, ESPN had him at #25 in the country when he committed last year, and the 247 Sports Composite had him at #55. 247 had Herro at #62 when Marquette offered him a scholarship in January of 2016, and #79 when he attended Marquette Madness in 2015. What a weird complaint.
still not smart enough
— noah (@Chubbs_44) October 18, 2017
Ooooooooo, that’s almost it......
— ROMO (@Romo242424) October 18, 2017
Getting closer......
I bet you had someone write this for you.. ...
— Logan Locy (@LoganLocy) October 18, 2017
That’s close.... that’s not quite it....
What aren't smart enough to get in like Diamond Stone?
— Buster Cherry (@StephMcCockiner) October 18, 2017
JACKPOT! Player picks school that’s not Wisconsin, Wisconsin fan immediately presumes it’s academics that’s keeping the kid from going to Madison. Like clockwork. It’s truly amazing.
I’m not going to sit here n demand u play 4 us cuz it’s your life, not ours. But I will say, leaving this program would be a huge mistake.
— Jacob Ober (@obeerrrr4) October 18, 2017
“You gotta make your own choices, but you done messed up, dummy.”
— 21 SavWedge (@Dylan3wedge) October 18, 2017
Well, that’s the kind of thing that happens when you attach your entire self worth to the behavior patterns of teenagers.
— Joshua Kuehl (@TheRealKuehl) October 18, 2017
Josh here saw the news, ran over to MS Paint, and then spent at least 45 minutes assembling this, and then actually sent it. I mean, WOW. Just go for a walk around the block next time, m’man.
By the way, there’s a lot of replies throwing out the snake emoji. Is this what’s hot with the kids these days?
Duke? Kentucky? North Carolina? pic.twitter.com/SGUkDUh0aE
— Will Alford (@WillyAlford) October 18, 2017
I really, really, really enjoy Badgers fans immediately presuming that anyone who doesn’t want to play in the day old oatmeal style of Greg Gard is obviously taking money from boosters. That is some amazingly stupid logic.
Disrespecting an elite, yet respected program, in ur home state. Have fun at the soup kitchen sitting between Vander Blue and Diamond Stone.
— Rob Hip (@HipRob) October 18, 2017
Nobody tell Rob that 19 of the top 20 recruits in the class of 2017 are going to a college outside the state where they went to high school. Also: nice thinly veiled racism, m’man.
Wherever you go, you will not escape us. You will lose to us in the tourney. Good luck to you in the future. #OnWisconsin
— RichHomieScon (@mbcuda) October 18, 2017
Here’s a weird combination of threats and well wishes. This is a fun level of entitlement, by the way. It’s pretty much standard issue Wisconsin fan behavior to completely ignore the fact that they didn’t have a basketball program worth mentioning for the better part of the 20th century, and it never occurred to my man here that Greg Gard can’t maintain whatever devil magic Bo Ryan had going.
Would guess someone at the USA bball camp got to him. Wis will struggle to get to the next level if homegrown kids wont even play for them
— Taylor Schmid (@trschmid28) October 18, 2017
Ok, this one is funny. Taylor here doesn’t understand that this is a reply directly to Herro, so everything here is in the third person. STEP UP YOUR TWITTER GAME.
On top of this, there’s the issue that between the 2013 class and Herro’s 2018 class, only two of 247 Sports’ top two Wisconsin high school players has attended Wisconsin. 12 top two guys, only two — Bronson Koenig and current freshman Kobe King — pulled on the red and white. Top Wisconsin prospects generally don’t go to college in Madison.
Marquette has had five of the 12. Just saying.
Top 4 team every year not good enough lol
— Parker Lemanski (@plemanz3) October 18, 2017
Parker is referring to Wisconsin’s streak of finishing at least fourth or better in the Big Ten every year. It turns out that is in fact not good enough as, according to Evan Flood, Herro’s new list is North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky, and Arizona. To put it another way, Herro is moving on from top four in the Big Ten every year to top four in the country every year. Seems like a smart move to me.
I might be sick. I watched and replayed hundred of hours of your film. . first Rodgers now u. Worst couple days ever
— Jesse Erickson (@TheRealMoopMan) October 18, 2017
That’s really sad, man. I live less than 10 miles away from Whitnall High School and I never bothered to attend any of Herro’s games when Marquette was still recruiting him. Hundreds of hours? Why would you do that??
Please come back. You aren't a one-and-done player. Stay true to what you know is right in your heart. You definitely won't regret it.
— Rehaan Machhi (@MachhiRehaan) October 18, 2017
Orrrrrrrrrrrr he just wants to attend college in Tucson instead of in Madison. Weather wise, it’s a pretty smart choice.
Bro pic.twitter.com/GIMKNrCWW9
— RCJH (@Kansashoopschat) October 18, 2017
Ok, look. Yes, this is not a Wisconsin fan yelling at Herro. I’m including this because this dude has been up in the AE mentions for about a week now shouting about how Quentin Grimes is going to attend Kansas and not Marquette. Mind you, he’s not following the AE. He’s searching Twitter for Grimes’ name and then yelling popping off about what he presumes is the known behavior of a 17 year old.
And now he’s running over to Tyler Herro to try to get him to go to Kansas. How many scholarship are they allowing the Jayhawks to use??
You are the girl that is dating the guy for a full year and then randomly breaks up with him to "explore your options". Don't be the girl.
— Buster Cherry (@StephMcCockiner) October 18, 2017
HE’S BACK! Over an hour later, Buster wanders back in to complain about why his girlfriend broke up with him last week. Gonna guess that you’re the problem, my dude.
Hoping you make the right choice and honor your commitment to the university of Wisconsin.
— Derek Fer Real (@DerekFerReal) October 18, 2017
The ability of Wisconsin fans to oscillate between accusing prospects that shun them of not being smart enough to be accepted into Madison and then failing a reading comprehension test never fails to amaze me.
Never heard of you until 2 minutes ago and I'm blown away by your decision... Disappointed.
— Kris With A K (@_MickeyDeez) October 18, 2017
Wait, what? “Who are you? I just found out you don’t like Wisconsin. Screw you, pal.”
Delete your account.
sigh Wisconsin is the place to go if you actually want to develop, have fun looking good for 1 year tho, that's always nice
— Jacob Kressin (@jkressin_15) October 18, 2017
Someone go run and ask John Calipari about how he feels about his ability to develop players.
you’re gunna leave an elite academic and Athletic school for one that slides u prolly an extra 10k? Lol ull make more in the nba if u stay
— Octavius Ecklestein (@YahboiNoah) October 18, 2017
Isn’t Michael Finley still the Badgers’ all time leading NBA earner? Why are people under the impression that you can make more NBA money if you stay in school for four years?
Cool. Love to hear this as a badger fan. Couldnt be happier. Because losing the way they’ve lost in the last 3 tournaments wasn’t bad enough
— Aaron Cannon (@acannon881) October 18, 2017
I’m tossing in this one because it takes an amazing amount of testicular fortitude to complain about following up losing in the national championship game with two straight Sweet 16 losses. That is IMPRESSIVE.
AND NOW: THE CELEBRITY WING OF THAT’S WHAT THEY SAID!
Ok, so look, I’m going to stretch the definition on “celebrity” here on this first one, but you’ll understand.
What are you doing!?
— Zak Showalter (@ZShowbball333) October 18, 2017
Yep, that’s right, that’s now former Wisconsin player Zak Showalter yelling at a high school student because said student decided he didn’t want to attend Wisconsin. How big of a dork can you possibly be after 1) going through your own recruiting process and 2) actually being a college player?
TURNS OUT YOU CAN BE A LOT BIGGER OF A DORK. FRANK KAMINSKY, COME ON DOWN! YOU’RE THE NEXT CONTESTANT ON DORK-A-PALOOZA!
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Yeah, that’s a screencap, because Kaminsky, a millionaire who was last seen shouting at people on Twitter about ginger ale and is going to earn a check for over $34,000 for Game 1 of the NBA season tonight, turned coward and deleted his tweet. Wait, did I say “turned coward?” That’s not accurate. What actually happened is he got called out on his nonsense by none other than former Marquette Golden Eagle Darius Johnson-Odom, and THEN deleted his tweet.
What's wrong with y'all he is a high school kid smh
— Darius Johnson-Odom (@KingMe_DJ1) October 18, 2017
Hold on let me correct my English, I forgot I was a JUCO kid. What is wrong with you all, he is a high school kid lol
— Darius Johnson-Odom (@KingMe_DJ1) October 18, 2017
OH MY GOD THAT IS 47 DIFFERENT KINDS OF AMAZING.
Just straight up SMASHED Kaminsky. I’m serious when I say that I think DJO just permanently ended Badger Hate Week. What am I going to write that is going to be more vicious that both of those dunks? I can’t follow that, much less top that.
Ok, that’s going to wrap things up here. I didn’t even get into the things tweeted at reporters or the ever so slight shade that was leveled at Herro by media members, or even stuff that was just shouted out into the ether. This is all 100% pure things tweeted directly at a 17 year old high school student as he tries to figure out the most important decision of his life.
In short: Don’t be a weird creeper, everyone.