Nate Mason figures to fit in perfectly with Richard Pitino’s up-tempo style of play.
Minnesota is expected to sign three players when the early signing period begins Wednesday. They had hoped to land a fourth, but Reid Travis of Minneapolis DeLaSalle committed to Stanford over the Gophers this past Friday.
The Gophers will ink Carlos Morris, a 6-foot-4 guard from Chipola (FL) CC, Josh Martin, a 6-foot-7 forward from Bothell (WA) High and guard Nate Mason. They will likely keep their remaining scholarship available for the late signing period, which starts in April.
The Gophers will lose senior guards Maverick Ahanmisi, Austin Hollins and Malik Smith and could use a center with Elliott Eliason and Maurice Walker becoming seniors next season.
The three newcomers are among 33 players that are expected to sign with Big Ten schools next week. Ohio State leads the way with five commitments and has the #2 recruiting class in the country, according to ESPN and #3, according to Scout.com. Northwestern, under new head coach Chris Collins, might have their best ever recruiting class, has four commitments.
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Purdue join Minnesota as Big Ten schools with three commitments. Indiana moved up to the #12 recruiting class by ESPN with the re-commitment of guard James Blackman this week. Illinois is #13 after landing LeRon Black of Memphis White Station, the same school as Gopher guard Andre Hollins and Quentin Snider of Louisville Ballard. Both players received interest from Minnesota.
Iowa, Michigan State, Nebraska and Penn State have two commitments. The Spartans landed point guard LouRawls Nairn of Sunrise Academy, who visited Minnesota in August.
Wisconsin has one commitment.
Kentucky, which had the top 2013 recruiting class, moved back into the top spot for the Class of 2015 when Trey Lyles committed to the Wildcats.
Xavier, which landed Lakeville North guard J.P. Macura moved up to # 4 after getting a verbal from Trevon Blueitt, a former UCLA commit. The Musketeers have five verbals.
The Big Ten has landed commitments from twelve players among ESPN’s Top 100. They are #12 D’Angelo Russell (Ohio State), #19 James Blackmon, Jr. (Indiana), #22 Keita Bates-Diop (Ohio State), #25 Jae’Sean Tate (Ohio State), #35 Quentin Snider (Illinois), $41 Leron Black (Illinois), #44 Robert Johnson (Indiana), #49 Kameron Chatman (Michigan), #66 Victor Law (Northwestern), #72 Lourawls Nairn (Michigan State), #88 Vincent Edwards (Purdue) and #98 Payton Dastrup (Ohio State).
The Gophers did not land a commitment from an ESPN Top 100 recruit, but they were involved with more top flight players than ever under first year head coach Richard Pitino and his staff.
They include #20 Isaiah Whitehead (Seton Hall), #23 Reid Travis (Stanford), #30 Abdul-Malik Abu (North Carolina State), #33 Tyler Ulis (Kentucky), #38 Josh Perkins (Gonzaga), #40 Terry Larrier (VCU), #47 Kaleb Joseph (Syracuse), #55 Ja’Quan Newton (Miami), #61 Alex Robinson (Texas A&M), #62 Dominique Collier (Colorado), #64 Paul White (Georgetown), #84 Sandy Cohen (Marquette) and #99 Riley LaChance (Vanderbilt)
The Gophers are still in the mix with #17 Rashad Vaughn, the former Cooper standout who is now at Findlay Prep. Vaughn is expected to sign in April. Iowa State and UNLV are thought to be the frontrunners along with the Gophers.
The question that most Gopher fans have with the loss of Travis is where do they do with the remaining scholarship. Vaughn would make sense, but he has indicated that he is looking to a one-and-done player and being away from home court hurt or help the Gophers’ chances, depending on how you look at it.
Delshon Strickland of Minnesota is a possibility. He is not expected to sign this week.
Strickland transferred to Minnetonka after playing at Holy Angels. He scored in double figures in all but four games this season for the Stars and averaged 18.3 points per game. Strickland had nine games of 20 or more points and added two more games of 30 or more, including a season-best 36 points versus Chaska. The Stars were the top seed in Section 6AAA, but were upset in the playoffs. Strickland was a third team College Basketball News’ All-Metro selection.
Strickland shined this spring and summer for the D1 Minnesota AAU program. He took an official visit to Auburn and received scholarship offers from Drake, Hampton, Lehigh, Missouri State, North Dakota, Northern Colorado, Providence, Richmond, Toledo, Tulsa, UTEP, Vermont and Virginia Tech.
Minnesota assistant coach Ben Johnson attended a recent Skippers’ open gym and Strickland was a guest at the Gopher football game versus Iowa.
Strickland is hoping that a strong senior season will interest some new suitors along with his current list of schools.
Typically, teams that sign players in the late signing period, land high school recruits that are under the radar or junior college transfers. Many top juco caches prefer to have their players sign in the spring, so they are focused more on their sophomore season.
With so much uncertainty on the remaining scholarship, Gopher Hole will keep you updated with the latest names that could be on the 2014-15 roster.
There are only 13 players uncommitted from the ESPN Top 100 list and that number is likely to shrink as several are expected to announce their college choice before Wednesday. Ironically, the top four players are undecided.
They are #1 Jahlil Okafor, a 6-foot-10 center from Chicago (IL) Whitney Young, #2 Myles Turner, a 6-foot-11 center from Bedford (TX) Trinity, #3 Cliff Alexander, a 6-foot-8 forward from Chicago (IL) Currie and #4 Tyus Jones.
Okafor and Jones are expected to play together in college and they will face each other December 12th at Apple Valley High.
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Minnesota fans might be disheartened with the loss of Travis, but there is still plenty of reasons to attend The High Performance Academy Jamboree next Saturday.
The top players include Isaiah McKay (Park Center), Delshon Strickland (Minnetonka), Jordan Dembley, Ian Theisen (who will sign with South Dakota State) and Wheeler Baker of Osseo (who is headed to Albany), Prior Lake’s Jon Sobaski (who will sign with North Dakota State), Sam Rosga, Sam Neumann and Jashon Cornell (the #1 football recruit in the Class of 2015) of Cretin Derham Hall, Jake Wright (who will sign with Citadel) and Amir Coffey of Hopkins, Reid Travis, Sacar Anim and Jarvis Johnson of DeLasalle, J. P. Macura of Lakeville North, Tyus Jones and Brock Bertram of Apple Valley and Marshawn Wilson (Hill-Murray).
Here is the schedule:
2:00PM North Saint Paul vs. Cooper
2:40PM Minneapolis North vs. Braham
3:20PM Minneapolis South vs. Park Center
4:00PM Columbia Heights vs. Rosemount
4:40PM Minnetonka vs. Tartan
5:20PM Osseo vs. Prior Lake
6:00PM Cretin-Derham Hall vs. Hopkins
6:40PM DeLaSalle vs. Lakeville North
7:20PM Apple Valley vs. Hill-Murray High