Paul Friendshuh, a 6-foot-9, 210-pound junior from New Prague, is another top prospect from the loaded Class of 2014.
Paul Friendshuh, a 6-foot-9, 210-pound junior from New Prague, is another top prospect from the loaded Class of 2014 that includes Tyus Jones, Rashad Vaughn and Reid Travis. Friendshuh will be playing in Dallas this weekend as a member of the Minnesota D1 AAU squad. GopherHole.com recently caught up with Friendshuh to learn the latest on his recruitment.
Gopher Hole: Creighton and Bucknell were at your school last Thursday, right?
Gopher Hole: Creighton and Bucknell were at your school last Thursday, right?
Paul Friendshuh: I had a home visit from Coach Paulson for Bucknell and then Coach Devries from Creighton stopped and talked about the big move to the Big East and stuff. It is a pretty big move for them
Gopher Hole: Have you had any other schools stop out recently or do you have any others planned in the next few weeks?
Paul Friendshuh: Not that I know of. Just the typical calls. Not any visits that I know, but some things will probably pop up.
Gopher Hole: You have been working hard since the end of the season. What things have you been working on to continue to improve yourself as a player?
Paul Friendshuh: Mainly my agility and quickness, as a big man, I find out that that is my biggest advantage. I tried putting on a lot of weight in the fall and it didn’t work out quite so well. I am just not the build. Right now at my age, I am still growing a little bit, so it is hard to put weight on. I can increase my agility and increase my vertical and that is what I have been doing. I feel like I can jump higher and move quicker and that has obviously been helping in practice.
Gopher Hole: How many offers are you up to right now?
Paul Friendshuh: Holy Cross, Bucknell, Northern Colorado, Green Bay, Davidson and Vermont.
Gopher Hole: What other schools are you hearing from besides those?
Paul Friendshuh: Creighton, Wichita State. I’d like to hear from Stanford. I talked to (Stanford assistant) Mark Madsen for a little bit the other day. Some of the Missouri Valley Conference teams. A couple of other Patriot League teams like Lehigh and American and also Colorado State.
Gopher Hole: I know that the Gophers have a new coaching staff. Is that someone you are hoping to hear from?
Paul Friendshuh: It would be nice to hear from them. I don’t know much about Pitino and stuff, so it would be interesting to hear from him. See what type of coach he is. That would be great to play for him. I don’t know. I’d have to do some background research on him.
Gopher Hole: Have you thought about trying to visit some campuses here in the near future?
Paul Friendshuh: Mainly after my April season, I’ll see what I have laying down for me. I doubt that I’ll take any official visits in April and we might be able to get out to some schools in May and June. The ones that are interested in us.
Gopher Hole: What about your high school team? You unfortunately came up a little bit short. You were hoping to get another shot at Austin, but lost to Red Wing in the second round of the section playoffs?
Paul Friendshuh: We lost quite a bit of our guards. We’ll need guards to step up. With Michael Southerland (6-8 frontcourt player) coming back, he will be a very big impact player for us as he continues to develop as a player. I think that we will be good next year. We have a good shot of winning the conference next year. As far as next year and making it to state, Austin loses Joe Aase and Tom Aase. They still have Zach Wessels (who also plays on Minnesota D1). I think that we have a good shot of going to state next year. Red Wing will be tough, too.
Gopher Hole: Have you talked to Zach and siad that “Hey, you guys made it this year, why not give us a chance next year”?
Paul Friendshuh: Definitely. I let him know that we are going to beat them next time for sure.