Henry Ellenson is expected to make another unofficial visit to Minnesota on Saturday.
The Minnesota Golden Gophers lost out on another point guard prospect when Lourawls “Tum-Tum” Nairn Jr. committed to Michigan State Thursday.
Minnesota has already seen guards Ja’Quan Newton, Alex Robinson, Josh Perkins and Quention Snider eliminate the Gophers from consideration. Newton committed to Miami without even visiting the school. Robinson picked Texas A&M, while Perkins, who is a good friend of Minnesota Golden Gopher target Rashad Vaughn, verballed to Gonzaga. Snider, who de-committed from Louisville, picked Big Ten rival Illinois. Minnesota was the first school to offer him after he de-committed from the national champs.
There are 16 point guards ranked among ESPN’s Top 100 from the Class of 2014 and 14 have already committed. The two available playmakers are Tyus Jones of Apple Valley, who is ranked fourth and Brookfield Central’s Riley LaChance, who visited Minnesota last week. LaChance is visiting Iowa this weekend and is expected to make a decision in early October. Vanderbilt is thought to be the favorite.
Jones cancelled his visit to Kentucky this weekend after the Wildcats received a commitment from point guard Tyler Ulis, who had received early recruiting interest from Minnesota.
With so many top point guards off the board, I think the Gophers should hold out hope on Jones and if he goes elsewhere, than concentrate on a 2015 playmaker, such as DeLaSalle’s Jarvis Johnson. The Gophers will have Andre Hollins and Dre Mathieu, who will be seniors for the 2014-15 season along with combo Daquein McNeil, who will be a sophomore.
The Gophers also missed out on #20 Isaiah Whitehead, a shooting guard of Brooklyn (NY) Lincoln when he committed to Seton Hall. Minnesota has also seen wing players Lakeville North’s J.P. Macura commit to Xavier and Sandy Cohen of Seymour (WI) High, decided to stay close to home and pick Marquette.
The Gophers are hosting Chipola sophomore Carlos Morris this weekend. Morris averaged 13.3 points and 4.1 rebounds per game as a freshman last season. Morris, who committed to South Carolina as a high school senior before re-opening his recruitment, is also considering UAB, Seton Hall and Arkansas.
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Minnetonka senior Delshon Strickland and Rice Lake junior Henry Ellenson are also expected to attend the Minnesota-Iowa game Saturday.
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 visited Auburn recently and has offers from Drake, Hampton, Lehigh, Missouri State, North Dakota, Northern Colorado, Providence, Richmond, Toledo, Tulsa, UTEOP, Vermont and Virginia Tech.
Minnesota assistant coach Ben Johnson was at a recent Skippers’ open gym.
Ellenson is ranked as the #49 junior in the country by ESPN. He is the younger brother of Gopher sophomore basketball wing and high jumper Wally. Ellenson has offers from Arizona State, Baylor, Boston College, Creighton, Georgetown, Indiana, Iowa State, Marquette, Michigan State, Minnesota, Oregon, Purdue, Texas Tech and Wisconsin.
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Sixty-four of the ESPN’s Top 100 from the Class of 2014 have already committed. ESPN came out with their updated rankings and Minnesota products Tyus Jones is ranked fourth, Rashad Vaughn, who is playing for Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nevada this year, is rated #17 and Minneapolis DeLaSalle big man Reid Travis is 22nd.
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Jones and Travis will both play in the 2014 Timberwolves Shootout on Saturday January 4th, 2014 before the Timberwolves face Oklahoma City at 7 o’clock.
The following is the schedule.
9:15 AM Lakeville North vs. Grand Rapids
11:00 AM Cretin-Derham Hall vs. Bettendorf (IA)
12:45 PM De La Salle vs. St. Rita (IL)
2:30 PM Apple Valley vs. Blue Valley Northwest (KS)
Lakeville North is led by Xavier commit J.P. Macura, while ESPN’s #55 junior Alex Illikainen paces Grand Rapids.
Cretin has three juniors who started last season, including ESPN’s #1 football junior Jashon Cornell.
Two-time defending Class AAA champion DeLaSalle is led by Reid Travis and Jarvis Johnson. However, they are a well-rounded team with Howard Pulley AAU starters Sacar Anim, a junior who is getting tons of Missouri Valley attention and senior James Lawson, who has drawn some interest from the Gopher football program as a wide receiver.
They face Chicago (IL) St. Rita, who is led by Victor Law, a Northwestern commit who is ranked #66 by ESPN in the Class of 2014 and #11 junior Charles Matthews.
The final games feature two standout point guards in Tyus Jones of Apple Valley and Iowa State commit Clayton Custer from Blue Valley Northwest, who was the only team to defeat DeLasSalle last season. Apple Valley also features up-and-coming sophomore center Brock Bertram.
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Minnesota is the lone Big Ten team without a commitment after Indiana, Iowa and Michigan State all landed guards this month. Ohio State has four commits to tie Northwestern, who has added two verbals this month. Illinois added two ESPN’s top 40 players and has three 2014 commits. Michigan, Penn State and Purdue have two each, while Nebraska and Wisconsin have one each.