All Things Gophers Basketball Class of 2022 Recruiting Thread

It's tough to separate fact from fiction on Watson because the usual suspects who have defended Ben Johnson or at the very least framed things very favorably for him among the Minnesota recruting sites and social media community are the ones that have come out and said (or strongly hinted) that Minnesota moved on.

Here's what I know that doesn't come from those sources that backs that line of thinking

- Watson didn't perform well at all at Pangos and then has not performed well on the circuit either
- His offer list, at least at the high major level, was shrinking. Vandy doesn't think he was a take for them either at this point...so you're looking at ISU and Cal if Minnesota was out and that could explain why an announcement was made on a random Monday IF offers were drying up.

Here's what doesn't
- The same people that are saying Watson wasn't a take now reported that he was a priority at the beginning of Johnson's tenure. That's quite a dropoff in a short period of time. Somehow Iowa State got an official visit while this line of thinking still existed and Minnesota did now.
- Ryan James reported a month ago(or so) that he didn't think Minnesota was going to get Watson with the reported reason (excuse IMO) that he didn't want to play the 4 in the Big Ten.

I honestly don't know what to think here. It seems awfully convenient that an absolutely devastating miss (losing a SECOND guy to Iowa State?!!!) wasn't actually a miss, but it's not hard to see that a kid that didn't do much as a high school junior who was being recruited on potential and then instead of blowing up this Spring/Summer plateaued or regressed would fall down the pecking order. Even if you suggest he had all commitable offers a group of Iowa State, Vanderbilt, and California is not exactly who you want to be competing with and clearly shows that Watson wasn't making a push in to the top 100 that some expected in the Spring. On the other hand, even that group of schools represents an upgrade from what we've seen so far. With so many scholarships to give it seems hard to believe that they will end up using all of them on guys better than Watson. It's actually a good thing (IMHO) that Doogie has been pretty clear in saying Watson wasn't a take for this staff. Just last week Doogie reported that Steffon Mitchell would have went to San Diego State and not Minnesota if he returned to college so he clearly has no issue tweaking the U even if he does have access to Ben Johnson.

So where is the truth? Hard to say. The one thing that seems clear to me though is that the "early" excuse is BS at this point. Iowa State has 3 commitments in the '22 class. Xavier (where Ben was previously) has 2. 5 teams in the B1G have multiple commitments. It's not necessary to have a commitment by now but in these unique circumstances (how this roster was set up for '21, why this hire was made, etc) it's more than fair to be skeptical of what is going on. I have been hoping that they've wanted to give Tre the opportunity to be the first guy to commit, to give him that shine but that's just optomistic hope on my part and not based on anything I've heard.
ISU is an anomaly in have 3 ‘22 recruits. How many ‘22 recruits does Utah, DePaul, Penn State, Boston College, and other P5 schools with new coaches have? If it’s September, the “it’s early” can be thrown out the window. Otherwise it is still extremely valid.
 

As an honest man, I need to inform you that all of the tequila we had for the Walton Commit Party is no longer with us.
😂 Slim Tubby, I’m so shocked to hear the news. Are you able to share the circumstances of the disappearance?
The important part is you are still able to communicate with us. 😊
 


6'8" 40 inch vertical that likes to run the floor in transition and violently slam...we probably got better athletes in the pipeline?
Plus, it isn't like he has no shooting form. I doubt we cooled on him with 8 open slots to fill but I'm only guessing. It ain't how good he played in July....it's how good can we make him in 2022-23.
Iowa St slant

HiLites
We have 8 spots to fill yes, but we will only take 4-5 high school kids. It also is highly unlikely you take multiple kids at the same position as high school recruits. Kids want the option to play right away. I think we can still get someone as good as Watson now easily. What Watson has is potential. That I don’t know if we will get.
 

ISU is an anomaly in have 3 ‘22 recruits. How many ‘22 recruits does Utah, DePaul, Penn State, Boston College, and other P5 schools with new coaches have? If it’s September, the “it’s early” can be thrown out the window. Otherwise it is still extremely valid.
Penn State has one. Indiana has two (one since Woodson took over and one hold), DePaul has one (a hold, not a new commitment). North Carolina has 3. Texas has one. Arizona has one. Cincinnati has one. Duke, Texas Tech, Boston College and Utah have none. I am way more concerned with who commits than when they commit, but many of these teams don't appear to be punting on '21, won't have 8 scholarships to fill, and hired guys who have some track record of success be it as head coaches or assistants.
 


Penn State has one. Indiana has two (one since Woodson took over and one hold), DePaul has one (a hold, not a new commitment). North Carolina has 3. Texas has one. Arizona has one. Cincinnati has one. Duke, Texas Tech, Boston College and Utah have none. I am way more concerned with who commits than when they commit, but many of these teams don't appear to be punting on '21, won't have 8 scholarships to fill, and hired guys who have some track record of success be it as head coaches or assistants.
Great post. It is early.Covid changed things and kids have been slowing it for the last few years to see what their options are. They consider so much more than they used to.
 

Penn State has one. Indiana has two (one since Woodson took over and one hold), DePaul has one (a hold, not a new commitment). North Carolina has 3. Texas has one. Arizona has one. Cincinnati has one. Duke, Texas Tech, Boston College and Utah have none. I am way more concerned with who commits than when they commit, but many of these teams don't appear to be punting on '21, won't have 8 scholarships to fill, and hired guys who have some track record of success be it as head coaches or assistants.
Thank you for looking it all up and I’ll restate that ISU isn’t a fair comp imo with the number of recruits this year. What will be fun is who we get like you said. My main point is the “it’s early excuse” is still valid for a little while longer.
I also don’t think the plan was to punt next year but it’s what happened after missing some guys, injuries, and others going pro that were not expected too. I don’t want us to lose, but I think it was smart to put a larger focus on ‘22 recruiting since most relationships had to be built. I don’t disagree with your concerns on track record as listed above, but also not ready to call it a complete disaster recruiting wise yet.
 

Don Julio has always been my friend. The price should hurt but not cripple.

We need commitments from Payne and Carrington soon
or this place is going full blown Hellraiser.
Well, I'm told that "soon" is just not the way it works. They just got done playing AAU, now they need to decide who to visit, then think about it some more.
 




Some potential good news on the recruiting front to discuss.

Brendan Hausen 6'5 shooting guard from Texas: Gophers were in on him early and I believe he was a Thorson find. He's just received offers in the past week or so from Arizona State, Oregon, Virginia Tech, and now just yesterday from Villanova. He said in an interview today that Minnesota was one of 5 schools he wanted to see in person (Villanova and Oregon were two of the others).

Ryan Dunn 6'6 wing from New York: Gophers were one of his first high major offers a couple weeks ago. Today Virginia offered.

Obviously it doesn't mean much if the Gophers don't land either of these guys, but the fact that the staff (Thorson in one case, not sure who was on Dunn) were able to identify these kids as worth of offers before they blew up nationally is a good thing.
Jaden Schutt and Rowan Brumbaugh were another couple guys whom they offered somewhat early on who now have double digit high major offers, and Schutt now has Michigan State and Duke after him. Brumbaugh visited Minnesota unofficially I believe.
 

Jaden Schutt and Rowan Brumbaugh were another couple guys whom they offered somewhat early on who now have double digit high major offers, and Schutt now has Michigan State and Duke after him. Brumbaugh visited Minnesota unofficially I believe.
Rowan's visit here was actually an official visit....he has actually already taken 4 official visits. Georgetown, Wisconsin, Northwestern, & MN.
 



Have to imagine Ben and staff do everything they can to get Braeden committed before he visits Boulder.
 



A thought on players "not looking as good."

AAU is not the same as HS basketball. HS games tend to be played within the school's system and are generally more structured. AAU games in general are a little less structured and a bit more free-flowing.

Because not all players are the same (Shocking idea!), some players may look better in a more structured HS game, while other players may look better in the AAU environment.

In the end, it all depends on what the college is looking for. A coach that plays a more structured style may put more weight on how a player does with his HS team. A coach that plays a more wide-open style may put more weight on how a player does with his AAU team.
 

also had an official (and offer): Maryland
5 is the limit of official visits a recruit can take, right? If so, that one would think Rowan would be ready to make a commitment in the next month.
 

5 is the limit of official visits a recruit can take, right? If so, that one would think Rowan would be ready to make a commitment in the next month.
They got 10. 5 for their junior and 5 for their senior. Those counted under the junior time I believe due to covid
 







A thought on players "not looking as good."

AAU is not the same as HS basketball. HS games tend to be played within the school's system and are generally more structured. AAU games in general are a little less structured and a bit more free-flowing.

Because not all players are the same (Shocking idea!), some players may look better in a more structured HS game, while other players may look better in the AAU environment.

In the end, it all depends on what the college is looking for. A coach that plays a more structured style may put more weight on how a player does with his HS team. A coach that plays a more wide-open style may put more weight on how a player does with his AAU team.
This take is old and lazy. The EYBL and Adidas circuits, for example are very structured leagues with pretty good coaching and the competition is leaps and bounds better than anything you'd see at the high school level.
 







Damn, listed offers from Auburn, Arkansas, Baylor, Illinois, Michigan, Kansas, Texas, Texas Tech, A&M, Vanderbilt and more
I've watched Colin Smith play a few times. It's probably already been mentioned, but he played alongside Harrison Ingram on a good St. Mark's team, and looked solid even as as Sophomore. He also has a 6'5" sister who plays volleyball at Stanford, so lots of talent in that family.
 




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