2026 Recruiting

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In terms of this 2026 class..

Current Roster is at 15.
-6 will graduate (Heyer, Battle, Hart, T. Bershers, Glenn, Tonga

Leaving 6 available spots/w 2 2026s Committed (Oehrlein & Kussow)
-Leaving 4 available sports

Here is listed known 2026 offers still out there

Out-of-State Offers:

Isabella Sangha, 6’3 W/F, Pine Crest HS (FL) (ESPN Top 100-#83)

Ariyana Cradle, 5’8 G, Westerville South HS (OH)

Stella Lockhart, 6’1 G/W, St. John-Vianney HS (NJ)

Kylee Paben, 6’1 F, Millard West HS (NE)

-Paben just took an official visit this last weekend & Lockhart noted she is planning to take an official this Fall.

I would think they could have good chance at Paben and likely hold the rest for portal players.
 




studentgopher94 said:
Poster sees Kenny Brooks getting pushed out at Kentucky and Greenway ending up here, not sure why but that's the argument they're making.
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That seams like awful wishful thinking. I thought we were third place at best in the Greenway sweepstakes behind Iowa. I quess stranger things have happened you can always hope.
 

Gopher Mac said:
That seams like awful wishful thinking. I thought we were third place at best in the Greenway sweepstakes behind Iowa. I quess stranger things have happened you can always hope.
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Yeah I can’t see them pushing him out after only one year. He has two top 20 kids coming in 2026. He’s a good coach.
 















DietCokeFan said:
Going to assume Paben since she recently visited
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If it's Paben, another test for the Coach P recruiting eye, which has been pretty good. Creighton is a solid offer, but otherwise her offer list is lacking:

Cornell, St. Bonaventure, Lehigh, Evansville, Cleveland St, Colgate, Boston College, No. Dakota, Illinois State, Creighton, UTSA, Minnesota, GW, Vermont, Penn
 

BigTenGuy said:
If it's Paben, another test for the Coach P recruiting eye, which has been pretty good. Creighton is a solid offer, but otherwise her offer list is lacking:

Cornell, St. Bonaventure, Lehigh, Evansville, Cleveland St, Colgate, Boston College, No. Dakota, Illinois State, Creighton, UTSA, Minnesota, GW, Vermont, Penn
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Yeah not sure what to think. Looks like she is the #1 player out of Nebraska but weird that they didn't offer.
 

Paben is a stretch forward and played AAU at Nebraska attack. The same Nebraska attack that defeated North Tartan this last AAU season. I wouldn't read too much into Nebraksa not offering..Gophers didn't off Cail Jahnke or Vienna Murray and both will end up P4 schools. It's for fit. Paben is a fit for gophers who wanna play stretched out and either 5 shooters or 1 big inside and 4 shooters out.

Also reminder.. Tori Mckinney was lightly recruited and only other P4s were Kansas and Northwestern besides Gophers. I'd say pretty good eye there from the coaching staff huh?
 

It’s comforting to have a coach who has demonstrated the ability to assemble a winning team, even if it was at a mid-major level.

This year’s team will be good, how good remains to be seen, but this recruiting class and the next one will determine if the Gophers can achieve consistent high-level success. It appears to me we are on the right track to do that.
 

We still need the Gophers' version of Alanna Smith. Is there anyone out there we're recruiting who can fill that role, or are we going to be soft and/or slow inside?
 

bball_craz_31 said:
Paben is a stretch forward and played AAU at Nebraska attack. The same Nebraska attack that defeated North Tartan this last AAU season. I wouldn't read too much into Nebraksa not offering..Gophers didn't off Cail Jahnke or Vienna Murray and both will end up P4 schools. It's for fit. Paben is a fit for gophers who wanna play stretched out and either 5 shooters or 1 big inside and 4 shooters out.

Also reminder.. Tori Mckinney was lightly recruited and only other P4s were Kansas and Northwestern besides Gophers. I'd say pretty good eye there from the coaching staff huh?
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Also, I believe she was the 6th most efficient in the Under Armor Circuit this AAU circuit in terms of Points Per Possession (Kussow #2)

Solid get in my opinion assuming that is the commit, seems like a good Heyer replacement based on scouting reports.
 



rwlarson said:
It’s comforting to have a coach who has demonstrated the ability to assemble a winning team, even if it was at a mid-major level.

This year’s team will be good, how good remains to be seen, but this recruiting class and the next one will determine if the Gophers can achieve consistent high-level success. It appears to me we are on the right track to do that.
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The team may have been a mid major, but she consistently scheduled and competed with P5 teams. And beat most of them, often on their own courts. Iowa State, Missouri, Creighton, Oklahoma, and South Carolina were on the schedule frequently. They also played Northwestern, Indiana, TAMU, and Ohio State in non-con during her last four years at South Dakota, using players that she saw something in when other schools might not have. She and her wonderful assistant coaches developed them into players who could compete with almost anybody.
 

DietCokeFan said:
Have you heard how her recovery is going? Will she be ready to go by the start of the season?
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All that I've heard is that recovery is on target with no setbacks. There is talk that maybe not cleared or at least not fully cleared until the beginning or middle of December. Meaning liking on minutes restrictions if not missing some of the first games. The goal/hope is that she is 100% with no restrictions by the start of the Big Ten season.

Something we should see more of this year is Woodson at the 5 with either Grace or Mal at the 4 and then 3 guards of Mara/Amaya/McKinney to play up-tempo
 
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Hoopsmom said:
The team may have been a mid major, but she consistently scheduled and competed with P5 teams. And beat most of them, often on their own courts. Iowa State, Missouri, Creighton, Oklahoma, and South Carolina were on the schedule frequently. They also played Northwestern, Indiana, TAMU, and Ohio State in non-con during her last four years at South Dakota, using players that she saw something in when other schools might not have. She and her wonderful assistant coaches developed them into players who could compete with almost anybody.
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Yes, she knows how to build a roster that can play “up” and perform at a level greater than the sum of its parts. And she wins on the biggest stage, as evidenced by a DII national championship and a deep NCAA run with a South Dakota team that pretty much made Aaron Johnston’s perennial power SDSU take a back seat to her while she was there.

Still, many successful mid-major coaches have found tough sledding at the Power 4 level, where you can’t get by with an occasional Top 100 recruit and the right mix of Top 500 recruits. You are going to have to get some Top 50 players and complement that with the right mix of Top 100 and Top 200 players. And you have to go up against big budgets and the slickest recruiters out there.

To make it even more difficult to break through, in order to attract the Top 10 level players consistently, you will first need to prove your program can contend for a national title before you have those Top 10 level players that all the elite programs want.

So you have to get your teams to play their best when it matters most. The good news for us is that Dawn has won a national DII title at Grand Valley State, and her teams have generally done well in the postseason, as evidenced by nearly making the Elite 8 with South Dakota, that aforementioned national championship, and her first two years here, with a tournament title and runner-up finish.
 



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