Recruiting

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BigTenGuy said:
ESPN updated their HoopGurlz prospect rankings this week, and released a '28 list (top 25).

2026 class
Tori Oehrlein dropped from 50 to 62 (having previously dropped from 43 to 50).

Natalie Kussow dropped from 20 to 47 (having previously moved from 16 to 20). Kussow's drop was one of the bigger downgrades by HoopGurlz. Many other rankers have her much higher, but they have yet to update their rankings this summer. Will be interesting to see if ESPN is an outlier.

7/10 edit: Prospects Nation updated its rankings, and Kussow dropped from 18 to 36, by far the biggest drop of those previously in the Prospects Nation ‘26 top 40. Curious why ESPN and Prospects Nation have downgraded Kussow.

Lanelle Wright from Minnetonka checks in at #74, her first ESPN appearance (she has been on a few other lists).

Adaline Sheplee is # 32 (up from 35).

Aaliyah Bell is # 61 (despite recent LSU and USC offers).

2027 class
No Amisha Ramlall or Mya Wilson on ESPN's top 60 list for 2027 (they both show up on some other lists).

2028 class
Chloe Johnson checks in near Paige territory at # 3.
Ari Peterson is #20.
Sahara Wilson is # 23.

Easton McCollough, Zoey Breshears' high school teammate is # 21.

I'm probably missing some others who may be interested in the Gophers.
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Sheplee picked Wisconsin, intriguingly...
 


Wisconsin has had 14 straight losing seasons, but I guess hiring a coach (Robin Pingeton) with 15 years of up and down SEC experience and who has put players in the WNBA is worth something to recruits.

She will do better than Moseley but I have my doubts as to whether she will be able to get Wisconsin to the level she had Missouri from 2017-2019.
 


“They came in later in my process because obviously there was a coaching change,” Sheplee told Rivals. “I started building my relationship with them later in my process. I really liked Coach P and I really connected with her right from the start. To be honest, I wasn’t planning on going to Wisconsin through my whole process. It just wasn’t where I wanted to end up. I thought I wanted to go somewhere out of state. Then I got to know her and I really connected with her. She has a really strong faith, which is also really important to me. I connected with her and also just became excited about her vision that she has, and the opportunity to make a big impact and do something unique in my home state and help the program out.”
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Good sales pitch for keeping in-state talent home. But I’m sure it’s been tried here many times with very limited success. Too often, the best of the best from here are actually TOO good. Maybe with a deep run next year this pitch can work on Chloe Johnson and the other upcoming recruiting targets that together could get us back to the Promised Land.
 




DietCokeFan said:
2026 class needed to make a statement.
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Even after the upcoming season, there is still hopefully one more year with the high impact players Braun and Grocholski, and two with McKinney. Just because the Gophers haven't gotten 2026 commitments announced by...August 2025, doesn't mean they won't succeed with new recruits or maybe more importantly, transfers. Obviously way too soon to say for sure, but maybe the Gophers will target an experienced point guard and/or post player after Battle and Hart graduate next year.

As we've seen with McKinney, Grocholski, and some of the transfers, Coach P is pretty good at nabbing great players that other teams may one day regret glossing over. And frankly, as we saw with Johnson last year, just because someone was projected to be a top 50/60 recruit does not mean their impact will be top 50/60 level unfortunately.
 

Yeah, it’s disappointing, for sure. We all wanted this to be a class similar to the highly-ranked group that is still here so we could transition seamlessly and compete at a high level with no rebuilding years.

However, with the portal and NIL the way it is HS classes are quite a bit less important than they used to be. Of course we all want Top 20 classes every other cycle or so to maintain the quality within the program.

But the truth of the matter is from the outside looking in, we still haven’t even made the NCAA tournament, much less established the program as a consistent winner.

Even the very top coaches usually need 4-6 years to get a program winning consistently. Coach P has had two years, and with this roster she can make a splash in Year 3, which is just in time to try and convince the next group of outstanding MN players that they can win a national championship here. And that is what it takes, a realistic projection that it could be done here, because that’s what players of this caliber need to believe before committing.
 



DietCokeFan said:
2026 class needed to make a statement.
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Kussow is still out there, which would be a big commitment for Coach P. Really hard to get a read on her recruitment, but Michigan got a commitment at her position, and Iowa seems all in on Jenica Lewis (perhaps moving on from Kussow?).
 
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rwlarson said:
Yeah, it’s disappointing, for sure. We all wanted this to be a class similar to the highly-ranked group that is still here so we could transition seamlessly and compete at a high level with no rebuilding years.

However, with the portal and NIL the way it is HS classes are quite a bit less important than they used to be. Of course we all want Top 20 classes every other cycle or so to maintain the quality within the program.

But the truth of the matter is from the outside looking in, we still haven’t even made the NCAA tournament, much less established the program as a consistent winner.

Even the very top coaches usually need 4-6 years to get a program winning consistently. Coach P has had two years, and with this roster she can make a splash in Year 3, which is just in time to try and convince the next group of outstanding MN players that they can win a national championship here. And that is what it takes, a realistic projection that it could be done here, because that’s what players of this caliber need to believe before committing.
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The only close to negative is athleticism. Long athletic jumpers with speed. Other than that I think we're strong
SKI-U-MAH
 










Saving the best for last! Would be great to keep a Minnesota blue chip home after Greenway didn’t even give us a sniff
 


ESPN and Prospects Nation both have post-summer updates to their recruiting rankings.

ESPN - Natalie Kussow slightly up to # 40, from # 47, after falling from # 20, and # 16 before that
Prospects Nation - Kussow slightly up to # 30, from # 36, after falling from # 18

ESPN - Tori Oehrlein slightly up to # 58, from # 62, after falling from # 50, and # 43 before that

Prospects Nation - Oehrlein unranked in their ranked top 60, or their next 40
 

Once we have them committed of on our team, does it really matter where they are rated? I mean, if our coaching staff wanted them and got them in house, who cares where other people rank them?
 

Chico Gopher said:
Once we have them committed of on our team, does it really matter where they are rated? I mean, if our coaching staff wanted them and got them in house, who cares where other people rank them?
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Yes it does matter how the recruits we bring in are rated. Common sense is that if you get more highly rated recruits better chances you will win more games. You can't say if are coaches recuited them they must be who they wanted when they could have had a bunch of higher recuits that turned them down. Everybody's pay is determined by how good you can recuit high ranked talent.
 

Chico Gopher said:
Once we have them committed of on our team, does it really matter where they are rated? . . .
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A reasonable question. I think the answer is yes, for several reasons, some of which are as follows:

1. The coaches and program care where players are ranked. When Kussow officially signs something with the Gophers, the U’s press release will highlight her ESPN ranking, or perhaps cherry-pick a higher ranking from another ranker.

2. With earlier female maturation, the rankings are much more predictive than they are on the boy’s side. Centers/Bigs may be an exception and harder to predict. But when you look back at USA Basketball U-16 teams, for example, it is stunning to see how prescient USA Basketball has been at identifying the top players.

3. Related to #2, rankings/scholarship offers/McDonald’s All American status help set expectations for players and teams. For example, you can’t win a national championship without multiple McDonald’s All Americans.

4. Rankings/scholarship offers tell you a lot about a coach as a recruiter, in multiple ways. Can a coach snag elite recruits with blue blood offers? Can a coach out evaluate their peers? (Coach P’s recruitment of Grace G and Tori M say yes to the second question). When Coach P snags her first McDonald’s AA player, it will be a big deal.

5. Ranking trends can be meaningful. Alexia Smith was ranked early in high school as a five-star recruit. By the end of her senior year, she had fallen to # 68 by ESPN. The Gophers stupidly trumpeted her as a five-star recruit, adding unnecessary hype to a limited player who would never live up to that hype.
 
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I have followed players and rankings, and resulting college performance, for many years. Both as a Gopher fan and as a parent of a D1 player. In my experience, there are so many many many players who were ranked highly in high school, but do not perform up to their ranking while playing in college. There are also many many many players who went unnoticed / underestimated in high school and become stars in college. Some of it is because of college coaching, but some of it is because of recognized potential and talent. Maybe a bad high school coach, or maybe not as active on the AAU circuit. Or it could be as simple as crappy or selfish players around them while in high school. While rankings are helpful, they are not the Be All End All….
 

Hoopsmom said:
There are also many many many players who went unnoticed / underestimated in high school and become stars in college.
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Case in point: Tori McKinney and Grace Grocholski. Two players with huge positive impact for the Gophers, and neither of them made any of these national rankings, but the coaches saw their potential.
 

MaroonMagic said:
Case in point: Tori McKinney and Grace Grocholski. Two players with huge positive impact for the Gophers, and neither of them made any of these national rankings, but the coaches saw their potential.
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Wasn’t Grace a top 100 recruit?
 


BigTenGuy said:
A reasonable question. I think the answer is yes, for several reasons, some of which are as follows:

1. The coaches and program care where players are ranked. When Kussow officially signs something with the Gophers, the U’s press release will highlight her ESPN ranking, or perhaps cherry-pick a higher ranking from another ranker.

2. With earlier female maturation, the rankings are much more predictive than they are on the boy’s side. Centers/Bigs may be an exception and harder to predict. But when you look back at USA Basketball U-16 teams, for example, it is stunning to see how prescient USA Basketball has been at identifying the top players.

3. Related to #2, rankings/scholarship offers/McDonald’s All American status help set expectations for players and teams. For example, you can’t win a national championship without multiple McDonald’s All Americans.

4. Rankings/scholarship offers tell you a lot about a coach as a recruiter, in multiple ways. Can a coach snag elite recruits with blue blood offers? Can a coach out evaluate their peers? (Coach P’s recruitment of Grace G and Tori M say yes to the second question). When Coach P snags her first McDonald’s AA player, it will be a big deal.

5. Ranking trends can be meaningful. Alexia Smith was ranked early in high school as a five-star recruit. By the end of her senior year, she had fallen to # 68 by ESPN. The Gophers stupidly trumpeted her as a five-star recruit, adding unnecessary hype to a limited player who would never live up to that hype.
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Just saying, that as a coach, once I have them in the gym and working out with my team, it doesn't matter to me if or where they are ranked by national services. I know fans care, but fans don't have to coach them, I do. Doesn't matter if they were ranked in the top 50 or ranked 250. What matters is how they practice and play, are they taking care of business properly outside the gym and are they improving and providing what we need to help the team win.

I don't mean to indicate that I'm a coach, but I've been around enough successful ones to know their thought process on that kind of thing.
 

MaroonMagic said:
Oh, you must have better memory than I do! I just checked again, and she was 98th out of 100 on ESPN's final list. But that just goes to show how much they undervalued her!
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Do we think at this point, or even at the point of her very first practice with the Gophers, Coach P cares if GG was ranked 98th or 198th? I mean, most of us don't even remember and once she was in our gym, it was pointless to care.
 

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