2019 recruiting

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Well, I would hope that no young woman would let a twitter poll decide her future. (I realize that they are probably just having some fun with it.)
If she chooses the program which is likely to be more successful (Minnesota, Auburn, or Illinois), then she'll choose Minnesota. I'm not convinced she'll have the same coach during her four years at Illinois and I would think that going to the Deep South might provide a bit of culture shock for someone from NYC. Hopefully, she'll choose the Gophers.
 

Am I correct in thinking that they may not have had ranking services back when Whalen and McCarville were making their decisions on where to go to college? Even if they did have them then, I'll bet that neither of those two players were in the top 100. And they both ended up as college All-Americans. Hopefully, Whalen and her staff are able to identify talent...and players who will be successful in their system.
 



CutDownTheNet said:
She's grown to 6'3" now, maybe growth spurt still on-going?
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Could be the obligatory exaggeration of height that often happens with basketball players.

CutDownTheNet said:
uncommitted 5-star 6' Wing ranked #39 (Kaelynn Satterfield).
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I hope she’s not 5’6. She’s nearly the same height as Sconiers in pictures. She’s not totally uncommitted either. She’s down to her Final 4: Michigan, Marquette, Oregon, and Ohio St. She’ll announce at the same time as Sconiers.
 


The thing that makes me think Illinois might be her choice (by looking at her Twitter feed), is that Sconiers retweeted Illinois-related tweets back from 9/14 and 9/20. That was before she took her visit to Minnesota on 9/28 and she expressed enthusiasm about Minnesota on Instagram. But just 8 hours ago, she retweeted yet another Illinois-related tweet that talked about her Illinois recruiting process (which I couldn’t read because it is a subscription article. Iggy?). She has never retweeted any tweets relating to the other schools including Minnesota. Hopefully (if you like her), she’s just trying to throw people off?
 

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Awesome news. i think she’ll be a special player.
 

adamj95 said:
So the commits for 2019 right now are Sara Scalia, Grace Cumming, and Justice Ross. Are there only 2 other 2019 players with gopher offers, Jasmine Powell and Klarke Sconiers?
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Great news about Sconiers!

Now we wait on Jasmine Powell's decision.
 

Let’s make sure Shades doesn’t get into the predicting business!!
 

This is an incredibly important signing. The team desperately needs size inside and getting a 2019 of this caliber at this point is huge.
 




I see Tina Charles and Sue Bird both went to the same high school Sconiers goes to. Impressive company.
 

We need size after watching the Gophers go against Oregon in the NCAA playoffs last year.

Whalen is going with size and speed.

Kenisha Bell is really excited because she has a coach/mentor who made her dreaming about the WNBA more focused.
 


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It's nice to see that the Gophers are getting a good share of the people they have offered. I'm always fascinated by the concept of offers and commitments...the idea that if a player doesn't accept quickly, the university may move on and set sights on other players to fill that scholarship. For someone as talented as Bueckers, she will be able to wait as long as she wants and go wherever she wants. But not so with most other players. With Powell, I'm guessing that the early success that Pitts has had with the Gophers might have had an influence on her decision. It remains to be seen if the new coaching staff is able to identify talent and players who will fit the program. I'm guessing that they'll be able to do that. If so, this coaching regime seems to be off to a good start with its recruiting. Just curious as to whether anyone knows where any of the current Gophers were ranked in their recruiting classes, especially Pitts. Am I correct in remembering that Pitts was a 4-star recruit? Any idea where she was ranked in her class and/or at her position? (Too lazy to look it up.)
 

tripledouble said:
It's nice to see that the Gophers are getting a good share of the people they have offered. I'm always fascinated by the concept of offers and commitments...the idea that if a player doesn't accept quickly, the university may move on and set sights on other players to fill that scholarship. For someone as talented as Bueckers, she will be able to wait as long as she wants and go wherever she wants. But not so with most other players. With Powell, I'm guessing that the early success that Pitts has had with the Gophers might have had an influence on her decision. It remains to be seen if the new coaching staff is able to identify talent and players who will fit the program. I'm guessing that they'll be able to do that. If so, this coaching regime seems to be off to a good start with its recruiting. Just curious as to whether anyone knows where any of the current Gophers were ranked in their recruiting classes, especially Pitts. Am I correct in remembering that Pitts was a 4-star recruit? Any idea where she was ranked in her class and/or at her position? (Too lazy to look it up.)
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According to espn, Pitts and Staples are their only 2 top 100 players, both were right around 60.
 

tripledouble said:
It's nice to see that the Gophers are getting a good share of the people they have offered. I'm always fascinated by the concept of offers and commitments...the idea that if a player doesn't accept quickly, the university may move on and set sights on other players to fill that scholarship. For someone as talented as Bueckers, she will be able to wait as long as she wants and go wherever she wants. But not so with most other players. With Powell, I'm guessing that the early success that Pitts has had with the Gophers might have had an influence on her decision. It remains to be seen if the new coaching staff is able to identify talent and players who will fit the program. I'm guessing that they'll be able to do that. If so, this coaching regime seems to be off to a good start with its recruiting. Just curious as to whether anyone knows where any of the current Gophers were ranked in their recruiting classes, especially Pitts. Am I correct in remembering that Pitts was a 4-star recruit? Any idea where she was ranked in her class and/or at her position? (Too lazy to look it up.)
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http://www.espn.com/high-school/girls-basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/222208

http://www.espn.com/high-school/girls-basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/235855
 


We are the U of Michigan in more ways than one.
 

Awesome! Congrats Jasmine!

Whalen certainly locked in the players she wants early. I wonder if these players are the top choices, or are there some that are undecided and are teetering? The message is you snooze, you lose for everyone except the very elite players.


The 2019 Recruiting Class:
Sara Scalia - 5' 10" PG, Not Ranked, Stillwater HS, Stillwater Minnesota
Grace Cumming - 6' 3" P, 3-Star 90, Position Rank 18, Theodore Roosevelt HS, Des Moines Iowa
Justice Ross - 5' 10" F/W, Not Ranked, Des Moines East HS, Des Moines Iowa
Klarke Sconiers - 6' 3" P, 3-Star 89, Position Rank 31, Christ The King HS, Middle Village (Bronx) New York
Jasmine Powell - 5' 6" PG, 4-Star 94, Overall Rank 78, Position Rank 23, Detroit County Day Sch, Detroit Michigan

Overall, a nice first full class of tallness and athleticism.

There may be a couple of other scholarships available. These may be banked for 2020 or if a must have player is available at the last minute. Who knows what they'll do.
 
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I think this 5-player class is completed. We have 12 players this year. 4 seniors. and 5 incoming freshman so will have 13 players next year. as of now 4 are set to be seniors and one signee so would make the roster at 10 with 5 available scholarships for class of 2020. if Hubbard redshirts this year, will mean 11 scholarships for 2020 and leave 4 available for that class.
 

bball_craz_26 said:
I think this 5-player class is completed. We have 12 players this year. 4 seniors. and 5 incoming freshman so will have 13 players next year. as of now 4 are set to be seniors and one signee so would make the roster at 10 with 5 available scholarships for class of 2020. if Hubbard redshirts this year, will mean 11 scholarships for 2020 and leave 4 available for that class.
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With only 13 scholarships, if a grad transfer wants to come here, we will have room for her. We will have room for 2, in fact.
 

Nice get for Whalen and Co. Waiting to see her land Bueckers and really get this thing rolling!!
 

It is fair to say that there will be a few future recruits keeping an eye on the Gophers' first season under Lindsay Whalen.
 

samloupete said:
Outstanding!!!
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Basketball fans, meet your (approximate) 2019-20 Golden Gopher Women's Basketball Team:

Jasmine Powell - 5' 6" Guard, Frosh
Jasmine Brunson - 5' 8" Guard, Senior
Gadiva Hubbard - 5' 9" Guard, Senior
Sara Scalia - 5' 10" Guard, Frosh
Mercedes Staples - 5' 10" Guard, Soph
Justice Ross - 5' 10" Small Forward/Wing, Frosh
Destiny Pitts - 5' 10" Small Forward/Wing, Junior
Delaynie Byrne - 6' 2" Post, Soph
Taiye Bello - 6' 2" Power Forward, Senior
Barbora Tomancova - 6' 2" Power Forward/Center, Soph
Kehinde Bello - 6' 3" Power Forward/Center, Senior
Grace Cumming - 6' 3" Post, Frosh
Klarke Sconiers - 6' 3" Post, Frosh
[room for up to two grad transfers]

Note: I did not use the terms "point guard" or "shooting guard," since Lindsay seems to espouse the idea of multiple guards sharing point/shooting duties. For small forwards that can also shoot the three (and thus could be a shooting guard in a pinch), I used term "small forward/wing." In some cases I guessed the type of post player, but in other cases (e.g., where I've only seen them play once in the Maroon/Gold scrimmage) I simply left it at "post."
 
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