2026 Recruiting

[Indiana Gopher]

It's being reported that we just lost the #1 recruit in the state to Loyola-Chicago after previously losing the #2 recruit in the state to Iowa State. #3, #4, and #5 are still uncommitted and we have #6 (Tomes). Should I be concerned? The #1 (Kreager) and #2 (Wiggins) are both ranked in the top 120. Tomes not so much. Want to trust Niko and what he is doing, and understand when we lose a a high 5* recruit to a school better known for winning and sending players to the NBA (Suggs, Holmgren), but not sure how I feel about losing local 4*s to schools that we theoretically should out-recruit. I imagine I will take heat for that comment, and agree that Oberholzer is great, but we are talking Minnesota/Minneapolis/Big 10 vs. Iowa State/Ames/Big 12. We should be able to out-recruit Iowa State.

 

[BleedGopher]

We didn't "lose" Kreager to Loyola Chicago. Come on...

Iowa State is a much better basketball program than MN right now, whether we like it or not. It's up to Medved to change that. They prioritized Christian for more than two years, our old staff didn't recruit him much. Medved barely had time to establish a relationship with him. Christian moved to MN in 4th grade, do you realize how bad our program has been since he's been in MN?

Really hope Medved can turn this program around, but the 2026 class was born in 2007/08, it's not like they grew up watching Bobby and Sam.

Go Gophers!!

 

[studentgopher94]

It's being reported that we just lost the #1 recruit in the state to Loyola-Chicago after previously losing the #2 recruit in the state to Iowa State. #3, #4, and #5 are still uncommitted and we have #6 (Tomes). Should I be concerned? The #1 (Kreager) and #2 (Wiggins) are both ranked in the top 120. Tomes not so much. Want to trust Niko and what he is doing, and understand when we lose a a high 5* recruit to a school better known for winning and sending players to the NBA (Suggs, Holmgren), but not sure how I feel about losing local 4*s to schools that we theoretically should out-recruit. I imagine I will take heat for that comment, and agree that Oberholzer is great, but we are talking Minnesota/Minneapolis/Big 10 vs. Iowa State/Ames/Big 12. We should be able to out-recruit Iowa State.

We didn't recruit Kreager, neither did any other P6, that may say something and eventually we should be able to recruit with Iowa State but new unproven coach at this level it's understandable we didn't get Wiggins, also understandable as Medved joined that process very late.

 

[BBJones]

It's a little early to panic, don't you think? A big part of successful recruiting is establishing relationships. Medved hasn't really had the time to do that yet. We'll have a better idea of what he can do in another year or two.

 

[FinnGopher]

It's a little early to panic, don't you think? A big part of successful recruiting is establishing relationships. Medved hasn't really had the time to do that yet. We'll have a better idea of what he can do in another year or two.

So...you're saying it's year zero...

 

[GopherBlood777]

The current state of college basketball has rendered prep recruiting to an almost irrelevant state. Do we really care about a high school kid when we can sign a transfer with 2+ years of college experience already under their belt? Even if we sign a promising prep, there is no stopping that player from bailing after their freshman season for more playing time, money, etc... Every player now is year to year. Even if we miss on a prep prospect we like, there is always the possibility they end up on the team a season or two later.

 

[skiumah1]

Niko was quick to get the Tomes kid from here. Would like to see him get the Wayzata kid as well. Nolen Anderson.

The development of players under Niko is going to be vastly different than Ben. I think he'll get his guys and mold 'em.

With that said, I'd still like to see highly rated recruits.

 

[march madness]

It's being reported that we just lost the #1 recruit in the state to Loyola-Chicago after previously losing the #2 recruit in the state to Iowa State. #3, #4, and #5 are still uncommitted and we have #6 (Tomes). Should I be concerned? The #1 (Kreager) and #2 (Wiggins) are both ranked in the top 120. Tomes not so much. Want to trust Niko and what he is doing, and understand when we lose a a high 5* recruit to a school better known for winning and sending players to the NBA (Suggs, Holmgren), but not sure how I feel about losing local 4*s to schools that we theoretically should out-recruit. I imagine I will take heat for that comment, and agree that Oberholzer is great, but we are talking Minnesota/Minneapolis/Big 10 vs. Iowa State/Ames/Big 12. We should be able to out-recruit Iowa State.

I find the 247 composite ranking a better average of major recruiting services. 247 has him rated way higher than anywhere else.

'26 kreager is a late bloomer, needs to put on weight and a mid major might fit him for early playing time. Dothan Ijadimbola, Nolan Anderson, and Jayden Morre all all non-committed.

In '22 we lost top 6 players to other schools.
'23 We lost Taison Chatman to Ohio ST. and N. Winter to Wisconsin, in a weak class.
In '24 Mn got the 5th and 8th in a deep class: Assuma and Grove. 4 * McAndrew left for Creighton, Freitag to Wis, Isiah J to Miami, Chavis to ARk.
In '25 Ahneman to N Dame, Chase T. to Clemson.


While we love the gophers, the barn, and traditions, to a recruit who might prioritze smaller college towns, NIL money, or someone who just wants a change of scenery, we don't know. We hired a very successful mid major coach, who hasn't won here yet, I don't know how much that moves the needle for a 17 year old.

'27 is looking to be a good year for big men, in state. Nur from Hopkins, and Mohamed from St. Paul South are very quickly moving up the ranks, both should be 6-10 and 220 by the end of their SR years. SF Ty Schlagel has dropped some, but he still is ranked 90th nationally for Cretin as SF.

I don't know that even a successful coach can "lock down all the 4* players, our deeper classes gets. One can only hope Niko can make locals really consider the U, when for years they didn't.

 

[XMan]

I find the 247 composite ranking a better average of major recruiting services. 247 has him rated way higher than anywhere else.

'26 kreager is a late bloomer, needs to put on weight and a mid major might fit him for early playing time. Dothan Ijadimbola, Nolan Anderson, and Jayden Morre all all non-committed.

In '22 we lost top 6 players to other schools.
'23 We lost Taison Chatman to Ohio ST. and N. Winter to Wisconsin, in a weak class.
In '24 Mn got the 5th and 8th in a deep class: Assuma and Grove. 4 * McAndrew left for Creighton, Freitag to Wis, Isiah J to Miami, Chavis to ARk.
In '25 Ahneman to N Dame, Chase T. to Clemson.


While we love the gophers, the barn, and traditions, to a recruit who might prioritze smaller college towns, NIL money, or someone who just wants a change of scenery, we don't know. We hired a very successful mid major coach, who hasn't won here yet, I don't know how much that moves the needle for a 17 year old.

'27 is looking to be a good year for big men, in state. Nur from Hopkins, and Mohamed from St. Paul South are very quickly moving up the ranks, both should be 6-10 and 220 by the end of their SR years. SF Ty Schlagel has dropped some, but he still is ranked 90th nationally for Cretin as SF.

I don't know that even a successful coach can "lock down all the 4* players, our deeper classes gets. One can only hope Niko can make locals really consider the U, when for years they didn't.

I am glad we got Asuma and not Freitag. Asuma was a decent contributor as a Freshman, while Freitag has already transferred down for WI to Buffalo.

 

[Slim Tubby]

The current state of college basketball has rendered prep recruiting to an almost irrelevant state. Do we really care about a high school kid when we can sign a transfer with 2+ years of college experience already under their belt? Even if we sign a promising prep, there is no stopping that player from bailing after their freshman season for more playing time, money, etc... Every player now is year to year. Even if we miss on a prep prospect we like, there is always the possibility they end up on the team a season or two later.

My passion for college athletics was always very closely tied to the thrill (and disappointment) of the recruiting process and watching our recruits develop over the next four (4) years.

That has essentially been removed from college sports along with the romantic nature of amateurism. Unfortunately for me, that can never be replaced.

 

[jovs]

The current state of college basketball has rendered prep recruiting to an almost irrelevant state. Do we really care about a high school kid when we can sign a transfer with 2+ years of college experience already under their belt? Even if we sign a promising prep, there is no stopping that player from bailing after their freshman season for more playing time, money, etc... Every player now is year to year. Even if we miss on a prep prospect we like, there is always the possibility they end up on the team a season or two later.

Not sure you want to recruit any more than 2 preps in a year, 3 max.

 

[GopherBlood777]

My passion for college athletics was always very closely tied to the thrill (and disappointment) of the recruiting process and watching our recruits develop over the next four (4) years.

That has essentially been removed from college sports along with the romantic nature of amateurism. Unfortunately for me, that can never be replaced.

Can't disagree with this, it is exactly what made CBB a more fulfilling investment than the NBA. Now I watch because I enjoy the style of play better and to root for the home team. CBB will lose long-term by turning it into the NBA lite, but it was almost inevitable once the money being thrown around became too large to ignore. The NCAA did nothing proactively to prevent this from happening even though I'm not quite sure what they could have done. You just can't sit there as an organization making millions and expect the players to be content retaining an amateur status and not getting to collect monetarily from the fruits of their labor.

 

[march madness]

I am glad we got Asuma and not Freitag. Asuma was a decent contributor as a Freshman, while Freitag has already transferred down for WI to Buffalo.

Freitag seemed the better athlete and maybe a higher ceiling, Asuma seemed like he had the better intangibles: coachable, loves to pass, plays defense. Guards don't go to Wisconsin very often and see the floor. I am happy with Asuma as well, even if Freitag becomes and all conf player at Buffalo.

 

[Unregistered User]

Oh No! Whatever will we do!

The fact is that most kids in most states leave their home state.

Look at North Carolina (the state) class of 2025, they had 8 4* recruits and 2 are staying in state, 1 going to NCSt and 1 to UNC.

wisconsin had 5 4* players in the class of 2025, and only 1 is staying in state.

You can do that for virtually every state that has ranked players.

 

[jovs]

Freitag seemed the better athlete and maybe a higher ceiling, Asuma seemed like he had the better intangibles: coachable, loves to pass, plays defense. Guards don't go to Wisconsin very often and see the floor. I am happy with Asuma as well, even if Freitag becomes and all conf player at Buffalo.

I think Asuma is quicker and with similar size and much more the PG than Freitag. Freitag could physcally dominate at the high school level but was probably over matched in the D1 college game. In a couple of years that will probably change and you might start hearing about him again.

 

[60's Guy]

My passion for college athletics was always very closely tied to the thrill (and disappointment) of the recruiting process and watching our recruits develop over the next four (4) years.

That has essentially been removed from college sports along with the romantic nature of amateurism. Unfortunately for me, that can never be replaced.

Perich in football and Asuma in basketball give us something to root for like days gone by.