All Things 2013 Basketball Recruiting Thread UPDATED 5/15: Malik Smith a Gopher!

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justthefacts said:
Isn't there some question about whether Buckles has any eligibility at all?
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I don't believe it's whether he has eligibility, but whether he can get the waiver to play this year rather than having to sit out the transfer year, but I could be wrong on that.
 

Lets just remember just because Pitino ran a system at FIU he might not be able to run it as well at Minnesota right out of the gate or ever. The type of players and teams he will be coaching against are on a very different playing field. At FIU he didnt have to worry about an opponents size all that often as the Sun Belt Conference was a pretty small conference in size of its players. Only one team had more than 4 players on its roster listed 6'8" or taller. I quickly went through the teams rosters just looking for size and Arkansas Little Rock had 5 players between 6'8" and 6'10" North Texas had 4 players between 6'8" and 6'10". I didn't look to see how much these kids were playing so its very possible that some of the bigger kids were not playing all that much. I say this to remind people that in the Big Ten Pitino will be dealing with not only better talent but bigger and more physical. Going small isn't always going to be an effective game plan if you can't stop a team from rebounding. Thinking of Joe Coleman as a PF might be fine against some teams it isn't going to be all that effective against the top teams.

There is going to be a transition period for Pitino to put in his style and he will need to find players that can play the PF spot effectively in the Big Ten who can also survive the pounding. We have had those type of guys in the past namely Johnson and maybe Buggs can be that type of player. Rodney Williams was that type of player in some ways but that only got us a nice run in the NIT.
 

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Hopefully he came Monday and Tuesday.
 

Tim1406 said:
I would assume we would play zone on defense in this situation. Either a 2-3 or a 1-3-1 could work with a 4 guard line-up as long as everyone has active hands.

Also I think it is funny how everyone seams to know what we need that we don't have "for Pitino's system". While I know we can judge a little based on his 1 year at FIU I would say we need to wait and see what he does with the current team before making such assessments. I would also highly doubt we bring in someone, except maybe the PF spot, who will play right away. I think that Coleman showed good signs at times(seriously he was a better HS recruit than many we are talking about now), while needing to improve his shooting, and neither Hollins will be bumped by a spring recruit(Unless Andrew Wiggins shocks everyone, hahaha).

Next years line-up will probably look very familiar to us with all players we had last year except maybe PF but without Buckles or Black(we could still get them) it'd probably be oto or Buggs.

I look forward to these spring 2013 recruits for mostly what they can offer in terms of roll players around the loaded 2014 and 2015 classes.
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Agreed, but you never know someone could surprise :)
 



@gopherhole: Word is Al Freeman's visit with #Gophers this week went very well. The one-time UCLA commit is now visiting Xavier. Likely to decide next wk

Go Gophers!!
 

Who are we competing with for Freeman? Xavier, obviously. Wasn't there word that Ohio State wanted him too? Just wondering who we are going up against so I can curb my enthusiasm accordingly.
 

MadtownGopher said:
Who are we competing with for Freeman? Xavier, obviously. Wasn't there word that Ohio State wanted him too? Just wondering who we are going up against so I can curb my enthusiasm accordingly.
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I've seen mixed opinions on Twitter on whether Ohio State is after him or not. I haven't heard of him visiting anyone other than Minnesota and Xavier so far. If it's just between those two schools I like our chances, especially if the visit "went very well".
 

jaymil said:
I've seen mixed opinions on Twitter on whether Ohio State is after him or not. I haven't heard of him visiting anyone other than Minnesota and Xavier so far. If it's just between those two schools I like our chances, especially if the visit "went very well".
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That's how I've read it so far. Man, would I be excited if we landed Freeman this late.
 




jaymil said:
I've seen mixed opinions on Twitter on whether Ohio State is after him or not. I haven't heard of him visiting anyone other than Minnesota and Xavier so far. If it's just between those two schools I like our chances, especially if the visit "went very well".
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The new Big East may not be the B1G but it is a major basketball conference that will get plenty of TV exposure, they won't be a pushover to beat out if that is who the choice is down to.
 






Call me crazy, but I have a really good feeling about Freeman. He's going to be Lil' Ricky's first big-time recruit.

Welcome to Minnesota, Allerik. Looking forward to seeing you join our talented backcourt. Hollins, Hollins & Freeman sounds like a winner, one that can get Gopher fans excited even before the vaunted Class of '14 makes its decisions.
 

This is a............

60's Guy said:
This guy is a game changer! He is a scoring machine! Why isn't everybody all over this guy?

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players. I say take him to Sid's golf course for the all you can eat buffet. Do anything you can to sign him up. I realize it's a highlite tape but this kid is exciting.
 



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SelectionSunday said:
Call me crazy, but I have a really good feeling about Freeman. He's going to be Lil' Ricky's first big-time recruit.

Welcome to Minnesota, Allerik. Looking forward to seeing you join our talented backcourt. Hollins, Hollins & Freeman sounds like a winner, one that can get Gopher fans excited even before the vaunted Class of '14 makes its decisions.
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NO! We don't want him. He will just have one really good year and LEAVE US!!!!!! He will just find something better. No no noooooooo.

Sarcasm.
 

Just trying to sum up the recent recruiting events for 2013. Please help me out. So Mathieu is visiting this weekend and it's looking good for us to sign him? And Freeman just visited and is now at Xavier - would be a great get, but going to tough? What about Uchebo? Is he here this weekend? Obviously Freeman looks like the stud of this bunch, but we certainly could use a true PG and some more size (Uchebo fills that). Buckles is still an option too, correct? Don't we want to bank a scholly for next year with all of the talent out there? Sorry, a million different questions...
 

BballJones said:
So Mathieu is visiting this weekend and it's looking good for us to sign him?
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Yes, Mathieu visited yesterday. I'm not sure if he's still on campus, but he was supposed to visit Memphis tomorrow. That visit has been cancelled leaving some Gophers fans to believe that he's already made his decision.

BballJones said:
Obviously Freeman looks like the stud of this bunch, but we certainly could use a true PG and some more size (Uchebo fills that).
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Dre Mathieu might be small, but he could be classified as a true point guard, too. Uchebo's Rivals profile has him listed as a Center.

BballJones said:
Buckles is still an option too, correct?
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Yes, but we won't know about Buckles for a while. Someone can correct me, but it's my understanding that we may have to wait until after summer school is over to even know if he's going to be eligible. He's also going to need a waiver from the NCAA. Gopher Warrior/LNH knows a lot about this.

BballJones said:
Don't we want to bank a scholly for next year with all of the talent out there?
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Right now we have three more scholarships to give out. If we bank all three, we'll have five scholarships to give to the class of 2014.
 

BballJones said:
Just trying to sum up the recent recruiting events for 2013. Please help me out. So Mathieu is visiting this weekend and it's looking good for us to sign him? And Freeman just visited and is now at Xavier - would be a great get, but going to tough? What about Uchebo? Is he here this weekend? Obviously Freeman looks like the stud of this bunch, but we certainly could use a true PG and some more size (Uchebo fills that). Buckles is still an option too, correct? Don't we want to bank a scholly for next year with all of the talent out there? Sorry, a million different questions...
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I can give you my guess. We need Freeman, but will settle for Mathieu. Buckles is a done deal, but we won't know for sure until he graduates this summer. He was the first one mentioned when we signed Pitino, the only PF we have recruited for the class of 2013, he could come as a grad student or because FIU has GPA problems and will be going on probation. I have no idea how Uchebo fits. This would give us 12 players, with 4 tenders available for next year. Once again, I'm only guessing.
 

RoyalGopher said:
Yes, Mathieu visited yesterday. I'm not sure if he's still on campus, but he was supposed to visit Memphis tomorrow. That visit has been cancelled leaving some Gophers fans to believe that he's already made his decision.



Dre Mathieu might be small, but he could be classified as a true point guard, too. Uchebo's Rivals profile has him listed as a Center.



Yes, but we won't know about Buckles for a while. Someone can correct me, but it's my understanding that we may have to wait until after summer school is over to even know if he's going to be eligible. He's also going to need a waiver from the NCAA. Gopher Warrior/LNH knows a lot about this.



Right now we have three more scholarships to give out. If we bank all three, we'll have five scholarships to give to the class of 2014.
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Thanks much. My comment was a bit confusing - when I mentioned needing a true PG, I was referring to Mathieu (not Freeman). It seems like Freeman is more like Dre Hollins - a wanna PG, but better off at SG.
 

I like all the guards we are picking up but am concerned we don't have enough beef inside. We still don't have a replacement for Trevor who can come in and mix it up with the big forwards in the big ten. I am hoping that Buckles is a done deal and that could be why we are not hearing a lot about other power forwards. We will need Buckles, Black or Uchebo to sign sometime before the season starts. Add one of those three and freeman and I am pretty excited. My guess is we see Buckles and Mathieu.
 

I don't really see the problem with the lack of recruiting emphasis at the PF spot this spring. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of realistic forward options at this point and I would much rather take a likely impact player such as Freeman over a inferior forward recruit. If we could add Freeman and one of the three F/C options I would consider this an excellent start for Pitino. Our guard play will be stacked next year with Dre, Austin, and Coleman which will take a lot of pressure off of the front court. I think Buggs, Mo, or even Oto could slide into the 4 and be successful with much of our opponents focus being placed on Dre and Austin.
 

Tweets from Dre Mathieu:

"Change of plans Tuesday is decision day time to end this stressful fun frustrating aggravating wonderful recruiting process haha"

Minnesota, Peppedine, Ole Miss RT“@j_kilometers: @DRIIIIIZZZZZYYY who all are you considering?”

Go Gophers!!
 

ohiogopher75 said:
I don't really see the problem with the lack of recruiting emphasis at the PF spot this spring. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of realistic forward options at this point and I would much rather take a likely impact player such as Freeman over a inferior forward recruit. If we could add Freeman and one of the three F/C options I would consider this an excellent start for Pitino. Our guard play will be stacked next year with Dre, Austin, and Coleman which will take a lot of pressure off of the front court. I think Buggs, Mo, or even Oto could slide into the 4 and be successful with much of our opponents focus being placed on Dre and Austin.
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No.
 

@RyanJamesMN: Joseph Uchebo said he may decide between Minnesota and Pittsburgh this week. Could possibly take another visit (Ok St). He's not sure yet.
 

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