All Things 2014 Basketball Recruiting Thread

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Martin, LaChance, and Tum Tum are the 3 to keep an eye on right now. I'd be really happy landing 2 of them.
 


I thought this was interesting:

African big man Bakary Konate earns quick offer from Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino

Having achieved great success with Senegalese center Gorgui Dieng, the University of Louisville’s search for big men in the recruiting class of 2014 led coach Rick Pitino to Wichita, Kan., on Sunday to see another African import, Bakary Konate of Mali.

Barnwell thinks Pitino heard about Konate from his son, Richard, a former U of L assistant who is now the head coach at Minnesota. Richard Pitino was familiar with multiple basketball players at Sunrise Academy because he is recruiting its four-star point guard Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn, who plays on a separate, high school varsity team than Konate.

Richard Pitino was also at Sunrise on Sunday to watch Nairn. Because Minnesota apparently isn’t looking for a big man like Konate, who plays on Sunrise's postgraduate team, Richard Pitino suggested his dad give him a look.

http://www.courier-journal.com/arti...e-basketball-coach-Rick-Pitino?nclick_check=1

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
I thought this was interesting:

African big man Bakary Konate earns quick offer from Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino

Having achieved great success with Senegalese center Gorgui Dieng, the University of Louisville’s search for big men in the recruiting class of 2014 led coach Rick Pitino to Wichita, Kan., on Sunday to see another African import, Bakary Konate of Mali.

Barnwell thinks Pitino heard about Konate from his son, Richard, a former U of L assistant who is now the head coach at Minnesota. Richard Pitino was familiar with multiple basketball players at Sunrise Academy because he is recruiting its four-star point guard Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn, who plays on a separate, high school varsity team than Konate.

Richard Pitino was also at Sunrise on Sunday to watch Nairn. Because Minnesota apparently isn’t looking for a big man like Konate, who plays on Sunrise's postgraduate team, Richard Pitino suggested his dad give him a look.

http://www.courier-journal.com/arti...e-basketball-coach-Rick-Pitino?nclick_check=1

Go Gophers!!
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Very interesting. Richard must be set with using EE and Walker the next two seasons and then he can sell immediate playing time to a stud big man in the 2015 class.
 

jaymil said:
Very interesting. Richard must be set with using EE and Walker the next two seasons and then he can sell immediate playing time to a stud big man in the 2015 class.
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This is actually very encouraging to me. If Pitino is content with his big men over the next two seasons, then I am too!
 


BleedGopher said:
I thought this was interesting:

African big man Bakary Konate earns quick offer from Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino

Having achieved great success with Senegalese center Gorgui Dieng, the University of Louisville’s search for big men in the recruiting class of 2014 led coach Rick Pitino to Wichita, Kan., on Sunday to see another African import, Bakary Konate of Mali.

Barnwell thinks Pitino heard about Konate from his son, Richard, a former U of L assistant who is now the head coach at Minnesota. Richard Pitino was familiar with multiple basketball players at Sunrise Academy because he is recruiting its four-star point guard Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn, who plays on a separate, high school varsity team than Konate.

Richard Pitino was also at Sunrise on Sunday to watch Nairn. Because Minnesota apparently isn’t looking for a big man like Konate, who plays on Sunrise's postgraduate team, Richard Pitino suggested his dad give him a look.

http://www.courier-journal.com/arti...e-basketball-coach-Rick-Pitino?nclick_check=1

Go Gophers!!
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My favorite part is seeing that Pitino is on Tum Tum like a hawk :)
 

Rouser said:
My favorite part is seeing that Pitino is on Tum Tum like a hawk :)
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Hmm, does Rick owe Richard a favor now? If so, I'd think Rick would be telling Tum Tum to head to Minnesota. Can't hurt to have the senior Patino telling a player they should play for the Gophers.
 

45north said:
Hmm, does Rick owe Richard a favor now? If so, I'd think Rick would be telling Tum Tum to head to Minnesota. Can't hurt to have the senior Patino telling a player they should play for the Gophers.
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Haha, a college coach who hasn't ever recruited you or been in contact with you suddenly telling you to go to a certain school? Wouldn't be weird at all! ;)
 

GameDay said:
Haha, a college coach who hasn't ever recruited you or been in contact with you suddenly telling you to go to a certain school? Wouldn't be weird at all! ;)
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Not sure if you're joking or making a veiled reference to Mathieu. But yeah, he already did it with Dre Mathieu. I think it'll happen a fair amount and that's great.
 



Golden_Sloth said:
Isn't LaChance capable of playing the 2? He's listed as a shooting guard on Scout and 247. How great would it be to have 2 guards that can handle the ball well?
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Why not. Seems like many are so hung up on point guard. Just give me guards ,like Bobby Jackson for instance.
 

I see both Martin and La Chance are ranked in the top 100 and are four Stars on ESPN. Not rated as high on the other sites. Has anyone seen either kid play.....maybe LaChance being closer to this area?
 

XMan said:
I see both Martin and La Chance are ranked in the top 100 and are four Stars on ESPN. Not rated as high on the other sites. Has anyone seen either kid play.....maybe LaChance being closer to this area?
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Yes. Have seen both multiple times this...... some thoughts of mine and others are scattered in the GH forums.. will PM with you a couple of other thoughts.
 

XMan said:
I see both Martin and La Chance are ranked in the top 100 and are four Stars on ESPN. Not rated as high on the other sites. Has anyone seen either kid play.....maybe LaChance being closer to this area?
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LaChance is still going to continue to climb in the rankings, and I'd say he's a legit top 100 talent. Don't know much about whether Martin is worthy or not, but I'd trust that he is good recruit.
 



would you consider Lachance and Martin to be Plan B recruits? Martin isn't even in the top 250 on 247 and Lachance is a very low 4 star on ESPN and a 3 on all the others
 

die hard gopher said:
would you consider Lachance and Martin to be Plan B recruits? Martin isn't even in the top 250 on 247 and Lachance is a very low 4 star on ESPN and a 3 on all the others
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I wouldn't worry about Martin's ranking when he has an offer list including Minnesota, Washington, Pitt, Fla State, Oklahoma St, Gonzaga, etc.

Go Gophers!!
 

die hard gopher said:
would you consider Lachance and Martin to be Plan B recruits? Martin isn't even in the top 250 on 247 and Lachance is a very low 4 star on ESPN and a 3 on all the others
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Last time I checked, ESPN has way more reliable rankings then 247. I personally prefer Rivals, but ESPN has accurate rankings also. I'm not a fan of 247 or scout at all.
 


die hard gopher said:
would you consider Lachance and Martin to be Plan B recruits? Martin isn't even in the top 250 on 247 and Lachance is a very low 4 star on ESPN and a 3 on all the others
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I would say they are both Plan B guys with the caveat that Plan A was was a huge shot at some major, major players. Getting both of them would be a huge deal, and if they could add Nairn on it would be the best class since Tubby's first and maybe even better.
 

Yes!

CoMn said:
The truth is Pitino is a ball of energy on the recruiting front and while we might not get 4 5-star recruits, he's looking like he is going to do a heckuva lot better than his predecessor. He has one year of head coaching under his belt and it was at FIU. The fact that he can get so many top guys to consider Minnesota is an accomplishment in itself. We will probably get some 4-star recruits who can start freshman year. He also seems to be making the current players work for him and he is doing a great job reaching out to the fan base. Quit worrying. He is way ahead of where we expected him to be and we may even get a 5 star recruit...which would be amazing.
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I agree with this and believe our best chance at any of the named potential recruits
is with Richard Pitino. We wouldn't be talking about these people or have ANY more realistic chance at any of them other than with Pitino. Not Tubby, not Shaka, maybe Flip competes but Pitino is here and working his butt off with skill. It is a difficult task to
no matter who would be in charge. We got the right guy battling for us.
 

This year with the long list of recruits that Pitino has offered and the positions he has offered Martin and LaChance are closer to plan C or D. That is not a knock against them but rather it points to the type of recruits Pitino has offered.

ESPN posted an article about Vandy and VCU climbing close to top 25 recruiting classes which would be impressive for both schools. I went and looked what commits they have and Pitino could blow those two schools out of the water if we get even the third choices on our current list. A class of LaChance, Martin, Shyock, and Cunningham. If you throw in a Travis or Vaughn its not even close.
 

WolfontheProwl said:
This year with the long list of recruits that Pitino has offered and the positions he has offered Howard and LaChance are closer to plan C or D. That is not a knock against them but rather it points to the type of recruits Pitino has offered.

ESPN posted an article about Vandy and VCU climbing close to top 25 recruiting classes which would be impressive for both schools. I went and looked what commits they have and Pitino could blow those two schools out of the water if we get even the third choices on our current list. A class of LaChance, Howard, Shyock, and Cunningham. If you throw in a Travis or Vaughn its not even close.
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Who is Howard?
 

Wow the reason I shouldnt post so early in the morning. Thanks for the correction it has been fixed.
 


Down with Goldy said:
I would say they are both Plan B guys with the caveat that Plan A was was a huge shot at some major, major players. Getting both of them would be a huge deal, and if they could add Nairn on it would be the best class since Tubby's first and maybe even better.
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Don't forget Vaughn too! That'd actually be a scary good class.

Gopherhole needs to relax on the panic a bit considering that is still a fairly realistic class at that.
 


die hard gopher said:
would you consider Lachance and Martin to be Plan B recruits? Martin isn't even in the top 250 on 247 and Lachance is a very low 4 star on ESPN and a 3 on all the others
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Of course they're plan B recruits. Also, Martin is #209 on 247 and #154 composite, which are both in the top 250 last I checked. :D
 

dpodoll68 said:
Of course they're plan B recruits. Also, Martin is #209 on 247 and #154 composite, which are both in the top 250 last I checked. :D
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Yeah, and rankings don't always tell the whole story either. Riley's been rising for the past year now and after a good summer he has some big time schools recruiting him. Martin has been developing his shooting and dribbling skills after playing more of an exclusive PF role his sophomore year, before switching schools. I usually look at the caliber of the other schools recruiting them moreso than the actual number they are ranked.
 

Down with Goldy said:
I would say they are both Plan B guys with the caveat that Plan A was was a huge shot at some major, major players. Getting both of them would be a huge deal, and if they could add Nairn on it would be the best class since Tubby's first and maybe even better.
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+1. I'd be very happy with getting "Plan B" type players year in and year out if "Plan A" is guys like Vaughn, Whitehead, Newton, Jones, Travis, etc.... LaChance and Martin are both great recruits regardless of what other players we've targeted.
 


Crean is after LaChance now? I'm shocked.

Worst case for the Gophers is Tum Tum and LaChance goes to MSU and Indiana and we're left out.
 

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