All Things 2014 Basketball Recruiting Thread

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Piper just missed a monster dunk attempt! Piper seems to me like a great fit for Pitino's style, can push it in transition, good length, quick, disruptive defensively and comes up with many of the loose balls.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Play in your first nationally televised game ever and a bunch of your twitter followers telling you to blow up on national tv will get you to do some stupid stuff. I am willing to bet that coach is feeling rather helpless right about now.
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These kids are D1-caliber players. They should know how to play smart, team basketball. It's not reasonable to say that social media is to blame for some of these kids jacking up contested 30 footers fresh off a steal, or trying to be so emphatic with a dunk wide open on the break that you miss the dunk altogether in a 4-point game
 

Goldy Gopher said:
Piper just missed a monster dunk attempt! Piper seems to me like a great fit for Pitino's style, can push it in transition, good length, quick, disruptive defensively and comes up with many of the loose balls.
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Pretty sure that was Dejounte Murray.
 


Crisp with another two misses. That's 0-12 for him today. Very unimpressed. Shaqquan Aaron has bounced back and has hit a three and is looking for open teammates now. Good recovery for him after a sit down.
*Piper has drawn a pair of fouls recently. Made 1 of 3 free throws. His stroke looks good though!
 



Goldy Gopher said:
Could have been I had just got back in the room and that is who I heard the announcer say.
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Announcers have called Piper's name a couple times today in place of Crisp and Murray. Maybe that's what happened. Not sure though. Anyways, Piper will finish the game with 5 points and 9 rebounds. Findlay moves on.
 

GameDay said:
Announcers have called Piper's name a couple times today in place of Crisp and Murray. Maybe that's what happened. Not sure though. Anyways, Piper will finish the game with 5 points and 9 rebounds. Findlay moves on.
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Seemed like he had a number of steals and deflections too. Beach shot horrible from 3 and just kept putting them up probably like 6-30 final score ended Findlay 67-59.
 

Looked like a team full of malik smiths, glad pitino went after one of the few guys who doesn't play like malik, besides piper, I was extremely impressed with murray, if piper commits here, I'd like to see pitino extend an offer to Murray and see if his connection with Piper does Minnesota any good in recruiting him.

Also though Aaron had a terrible game, you could see the talent and why he was highly rated. He just seems to lack discipline, which is where coaching comes in, daddy pitino should have no trouble getting to him.
 



GuyFawkes said:
Looked like a team full of malik smiths, glad pitino went after one of the few guys who doesn't play like malik, besides piper, I was extremely impressed with murray, if piper commits here, I'd like to see pitino extend an offer to Murray and see if his connection with Piper does Minnesota any good in recruiting him.
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Couldn't hurt! Since they lost we'll be getting Pipers decision soon. Hopefully we can lift his spirits alittle and win the NIT.
 

GuyFawkes said:
Looked like a team full of malik smiths, glad pitino went after one of the few guys who doesn't play like malik, besides piper, I was extremely impressed with murray, if piper commits here, I'd like to see pitino extend an offer to Murray and see if his connection with Piper does Minnesota any good in recruiting him.
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Not a bad strategy. I have seen Josh retweet Murray some as well. Could be worth pursuing.
 

so now we await Djuan's choice? Should be anytime. I would assume they would fly home tomorrow.
 





You have to think the NIT win has to help with some recruiting. I bet Piper signs in a few days. Hope we get Konate too. I am not sure about any other moves. I am guessing Cohen heads back to Marquette.
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Not a lot of teams get to end their season on a win. My team did <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23RAISETHEGARDEN&src=hash">#RAISETHEGARDEN</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SkiUMah&src=hash">#SkiUMah</a></p>— J Bounce (@JoshMartin_206) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoshMartin_206/statuses/451890872016068608">April 4, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Congrats to the team, y'all deserve it. Can't wait to be apart of the family and something special &#55356;&#57286;☝️
<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NITChamps&src=hash">#NITChamps</a></p>— Nate Mason (@NateMason_2) <a href="https://twitter.com/NateMason_2/statuses/451889957817577472">April 4, 2014</a></blockquote>
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If we get Piper, I'll be satisfied with this class. The final 2 recruits will be gravy. It will suck not having Austin, but we'll be bringing in 6 of Pitino's recruits and only losing one real contributor.
 

GameDay said:
These kids are D1-caliber players. They should know how to play smart, team basketball. It's not reasonable to say that social media is to blame for some of these kids jacking up contested 30 footers fresh off a steal, or trying to be so emphatic with a dunk wide open on the break that you miss the dunk altogether in a 4-point game
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K your turn to explain
 

It goes without saying, but all eyes should be on recruiting now. The Gophers have 3 scholarships open and badly need to find at least one immediate impact player between now and the start of fall classes. I think Piper would be a solid get and the type of athlete that is going to generate the deflections on defense that Coach Pitino desires. I can see Konate adding a shot blocking presence as well as a little more speed to the center position. I think both guys are more role players (with the ability to possibly develop in to more) as they enter college.

I wouldn't be surprised if we heard about a fourth scholarship opening up in the near future. Buggs played behind a guy who was previously declared out with a career ending injury in New York.
 

I'd love to see a JC forward take one of those scholarships. That would really help boost us next year. Other than that? Sign Piper and Konate.

We would be in very good condition going forward.
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Minnesota trending on <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Crystalball&src=hash">#Crystalball</a> for Djuan Piper <a href="http://t.co/RECxzJIcWb">http://t.co/RECxzJIcWb</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Gobie247">@Gobie247</a></p>— Jerry Meyer (@jerrymeyer247) <a href="https://twitter.com/jerrymeyer247/statuses/452061098011676672">April 4, 2014</a></blockquote>
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MadtownGopher said:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Minnesota trending on <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Crystalball&src=hash">#Crystalball</a> for Djuan Piper <a href="http://t.co/RECxzJIcWb">http://t.co/RECxzJIcWb</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Gobie247">@Gobie247</a></p>— Jerry Meyer (@jerrymeyer247) <a href="https://twitter.com/jerrymeyer247/statuses/452061098011676672">April 4, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Gee, thanks Jerry.
 

I'm excited to see what names start to pop up. We didn't start hearing anything about Mathieu until April if I recall correctly, so there's definitely going to be some quality players to be had.

Piper would be a huge start and it looks like we're definitely in a good position with him. I believe he would be our highest rated recruit??? Add a quality center and I'm a happy guy. I think we'll get by with Joey and Martin at the 4, but a transfer or JUCO guy might be a good idea as well.
 

We have got to add another inside player to go with Martin. If Buggs can ever become a solid rotation player is a valid concern.
 

We have 3 spots left and though the staff can fill them with different types of players from High school, JUCO, other transfers the key will be positions they target more than anything else.

D. Piper is the hot name going and his addition would be great. I think the staff would like to see bigger wing defenders that can not only press but can contest outside shots. With the zones the Gophers have played after their press having long armed wing players with a nose for the ball can only help.

I think its clear the Gophers will try to get another center. The player will not see much playing time next year unless someone gets injured, blowouts, or he has the skills to play some PF. This player will spend most of his time developing behind both Elliason and Walker.

The final spot is going to be interesting. This team has a huge question mark at PF but with Martin coming in, King returning, and Buggs having another offseason under his belt the question is will they fill this last scholarship slot at all? If the Gophers would sign a center with the ability to play some PF maybe they stash this scholarship for next season when they will need to replace Hollins, Mathiue, Walker, and Elliason.

So if the Gopher would be lucky enough to get Konate and Piper the roster would look something like this:
2014-2015 Gophers
PG Mathiue, Mason
OG Hollins, McNeil
SF Morris, Piper
PF King, Martin, Buggs
C Elliason, Walker, Konate

Sure the depth chart could be switched around depending on who produces, who doesn't, and of course who grows or doesn't. We would still have one scholarship available but as I look at it a really good shooter who could play the wing would be great. Lots of athletes with this team and the young guys like Piper and Morris have a little Austin Hollins to their game but it would be nice to have another guy who was a lights out shooter. Lots to think about but things seem to be going in a great direction but Pitino's and his staff's ability to finish the recruiting season strong is very important. Adding another impact recruit like Mathiue was a year ago at this time, or a little heard of guy like McNeil who stepped up and showed promise would really put this class in solid shape.
 

Any word on Konate? I know there were eligibility concerns. Is that still true? Would we lock him up even if he had to sit out next year? Looking at the roster above, we need to find a shooter!
 

BballJones said:
Any word on Konate? I know there were eligibility concerns. Is that still true? Would we lock him up even if he had to sit out next year? Looking at the roster above, we need to find a shooter!
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Isn't he an English as a Second Language student? That makes getting into school difficult. Getting a power forward who can play right away and a center who can either red shirt or learn in prctice behind EE and Mo have to be the priorities. For those who might believe the center is not as critical as it once was, I offer you Duke and Michigan as examples of teams who would have done better if they had more consistent inside games. Get some beef, Coach!
 


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