All Things 2018 Gophers Basketball Recruiting Thread

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STrib: New York 2018 point guard Anthony Nelson visits Gophers this weekend

When it comes to recruiting point guards from New York City, the Gophers have twice made a splash landing a couple standouts decades apart in Eric Harris in the 1990s and Isaiah Washington last year.

Now for the second class in a row, Minnesota coach Richard Pitino hopes to add a talented floor leader with New York roots in three-star senior Anthony Nelson, who is expected to make an official visit this weekend along with Oak Hill small forward Keyontae Johnson.

New York Lightning co-director Dana Dingle said Nelson would likely make a decision soon after his trip to the Gophers this week.The 6-foot-4, 180-pound Nelson plays his high school basketball for South Kent School in Connecticut and the New York Lightning in AAU. He narrowed his college finalists to Dayton, Minnesota and Seton Hall. Both the Flyers and Pirates received official visits from Nelson in late September.

“I think the three schools he can step in and help immediately and he knows that,” Dingle said. “He likes all of them. It’s coming down to after he visits Minnesota and sitting down to figure out exactly what he’s looking for in the school and make a decision. I don’t see why he would make the process longer or string it out.”

http://www.startribune.com/new-york...nelson-visits-gophers-this-weekend/450638343/

Go Gophers!!
 

WriterGoph said:
So now that it looks like both guys will be here tomorrow, WHO do YOU want? The better position fit (Nelson) or the higher-rated 4-star (Johnson)??
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It's a case where I don't think you can go wrong with either guy. I know people on here have already gone in depth about what to like about Nelson and I tend to agree with a lot that's been said. I don't think Pitino wants to be in a situation again like last year where he only has one true point guard on roster either. I will say that it's really hard to find athletic 3 and D wings like Johnson. I think about what Akeem Springs brought to this team in being a versatile defender and someone who can guard the other team's best guard every night and that's what you would get in Johnson for 4 years. You have to keep in mind that he's gone against some of the top competition in the country by playing for IMG and will this season too with Oak Hill. He should play early and often no matter where he lands.

I'd probably lean towards Johnson personally though I imagine the staff would prefer Nelson. I'll be thrilled with either guy if we can pull it off though. It would be quite the class...
 

GopherNuts said:
It's a case where I don't think you can go wrong with either guy. I know people on here have already gone in depth about what to like about Nelson and I tend to agree with a lot that's been said. I don't think Pitino wants to be in a situation again like last year where he only has one true point guard on roster either. I will say that it's really hard to find athletic 3 and D wings like Johnson. I think about what Akeem Springs brought to this team in being a versatile defender and someone who can guard the other team's best guard every night and that's what you would get in Johnson for 4 years. You have to keep in mind that he's gone against some of the top competition in the country by playing for IMG and will this season too with Oak Hill. He should play early and often no matter where he lands.

I'd probably lean towards Johnson personally though I imagine the staff would prefer Nelson. I'll be thrilled with either guy if we can pull it off though. It would be quite the class...
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Great post. I agree with you about being thrilled with either guy. Maybe Nelson is the #1 target (and from the sound of the Strib article about his coach's connections with Eric Harris and Kimani Young, I feel like we are in pretty good shape), but Pitino is playing it smart and bringing in Johnson in case Nelson goes elsewhere?

After all the concerns that we might bank the schollie, this is shaping up to be quite intriguing!
 

I'll be happy either way. Hard to say know to a top 100 talent or a 6'4" PG. Pinning them against each other could make one commit if this is where they want to be
 

Will this be a case of first one to say yes gets the scholarship, or does everyone think that Pitino has a preference for one or the other ?
 


Does Nelson like anthracite? If so, he'll be golden by the end of the weekend. [emoji41]
 

WriterGoph said:
Great post. I agree with you about being thrilled with either guy. Maybe Nelson is the #1 target (and from the sound of the Strib article about his coach's connections with Eric Harris and Kimani Young, I feel like we are in pretty good shape), but Pitino is playing it smart and bringing in Johnson in case Nelson goes elsewhere?

After all the concerns that we might bank the schollie, this is shaping up to be quite intriguing!
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The scenario you suggested sounds about right especially with Nelson seemingly not far off from a decision. No one's really pulled away in the Johnson recruitment so it's going to be interesting. We'll probably have a good idea of how things will shake out after this weekend.
 

WriterGoph said:
Holy sh*t! Things just got really interesting.

Funny because I just finished reading Marcus' in-depth post on Nelson and his background (DEF READ IT) and got psyched on him: http://www.startribune.com/new-york...nelson-visits-gophers-this-weekend/450638343/

But it's interesting that both guys are visiting the same weekend when we only (seem) to have one spot left in this class.

So now that it looks like both guys will be here tomorrow, WHO do YOU want? The better position fit (Nelson) or the higher-rated 4-star (Johnson)??
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Either... Or both.
 

BleedGopher said:
STrib:

Now for the second class in a row, Minnesota coach Richard Pitino hopes to add a talented floor leader with New York roots in three-star senior Anthony Nelson, who is expected to make an official visit this weekend along with Oak Hill small forward Keyontae Johnson.
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They're coming in the same weekend? That's a strange thing to do for players who seemingly are competing for a single scholarship. I wonder if Pitino expects to have another scholarship later?
 



Johnson would be my preference if we didn't have to worry about positions. But if something were to happen to IW next year (or even this year), we'd be in a really tough place. I have watched some of Harris' workout videos and he seems to have a decent handle. What have others seen? Is there just no way he could be a backup PG in a pinch?
 

BballJones said:
Johnson would be my preference if we didn't have to worry about positions. But if something were to happen to IW next year (or even this year), we'd be in a really tough place. I have watched some of Harris' workout videos and he seems to have a decent handle. What have others seen? Is there just no way he could be a backup PG in a pinch?
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I think if Washington is healthy and stays out of foul trouble we could survive with having a combo of McBrayer, Coffey, or Harris run point for tiny stretches just so IW can get a breather. An injury or foul trouble could be huge trouble though.
 

tmvander said:
I think if Washington is healthy and stays out of foul trouble we could survive with having a combo of McBrayer, Coffey, or Harris run point for tiny stretches just so IW can get a breather. An injury or foul trouble could be huge trouble though.
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Agreed. I'm skeptical of any freshman pg coming in ready to be even a stop gap pg in the big ten, let alone a three star that's available midway through October. Not taking anything away from this kid's potential or ceiling, I just anticipate macbrayer and coffee would be better options to spell IW if all options were available (assuming they continue to improve the next two years). Of course, I still don't like having only on pg on the roster. I wonder how often IW finds himself in foul trouble.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

I wouldn't be opposed to signing both players, but would be happy with either. Scholarships often become open for one reason or another.

Here is just one example... We will have Fitz on scolly for 3 years to play 1. If he has an injury riddled season or doesn't preform, do we really owe him another year? No.

I'd rather he has a productive season and we have him back for his last year of eligibility, just used his situation as an example.
 



STrib: Four-star wing Keyontae Johnson would bring versatility and athleticism to Gophers

Gophers coach Richard Pitino and assistant Kimani Young both went to Oak Hill to see Johnson practice and met with his family during an in-home visit in Norfolk.

“He’s a great kid with a good family, which you can’t take for granted nowadays,” Williams said. “He’s more of a small forward, but I think he can also play (stretch power forward). Lot of games he gave us a lift offensively, but he can lock down defensively. There were games he was our best rebounding the ball. He can just do a lot of different things. He would fit well in Minnesota’s system. Coach Pitino has done a great job up there.”

http://www.startribune.com/four-sta...atility-and-athleticism-to-gophers/450789173/

Go Gophers!!
 

HOOP DREAMS said:
I wouldn't be opposed to signing both players, but would be happy with either. Scholarships often become open for one reason or another.

Here is just one example... We will have Fitz on scolly for 3 years to play 1. If he has an injury riddled season or doesn't preform, do we really owe him another year? No.

I'd rather he has a productive season and we have him back for his last year of eligibility, just used his situation as an example.
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Fitzgerald got a medical redshirt for last year so he still has 2 years of eligibility left.
 


GopherNuts said:
I will say that it's really hard to find athletic 3 and D wings like Johnson. I think about what Akeem Springs brought to this team in being a versatile defender and someone who can guard the other team's best guard every night and that's what you would get in Johnson for 4 years. You have to keep in mind that he's gone against some of the top competition in the country by playing for IMG and will this season too with Oak Hill. He should play early and often no matter where he lands.
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South Kent Prep plays pretty elite competition, too, and has had 7 guys drafted by the NBA since 2004. Supposedly Nelson is a very good athlete and at 6'4" is tall enough to defend a fair number of college wings if he needs to.
 

Crappy weather yesterday with the cold and rain delaying the football game. Can anyone report if Johnson and Nelson were at the game. Hopefully they came late to see 4th quarter fireworks from Croft-Johnson.
 


Any word on how these visits went? Sounds like fleck got a commitment, was hoping to see pitino got one as well tonight
 

I don't recall many basketball recruits committing on the spot. If one of the two are ready, my guess it could be a couple of days
 

Let's hope one of these guys commit soon. The Gophers are headed in the right way
 



Nelson posted a picture on instagram of him in a Gopher uniform saying "How I look?" and stating that he is not committed. Didn't see any posts like that about Seton Hall or Dayton. Interesting at the very least. He's also followed by IW.
 

BballJones said:
Nelson posted a picture on instagram of him in a Gopher uniform saying "How I look?" and stating that he is not committed. Didn't see any posts like that about Seton Hall or Dayton. Interesting at the very least. He's also followed by IW.
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Nice. Thanks for the update. Have you seen any social media movement from Keyontae since the visit? I hadn't on Twitter as of last night
 


BleedGopher said:
No access, but I'm guessing: "Had a good visit. Really enjoyed the staff and players. It was a fun weekend, the facilities are good, I can see myself here. I haven't made a decision but I will soon."

Go Gophers!!
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I've never heard a recruit ever say anything like that.
 

Badgers lose top recruit

Would've been highest since dekker
 


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