All Things 2018 Gophers Basketball Recruiting Thread

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GophersInIowa said:
For those that are able to follow in-state players more closely than I am think the Gophers would have offered Adam Trapp and/or Joe Hedstrom had Oturu not committed? I don't know much about either one of those guys.
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Man I hope not, I wouldn't want anything to do with either of them.
 

If Hurt commits I hope he does it soon so we are able to get others to follow him. When did his brother commit?


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Big Ten Championship said:
If Hurt commits I hope he does it soon so we are able to get others to follow him. When did his brother commit?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Michael Hurt committed January 16th, 2015 for the class of 2016, so he was a pretty early commit, the earliest one we'd had in quite some time as I recall. Oturu committed around the same timeframe, January 19th, 2017 for the class of 2018. So that would be equivalent to having Matthew Hurt's commitment locked up for 6 weeks already by now, and obviously that hasn't happened, and I don't think there's one school that's considered the front runner at this time.

Hurt is also a 2019 recruit, not 2018.
 

So I don't want this to come off as being negative, but I am legitimately wondering about where Omersa's game is actually at? Every video I see is the same thing. He catches the ball, takes 0 or 1 dribbles, and power dunks. I am hoping there is more there? I have never seen him play. He is also very young for his class, correct?

Just looking for an objective update on where he's at. Also maybe an update on his current physical size also would be great....

Thanks!
 

Uncle Rico said:
So I don't want this to come off as being negative, but I am legitimately wondering about where Omersa's game is actually at? Every video I see is the same thing. He catches the ball, takes 0 or 1 dribbles, and power dunks. I am hoping there is more there? I have never seen him play. He is also very young for his class, correct?

Just looking for an objective update on where he's at. Also maybe an update on his current physical size also would be great....

Thanks!
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He's still more of an athlete and raw than a skilled player. A lot of upside. He's going to need players around him to space the floor, he's not going to do it. I think he has Jordan Murphy potential

Edit: Poorly written, so updated. Still not that greatly written, but better
 


Uncle Rico said:
So I don't want this to come off as being negative, but I am legitimately wondering about where Omersa's game is actually at? Every video I see is the same thing. He catches the ball, takes 0 or 1 dribbles, and power dunks. I am hoping there is more there? I have never seen him play. He is also very young for his class, correct?

Just looking for an objective update on where he's at. Also maybe an update on his current physical size also would be great....

Thanks!
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I think he is still raw but far from unskilled. He is very fluid, can handle the ball well, and has great touch on his jumper and hits fts. He need to be more consistent but he has the tools to be NBA caliber more than anyone in the roster with his athletic ability, foot speed, and tenacity on the boards
 

Uncle Rico said:
So I don't want this to come off as being negative, but I am legitimately wondering about where Omersa's game is actually at? Every video I see is the same thing. He catches the ball, takes 0 or 1 dribbles, and power dunks. I am hoping there is more there? I have never seen him play. He is also very young for his class, correct?

Just looking for an objective update on where he's at. Also maybe an update on his current physical size also would be great....

Thanks!
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Doesn't sound like that is that much different than Mbwake when was a senior in high school.
 

Thomasthetank said:
I think he is still raw but far from unskilled. He is very fluid, can handle the ball well, and has great touch on his jumper and hits fts. He need to be more consistent but he has the tools to be NBA caliber more than anyone in the roster with his athletic ability, foot speed, and tenacity on the boards
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Wasn't part of the hope on the upside is that he is very young for his class? Early on there was a lot of talk about red shirting because he was young and raw. I can't imagine that now with such a depleted roster and all sorts of evidence of the need to have bodies that can play now.
 

Holy Man said:
Wasn't part of the hope on the upside is that he is very young for his class? Early on there was a lot of talk about red shirting because he was young and raw. I can't imagine that now with such a depleted roster and all sorts of evidence of the need to have bodies that can play now.
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I doubt he redshirts, I think he can contribute right away, but his offensive game will be lacking a bit. Although with as of now no transfers sitting on bench using up a scholarship, I'm not opposed to a reshirt. Hard to have so many scholarship players ineligible to play
 



Thomasthetank said:
I think he is still raw but far from unskilled. He is very fluid, can handle the ball well, and has great touch on his jumper and hits fts. He need to be more consistent but he has the tools to be NBA caliber more than anyone in the roster with his athletic ability, foot speed, and tenacity on the boards
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All I've heard around here is that it's impossible for Jordan Murphy to play in the NBA, regardless of his athleticism, nose for rebounds, and exceptional post moves, because he's too short and shot doesn't have the range.

I'm not saying one way or the other, but how is Omersa "NBA caliber," coming out of Orono high school, if Murphy isn't after an All-B1G season? They play the same game. We must be banking on Omersa developing a consistent 3-point shot or growing 5 inches?
 

Heracles said:
All I've heard around here is that it's impossible for Jordan Murphy to play in the NBA, regardless of his athleticism, nose for rebounds, and exceptional post moves, because he's too short and shot doesn't have the range.

I'm not saying one way or the other, but how is Omersa "NBA caliber," coming out of Orono high school, if Murphy isn't after an All-B1G season? They play the same game. We must be banking on Omersa developing a consistent 3-point shot or growing 5 inches?
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Exceptional post moves?
 

salzie said:
I doubt he redshirts, I think he can contribute right away, but his offensive game will be lacking a bit. Although with as of now no transfers sitting on bench using up a scholarship, I'm not opposed to a reshirt. Hard to have so many scholarship players ineligible to play
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Yes. He is very young for his class.

Also, he as well as oturo have improved dramatically over the last 12 months. Rarely do HS improve so dramatically as seniors. Usually top 150 guys don't improve much from soph/jr evals until they reach their college program.

Omersa has done a complete 180 from when I saw him as a jr. He was always pretty fluid w the ball and his stroke. But he now looks comfortable doing it. His shooting % needs to go up but if he's a 4 man and if our 4 man in college plays like that, holy hell. We honestly could have 5 guys out on the floor with offensive skills we have not seen in any mn mbb team: jelly, gabe, Amir, omersa, oturo. Those are 5 guys who have immense talent on offense and have the ability to be better at every position than the opponent. When hav e we ever said that???

It's all up to pitino. Teach them and gel the defense.
 




One of the major differences between college and NBA is that you can be a very good college post player at 6'6 as long as you are athletic and stronger than most, in which case Murphy and Mbwake were. They could out jump or out muscle a lot of folks. That just doesnt work in the NBA because everyone is as strong as you and generally taller. In some of our bigger games this year Murphy got his shot blocked time and time again. He will make a lot of money across the pond.

Bring it to gopherhole is you want an objective take on Jarvis. One guy says he needs to learn to shoot and another guy says he has great touch on his jumper. The best comparison I can make is Jarvis is a mix of Murphy and Rodney Williams. Jarvis can run the floor and do a lot of damage in the open court, similar to Rodney and not something you would ever see from Murphy. Jarvis also has a better looking more confident stroke than Murphy. BUT....his current fg% is similar to Rodney. He needs a lot of work on shooting to increase his % to being respectable. Its one thing to make a 15 footer in a low level High School game against Delano with someone not as athletic as you and shorter guarding you compared to doing it against Michigan State. The great thing about Jarvis though is he has a much stronger body than Rodney, much closer to a Murphy.

You are not going to see Jarvis play much back to the basket in college like you do a Murphy.

**Side note...people talking about Red shirting. I was under the impression that the idea of top recruits red shirting doesn't exist in college basketball much anymore. With the NBA drafting less and less "older guys" and kids being spoiled these days growing up the idea of a red shirt isnt realistic anymore. Maybe I am wrong but thats what I thought I have been reading.
 

per Evan:

Courtney Ramey is one of just two available recruits in the top 20 of the 247Sports Composite point guard rankings.

So his recruitment taking off isn’t a surprise.

This past weekend Richard Pitino, Cuonzo Martin and Brad Underwood were in to see Ramey. Tim Jankovic and South Carolina were in recently as well.

“Just really taking it slow on our end, of course a lot of steam is picking up but we just decided to focus on the school year right now,” Courtney’s father, Terrell Ramey told 247Sports. “I mean he’s still taking calls and people calling him but we’re not having to schedule any visits or anything like that.”

To go with Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, SMU, South Carolina and Illinois, the elder Ramey said Texas, Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Seton Hall, Clemon, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Temple have continued to prioritize him.

Are there any schools that Ramey plans to visit?

“It’s so hard right now, things change drastically after the season, we had Villanova and UCLA scheduled and you saw how that changed so not per se, not at this point,” Ramey. “Not one that we’re dying to go see right now. They’re all very intriguing, he’s doing his due diligence from afar, getting to build relationships with them and watching them on TV and stuff like that.”

https://247sports.com/Article/Courtney-Ramey-continues-to-add-interest-115891682

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
per Evan:

Courtney Ramey is one of just two available recruits in the top 20 of the 247Sports Composite point guard rankings.

So his recruitment taking off isn’t a surprise.

This past weekend Richard Pitino, Cuonzo Martin and Brad Underwood were in to see Ramey. Tim Jankovic and South Carolina were in recently as well.

“Just really taking it slow on our end, of course a lot of steam is picking up but we just decided to focus on the school year right now,” Courtney’s father, Terrell Ramey told 247Sports. “I mean he’s still taking calls and people calling him but we’re not having to schedule any visits or anything like that.”

To go with Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, SMU, South Carolina and Illinois, the elder Ramey said Texas, Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Seton Hall, Clemon, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Temple have continued to prioritize him.

Are there any schools that Ramey plans to visit?

“It’s so hard right now, things change drastically after the season, we had Villanova and UCLA scheduled and you saw how that changed so not per se, not at this point,” Ramey. “Not one that we’re dying to go see right now. They’re all very intriguing, he’s doing his due diligence from afar, getting to build relationships with them and watching them on TV and stuff like that.”

https://247sports.com/Article/Courtney-Ramey-continues-to-add-interest-115891682

Go Gophers!!
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If you're a good student and want a lot of options, he has an excellent strategy. Likely he waits until NBA decisions have been made. There are no scholarship shortages for top 20 recruits ever.
 

bleedgold said:
One of the major differences between college and NBA is that you can be a very good college post player at 6'6 as long as you are athletic and stronger than most, in which case Murphy and Mbwake were. They could out jump or out muscle a lot of folks. That just doesnt work in the NBA because everyone is as strong as you and generally taller. In some of our bigger games this year Murphy got his shot blocked time and time again. He will make a lot of money across the pond.

Bring it to gopherhole is you want an objective take on Jarvis. One guy says he needs to learn to shoot and another guy says he has great touch on his jumper. The best comparison I can make is Jarvis is a mix of Murphy and Rodney Williams. Jarvis can run the floor and do a lot of damage in the open court, similar to Rodney and not something you would ever see from Murphy. Jarvis also has a better looking more confident stroke than Murphy. BUT....his current fg% is similar to Rodney. He needs a lot of work on shooting to increase his % to being respectable. Its one thing to make a 15 footer in a low level High School game against Delano with someone not as athletic as you and shorter guarding you compared to doing it against Michigan State. The great thing about Jarvis though is he has a much stronger body than Rodney, much closer to a Murphy.

You are not going to see Jarvis play much back to the basket in college like you do a Murphy.

**Side note...people talking about Red shirting. I was under the impression that the idea of top recruits red shirting doesn't exist in college basketball much anymore. With the NBA drafting less and less "older guys" and kids being spoiled these days growing up the idea of a red shirt isnt realistic anymore. Maybe I am wrong but thats what I thought I have been reading.
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I'm not saying he's hitting 40% 3pt and can pull up from anywhere and hit. I was only noticing the difference in his confidence in his shooting and ball handling as compared to last year. His fg% is similar to Rodneys but Rodneys shot was a complete knuckleball and Rodney didn't make the strides his sr yr in HS that Jarvis has made. I also feel waayyy more confident in Jarvis handling the ball than Rodney. Jarvis is similar to Eric curry last yr: lots athleticism, a good looking, confident stroke, and handling ability at the 4 position. All needs to do is shoot....a lot...improve his range and %.
 

A new name to watch is guard Tai Strickland, son of former NBA point guard Rod Strickland, who lists the Gophers as one of the 4 schools recruiting him the hardest (all B1G schools). Per Ryan James, Kimani Young is expected to watch him tomorrow. Wisconsin and Rutgers have both offered and will be receiving visits. Maryland and Minnesota are the other two schools and I don't believe either has offered yet.

http://www.prepcircuit.com/news_article/show/895146?referrer_id=1293611
 

EG#9 said:
A new name to watch is guard Tai Strickland, son of former NBA point guard Rod Strickland, who lists the Gophers as one of the 4 schools recruiting him the hardest (all B1G schools). Per Ryan James, Kimani Young is expected to watch him tomorrow. Wisconsin and Rutgers have both offered and will be receiving visits. Maryland and Minnesota are the other two schools and I don't believe either has offered yet.

http://www.prepcircuit.com/news_article/show/895146?referrer_id=1293611
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And his dad is the assistant coach at USF.

USF is losing a different son of a never NBA all star, Michael Bibby, son of Mike Bibby from the Late 90s Arizona teams.
 


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Golden_Sloth said:
This makes me feel old.
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I know....

I went down a rabbit hole while looking at that recruit. Bibby and Strickland had nearly identical careers neither made an All Star game. I remember Bibby being like an MVP candidate in one of his years, I could be completely off base with that, but that's how my brain remembers him when he was with the Kings.
 

So...looks like we have a few recruits in the wings. Your best guess as to who we get?

Tai Strickland - https://247sports.com/Player/Tai-Strickland-45573104
Anfernee Simons - https://247sports.com/Player/Anfernee-Simons-89839
Courtney Ramey - https://247sports.com/Player/Courtney-Ramey-86029
Markquis Nowell - https://247sports.com/Player/Markquis-Nowell-88776

If I had my pick, I would take Tai after watching a few highlight reels. Seems like is a 50/50 mix between Mason and Coffey. Also, he offers a ton of length and will play with a chip on his shoulder.
 

GopherHoop said:
So...looks like we have a few recruits in the wings. Your best guess as to who we get?

Tai Strickland - https://247sports.com/Player/Tai-Strickland-45573104
Anfernee Simons - https://247sports.com/Player/Anfernee-Simons-89839
Courtney Ramey - https://247sports.com/Player/Courtney-Ramey-86029
Markquis Nowell - https://247sports.com/Player/Markquis-Nowell-88776

If I had my pick, I would take Tai after watching a few highlight reels. Seems like is a 50/50 mix between Mason and Coffey. Also, he offers a ton of length and will play with a chip on his shoulder.
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Why will he play with a chip on his shoulders and the others won't?

Go Gophers!!
 

He was under the radar and not recruited until really only a few weeks ago. Seems like Simons and Ramey know they are in the top echelon.

And maybe Markquis would, but I would much rather have the length of Tai.
 

GopherHoop said:
He was under the radar and not recruited until really only a few weeks ago. Seems like Simons and Ramey know they are in the top echelon.

And maybe Markquis would, but I would much rather have the length of Tai.
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My gut tells me that Rod Strickland's son is only going to fly under the radar for a reason. His recruitment seems to remind me of what happens to a lot of spring recruits - P5 schools looking to fill out rosters chase kids who have not had P5 offers until this time of year. Sometimes that works, sometimes the kid and program realize it's not a great fit until after the first year.

I have no idea on Strickland, but his Dad's NBA and coaching career aren't typical of a guy who should be flying under the radar.

Go Gophers!!
 


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