All Things 2018 Gophers Basketball Recruiting Thread

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Who are we realistically in on at this point? That’s pretty disappointing with 2 scholarships available.
 


builtbadgers said:
Been wrong before but i am not as high on Strickland as some. Gard has a very specific eye for what he wants.
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I wasn't exactly drooling over the prospect of him coming either. He was only a freshman and talent doesn't necessarily pass through genetics. Look at Ralph Sampson III.
 

Gold Vision said:
Who are we realistically in on at this point? That’s pretty disappointing with 2 scholarships available.
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Relax. Verbal Commits lists 279 transfers already and we're not even to April yet. That figure easily could double within the next month. If Pitino really pursues a grad transfer point guard, I think he can get a decent one. Maybe he can get a quality sit-out transfer (hopefully one with more than one year of eligibility remaining!) with the other scholarship. That will give us 12 active scholarship players.
 



Nothing about Strickland's profile suggested he was anything more than a typical Spring recruit. His father is Rod Strickland, his Jr year of high school he played on a team with a big time recruit (I believe Kevin Knox), he played on one of the shoe circuits in the Summer, and his Sr year of high school he played with Serrel Smith who was committed to Ole Miss before their coaching change. Tai Strickland is not a kid who fell through the cracks, he had as much opportunity as almost anyone to play in front of coaches and his first Big Ten offer came in mid February of his Sr year. I am not sure how accurate these stats are, but it appears as if he barely got off the bench in the EYBL and shot terribly when he did so: https://www.d1circuit.com/roster_players/18328934

Be disappointed that Pitino and his staff missed out on Jaelin Llewellyn, Marcus Zegarowski, and Eric Hunter this past Summer/Fall, not about Strickland in the Spring. I don't pretend to know if they were taking either of the first two without getting an answer on Hunter first, but all 3 have exponentially better profiles than Strickland. It's entirely possible Strickland could turn out to be a good player, even better than the guys I listed above, but the history of kids with his recruiting profile suggests it's unlikely.

I don't think I'd feel any better about the point guard spot going in to next season with Strickland on the roster than I do currently. I think it's much more likely that some combination of Dupree and Amir could become our primarily creator (with Jamir or Gabe on the floor with those two) if Washington is injured or out with foul trouble than a lightly regarded Freshman spring recruit could step in and do the job. I am also quite confident that Pitino can land a better PG prospect out of the 2019 class than Strickland. For some additional context, Strickland would have had the lowest ranking of any Pitino recruit since Gaston Diedhiou according to 247 sports.
 

cjbfbp said:
Relax. Verbal Commits lists 279 transfers already and we're not even to April yet. That figure will at least double by June. If Pitino really pursues a grad transfer point guard, I think he can get a decent one. Maybe he can get a quality sit-out transfer with the other scholarship. That will give us 12 active scholarship players.
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I may be in shell shock, but the thought of another sit out transfer is not appealing to me. Thinking about it, I guess he is one for two in sit out transfers (Lynch and Fitz). We've just come up so short in bodies that I think getting play right away transfers or Jucos is important. But I'm not the coach.
 


Holy Man said:
I may be in shell shock, but the thought of another sit out transfer is not appealing to me. Thinking about it, I guess he is one for two in sit out transfers (Lynch and Fitz). We've just come up so short in bodies that I think getting play right away transfers or Jucos is important. But I'm not the coach.
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Believe me, I get your concern! But, if he can land a good enough sit-out transfer with the second scholarship, it may well be worth the risk. Often you can get a better player on the transfer market than you can get out of high school, either because the kid didn't get to play so much at his first school but was still good, or, the kid was undervalued coming out of high school and is looking to upgrade his exposure by going to a higher level program. T.J. McConnell, now a pretty decent backup point guard in the NBA, is a good example of the latter. He got one D1 offer at a small school but after excelling there he transferred to Arizona, sat out a year, and started two years there.
 



EG#9 said:
I am also quite confident that Pitino can land a better PG prospect out of the 2019 class than Strickland. For some additional context, Strickland would have had the lowest ranking of any Pitino recruit since Gaston Diedhiou according to 247 sports.
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Two things:

1) Why do you think Pitino will now wait until 2019 to get a second point guard?

2) Why are you dismissing the probability of him getting an immediately eligible transfer point guard? As I recall, Buggs didn't transfer until much later than this in 2016 and Pitino was able to land Akeem Springs who helped immediately. That was after an 8 win season.

I have confidence that Pitino will fill this position with someone who is immediately eligible. As I recall, we didn't hear much at all about Springs until he committed.
 

I'd be surprised if Pitino targeted a "sit out" guy. No players worthwhile are going to sit out a year to come and play at Minnesota. There are no Lynch-types out there that I'm aware of, in terms of having a childhood of growing up here.

Besides, Pitino needs players to help now, especially at the point. I wouldn't trust Washington with my team if I were him, especially with my seat starting to get a little toasty. Another abysmal year next year, which isn't all that unlikely IMO (one more Coffey injury away, probably), and the pitch forks will come out. If he gets canned at Minnesota, and his old man fresh out of connections, he could just as well call it a career.

He needs to win now.
 

Heracles said:
I'd be surprised if Pitino targeted a "sit out" guy. No players worthwhile are going to sit out a year to come and play at Minnesota. There are no Lynch-types out there that I'm aware of, in terms of having a childhood of growing up here.

Besides, Pitino needs players to help now, especially at the point. I wouldn't trust Washington with my team if I were him, especially with my seat starting to get a little toasty. Another abysmal year next year, which isn't all that unlikely IMO (one more Coffey injury away, probably), and the pitch forks will come out. If he gets canned at Minnesota, and his old man fresh out of connections, he could just as well call it a career.

He needs to win now.
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I don't think anyone is suggesting that he shouldn't get an immediately eligible point guard.
 

cjbfbp said:
Two things:

1) Why do you think Pitino will now wait until 2019 to get a second point guard?

2) Why are you dismissing the probability of him getting an immediately eligible transfer point guard? As I recall, Buggs didn't transfer until much later than this in 2016 and Pitino was able to land Akeem Springs who helped immediately. That was after an 8 win season.

I have confidence that Pitino will fill this position with someone who is immediately eligible. As I recall, we didn't hear much at all about Springs until he committed.
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1. I don't think Pitino will wait until 2019 to get a second point guard. I think it's likely he adds a point guard or a combo guard capable of playing some point guard before next season. The quoted part of my post was mainly in regards to Strickland as I find it unlikely he would help as a Freshman. So in 2019-2020, when Strickland would be a Sophomore, I'd project him to be behind Washington (health permitting) and whoever Pitino landed in the 2019 class at point guard.

2. Not dismissing this at all and think that it's one of the better possible uses of one of the two available scholarships. I'd much rather have a grad transfer PG, even if he's not an impact guy, than take a flier on a low rated high school kid. The floor of the grad transfer is much higher and you are only tying up the scholarship for a single year.

My ideal use of the two scholarships is a PG and a wing who is at least 6'5, with one of those guys profiling as an impact player. If we can't find two immediately eligible talented players, then hopefully we can find a PG who is immediately eligible and then take a potential impact guy as a sit out transfer with the other available scholarship. Contrary to what Heracles posted, sit out transfers are actually easier to obtain specifically because they take up a scholarship while sitting out, so talented guys certainly would "come to Minnesota". Nebraska just had a great B1G season in part because of sit out transfers Isaac Copeland (Georgetown) and James Palmer (Miami). They had success with Andrew White (Kansas) and Terran Petteway (Texas Tech) previously. Iowa State which has traditionally struggled to recruit high level high school kids used a bunch of sit out transfers under Hoiberg as well. Pitino hasn't done well in the sit out transfer market as far as his decision making to date (Lofton and Fitzgerald clear misses though Fitzgerald's latest major knee injury very well could have changed his potential outcome as a Gopher), but it's still a viable resource to use. Whether he wants to use a scholarship on a guy who has to sit out a year while he is on the hot seat is another question entirely.
 

builtbadgers said:
Been wrong before but i am not as high on Strickland as some. Gard has a very specific eye for what he wants.
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I'm not overly worried about it, but eh

Nor do I pretend to know much about a recruit outside of how he's rated on websites because I've watched about 20 minutes of HS basketball in the past year.

Just a general bummer that guy we chased went to Wiscy.
 

This is why I wish Fitz would have stayed. I'd rather take 10 minutes of Fitz than another spring recruit. Fitz > a freshman recruit from a depth standpoint, and if we aren't going to land an impact PG we'll need roster flexibility next year to allow for PG by committee unless Washington plays 35 minutes a game.

That all said, we absolutely can and should be landing a PG/Combo Guard to come in and get 30 minutes a game. Harris and Gabe are not what I would be banking on for 20mpg if we have aspirations at a top 4 B1G finish or any sort of 2nd weekend Tournament aspirations, which is what Pitino should be swinging for in this "make or break year".

If we get that, I'd prefer we bank the scholarship or take a GOOD transfer that sits out with Fitz scholarship.
 

Sometimes you get notifications via twitter regarding who's following who. Got an interesting one this morning regarding Kimani Young is following an individual named Miles Reynolds from the University of Pacific who has received his release to be a grad transfer who's originally from Chicago. Seems to fit the combo guard mold that we have been looking for...

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/3133868/miles-reynolds

Not sure who else is recruiting him, but there must be some interest on the Gophers end.
 

EG#9 said:
If we can't find two immediately eligible talented players, then hopefully we can find a PG who is immediately eligible and then take a potential impact guy as a sit out transfer with the other available scholarship. Contrary to what Heracles posted, sit out transfers are actually easier to obtain specifically because they take up a scholarship while sitting out, so talented guys certainly would "come to Minnesota". Nebraska just had a great B1G season in part because of sit out transfers Isaac Copeland (Georgetown) and James Palmer (Miami). They had success with Andrew White (Kansas) and Terran Petteway (Texas Tech) previously. Iowa State which has traditionally struggled to recruit high level high school kids used a bunch of sit out transfers under Hoiberg as well. Pitino hasn't done well in the sit out transfer market as far as his decision making to date (Lofton and Fitzgerald clear misses though Fitzgerald's latest major knee injury very well could have changed his potential outcome as a Gopher), but it's still a viable resource to use. Whether he wants to use a scholarship on a guy who has to sit out a year while he is on the hot seat is another question entirely.
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Entirely agree. I'm fine with him taking a potential impact sit-out transfer as long as he finds that immediately eligible point point guard (hopefully a grad transfer) with the first scholarship. You should always count on a little bad luck although I doubt that we'll have as much bad luck next season as we had this season and we no longer as Bakary and Gas on the roster. Even with one sit out, he'd have a 12 man active roster. If you have two casualties you still have 10 players left.

Given his subsequent history, I don't think I'd call Lofton a miss. He misbehaved a bit (I don't recall his transgression being that serious) and was kicked off the team. However, he led two different D1 teams in scoring after he left here. Both Texas Southern and New Mexico State made the NCAA tournament while he was on their rosters and he had 29 points for NM ST against Clemson in the tournament a couple of weeks ago.
 

Winona Gopher said:
Sometimes you get notifications via twitter regarding who's following who. Got an interesting one this morning regarding Kimani Young is following an individual named Miles Reynolds from the University of Pacific who has received his release to be a grad transfer who's originally from Chicago. Seems to fit the combo guard mold that we have been looking for...

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/3133868/miles-reynolds

Not sure who else is recruiting him, but there must be some interest on the Gophers end.
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Looks like a good prospect. He did have a few fairly big assist games so he looks like he could be a distributor if he wanted to be and 1.9 turnovers isn't bad for a guy playing 31 minutes a game.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
This is why I wish Fitz would have stayed. I'd rather take 10 minutes of Fitz than another spring recruit. Fitz > a freshman recruit from a depth standpoint, and if we aren't going to land an impact PG we'll need roster flexibility next year to allow for PG by committee unless Washington plays 35 minutes a game.
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2 things:

1) Have confidence that Pitino will get a decent transfer point guard who is immediately eligible (he may not be a 30 minute a game type, though);
2) Don't assume that Pitino is determined to use the other scholarship on a freshman.
 

Winona Gopher said:
Sometimes you get notifications via twitter regarding who's following who. Got an interesting one this morning regarding Kimani Young is following an individual named Miles Reynolds from the University of Pacific who has received his release to be a grad transfer who's originally from Chicago. Seems to fit the combo guard mold that we have been looking for...

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/3133868/miles-reynolds

Not sure who else is recruiting him, but there must be some interest on the Gophers end.
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I like that one! Can shoot- 38% 3pt 80 FT% 13+ points
 

Winona Gopher said:
Sometimes you get notifications via twitter regarding who's following who. Got an interesting one this morning regarding Kimani Young is following an individual named Miles Reynolds from the University of Pacific who has received his release to be a grad transfer who's originally from Chicago. Seems to fit the combo guard mold that we have been looking for...

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/3133868/miles-reynolds

Not sure who else is recruiting him, but there must be some interest on the Gophers end.
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Miles showed up a couple days ago on:
https://gradtransfertracker.com/
 

Is 2 grad transfers out of the question? Could be an interesting move. We'd need another grad transfer point guard after this year if we went that route.
 

cjbfbp said:
2 things:

1) Have confidence that Pitino will get a decent transfer point guard who is immediately eligible (he may not be a 30 minute a game type, though);
2) Don't assume that Pitino is determined to use the other scholarship on a freshman.
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Agreed. However, Pitino's track record on transfers has been exceptionally poor. There hasn't been one sit a year transfer that has worked out long term. Reggie almost did, and then he didn't. Fitz and Lofton were the other two.

I think it's also fair to be concerned about Pitino's mismanagement of the roster over the last 6 years, to trust that he does the smart thing here is not something I'm planning on doing. I hope he does, but I don't trust him.

Thus my reason for saying, I wish he Fitz would have stayed. At a minimum we would have had a full roster next year as with only 1 scholarship Pitino HAD to sign someone who could contribute as a PG minimally. And if he took a flyer on a spring recruit or had a poor transfer selection, at least Fitz being able to play some B1G minutes at the 4/3 would have allowed for Amir to play minutes at the 2/1.

With 2 scholarships I would say it's highly likely one of them is a guard that can play the point. What he does with the other scholarship scares me.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Agreed. However, Pitino's track record on transfers has been exceptionally poor. There hasn't been one sit a year transfer that has worked out long term. Reggie almost did, and then he didn't. Fitz and Lofton were the other two.

I think it's also fair to be concerned about Pitino's mismanagement of the roster over the last 6 years, to trust that he does the smart thing here is not something I'm planning on doing. I hope he does, but I don't trust him.

Thus my reason for saying, I wish he Fitz would have stayed. At a minimum we would have had a full roster next year as with only 1 scholarship Pitino HAD to sign someone who could contribute as a PG minimally. And if he took a flyer on a spring recruit or had a poor transfer selection, at least Fitz being able to play some B1G minutes at the 4/3 would have allowed for Amir to play minutes at the 2/1.

With 2 scholarships I would say it's highly likely one of them is a guard that can play the point. What he does with the other scholarship scares me.
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Honestly, everything that Davonte Fitzgerald did on the court scared me, so I'd call it a wash either way, he was an absolute zero, and probably a minus.
 

GopherHoopsFan said:
Honestly, everything that Davonte Fitzgerald did on the court scared me, so I'd call it a wash either way, he was an absolute zero, and probably a minus.
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That's simply not true. Davonte showed some flashes and had some decent games in the 2nd half of last season.
 

GopherHoopsFan said:
Honestly, everything that Davonte Fitzgerald did on the court scared me, so I'd call it a wash either way, he was an absolute zero, and probably a minus.
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I also thought he provided solid minutes, shot about 40% from the field, 34% from the 3pt line, didn't make a lot of mistakes, just wasn't athletic at all after the second surgery. If not for the depth at his position I would consider it a loss.
 

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