All Things Gophers Basketball 2017 Recruiting Thread

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I never wanted Davidson anyway. I'm still hoping for Wright/Washington and John/Sims! 3 of these 4 would be great.
 

Really wanted to see Davison in a Gopher uniform. Was really impressed (with talent & competitiveness) when I saw him play basketball and football. It stings quite a bit more because he's now a Badger.

That said, let's see if Pitino gets any of his targeted PGs, and if he does, we'll be able to closely follow the career arcs of Davison and whoever the Gophers sign. Best of luck to a quality kid and player, except when he plays the Gophers.
 

Glass half full: the other PGs we've started contacting including Davison were to get Wright to hurry up and commit.

Glass half empty: Washington is gone and Wright is dicey. Looking at other options.
 

Per Ryan James:

And the last few days have me feeling very strongly that they will definitely get one local, and I would bet on two if I had to bet today.
 

Really ? I think Davison is significantly better than Wright. He had many more quality program offers. I have been wrong before, too many times to count. Time will tell us the story.
 


dtrain19 said:
Per Ryan James:

And the last few days have me feeling very strongly that they will definitely get one local, and I would bet on two if I had to bet today.
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That's good to hear. I don't have any inside knowledge, but I've been feeling pretty good about getting McKinley Wright for a little while.

builtbadgers said:
Really ? I think Davison is significantly better than Wright. He had many more quality program offers. I have been wrong before, too many times to count. Time will tell us the story.
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According to 247, I'm counting about 9 power conference offers each, counting Memphis as a power conference offer for Wright. 247 doesn't list a Dayton offer for Wright, but I believe he's taken an official there, and I think they're supposed to be one of the bigger players in his recruitment along with Minnesota. Davison has a few more offers than Wright overall, mostly from some mid-majors like the South Dakota schools, Wofford, Elon, Furman, Pacific, and Buffalo.

As far as offer lists, they look fairly even to me, but Davison has more mid-major offers. Davison is also rated higher in both 247 and the composite.
 

builtbadgers said:
Really ? I think Davison is significantly better than Wright. He had many more quality program offers. I have been wrong before, too many times to count. Time will tell us the story.
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I've seen him maybe 10 times the last couple of years, I haven't seen him this summer so I don't have any info on that but I don't see him as a PG in the Big Ten and the times I have seen him his shooting has been average at best, I'd say that Minnesota evaluated him pretty evenly, players develop differently and maybe he improved that much this spring but I wouldn't fault the Minnesota staff at all, I am very comfortable with having Wright and Washington as the primary PG targets, I just hope we get one of them.
 

builtbadgers said:
Really ? I think Davison is significantly better than Wright. He had many more quality program offers. I have been wrong before, too many times to count. Time will tell us the story.
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"Significantly" seems a bit overstated. But, you are a badger fan.
 

players

When two recruits are rated somewhat evenly, you can bet Pitino is pushing for the more athletic kid with better defensive potential. I am not saying that is a strategy I would use over and over. This team could use a very good 3pt shooter even if he isn't a top notch athlete.




jovs said:
I've seen him maybe 10 times the last couple of years, I haven't seen him this summer so I don't have an info on that but I don't see him as a PG in the Big Ten and the times I have seen him his shooting has been average at best, I'd say the Minnesota evaluated him pretty evenly, players develop differently and maybe he improved that much this spring but I wouldn't fault the Minnesota staff at all, I am very comfortable with having Wright and Washington as the primary PG targets, I just hope we get one of them.
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march madness said:
When two recruits are rated somewhat evenly, you can bet Pitino is pushing for the more athletic kid with better defensive potential. I am not saying that is a strategy I would use over and over. This team could use a very good 3pt shooter even if he isn't a top notch athlete.
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I think that's why he offered Gabe Kalaucher in 2018. I am sure he's a good enough athlete, but isn't he suppose to be able to shoot it out of the gym?
 

There's only 20 years of track record to compare on recruiting track records. I'm not going to be disappointed with Wright, but I will lean towards the Badgers taking the right guy more often than not until we prove otherwise.

If the guys are rated evenly and 1 is more of an athlete, that would have to mean that the "more athletic" guy has a lot more to work on in skills development of they're rated evenly. Call me crazy, but I am skeptical that we can put all of that together. I feel like our likely scenario is to be the next Illinois with a bunch of guys that don't reach their potential.
 

RickDornsby said:
There's only 20 years of track record to compare on recruiting track records. I'm not going to be disappointed with Wright, but I will lean towards the Badgers taking the right guy more often than not until we prove otherwise.

If the guys are rated evenly and 1 is more of an athlete, that would have to mean that the "more athletic" guy has a lot more to work on in skills development of they're rated evenly. Call me crazy, but I am skeptical that we can put all of that together. I feel like our likely scenario is to be the next Illinois with a bunch of guys that don't reach their potential.
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Maybe or we could be the 97 gophers with a bunch of dudes who do reach their potential. My personal opinion is after the blue chips, there isn't a lot of difference between four star and three star talent, maybe some intangibles that make the four star player more ready to compete early. Our recruiting classes with Sconnie have been similar unfortunately Bo Ryan was a better coach than Dan Monson, Tubby Smith and for a couple of years Richard Pitino, before retiring. Pitino and Garrd are both young, it'll be interesting see if Pitino can put a team on the court in year four that he envisioned in year one and if Garrd can continue the what Bo Ryan built in basketball. Either way, comes down to finding guys who will buy in to what you're doing and whether or not you can build up the players you bring in. Only a select few can pick out McDonalds All Americans like it's a Christmas catalog, the other 300 or so coaches actually have to figure out what they want to do, recruit players who fit their philosophy and coach them up.
 

builtbadgers said:
Really ? I think Davison is significantly better than Wright. He had many more quality program offers. I have been wrong before, too many times to count. Time will tell us the story.
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I'd say Wright has slightly better offer list (though Davison might've grown his by keeping his recruitment open), and in the ever-changing web site rankings Davison currently is slightly higher. Remember, Davison's best offer until 2 months ago was northern Iowa. Now you have Michigan and Wiscy, a few P5s that haven't been good in years (Gtech, Stanford, Northwestern) and mid-majors. Wright has Texas, Xavier, Iowa State, Illinois, K State, Dayton, Creighton and a slew of others.

If you want to talk offer lists in this in-state class, other than Gary Trent, Jericho Sims tops them all. Kid is just blowing up like crazy. Should be top-50.

Also, Wright and Davison are different players. Wright is a pure PG. Davison is a combo guard with different strengths -- better shooter but will not be able to play the same kind of ball pressure defense or penetrating on offense.
 



builtbadgers said:
Really ? I think Davison is significantly better than Wright. He had many more quality program offers. I have been wrong before, too many times to count. Time will tell us the story.
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Significantly in what way? I'll give Davison the upper hand shooting the ball (and even this is area isn't that great of a disparity). Other than that, Wright is much better defensively and is a tremendous rebounder for his position. Wright gets to the line a ton and converts at a high rate. Did you even watch the 2 play this summer? And don't get me started on the offer thing. A school like Wisky rarely offers a kid like Wright, just as a school like Texas wouldn't offer Davison because of the differing styles they employ.
 

For one thing, i will not claim my evaluation is better than someone else. It is a opinion i have been paid for most of 45 years. Still just my opinion. Your right about fit and that is a large part of what great programs identify. I place a very high priority on a very wide variety of intangibles and Davison fits like a BRUST or Gasser. What no one can know is how much improvement is still in a player. Fyi, the Texas offer is not committable as they are very close on 2 very highly touted advanced players. I posted previously that most staffs have a higher eval on BD, but not all. Remember, not a single staff uses the internet sites for evaluations. Wright could turn out to be the superior individual talent but likely not be on the court for as many team successes no matter where he goes. That still will not define who ended up a better college player for their team. I do not claim or have the need to be right. I hope Wright goes to Minnesota and does wonderful. Also not as big of a fan of in state recruits as some are. There is a ton of evidence that elite programs have rosters of kids from anywhere. Duke, KU.UK.UW,Indiana, MSU and now the risers like a UVA have rosters of kids from 8 states or more some years. Kids do not even grow up exposed only to the state school. The television exposure gives kids tons of ideas and dreams and loads of them want something else. I DO BELIEVE IN Getting kids in your region but frankly do not care where a wonderful player comes from.
 

Donald Trump would be proud of these walls of text.
 

builtbadgers said:
For one thing, i will not claim my evaluation is better than someone else. It is a opinion i have been paid for most of 45 years. ... Also not as big of a fan of in state recruits as some are. There is a ton of evidence that elite programs have rosters of kids from anywhere. Duke, KU.UK.UW,Indiana, MSU and now the risers like a UVA have rosters of kids from 8 states or more some years. Kids do not even grow up exposed only to the state school. The television exposure gives kids tons of ideas and dreams and loads of them want something else. I DO BELIEVE IN Getting kids in your region but frankly do not care where a wonderful player comes from.
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In your opinion who do you see as a better fit for Minnesota regardless of which player is "better"? This is a Minnesota board after all

Also MSU- Izzo has only 5 states who he recruited players from for next years roster(Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama). 2 players are "from" Texas, one a walk-on transfer from a D3 school in michigan and 1 (Mcquaid who grew up in michigan but moved to texas) 1 player is "from" West virginia (Bridges) but is really from Mi before prep school his senior year. Wellaman is from Wy but he was never recruited by Izzo he tried out after getting to MSU and earned an athletic scholarship later. Izzo makes a point of trying to not recruit players outside of 4-5 hours drive to MSU it has been stated many times.

Arguably MN could do the same but stay within 7 hours(Chicago, Kansas city).

Edit: The Alabama kid, Josh Langford, is cousins to former MSU running back Jeremy Langford so that's not as unusual as I thought when i saw it.

Edit #2: I forgot Tum Tum for MSU so that adds a 2nd country
 

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bemidjigopher said:
Is that the Vegas school that isn't actually a school?
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Yep - and it is officially time to end the one and done thing and let the kids like Trent just turn pro and go to d-league if they need it. The one and done thing is making a sham of college sports. That said I'd love to sign three every year here.....:)
 


Theo John narrowing his list today.

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Cayman said:
Theo John narrowing his list today.

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I hope this isn't where we are included as a token.
 

Otis said:
I hope this isn't where we are included as a token.
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That'll probably be the case, like Tyus keeping the Gophers on his list even when everyone and their uncle knew he wasn't coming to the U.
 



SelectionSunday said:
That'll probably be the case, like Tyus keeping the Gophers on his list even when everyone and their uncle knew he wasn't coming to the U.
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I would say that's not the case here. I would guess his final 6 are MN, OU, MU, Purdue, Illinois and Maryland. Feel confident in the first 4 listed, but unsure about the 5th and 6th. This seems like a 4 team race with MN, OU, MU and PU leading the way. Illinois seemed popular for a while, but I don't think they have watched him much since their recent 5* commit. I think RJ said Purdue is a bigger player than some think. Just my opinion though.
 

per STrib: A look at the Gophers' 2017 basketball recruiting

TOP TIER:

The locals:

McKinley Wright – The 6-foot tough driving guard from Champlin Park has visited Minnesota campus unofficially and the intrigue and excitement appears to go both ways. Other offers include Iowa State, Nebraska, Illinois, Kansas State, Xavier and Texas Tech.

Theo John – At 6-9 with a soft touch inside and out, Champlin Park’s John is the remaining prize of the class, ranked 129th by Rivals and 80th by Scout. John has offers from the likes of Michigan State, Maryland and Florida, among many others, but the Gophers have been on him hard from the start.

Jericho Sims – I think the Gophers want to see Sims, an athletic, 6-8 big man from Minneapolis, develop a bit more, but they’ve seen enough to be very high on him nonetheless. Expect his recruit to either ramp up or wither this summer.

The others:

Isaiah Washington --The 6-1 Bronx point guard took an official visit to Minnesota last month and the Gophers are certainly a player as his offers pile up. Washington’s strengths are in getting to the basket and reading the floor.

Wabissa Bede -- The 5-11 Massachusetts point guard can create shots for others and himself, and has develops a consistent jumper. The undersized guard has the tools but would need to put on some serious pounds to compete in the Big Ten. Bede has several offers, but the Gophers are his only power-conference suitor.

Jamir Harris --The Gophers keyed into the 6-2 shooting guard from New Jersey last fall; now others are starting to notice the rising target and his bigtime shooting potential.

http://www.startribune.com/a-look-a...657731/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=dlvr.it

Go Gophers!!
 

The Gophers also offered a 6'11 big man from Australia yesterday. Jacob Epperson I think was his name. Looks like a real good passer and shot blocker. Decent touch around the rim. MJH retweeted an article about him I would post it here but I don't know how to embed tweets on my phone.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 

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