All Things Gophers Basketball Class of 2022 Recruiting Thread

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SixBySix said:
Spaulding likes to poke fun frequently at Wisconsin basketball's atypically low average level of melanin (in keratinocytes [1]). It's a bit at this point.

[1] Fun fact: people of all skin tones have more or less the same total amount of melanin in their skin (with the exception of those with albinism), it's only the distribution between layers of the skin that leads to the visual differences.
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This was a fun fact. Thank you for sharing.
 

Spottedmuskie said:
D1 Minnesota trying to hype up Elvis? I don't think Ben offered him or Chase Carter, but reoffered the other '22 minnesota recruits
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I haven’t seen Elvis play for a while but I’ve never been enamored with Chase Carter as a basketball prospect personally. Maybe I’m missing something. Is Elvis a high D1 talent? He doesn’t appear to be as gifted as Zeke
 

SixBySix said:
Spaulding likes to poke fun frequently at Wisconsin basketball's atypically low average level of melanin (in keratinocytes [1]). It's a bit at this point.

[1] Fun fact: people of all skin tones have more or less the same total amount of melanin in their skin (with the exception of those with albinism), it's only the distribution between layers of the skin that leads to the visual differences.
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I thought, we all had the same number of melanocytes (cells that produce melanin) but black people have more melanin in their skin than white people.
 

Maybe a tough question to answer but...when do prospects TYPICALLY commit? I know Chet’s recruitment and commitment was a little drawn out but is better a typical time?
Pitino always recruited a lot in the Spring and I’m sure all coaches do but it would be nice to get some early momentum with this class
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Maybe a tough question to answer but...when do prospects TYPICALLY commit? I know Chet’s recruitment and commitment was a little drawn out but is better a typical time?
Pitino always recruited a lot in the Spring and I’m sure all coaches do but it would be nice to get some early momentum with this class
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The ones who stay home and play at the hometown school typically commit early...the ones who leave their hometowns typically in the fall and the ones who get to go wherever they want (Chet for example) whenever they want as there is always a place for them on any roster.
 


UpAndUnder43 said:
Maybe a tough question to answer but...when do prospects TYPICALLY commit? I know Chet’s recruitment and commitment was a little drawn out but is better a typical time?
Pitino always recruited a lot in the Spring and I’m sure all coaches do but it would be nice to get some early momentum with this class
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Oturu committed like the 20th of January in 2017 (he was class of 2018). I feel like he was really early so if we were going to expect guys to commit early it would be about now. Most guys will do it before or after their senior high school season though.
 

tmvander said:
Oturu committed like the 20th of January in 2017 (he was class of 2018). I feel like he was really early so if we were going to expect guys to commit early it would be about now. Most guys will do it before or after their senior high school season though.
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Cool. Thanks for the reference point. So more realistically September-March or so of their senior year.
 

alchemy2u said:
It will be interesting to see how the local AAU crowd reacts to Ben’s way of recruiting. Pitino seemed to give a “token” offer to many of the players whether he really wanted them or not. It looks like Ben will spend more time nurturing those lines of communication, but will only offer the local players that he wants. so there may be more local players that do not get offers from the U. Ben has already gone on record as says there will not be enough room for all players and that he may have to pass on some very good players because of fit.
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Yeah we cooled on Joplin and King, not enough room
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Cool. Thanks for the reference point. So more realistically September-March or so of their senior year.
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I'd actually say you see a majority (approx 75%) commit from June to October (AAU, official visits, and, signing day), then there is a lull and the rest mostly commit in February until now.
 



manderson1984 said:
I'd actually say you see a majority (approx 75%) commit from June to October (AAU, official visits, and, signing day), then there is a lull and the rest mostly commit in February until now.
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So if June-October is typical do we think Johnson is at a great disadvantage because of when he was hired? I’m not sure how many recruits from his Xavier days he has contacted (I’m sure some?) Hopefully he can build relationships quickly and get a solid 2022 class. I don’t know if that class is do or die but there are a lot of B1G level recruits locally it seems.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
So if June-October is typical do we think Johnson is at a great disadvantage because of when he was hired? I’m not sure how many recruits from his Xavier days he has contacted (I’m sure some?) Hopefully he can build relationships quickly and get a solid 2022 class. I don’t know if that class is do or die but there are a lot of B1G level recruits locally it seems.
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It will hurt him with the dudes who commit prior to that (Eli King). Hopefully with Covid and last summer being so dead, Ben won't be as far behind as he'd be in other years. 2022 is a foundational group and will be important. There should be no pass on it imo. Now what everyone's expectations are will probably be different.
 


manderson1984 said:
It will hurt him with the dudes who commit prior to that (Eli King). Hopefully with Covid and last summer being so dead, Ben won't be as far behind as he'd be in other years. 2022 is a foundational group and will be important. There should be no pass on it imo. Now what everyone's expectations are will probably be different.
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Given the number of 1 year transfers we have signed I think it is pretty clear that Johnson wants to go big with the 2022 class.

Whether or not that will include all the Minnesota guys everyone is obsessing over remains to be seen. But I would expect to see a big class regardless of where the guys come from and it will certainly be a key class for his rebuild of the program.
 






UpAndUnder43 said:
So if June-October is typical do we think Johnson is at a great disadvantage because of when he was hired? I’m not sure how many recruits from his Xavier days he has contacted (I’m sure some?) Hopefully he can build relationships quickly and get a solid 2022 class. I don’t know if that class is do or die but there are a lot of B1G level recruits locally it seems.
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I don't think so. Per Coyle saying he got a lot of local texts saying home run hire, the expectation should be 2022 there are no excuses for recruiting.
 


SanDiegoGopherFan said:
I don't think so. Per Coyle saying he got a lot of local texts saying home run hire, the expectation should be 2022 there are no excuses for recruiting.
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Do you think Coyle did him favors? Outside of hiring him he has put out some tough statements for BenJo to live up to.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Do you think Coyle did him favors? Outside of hiring him he has put out some tough statements for BenJo to live up to.
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I don't. Ben has his work cut out for him. A polarized fan base and a 50/50 mix of doubters and ppl defending Ben on social media, which recruits do check out social media, maybe not message boards.

Football starts tomorrow though, excited for this coming season. Gonna be watching the spring game with some ribs and beer
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Do you think Coyle did him favors? Outside of hiring him he has put out some tough statements for BenJo to live up to.
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Not really sure what Coyle could have said differently. He said he hired Ben because Ben is the best guy to build relationships with local players/families/coaches, and believes that is the best path for a successful and sustainable basketball program. Also said Ben impressed him with a plan to hire a staff that will be ideal to support a first time head coach. That all sounds fairly reasonable.

Coyle would deserve to be ripped if he tried to bring down expectations, which are already fairly low. With the strength and depth of the 2022 MN high school class I don’t think Coyle set Ben up to fail at all. If Ben snags at least a couple of those MN 2022s (which is a very realistic expectation) then it will look good. It was mentioned multiple times at the press conference that not all of them will be Gophers.

I’m one who expects Ben to do well recruiting the MN 2022 class. Not worried at all about not getting Eli King. I’d rather the ones who won’t be coming here commit elsewhere early so we don’t waste our time on them. It appears to me that Ben is setting up our scholarship situation for a large 2022 class that will likely include some strongly rated MN players, and I’m excited for it.
 

SanDiegoGopherFan said:
I don't. Ben has his work cut out for him. A polarized fan base and a 50/50 mix of doubters and ppl defending Ben on social media, which recruits do check out social media, maybe not message boards.

Football starts tomorrow though, excited for this coming season. Gonna be watching the spring game with some ribs and beer
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Ben doesn't seem to care about pressure. He accepted this position knowing it would be a challenge. He's a smart dude who knew exactly what he was walking into and will do everything he can to prove the doubters wrong. He certainly didn't want Coyle to set low expectations. It will make his success all the sweeter!
 
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bizzle22 said:
Not really sure what Coyle could have said differently. He said he hired Ben because Ben is the best guy to build relationships with local players/families/coaches, and believes that is the best path for a successful and sustainable basketball program. Also said Ben impressed him with a plan to hire a staff that will be ideal to support a first time head coach. That all sounds fairly reasonable.

Coyle would deserve to be ripped if he tried to bring down expectations, which are already fairly low. With the strength and depth of the 2022 MN high school class I don’t think Coyle set Ben up to fail at all. If Ben snags at least a couple of those MN 2022s (which is a very realistic expectation) then it will look good. It was mentioned multiple times at the press conference that not all of them will be Gophers.

I’m one who expects Ben to do well recruiting the MN 2022 class. Not worried at all about not getting Eli King. I’d rather the ones who won’t be coming here commit elsewhere early so we don’t waste our time on them. It appears to me that Ben is setting up our scholarship situation for a large 2022 class that will likely include some strongly rated MN players, and I’m excited for it.
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Solid assessment. My concern with what Coyle said from BenJo’s standpoint is that he seemed to really emphasize local recruiting. If that doesn’t go well it will be a focal point for fans and media. I think Ben did a good job saying they won’t get all of the 2022 kids because they won’t. However when kids go elsewhere we can just assume it was one of his favored players until some commit.
Seems like his most ardent supporters and steadfast critics agree that 22 is the class that has to make waves for him to be viewed as an early success.
I think if he has a solid, non-local class in 2022 he will get ripped.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Solid assessment. My concern with what Coyle said from BenJo’s standpoint is that he seemed to really emphasize local recruiting. If that doesn’t go well it will be a focal point for fans and media. I think Ben did a good job saying they won’t get all of the 2022 kids because they won’t. However when kids go elsewhere we can just assume it was one of his favored players until some commit.
Seems like his most ardent supporters and steadfast critics agree that 22 is the class that has to make waves for him to be viewed as an early success.
I think if he has a solid, non-local class in 2022 he will get ripped.
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Not from me. He will emphasize local recruiting- not die on a sword for it. If he pulls in a solid class of student athletes that are competing in the B1G, most will be excited to see what he can do once he gets more than a year to cultivate relationships with locals. I can't help but think that the negative people have played a major role in making the U a less desirable destination to local talent.
 

ecoperson said:
Not from me. He will emphasize local recruiting- not die on a sword for it. If he pulls in a solid class of student athletes that are competing in the B1G, most will be excited to see what he can do once he gets more than a year to cultivate relationships with locals. I can't help but think that the negative people have played a major role in making the U a less desirable destination to local talent.
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Agreed, we have a media and fan base that just rips. I feel it fine to rip, when one is rippable, but that is empty if you don’t commend when the occasion dictates it.
 

ecoperson said:
Not from me. He will emphasize local recruiting- not die on a sword for it. If he pulls in a solid class of student athletes that are competing in the B1G, most will be excited to see what he can do once he gets more than a year to cultivate relationships with locals. I can't help but think that the negative people have played a major role in making the U a less desirable destination to local talent.
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I think the U’s biggest issue for local talent is the team hasn’t been good for the past 40 years aside from a few seasons and even those were vacated. I guess early 80s was good? I dunno, I wasn’t alive.
also, it isn’t just a local talent thing. The U isn’t desirable to basketball talent as a whole.
I think I posted around tourney time that only 3 B1G schools have fewer NCAA tourney wins than the gophers. Northwestern, Penn State and Nebraska. Maybe there was a 4th but I think just those 3.
 

ecoperson said:
Not from me. He will emphasize local recruiting- not die on a sword for it. If he pulls in a solid class of student athletes that are competing in the B1G, most will be excited to see what he can do once he gets more than a year to cultivate relationships with locals. I can't help but think that the negative people have played a major role in making the U a less desirable destination to local talent.
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No way does the local media and message board rippers play a major role in kids not coming here. In all the years talking with recruits and their families it has been a non factor. No one needs to tell them about the poor results and poor coaching. They pick coaches, success, occasionally location, cool factor, other players. Hell, the media here were light on Pitino. They should have been screaming for his firing years ago. Fan bases rip everywhere. Even elite programs like UVA have rippers on the message boards.
 

Why all the expectations for BJ to reel in solid class of 2022 kids? Either in MN it across the country? BJ has zero experience as HC and track record of developing players. IMO, that is a huge road block and enough for me to realize that this is going to take time. Most talented kids want stable programs where they feel they have the best chance to develop. IMO, BJ can’t show that at this time. Not trying to be a know it all but indications thus far are that the 21-22 squad will struggle. Maybe he will surprise but I don’t expect a lot.
 

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