All Things Gophers Basketball Class of 2022 Recruiting Thread

[short ornery norwegian]

Just to point out - Heidi has family ties to Purdue. He chose Purdue.
Holloman has family ties to MN. We'll see who he chooses.

To be clear - I hope Ben Johnson succeeds. But I will not declare him to be a success or a failure based on one recruiting class. Recruiting is about building relationships. Johnson is at a disadvantage compared to other schools that have been recruiting these kids for years, where Johnson has only been on the job at MN for a few months.

I still hope he can land some decent kids from the '22 class. But '23 might be a more fair evaluation.

 

[GopherBlood777]

Just to point out - Heidi has family ties to Purdue. He chose Purdue.
Holloman has family ties to MN. We'll see who he chooses.

To be clear - I hope Ben Johnson succeeds. But I will not declare him to be a success or a failure based on one recruiting class. Recruiting is about building relationships. Johnson is at a disadvantage compared to other schools that have been recruiting these kids for years, where Johnson has only been on the job at MN for a few months.

I still hope he can land some decent kids from the '22 class. But '23 might be a more fair evaluation.

He needs to focus on the next tier for 22 as you mentioned the top players already had lengthy pre-existing relationships. He is getting in good position with carrington/lee/watson/payne and they would be big signings out the gate. Go all in on Chatman/Winters for 23' class.

 

[salzie]

Just to point out - Heidi has family ties to Purdue. He chose Purdue.
Holloman has family ties to MN. We'll see who he chooses.

To be clear - I hope Ben Johnson succeeds. But I will not declare him to be a success or a failure based on one recruiting class. Recruiting is about building relationships. Johnson is at a disadvantage compared to other schools that have been recruiting these kids for years, where Johnson has only been on the job at MN for a few months.

I still hope he can land some decent kids from the '22 class. But '23 might be a more fair evaluation.

agreed, people will panic, but Johnson will need some time, as would any coach.

 

[BarnBurner]

Oh for two.

 

[topos]

Oh for two.

It's outrageous to expect him to land 2022 guys that have already been rebuilding relationships for months (perhaps years) with other schools. If he gets any of the MN top targets, he is vastly exceeding expectations in my book.

 

[whalenfan]

Cam was always gonna be the hardest one to get. Dads a Purdue alum. If there wasnt a recruiting shutdown he is probably committed way earlier than this.

 

[umn99]

Heide was a long shot as his relationship with Purdue is pretty deep (both with how long Painter recruited him and his family connections) and there were predictions coming in months ago that he would commit to Purdue.

But with the rest, it's not outrageous to think that Ben and staff have a good chance with them all. Holloman will be tough because of the fact that Tom Izzo has been on him longer than Ben has been a coach at MN, but he also has ties to MN and it's not like Ben is a stranger to Tre and his family. I'm not giving up on him yet.

Watson is strongly looking at two schools with brand new coaches. Should be right in it to the end and he says all the right things about MN. Carrington - have to believe we are a favorite for him. Hard to know with Lee as he has family in Kansas, but also should be right there. Those four are still realistic gets IMO.

 

[leib0039]

Heide was a long shot as his relationship with Purdue is pretty deep (both with how long Painter recruited him and his family connections) and there were predictions coming in months ago that he would commit to Purdue.

But with the rest, it's not outrageous to think that Ben and staff have a good chance with them all. Holloman will be tough because of the fact that Tom Izzo has been on him longer than Ben has been a coach at MN, but he also has ties to MN and it's not like Ben is a stranger to Tre and his family. I'm not giving up on him yet.

Watson is strongly looking at two schools with brand new coaches. Should be right in it to the end and he says all the right things about MN. Carrington - have to believe we are a favorite for him. Hard to know with Lee as he has family in Kansas, but also should be right there. Those four are still realistic gets IMO.

This is where i get frustrated. Heide picks Purdue and everyone says, hey thats ok his dad went to Purdue, that was always going to happen. Meanwhile, we have how many kids who are "legacy" recruits and we lose them and its supposed to be no problem. Kind of tough to have it both ways. If you want to say losing cam is fine because of his dad you should also be plenty annoyed guys with those ties dont give us a look.

 

[ecoperson]

This is where i get frustrated. Heide picks Purdue and everyone says, hey thats ok his dad went to Purdue, that was always going to happen. Meanwhile, we have how many kids who are "legacy" recruits and we lose them and its supposed to be no problem. Kind of tough to have it both ways. If you want to say losing cam is fine because of his dad you should also be plenty annoyed guys with those ties dont give us a look.

Throw out the comparisons with past recruitment of legacy recruits until we have a solid comparable
AND sample size. As a head coach, Ben has only been recruiting Cam for about 3 months. Painter has been recruiting him for a few years. The legacy recruit angle was going to be hard to overcome in any case but made significantly more difficult because of the additional years of recruitment.

 

[UpAndUnder43]

Just to point out - Heidi has family ties to Purdue. He chose Purdue.
Holloman has family ties to MN. We'll see who he chooses.

To be clear - I hope Ben Johnson succeeds. But I will not declare him to be a success or a failure based on one recruiting class. Recruiting is about building relationships. Johnson is at a disadvantage compared to other schools that have been recruiting these kids for years, where Johnson has only been on the job at MN for a few months.

I still hope he can land some decent kids from the '22 class. But '23 might be a more fair evaluation.

Is there any indication he was recruiting them while at Xavier? Certainly wouldn’t be far fetched.

 

[UpAndUnder43]

It's outrageous to expect him to land 2022 guys that have already been rebuilding relationships for months (perhaps years) with other schools. If he gets any of the MN top targets, he is vastly exceeding expectations in my book.

I would think he has talked to many of these guys previously while recruiting for Xavier. If he is tied into local AAU teams and high school coaches like has been implied I’d imagine he has spoken with every top 22 kid in Minnesota previously.

 

[UpAndUnder43]

Throw out the comparisons with past recruitment of legacy recruits until we have a solid comparable
AND sample size. As a head coach, Ben has only been recruiting Cam for about 3 months. Painter has been recruiting him for a few years. The legacy recruit angle was going to be hard to overcome in any case but made significantly more difficult because of the additional years of recruitment.

Agreed that Heine was far fetched due to his Purdue ties but Ben almost for sure had a previous relationship with Heide. Heide wasn’t swayed by Ben enough to get to know him more which is fine. On to the next one.

 

[BarnBurner]

Stop with the excuses. Kid isn’t going to Mn.

 

[SixBySix]

This is where i get frustrated. Heide picks Purdue and everyone says, hey thats ok his dad went to Purdue, that was always going to happen. Meanwhile, we have how many kids who are "legacy" recruits and we lose them and its supposed to be no problem. Kind of tough to have it both ways. If you want to say losing cam is fine because of his dad you should also be plenty annoyed guys with those ties dont give us a look.

Well, off the top of my head, we have mostly lost legacy recruits to programs that are clearly in a higher tier than MN. Purdue probably is too (depending on how many tiers you use). Losing a priority recruit to a comparable tier school they have family ties to is less of a blow than, say, Garcia to Marquette.

 

[Gopherfan84]

Agreed that Heine was far fetched due to his Purdue ties but Ben almost for sure had a previous relationship with Heide. Heide wasn’t swayed by Ben enough to get to know him more which is fine. On to the next one.

To Ben’s credit he did get Heide to show up for an unofficial before he went to Purdue. Couldn’t get him to hold off until he did an official in the fall, but better than what we were going to get previously.
I’m excited to see who says yes to MN. I think we will have 1 commit by the end of July and 3 commits by October 15th.

 

[mplarson7]

Stop with the excuses. Kid isn’t going to Mn.

He was never going to MN no matter the coach. I realize trolling is your bit, but it's a bit early for it.

 

[Northeastgopher]

I feel like there’s been a lot of goal post moving. When spring recruiting was sub par I was told not to worry and that class of 2022 is what really mattered. Now that is off to a bad start, people are saying it’s unrealistic for him to land the top Minnesota recruits (which is why we hired him?) so what is it guys? I just want some consistency here.

 

[GopherOhana]

9 2022 MN kids with MN offers, 2 have decided not to play at MN
and maybe another 4 or 5 kids who might still get offers

and that doesn't include DJ Jefferson at MN Prep

thats a very big pond to fish from

MN Boys' Basketball Hub | Recruiting

The official home of Minnesota boys' high school basketball.

www.mnbasketballhub.com

 

[Goldboy]

Agreed that Heine was far fetched due to his Purdue ties but Ben almost for sure had a previous relationship with Heide. Heide wasn’t swayed by Ben enough to get to know him more which is fine. On to the next one.

He might of talked to him once but Heide was never offered by Xavier it unlikely he was doing serious recruiting

 

[UpAndUnder43]

To Ben’s credit he did get Heide to show up for an unofficial before he went to Purdue. Couldn’t get him to hold off until he did an official in the fall, but better than what we were going to get previously.
I’m excited to see who says yes to MN. I think we will have 1 commit by the end of July and 3 commits by October 15th.

I hope you’re right. I can’t say for sure as to what would have happened if Pitino had been retained but I doubt Heide would have been a gopher. Doesn’t even need to be in-state kids but need to put together a solid class.

 

[BarnBurner]

He was never going to MN no matter the coach. I realize trolling is your bit, but it's a bit early for it.

So facts are trolling? He is oh for two. Get over yourself.

 

[Keyser Söze]

I feel like there’s been a lot of goal post moving. When spring recruiting was sub par I was told not to worry and that class of 2022 is what really mattered. Now that is off to a bad start, people are saying it’s unrealistic for him to land the top Minnesota recruits (which is why we hired him?) so what is it guys? I just want some consistency here.

Who is saying it's unrealistic to land top 2022 guys? People have said/implied that about Cam specifically because the writing was on the wall that he was going to Purdue long before Ben was even hired, but landing good MN players in 2022 in general is definitely realistic. 2022 is just getting started though, so getting upset right now is idiotic.

Also, we don't appear to be recruiting Aligbe or Blue, so when they choose to go elsewhere, that won't reflect poorly on Ben, even though we all know you and a couple others will think it is reason to panic.

 

[Keyser Söze]

Holloman, Lee, Watson, and Carrington seem to be the top priorities of the MN players. All would be phenomenal gets and are realistic, though that doesn't necessarily mean it's a failure if we miss one. Ben is allowed to recruit players from other states too.

 

[mplarson7]

So facts are trolling? He is oh for two. Get over yourself.

You honestly thought there was a chance of this recruit coming to Minnesota? You are spinning this as a negative when it wasn't realistic to begin with.

How about you get over yourself for a change? Being the way you are must make daily life quite unpleasant.

 

[BleedGopher]

Go Gophers!!

 

[BarnBurner]

You honestly thought there was a chance of this recruit coming to Minnesota? You are spinning this as a negative when it wasn't realistic to begin with.

How about you get over yourself for a change? Being the way you are must make daily life quite unpleasant.

Yes. Your defeatism is heard. Why would any coach go after high ranking players??????
Oh darn, I don’t have a chance.

 

[umn99]

Go Gophers!!

Gross.

So, when they talk about connection with the AAUs, they need to turn it around with D1 Minnesota. I think Ahjany Lee is with them? Maybe BJ Omot as well?

 

[SanDiegoGopherFan]

Is there any indication he was recruiting them while at Xavier? Certainly wouldn’t be far fetched.

This. If he was recruiting Chet while at Xavier, my guess is he was also recruiting the top 2022 guys, it would only makes sense.

So instead of lowering the bar or making excuses, call it for what it is. He is missing out on top kids already.

You say he's only been here for a few months? So then it would be impossible for any new coach at a program to get top in state players his first year? I think not, it happens, it just didn't happen for Ben.

That is all ok though, but don't make excuses for the man.

He will either succeed, be average or fail.

 

[mplarson7]

Yes. Your defeatism is heard. Why would any coach go after high ranking players??????
Oh darn, I don’t have a chance.

We didn't have a chance with this guy. Purdue was the heavy favorite before BJ even got the job. His dad is a Purdue alumnus. BJ tried to swing for him, the cards were stacked against him.

Now, don't dodge my question like a pansy. Did you think we had a realistic shot of landing him? You are acting like we did, now how about you verbalize it.

 

[Gopherfan84]

Holloman, Lee, Watson, and Carrington seem to be the top priorities of the MN players. All would be phenomenal gets and are realistic, though that doesn't necessarily mean it's a failure if we miss one. Ben is allowed to recruit players from other states too.

They all are and have been from day 1 I believe. If we get 2 of them that’s a good base to the class. 3 or 4 would be dynamite.