All Things Gophers Basketball Class of 2022 Recruiting Thread

[Ski-U-Ham]

Why should any 22 take a leap of faith on what BJ has done to date?

He could wind up being an amazing coach and building a powerhouse program here. But would you be willing to let your 22 class son risk that, at this time?

At this point all that Ben has is the opportunity to pitch is himself. He doesn't have tradition, he doesn't have experience. At this point in time, he has to be able to sell himself and convince recruits that if they come to the U they'll leave better players and people than they were than they came. He'll have to do that a lot better than other coaches to make up for what he doesn't have (school tradition, track record of success). The phrase "sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves" comes to mind.

 

[scools12]

That is based upon your opinion of what has taken place so far. I would say some of the recruits and the coaches have been wins he doesn’t get much credit for yet. I also think that many of the misses that people claim are not what they seem to the nay sayers. Some of the former players leaving could lean more towards a win than a lose. It is sounding like hiring Coach K would not have kept the local recruits that we “lost” to stay home.

Fans need to relax and let it play out. Ben and his staff are working as hard as they can to move our program to the next level and they need our support. No coach would have been able to satisfy the critics in this fanbase.

Isn’t this also an opinion?

 

[Cayman]

I believe that, in the past decade or more, the Gophers have had 3 players that have committed to Minnesota before today's date in the summer before their senior years: Michael Hurt, Daniel Oturu, and Treyton Thompson, who committed in January, January, and November of their junior years of high school respectively. Kevin Dorsey, Jarvis Omersa, and Gabe Kalscheur committed in July. I wanna say Dupree McBrayer committed in August, and most of the rest were in September or later. In our history, it has been very normal for us to not have a commit yet in mid-June, which you could maybe counter by arguing that both Tubby and Pitino were exceptionally poor recruiters, and Pitino in particular did have a tendency to fill out the roster with spring commitments, taking guys who would be properly joining the basketball program less than a year after committing.

I count 28 of 247's top 150 players for 2022 that are currently committed, so a little less than 20%. Two of those guys are from Minnesota (King and Heide), and a third (Hurlburt) is from around the area, and had an offer from the Gophers, and Lipsey is not included in this because he is not a top 150 recruit. I think some people are pushing the panic button because an abnormally high number of players from Minnesota, or playing AAU ball in Minnesota, and who had offers from Minnesota, are committing in May and June, and it gives a feeling that "all of the good players are leaving! Everyone else has a commitment in June, why don't we?" when really this is how it usually goes. In the Big Ten, Michigan, Michigan State, Rutgers, and Wisconsin also do not have a 2022 commit, and their coaches have all been working at their respective schools for more than 3 months.

Danny Wolf just took an official visit to Minnesota yesterday. It sounds like we're in good spots with Braeden Carrington and Damarion Watson. We'll get some commits from some solid players, it just hasn't happened yet.

 

[Off-GridTNgopher]

That is based upon your opinion of what has taken place so far. I would say some of the recruits and the coaches have been wins he doesn’t get much credit for yet. I also think that many of the misses that people claim are not what they seem to the nay sayers. Some of the former players leaving could lean more towards a win than a lose. It is sounding like hiring Coach K would not have kept the local recruits that we “lost” to stay home.

Fans need to relax and let it play out. Ben and his staff are working as hard as they can to move our program to the next level and they need our support. No coach would have been able to satisfy the critics in this fanbase.

Which recruit so far is a "win"???

 

[restovich]

Parker Fox. Jamison Battle.

 

[umn99]

Danny Wolf just took an official visit to Minnesota yesterday. It sounds like we're in good spots with Braeden Carrington and Damarion Watson. We'll get some commits from some solid players, it just hasn't happened yet.

And Holloman! I’ll continue to listen to those that know that say we’re right in it. In the next 6 weeks, we’ll be in a better spot. They are casting a wide net.

 

[Gopher Buckets #1 Fan]

Lets get after all of them I Benįstaff, Keep them home the next Fab 5.

 

[salzie]

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.

2022 recruiting is over?

 

[MNVCGUY]

2022 recruiting is over?

It would appear so. We had to land every single in-state kid or the class was a complete and total disaster. The fact that 2 guys with strong ties to other programs have decided to commit elsewhere means that Johnson has no shot to land any in-state talent and we are doomed. May as well just board up Williams and shut it all down.

or

You know we could just wait and see how it all plays out over the next few months before passing any sort of judgement on the 2022 recruiting cycle.

 

[TruthSeeker]

It would appear so. We had to land every single in-state kid or the class was a complete and total disaster. The fact that 2 guys with strong ties to other programs have decided to commit elsewhere means that Johnson has no shot to land any in-state talent and we are doomed. May as well just board up Williams and shut it all down.

or

You know we could just wait and see how it all plays out over the next few months before passing any sort of judgement on the 2022 recruiting cycle.

Option 1.

 

[BarnBurner]

It would appear so. We had to land every single in-state kid or the class was a complete and total disaster. The fact that 2 guys with strong ties to other programs have decided to commit elsewhere means that Johnson has no shot to land any in-state talent and we are doomed. May as well just board up Williams and shut it all down.

or

You know we could just wait and see how it all plays out over the next few months before passing any sort of judgement on the 2022 recruiting cycle.

Passing judgement is quite different than pointing out recruiting misses.

 

[GopherBlood777]

It would appear so. We had to land every single in-state kid or the class was a complete and total disaster. The fact that 2 guys with strong ties to other programs have decided to commit elsewhere means that Johnson has no shot to land any in-state talent and we are doomed. May as well just board up Williams and shut it all down.

or

You know we could just wait and see how it all plays out over the next few months before passing any sort of judgement on the 2022 recruiting cycle.

You should probably send a memo to pro sports analysts who give draft grades. They won't actually know how a draft graded out until about 5 years down the line, so they probably shouldn't even talk about it until then, right? A large portion of sports talk is reckless speculation, it is what it is.

 

[GopherBlood777]

 

[TruthSeeker]

You should probably send a memo to pro sports analysts who give draft grades. They won't actually know how a draft graded out until about 5 years down the line, so they probably shouldn't even talk about it until then, right? A large portion of sports talk is reckless speculation, it is what it is.

They're forced to write those columns by editors to generate clicks. They're some of the most read stories every year.

 

[GopherBlood777]

They're forced to write those columns by editors to generate clicks. They're some of the most read stories every year.

Exactly. Reckless sports speculation generates the most interest and conversation. This is why the "wait and see crowd" is getting annoying. Not because I disagree, but because they insist everyone also do that as well. Some want to anoint great things ahead, some terrible things ahead, some have no opinion. No one is wrong at this point, half the fun is looking back and seeing who was right and what their thoughts were at the time.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Exactly. Reckless sports speculation generates the most interest and conversation. This is why the "wait and see crowd" is getting annoying. Not because I disagree, but because they insist everyone also do that as well. Some want to anoint great things ahead, some terrible things ahead, some have no opinion. No one is wrong at this point, half the fun is looking back and seeing who was right and what their thoughts were at the time.

Yep. The writers hate writing thek because they have little time to prepare them, and readers never forget.

McShay still gets crap about Leidner in his post draft "Way Too Early Next Year's Draft" column.

 

[builtbadgers]

It would appear so. We had to land every single in-state kid or the class was a complete and total disaster. The fact that 2 guys with strong ties to other programs have decided to commit elsewhere means that Johnson has no shot to land any in-state talent and we are doomed. May as well just board up Williams and shut it all down.

or

You know we could just wait and see how it all plays out over the next few months before passing any sort of judgement on the 2022 recruiting cycle.

Great post. It runs the spectrum including a lot of fans that over rate local talent even without seeing them play much less play against high end talent.

 

[builtbadgers]

That is based upon your opinion of what has taken place so far. I would say some of the recruits and the coaches have been wins he doesn’t get much credit for yet. I also think that many of the misses that people claim are not what they seem to the nay sayers. Some of the former players leaving could lean more towards a win than a lose. It is sounding like hiring Coach K would not have kept the local recruits that we “lost” to stay home.

Fans need to relax and let it play out. Ben and his staff are working as hard as they can to move our program to the next level and they need our support. No coach would have been able to satisfy the critics in this fanbase.

There are coaches that if they were here would have kept some highly rated players home. Many players jump at offers from great coaches. No big deal, they do not work here.

 

[MplsGopher]

if they are pitching early playing time and a chance to play in the big ten....man i would seriously tell my kid to take a close look at them.

I'm talking the top kids in MN, where the Gophers aren't going to be the only Big Ten offer. As far as early playing time, that is a fair point. Just wonder how much it even registered with big time recruits these days. They see some (redshirt) freshman making significant contributions to high-major teams, and maybe thing "that should be me too".

Gets back to the point I was making in football, where you wonder if the transfer portal will be as (even more!) important than high school recruits. Kids who go to elite programs, it doesn't work out for whatever reasons, and would then consider taking a half-step down in the high-majors over doing a lateral move to another top program.

And if we are a Minnesota family i sure as heck am telling them to consider staying him so we can make every home game....

Sure, selfishly I'm sure every parent goes through this line of thought. But at the end of the day, what's best for the boy is what they're going to support.

 

[UpAndUnder43]

It would appear so. We had to land every single in-state kid or the class was a complete and total disaster. The fact that 2 guys with strong ties to other programs have decided to commit elsewhere means that Johnson has no shot to land any in-state talent and we are doomed. May as well just board up Williams and shut it all down.

or

You know we could just wait and see how it all plays out over the next few months before passing any sort of judgement on the 2022 recruiting cycle.

All good with the wait and see approach but I was told to wait to judge him until the 2022 class. It’s a fluid situation—I understand that. However, if he misses out on a solid 2022 class there has to be a change in the narrative because that is what was promoted for patience.
I’ve come to terms with that fact that 2021 could be a tough year for gopher faithful and I’ve even come to terms with Johnson as the head coach. But when all we hear is that 2022 is the year and two top kids that he offered commit elsewhere without really giving him a shot—it doesn’t look great.
I did end up not renewing my tickets pretty chill to have $1580 to put towards daycare

 

[UpAndUnder43]

Sounds like Appelhans enjoyed his visit. #notcommited but nice to see him tweet about it. Long kid.

 

[MNVCGUY]

All good with the wait and see approach but I was told to wait to judge him until the 2022 class. It’s a fluid situation—I understand that. However, if he misses out on a solid 2022 class there has to be a change in the narrative because that is what was promoted for patience.
I’ve come to terms with that fact that 2021 could be a tough year for gopher faithful and I’ve even come to terms with Johnson as the head coach. But when all we hear is that 2022 is the year and two top kids that he offered commit elsewhere without really giving him a shot—it doesn’t look great.
I did end up not renewing my tickets pretty chill to have $1580 to put towards daycare

My whole post was in response to those acting like the 2022 class is done when it is in fact just getting started. 2 local guys have committed to places where they had strong ties. We are nowhere close to the end of the 2022 cycle so it is foolish to try and make any evaluations of the 2022 recruiting class at this point.

 

[builtbadgers]

My whole post was in response to those acting like the 2022 class is done when it is in fact just getting started. 2 local guys have committed to places where they had strong ties. We are nowhere close to the end of the 2022 cycle so it is foolish to try and make any evaluations of the 2022 recruiting class at this point.

Agree. There are at least a dozen out of state prospects known and that many unknown. This staff will recruit everyday.

 

[bga1]

It would appear so. We had to land every single in-state kid or the class was a complete and total disaster. The fact that 2 guys with strong ties to other programs have decided to commit elsewhere means that Johnson has no shot to land any in-state talent and we are doomed. May as well just board up Williams and shut it all down.

or

You know we could just wait and see how it all plays out over the next few months before passing any sort of judgement on the 2022 recruiting cycle.

I think you just knocked down a straw man there. Nobody that I have seen is saying that the class is anywhere near over. Each player that commits elsewhere without us getting one, is a data point that will concern people as there is no track record here.
I think they will get a good class- but that is just based on hope and nothing else at this point. We know this coming year is going to be very difficult and Ben will not have a ton to sell other than personal connection and opportunity. He MUST score a very good class this fall. It won't be easy but he has to do it.

 

[BleedGopher]

Go Gophers!!

 

[BleedGopher]

Go Gophers!!

 

[Keyser Söze]

My whole post was in response to those acting like the 2022 class is done when it is in fact just getting started. 2 local guys have committed to places where they had strong ties. We are nowhere close to the end of the 2022 cycle so it is foolish to try and make any evaluations of the 2022 recruiting class at this point.

There are a few people on this board who decided shortly after hiring Ben that it was a failure, so they seem to be looking for reasons to validate that opinion. That’s why they’re so eager to talk about 2022 recruiting not going well even though our top targets in the class from the very beginning haven’t even committed anywhere yet.

 

[BarnBurner]

There are a few people on this board who decided shortly after hiring Ben that it was a failure, so they seem to be looking for reasons to validate that opinion. That’s why they’re so eager to talk about 2022 recruiting not going well even though our top targets in the class from the very beginning haven’t even committed anywhere yet.

So Heide and King were not top targets. Noted.

 

[UpAndUnder43]

My whole post was in response to those acting like the 2022 class is done when it is in fact just getting started. 2 local guys have committed to places where they had strong ties. We are nowhere close to the end of the 2022 cycle so it is foolish to try and make any evaluations of the 2022 recruiting class at this point.

I agree. But if we're speculating that the class will be fine because only two guys have committed elsewhere we can speculate the class won't be fine. If we're not going to speculate on here this board will be very quiet.
I think Ben will get 1 of the top local 2022 targets and add a few solid recruits from elsewhere. I don't know enough of the local guys to pick one but I think someone will fall in love with the idea of staying home and playing for him.

 

[GopherOhana]

i think appelhans has had a New Mexico offer since april. if Ben is targeting him, might be an interesting recruiting battle, old coach vs new coach.