All Things Gophers Basketball Class of 2022 Recruiting Thread

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Johnnyboy18 said:
He wasn't likely to come here. No point to continue to push if he isn't likely to come here and he's not playing well.
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So the real truth is- we got beat out by ISU. Period. A local kid with his potential having a bad summer is worth a take when you view our situation. Does anyone think we are going to get 8 recruits that are higher end than him? I don't.
 

bga1 said:
So the real truth is- we got beat out by ISU. Period. A local kid with his potential having a bad summer is worth a take when you view our situation. Does anyone think we are going to get 8 recruits that are higher end than him? I don't.
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Maybe? I don't think bga1 from gopherhole would know however. Looks like he was no longer a take for Vandy.

8 recruits? I don't think there's any universe where they take 8 high school kids. What was your favorite part about Watson's game?
 






Johnnyboy18 said:
Maybe? I don't think bga1 from gopherhole would know however. Looks like he was no longer a take for Vandy.

8 recruits? I don't think there's any universe where they take 8 high school kids. What was your favorite part about Watson's game?
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Did I say 8 HS kids? I missed that part. I wouldn't know, though, that is true. Others, that might, are saying quite confidently that he had a committable offer and chose them. It is not conclusive, but it isn't a good data point. I am going to feel a LOT better if Carrington and Payne commit and I will go full Ben Johnson cheerleader if Holloman follows. I want Ben to succeed badly. I am concerned at the moment and I think reasonably so.
 

Johnnyboy18 said:
Maybe? I don't think bga1 from gopherhole would know however. Looks like he was no longer a take for Vandy.

8 recruits? I don't think there's any universe where they take 8 high school kids. What was your favorite part about Watson's game?
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Couldn't you use this exact thought process every time someone is excited about a recruit?
 



BarnBurner said:
Sure hope Ben doesn't tell some kids to transfer. Appreciated RP for not doing that to kids.

Kid struggling for a while - I guess the only kids MN takes are ON all the time. Good to know.
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I hope ben doesnt do that either. Other coaches do I'm sure. As far as the minnesota kids having to be ON all the time, those are your words. Nobody said they had to be on all the time or they're gone. Hasnt happened yet and maybe never will. Watson didnt have a good summer and maybe johnson didnt see him as a good fit. Happens all the time.
 











builtbadgers said:
Way better offer list for Watson. Big time offers. Time will tell.
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What offers were legit? Watson didn’t have any big schools reaching out or watching him all July. Green on the other hand has an offer list that is growing. Green was a lot better than Watson in July. Doesn’t mean it will stick or be forever. That’s on the staffs to judge. All I know is it was basically MN and ISU watching him and keeping in contact the past two weeks.
 

manderson1984 said:
What offers were legit? Watson didn’t have any big schools reaching out or watching him all July. Green on the other hand has an offer list that is growing. Green was a lot better than Watson in July. Doesn’t mean it will stick or be forever. That’s on the staffs to judge. All I know is it was basically MN and ISU watching him and keeping in contact the past two weeks.
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They just went head to head last week too, Green completely outplayed Watson. Watson went like 0-7 and i dont think he even scored, Green had about 15 in a 30 pt win for his AAU team.
 

manderson1984 said:
What offers were legit? Watson didn’t have any big schools reaching out or watching him all July. Green on the other hand has an offer list that is growing. Green was a lot better than Watson in July. Doesn’t mean it will stick or be forever. That’s on the staffs to judge. All I know is it was basically MN and ISU watching him and keeping in contact the past two weeks.
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Florida saw him regularly. White was not alone in loving his defensive versatility.
 



6'8" 40 inch vertical that likes to run the floor in transition and violently slam...we probably got better athletes in the pipeline?
Plus, it isn't like he has no shooting form. I doubt we cooled on him with 8 open slots to fill but I'm only guessing. It ain't how good he played in July....it's how good can we make him in 2022-23.
Iowa St slant

HiLites
 

60's Guy said:
6'8" 40 inch vertical that likes to run the floor in transition and violently slam...we probably got better athletes in the pipeline?
Plus, it isn't like he has no shooting form. I doubt we cooled on him with 8 open slots to fill but I'm only guessing. It ain't how good he played in July....it's how good can we make him in 2022-23.
Iowa St slant

HiLites
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Who knows with recruiting. He is intriguing as a 4 way defender. I like him more than several state kids on the list but have not seen Green whom Hoiberg is going all out to keep home,especially since keeping Traudt home.
 

builtbadgers said:
Florida saw him regularly. White was not alone in loving his defensive versatility.
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Then why did they all quit watching and contacting him the last 2-3 weeks and why did he move up his timeline so quickly? I liked Watson and would’ve gladly taken him btw.
 

It's tough to separate fact from fiction on Watson because the usual suspects who have defended Ben Johnson or at the very least framed things very favorably for him among the Minnesota recruting sites and social media community are the ones that have come out and said (or strongly hinted) that Minnesota moved on.

Here's what I know that doesn't come from those sources that backs that line of thinking

- Watson didn't perform well at all at Pangos and then has not performed well on the circuit either
- His offer list, at least at the high major level, was shrinking. Vandy doesn't think he was a take for them either at this point...so you're looking at ISU and Cal if Minnesota was out and that could explain why an announcement was made on a random Monday IF offers were drying up.

Here's what doesn't
- The same people that are saying Watson wasn't a take now reported that he was a priority at the beginning of Johnson's tenure. That's quite a dropoff in a short period of time. Somehow Iowa State got an official visit while this line of thinking still existed and Minnesota did now.
- Ryan James reported a month ago(or so) that he didn't think Minnesota was going to get Watson with the reported reason (excuse IMO) that he didn't want to play the 4 in the Big Ten.

I honestly don't know what to think here. It seems awfully convenient that an absolutely devastating miss (losing a SECOND guy to Iowa State?!!!) wasn't actually a miss, but it's not hard to see that a kid that didn't do much as a high school junior who was being recruited on potential and then instead of blowing up this Spring/Summer plateaued or regressed would fall down the pecking order. Even if you suggest he had all commitable offers a group of Iowa State, Vanderbilt, and California is not exactly who you want to be competing with and clearly shows that Watson wasn't making a push in to the top 100 that some expected in the Spring. On the other hand, even that group of schools represents an upgrade from what we've seen so far. With so many scholarships to give it seems hard to believe that they will end up using all of them on guys better than Watson. It's actually a good thing (IMHO) that Doogie has been pretty clear in saying Watson wasn't a take for this staff. Just last week Doogie reported that Steffon Mitchell would have went to San Diego State and not Minnesota if he returned to college so he clearly has no issue tweaking the U even if he does have access to Ben Johnson.

So where is the truth? Hard to say. The one thing that seems clear to me though is that the "early" excuse is BS at this point. Iowa State has 3 commitments in the '22 class. Xavier (where Ben was previously) has 2. 5 teams in the B1G have multiple commitments. It's not necessary to have a commitment by now but in these unique circumstances (how this roster was set up for '21, why this hire was made, etc) it's more than fair to be skeptical of what is going on. I have been hoping that they've wanted to give Tre the opportunity to be the first guy to commit, to give him that shine but that's just optomistic hope on my part and not based on anything I've heard.
 

Some potential good news on the recruiting front to discuss.

Brendan Hausen 6'5 shooting guard from Texas: Gophers were in on him early and I believe he was a Thorson find. He's just received offers in the past week or so from Arizona State, Oregon, Virginia Tech, and now just yesterday from Villanova. He said in an interview today that Minnesota was one of 5 schools he wanted to see in person (Villanova and Oregon were two of the others).

Ryan Dunn 6'6 wing from New York: Gophers were one of his first high major offers a couple weeks ago. Today Virginia offered.

Obviously it doesn't mean much if the Gophers don't land either of these guys, but the fact that the staff (Thorson in one case, not sure who was on Dunn) were able to identify these kids as worth of offers before they blew up nationally is a good thing.
 



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