All Things Gophers Basketball Class of 2022 Recruiting Thread

I will start out by saying I do not have any inside info nor do I know much about King.

It is funny how everyone assumes that it was King’s choice. Ben has said repeatedly that they will not have a spot for every MN player. Why would he accept a comment from his 5th or 6th choice if it is early and he is still holding spots for his 1st and 2nd choice. I am not saying that King was his 6th choice, but there are many scenarios that could be taking place.

Here I go defending our coach, but why does everyone automatically assume he missed on a player?
 

I will start out by saying I do not have any inside info nor do I know much about King.

It is funny how everyone assumes that it was King’s choice. Ben has said repeatedly that they will not have a spot for every MN player. Why would he accept a comment from his 5th or 6th choice if it is early and he is still holding spots for his 1st and 2nd choice. I am not saying that King was his 6th choice, but there are many scenarios that could be taking place.

Here I go defending our coach, but why does everyone automatically assume he missed on a player?
He missed on a stud. This is the new reality, the intensity of the wrath when missing a MN kid went up 1000 with Coach J. In this case there was a strong family tie with ISU’s new coach, understandable.

If he doesn’t get Holloman Gopherhole will go nuclear...
 

I will start out by saying I do not have any inside info nor do I know much about King.

It is funny how everyone assumes that it was King’s choice. Ben has said repeatedly that they will not have a spot for every MN player. Why would he accept a comment from his 5th or 6th choice if it is early and he is still holding spots for his 1st and 2nd choice. I am not saying that King was his 6th choice, but there are many scenarios that could be taking place.

Here I go defending our coach, but why does everyone automatically assume he missed on a player?
I do think this was King's choice, but who knows where they have him on their "big board" (I still think Holloman is number one target for him). Only they know what their relationships are like with the other kids and how confident they feel landing them or national players.
 




I will start out by saying I do not have any inside info nor do I know much about King.

It is funny how everyone assumes that it was King’s choice. Ben has said repeatedly that they will not have a spot for every MN player. Why would he accept a comment from his 5th or 6th choice if it is early and he is still holding spots for his 1st and 2nd choice. I am not saying that King was his 6th choice, but there are many scenarios that could be taking place.

Here I go defending our coach, but why does everyone automatically assume he missed on a player?
I have not counted it up but BJ will have about 6 scholarships available next year. So slow playing King is not a scenario that happened. He chose ISU over MN.
Ben has only had a couple weeks to recruit anybody so choosing a different school is not necessarily a reflection on Ben’s abilities.

The whole Mn kid premise is flawed. We won’t automatically be in the Final Four if all 5 starters are MN HS players.
 


I have not counted it up but BJ will have about 6 scholarships available next year. So slow playing King is not a scenario that happened. He chose ISU over MN.
Ben has only had a couple weeks to recruit anybody so choosing a different school is not necessarily a reflection on Ben’s abilities.

The whole Mn kid premise is flawed. We won’t automatically be in the Final Four if all 5 starters are MN HS players.
But not all 6 will be freshman. I am just suggesting that it may not only be that Ben missed on a recruit.
 

I will start out by saying I do not have any inside info nor do I know much about King.

It is funny how everyone assumes that it was King’s choice. Ben has said repeatedly that they will not have a spot for every MN player. Why would he accept a comment from his 5th or 6th choice if it is early and he is still holding spots for his 1st and 2nd choice. I am not saying that King was his 6th choice, but there are many scenarios that could be taking place.

Here I go defending our coach, but why does everyone automatically assume he missed on a player?
King is the #2 rated player in the state. If Ben didn’t re-offer or try and build a relationship, he’s even worse than I thought.
 



I have not counted it up but BJ will have about 6 scholarships available next year. So slow playing King is not a scenario that happened. He chose ISU over MN.
Ben has only had a couple weeks to recruit anybody so choosing a different school is not necessarily a reflection on Ben’s abilities.

The whole Mn kid premise is flawed. We won’t automatically be in the Final Four if all 5 starters are MN HS players.
Then why did we hire Johnson over a half dozen more qualified candidates?
 


man i was really hoping for some early momentum with 1 of the MN guys committing early.

obviously the top dog is Holloman....if we can get him early he will certainly help getting other guys here
 

I've heard that he is Ben's top priority right now.
What does this actually mean? Like: physically, tangibly.

What does it mean??

Ben can't pay him money. He can tell him straight up "you're my top priority, we want you here, you'll start day 1".

OK. So??


Is he sending him texts, Facebook messenger, Snapchats, Tiktoks, every 10 minutes? That would get annoying as F, very quickly.


(this post is not at all a personal attack or complaint against you. It's just my commentary on how a statement that seems like it is supposed to be meaningful, can quickly boil down to nothing if you actually look under the hood)
 




Carrington is in tier one and is a high priority, from everything I've heard.
Good to know, and that is part of my question.

Who are the priority 1 recruits vs priority 2 in terms of who the coaches are after vs who are the tier 1 and 2 recruits in terms of ranking? Carrington currently isn't ranked as a recruit (although a few offers are out to him). Is he a reach?
 


Good to know, and that is part of my question.

Who are the priority 1 recruits vs priority 2 in terms of who the coaches are after vs who are the tier 1 and 2 recruits in terms of ranking? Carrington currently isn't ranked as a recruit (although a few offers are out to him). Is he a reach?
Carrington would not be a reach....hes towards the top of BJ's board for good reason....i would expect him to have a lot of good offers rolling in once the AAU season gets rolling

I would put him at #4/#5 for me.
1. Holloman
2. Heide
3. Lee
4/5. Watson-Saulesberry/Carrington
 

Carrington would not be a reach....hes towards the top of BJ's board for good reason....i would expect him to have a lot of good offers rolling in once the AAU season gets rolling

I would put him at #4/#5 for me.
1. Holloman
2. Heide
3. Lee
4/5. Watson-Saulesberry/Carrington
Good list, here's mine

Tier 1 (Top target)
Tre

Tier 2
Heide, Watson,

Tier 3 (Both of these are real close to joining tier 2)
Lee, Carrington

Tier 4
Nnaji, Aligbe, any other MN kid that is offered
 

Good list, here's mine

Tier 1 (Top target)
Tre

Tier 2
Heide, Watson,

Tier 3 (Both of these are real close to joining tier 2)
Lee, Carrington

Tier 4
Nnaji, Aligbe, any other MN kid that is offered
Similar to my thoughts. MAYBE Lee in tier 2 right now and I do think Carrington gets there as well.
 

I have not counted it up but BJ will have about 6 scholarships available next year. So slow playing King is not a scenario that happened. He chose ISU over MN.
Ben has only had a couple weeks to recruit anybody so choosing a different school is not necessarily a reflection on Ben’s abilities.

The whole Mn kid premise is flawed. We won’t automatically be in the Final Four if all 5 starters are MN HS players.
Thank you I don't understand this logic. At one point we started Spencer, Jamal, Lawrence Mckenzie Dan Coleman and Al Nolen and we didn't go to the Final 4 or even the dance
 




I only rate Tre higher because of the domino effect I think he creates. Dudes will commit to play with him.
This is where Pitino, and other coaches, make a mistake. If Pitino would have taken Wright, for example, instead of looking at what he thought was a better player in Jelly, Wright would have attracted other players instead of the alienation it created with the basketball community. Wright was very popular among coaches and players. Coaches need to think strategically sometime and take a player who may not be quite as good as another player because of what they bring in. Izzo has been amazing with this over the years.
 

This is where Pitino, and other coaches, make a mistake. If Pitino would have taken Wright, for example, instead of looking at what he thought was a better player in Jelly, Wright would have attracted other players instead of the alienation it created with the basketball community. Wright was very popular among coaches and players. Coaches need to think strategically sometime and take a player who may not be quite as good as another player because of what they bring in. Izzo has been amazing with this over the years.
Yeah but Jelly was an internet phenom. The guy had hundreds of thousands of insta followers. Had he been successful and had great things to say about MN think of the future recruiting opportunities out of NYC.

I totally get what you're saying and agree with it but Jelly (in theory) could have been responsible for more positive recruiting than Wright. Of course we know how Jelly turned out so hindsight.
 

This is where Pitino, and other coaches, make a mistake. If Pitino would have taken Wright, for example, instead of looking at what he thought was a better player in Jelly, Wright would have attracted other players instead of the alienation it created with the basketball community. Wright was very popular among coaches and players. Coaches need to think strategically sometime and take a player who may not be quite as good as another player because of what they bring in. Izzo has been amazing with this over the years.
Thank you
 

After seeing King commit to ISU I thought I would read about their recruiting process. It sounded like their philosophy was to not to spend much time and effort trying to recruit 5 star. Instead of trying to hit a home run, hit the “doubles and triples” that will give them success. Perhaps Johnson should follow the same process.
 

So who are our preferred in state recruits this class?

Holloman
Ahjany Lee
Watson-Saulsberry
Heide
Aligbe

Then Eli King who is gone?

Tier two?

Willie Wilson
Carrington
Chase Carter
Elvis Nnaji
Chase Carter will be playing football.
 


This is where Pitino, and other coaches, make a mistake. If Pitino would have taken Wright, for example, instead of looking at what he thought was a better player in Jelly, Wright would have attracted other players instead of the alienation it created with the basketball community. Wright was very popular among coaches and players. Coaches need to think strategically sometime and take a player who may not be quite as good as another player because of what they bring in. Izzo has been amazing with this over the years.
Yep. There is a domino effect with local recruits. It's actually a domino effect that can last for a long time.
 




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