PiPress: Pitino should stick to the state of Minnesota for big men

[BleedGopher]

per Marcus:

It’s been a long time since the Gophers had a starting center from the state of Minnesota. How long?

The last Minnesotan to be the man in the middle for the program was Chaska’s Spencer Tollackson in 2007-08. Tubby Smith and Richard Pitino both decided to look outside the state for size inside: Ralph Sampson III (Georgia), Colton Iverson (South Dakota), Mo Walker (Canada), Elliott Eliason (Nebraska), Bakary Konate (Mali) and Gaston Diedhiou (Senegal).

Those were all the starting centers for the Gophers in the last eight years. Edina native Reggie Lynch will finally break that trend next season once he takes over the spot. The U’s best post players in the last 20 years were all from this state with Trevor Mbakwe, Jeff Hagen, Kris Humphries, Rick Rickert, Joel Przybilla and John Thomas.

As you can see below, the Class of 2018 is loaded with big guys with high-major potential. Here is a list of some the of the top high school big man prospects in Minnesota:

Theo John 6-9 2016 Champlin Park — Offers from Minnesota, Marquette, Illinois and Iowa.

Jericho Sims 6-8 2016 Cristo Rey Jesuit — Offers from Nebraska, Virginia Tech and Texas Tech.

Nathan Reuvers 6-9 2017 Lakeville North — Offers from DePaul, Duquesne and Air Force.

JaVonni Bickham 6-8 2018 Minnehaha Academy — Interest from Minnesota, Ohio State, Michigan State

Race Thompson 6-8 2018 Armstrong — Offers from Minnesota and North Dakota

Jarvis Thomas 6-7 2018 Tartan — Interest from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa

Adam Trapp 7-2 2018 Esko — Offers from Iowa and DePaul.

Matthew Hurt 6-9 2019 John Marshall — Offers from Iowa State and Iowa.

http://blogs.twincities.com/gophers...find-a-center-look-in-the-state-of-minnesota/

Go Gophers!!

 

[Otis]

per Marcus: Matthew Hurt 6-9 2019 John Marshall — Offers from Iowa State and Iowa.

We haven't offered Michael Hurt?

Maybe we should fire Pitino.

 

[bemidjigopher]

We haven't offered Michael Hurt?

Maybe we should fire Pitino.

Wrong Hurt. Will offer Matthew, I read an article last year that the reason they haven't yet is they want Michael to have his moment, come summer time Matthew will have his offer. As for the others on the list, guessing Pitino is planning just that, Theo John is his top recruit for 2017, already offered Thompson, Hurt will get an offer, Lynch is obviously back home. I am sure Reuvers, Thomas and Trapp will get looks

 

[march madness]

Post players

According to Star Tribune rosters, Bickham, Thompson, and Thomas are all listed 2 inches shorter than what you have here. Has anyone seen any of these players beyond John and Reuvers play? That is a long list of big men. I can see us getting 2-3 hopefully. Most wanted: Matthew and John. Matthew sounds like Mike Dunleavy.

per Marcus:
As you can see below, the Class of 2018 is loaded with big guys with high-major potential. Here is a list of some the of the top high school big man prospects in Minnesota:

Theo John 6-9 2016 Champlin Park — Offers from Minnesota, Marquette, Illinois and Iowa.

Jericho Sims 6-8 2016 Cristo Rey Jesuit — Offers from Nebraska, Virginia Tech and Texas Tech.

Nathan Reuvers 6-9 2017 Lakeville North — Offers from DePaul, Duquesne and Air Force.

JaVonni Bickham 6-8 2018 Minnehaha Academy — Interest from Minnesota, Ohio State, Michigan State

Race Thompson 6-8 2018 Armstrong — Offers from Minnesota and North Dakota

Jarvis Thomas 6-7 2018 Tartan — Interest from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa

Adam Trapp 7-2 2018 Esko — Offers from Iowa and DePaul.

Matthew Hurt 6-9 2019 John Marshall — Offers from Iowa State and Iowa.

http://blogs.twincities.com/gophers...find-a-center-look-in-the-state-of-minnesota/

Go Gophers!!

 

[Winasota Gopher]

FWIW Pitino has stayed local for his big men. He tried to get Shanks in here, who would be an improvement over Gas (not a huge one). He went and got Joey King, and now he is going to bring in Reggie Lynch next year.

 

[CentralGopher]

I don't care what state he gets them but he needs something other than spring recruits or transfers. Pitino needs to show he can recruit a center and not just take what is available.

 

[Tim1406]

I don't care what state he gets them but he needs something other than spring recruits or transfers. Pitino needs to show he can recruit a center and not just take what is available.

It's funny you say this. This was a constant complaint about Smith with point guards. I would argue, though, that Murphy was a nice add late and Curry wont be a spring recruit. Missing out of the Reid Travis lottery hurt our level of post player recruits we've gotten. Imagine having Travis (12 and 8 for Stanford this year) over Diedhiou...

Edit: point guard not all guards

 

[golfing18now]

I don't care what state he gets them but he needs something other than spring recruits or transfers. Pitino needs to show he can recruit a center and not just take what is available.

I'm guessing based on some of the comments he made early on about Konate that he thought he already had his center.

We also shouldn't forget about Nwankwo. That was also an unforeseen circumstance that probably shut down his recruitment of centers for nine months in that particular class. (commit in September, de-commit in June, if I recall correctly)

 

[Cayman]

I'm guessing based on some of the comments he made early on about Konate that he thought he already had his center.

We also shouldn't forget about Nwankwo. That was also an unforeseen circumstance that probably shut down his recruitment of centers for nine months in that particular class. (commit in September, de-commit in June, if I recall correctly)

Rivals says Murphy committed May 11th, 2015, and there are stories from the 15th and 16th of May from various publications about Murphy committing to the Gophers. Then there are other articles from May 18th on the Pioneer Press and The Daily Gopher about Nwankwo being officially released from his letter of intent, which also say stuff about how "Pitino may look to add another player," that player presumably being Murphy. The dates are weird. I don't remember things happening so fast. Did we know for awhile that Nwankwo wasn't gonna make it, before he was officially released?

Also as a side note, as much as I'm sure we're all loving Murphy, I do feel bad for Nwankwo, he seemed super excited to play for the Gophers. The Pioneer Press article about it said "He's extremely upset, but we'll pull through."