Since his arrival in Minneapolis, Richard Pitino, the Gophers basketball coach, has been a very vocal advocate for the value of in-state recruitment. A place like Minnesota, where there is no recent history of success and weather has not been conducive to outsiders, running a strong campaign for home players is very critical. The college football predictions also depict the dire need for change in their tactics. According to Pitiino, in state recruitment is t way to go if they are to succeed.
When the next two consecutive classes of recruits are concerned, this philosophy will come in handy. Compared to any given time in the past 10 years, the land of 10,000 lakes is overfilling with ambitious targets. This is making it intriguing enough for the players, giving the Gophers the opportune chance to hand the entire seven of their target scholarships if they so wish to the locals.
Pitino reiterated in a statement on the state of the Minnesota basketball. He lauded the importance and the positive impact that of home recruitment. He emphasized on the significance of the current recruitment saying it was the best thing they were doing currently and it was their wish to continue doing the same for the future classes, especially the 2017 and the 2018 class.
Pitino pointed that it was paramount to find in-state talent in Minnesota given its relative distance to major cities as well as recruiting grounds.
Pitino added that if you visit both North and South Dakota, it is unlikely to find quality players there. Traditionally, the two regions have not had a lot of players. Pitino said that he always searched for players in a radius that fall within a four –hour drive from where he lives. He had observed that it is an uphill task going to other places to get the players; especially in the Big ten countries as well as their states. He clearly indicated that it was his intention to make it hard for other people to do the same as well.
Similar to all other collegiate coaches, Pitino is in no position to talk about particular recruits in line with the NCAA guidelines and rules. However, he hopes to secure a big man and a guard in a 2017 class that touts McKinley Wright who is a six foot guard and Champlin Park duo Theo John who is a 6-9 power forward and center.
According to Pitino, he likes the Bigs playing at the 4 or at the 5. He also added that he likes the guards being able to play in several positions. According to their roster, they have to take the best big and the best guard they can lay their hands on and the people who seem to meet their criteria are John and Wright.
While Pitino is painting a wider brush, Minnesota will have 5 scholarships to give come 2018. According to him, they need to come up with a big list. He added that it would be relevant to have a bigger board than usual as for every position; it’s got to be all-ranging.