BleedGopher
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per Marcus:
This time last year, the Gophers had offered only one Minnesota high school player in both the 2019 and ’20 classes. Obvious choices, too: Rochester John Marshall’s Matthew Hurt and Minnehaha Academy’s Jalen Suggs, five-star players ranked in the top five in their classes.
But Richard Pitino has widened his recruiting lens beyond those two. The Gophers coach, two years removed from going 0-for-7 on Minnesotans, has stepped up his pursuit of in-state talent, recruiting players earlier and more aggressively. Eight Gophers offers now are out to Minnesota high school sophomores and juniors — four in each class.
“When you’re the only Division I basketball program [in the state], it’s going to be very important to those kids,” Pitino said this week. “Recruiting the state will always be important to us.”
Six D1 Minnesota AAU players have offers from the Gophers: Hurt, Nnaji, Tyrell Terry, Tyler Wahl, Dawson Garcia and Ben Carlson.
Gophers fans can get a closer look at those prospects when D1 Minnesota opens play in the Battle at the Lakes on Saturday morning at Wayzata High School.
“[A Minnesota offer] means everything because you grow up watching the Gophers on TV,” said Nnaji, who was offered by Pitino in November. “You aspire to be them. When you finally get the offer, it’s like ‘wow,’ I’m starting to get there. It was really humbling knowing that. It’s still motivation to work harder to prove I deserve it.”
http://www.startribune.com/make-you...ing-state-s-top-basketball-players/482436671/
Go Gophers!!
This time last year, the Gophers had offered only one Minnesota high school player in both the 2019 and ’20 classes. Obvious choices, too: Rochester John Marshall’s Matthew Hurt and Minnehaha Academy’s Jalen Suggs, five-star players ranked in the top five in their classes.
But Richard Pitino has widened his recruiting lens beyond those two. The Gophers coach, two years removed from going 0-for-7 on Minnesotans, has stepped up his pursuit of in-state talent, recruiting players earlier and more aggressively. Eight Gophers offers now are out to Minnesota high school sophomores and juniors — four in each class.
“When you’re the only Division I basketball program [in the state], it’s going to be very important to those kids,” Pitino said this week. “Recruiting the state will always be important to us.”
Six D1 Minnesota AAU players have offers from the Gophers: Hurt, Nnaji, Tyrell Terry, Tyler Wahl, Dawson Garcia and Ben Carlson.
Gophers fans can get a closer look at those prospects when D1 Minnesota opens play in the Battle at the Lakes on Saturday morning at Wayzata High School.
“[A Minnesota offer] means everything because you grow up watching the Gophers on TV,” said Nnaji, who was offered by Pitino in November. “You aspire to be them. When you finally get the offer, it’s like ‘wow,’ I’m starting to get there. It was really humbling knowing that. It’s still motivation to work harder to prove I deserve it.”
http://www.startribune.com/make-you...ing-state-s-top-basketball-players/482436671/
Go Gophers!!