All Things 2014 Basketball Recruiting Thread

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bga1 said:
After reading a few of Lofton's interviews- here and elsewhere, I am now getting excited about him based on his sheer desire to perform as a Gopher. Kid is about as excited as you can be and is pumped to get better. I am drinking the kool aide.
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I'm also getting a little warmer to the idea of fewer eligible players. If Lofton and one of the new big men redshirt (perhaps Konate), that would leave the Gophers with only 11 available scholarship players and that might be a good thing if it results in Martin, Mason, Morris, and McNeil all getting more playing time.
 

So it looks like we have six 3 star guys? I like this class! Nice job pitino way to finish up! I am fired up for next season
 

Everybody saying we're unsure about Lofton's ability to shoot/score, remember Pitino will have 1.5 years to work on him and make him bust his a$$ before he ever sees the floor. you know he'll be working on his shot and doing so against a high pressure D every day in practice. I for one see him improving quite a bit from that alone
 

gopherhoopsguy said:
So it looks like we have six 3 star guys? I like this class! Nice job pitino way to finish up! I am fired up for next season
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This is a very creative recruiting class- went Juco, transfer, to Africa, to an academy and a couple of nice HS recruits. Some risk, reward guys and I have a feeling they will be rewarded. This should be a very fun class to watch in the years ahead.
 

bga1 said:
After reading a few of Lofton's interviews- here and elsewhere, I am now getting excited about him based on his sheer desire to perform as a Gopher. Kid is about as excited as you can be and is pumped to get better. I am drinking the kool aide.
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Same! Marcus Fuller seems to be really high on him as well. I hope he can put it all together here.
 




If King or Buggs are Power Forwards then my grandma is an NFL Olineman. They're both basically the third/fourth guards on the floor.

We can't think in terms of a 1-5 system, because that's not we really run.


Can't really think in a 1-5 system? How so? EE is 6-11, King is 6-9. Given their height and mobility, they are no where near a guard type player. Not really sure what you're trying to say. We had 1-5 in at once probably 80% of the time last season.


How did we run 1-5 system 80% of the time last year when we didn't even have a 3 on our roster?
 





Jigga said:
I wonder if the Columbia Heights kid your speaking of is the Illinois state transfer zach Lofton?

Or you could be talking about Jacob Thomas. He went to San Diego State, then to a Texas JUCO, then to UTEP after that I lost track of him.
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Not sure who GuyFawks is talking about. Thomas would have had major interest if not for his academics, good chance he would have been a gopher. He didn't qualify and never made it to UTEP, though they were very excited to get him. I don't know if he is playing euro or where he is at, but I'm curious if anyone knows. Was ranked ESPN top 100 and hell of a player...
 

MN Daily: Josh Martin on Gophers six-man recruiting class: "We're going to be able to become a family early"

It's a rarity to have six players in one recruiting class, but Martin said he prefers it.

"It's gratifying to know that people want to come to a place like Minnesota and it's cool to know that this is going to be a big class for us to grow for awhile," Martin said. "We're going to be able to become a family early and be with each other for a couple of years."

Martin said he personally hasn't heard from any of the springs recruits -- Konate, Diedhiou and Lofton -- yet. He said assistant coach Dan McHale called him a few days ago to tell him a little bit about them.

"He was just saying 'there's a couple running mates for us,'" Martin said. "[McHale said] they're big, strong, like to block shots, play really hard and are great young men as well as basketball players, which was a good thing to hear."

http://www.mndaily.com/blogs/upon-f...s-six-man-recruiting-class-were-going-be-able

Go Gophers!!
 

per Sid:

Competing for recruits

Richard Pitino and the Gophers basketball team received verbal commitments from Zach Lofton, Bakary Konate and Gaston Diedhiou this week.

But Diedhiou and Konate come from schools where teammates also signed with Division I programs. At Diedhiou’s school, the Canarias Basketball Academy in the Canary Islands in Spain, he had teammates sign with Maryland, Pittsburgh and Louisville. Konate’s school, Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kan., had players sign with Michigan State, Arizona and San Diego. So the question will be: Did Pitino get the best player from either school?

Diedhiou, a 6-9 center, might be a project and not ready to contribute as a freshman. Lofton, a 6-4 guard transfer from Illinois State who was suspended for the final three games of the season for undisclosed reasons, attended St. Bernard’s for two years and then, when the school closed, he transferred to Columbia Heights and became the leading scorer. The 6-11 Konate also had offers from Tulane, Mississippi and Louisville.

All three players have until late May to sign their national letters of intent. None has enrolled at Minnesota as yet.

Meanwhile, Richard Pitino and his wife, Jill, are celebrating the birth of a baby boy named Jack, a new brother for their daughter, Ava.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wild/256636801.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue

Go Gophers!!
 



Jigga said:
It seems like i am the only poster who thinks Buggs and even king may be able to "spell" sometime at the 3...
granted, I know pitino's system is fast paced but, he slowed it down a few times this year when he needed too. because he didn't have the personel.

I think they are capable from what little I've seen of Buggs and I think King may work on his long range shot and help stretch the D.

But thats just my opinion and I think coach P would only do it out of nessecity.
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I'm with you.
 

BleedGopher said:
per Sid:

Competing for recruits

Richard Pitino and the Gophers basketball team received verbal commitments from Zach Lofton, Bakary Konate and Gaston Diedhiou this week.

But Diedhiou and Konate come from schools where teammates also signed with Division I programs. At Diedhiou’s school, the Canarias Basketball Academy in the Canary Islands in Spain, he had teammates sign with Maryland, Pittsburgh and Louisville. Konate’s school, Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kan., had players sign with Michigan State, Arizona and San Diego. So the question will be: Did Pitino get the best player from either school?

Diedhiou, a 6-9 center, might be a project and not ready to contribute as a freshman. Lofton, a 6-4 guard transfer from Illinois State who was suspended for the final three games of the season for undisclosed reasons, attended St. Bernard’s for two years and then, when the school closed, he transferred to Columbia Heights and became the leading scorer. The 6-11 Konate also had offers from Tulane, Mississippi and Louisville.

All three players have until late May to sign their national letters of intent. None has enrolled at Minnesota as yet.

Meanwhile, Richard Pitino and his wife, Jill, are celebrating the birth of a baby boy named Jack, a new brother for their daughter, Ava.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wild/256636801.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue

Go Gophers!!
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To answer Sid's question the only recruit we have who was his school's best player is Josh Martin. That's not a knock on our class, just shows how strong some of these JUCOS and Prep Schools are
 

BleedGopher said:
MN Daily: Josh Martin on Gophers six-man recruiting class: "We're going to be able to become a family early"

It's a rarity to have six players in one recruiting class, but Martin said he prefers it.

"It's gratifying to know that people want to come to a place like Minnesota and it's cool to know that this is going to be a big class for us to grow for awhile," Martin said. "We're going to be able to become a family early and be with each other for a couple of years."

Martin said he personally hasn't heard from any of the springs recruits -- Konate, Diedhiou and Lofton -- yet. He said assistant coach Dan McHale called him a few days ago to tell him a little bit about them.

"He was just saying 'there's a couple running mates for us,'" Martin said. "[McHale said] they're big, strong, like to block shots, play really hard and are great young men as well as basketball players, which was a good thing to hear."

http://www.mndaily.com/blogs/upon-f...s-six-man-recruiting-class-were-going-be-able

Go Gophers!!
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Josh is remarkably articulate and seemingly very mature. He could turn out to be one of the all-time great personalities in the program's history.

POLLYANNA!!!
 

Unless something changes, 2014 will be the third recruiting class in a row where the Gophers have failed to land a top 150(!) Rivals player. From 2008-2011 the Gophers landed at least one Rivals 150 player every year and multiple 150 guys every year except 2010 (just Mo Walker). Obviously some of that can be explained by a coaching change, but it's scary to think that the 2015 team will not have one returning player ranked in the Rivals 150. Now Carlos Morris was a top 150 kid a couple years ago and guys like Diedhiou and Konate are off the radar of a list like this (as are JUCO's like Mathieu), but we certainly need to start landing kids on this list every year again if we want to be a bubble team, much less a real contender in the Big Ten.
 

EG#9 said:
Unless something changes, 2014 will be the third recruiting class in a row where the Gophers have failed to land a top 150(!) Rivals player. From 2008-2011 the Gophers landed at least one Rivals 150 player every year and multiple 150 guys every year except 2010 (just Mo Walker). Obviously some of that can be explained by a coaching change, but it's scary to think that the 2015 team will not have one returning player ranked in the Rivals 150. Now Carlos Morris was a top 150 kid a couple years ago and guys like Diedhiou and Konate are off the radar of a list like this (as are JUCO's like Mathieu), but we certainly need to start landing kids on this list every year again if we want to be a bubble team, much less a real contender in the Big Ten.
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I agree in principle, but this is bound to happen when you make a coaching change to a guy with very little D1 head coaching experience. I imagine it was difficult for guys with nba dreams to commit to a coach who was unproven at head coaching during the last fall signing period.

Interesting to think about only having one in 2015 though.. I still think Pitino nets some highly regarded talent for 2015 after proving himself capable this year, and I think he showed that he can coach certain players up a "recruiting star" or two.


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EG#9 said:
Unless something changes, 2014 will be the third recruiting class in a row where the Gophers have failed to land a top 150(!) Rivals player. From 2008-2011 the Gophers landed at least one Rivals 150 player every year and multiple 150 guys every year except 2010 (just Mo Walker). Obviously some of that can be explained by a coaching change, but it's scary to think that the 2015 team will not have one returning player ranked in the Rivals 150. Now Carlos Morris was a top 150 kid a couple years ago and guys like Diedhiou and Konate are off the radar of a list like this (as are JUCO's like Mathieu), but we certainly need to start landing kids on this list every year again if we want to be a bubble team, much less a real contender in the Big Ten.
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Well if you count Morris and we land Illikainen and Johnson in 2015, we'll have 3 on the roster. Then there is even a chance that someone like Trier commits. The sky is not falling.
 

EG#9 said:
Unless something changes, 2014 will be the third recruiting class in a row where the Gophers have failed to land a top 150(!) Rivals player. From 2008-2011 the Gophers landed at least one Rivals 150 player every year and multiple 150 guys every year except 2010 (just Mo Walker). Obviously some of that can be explained by a coaching change, but it's scary to think that the 2015 team will not have one returning player ranked in the Rivals 150. Now Carlos Morris was a top 150 kid a couple years ago and guys like Diedhiou and Konate are off the radar of a list like this (as are JUCO's like Mathieu), but we certainly need to start landing kids on this list every year again if we want to be a bubble team, much less a real contender in the Big Ten.
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You know who wasn't on a list like that? Dwayne Wade

Joachim Noah was but he barely made it. Iowa's Adam Woodbury, on the other hand, was ranked somewhere in the forties. Who would you rather have as your team's center: Joachim Noah or Adam Woodbury?

There's something that needs to be understood about lists like that: the people who make them don't know everything and can't possibly watch everyone with talent (even in this hemisphere) very often. Mostly they just copy each others' lists. That probably works pretty well for the top 30 or 40 players or so, but beyond that it's kind of a crapshoot. Furthermore, some people are later bloomers and don't flourish early enough to make those lists.
 

bc2211 said:
Interesting to think about only having one in 2015 though.. I still think Pitino nets some highly regarded talent for 2015 after proving himself capable this year, and I think he showed that he can coach certain players up a "recruiting star" or two.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Iowa's Mike Gesell was a 4 star recruit while Deandre Mathieu was a former walk on. Gesell isn't bad, but I know who I would rather have at the point.

Jeff Hornacek also started as a walk on at Iowa State.

I trust that Pitino and staff can tell a player with potential when they see him, so I'm not too worried about positions on lists unless he manages to get some really highly ranked ones.
 

While I generally will side with the more stars the better the player argument, there are absolutely many exceptions.

Russell Westbrook rivals 3 star, not in top 150. 4th overall pick in the NBA draft.
 

Yeah, we should list the countless exceptions to the rule and just ignore the fact that the overwhelming majority of top 150 players are better than the next 150 players....
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Yeah, we should list the countless exceptions to the rule and just ignore the fact that the overwhelming majority of top 150 players are better than the next 150 players....
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No one disagrees, just saying it's possible to win without them, harder, but possible
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Yeah, we should list the countless exceptions to the rule and just ignore the fact that the overwhelming majority of top 150 players are better than the next 150 players....
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The majority of all Big Ten players were three star recruits as well.
 


I'm not too eager to do the research myself.. But if anyone has the motivation, I wonder how the big ten stacks up in recruit rankings for players on 2015 rosters. As many have stated, there are exceptions, but it should give us a general idea of how Minnesota compares.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

GophersOnTheRise said:
The majority of all high major basketball players are 3-stars. There are a limited amount of 4 and 5-star players.
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Yes, that is completely true. I did word my post wrong however. I meant to say the majority of the players that made all Big Ten teams are 3 star guys. 3/5 first teamers were also 3 star recruits.

Marble
Pettaway
Kaminsky
Newbill
LeVert
White
Frazier
Craft

All of those guys were three star recruits according to rivals.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2
 

DeathClutch said:
Yes, that is completely true. I did word my post wrong however. I meant to say the majority of the players that made all Big Ten teams are 3 star guys. 3/5 first teamers were also 3 star recruits.

Marble
Pettaway
Kaminsky
Newbill
LeVert
White
Frazier
Craft

All of those guys were three star recruits according to rivals.
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True, but Aaron Craft is a 5 star person. Aaron Craft is the epitome of a student-athlete. If I could start a team with any player, it would be Aaron Craft. I love Aaron Craft. Aaron Craft. Aaron Craft.
















Aaron Craft.
 

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