All Things 2018 Gophers Basketball Recruiting Thread

That's simply not true. Davonte showed some flashes and had some decent games in the 2nd half of last season.

I agree that he showed some flashes and had some decent games in the latter part of the season. Obviously, it didn't take him long to find another scholarship and with a decent mid-major program so there was a market for him.

I'm glad he left though because there was a glut at his position for the upcoming year, so his decision allows him to go somewhere where he might play more and allows our team the chance to make better use of the scholarship.

I'm not as pessimistic as you about Pitino's chances of picking up some capable players with the two scholarships. Assume he takes two transfers. His record there consists of Lynch, Springs, Joey King, Malik Smith, DeAndre Mathieu, Lofton, Fitzgerald, Carlos Morris, and Stockman.

Lynch may have only played a year and a half but he was a game changer in that time.

DeAndre Mathieu was almost a game changer (at least in his first year).

Springs was a great addition.

Joey King and Malik Smith weren't great players but they were serviceable. I'd say the same thing about Morris who actually was pretty decent in his first season.

I would say all of the players above were better to one degree or another than some of the players Pitino recruited out of the prep ranks (Bakary, Gas, and so far Hurt). And, as far as some of the transfers having issues which cut their tenures short: well, what about McNeill, Martin, and Dorsey who were recruited directly from the prep ranks?

Fitzgerald was mostly a bust. Lofton was kicked off the team but he turned out to be a really good player in the rest of his college career so I'd say that Pitino's instincts were good in recruiting him. We'll have to wait on Matz but I think he'll be a fair contributor.
 

Think Fitz being gone is a win-win. Still think Coach Pitino may find a decommitt when all the coaching shuffles are done and the FBI deal settles. There are kids that have been and will be let out of their scholarships especially after the coaches convention this weekend where they will be reaching decisions on new transfer rules. Best to be patient.
 

I also thought he provided solid minutes, shot about 40% from the field, 34% from the 3pt line, didn't make a lot of mistakes, just wasn't athletic at all after the second surgery. If not for the depth at his position I would consider it a loss.

That's kinda how I feel. It would have been fine bringing Devonte back to play some spot minutes next season, but we should have plenty of depth in the front court.
 

Landing a grad transfer guard (preferably someone of the combo guard ilk but if they are strictly a point guard, that's fine too) is absolutely necessary. That absolutely has to be done. Luckily, the 1 and the 2 are typically the most plentiful spots as far as number of guys available.

As for the second scholarship, it really does come down to best player available to me regardless of situation, however I do think ideally it would be another immediately eligible guy. I know Stockman wasn't a super popular take a year ago but at that time, it did make sense with our roster makeup. Where we are now, we just need talent and outside of an absolute stud being available, I find it very hard to justify doing that again when we already have some depth issues heading into next year. I also don't like the pure transfer route just in general because grad transfers are just so available that unless you have a serious stud lined up to come in, you can just address that need either in next year's recruiting class or with a GT next year anyway without basically wasting a spot for a year.

As far as the high schoolers go, I honestly don't know how in the staff is on many HS kids at this point because it feels like the only '18 kids they've remotely been tied to in the past few months have been Strickland (now committed to Wisconsin) and Ramey and Simmons (who aren't coming, spoiler alert). They may have their eyes on some guys who could be let out of NLI's due to coaching changes but theoretically, all the firings have happened by this point. They should have a pretty good idea of who is available by now and just with the lack of any real rumors outside of those names, I just don't think they're going this route.

I'd go the grad transfer route with the second scholarship as well and take best player available. I know it makes it overly simplistic and honestly there's a few spots on our roster where a GT probably doesn't see much PT (McBrayer, Coffey and Murph all figure to play major minutes at the 2, 3 and 4 next year... probably not super enticing for impact grad transfers). I could see them taking a chance on a pure shooter type of 2/3 guy to mix things up with a bit of a different skillset than our current starters there or I wouldn't be opposed to adding another guy capable of playing center if the right player were to arise. Those scholarships are open again next year anyway so it's not a long term commitment.
 




Picking up a sit-out transfer who has demonstrated that he can play would be better risk than banking a scholarship.

As far as JUCO guards, here's one who is listed as uncommitted (ranked #12 among JUCO players):

http://njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2017-18/div1/players/andresfelizu7w8

Those are some impressive shooting percentages for anyone, let alone a guard. Either he is lights out shooting or capable of getting to the rim whenever he wants.
 

I agree this Feliz kid stats & video look awesome. I don't know anything about him, but from a pure basketball stand point he looks like he would be a great addition.
 

Would you rather have Feliz or Tre Jones? Do you see how big the gap is?

We need to recruit better on the front end vs scrambling.


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Would you rather have Feliz or Tre Jones? Do you see how big the gap is?

We need to recruit better on the front end vs scrambling.


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Yes it would have been nice to beat out Duke for the highest rated commit we've had in probably 20 years, but it didn't work out. We recruited other more reasonable point guard targets in the fall and didn't get them either, so here we are.
 

Feliz looks like a nice player, but I don’t see anywhere that the Gophers are interested. There’s only one crystal ball on 247, a recent one that has Feliz going to Illinois.
 

Would you rather have Feliz or Tre Jones? Do you see how big the gap is?

We need to recruit better on the front end vs scrambling.


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There have been some recruiting misses. However, there have also been some recruiting hits that have put us in the position of at least round of 32 the last two seasons if not for injuries and Lynch suspension.

The experience with our previous coaches shows that finding transformative coaches isn't easy. It appears that we have an excellent recruiting class coming in and will be important to back that up with the next class. Hopefully, we can stay on the upswing because I, for one, don't relish the thought of starting all over again - there are no guarantees that the next super coach will be out there for us.
 

I get the feeling that the Gophers are like a small market baseball team. You keep hoping the superstars will sign in free agency and when they don't, you just hope we can get someone who is serviceable.
That doesn't keep us from hoping that the next time we'll strike gold, but history has taught us we'll need to be content with iron ore...
 



Those are some impressive shooting percentages for anyone, let alone a guard. Either he is lights out shooting or capable of getting to the rim whenever he wants.

Yeah, assist to turnover ratio is impressive too (2.7). I believe he was originally a South Florida or Central Florida recruit but went to JUCO. I think he is from the Dominican Republic and played with some junior national teams from that country.
 

Would you rather have Feliz or Tre Jones? Do you see how big the gap is?


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Oh...geez...there's a gap? You don't say.

I'd rather get the person that we might be able to get (whoever he is). How's that? And speaking of what we do or do not see, have you noticed that those five star Minnesota recruits just seem to put this school on their list as a courtesy? To my memory, none of the ones within the last five years or so have even taken a visit here. Maybe that will change with Hurt but I won't hold my breath.
 

Yes it would have been nice to beat out Duke for the highest rated commit we've had in probably 20 years, but it didn't work out. We recruited other more reasonable point guard targets in the fall and didn't get them either, so here we are.

Well said.
 

Feliz looks like a nice player, but I don’t see anywhere that the Gophers are interested. There’s only one crystal ball on 247, a recent one that has Feliz going to Illinois.

Well, since they had a couple of recent transfers including a four star freshman point guard, he could get at least as much playing time there as here.
 

I see the Gophers are showing interest in Sy Chapman from CDH, what position and grade is he?
 

I see the Gophers are showing interest in Sy Chapman from CDH, what position and grade is he?

He is a senior, 6'9 forward. I would be happy if we offered chatman. I think he is very underrated. Watching him in the state final in the second half they put him on tre jones and actually did a nice job. I think he could be a great defender for us.
 

I see the Gophers are showing interest in Sy Chapman from CDH, what position and grade is he?

A quick google search says he’s a 6’9” senior wing, but I haven’t seen anything about the Gophers showing interest in him.
 

Chatman has always been really underwhelming to me, I'd rather have Ryan Larson from that team.
 

Chatman has always been really underwhelming to me, I'd rather have Ryan Larson from that team.

Chatman has B1G potential though, nothing about his games says that but his raw ability is up there, like someone said he was quick enough to guard Jones and he absolutely shut Jones down, if Oturo doesn't get his fourth CDH might have won by 10. with that said he doesn't have much of an inside game for someone 6' 9", not a great outside shooter, decent going to the basket but not great, but if he developed he would be a tough matchup because of his size and mobility.
 


Like it. As another poster said, Big 10 upside and versatile defender.
 


No chance he gets a schollie offer. Walk on only at this point.
 

Apparently the Gopher coaches see something special in Sy....
 

Chatman has B1G potential though, nothing about his games says that but his raw ability is up there, like someone said he was quick enough to guard Jones and he absolutely shut Jones down, if Oturo doesn't get his fourth CDH might have won by 10. with that said he doesn't have much of an inside game for someone 6' 9", not a great outside shooter, decent going to the basket but not great, but if he developed he would be a tough matchup because of his size and mobility.
Didn't Jones have 35 points in that game?
 


He did, 35 points but not the win. Great game!
Yeah, but this thread is talking about how great a job Sy Chatman did guarding Jones. Is holding Jones to 35 points really considered great defense?
 




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