The recruitment of Dawson Garcia has been one of the most watched affairs by local basketball fans in recent memory.
Garcia originally had a large list to pick from, but recently narrowed it to four schools: Minnesota, Memphis, Indiana, and Marquette. He took an official visit to see the Gophers on September 27, and followed that up with another to Memphis on October 6.
He was in Bloomington over the weekend, and it appeared that would be his final trip, but since returning home to Savage, he has announced he will take his final official to Marquette on November 8-10, which will conclude just three days before Early Signing Period begins.
Rivals' National Analyst, Eric Bossi, is as familiar with Garcia's recruitment, but he admittedly says that he doesn't know enough to make any type of a prediction. One of his talking points in Tuesdays 3-Point Play was what Garcia might decide after his final official visit.
"Marquette has gotten a lot of buzz during the fall and may actually be in the best position to handle a miss. They’ve got four-star forwards Justin Lewis and Osasere Ighadaro committed so adding Garcia would be a luxury. For Richard Pitino and Minnesota, the pressure keeps mounting to keep in-state stars home and Garcia has been on campus a ton, so a miss would really hurt. Indiana has a strong class going with commitments from three Rivals150 wings and the early word is that Garcia’s time in Bloomington was helpful to Archie Millerand the Hoosiers’ chances. As for Memphis, the Tigers have yet to scratch in 2020 after landing 2019’s top recruiting class so they need to get on the board here sooner or later.
I give a slight edge to Marquette. I’d like to hear more about last weekend’s visit to Indiana before logging an official prediction and ruling anybody out. But, from what I’ve been hearing most recently, it does appear that those two may be opening up some distance on Memphis and Minnesota."
We doubled down with Bossi on the situation after Tuesday morning's story. Eric went more in depth as we asked him some more pointed questions in regards to the visits and the Gophers.
Q: What impact are you hearing that the Indiana visit had on Garcia?
Bossi: " "Early word is that the Indiana visit was very helpful to the Hoosiers. He's the last piece that they are looking for in their class and have been able to put everything they have into recruiting him and there's talk that their message is getting through."
Q: How would you handicap Minnesota's chances to get Garcia right now?
Bossi: "Dawson hasn't been easy to read but at least going off of what has been getting discussed on the recruiting grapevine, it sounds as if maybe Marquette and Indiana may be slightly ahead of the pack. But, when I've spoken with him in the past, his feelings for Minnesota have come off as very genuine and I believe that the message of wanting a big time local player has gotten through to him. It's just a matter of how strong he feels about staying home, which is to be determined."
Q: How do you handicap his recruiting race?
Bossi; "Marquette has been thought to be in pretty good shape for a while. I'm sure that everybody else involved was hoping that he wouldn't take the last official visit there. It's not like is decision is too far off but he's going to be pushing it right up to signing day and the teams that miss are going to be in scramble mode. I'd still have to slightly favor Marquette at this point but not to the point where I'm ready to make any prediction on him. I'd still like to gather more info."
It remains to be seen if Marquette gets another boost from getting the final visit, and it being so close to the Early Signing Period. If the Eagles do indeed have the advantage right now, that might be too much to overcome. Meanwhile, the Gophers, Hoosiers, and Tigers will be doing everything in their power in the next three weeks to put their best foot forward.
Garcia originally had a large list to pick from, but recently narrowed it to four schools: Minnesota, Memphis, Indiana, and Marquette. He took an official visit to see the Gophers on September 27, and followed that up with another to Memphis on October 6.
He was in Bloomington over the weekend, and it appeared that would be his final trip, but since returning home to Savage, he has announced he will take his final official to Marquette on November 8-10, which will conclude just three days before Early Signing Period begins.
Rivals' National Analyst, Eric Bossi, is as familiar with Garcia's recruitment, but he admittedly says that he doesn't know enough to make any type of a prediction. One of his talking points in Tuesdays 3-Point Play was what Garcia might decide after his final official visit.
"Marquette has gotten a lot of buzz during the fall and may actually be in the best position to handle a miss. They’ve got four-star forwards Justin Lewis and Osasere Ighadaro committed so adding Garcia would be a luxury. For Richard Pitino and Minnesota, the pressure keeps mounting to keep in-state stars home and Garcia has been on campus a ton, so a miss would really hurt. Indiana has a strong class going with commitments from three Rivals150 wings and the early word is that Garcia’s time in Bloomington was helpful to Archie Millerand the Hoosiers’ chances. As for Memphis, the Tigers have yet to scratch in 2020 after landing 2019’s top recruiting class so they need to get on the board here sooner or later.
I give a slight edge to Marquette. I’d like to hear more about last weekend’s visit to Indiana before logging an official prediction and ruling anybody out. But, from what I’ve been hearing most recently, it does appear that those two may be opening up some distance on Memphis and Minnesota."
We doubled down with Bossi on the situation after Tuesday morning's story. Eric went more in depth as we asked him some more pointed questions in regards to the visits and the Gophers.
Q: What impact are you hearing that the Indiana visit had on Garcia?
Bossi: " "Early word is that the Indiana visit was very helpful to the Hoosiers. He's the last piece that they are looking for in their class and have been able to put everything they have into recruiting him and there's talk that their message is getting through."
Q: How would you handicap Minnesota's chances to get Garcia right now?
Bossi: "Dawson hasn't been easy to read but at least going off of what has been getting discussed on the recruiting grapevine, it sounds as if maybe Marquette and Indiana may be slightly ahead of the pack. But, when I've spoken with him in the past, his feelings for Minnesota have come off as very genuine and I believe that the message of wanting a big time local player has gotten through to him. It's just a matter of how strong he feels about staying home, which is to be determined."
Q: How do you handicap his recruiting race?
Bossi; "Marquette has been thought to be in pretty good shape for a while. I'm sure that everybody else involved was hoping that he wouldn't take the last official visit there. It's not like is decision is too far off but he's going to be pushing it right up to signing day and the teams that miss are going to be in scramble mode. I'd still have to slightly favor Marquette at this point but not to the point where I'm ready to make any prediction on him. I'd still like to gather more info."
It remains to be seen if Marquette gets another boost from getting the final visit, and it being so close to the Early Signing Period. If the Eagles do indeed have the advantage right now, that might be too much to overcome. Meanwhile, the Gophers, Hoosiers, and Tigers will be doing everything in their power in the next three weeks to put their best foot forward.
