Minnesota has a ton of talent, IN STATE, coming down the pike especially at the Center and Power Forward positions..Class of 2020, we have the Dawson Garcia kid, Dain Dainja, and Ben Carlson..In 2021, we have the Chet Holmgren kid.. All could be top 100 players. As a matter of fact, Minnesota has instate talent coming at ALL positions.
I have not heard any names for bigs popping up from the HS ranks for the 2019 class.. David Sisk wrote earlier they we may have moved on from Sam Freeman and the other bigs mentioned have other college teams as leaders and not Minnesota.. Which led me to think about this..
So far, we only have Tre Williams, a guard, committed.. Yes, we offered Tony Johnson, which seemed weird to me at first... With Payton Willis and Marcus Carr eligible to play next year PLUS Williams, we have 3 new guards coming aboard SO IT IS STRANGE THAT WE ARE STILL LOOKING AT MORE GUARDS. 4 NEW GUARDS AFTER BRINGING IN ONE THE PREVIOUS YEAR(Kalscheur)??.. I do know that Pitino wants guys who can defend multiple positions and we need to improve our shooting. I hope the 3(maybe 4 if Johnson commits) guards add athleticism and shooting to this team. It is weird to me that we are pursuing another guard seeing that we have Suggs and Brown as top national talents from instate that would be future guard prospects.
We could use a small forward as both Coffey and Hurt will be seniors next year. Then, we are going to lose Jordan Murphy and Mats Stockman so we will need 2 more bigs. SO THERE COULD BE AN ARGUMENT MADE THAT WE NEED TO RECRUIT ALL 5 POSITIONS, YET!!! And only 3 scholarships, at this time, to give.
SO WE GET TO THE SUBJECT AT HAND!! Big Man recruiting.. As far as HS players, I heard before that Matthew Hurt is listed as close to a zero percent chance of committing and signing with Minnesota... Then I have read other places that Minnesota has more of a chance than people think... SO I am wondering that FROM A HS PERSPECTIVE, it may be "Matthew Hurt or bust" as far as HS recruits that are bigs for this year recruited by Richard Pitino. Unless we get new names later in the recruiting process.
It makes me think that Pitino's strategy is to get 2 grad-eligible bigs for one year stints at Minnesota for next year, just to get us through next season for the bigs.. Guys transferring in from either Juco or from another school with more than one year of eligibility does not make much sense unless they are real good... If we have this type of instate talent coming at the same position, I would hope that we could come out the next recruiting cycle with 1 of 3 from Garcia, Dainja, and Carlson.. I am sure Pitino and staff have thought about it. Maybe even get 2 of the 3. If Curry has a decent recovery, we could even use one of the scholarships, THIS YEAR, for a taller longer wing guard/forward that can shoot like Gerald Drumgoole. I cant imagine what life will be without Jordan Murphy and losing Mats Stockman will not be easy to replace either... But we will need the bodies of able players next year, at the center and power forward positions, whether they are scorers or not...What do think will happen next year for our recruitment of bigs??
I have not heard any names for bigs popping up from the HS ranks for the 2019 class.. David Sisk wrote earlier they we may have moved on from Sam Freeman and the other bigs mentioned have other college teams as leaders and not Minnesota.. Which led me to think about this..
So far, we only have Tre Williams, a guard, committed.. Yes, we offered Tony Johnson, which seemed weird to me at first... With Payton Willis and Marcus Carr eligible to play next year PLUS Williams, we have 3 new guards coming aboard SO IT IS STRANGE THAT WE ARE STILL LOOKING AT MORE GUARDS. 4 NEW GUARDS AFTER BRINGING IN ONE THE PREVIOUS YEAR(Kalscheur)??.. I do know that Pitino wants guys who can defend multiple positions and we need to improve our shooting. I hope the 3(maybe 4 if Johnson commits) guards add athleticism and shooting to this team. It is weird to me that we are pursuing another guard seeing that we have Suggs and Brown as top national talents from instate that would be future guard prospects.
We could use a small forward as both Coffey and Hurt will be seniors next year. Then, we are going to lose Jordan Murphy and Mats Stockman so we will need 2 more bigs. SO THERE COULD BE AN ARGUMENT MADE THAT WE NEED TO RECRUIT ALL 5 POSITIONS, YET!!! And only 3 scholarships, at this time, to give.
SO WE GET TO THE SUBJECT AT HAND!! Big Man recruiting.. As far as HS players, I heard before that Matthew Hurt is listed as close to a zero percent chance of committing and signing with Minnesota... Then I have read other places that Minnesota has more of a chance than people think... SO I am wondering that FROM A HS PERSPECTIVE, it may be "Matthew Hurt or bust" as far as HS recruits that are bigs for this year recruited by Richard Pitino. Unless we get new names later in the recruiting process.
It makes me think that Pitino's strategy is to get 2 grad-eligible bigs for one year stints at Minnesota for next year, just to get us through next season for the bigs.. Guys transferring in from either Juco or from another school with more than one year of eligibility does not make much sense unless they are real good... If we have this type of instate talent coming at the same position, I would hope that we could come out the next recruiting cycle with 1 of 3 from Garcia, Dainja, and Carlson.. I am sure Pitino and staff have thought about it. Maybe even get 2 of the 3. If Curry has a decent recovery, we could even use one of the scholarships, THIS YEAR, for a taller longer wing guard/forward that can shoot like Gerald Drumgoole. I cant imagine what life will be without Jordan Murphy and losing Mats Stockman will not be easy to replace either... But we will need the bodies of able players next year, at the center and power forward positions, whether they are scorers or not...What do think will happen next year for our recruitment of bigs??
Last edited:
