Here is a list of 2008 Gopher basketball recruits. I'm pretty confident that this is a solid and accurate list based on the info I have available to me. After the small 2007 recruiting class and the several seniors graduating, Tubby has 5 scholarships that he can offer for the 2008 class.
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- PG Nathen Garth (6'3") - Discussed HERE. 18 pts, 8 ast and 3 steals as a junior. Garth seems to be a solid recruit who will be called upon to be the on floor coach. Hard worker and possibly still growing into a 6'4" PG. Expect Saul Smith to groom Garth. Received offers from UTEP, Ole Miss, Santa Clara and unconfirmed offer from Cal.
- PF Andrew Brommer (6'8") - in state PF who has been discussed VERY LITTLE here (or anywhere for that matter). Brommer plays for Rosemount High School and Cris Carr's AAU program 43 Hoops. Brommer was a Monson recruit that Tubby is currently still giving a scholarship to. But I would guess that if some of the bigger names below want to sign with the U, then Tubby might convince Brommer that he'll be better off somewhere else. As I said before I know very little about Brommer so I can't accurately comment on whether or not he is a Big Ten PF or not. He did receive interest from Wisconsin, Illinois, Virginia and N.Iowa.
- SG Iman Shumpert (6'4") - #41 overall, Rivals 4-star from Oak Park,Ill. Shumpert is a newer name on my radar but Rivals states that he may be the 4-star recruit playing the best basketball right now. Offers from Clem, GTech, Tenn, Wis and handful of Mid-Majors. Interest from schools like Duke, Ill, Notre Dame, Cal, AZ St, Marq and Mich.
- PF Draymond Green (6'7") - #79 overall, Rivals 4-star recruit from the state of Michigan. Green appears to be the most likely 4-star recruit to end up at Minnesota in this class. He is a former Kentucky commit who has since backed down from that verbal (not sure who's decision that was though). Green is supposed to be an outstanding rebounder with an offensive game that needs improving. Indiana, Dayton and Xavier have offered as well. Michigan and Michigan State have both shown interest.
- SG Devoe Joseph (6'2") - #101 overall, Rivals 3-star from Ontario, Canada. Nearly a top 100 kid, but Joseph is not receiving many offers from major conference schools with the excpetion of Minnesota and Washington State. Duquesne, Santa Clara, Loyola and Fairfield are the other schools currently offering to Joseph.
- PF/C Stan Simpson (6'9") - #83 overall, Rivals 4-star from Chicago. Simpson is an AAU teammate of Shumpert so maybe we can get these guys as a package. Rivals analysis of Simpson is that he is best in the paint on offense and has shot blocking ability on the other end. He lists his top 5 schools as Illinois, UConn, Minnesota, Ohio State and Virginia. He has offers from Indiana and Virginia.
- C Ralph Sampson III (6'10") - Scout.com has as #22 among Centers, Rivals 3-star who has taken an unofficial visit to campus. RSIII is an intriguing prospect. He seems to be a very hard working kid who has improved over the last year. I would expect that you'll see him move up recruiting lists in the near future. He currently has interest from Alabama, Cal, Indiana, NC State and his AAU coach tells Rivals that Georgia has offered. I would personally like to see Tubby land Sampson.
PG - Garth
SG - Shumpert / Rodney Williams
SF - Royce White
PF - Green / Brommer
C - Sampson
Really, who knows how good these guys can be but it is a very interesting recruiting season to say the least. Get some of these guys, improve then start landing top 40 guys on a regular basis and make this program a perennial Big Ten power!
2 comments:
How many of the offered and very interested people you listed do you think it is realistic for the Gophers to get in 2008? How many years do you think that it will take for the Gophers to be competetive within the Big Ten again? If Tubby was not a successful recruiter with the name and the tradition that is Kentucky, what makes you think he will be a more successful recruiter with the brand name Minnesota behind him? If the Gophers do get back to being competetive in the Big Ten (and I think they will be there next year with the three returning seniors and the quantum leap in coaching ability), it isn't going to be by securing highly regarded recruits. It will be by getting some guys that fly under the radar and buy into Tubby's system. I think the Gophers are going to finish in the top half of the conference next season (5th behind Ind, MSU, WIS, OSU). But then back to the bottom 4-5 teams in the 08-09 season. I predict that the Gophers will be much better than they have been the last 6-7 years (I know I am really going out on a limb on that one), but only a competetive team in a conference that already has very heathy programs at OSU, Ind, PUR, MSU, ILL and WIS.
Honestly, I don't understand how you think the Gophers are going to get ANY of the recruits you listed for '08 when Iowa just poached one of the better in-state players on the board only last week. Have you seen the other schools that are interested in these guys and/or have offered scholarships? Why would any of them come to Minnesota over a MSU, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana or Florida when they aren't even from the region? I guess I can see the Green kid coming as it seems like he does really like what Tubby is all about, but I don't think any of those other guys you listed are likely to come to Minnesota.
chad - I think first and foremost it is inaccurate to say that he couldn't recruit at UK. Tubby couldn't live up to unrealistic expectations at UK. 6 of Tubby's 9 recruiting classes at UK were ranked inside the top 15 nationally. And these classes resulted in 5 conference championships and winning 72% of his NCAA tournament games while at UK. Even his NCAA Championship is discredited because they weren't "his players" but he coached these kids to 3 consecutive NCAA wins over teams with 30+ wins (never been done before or since). http://pagingjimshikenjanski.blogspot.com/2007/06/guest-post-myths-and-realities-of-tubby.html has a good run down on Tubby.
Much of what I have read is that Tubby's name alone has instant credibility so I understand that many of the top kids will end up at bigger name schools but MN gets in the mix because Tubby is as big of a name amoung coaches as anybody. We won't land all of them but landing just 1 or 2 will be more talent than Monson ever managed to bring in. Then get White and Williams in 09, start winning and then you have a chance to get deeper and more talented recruiting classes.
I think a couple of the guys on this list ARE guys that have been under the radar and are guys that fit Tubbby's system (Sampson III and Garth were both 3-star recruits).
Finally, I think Tucker may have been one of the "better in-state players" but until recently he was not getting any looks from major D1 programs. I think Iowa reached for Tucker and we won't regret this "poach."
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