Tuesday, August 25, 2009

2010 Gopher Hoop Offers

With the recent news that #1 recruit for 2010 Harrison Barnes has knocked the Gophers off his list of possibilities, it dawned on me that the team still doesn't have a commitment for 2010. I believe they will have three scholarships open (L-Dub, DJ, and Bostick) assuming Ralph doesn't go pro. It's not necessarily a huge worry, since the team has plenty of young talent and can roll scholarships over if need be, but with four more coming available in 2011, I doubt Tubby wants to have to fill 7 spots in one year. That was hard as hell to fill all your spots when you had that many open in College Hoops 2k6 on the playstation.

Anyway, according to Rivals, these are the players the Gophers have made an offer to for 2010, not including offers that have already been spurned (besides Barnes, Jordan Sibert (#37 recruit) has declared for Ohio State, Tim Hardaway (2 stars) to Michigan, and Zach McCabe (3 stars) to Iowa.

- Vander Blue - Madison, WI - #22 overall, #6 PG. Other than being sweet to steal a kid out of Madison, and this dude having a sweet name, it would be great to get a real point guard so we don't have to watch Al Nolen fumble around any more. Blue had verbally comitted to Wisconsin, but backed out in May after realizing that Bo Ryan looked exactly like Richard Vernon and taught the most boringest brand of basketball in existence. Unfortunately the Gophers seem to be on the outside looking in with Blue, who plans to visit Flordia, Arizona, UCLA, Tennessee, and a fifth school. The Gophers have a shot at being that fifth school. I hope so. Then we can say things like, "You're my boy, Blue!"

- Cory Joseph - Henderson, NV via Canada - #7 overall, #3 PG. I've written plenty on Joseph here in the past, but in case you have good taste and don't usually read this blog, he is current Gopher Devoe Joseph's brother, and has shot up the rankings over the past year. Joseph recently spent some time on the Minnesota campus hanging with his brother, and has also visited Marquette with trips to Villanova and UCONN coming up. Joseph is #1 on my wish list for the team now that Barnes is off the table.

- Trevor Releford - Shawnee Mission, KS - #98 overall, #24 PG. There's been a lot of chatter about this dude and the Gophers, but naturally I haven't paid that much attention to it. It seems I probably should of, because I think it's looking extremely likely that Releford ends up a Golden Gopher. In a recent interview when he was asked which schools were recruiting him, the only two he could name were the Gophers and Arizona. He also mentioned not only being impressed with Tubby Smith, but always having enjoyed Minnesota when he has been here for a tournament. He is described as being a pass first point guard, which is absolutely what this team will need with all the scoring talent coming in.

- Trey Ziegler - Mount Pleasant, MI - #26 overall, #4 SG. Ziegler is, like Cory Joseph, another fast riser who is finding himself high on many team's priority list, including Michigan State, Oklahoma, Pitt, and UCLA among several others, with UCLA recently really upping their efforts to land the swingman. Interestingly enough, despite a name like Trey, his strength isn't his perimeter shot. He's known for being strong with the dribble and being very strong at the rim, along with a solid mid-range game.

- Casey Prather - Jackson, TN - #64 overall, #13 SF. The last of the truly elite prospects on this list, Prather recently narrowed his list down to seven schools and, like with Barnes, the Gophers did not make the cut. He's only included here because I already started typing this before I realized he had removed the Gophers from consideration.

- Chad Calcaterra - Cloquet, MN - 3 stars. The good news on Calc is that the Gophers are the most high profile school on his list. The bad news is that the Gophers are the most high profile school on his list. Diamond in the rough, or not that good? Based on the reviews of his play in the Howard Pulley League, it's looking like he could be a diamond in the rough. He's very physical when he goes to the rim, has an excellent jump hook, and a good mid-range jumper, although at 6-10, 210 lbs. he needs to add some muscle. He also sounds like a nerd, since Harvard and Stanford are two of the schools he plans to visit - although this makes me like him better.

- Elliott Eliason - Chadron, NE - 3 stars. Another midwestern big man, Eliason also can count the offer from the Gophers as his most prestigious, but it sounds like it will be tough to dislodge him from Creighton at this point. He did take an unofficial visit here, and must have enjoyed himself because he's coming back again for an official visit September 12th, although he is also hitting Stanford over Labor Day weekend.


Overall, it looks like Tubby has set his sights pretty high, but as more and more recruits Tubby has shown interest in either drop the Gophers from consideration or commit elsewhere (besides the above, Ricky Kreklow is going to Missouri, Alex Kirk isn't interested, Frank Williams has made it clear he wants to play for Kansas State, and something weird happened with Aaron Cosby that now has him as a class of 2011 player), you have to wonder when Tubby is going to capture that first comittment.

I'm not exactly worried, more like curious. I expect to see Releford and one of the big men likely come here, with Joseph, Blue, and/or Ziegler a bonus. Plus who knows with Tubby, he's probably after some dude nobody has heard of yet who will end up being a five star. Like Fred Durst said, "You gotta have faith."

14 comments:

I want to Kill I Hate Cuddy Guy said...

Where has I hate Cuddy Guy run off to? IHC do you only hate guys when they are in slumps? IHC is just another idiotic chump who comes to this blog and takes a stand after watching an MLB player have one poor game in a 162 game season. Way to stick to your guns idiot. I also hate guys who play good D, hit 25+ plus home runs, bat .280 and hit 80+ RBI. The only person more retarded in the past couple of months than IHC is the guy who tried to convince everyone Todd Helton sucks. Retard of the week award for IHC?

snacks said...

I think you missed Jacob Thomas from Clumsy Heights. As far as I've heard it sounds like he's as good as here if he gets his academics in order. As I recall, he cracked the top 100 or 150 or whatever on ESPN's most updated rankings.

And I thought Kirk was still a target? Hadn't heard that we aren't on his list.

WWWWWW said...

They haven't made an offer to Thomas yet (according to Rivals) because of that academic situation. I think it is likely that if Tubby becomes confident that he will qualify he'll probably get an offer.

As far as Kirk, the Gophers are no longer listed.

You and Helton suck said...

It is not a matter of convincing you Helton sucks, it is science of showing you that he does suck and his contract does not coincide with his production. For three + years he has had decent avg., this year pretty good avg, terrible power, and terrible run production especially coming from 1st base. He does not walk nearly as much as he once did. Shit his best stat is that he sees more pitches per at bat then most, that just speaks to his awesomeness. That contract is one of the worst in all of pro sports. Right now Helton is about the 19th best first basemen in all of baseball but is the 2nd highest paid behind Texiera. But you are right, he is good, real good


How about idiot of the week going to somebody who thinks Helton is still good because Tim Kurkijanadna says he is still a HOF and saw some Sportcenter highlights the last couple of years instead of watching this guy piss the bed for the last 4+ years when he was needed.

ihcg said...

You are right about Cuddyer, I was totally wrong. If you need someone to jack a solo homerun when one of the teams is up by five or more runs he's your man. totally worth 8 million a year.

p.s. Cuddyer's average with runners in scoring position and 2 outs is .155.

p.p.s. Both Gomez and Young are batting .303 in those same situations.

WWWWWW said...

So if I can put this all together, Cuddyer is the next Todd Helton?

Manny Ramirez is a douche too said...

Thought Cuddyer was already the next Cal Ripken? Can you imagine combining those two, Ripken and Helton into one player, then when your team needs a run you can get thrown out at home like a washed up tit alah last night. I have discovered truly they worst player in the majors however, Omar Quintanilla, awful, just awful.

Helton For The Hall Guy said...

IHCG are you telling us D. Young is a better player than Cuddy or just throwing out one stat to try and make your retarded point? Either way you are a retard for making an argument that Young and Gomez are better players. The argument about hitting a solo homer is also retarded. What is a guy suppose to do when someone grooves a pitch and the bases are empty? I would tell him to knock the piss out of it, but I guess thats just me.

Helton Guy, Are you saying Helton is having a bad year? He's batting .320 with a 406 OB%. Not great, but far from a guy you would run out of town. When you say he sucks the last 4+ years does that include 2007 when he batted .320, had 90+ rbi and a 434 OB%. If that is shitty baseball I would hate to get you opinion on the rest of the league.

Also, what does Heltons contract have to do with him? If someone offers a guy $19 Million and he is on the wrong side of 35 whos fault is that? Point your anger towards the GM and please bring legit points to an argument in the future.

Helton is mediocore no matter what dawger says said...

He is a guy I would run out of town and if I had the chance would, but apparently high school teachers don't get to make these damn decisions. I understand at 1 point he was one of the top 10 players in the league and I don't blame him for signing the contract, it is just a kick in the balls for a team that needs to add a bat to the line-up and can't because of the contract. Trust me, I do not like Dan Odowd as well.

Also 2007, I apologize for that, it is tough to remember a decent year surround by two years of AIDS, but good for him must have been tough to be sandwiched between Holliday, Atkins, Tulo and Hawpe that year, who all had career years that season. But being surrounded by big bats might not be a legit point for somebody seeing more pitches. The really good thing to see was that he brought that A game to the playoffs with a solid .230 avg, but who cares when it matters.

All I know is that every game I watch, I realize that we gave up Matt Holliday to hold on to this guy. You can keep stroking him with never watching a game(which in your previous posts you rip on people for)and believing in the Helton dream. He still sucks.

I hate you both said...

Your both idiots, but the playoff stats are a joke of an argument. It is a four to 7 game window. Helton batted .230 in the playoffs but did bat well over .300 in the world series.

SSF said...

Your a joke and an idiot

Dawg said...

Easy compadre - I do love Cuddy and don't think Helton sucks but I'm not the one going after you. I did find it humorous that you said Helton isn't walking much these days and has an OBP of .409.

My work banned this site. Either because I log to many work hours on here or because this site posts provocative pictures of girls that may or may not be 18.

WWWWWW said...

We've been banned by someone? Awesome.

I think this makes us the "Catcher in the Rye" of gopher blogs.

Rockies said...

Tim Lincecum is pretty f-ing good, so is Ubaldo Jimenez. Sweet time for a losing streak rocks.

Also if you look over his career Dawger, he really is taking less BB, granted his OBP is .409 but looking back to when he was really good that is between 30 to 60 point points lower including the years with his ridiculous avg. He used to be what Mauer was 4 years ago, never swinging no matter the situation and now he is like me in a softball game half the time. I appreciate you not thinking he sucks, if I didn't watch this guy every night, I may think the same thing, unfortunately I do, and therefore do not like him.