Gopher Basketball Recruiting: Stanford Gets Commitment From 4-star PF Reid Travis

A big miss for Richard Pitino and the Gopher coaching staff as Reid Travis has committed to Stanford.  This was the presumed favorite all along but over the last couple days there was significant buzz that he was going to stay home to play for the Golden Gophers.

This would have been a huge get for the new staff as they build their program.  Unfortunately there just wasn't enough time for the new staff to develop the necessary relationship.  Richard Pitino came to the Gophers last spring and was dramatically behind the eight-ball when it came to recruiting the local "Big Three."  Guys who are top 50 caliber players are going to be near impossible to land when you haven't spent the last 12+ months building a relationship with them.  Other blue-chip schools have the built-in advantage of having a winning tradition as well as the advantage of having built a relationship with the recruit.  In this case, Stanford isn't exactly a blue-chip basketball school and it appeared that their academic reputation played a major role.  Minnesota made a push to highlight the Carlson School of Business, but it wasn't enough.

Now that this is over, I wish him the best.  Keep in mind that he is a kid trying to make the best decision for his own life.  It would be nice if he would make a decision to please my desires for a great Gopher basketball team, but that is not his responsibility.  I hope he has a great career at Stanford, I hope they make the NIT all four years and I hope he has set himself up to be successful the rest of his life.