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Recruiting for Gopher Basketball is fairly straight forward in this cycle. Even at this early stage there appear to be four prominent names surfacing as the staff's primary focus. Officially they have two available scholarships but appear to be working towards getting three commitments.
The short story with Gopher Basketball recruiting is that they will likely take on three commitments. Two of them will be big men and one point guard. With a large crop of high-major caliber kids locally, all three of these commitments may come from local kids. But here is a quick run-down of the four names.
GUARDS
Two names here and probably only one open spot.
McKinley Wright - PG - Champlin Park
Wright is the local name. He is a 3-star prospect, 6'0", 180 pounds and he is seeing his recruitment pick up this spring quite a bit. He was on campus a couple weeks ago for an unofficial visit that reportedly went very well.
Wright has high major offers from Iowa State, Illinois, Kansas State, Memphis, Nebraska and Xavier. On the court Wright is a leader on the floor. More of a point who will keep his team's steady and running things as opposed to a dynamic scorer. A floor general.
Isaiah Washington - PG - Bronx, New York
Both Ryan James at Gopher Illustrated and Ryan Burns at Gopher Digest are reporting that New York City point guard is taking an unofficial visit to Minnesota in two weeks. Washington is a 4-star point who has offers from a number of East Coast schools (St. Johns, Providence, Rutgers, Seton Hall and then Cincinnati, DePaul as well).
Washington is a guy who gets to the paint with tenacity where he can score or find teammates. He has legit interest in the Gophers and his coming here for an unofficial in June is a good sign.
FORWARDS
Once again, we have 2 names to watch here. Both local and if they want to say, "yes" both would be takes I think.
Theo John - PF - Champlin Park
Teammate of Wright and the 6'9" big man is probably the staff's #1 priority. Illinois, Iowa, Marquette, Memphis, Nebraska and Oklahoma have offered John.
He is a big and strong forward who excels are rebounding with a really nice scoring touch in the post. There are not a lot of big men on the Gopher roster and by the time John would arrive on campus there will be even fewer, so this is a position of need and John would be a great fit for the Gophers.
Jericho Sims - PF - Cristo Rey Jesuit (Minneapolis)
Sims is a bit of an unknown who is seeing his offers increase along with this recruiting profile. A ton of athleticism and upside is leading to more and more offers from the local kid who plays for a small, Christian school in Minneapolis. Auburn, Florida, Illinois, Kansas State, Memphis, Nebraska, Texas, Virginia Tech and others have all offered Sims.
At 6'8", 190 lbs he is an athletic, mobile and raw forward. A nice fit in this kind of system where Sims could use his athletic ability to get up and down the floor, scoring in space.
Anybody Else?
I'd say to keep an eye on Sid Wilson, a 3-star, small forward and teammate of Washington's.
This is an interesting recruiting cycle and if the Gophers could manage to secure the commitments they want from the four names above, they could get a head start on the 2018 class where they'll have more scholarships to fill.
My prediction is that the staff gets their three guys from the four mentioned above. John will be a Gopher, Sims will be a Gopher and then they choose between Wright and Washington (or maybe they even take both and drop two other scholarships somehow).