Minnesota Basketball Recruiting: McKinley Wright and Theo John will not be Gophers

Both McKinley Wright and Theo John of Champlin Park announced their college decisions today and both recruits have made the decision to attend somewhere other than Minnesota.  Of the six players locally who are high-major caliber prospects the Gophers have secured exactly none.

Wright was not much of a surprise as the Gophers were going to only be taking one point guard in this recruiting class and the staff took Isaiah Washington’s commitment after his visit this past weekend. Wright likely would have been a Gopher but has made the decision to commit to the Flyers of Dayton.

Theo John is the gut-punch to Gopher fans. The John recruitment came down to Marquette and Minnesota. The Gophers offered John long ago and have made him a priority recruit. They spent their summer making sure a member of their staff was always in the gym watching his games throughout the summer, including Richard Pitino. John has picked Marquette despite the fact that according to Ryan James at GopherIllustrated.com, Head Coach, Steve Wojciechowski never once made John a priority enough to watch him live in the Open Period this summer.

John visited the Gophers this past weekend, along with Isaiah Washington, but made his final decision to play for Marquette with today’s announcement.

This commitment means that the Gophers have actually missed out on all 6 of the high-major caliber players within the state. Some by choice, others were misses. More on that is to come, but for now the Gophers still have an open scholarship for the 2017 class and will look to fill it, likely with a big man.