Recruiting update: Who's going where this fall?

As college coaches embark on the first live recruiting period of the year this weekend much of the talk is still about the transfer portal, which has seen well north of 1,000 current NCAA players state their intentions to move on. It’s a mess. At the same time a record number of Minnesota seniors have made college commitments, too, which speaks to the growing depth of talent in the state. Not everyone has made their intent known publicly just yet but 120 seniors have put it out there. Here’s the latest information we have. COMMITMENTS BY LEVEL

Division 1 – 21 (10 high major)
Division 2 – 41
Division 3 – 28
NAIA – 11
JUCO – 19

NOTABLE INDIVIDUALS

Highest-rated Division 2 players: #20 Lexi Karge Lexi Karge 6'2" | PF Mankato East | 2022 State MN of Mankato East (UM-Duluth) & #22 Natalie Bremer Natalie Bremer 5'11" | CG Lake City | 2022 State MN of Lake City (MSU-Mankato)
Highest-rated Division 3 players: #47 Dorothy Stotts Dorothy Stotts 5'8" | CG Edina | 2022 State MN of Edina (U.S. Coast Guard Academy) & #50 Selam Maher Selam Maher 5'7" | CG St. Louis Park | 2022 State MN of St. Louis Park (Smith College)
Highest-rated NAIA players: #56 Lilly Meincke Lilly Meincke 5'10" | CG Lake City | 2022 State MN of Lake City (Jamestown) & #62 Taya Jeffrey Taya Jeffrey 5'10" | CG Albert Lea | 2022 State MN of Albert Lea (Jamestown)

MOST INTERESTING TREND Junior college used to be the place to go if you had nowhere else. No more. With multiple Minnesota graduates using scholarship-level JUCO ball as a steppingstone to Division 1, players and families have finally started to buy into the idea that two-year schools are a quality option. Smart choice. Witness what we’ve seen this year from 2021 Concordia Academy graduate Ivane Tensaie (photo above). We had her ranked in our top 30 but the D1 opportunities she was hoping for last spring simply didn’t materialize, so she took her game to the frozen tundra of North Dakota and the State College of Science in Wahpeton, a long-time JUCO powerhouse. The results have been amazing. Ivane earned national JUCO freshman of the year honors and is currently deciding on which of many D1 offers she’s going to go for. It’s a truly impressive array of opportunities. The number of ranked Minnesota players going the JUCO route out of high school appears to have risen more than 30 percent over the past few seasons and it’s only going to keep growing. Among the recent success stories are Patience Williams of Benilde-St. Margaret (South Florida), Nurjei Weems of DeLaSalle (Lamar) and Solape Amusan of Woodbury (Illinois). Others who have made it to D1 via JUCO recently include Sierra Morrow (Bradley), Mikayla Van Nett (Northwestern Louisiana), Sommer Blakemore (Tulsa) and just last week Kierra Wheeler (Chicago State). The highest-rated Minnesota prospects going JUCO are #23 of Hopkins (Cochise, AZ), #39 of Minnehaha Academy (ND Science), #54 of Holy Angels (ND Science) and #58 of White Bear Lake (Rock Valley, IL), all of whom are legitimate Division 1 prospects. It wouldn’t be a complete shock if two years from now Kirkwood Community College commit of Park Cottage Grove made it to the highest level, too. WHICH D1 SCHOOLS CASHED IN? The University of Minnesota’s high-profile recruiting class (the highest-rated in program history) has been big news, not only in these parts but around the country. Gophers coach Lindsay Whalen inked four of the top five-rated prospects in the state in the Class of 2022: #2 of Wayzata, #3 of Hopkins (Miss Basketball), #4 of Chaska and #5 of Eden Prairie. Three D1 institutions received a pair of commitments each from Minnesota athletes:

South Dakota State, winners of the recent WNIT tournament, grabbed #9 Ellie Colbeck Ellie Colbeck 5'9" | PG Fergus Falls | 2022 State MN of Fergus Falls along with Miss Basketball finalist, #12 Madison Mathiowetz Madison Mathiowetz 5'10" | CG Sleepy Eye St. Mary's | 2022 State MN of Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s.
Wisconsin picked up a pair of St. Paul natives in #13 Savannah White Savannah White 6'1" | SG DeLaSalle | 2022 State MN of DeLaSalle and #16 Ronnie Porter Ronnie Porter 5'2" | CG Como Park | 2022 State MN of Como Park.
Lehigh University in Pennsylvania continued its recruiting success in Minnesota by landing a pair of top 20 prospects: #14 Lily Fandre Lily Fandre 6'2" | SF Eagan | 2022 State MN of Eagan and #18 Katie Hurt Katie Hurt 6'0" | SF Roch. John Marshall | 2022 State MN of Rochester John Marshall

WHO DID WELL IN D2? The biggest winner in Division 2 recruiting is clearly MSU-Mankato, which signed five of the 31 athletes who committed to play next season in the Northern Sun Conference. All five of the Mavericks incoming Minnesota freshmen were ranked in the state’s top 50, an amazing windfall at that level. All five are coming off outstanding seniors seasons and had their choice of scholarship opportunities. They are #22 of Lake City, #24 of Mankato East, #32 of Hastings, #37 of Totino-Grace and #41 of Waconia. UM-Crookston also snagged five commits, led by #33 of St. Michael-Albertville. Southwest Minnesota State and Concordia-St. Paul landed four apiece. THANKS BUT NO THANKS College basketball is a big commitment and it’s an investment of blood, sweat and tears that not everyone is prepared to make. As usual, a number of prominent Minnesota prospects have elected not to pursue the sport in college. Last year top 20 prospect Frankie Vascellaro of Holy Angels made the choice to hang up her sneakers after graduation. Unless they've had a recent change of heart, among this year’s graduates doing the same are top 50 prospects of Hill-Murray and of Rosemount, plus Top 100 performers of Forest Lake and 6’6 of Chaska. MULTI-SPORT ATHLETES Several quality basketball prospects have elected to play an alternative sport at the next level, most notably big post of East Ridge, a former Top 20 prospect. Britt is headed to Washington State for volleyball. Also pursuing volleyball are of Mayer Lutheran (Texas A&M International) and of Jackson County Central (Sioux Falls). Mankato West standout will stay home to play softball at MSU-Mankato. TOP-RATED UNSIGNED SENIORS Every day our phone rings with college coaches still seeking talent for fall of 2022. The most common needs are big post players and quality point guards who can make an impact right away. Not surprisingly, both are in short supply right now! These are the highest-rated players still unsigned as far as we are aware. Let us know if this information needs updating.

#43 Ari Gordon Ari Gordon 5'10" | SF Maple Grove | 2022 State MN of Maple Grove
#65 Jenny Ntambwe Jenny Ntambwe 6'1" | PF Coon Rapids | 2022 State MN of Coon Rapids
#66 Maria Counts Maria Counts 5'11" | PF Providence | 2022 State MN of Providence Academy
#70 Kora Forsline Kora Forsline 6'1" | SF Mesabi East | 2022 State MN of Mesabi East

WHAT ABOUT THE CLASS OF 2023? With the class of 2022 having pretty much sorted itself out – there will still be a ton of D3 commitments over the summer – we’ll be turning our attention to the 2023s in short order. Already there are 21 commitments in the class, including 14 at the Division 1 level and six in D2. Among the most recent commitments are of Hopkins to Michigan, of Kasson-Mantorville to Xavier and of Wayzata to East Tennessee. The highest-rated D2 commit thus far is #29 of Becker, who verballed to Michigan Tech. Here are all the 2023 commits so far listed in the order of their Prep Girls Hoops ranking: