New Gopher offers out to local 2022 recruits

Richard Pitino and the Gopher coaching staff has had a busy week of evaluating prospects, especially from those in the state of Minnesota. There are currently seven players in the Rivals150 for the 2022 class from the North Star state. After this week, all seven of them have an offer to play for their home University.

On September 28, Totino-Grace and Grassroots Sizzle's Demarion Watson-Saulsberry received a call from Coach Pitino telling him that the Gophers would like to offer. Rivals National Analyst Eric Bossi scouted him this summer: "This summer with Grassroots Team Sizzle and at events like the Crossroads Elite Invitational, though, the forward has been able to establish himself as a legitimate prospect. He has a dangerous pull-up jumper, he goes to the rim, he rebounds, he runs the floor and plays a solid all-around game. He deserves to be in the conversation for the Rivals150 in his class."

Watson-Saulsberry's only high-major offer as of right now is Missouri, but schools like Iowa, Iowa State, and Minnesota have reached out. He told Eric Bossi earlier this month that he grew up a Gophers fan.

Ahjany Lee has been one of the fastest rising prospects in the state of Minnesota this summer. He's received offers from Iowa, and now the Gophers in the past few months. I was able to scout Lee in person: "The best way to describe Lee's game is developing. He's very raw, but he shows high potential. He's a faceup forward who can hit shots over the top of defender's and fading away. He extends out to the three point line, but not at a consistent rate. His jumpshot is a little flat right now. He also shows potential as a ball-handler but his handles are a little loose right now. In the last game that I saw him play, he ended with 15 rebounds and four blocks. He was being doubled all weekend, and that limited his shot attempts at the rim, but it showed his ability and intelligence as a passer out of the post. He does hover around the perimeter a lot, and a way that he could use his height and athleticism is to get position down low for putbacks when he can't find shots on offense, but he didn't show a willingness to do so when I watched him."