Rollins Chooses Washington over Minnesota

As reported first by GopherHole.com's Zach Johnson, junior college power forward Hakeem Rollins has chosen to play basketball at the University of Washington rather than Minnesota. That decision was confirmed by Hakeem's father Saturday evening.

Rollins was the Gophers' top recruiting target this spring and would have provided a big boost to the Gopher frontcourt next season. He figured to bring some of the strength, rebounding, and defense that was missing this season as well as help fill the scoring and depth voids left by the departures of Jerry Holman and Rick Rickert.

With Rollins now out of the picture and Rickert all but committed to staying in the NBA Draft, Minnesota still has three scholarships to offer for the 2003-2004 season. One or two of those will almost certainly go left unused until the following year, and it's possible that none of the three may be filled. That's due both to the late date as well as to Minnesota no longer having any official visits to offer a recruit. The signing period ends May 15th, although a player could still decide to enroll at Minnesota without signing a letter of intent at any point up until the beginning of classes.

The most likely recruiting candidate for the Gophers at this point figures to be a European player, although there still could be an outside chance at landing an unsigned player, a player who has been released from his letter of intent, or a transfer (who wouldn't be eligible until 2004-2005).

Barring a new addition, Minnesota's frontcourt for the upcoming season will consist of Mike Bauer, Stan Gaines, Jeff Hagen, Aliou Kane, and Matt Smriga. Expect a three-guard offense, with Moe Hargrow on the wing, to be employed frequently as well.

Talk about recruiting and next season's lineup on the Gopher Basketball message board and/or the Premium message board.