Whenever a top local prospect commits to another program besides the Gophers, Minnesota fans seem to take it personally. Saving them from that disappointment four-star Hopkins senior big man Zeke Nnaji left the U off his final five schools announced Sunday, which are Arizona, Baylor, Kansas, Purdue and UCLA.
"I've visited great schools, been recruited by awesome programs and gotten to know amazing coaches," Nnaji said in a tweet. "I am grateful to all."
The omission of the Gophers wasn't all too surprising considering Nnaji's recent unofficial visit tour took the family all over the country, not to Minnesota's campus.
It was becoming clearer that his sights were set out of state. Richard Pitino and his staff did all they could do in recruiting the state's No. 2 senior and a top-40 prospect nationally in 2019.
"It really boiled down to style of play, strength (and conditioning) coach and history of the programs," Zeke's father, Apham Nnaji told the Star Tribune. "As well as coaches' experience was a factor."
More surprising than Minnesota not included on the final list was Kentucky's absence since the Wildcats offered Nnaji a scholarship last month after head coach John Calipari came for an in-home visit.
The five programs still in the running for the 6-foot-11 Royals standout have been recruiting him longer than UK, including a few blue-bloods. Nnaji's father said his son will take his first official visit this weekend to Kansas. Following that trip will be officials to Arizona (Oct. 12-14), UCLA (October 19-21), Baylor (Oct. 26-28) and Purdue (Nov. 2-4). He will make a decision around the Nov. 24 weekend.
No Nnaji means that the Gophers will miss out on at least three of the state's top five players in the 2019 class, including DeLaSalle's Tyrell Terry (Stanford) and Lakeville North's Tyler Wahl (Wisconsin). They didn't offer Prior Lake's Robert Jones, who committed to Denver.
