The 2022 class is what everyone is talking about in Minnesota with the AAU season greenlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic this July.
Richard Pitino and his Gophers staff, like their college basketball coaching peers across the country, can't recruit on the road with the NCAA extending the dead period until September 1.
That will only have the Gophers and other high major programs calling, texting and watching livestreams this summer to keep track of the state's top local juniors as much as possible.
Wayzata's Camden Heide, Cretin-Derham Hall's Tre Holloman, Hopkins' Elvis Nnaji and Minnehaha Academy's Prince Aligbe and Chase Carter are five players with Gophers offers in the 2022 class.
"It's obviously big time to have an offer from the home state," Heide said. "I've grown up here my whole life. I got to go to a lot of Gophers games when I was a kid."
The 6-foot-6 Heide is the state's top-ranked junior and No. 39 in 247Sports.com's 2022 composite ranking. He is recovering from foot surgery and will be sidelined when his D1 Minnesota 17U team makes its summer debut Saturday in the Jammin' in July tournament in Ames, Iowa.
Aligbe, ranked No. 58 nationally, is still waiting for his Grassroots Sizzle's AAU team to play, which includes five-star senior Chet Holmgren. Holloman, also a top-100 junior, will get on the court with Howard Pulley in Ames this weekend. The Minnesota Heat, Minnesota Select and Minnesota Rise are also in that 17U showcase in Iowa.
Despite being sidelined, Heide was bombarded by calls from coaches last month when they were allowed to contact 2022 prospects for the first time. He picked up new offers from Arizona, Marquette, Texas, Virginia Tech, Xavier, and Creighton already this summer. Purdue was the first Big Ten offer last year. Minnesota came shortly after and has been heavily involved.
