Big Ten basketball offers, including Gophers, come in bunches for Cretin-Derham Hall sophomore Ty Schlagel

Cretin-Derham Hall’s Ty Schlagel had one of the best summers out of any basketball prospect in Minnesota, which solidified his status as the state’s No. 1 player in the Class of 2027 entering this school year.

That didn’t necessarily mean Division I scholarship offers would come flying in this fall, especially since he’s only a sophomore. Last week, however, the 6-7, 190-pound Schlagel received his first three D-I offers. Not surprising, considering his talent.

The surprising part? The Gophers, Iowa and Wisconsin all offered in the span of a few days after scouts watched him during his school’s open gym last week. Schlagel also recently took unofficial visits to the Gophers and Badgers.

“It was really special to get that first offer,” Schlagel told the Star Tribune. “I’ve been working so hard over my life for basketball.”

Iowa, Iowa State, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Colorado State, St. Thomas, South Dakota State and Minnesota were among the programs represented at the team workout. The D-I men’s basketball recruiting calendar allows coaching staffs to make in-person contact and evaluate prospects off campus from Sept. 4 through April.

Gophers coach Ben Johnson and assistant Dave Thorson watched Schlagel work out last week before making him the program’s first offered 2027 prospect.

“Ben Johnson really liked my game and how I play,” Schlagel said. “Getting that offer is really special because I’ve watched Minnesota growing up. So, it was really cool to get an offer at that level.”

Schlagel’s family is familiar with college recruiting. Tori Schlagel, Ty’s older sister and a senior at Eden Prairie, is committed to South Dakota.

According to NCAA rules, sophomores can’t take official visits, but seniors and juniors can. Student-athletes can take official visits after Aug. 1 entering their junior year. To add, sophomores aren’t allowed to receive calls, emails, texts or social media messages from programs until mid-June after their sophomore year but can contact coaches to start the recruiting process.

The first signing period for high school seniors begins Nov. 13.

An Eden Prairie transfer, Ty Schlagel built his reputation playing for Howard Pulley on the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League circuit. He averaged 18 points per game and shot 40% from three-point range and was named to the Peach Jam 15U all-tournament team in July.

Malachi Hill, a guard at Totino-Grace and brother of former Ohio State and WNBA guard Tayler Hill, received an offer this summer from California State, Bakersfield, making him the first from the state’s Class of 2027 to have an offer. South St. Paul 6-10 sophomore Mustafa Mohamed is also getting the attention of college coaches.

There hasn’t been this much buzz from college coaches about talent at Cretin-Derham Hall, a St. Paul private school, since former Gophers big man and NBA draft pick Daniel Oturu and Michigan State guard Tre Holloman were starring for the Raiders. Rows of chairs were set up alongside the court at Cretin-Derham Hall last week for college coaches attending the varsity team’s workouts, which included 6-11 senior Tommy Ahneman and 6-1 junior Joe Mitchell III.

Ahneman, scheduled to visit the Gophers in early October, visited Iowa last weekend. Mitchell, who also received an offer from the Hawkeyes, has visited South Dakota State and recently received an offer from the Jackrabbits.

Despite being on a loaded Cretin-Derham Hall team, Schlagel’s talent stands out. He’s an all-around performer who can score inside and outside. He takes pride in rebounding, defending and “doing the dirty work” to help his team win, he said.

More offers are expected to come this fall for Minnesota’s fast-rising sophomore.

“It makes me want to work even harder now to get to that next point,” Schlagel said.