Golden Gophers Basketball: Eric Curry Commits

Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

For the second time in two days, the Golden Gophers basketball team and men’s head coach Richard Pitino have secured a commitment from a top recruit. In-state prospect Amir Coffey made his intentions known on Monday, and Eric Curry out of Little Rock (Arkansas) Southwest Christian told Scout.com early on Wednesday that he has verbally committed to the University of Minnesota.

Curry is a 6’8″ 215-pound power forward, and Scout.com has him rated as a four-star prospect and the 96th best player in the 2016 class as a whole. He had reportedly narrowed his list of schools down to Minnesota, Iowa State and Arkansas, with official visits to the latter two last weekend. Curry joined Coffey on an official visit to Minnesota early this month.

Curry told GopherIllustrated.com over the summer that he thought Pitino’s up-tempo system fit him well, and he more recently cited a strong relationship with the coach as a driving force for his decision.

Curry’s mom took to Twitter to announce her son’s decision:

Thank you to all my recruiters for giving the opportunities any kid with a ball and dream could ask for but........ pic.twitter.com/ppvAyinvvW
— Audrea Phipps (@momof2amazons) September 23, 2015

Minnesota now has three top-level commitments for the 2016 class, which Scout now ranks No. 15 in the country. Prior commit Michael Hurt of Rochester (MN) John Marshall is a three star prospect, so he’s not quite as highly touted as Coffey and Curry are on a national scale. But two of the three headliners in next year’s incoming class are from Minnesota, and that is a great sign after the disappointment of a couple years ago when three top-level in-state recruits went elsewhere. Close that border, Coach Pitino!