Recruiting Report: Ben Carlson (2020)
Six-foot-9 Ben Carlson of East Ridge High School gave the Raptors a skilled inside presence this year helping the team to a better year than expected.
Scoring his 11.5 points per game Ben helped the Raptors win 22 games this winter and along the way the Minnesota Gophers noticed his ability. The Gopher staff invited Carlson to a game this winter and he took another visits to the University campus Tuesday night.
“I really enjoyed my visit to Minnesota,” Carlson said. “What stood out to me was what the new facilities are going to be like. They will be very nice once they’re finished. Also, the coaching staff was great and I enjoyed getting to know them better.”
Richard Pitino is coming off his fourth year coaching the Gophers which included last year’s trip to the NCAA Tournament. Pitino and Carlson are developing a relationship early in Ben’s career.
“I enjoyed getting to know Coach Pitino better during my visit,” Carlson said. “He’s easy to talk to and he is approachable. He’s doing a lot of good things at Minnesota which is resulting in success for the basketball program.”
The Golden Gophers went 24-10 in 2016-17 finishing fourth in the Big Ten.
“The team had a great year last year and I feel that they will continue to build off last year and have even more success,” Carlson said. “I like the fact that the school offers lots of different majors to choose from and that the team gets lots of fan support from the community.”
Another program contacting Carlson early has been Wisconsin. The Badgers finished one game ahead of the Gophers in the standings and have Nathan Reuvers coming into their program, a local product that Carlson has been compared to early in his career.
Carlson visited Madison, Wisconsin to see the Badger program as well.
“During my Wisconsin visit I got to go to a practice and a game and I liked the atmosphere during those,” Carlson said. “I met the coaching staff and some players and liked meeting them and getting to know them. I also got to tour the campus and that was fun.”
A few other programs have started early contact with Carlson as well.
“I’ve been talking with Nebraska lately and I received a letter from Colorado two days ago.”
East Ridge High School has one of the elite 2021 talents (Kendall Brown), 2019s (Courtney Brown Jr), and 2020 (Carlson) so nobody expected them to be a top ten team this past winter. But they were.
The youth mixed with seniors Marcus Haskins, Nick Christenson, and Marcus Bennett to have an excellent year. And it’s only the tip of the iceberg. The Raptors added talented young coach Bryce Tesdahl this off-season which should make them a top five team immediately.
“We were ranked 7th last year in the state and are returning our top scorers and rebounders along with many other talented players,” Ben said.
“Our youth program has lots of talented players in it as well. Our new coach has coached at the high school and college level and has had lots of success at both levels.
“This team has a strong work ethic and commitment to basketball which will help drive our continued success.”