Minnesota Secures In-State Sharpshooter Gabe Kalscheur

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Gabe Kalscheur had a lot on his mind during a late-night flight home from Peach Jam earlier this month. He knew he was ready to talk about it, too. The only problem was the 6-foot-4 Howard Pulley (MN) shooting guard was the first of his family to return to Minneapolis, and it couldn’t happen immediately.

Instead of going straight to bed following a long week in North Augusta, SC, Kalscheur decided to wait up. So, he sat in his living room until his parents and sister got home at approximately 1 AM to meet with them.

“We just talked about where I wanted to go and the way I was feeling towards the recruiting process and to what my heart was feeling to where I wanted to go,” he recalled.

These types of meetings in the Kalschuer household were nothing new, but since the meeting took place in the middle of the night, his mother told him to sleep on it to make sure it was what he wanted.

It didn’t change a thing.

On Tuesday, the hoops community found out the specifics of that meeting as Kalschuer announced his commitment to Minnesota at a ceremony at Minneapolis' DeLaSalle High School.

“I felt that little special tingle in my heart that I knew that [Minnesota] would be the right place for me,” he said.


From the love and trust with the coaching staff to the Gophers’ recent rise in Big Ten play to the positive direction of the community and culture, Kalscheur ultimately chose Minnesota over Pittsburgh and officially has the weight of the recruiting process off his shoulders.

“I feel great. I feel free,” he added. “I don’t feel the pressure that I have to keep calling coaches and keep waiting on them and them waiting on me. So I feel very good.”

Kalscheur, who averaged 17.7 points per game during the Nike EYBL regular season, is the third 2018 commitment for Minnesota coach Richard Pitino, joining Howard Pulley teammates Jarvis Thomas, a 6-foot-8 wing, and Daniel Oturu, a 6-foot-10 Flo40 big man.

“They really wanted me to come, and they really want Tre (Jones) to come, and I do too, but it wasn’t their way of them pushing me to go,” Kalscheur noted. “It was my choice and it was my decision of where I wanted to go. It wasn’t them pressuring me as much as me trying to find the right fit and the right fit for not just me but for my family.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” he added. “Jarvis, Daniel, and I are really good friends. We laugh a lot. We get into some arguments. We get into some debates, and it’s going to be a lot of fun playing with them.”

In landing Kalscheur, the Gophers get a big-time shooter who knocked down 44 percent from beyond the arc this spring, a scrappy defender, and a blossoming shooting guard eager to get to work to prove those early mornings in the gym and occasional late-night meetings were more than worth it.

“I do have a lot of work to put in, but I had put in a lot of work to be where I am today," Kalscheur said. "I feel like I am ready to be a Gopher and ready to show people why I am a Gopher.”