Gilbert's high school coach on the new Gophers commit's development, strength and weaknesses and attraction to Minnesota

Ahmad Gilbert became the second recruit this week to give Minnesota the nod when he committed to coach Richard Pitino during his official visit on Thursday.

Gilbert, who originally committed to George Mason, but who reopened his recruitment after coach Paul Hewitt was fired recently, is a lefty three-star wing from Philadelphia with a knack for shooting the three ball using his length and athleticism on the defensive end.

After the Gophers traveled to Pennsylvania for a home visit at the beginning of the week, Gilbert journeyed to Minneapolis and quickly made his decision. I caught up with his four-year coach at Constitution High School, Robert Moore, about Gilbert's development, strengths, weaknesses and his attraction to Minnesota.

Did you see Ahmad pulling the trigger this week?
I could kind of tell on Monday from the look on the kid's face that he was excited and leaning towards [Minnesota]. I left the home visit on Monday feeling like it would be done by the end of the week. The Penn State coach [Patrick Chambers] called and wanted to set up a visit. I told him basically if [Gilbert] comes back from Minnesota uncommitted, then we'll bring him up. But in my mind, I didn't expect him to come back uncommitted.

I was just impressed by coach Pitino and [assistant] coach [Kimani] Young, just their sincerity and what they brought to the table, their professionalism and everything else associated with how they've recruited Ahmad. I just felt like it was going to be a good fit.

How did Minnesota's commitment compare with that of other programs, and what was Ahmad attracted to?
They really wanted Ahmad. They'd seen the opportunity to see him over a couple of years. As soon as the opportunity came about once Coach Hewitt got fired at Mason, coach Kimani was at several games. It's not like Minnesota is THAT far but it's not like he's driving up the block either. We had seen him consistently at a lot of our playoff games. We'd look up and there's Kimani. It was just a gut feeling for me, really with Kimani and with coach Pitino.

They brought us a lot of renderings of what they're doing [with transforming Bierman Athletic Building]. I've never been to Minnesota but just the pictures of the campus and the way everything is set up really really looked amazing to me. The kid was there in April and not in January so that definitely made a big difference. I imagine it's not the best of times in January. The kid is very interested in studying business, Minnesota has a great business school [Carlson]. I think that things started to click.

But all three of my seniors that just got Division I scholarships, I didn't play any of them their freshmen year [because they had talented guys ahead of them]. So they know what it's like. They're going to come in and say if I'm not the man right away, this is the same process I'm going to go through again to be better. I told coach Pitino and Kimani that him being able to play right away is great, but the only thing we care about is is he going to be better in four years, is he going to reach his potential.

How much of his identity is as a shooter?
He's 6-7 and he can really shoot the ball. He shot 6-for-12 from beyond the arc in our state championship game. And none of them were like high school threes. He pulls up, he's shooting NBA threes in high school. Down the stretch, our last two games – our semifinal game he didn't make a shot. He was 11-for-12 or 12-for-13 from the floor and the one shot he missed was a dunk and he was fouled on it. He went to the foul line and hit both foul shots.

I've coached a lot of kids and there are not a lot of kids that have come along that can shoot the ball like him. He's got an up-and-down game like Pitino likes to play, and as long as he gets some open looks. The reality is he's got to get a little bit stronger in order to defend, and he's got to work on being able to create his own shot at this level. But it's going to come because he has all the tools, all the resources.

You played him mostly at power forward, right?
It's the nature of college basketball. I had a 6-6 guy in the middle, and I played three guards and Ahmad...He wasn't the kind of four man that is going to take the ball in the post and pound it down. No, he'll take the ball, he'll spin away. He's got a beautiful fadeaway jumpshot. He would do those types of things out of the post… He's really good at finding seams in the zone where he can just turn and get his shot off really quick and he just makes it at a really high rate. I think he's a three. That's his natural position.

Ahmad originally committed to George Mason last summer, quite early in his recruitment. Then coach Paul Hewitt was fired this March. How did he take that turnover?
It was bad. Imagine being so committed. He committed maybe too early for my liking but ultimately I tell a kid if you're comfortable, I'll support you. Ultimately, once I met [the coaches at George Mason], I was comfortable. I knew he was going at a lower level than he could have …I knew he was cutting himself short a little bit by not seeing some other schools. It worked out the way it worked out, unfortunately for the coaching staff there, but now I think Ahmad gets the chance to really prove himself.