Earlier this week, Cory Joseph, a five-star recruit on Rivals.com, was expected to shorten his list of potential colleges.
According to two sources I talked to Wednesday afternoon, the Gophers made Joseph's cut. Joseph's AAU coach, Ro Russell, and a source close to the team told me that Joseph will visit Minnesota prior to the November signing period.
Late Wednesday, Joseph confirmed what my sources told me earlier that day and announced that he's going to take official visits to Villanova, Minnesota and UConn, according to the Las Vegas Sun. Florida, Mississippi State and UNLV are also on his final list. Joseph will visit the Gophers a week or two after an Oct. 23 official visit to Villanova.
Russell, head coach of Joseph's Grassroots Canada AAU squad, said Minnesota is "the dark horse" in the race for Joseph's services. Joseph's brother, Devoe Joseph, is a shooting guard for the Gophers.
The younger Joseph is a 6-3, 170-pound point guard who averaged 10.5 points, 4.9 assists and 2.1 steals per game for Findlay Prep, winner of the ESPN Rise National High School Invitational in April.
A source close to the team said the Gophers will go all out in their efforts to court their second recruit from the Joseph family. The feeling among Gophers insiders is that the team has a better shot at landing Joseph than Detroit's Ray McCallum Jr.
Joseph has offers from UConn, Florida, Texas, Kansas, Memphis, UNLV, Oklahoma and Minnesota.
McCallum, another highly ranked point guard from the 2010 class on Minnesota's wish list, said Wednesday that he's not sure if he'll take an official visit to Minnesota.
