Gophers basketball coach Richard Pitino appears close to hiring Wichita State's Kyle Lindsted as an assistant coach for the last available spot on his staff, a source told the Star Tribune on Sunday.
Lindsted, the top recruiter for Shockers coach Gregg Marshall, is working on finalizing a deal at Minnesota this week, Wichita's KWCH 12 TV reported earlier Sunday afternoon.
The 41-year-old Kansas native worked at Wichita State for three seasons after spending 15 years at Sunrise Christian Academy in his home state, a school his father founded in 1987.
As the school's athletic director and boys' basketball coach, Lindsted put Sunrise Christian on the prep basketball map, producing 35 Division I players from 2000-2015, including former national college player of the year and Oklahoma star Buddy Hield; ex-Michigan State point guard Lourawls (Tum Tum) Nairn; and former Gophers center Bakary Konate.
Pitino is replacing Ben Johnson, who left to be on new Xavier coach Travis Steele's staff last month.
Marcus Fuller
Whalen gets first recruit as U coach
Gophers women's basketball coach Lindsay Whalen picked up her first recruit when Stillwater junior Sara Scalia announced her commitment on Twitter.
Scalia, a 5-10 guard, averaged 26.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 3.8 steals last season for the 17-11 Ponies.
