Richard Pitino's father sending Gophers a 7-foot center

Transfers usually leave a school because they're looking for something completely different.

But in the case of Matz Stockman, like a Louisville player before him, he wants to go from playing for one Pitino to another.

Gophers coach Richard Pitino got some recruiting help Tuesday from his father, Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who is sending a 7-footer to play for his son.

Stockman (first name is pronounced Motts) is transferring to Minnesota after the spring semester, Louisville announced Tuesday. The 240-pound Norwegian will have one year of eligibility remaining after sitting out the 2017-18 season.

This isn't the first time Rick Pitino had one of his players transfer from Louisville to play for Richard — and his school announced it first.

In 2012, Rakeem Buckles left the Cardinals to play for the younger Pitino at Florida International. The 6-7 forward sat out the 2012-13 season, and Pitino left FIU to take over the Gophers' program. Buckles decided to transfer again and got admitted into Minnesota, but the NCAA denied his waiver to play right away and the U's appeal on his behalf as well. So Buckles went back to Florida to finish his career.

Stockman, a sparingly used reserve big man, sees an opportunity for more playing time in Minnesota. He averaged 2.2 points, 1.6 rebounds and 5.3 minutes in 45 games at Louisville in three seasons.

Stockman played 18 games this season, averaging 1.7 points and 1.2 rebounds in 4.1 minutes per game.

Before coming to the U.S., Stockman played one season at the Canarias Basketball Academy (CBA) in Spain's Canary Islands in 2013-14."Matz has been a great team member with our basketball team and we appreciate his efforts," Rick Pitino said in a statement "Transferring to Minnesota is a great move for him, as he'll have an opportunity to make an immediate impact when he becomes eligible to play."

The Gophers had an open scholarship for next season after sophomore forward Ahmad Gilbert was allowed to transfer. Stockman joins the 2017 recruiting class that includes four-star St. Raymond (N.Y.) point guard Isaiah Washington and three-star Patrick School (N.J.) guard Jamir Harris.

The spring signing period starts Wednesday. The Gophers can't officially make an announcement about Stockman until his paperwork goes through and he signs a national letter of intent this week. He will be the seventh Division I transfer to sign with Minnesota under Richard Pitino.

"You're always recruiting with the amount of transfers that happen in today's world of college basketball," Richard Pitino said recently. "… If it will help the team, we'll look at it."