Rick Pitino has cheered on the Gophers in support of his son and Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino on a couple of occasions this season. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to stop recruiting against his son.
The first example of the younger Pitino losing a recruiting battle to his father is now official as Anas Osama Mahmoud, a 7-foot-2 center from Egypt, announced Monday that he’ll attend Louisville next fall. The big man is playing high school basketball at West Oaks Academy in Florida.
Mahmoud picked the Cardinals over the Gophers and Georgia Tech, according to the Pioneer Press. He was the No. 1 center on Pitino’s wish list of 2014 Gopher recruits.
CBS Sports says Mahmoud was one of the best remaining 2014 recruits still on the board.
Rivals lists him as a three-star recruit while ESPN’s Recruiting Nation gave him four stars and ranked him No. 69 for the Class of 2014.
Minnesota and Louisville will meet early on next season at the Armed Forces Classic in Puerto Rico.
