City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Before Kai Shinholster was to commit to play basketball at the University of Minnesota, he had a fairly important question to answer first. 

“I went up there and my thought process was, I was thinking of four boxes that I had to check,” he said. “The first one was, where in the world is Minnesota?”

Not that the Penn Charter rising senior didn’t know where Minneapolis was on a map; his statement was more philosophical. He’d never been to the Land of 10,000 Lakes or its largest city of half a million people, within which the state’s largest college is situated, next to the Dinkytown neighborhood of the city, on the banks of the Mississippi River.

Considering Minnesota’s staff only started recruiting him in July, Shinholster’s late August visit was his first exposure to not just the Golden Gophers program but everything around it, city included. 

It didn’t take much longer than the ride from the airport to the campus for him to be convinced. 

“Loved the city of Minneapolis, it was like a smaller version of Philly for me,” he said. “It was inside the city but still had its own campus, it was everything I was looking for, that was amazing. 

“The coaches picked us up [from the airport] and we drove to the campus [...] and I was just looking out the window the entire time, and it was just a beautiful city.”

By the end of his visit, Shinholster was convinced, having checked off all his boxes. Before he departed on August 29, he told fourth-year head coach Ben Johnson and staff that he was committed, a decision he announced publicly on Wednesday. 

The 6-foot-5, 170-pound guard’s decision came down to James Madison and Minnesota, Shinholster said. But the appeal of playing at the high-major level meant Shinholster went north with an optimistic attitude, one which was confirmed by his three-day, two-night visit.

“We went to the Minnesota State Fair, which is a huge deal out there,” he said. “I was just witnessing how people interacted with the basketball team. It was like in Philly, the 76ers were walking down the street. It was just a different culture out there and it was something I’d never seen before but it was definitely something I could get used to.

“I bet on myself, always,” he added, “ and I wanted to put myself in the best situation. Getting out there and seeing how the players interacted with me and how the coaching staff interacted with the players, it just solidified what I was already thinking.”

Shinholster had been on Division I radars since his freshman year at Penn Charter, the lanky shooting guard clearly possessing a ton of upside in his young frame. Temple, St. Joe’s and Drexel had offered during the course of his years at Penn Charter and playing with K-Low Elite, but the Big 5 had largely backed off by the time his commitment came around; only La Salle, which offered in July, was still involved at the time of his decision.

It wasn’t something Shinholster had said publicly, but he wasn’t too interested in staying local, and the local schools had picked up on it. 

“I just wanted a new start somewhere else,” he said. “I don’t think of it as basketball, I think of it as my life, and in my life I don’t want to stay in the same place, I want to get out and explore.”

The Minnesota coaching staff first saw Shinholster at the Adidas circuit championships in Rock Hill (S.C.) early in July, and almost immediately went full-throttle in their pursuit. 

Johnson and assistant coach Marcus Jenkins took the lead, and it didn’t take long for them to get serious about Shinholster after seeing him play several times during the July live recruiting periods. 

“It was almost an every-day thing for me,” Shinholster said. “They were calling on me, checking on me. They got my family involved, they called my brother [Trey, a sophomore at Howard] a few times, they called my dad, my mom, they really made it seem that I was a top priority for them.”

With 10 seniors on the Golden Gophers roster this year and seven running out of eligibility, there should be an opportunity for Shinholster to get to Minneapolis next fall and compete for big minutes out of the gate.

Shinholster said the staff brought up comparisons between himself and Cam Christie, who played one season for Minnesota last year before being picked in the second round of the NBA Draft by the LA Clippers. A 6-6 wing, Christie entered the starting lineup eight games into his freshman year, finishing the season averaging 11.3 ppg and shooting 39.1% from 3-point range. 

“It’s definitely amazing, because it shows how much the coach truly believes in me,” Shinholster said. “Although I’m not thinking [about the] NBA anywhere close right now, I’m thinking how important it is to have people in your corner who see that for you as well.”

Shinholster is one of three Division I targets in the Penn Charter senior class, along with point guard Jake West and center Matt Gilhool, both of whom are sorting through lists of high-major offers and making their own official visits. Prior to West, Shinholster played with Mark Butler, who started his entire freshman season at Lafayette after graduating from Penn Charter in 2023. 

The trio of Shinholster, West and Gilhool was a major reason Penn Charter finished atop the Inter-Ac by itself last season in the most competitive season in league history, after sharing the title with Malvern Prep the last two years. 

Shinholster is confident that playing with that level of talent will also help him prepare for college, where his job as an off-ball scorer and versatile defender should translate right over instead of having to adjust to a completely new role.

“Playing with the two Division I guards. I was definitely able to pick up a lot of things,” he said. “Playing with Matt was different for me and it really helped me; I’d never played with a true big before in my life [...] where I’m feeding the post and letting him work. It’ll definitely help my development, for sure.”