Gophers offer scholarship to 13-year-old Minnesota basketball phenom

This kid won't graduate until 2030, but scholarship offers from the Gophers and Iowa are already on the table.

Moments before tip-off between Minnesota and Iowa during the 2024-25 regular season. | Picture via: @tonyliebert (X)

Coincidence or fate? Just days after former Minnesota girls basketball phenom Paige Bueckers was selected first overall in the WNBA draft, the next girls hoops phenom in the state is receiving scholarship offers from Big Ten teams.

Who is the next phenom? It's 13-year-old Ashlee Wilson. The Hill-Murray seventh-grader announced in recent days that she's received scholarship offers from Minnesota and Iowa.

Thankful to receive an offer from ⁦@GopherWBB⁩! Thank you ⁦@CoachDawnP⁩ and Coach Ariel! Thank you for this opportunity! pic.twitter.com/GH45Qzfm3s

— Ashlee Wilson (@AshWilson2030) May 2, 2025

The 5-foot-10 seventh-grader averaged 13.8 points per game for Hill-Murray's varsity basketball team this past season. The only player on the team to average more was her older sister, Mya Wilson, who's regarded as the No. 1 in-state player in the class of 2027. Both sisters now hold offers from their hometown Gophers.

Wilson plays for All-Iowa Attack on the AAU circuit, which is known for producing women's basketball superstar Caitlin Clark.

Wilson still has a year of middle school before she's a full-time student at Hill Murray, but she's regarded as the next prep superstar in Minnesota, following a trail blazed by Bueckers at Hopkins and since followed by the likes of 5-star recruits Liv Bell (Florida), Olivia Olson (Michigan) and current high school juniors Maddyn Greenway (Kentucky) and Tori Oerhlein (Minnesota).

The Gophers' roster is currently littered with former Minnesota prep stars, including Mara Braun, Amaya Battle, and Taylor Woodson. They need to get back to the NCAA Tournament to take the next step as a program, and doing so could increase the appeal as they hope to keep in-state recruits like Wilson home when she's likely going to be have her pick of national powers to choose from by the time she's a senior.

Bueckers, by the way, received her first scholarship offer when she was 14 years old. Tyus Jones, who just completed his 10th year in the NBA, got his first college letter when was 13 years old and starting as an eighth-grader on the Apple Valley High School varsity team.