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bga1

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Whether one likes that the coach returns or not we now know what the situation looks like. Assuming that Oturu is gone here's what we have:

Curry/Freeman
Ihnen/ Omersa/Mitchell
Williams/Willis
Gabe/Mashburn
Carr/Greenlee

Needs:
1. Recruiting: Walton, a juco or grad transfer center and an athletic wing who can defend and is a decent shooter
2. Existing recruits: Mashburn needs to be ready to play, and I hope Mitchell surprises by adding offseason strength
3. Development: Ihnen needs to become an inside threat and have a great offseason for skills and strength as Oturu did last summer. Freeman needs to have a big summer of development.
4. A little bit of fortune: We can't depend on Curry, but a nice comeback would be awesome. Cannot build a roster expecting that though. That cannot be an excuse for a third time.
5. Coach: needs to set the expectation now that we are going to be the best defensive team in the league next year. It has to be a mindset that we are going to get it done that way. He needs to take a hard look at where he didn't make adjustments this year and he needs to build a team with depth next year
6. Gabe : will need to find his shooting again in addition to the other things he does so well.

I don't see gloom and doom. I see opportunity.
 
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Willis probably ahead of Williams, it will be his senior year.

Great opportunity for Walton!!!!
 

restovich said:
Willis probably ahead of Williams, it will be his senior year.

Great opportunity for Walton!!!!
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I could get pretty pumped about a lineup of:

Curry
Ihnen
Walton
Gabe
Carr

Shooters and good length.
 


I'd add a grad transfer C to that list
bga1 said:
I could get pretty pumped about a lineup of:

Curry
Ihnen
Walton
Gabe
Carr

Shooters and good length.
Click to expand...
I'd get more pumped if there were a grad transfer C ready to step in there (assuming Oturu is gone obviously). Hard for me to trust Curry or Freeman making an impact at this point.
 


bga1 said:
Whether one likes that the coach returns or not we now know what the situation looks like. Assuming that Oturu is gone here's what we have:

Curry/Freeman
Ihnen/ Omersa/Mitchell
Williams/Willis
Gabe/Mashburn
Carr/Greenlee

Needs:
1. Recruiting: Walton, a juco or grad transfer center and an athletic wing who can defend and is a decent shooter
2. Existing recruits: Mashburn needs to be ready to play, and I hope Mitchell surprises by adding offseason strength
3. Development: Ihnen needs to become an inside threat and have a great offseason for skills and strength as Oturu did last summer. Freeman needs to have a big summer of development.
4. A little bit of fortune: We can't depend on Curry, but a nice comeback would be awesome. Cannot build a roster expecting that though. That cannot be an excuse for a third time.
5. Coach: needs to set the expectation now that we are going to be the best defensive team in the league next year. It has to be a mindset that we are going to get it done that way. He needs to take a hard look at where he didn't make adjustments this year and he needs to build a team with depth next year
6. Gabe : will need to find his shooting again in addition to the other things he does so well.

I don't see gloom and doom. I see opportunity.
Click to expand...

Nice summary. In order of importance would rank them 1, 6, 3, 2, 4, 5. Really, really need that high level grad transfer center. Apparently, Curry has lost weight so hopefully can return to form, but seems like a big ask.
 


bga1 said:
Whether one likes that the coach returns or not we now know what the situation looks like. Assuming that Oturu is gone here's what we have:

Curry/Freeman
Ihnen/ Omersa/Mitchell
Williams/Willis
Gabe/Mashburn
Carr/Greenlee

Needs:
1. Recruiting: Walton, a juco or grad transfer center and an athletic wing who can defend and is a decent shooter
2. Existing recruits: Mashburn needs to be ready to play, and I hope Mitchell surprises by adding offseason strength
3. Development: Ihnen needs to become an inside threat and have a great offseason for skills and strength as Oturu did last summer. Freeman needs to have a big summer of development.
4. A little bit of fortune: We can't depend on Curry, but a nice comeback would be awesome. Cannot build a roster expecting that though. That cannot be an excuse for a third time.
5. Coach: needs to set the expectation now that we are going to be the best defensive team in the league next year. It has to be a mindset that we are going to get it done that way. He needs to take a hard look at where he didn't make adjustments this year and he needs to build a team with depth next year
6. Gabe : will need to find his shooting again in addition to the other things he does so well.

I don't see gloom and doom. I see opportunity.
Click to expand...
I see 8-12. If things to well. The drop off at center from a 9.5 to 4 offsets whatever other gains you think you might make.
 

howeda7 said:
I see 8-12. If things to well. The drop off at center from a 9.5 to 4 offsets whatever other gains you think you might make.
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I have no idea what the roster will look like. But I am excited to see it!
 




It is what it is at this point. Firing a coach in this climate would be tough as far as recruiting and getting prepared for next season. Now Pitino is truly going into the year on the hot seat. Coyle has all this offseason and next season to be getting his coaching list up to date and prepared, talking to who he needs to talk to.

I'm back all in though for next year. There's some potential excitement with big potential guys like Ihnen, Mashburn, and will be fun to see Curry back out there, though I think it's fair to have zero expectation for him. Gabe, Willis, Carr, and Tre are good enough to have success in the Big Ten. We're gonna be a small team. Hopefully run and gun, get the ball up in transition and shoot a lot of 3s or get to the hoop. Jarvis and Ihnen are great for up-tempo style, long as Jarvis stays outta foul trouble and only dunks/layups.

Once again I believe if this team is coached to the best of their ability, HUGE IF, they could be an upper half Big Ten squad (Depending on if the NCAA lets seniors come back for another year of eligibility. That would make it tough.)

Either way, go gophs!
 

bga1 said:
I have no idea what the roster will look like. But I am excited to see it!
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We know what ~11/13ths of the roster will look like. I hope Pitino hits 2 HR's in Spring recruiting.
 

howeda7 said:
We know what ~11/13ths of the roster will look like. I hope Pitino hits 2 HR's in Spring recruiting.
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Well I would be thrilled if we knew what 11/13 of the roster looked like because that would mean we still have Oturu which indeed would be a spring home run. Big Time!
 



It's pretty difficult to be optimistic. We're essentially running it back next year without Oturu. My projection would be multiple games below .500 in conference play without a tourney appearance. Frustrating but hoping for the best.
 

skiumah1 said:
It is what it is at this point. Firing a coach in this climate would be tough as far as recruiting and getting prepared for next season. Now Pitino is truly going into the year on the hot seat. Coyle has all this offseason and next season to be getting his coaching list up to date and prepared, talking to who he needs to talk to.

I'm back all in though for next year. There's some potential excitement with big potential guys like Ihnen, Mashburn, and will be fun to see Curry back out there, though I think it's fair to have zero expectation for him. Gabe, Willis, Carr, and Tre are good enough to have success in the Big Ten. We're gonna be a small team. Hopefully run and gun, get the ball up in transition and shoot a lot of 3s or get to the hoop. Jarvis and Ihnen are great for up-tempo style, long as Jarvis stays outta foul trouble and only dunks/layups.

Once again I believe if this team is coached to the best of their ability, HUGE IF, they could be an upper half Big Ten squad (Depending on if the NCAA lets seniors come back for another year of eligibility. That would make it tough.)

Either way, go gophs!
Click to expand...
Stop making excuses for why a Coyle didn’t make a change.
 

bga1 said:
Well I would be thrilled if we knew what 11/13 of the roster looked like because that would mean we still have Oturu which indeed would be a spring home run. Big Time!
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If I'm not mistaken we only have one open scholarship as of this moment? I'm counting Oturu as the 2nd.
 


howeda7 said:
If I'm not mistaken we only have one open scholarship as of this moment? I'm counting Oturu as the 2nd.
Click to expand...

My bad. I miscounted. You are correct - if Oturu leaves we have two. I guess I have had it in my mind that a player is going to transfer and we would have 3. But you are right.
 

At this point, you can’t count on Curry for any production. Best case scenario, he’s able to play, but slow progress. Probably 5ish minutes in the non-con, and maybe ramping up to 10 minutes in conference play. He clearly wasn’t the same before his most recent injury, and now he’s had another one. I hope he comes back and can be productive, but we’ve seen this before. I would say the likelihood he retires is equivalent to the likelihood he comes back and is able to help.
 

I would be surprised if Williams starts. I was much higher on him early in the season than towards the middle and end. He ended up shooting 28% (!) from the field and 62% free throws. I like his aggressiveness, but we need more offensive threats. At least Willis can get hot and make some 3’s. Especially being a senior, he will probably start and get more minutes.

We really need Ihnen to take a big step. He has a good shot, and good length on D. The number of offensive rebounds he was getting at the end of the season when getting more minutes was impressive.
 

bga1 said:
My bad. I miscounted. You are correct - if Oturu leaves we have two. I guess I have had it in my mind that a player is going to transfer and we would have 3. But you are right.
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Odds are you're right, but there's no obvious candidate. Maybe Greenlee.
 

forever a gopher said:
At this point, you can’t count on Curry for any production. Best case scenario, he’s able to play, but slow progress. Probably 5ish minutes in the non-con, and maybe ramping up to 10 minutes in conference play. He clearly wasn’t the same before his most recent injury, and now he’s had another one. I hope he comes back and can be productive, but we’ve seen this before. I would say the likelihood he retires is equivalent to the likelihood he comes back and is able to help.
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This. You certainly can't plan on him being your starting center. We have to go get a grad transfer. Freeman isn't that close either.
 

Going into this year, there was a lot of talk about Ihnen - but he really didn't start producing in a meaningful way until the last third of the season.

I hope Mashburn is a player - but I would not count on him being a major contributor right away - and sounds like he's ahead of Mitchell.

If Oturu leaves, I think it's essential to find a grad transfer big who can play at least 15-20 minutes a game, or the Gophers are going to be a donut team - nothing in the middle.
 

Gentlemen, man up! I smell a lot of sea-dwelling species in here, if you know what I mean!
 



I think our guards, Curry, and Ihnen will be able to make up for most of the scoring we lose with Oturu. Gabe will obviously have to rebound and it will be a more spread out offense that doesn't go through the post as much. But I'm very concerned about where our rebounds and post defense are going to come from. We can only hope for a Reggie Lynch like transfer...or who know, maybe Oturu has been mentoring the crap out of Freeman and he shocks us all.
 


Will we expect to start seeing players opt for the NBA draft next week?
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Going into this year, there was a lot of talk about Ihnen - but he really didn't start producing in a meaningful way until the last third of the season.

I hope Mashburn is a player - but I would not count on him being a major contributor right away - and sounds like he's ahead of Mitchell.

If Oturu leaves, I think it's essential to find a grad transfer big who can play at least 15-20 minutes a game, or the Gophers are going to be a donut team - nothing in the middle.
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Don't forget Ihnen had a wrist injury slowing him down. Also, wasn't there a delay getting him on campus from Germany? Freshmen can and do come in and contribute right away. It depends on their readiness just like when a college player goes to the NBA.
 

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