Gophers get Akeem Springs

Donate To GopherHole
SelectionSunday said:
Maryland and Iowa both lose a lot, true. I'd still peg Maryland to finish ahead of the Gophers even if Trimble doesn't return. Perhaps, Iowa, too, if Jok is back.

Michigan and Purdue (especially the Wolverines) have a lot coming back and are likely NCAA squads next season. Even if Swanigan doesn't return, Boilers will be formidable.
Click to expand...

I guess I don't know who Maryland has, especially if they lose Trimble. Jok's a great player, but that bench left a lot to be desired and a couple of guys already transferred out. Should be interesting, Illini are a wildcard, NW should be better, Penn State should be better. 7-11 might not even get you out of Wednesday game next year, 8-10 was go for what 9th last year
 

Gopherbbdude said:
“He wouldn’t go anywhere just to be a role player, to be a complimentary guy,” Dwayne said. “But to come in and be a big part of it –definitely a team-oriented thing, but for him to be a big part of the team.”

not sure how many minutes he will get, surely not a starter?
Click to expand...

My guess is he'll get at least 20-25 minutes a game, regardless if he is a starter or not.
 

B1G next year too early of a look

Too early of a look. Biggest movers. Maryland way down, MN and Illinois up.
1st group***
1. mich st.-4th best recruits in country, a top 10, 20, and a top 40 coming in. harris returning.
2. wisc. Hayes, Koenig, and Happ. 3 all-conf possibilities.
3. Michigan. everyone back but lavert.
2nd group***
4.Indiana. Thomas Bryant is back, Blackmon from injury. waiting on troy w. 17th rec class in nation. will miss yogi.
5. ohio st. almost everyone back, big ten's most athletic team.
6. Purdue. Haas returns as does Edwards. guards aren't that good. lower if swanigan is gone.
7. MN. Transfers, coffey, Mason, Murphy. have talent can they gel?
3rd group***
8. Ill has hill, nunn, and is Thorne getting another year?
9. Iowa. JOk, Uhl return. #29 recruiting class.
10. Maryland. if Tremble doesn't return. lose possible 5 starters. not a good recruiting class.

last group**
11-14 Northw, Nebr, penn st, Rutgers.
 

march madness said:
Too early of a look. Biggest movers. Maryland way down, MN and Illinois up.
1st group***
1. mich st.-4th best recruits in country, a top 10, 20, and a top 40 coming in. harris returning.
2. wisc. Hayes, Koenig, and Happ. 3 all-conf possibilities.
3. Michigan. everyone back but lavert.
2nd group***
4.Indiana. Thomas Bryant is back, Blackmon from injury. waiting on troy w. 17th rec class in nation. will miss yogi.
5. ohio st. almost everyone back, big ten's most athletic team.
6. Purdue. Haas returns as does Edwards. guards aren't that good. lower if swanigan is gone.
7. MN. Transfers, coffey, Mason, Murphy. have talent can they gel?
3rd group***
8. Ill has hill, nunn, and is Thorne getting another year?
9. Iowa. JOk, Uhl return. #29 recruiting class.
10. Maryland. if Tremble doesn't return. lose possible 5 starters. not a good recruiting class.

last group**
11-14 Northw, Nebr, penn st, Rutgers.
Click to expand...

I'd be very surprised if PSU is in that last grouping with the recruiting class they have coming in. Not sure how you can have us jumping up that far when they seemingly have a better class coming in, and went 7-11 in the B1G this past year.
 

Bryce Webster said:
I'd be very surprised if PSU is in that last grouping with the recruiting class they have coming in. Not sure how you can have us jumping up that far when they seemingly have a better class coming in, and went 7-11 in the B1G this past year.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Penn State is on the rise.
 



march madness said:
Too early of a look. Biggest movers. Maryland way down, MN and Illinois up.
1st group***
1. mich st.-4th best recruits in country, a top 10, 20, and a top 40 coming in. harris returning.
2. wisc. Hayes, Koenig, and Happ. 3 all-conf possibilities.
3. Michigan. everyone back but lavert.
2nd group***
4.Indiana. Thomas Bryant is back, Blackmon from injury. waiting on troy w. 17th rec class in nation. will miss yogi.
5. ohio st. almost everyone back, big ten's most athletic team.
6. Purdue. Haas returns as does Edwards. guards aren't that good. lower if swanigan is gone.
7. MN. Transfers, coffey, Mason, Murphy. have talent can they gel?
3rd group***
8. Ill has hill, nunn, and is Thorne getting another year?
9. Iowa. JOk, Uhl return. #29 recruiting class.
10. Maryland. if Tremble doesn't return. lose possible 5 starters. not a good recruiting class.

last group**
11-14 Northw, Nebr, penn st, Rutgers.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure Ohio State had 3 or 4 guys transfer. I wanna say Lyle is the only one left of their incoming 2015 freshman class.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Glad to see them on the rise. Chambers is a good dude.
Click to expand...

I'd say Penn State deserves to have a good team one of these years, but how many of them would even care if they did?
 

march madness said:
Too early of a look. Biggest movers. Maryland way down, MN and Illinois up.
1st group***
1. mich st.-4th best recruits in country, a top 10, 20, and a top 40 coming in. harris returning.
2. wisc. Hayes, Koenig, and Happ. 3 all-conf possibilities.
3. Michigan. everyone back but lavert.
2nd group***
4.Indiana. Thomas Bryant is back, Blackmon from injury. waiting on troy w. 17th rec class in nation. will miss yogi.
5. ohio st. almost everyone back, big ten's most athletic team.
6. Purdue. Haas returns as does Edwards. guards aren't that good. lower if swanigan is gone.
7. MN. Transfers, coffey, Mason, Murphy. have talent can they gel?
3rd group***
8. Ill has hill, nunn, and is Thorne getting another year?
9. Iowa. JOk, Uhl return. #29 recruiting class.
10. Maryland. if Tremble doesn't return. lose possible 5 starters. not a good recruiting class.

last group**
11-14 Northw, Nebr, penn st, Rutgers.
Click to expand...

Northwestern should be decent, Law comes back from injury, Penn State had the second best class in the conference, they'll be young, but talented. Maryland's starting five is gone, Iowa kept Jok, but lost everyone else and two bench guys transferred. Ohio State had four tranfers, Michican had a couple transfers. The only things that I am sure of are Wisconsin and Sparty will be two of the top three teams and Rutgers will be terrible. The rest of the league is truly a rat race
 



The official release from the U:

University of Minnesota head men’s basketball coach Richard Pitino announced Tuesday the addition of guard Akeem Springs, who will transfer from Milwaukee for the upcoming season.

Springs, a native of Waukegan, Ill., will earn his bachelor’s degree at Milwaukee and be eligible to play immediately for the Gophers as a graduate transfer.

“We are extremely excited about the addition of Akeem Springs,” Pitino said. “He provides depth and versatility to our back court. Akeem will also add great leadership to our locker room.”

Springs spent two seasons at Milwaukee, where he averaged double-figure scoring for the Panthers. This past season, he scored 13.2 points and 5.3 rebounds in 31.9 minutes per game on 49 percent field goal shooting, adding 54 assists (1.7 apg) and 27 steals per game.

Springs ranked 11th in the Horizon League in scoring and 17th in rebounding, in a year where he posted 21 double-figure scoring games and started 32 games. Among the highlights was a 33-point effort on January 7 in a win over Youngstown State, where Springs was 14-of-18 from the field including 4-of-6 from 3-point range.

In his first season with the Panthers, Springs averaged 10.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game and was the second-leading rebounder and third-leading scorer on the team. He spent one season at Northern Illinois in 2012-13 after a high school career where he was selected to the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association 3A/4A All-State Third Team his senior season.

Springs, who will have one year of eligibility with the Gophers, will join freshman newcomers Amir Coffey (Hopkins, Minn./Hopkins HS), Michael Hurt (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall HS) and Eric Curry (Little Rock, Ark./Southwest Christian Academy) along with transfers Reggie Lynch (Edina, Minn./Edina HS/Illinois State) and Davonte Fitzgerald (Atlanta, Ga./Tucker HS/Texas A&M) on the court next fall.

http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/041916aab.html

Go Gophers!!
 

Ohio st's transfers best player was the backup center giddens who averaged 18 min, 3.8ppg, 3.6 reb. Everyone of substance is back.

As a homer I put gophers at 7. Penn st should probably be in the 3rd group. 3 (4) star guys coming in but losing their only good post player in Brandon taylor. A unbiased person would put mn in the 3rd group probably.

Michigan lost 3 bench players: spike who missed almost all year, doyle, and dawkins. have a nice pg coming in.

Iowa has a top 30 class and 2 possible starters in pg bohannon and pf/c cook 6-9 240 #10 rated pf coming in. With 16ppg form Jok, Uhl who can get you 10, and improving Baer and Wagner they could get to .500 in conference. The transfers were way down the bench types.

Who would you rather have as an incoming class? ESPN rankings
MN-Lynch, Springs, Fitzgerald, Coffey-32 overall, Curry #33 pf, and #36 pf Hurt.
Penn st- pg carr ranked 41st overall. #26 pf Hampton, #22 sf stevens, #62 sf bostick.
They have a higher ranked freshmen class but we might have 3 transfer starters.
 

Michigan lost Lavert to graduation but still have tons of wing talent.
 

march madness said:
Ohio st's transfers best player was the backup center giddens who averaged 18 min, 3.8ppg, 3.6 reb. Everyone of substance is back.

As a homer I put gophers at 7. Penn st should probably be in the 3rd group. 3 (4) star guys coming in but losing their only good post player in Brandon taylor. A unbiased person would put mn in the 3rd group probably.

Michigan lost 3 bench players: spike who missed almost all year, doyle, and dawkins. have a nice pg coming in.

Iowa has a top 30 class and 2 possible starters in pg bohannon and pf/c cook 6-9 240 #10 rated pf coming in. With 16ppg form Jok, Uhl who can get you 10, and improving Baer and Wagner they could get to .500 in conference. The transfers were way down the bench types.

Who would you rather have as an incoming class? ESPN rankings
MN-Lynch, Springs, Fitzgerald, Coffey-32 overall, Curry #33 pf, and #36 pf Hurt.
Penn st- pg carr ranked 41st overall. #26 pf Hampton, #22 sf stevens, #62 sf bostick.
They have a higher ranked freshmen class but we might have 3 transfer starters.
Click to expand...
our class, we get three transfers, and the best overall recruit
 



march madness said:
Ohio st's transfers best player was the backup center giddens who averaged 18 min, 3.8ppg, 3.6 reb. Everyone of substance is back.

As a homer I put gophers at 7. Penn st should probably be in the 3rd group. 3 (4) star guys coming in but losing their only good post player in Brandon taylor. A unbiased person would put mn in the 3rd group probably.

Michigan lost 3 bench players: spike who missed almost all year, doyle, and dawkins. have a nice pg coming in.

Iowa has a top 30 class and 2 possible starters in pg bohannon and pf/c cook 6-9 240 #10 rated pf coming in. With 16ppg form Jok, Uhl who can get you 10, and improving Baer and Wagner they could get to .500 in conference. The transfers were way down the bench types.

Who would you rather have as an incoming class? ESPN rankings
MN-Lynch, Springs, Fitzgerald, Coffey-32 overall, Curry #33 pf, and #36 pf Hurt.
Penn st- pg carr ranked 41st overall. #26 pf Hampton, #22 sf stevens, #62 sf bostick.
They have a higher ranked freshmen class but we might have 3 transfer starters.
Click to expand...

I was going to strongly disagree with your initial rankings, but after that explanation I would tend to agree with you. It's true that Ohio St doesn't really lose anything that will hurt them. Same with Michigan other than LeVert. I do think Iowa will be better than 9 if they get Jok back, and also think NW belongs in the 7-10 range. To me the Gophs also end up in the 7-10 range. Being a homer as well I can see how you put MN at 7, but I think we all know 9 or 10 is more realistic. (If I were guessing today without wearing my homer hat I would put us at 9.)

On paper I'd take Penn State's class over the Gophers by a tiny margin, but once you get past the top 10 or 15 classes I think how the new recruits fit your roster needs matters a lot more than the raw ranking numbers. The transfers matter, but I'm not as high on the transfers as some. Probably not a popular opinion, but I think Springs is the best transfer we bring in. Fitz is kind of a wild card to me -- Pitino tells us that he will be the best shooter on the team next year and maybe he has made some major strides in the last year, but let's not forget that he only averaged like 3 ppg as a soph at A&M. I don't know a lot about that situation, but it is undeniable that he hasn't done much in his 2 years of college ball. Lynch is going to have to play against B1G caliber post players instead of Mizzou Valley post players so I'm a little skeptical on him as well. Springs has put up solid numbers and had some of his best games against major conference teams so that's why I'm the most optimistic about him as far as the 2016-17 season is concerned.
 

bizzle22 said:
I was going to strongly disagree with your initial rankings, but after that explanation I would tend to agree with you. It's true that Ohio St doesn't really lose anything that will hurt them. Same with Michigan other than LeVert. I do think Iowa will be better than 9 if they get Jok back, and also think NW belongs in the 7-10 range. To me the Gophs also end up in the 7-10 range. Being a homer as well I can see how you put MN at 7, but I think we all know 9 or 10 is more realistic. (If I were guessing today without wearing my homer hat I would put us at 9.)

On paper I'd take Penn State's class over the Gophers by a tiny margin, but once you get past the top 10 or 15 classes I think how the new recruits fit your roster needs matters a lot more than the raw ranking numbers. The transfers matter, but I'm not as high on the transfers as some. Probably not a popular opinion, but I think Springs is the best transfer we bring in. Fitz is kind of a wild card to me -- Pitino tells us that he will be the best shooter on the team next year and maybe he has made some major strides in the last year, but let's not forget that he only averaged like 3 ppg as a soph at A&M. I don't know a lot about that situation, but it is undeniable that he hasn't done much in his 2 years of college ball. Lynch is going to have to play against B1G caliber post players instead of Mizzou Valley post players so I'm a little skeptical on him as well. Springs has put up solid numbers and had some of his best games against major conference teams so that's why I'm the most optimistic about him as far as the 2016-17 season is concerned.
Click to expand...

Nice 1st post. While not popular, likely accurate on the transfer impact.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Nice 1st post. While not popular, likely accurate on the transfer impact.
Click to expand...

He may be right, and then again, he may be wrong.

I am not as confident of the transfers impact giving us immediate offense but I am sure they will have immediate impact on defense. Lynch should be a vast improvement in post defense and at minimum will give us 5 more fouls from a true big man. The length of Fitzgerald along with his athleticism will be a big improvement from last years SFs. Murphy I believe will come back stronger and more determined as I think Mason and McBrayer will as well. Coffey should also provide an increase in defensive presence on the wing. So, while I don't know if these guys will be able to make up for King's offense, I am dead certain they will make his defense look as pedestrian as a paraplegic.
 

bizzle22 said:
I was going to strongly disagree with your initial rankings, but after that explanation I would tend to agree with you. It's true that Ohio St doesn't really lose anything that will hurt them. Same with Michigan other than LeVert. I do think Iowa will be better than 9 if they get Jok back, and also think NW belongs in the 7-10 range. To me the Gophs also end up in the 7-10 range. Being a homer as well I can see how you put MN at 7, but I think we all know 9 or 10 is more realistic. (If I were guessing today without wearing my homer hat I would put us at 9.)

On paper I'd take Penn State's class over the Gophers by a tiny margin, but once you get past the top 10 or 15 classes I think how the new recruits fit your roster needs matters a lot more than the raw ranking numbers. The transfers matter, but I'm not as high on the transfers as some. Probably not a popular opinion, but I think Springs is the best transfer we bring in. Fitz is kind of a wild card to me -- Pitino tells us that he will be the best shooter on the team next year and maybe he has made some major strides in the last year, but let's not forget that he only averaged like 3 ppg as a soph at A&M. I don't know a lot about that situation, but it is undeniable that he hasn't done much in his 2 years of college ball. Lynch is going to have to play against B1G caliber post players instead of Mizzou Valley post players so I'm a little skeptical on him as well. Springs has put up solid numbers and had some of his best games against major conference teams so that's why I'm the most optimistic about him as far as the 2016-17 season is concerned.
Click to expand...

Some good points and welcome aboard. I think Fitz is a wildcard, on the one hand he had a promising freshman season, then he battled injuries his sophomore year, guessing health will be key for him, but he's 6'8" if he's quick he should be good on defense. Lynch was a beast in the paint on defense for Illinois State and the Mizzou Valley had some good teams while he was there. Wichita state, St. Louis had a tourney year, UNI. Not the big ten, but I would say it's one of the better mid majors. As long as he can catch an entry pass that will open up so many more options on offense, doesn't need to be a scorer. Agreed on springs, as far as the standings go the 7-10 range is probably about right, I think beyond Wisconsin, sparty and IU and that Rutgers will be really bad, the league is such a crapshoot next year, a lot of teams expect to get better, some teams appear to be regressing towards the middle of the pack, should be a lot of close games
 

bizzle22 said:
I was going to strongly disagree with your initial rankings, but after that explanation I would tend to agree with you. It's true that Ohio St doesn't really lose anything that will hurt them. Same with Michigan other than LeVert. I do think Iowa will be better than 9 if they get Jok back, and also think NW belongs in the 7-10 range. To me the Gophs also end up in the 7-10 range. Being a homer as well I can see how you put MN at 7, but I think we all know 9 or 10 is more realistic. (If I were guessing today without wearing my homer hat I would put us at 9.)

On paper I'd take Penn State's class over the Gophers by a tiny margin, but once you get past the top 10 or 15 classes I think how the new recruits fit your roster needs matters a lot more than the raw ranking numbers. The transfers matter, but I'm not as high on the transfers as some. Probably not a popular opinion, but I think Springs is the best transfer we bring in. Fitz is kind of a wild card to me -- Pitino tells us that he will be the best shooter on the team next year and maybe he has made some major strides in the last year, but let's not forget that he only averaged like 3 ppg as a soph at A&M. I don't know a lot about that situation, but it is undeniable that he hasn't done much in his 2 years of college ball. Lynch is going to have to play against B1G caliber post players instead of Mizzou Valley post players so I'm a little skeptical on him as well. Springs has put up solid numbers and had some of his best games against major conference teams so that's why I'm the most optimistic about him as far as the 2016-17 season is concerned.
Click to expand...

Good stuff-

Lynch- just a peak at better competition last year:

Seton Hall 4pts/3boards/2blocks
VCU 9pts/6reb/6 blocks
Wich St. 11pts/7reb/5blk then 8/6/3 then 10/8/2
No. Iowa 12/2/1 then 8/4/1 then 9/5/3

So his last year there he averaged about 9ponts 5 boards and 3 blocks against Big Ten comparable competition.

Fitzgerald as a FROSH at Tex AM had this 5 game stretch: Ark. 17pts, Tenn 2pts, S. Carolina,13pts, Misss St. 20 pts, Kentucky 12 points- so that's a pretty intriguing run as a freshman. Then he cooled off averaging closer to 5 per game before he got injured in February.
 



Mbakwe could be the exception to the transfer rule, but look at his freshmen stats at "powerhouse" Marquette his freshmen year, then he practices for 2 years and averages for the gophers. I saw a huge improvement from colt Iverson out here in Colorado. Now those could be anomalies?

Mbakwe at Marq -'07-08 9mpg, 1.5 pts, 2.1 reb.
at Minn '10-11 31 mpg, 13.9 ppg, 10.5 reb, 1.5 blks.

As a frequent watcher of basketball, the big ten is probably the least athletic of the big 6 conferences. But our commitment to physical defense, and keeping 4 year players makes us very competitive, along with some of the best coaching and scouting.

Someone like Fitzgerald is a dime a dozen in the sec, in the big ten he could be one of the more athletic guys. We have missed shot blocking and defensive muscle. I don't care if Lynch average just 4ppg, if he can get us 6 rebounds and 2-3 blocks I am happy. We played J. king at the 5 lots this year!

I agree Springs has the most scoring potential. Let's hope he shoots the 3 like last year and not his first 2 years. I also hope he is a good defensive player, I'm not sure we have had a 6-4 210lb guard recently, joe coleman doesn't count pf trapped in a sg body.
Springs 39-111 35% from 3 last year. His first 2 years: 44-164 27%.

Besides chemistry, most of us in the know are worrying about our 3 pt shooting. we were one of the worst 3pt shooting teams (311th out of 351 teams) and now we are loosing Joey King.

My big ten predictions were 10 minutes worth of peaking, nothing I would put money on.
 



nice looking shot. Pretty good around the rim. post moves as well.
 

Man, Springs is great in the post for a guard. Any time he has an undersized defender on him, he should look to take him into the post. I think Springs biggest downside will be lack of athleticism and quickness. He may not be the greatest defender for us.
 

I like McBrayer's defense so if they were the guards you'd put him on the quicker player. Not too many teams have 2 fast guards next year. Most SG's in the big ten are similar sized 6-4 200 to 210: Blackmon, Wiley, Webster, Matnias, Rankam, and not necessarily super quick. Mason isn't very quick but he plays angles well. This is the first year in a while where we wont be an undersized team.
 


Bad Gopher said:
I like the looks of this kid. I'm starting to have unhealthy fantasies about making the Tournament and him having big games there. Somebody stop me. POLLYANNA!!!
Click to expand...

Sports fantasies are what keep Minnesotans going- no one should be able to take that away from you! I have to say though- wouldn't it be a fun thing to turn it around like that in one year? I'd love it!
 

Beautiful stroke and just an ox down low for a guard! He is a great kid as well, great situation for us. His limitations are obvious (lack of athleticism) but I think he has so many more intangibles that will make him successful at the U.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom