BleedGopher
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per Jake:
Whether injured players should play in lost seasons is a difficult decision in college basketball. In the NBA, a star player with similar injuries and a big contract would likely be shut down, with preference given to rehab and a clean bill of health. For college players, though, who have just four precious seasons to make their mark and attract the attention of professional teams at home and abroad, missing half a season is substantial. It’s easy to understand why someone like McBrayer, who has the potential to make good money in Europe, or Coffey, an NBA prospect, would want to gut it out, both for themselves and the team. It’s also easy to understand Richard Pitino’s motivation for trying to push them as he watches his once promising season slip away.
Now, though, the competitive portion of the season is surely gone. To make the tournament, the Gophers would need to essentially win out in the regular season or win the Big Ten tournament. The former would include beating the likes of (3) Purdue, (5) Michigan State, and (24) Michigan. The latter would require, at minimum, winning four games in four days at Madison Square Garden. Both of those scenarios seem so unlikely that pushing major parts of the future to play hurt no longer seems logical.
Minnesota should have a strong team next season. With McBrayer, Coffey, Jordan Murphy, Eric Curry and Isaiah Washington back, and four-star recruit Daniel Oturu coming in, there’s reason to be optimistic about the future. (We’ll explore that more later this season.) The smart play for the rest of this year, in my view, is to be cautious with injured veterans and prioritize developing talented freshmen. And that starts, of course, with Isaiah Washington.
https://www.1500espn.com/gophers-2/...es-mount-time-prioritize-development-winning/
Go Gophers!!
Whether injured players should play in lost seasons is a difficult decision in college basketball. In the NBA, a star player with similar injuries and a big contract would likely be shut down, with preference given to rehab and a clean bill of health. For college players, though, who have just four precious seasons to make their mark and attract the attention of professional teams at home and abroad, missing half a season is substantial. It’s easy to understand why someone like McBrayer, who has the potential to make good money in Europe, or Coffey, an NBA prospect, would want to gut it out, both for themselves and the team. It’s also easy to understand Richard Pitino’s motivation for trying to push them as he watches his once promising season slip away.
Now, though, the competitive portion of the season is surely gone. To make the tournament, the Gophers would need to essentially win out in the regular season or win the Big Ten tournament. The former would include beating the likes of (3) Purdue, (5) Michigan State, and (24) Michigan. The latter would require, at minimum, winning four games in four days at Madison Square Garden. Both of those scenarios seem so unlikely that pushing major parts of the future to play hurt no longer seems logical.
Minnesota should have a strong team next season. With McBrayer, Coffey, Jordan Murphy, Eric Curry and Isaiah Washington back, and four-star recruit Daniel Oturu coming in, there’s reason to be optimistic about the future. (We’ll explore that more later this season.) The smart play for the rest of this year, in my view, is to be cautious with injured veterans and prioritize developing talented freshmen. And that starts, of course, with Isaiah Washington.
https://www.1500espn.com/gophers-2/...es-mount-time-prioritize-development-winning/
Go Gophers!!
