Gophers receive a commitment from Texas center Sam Freeman

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The last time we got a big man spring recruit from Texas it worked out pretty well! Plus you can never have enough big men in the B1G
 



JimmyJamesMD said:
That should quiet the pitino to ark buzz
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Why would this settle that question? If you were looking for another position somewhere, would you just abandon your duties at your current position? That would be some really unbridled optimism.
 

cjbfbp said:
Why would this settle that question? If you were looking for another position somewhere, would you just abandon your duties at your current position? That would be some really unbridled optimism.
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What Pitino to Arkansas buzz ? There is no such thing.
 



Thanks Sam for choosing the Gophers. You'll love it here and you will be part of some really, fun exciting times ahead. Congratulations to Coach Pitino and staff for landing a very nice recruit. More good news ahead. I'm already looking forward to next year. Hey Coff...c'mon back and join the fun!
 

Gopher73 said:
Thanks Sam for choosing the Gophers. You'll love it here and you will be part of some really, fun exciting times ahead. Congratulations to Coach Pitino and staff for landing a very nice recruit. More good news ahead. I'm already looking forward to next year. Hey Coff...c'mon back and join the fun!
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Awesome positivity ! Other good news; In town for final 4 and the crew i am with is having a great time and very impressed with how it is being staged. I go every year and this is strong. Had a great time at a private practice today and the press conference.
 





golfing18now said:
Interesting quick read about Sammie's recruitment.

https://www.5statehoopreport.com/blogs/post/sam-freeman-commits-to-minnesota-talks-to-5state
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What if this guy and Oturo can play at the same time and just control the boards like Ward and Tillman? have been doing for Mich St.?

There was another story out there with quotes from Sam's dad about him being a grinder and hard worker.

6'10'' active hard workers are what it takes to compete against the big guys from Mich and Mich st.

Starting to see some hope, which was cloudy before that first Purdue win.

Happy for Pitino, seems like a decent guy.

now fill the rest of those open scholarships with some quality!!!!
 

He and Oturu will make each other better competing against one another in practice. Probably a step up on competition for Dan to hone his skills against, and Sammie will have an excellent mentor.
 




Golden Deuce said:
What if this guy and Oturo can play at the same time and just control the boards like Ward and Tillman?
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Well, if Pitino intends to use him as a backup center, then that would be a first. I think Pitino played Walker and Eliason together for less than 20 minutes over their two year careers with him. He hasn't done it much since either. I suppose he might have played Lynch and Bakary together for a few minutes but I don't remember him doing that. I also don't remember him playing Daniel and Stockman together. Pitino hasn't revealed himself to be an experimenter during his tenure here.
 

C'Mon Man said:
Probably a step up on competition for Dan to hone his skills against, and Sammie will have an excellent mentor.
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During a recent interview, Murphy complimented Stockman for helping him practice against much bigger opponents. Matz, a 5th year senior, had 7 blocked shots against Purdue in 24 minutes. I doubt a shorter, lighter freshman center who isn't particularly highly rated is going to be a step up from Stockman at this point.
 

cjbfbp said:
During a recent interview, Murphy complimented Stockman for helping him practice against much bigger opponents. Matz, a 5th year senior, had 7 blocked shots against Purdue in 24 minutes. I doubt a shorter, lighter freshman center who isn't particularly highly rated is going to be a step up from Stockman at this point.
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The Purdue game...a n of 1. Yup...that's great evidence that a freshman wont be better.

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cjbfbp said:
Well, if Pitino intends to use him as a backup center, then that would be a first. I think Pitino played Walker and Eliason together for less than 20 minutes over their two year careers with him. He hasn't done it much since either. I suppose he might have played Lynch and Bakary together for a few minutes but I don't remember him doing that. I also don't remember him playing Daniel and Stockman together. Pitino hasn't revealed himself to be an experimenter during his tenure here.
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Why would anyone experiment in a game? That's what practice is for. Set up a game plan and execute it during a game.
You wouldn't go to an orchestra concert to see the conductor experiment on a musical piece in the middle of the concert. You want to hear what has been tirelessly practiced. It's the same with a basketball game. You don't experiment. If you experiment in a game you're either blowing someone out or getting torched by the opponent. I, for one, am glad Pitino isn't experimenting in games.
 

cjbfbp said:
During a recent interview, Murphy complimented Stockman for helping him practice against much bigger opponents. Matz, a 5th year senior, had 7 blocked shots against Purdue in 24 minutes. I doubt a shorter, lighter freshman center who isn't particularly highly rated is going to be a step up from Stockman at this point.
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Hot take. I wouldn't describe Matz as fleet of foot, and he got pushed around plenty in the paint. Matz certainly helps practice against length, but I think there's something to be said for playing against someone who can match athleticism.
 

MennoSota said:
Why would anyone experiment in a game? That's what practice is for.
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The statement had to do with playing two centers at the same time, something Pitino has very, very rarely done here. You can work with that type of lineup in practice if you think that might be useful and then use that in a game under the right circumstances. I guess the fact that we have seen almost none of that in 6 years would indicate that Pitino hasn't done that much in practice either.

Does that answer your question?
 

C'Mon Man said:
Hot take. I wouldn't describe Matz as fleet of foot, and he got pushed around plenty in the paint. Matz certainly helps practice against length, but I think there's something to be said for playing against someone who can match athleticism.
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And how do you know this kid is a great athlete at this point? I don't know why you feel compelled to make predictions based on very little exposure to the recruit. Maybe you're just bored and can't think of anything else to say. I just mentioned that there is no real evidence at this point to believe that this kid is going to be a big practice upgrade at this time and you have nothing to refute that so why not just give this up.
 

MDGopherFan said:
The Purdue game...a n of 1. Yup...that's great evidence that a freshman wont be better.

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That was an example of his ceiling. Are you satisfied now? By the way, the concept of "n" isn't foreign to me. I've probably had more training in that area than you.
 

cjbfbp said:
And how do you know this kid is a great athlete at this point? I don't know why you feel compelled to make predictions based on very little exposure to the recruit. Maybe you're just bored and can't think of anything else to say. I just mentioned that there is no real evidence at this point to believe that this kid is going to be a big practice upgrade at this time and you have nothing to refute that so why not just give this up.
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Dude pulled down 28 rebounds in a game. Could Matz even play 28 minutes? He's a similar size to Oturu, with a similar motor apparently, so I see that as a good thing for our post players' development.

This is a discussion board. Are you trying to kill discussion? Sure seems that way.
 

C'Mon Man said:
Dude pulled down 28 rebounds in a game.
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A high school game. "C'mon man" And I'm almost certain he won't average 28 minutes a game or pull down 28 rebounds a game in any game here next year.

I am part of the discussion, but I like to "keep it real."
 

I am hoping Freeman is as good as Matz was but am expecting him to be more of Omersa's caliber.

I think if we want our backup center to be as good as Matz, we need to go after a grad transfer like the Ole Miss guy.
 

As to whether Freeman and Oturu play at the same time - I think that hinges a lot on how Pitino (or the new coach......just kidding) fills out the roster. AND it depends a lot on Curry's physical situation. If Curry is healthy enough to play a major role, then you have one situation. But, if Curry struggles coming back from the latest injury, and the Gophers do not add another big man who can play right away, then the Gophers may have to force-feed Freeman more minutes.

In a perfect world, Curry comes back healthy, and the Gophers add a grad transfer or JUCO big man who can walk right into the lineup. That allows Freeman to get some experience and hit the weight room before being counted on for major minutes.

But again, in a worst-case scenario, you could have Freeman and Oturu mix and match at the 4 and 5. Oturu is mobile enough and can hit that 15-foot jumper, so I could see him playing the 4 - or using the two of them in a high-low post set.
 

cjbfbp said:
That was an example of his ceiling. Are you satisfied now? By the way, the concept of "n" isn't foreign to me. I've probably had more training in that area than you.
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I doubt it...but I've no interest in getting into an academic/professional spitting match.

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die hard gopher said:
I am hoping Freeman is as good as Matz was but am expecting him to be more of Omersa's caliber.

I think if we want our backup center to be as good as Matz, we need to go after a grad transfer like the Ole Miss guy.
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The Ole Miss guy would be about as good of an example of that as one is likely to find this spring which is why I have doubts that we 1) will go after him or 2) get him if we do.
 

die hard gopher said:
I am hoping Freeman is as good as Matz was but am expecting him to be more of Omersa's caliber.

I think if we want our backup center to be as good as Matz, we need to go after a grad transfer like the Ole Miss guy.
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Do you really think that Pitino is recruiting guys to be backups? Does Izzo recruit guys to be backups? You recruit guys to give different looks, skills, flexibility in schemes, etc..

As PJ says, you are constantly recruiting to find players that are better than the ones you have and the ones you have need to improve to keep their spots.

Freeman has dreams of reaching the NBA, he is not coming to the U to help Oturu practice!


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cjbfbp said:
That was an example of his ceiling. Are you satisfied now? By the way, the concept of "n" isn't foreign to me. I've probably had more training in that area than you.
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Then you know that a sample size of 1 may not be representative of the true data. And as such, you shouldn’t adamantly disagree.


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alchemy2u said:
Do you really think that Pitino is recruiting guys to be backups? Does Izzo recruit guys to be backups? You recruit guys to give different looks, skills, flexibility in schemes, etc..

As PJ says, you are constantly recruiting to find players that are better than the ones you have and the ones you have need to improve to keep their spots.

Freeman has dreams of reaching the NBA, he is not coming to the U to help Oturu practice!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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I don't think the expectation for all Pitino recruits are to start day 1. I do believe he recruits some to be initially back ups.
 

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