Gophers point guard Elijah Hawkins 'definitely coming back next year'

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This is buried in a different thread, but figured it deserved it's own as Hawkins has been HUGE this year. Very happy to hear he'll be back:

The 5-11 junior didn't waste any time talking about his future after a deflating quick exit in the Big Ten tournament second round at Target Center. He made it clear he's not looking to transfer.

"I know we did a lot better than people expected," said Hawkins, who had 10 points and seven assists against the Spartans. "I'm definitely coming back next year. In the offseason we have to grind it out -- and we'll have more experience next year."

www.startribune.com

Gophers point guard Elijah Hawkins 'definitely coming back next year'

After Thursday's loss to Michigan State, Gophers junior Elijah Hawkins made it clear he has no plans to transfer.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!
 






Nice of Hawkins to quickly put any speculation to bed with a definative answer to whether he will be back or not. Hopefully other guys follow suit and don't drag things out for an extended period of time.

Hawkins coming back is huge. He is small but he has been one of the best PGs out there this season and he makes everyone around him better with the way he is able to set them up.
 

007gopherfan said:
Be nice if more of them follow suit and announce their intentions sooner than later. Does sound like the culture is good in the program, but is it all talk?
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With Garcia's age, he has to check on pro opportunities but I think he'll be back.

As to your question, I think it's impossible to have good culture if you're not winning.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Nice of Hawkins to quickly put any speculation to bed with a definative answer to whether he will be back or not. Hopefully other guys follow suit and don't drag things out for an extended period of time.

Hawkins coming back is huge. He is small but he has been one of the best PGs out there this season and he makes everyone around him better with the way he is able to set them up.
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Great leadership 😃
 

I'm happy Hawkins is saying he's coming back next year, he's a good player. It's interesting though how he gets pretty much universal love on here, compared to so much hatred for Cooper last year.

Although Cooper averaged a little over 1 assist lower than Hawkins last season, their numbers are pretty much identical. Now Cooper is leading the #15 team in the country for a coach in his 2nd season, and will play in the NCAA tournament for the 2nd time.
 



GopherWeatherGuy said:
I'm happy Hawkins is saying he's coming back next year, he's a good player. It's interesting though how he gets pretty much universal love on here, compared to so much hatred for Cooper last year.

Although Cooper averaged a little over 1 assist lower than Hawkins last season, their numbers are pretty much identical. Now Cooper is leading the #15 team in the country for a coach in his 2nd season, and will play in the NCAA tournament for the 2nd time.
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It's surprising that a player who was point guard on a team that won 2 games got hate?

I liked Cooper and thought the hate was unfounded. Not his fault he played next to some of the worst guards in P5.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I'm happy Hawkins is saying he's coming back next year, he's a good player. It's interesting though how he gets pretty much universal love on here, compared to so much hatred for Cooper last year.

Although Cooper averaged a little over 1 assist lower than Hawkins last season, their numbers are pretty much identical. Now Cooper is leading the #15 team in the country for a coach in his 2nd season, and will play in the NCAA tournament for the 2nd time.
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Cooper was not a point guard but was pressed into that role last year.
 


Johnnyboy18 said:
It's surprising that a player who was point guard on a team that won 2 games got hate?

I liked Cooper and thought the hate was unfounded. Not his fault he played next to some of the worst guards in P5.
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I agree, it just seemed out of the players that left from last season, people were the happiest to see Cooper go. And people seem the happiest with Hawkins play this season, but they put up such similar numbers. Cooper obviously wasn't the problem.
 



GopherWeatherGuy said:
I'm happy Hawkins is saying he's coming back next year, he's a good player. It's interesting though how he gets pretty much universal love on here, compared to so much hatred for Cooper last year.

Although Cooper averaged a little over 1 assist lower than Hawkins last season, their numbers are pretty much identical. Now Cooper is leading the #15 team in the country for a coach in his 2nd season, and will play in the NCAA tournament for the 2nd time.
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I think he’s a great player, but Hawkins is a lot more dynamic, or at least has been in CBJ’s offense. Cooper struggled defensively and couldn’t break down his defender late in the shot clock (if I recall). Our offense needs a player who can create on his own when our shots aren’t falling.
 



Bob_Loblaw said:
With Garcia's age, he has to check on pro opportunities but I think he'll be back.

As to your question, I think it's impossible to have good culture if you're not winning.
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There are two good reasons Dawson would come back. First to prove he can be a 40% three point shooter, something he will need in the European leagues. Maybe he can get to that point over the off season.

Secondly, if Minnesota is a top 20 team next year and makes a run in the tournament he would get the attention he needs to raise his stock.

On the other hand, if he thinks he played his best basketball this year and the team will only make an incremental improvement next year, his age dictates he pursues his pro career now.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I'm happy Hawkins is saying he's coming back next year, he's a good player. It's interesting though how he gets pretty much universal love on here, compared to so much hatred for Cooper last year.

Although Cooper averaged a little over 1 assist lower than Hawkins last season, their numbers are pretty much identical. Now Cooper is leading the #15 team in the country for a coach in his 2nd season, and will play in the NCAA tournament for the 2nd time.
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Coop got 2 Big Ten wins with us- Hawkins got 9. Hawkins changed the whole pace of the team. Cooper was a slow down PG.
 

Dakota2 said:
There are two good reasons Dawson would come back. First to prove he can be a 40% three point shooter, something he will need in the European leagues. Maybe he can get to that point over the off season.

Secondly, if Minnesota is a top 20 team next year and makes a run in the tournament he would get the attention he needs to raise his stock.

On the other hand, if he thinks he played his best basketball this year and the team will only make an incremental improvement next year, his age dictates he pursues his pro career now.
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A good NIL deal here could be nearly as good as Euro pay...?
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I'm happy Hawkins is saying he's coming back next year, he's a good player. It's interesting though how he gets pretty much universal love on here, compared to so much hatred for Cooper last year.

Although Cooper averaged a little over 1 assist lower than Hawkins last season, their numbers are pretty much identical. Now Cooper is leading the #15 team in the country for a coach in his 2nd season, and will play in the NCAA tournament for the 2nd time.
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Cooper would be useless to us next year. He's a senior.

This year their points are the same. But Hawkins has over 3 more assists per game.
 

bga1 said:
Coop got 2 Big Ten wins with us- Hawkins got 9. Hawkins changed the whole pace of the team. Cooper was a slow down PG.
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Cooper was boring, sluggish and methodical, even when effective and also poor at the FT line. Hawk is high energy, could create spark when needed, created a lot of "easy" baskets for his mates and did well at the FT line. He had fewer warts than Cooper.

My choice? Hawk hands down and glad he's returning.

The guy I'm really looking forward to is Asuma.
 

Cooper isn’t an athlete, but he is crafty. He had sg size. His defense was bad against pg’s. He could have played the 2 had we an actual pg with quickness. Just like Mitchell he would have been a good first guard off the bench on a better team.

I wish him the best.
 

bga1 said:
Coop got 2 Big Ten wins with us- Hawkins got 9. Hawkins changed the whole pace of the team. Cooper was a slow down PG.
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Cooper was hampered with the putrid wings. I'm not saying he is as good as Hawkins, but Cooper played significant number of minutes with Taurus Samuels at the 2, power forwards at 3, and then a couple of FR who really struggled (Carrington and Henley).

I much prefer the tempo Hawkins plays with but Cooper was absolutely hamstrung by last season's rosters. Cooper is a decent basketball player and I'm not at all surprised he is having some success this year.
 

bga1 said:
A good NIL deal here could be nearly as good as Euro pay...?
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Garcia is a good basketball player, I think he'd make quite a bit oversee. The average salary for a rookie in the bigger leagues is like $250,000 - $400,000.
 

bga1 said:
Coop got 2 Big Ten wins with us- Hawkins got 9. Hawkins changed the whole pace of the team. Cooper was a slow down PG.
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Cooper is running the 15th ranked team in the country. Hawkins is running a team that will likely miss the NIT.

South Carolina is also a solid defensive team. Minnesota is one of the worst defensive teams in the B1G for the 3rd straight season.

People like the flash of Hawkins, but flash doesn't mean you're a better all around player.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Cooper is running the 15th ranked team in the country. Hawkins is running a team that will likely miss the NIT.

South Carolina is also a solid defensive team. Minnesota is one of the worst defensive teams in the B1G for the 3rd straight season.

People like the flash of Hawkins, but flash doesn't mean you're a better all around player.
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this feels like a usage of someone's box score stats to try say what they do is comparable. Hawkins runs the entire offense (hence why his assist % is around 40% while he's on the floor). Cooper is a complementary part of a team that has better components (his assist % is 23% with 2 other players at 21% and 18%; our next closest is Mitchell at 17%). On defense, Hawkins is a gambling player (I personally don't like that style but it's how he plays) and is why his steal rate is quite high, which actually gives him one of the better D ratings on our team. We were just god fucking awful defending as a team.

Happy for Cooper going off and having a great season, both personally and team wise. He's having the best year of his career by all his metrics and that's great for him. He had a tougher year here and that's ok.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Cooper is running the 15th ranked team in the country. Hawkins is running a team that will likely miss the NIT.

South Carolina is also a solid defensive team. Minnesota is one of the worst defensive teams in the B1G for the 3rd straight season.

People like the flash of Hawkins, but flash doesn't mean you're a better all around player.
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Hawkins is better than Cooper. Again, we have seen it in the results 2 wins vs. 9 wins
 


Good lord this board will find anything to fight over. Cooper and Hawkins are both good players but they are also very different players. Cooper might have been a decent fit this year because he is a good passer and we shot the ball much better than last year.

Cooper is a steady PG who does't make the exciting plays but also is more under control and less prone to some of the ugly mistakes. Hawkins plays at 1 million miles an hour all the time which leads to some really exciting plays and also gets him in trouble at times.

Given the choice between the two I would lean towards the intangibles that Hawkins brings to the table but both were solid Point Guards.
 

bga1 said:
A good NIL deal here could be nearly as good as Euro pay...?
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Maybe. Don't think we know. The advantage of going to Europe is to start working toward multi-year contracts.
 

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