How good is the 2023-24 team?

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NoNmae

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I have been spending most of my time following Gopher FB. Can somebody let me know if this Hoops team will be any better than last years? Add any good Portal players?
 

GopherRob said:
I have been spending most of my time following Gopher FB. Can somebody let me know if this Hoops team will be any better than last years? Add any good Portal players?
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At the bottom of the league is always hard to tell. More experienced younger players helps some. Two portal point guards will likely improve that position, but both are moving up from lower leagues so that’s a crapshoot. The return of two injured players gives some people hope. I’m more skeptical than most. Almost no conference observers believe the Gophers will be better than 14th. It’s not out of line. A .500 conference record would send most of us into ecstasy.

I would say maybe a little better but not very good. Others will disagree.
 


The front line of Payne and Garcia will be really good. This team will need Christie or JOJ to surprise and become a big time threat. The PGs Hawkins and Mitchell need to be solid and knock down shots when the defense sags on our bigs. But most importantly this team now has the size, depth and athleticism to play good defense. Their success will depend on that more than anything.

Right now the biggest weakness is that there just isn't a guy that you can depend on to hit cold blooded shots when the game is on the line. I hope one rises up as the season goes along.
 

Nobody knows exactly. Most people probably think they will be better than last year (after all, they couldn't be worse) but there would be substantial disagreement on the ceiling for improvement.

I'm on the optimistic side of the divide. I think they can and should have at least a 17-14 regular season record and at least 7 conference wins. 8 conference wins would be better and still a fair target. 9 conference wins would be great but maybe a bridge too far.
 
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Improvement towards end of last season gave me some hope. Current sophomores got great game experience last season plus the additions of Fox and Ihnen provide some much needed depth. I think Cam Christie will be one of the more productive freshman in the BIG. I'm expecting 17-20 wins from this team which what's likely needed for CBJ to keep his job.
 

GopherRob said:
I have been spending most of my time following Gopher FB. Can somebody let me know if this Hoops team will be any better than last years? Add any good Portal players?
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The nonconference schedule is the weakest among all power conference teams. That's not just hyperbole - there's a thread on this board to back it up. They should win all their nonconference games except one or two, and that should allow them to finish at or above .500 on the year.
 












my sarcastic answer is "who knows - we haven't seen them play yet?"

but as others have said, I think this should be an improved team. they have depth, size, and (I think) more athleticism.

as to the outside shooting, I think Carrington could be a key. He was hurt for a chunk of last year and never really got in the groove. beyond that, depends on how fast they push Christie into a major role in the rotation. as noted, Hawkins and Mitchell have to hit shots to keep other teams from collapsing into the lane.
 


It all depends upon the guards.

We have a couple of really talented post players.

If we have average guard play, we're probably the 10th best team in the Big 10.
If we have just subpar guard play, we're probably the 13th best team in the Big 10.
IF we have awful guard play, we'll be one of the worst P5 teams in the country.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
It all depends upon the guards.

We have a couple of really talented post players.

If we have average guard play, we're probably the 10th best team in the Big 10.
If we have just subpar guard play, we're probably the 13th best team in the Big 10.
IF we have awful guard play, we'll be one of the worst P5 teams in the country.
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Let's try this:
The guards are average but efficient. (shoot well when open and distribute, knock down FTs)
The bigs are well better than average in the Big Ten. (as you say)
We use our depth and length to play good D and more than hold our own on the boards.
Where do we finish?
I don't think that any of that is beyond the realm of possibility.
 


Bob_Loblaw said:
It all depends upon the guards.

We have a couple of really talented post players.

If we have average guard play, we're probably the 10th best team in the Big 10.
If we have just subpar guard play, we're probably the 13th best team in the Big 10.
IF we have awful guard play, we'll be one of the worst P5 teams in the country.
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So, basically 4 players. Carrington, the only returning guard. Christie, the incoming freshman. Hawkins, making a big leap from Howard. Mitchell, a guard from California. (As was Henley, Ahanmisi, Welch, Cobbs and Tucker. Not the greatest success from that area.)
Was a little more optimistic previously.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
So, basically 4 players. Carrington, the only returning guard. Christie, the incoming freshman. Hawkins, making a big leap from Howard. Mitchell, a guard from California. (As was Henley, Ahanmisi, Welch, Cobbs and Tucker. Not the greatest success from that area.)
Was a little more optimistic previously.
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Yeah, a lot of our season will depend upon the play and health of those 4 players. I do think they look quite a bit better than last year, however, I agree with you that it's hard to be super optimistic about next season.

We had all last season to be negative, so I'll give you my glass half full hope about our guards.

Mitchell reminds me a lot of Peyton Willis. He's more of a SG in a point guard's body and he has been a better player than Willis was before Peyton's return. He's been a good shooter at a high volume against good competition.

Hawkins is a legit PG. I'm not sure if he is a better than avg. Big 10 PG or if he will just end up being a serviceable PG, but there is absolutely no comparison between him and Taurus Samuels (not that you were comparing the two).

Christie is a high level recruit and teams throughout the Big 10 hit on these types for meaningful minutes every year. So why not us? :). He is actually in a good situation here. It's hard to see him being much worse than a 3&D guy we can stash at the three point line and can defend other wings. If he has a bit more shot-creation to his game, we now have three guys who can handle the ball. If he is as good next year as EJ Stephens was - that's a MASSIVE upgrade at the wing position.

Carrington does a lot of things OK. If some of those OKs become "goods", he's a pretty interesting wing. He rebounds a bit. He shoots a bit. He handles the ball a bit.
 

bga1 said:
Let's try this:
The guards are average but efficient. (shoot well when open and distribute, knock down FTs)
The bigs are well better than average in the Big Ten. (as you say)
We use our depth and length to play good D and more than hold our own on the boards.
Where do we finish?
I don't think that any of that is beyond the realm of possibility.
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I think if our guards are legitimately average in the Big 10 (meaning there are seven teams have worse guards than us) we could finish between 8th-10th.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Yeah, a lot of our season will depend upon the play and health of those 4 players. I do think they look quite a bit better than last year, however, I agree with you that it's hard to be super optimistic about next season.

We had all last season to be negative, so I'll give you my glass half full hope about our guards.

Mitchell reminds me a lot of Peyton Willis. He's more of a SG in a point guard's body and he has been a better player than Willis was before Peyton's return. He's been a good shooter at a high volume against good competition.

Hawkins is a legit PG. I'm not sure if he is a better than avg. Big 10 PG or if he will just end up being a serviceable PG, but there is absolutely no comparison between him and Taurus Samuels (not that you were comparing the two).

Christie is a high level recruit and teams throughout the Big 10 hit on these types for meaningful minutes every year. So why not us? :). He is actually in a good situation here. It's hard to see him being much worse than a 3&D guy we can stash at the three point line and can defend other wings. If he has a bit more shot-creation to his game, we now have three guys who can handle the ball. If he is as good next year as EJ Stephens was - that's a MASSIVE upgrade at the wing position.

Carrington does a lot of things OK. If some of those OKs become "goods", he's a pretty interesting wing. He rebounds a bit. He shoots a bit. He handles the ball a bit.
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Good summary. We see Mitchell differently. I don’t see him like Willis. Don’t think he can create like Payton. Do think he is better defensively. See him more like Lowe, with maybe a touch less quickness. I waver back and forth on Hawkins. He shot the 3 badly his freshman season, much better his sophomore year. He gets in the lane and seems to be able to handle well. Lots of steals, which probably means taking chances. Looks like he can get it inside to the big guys. He had to sit a couple games last season. Coaches decision, did not play type thing. Probably no big deal. Agree on Carrington and Christie, although I know very little about the latter. Guess I’m hoping 2 of the 4 have big years. It would make it so much more fun and interesting than the last couple.
Glass half full sounds good to me. Why not?
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I think if our guards are legitimately average in the Big 10 (meaning there are seven teams have worse guards than us) we could finish between 8th-10th.
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What is the rational basis to believe we have the 7th best guards in the B1G though?
 

howeda7 said:
What is the rational basis to believe we have the 7th best guards in the B1G though?
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It’s a hypothetical I proposed to Bob. Nobody is saying they are or are not. We just don’t know at this point. We do know that Mitchell, Hawkins, Carrington and Christie are all solid shooters- so that’s a start.
 

If we develop a productive offense, we’ll have a pretty decent team, if we maintain a lockdown defense.
 

bga1 said:
It’s a hypothetical I proposed to Bob. Nobody is saying they are or are not. We just don’t know at this point. We do know that Mitchell, Hawkins, Carrington and Christie are all solid shooters- so that’s a start.
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Solid is relative. Most of the things being said about Mitchell and Hawkins were also being said about Samuels and Cooper a year ago. Carrington has that potential maybe but he didn't really light it up last year.

If this team is to exceed expectations, Christie will have to be one of the top 3 freshman in the conference IMO.
 

howeda7 said:
What is the rational basis to believe we have the 7th best guards in the B1G though?
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I don't think we will have the 7th best guards in the Big 10. It was a hypothetical - how good would we be IF we had the 7th best guards in the Big 10?
 

GoodasGold said:
If we develop a productive offense, we’ll have a pretty decent team, if we maintain a lockdown defense.
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Are you insinuating we had a "lockdown" defense?

FG% against was ranked 258 (out of 352 teams, per NCAA website) and scoring defense was 205/352. Steals per game were 336/352. When you figure the pace they played at (slow), the scoring defense number looks worse. So while there were a number of teams worse, I'm not sure I'd categorize as "lockdown".
 

howeda7 said:
Most of the things being said about Mitchell and Hawkins were also being said about Samuels and Cooper a year ago.
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Cooper, sure.

Samuels, that was not the case. Nobody thought he was anything more than a depth piece at best.
 

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