***OFFICIAL IOWA AT MINNESOTA IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

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scools12 said:
TBF, @EasyThere Pilgrim did say follow the program through box scores.

As long as you do that in the required way you can keep your fan card and remain a valued member of Gopher Nation.
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The program gets a lot of revenue from those box score readings. Glad I could support as a fan!
 

bga1 said:
So you are kind of saying that we will be a steaming pile again next year. If we can't expect much until they are juniors- 7 of our key contributors next year will be frosh or sophs. What are you expecting out of Christie and Evans next year?
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Except Battle and Garcia will be gone by then. Can't expect to compete without them! Maybe 2025...
 

stocker08 said:
So he presumably would have been free to commit elsewhere during that extra year of high school. Reports were that he was rising on recruiting boards. Some considered to be a top 100 player in the 2023 class.

Considering that Johnson had accepted Samuels tells me that the transfer portal wasn't all that deep. You goons would have preferred another Samuels level player for a lost season over a potentially top 100 HS player? Basically fits with the ongoing trend of GH posters having irrational takes.
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IIRC, Samuels was brought in as a back up PG to Cooper. The other guards who visited or had interest in Minnesota, like Spenser, Sessoms, Honor, Stewart, Strong, etc. had other dreams but not to ride the bench. So we ended up with Cooper and Samuels. I wonder who Ben really wanted from that list.
 

bga1 said:
So you are kind of saying that we will be a steaming pile again next year. If we can't expect much until they are juniors- 7 of our key contributors next year will be frosh or sophs. What are you expecting out of Christie and Evans next year?
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I'm not expecting Christie & Evans to immediately be above-average Big Ten players. Nor am I expecting our 4 freshmen to be above-average next year either.

It's the following year that I'm aiming for. But don't mess your pants...we can follow the progress...and we can sustain it with more recruiting. We can monitor all this.
 

leib0039 said:
I said this before, but let's assume he did try to find more G depth. That doesn't work for you CBJ backers either because BFAN and the boys proclaim him to be the best recruiter in gopher history. That would imply the only G he was able to land both should be playing D2. Either way giant L for CBJ.
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So because some "boys" proclaim this or that you abandon all common sense? You don't really recruit the portal. Players pick from their offers.

As much as we all want an elite PG transfer next season, that's going to be tougher to get than it was last year.
 



Dakota2 said:
So because some "boys" proclaim this or that you abandon all common sense? You don't really recruit the portal. Players pick from their offers.

As much as we all want an elite PG transfer next season, that's going to be tougher to get than it was last year.
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If that's the case regarding pg, the team may not improve much.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Iowa had 26 more shots from the field than the Gophers. Amazing.

Average over 12 less attempts than opponents per game on the season now.
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Turnovers and missed free throws which result in no field goal attempt and are the same as a turnover.
 

Dakota2 said:
So because some "boys" proclaim this or that you abandon all common sense? You don't really recruit the portal. Players pick from their offers.

As much as we all want an elite PG transfer next season, that's going to be tougher to get than it was last year.
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More talented roster, it should be easier
 




Block M said:
Encouraged by the game today despite running out of steam. Wish they could have taken the lead there late in the first half but they battled hard. Payne is an immovable force in the low post thats for sure. Really excited to see him develop. Ditto JOJ. Really hope they can get at least one, better yet two, speed merchant guards in the transfer portal. They need someone who can break down a defense at the point of attack. It would work wonders for their offense.
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With a healthy Garcia they would very likely have led at half and not lost close contact late in the game. More likely it would have been close at the end with either team having a chance to win.
 

Crappie said:
If that's the case regarding pg, the team may not improve much.
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The team will improve regardless with healthy players, more young talent, and more experience. Getting a high test point guard would improve us dramatically.
 






cjbfbp said:
Yes, at least one more. I will confess that I'm glad Ramberg got his scholarship. He may be limited but he has made the most of his minutes. We certainly could have done worse with his scholarship. He's contributed more than Thiam and Ogele combined did last year and probably more than Charlie Daniels did most games last season. I hope that Johnson continues his scholarship for next year. If Johnson needs roster spaces to recruit transfers, tell Thompson that he would be better off transferring and tell Fox that he's not getting three years of an athletic scholarship as a grad transfer.

To those who think that using a scholarship to accelerate Betts' admission was a good idea for a program short on quality guards with immediate eligibility, I'd ask the following: Have you ever seen another college basketball coach do this? I haven't in over 40 years of following the sport. Sure, sit-out transfers (who demonstrated something at their previous schools) were recruited all the time in the past but I've never seen a potential high school senior recruited as a sit out. Even if he did break his commitment after a prep school season, as USAF noted, he didn't fill a position of short-term need anyway.

To me, this move says only one thing: desperation. Two years in a row, Johnson quit recruiting from the portal prematurely. Last year he failed to obtain enough frontline players for insurance on that part of the roster. This season he failed to do the same with guards. This move just looks like a cockamamie excuse to justify that failure. I guess it's not the worst excuse in the world because some people around here seem to have bought it.
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Just so we understand it, you think the longer a portal period goes on, the better the calibre of players available? So coaches who go hard early in the portal are poaching the worst players? Interesting.
 


EasyThere Pilgrim said:
And this comment got a lot of 'likes'.

You guys seriously need to quit watching the games. You can't handle it. Follow our ground-up rebuild effort through the box scores instead.

Squeezing out a few more wins this year is totally pointless.
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No, not totally pointless and not impossible. Had Garcia played against Iowa, and if he had provided his average good game, we would have likely won.
 

Dakota2 said:
It's apparently the best Minnesota could attract. Does not doom us for all time. Ben was good enough to land Evans and Cristie. Pretty dumb to say he offers no hope for the future.
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Evans and Christie are more redundant pieces to what's already on the roster. Just because they are ranked higher doesn't mean the team will be better next season.

They also do not change the stand around and watch one person dribble offense, which is what we saw the entire Pitino era, except with better players.

Ben will need to find far better PGs than Cooper and Samuels, otherwise there is no hope for the future.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Evans and Christie are more redundant pieces to what's already on the roster. Just because they are ranked higher doesn't mean the team will be better next season.

They also do not change the stand around and watch one person dribble offense, which is what we saw the entire Pitino era, except with better players.

Ben will need to find far better PGs than Cooper and Samuels, otherwise there is no hope for the future.
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Oh my, did you really say that? Evans is a redundant piece to what's already on the roster?
 

Dakota2 said:
Oh my, did you really say that? Evans is a redundant piece to what's already on the roster?
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Yeah and? He's a taller, and likely rawer version of Payne, with a little better shot blocking ability. Their offensive and defensive games are redundant. It's going to be a struggle to play those two on the floor at the same time.
 

Dakota2 said:
No, not totally pointless and not impossible. Had Garcia played against Iowa, and if he had provided his average good game, we would have likely won.
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Or if we would have shot our average of 42% instead of 50%, we would have not made it to 50, again, and lost by 20+ at home, again.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Yeah and? He's a taller, and likely rawer version of Payne, with a little better shot blocking ability. Their offensive and defensive games are redundant. It's going to be a struggle to play those two on the floor at the same time.
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This is a seriously awful take. Evans is a Top 20 recruit in the country and the No. 1 shot blocker in high school basketball. Payne is not remotely similar.

During their time together they most certainly will be on the floor together. Next year they may mostly split time. That would be ideal for Evan's first year development.

To follow your logic, you believe Ben has wasted a scholarship by signing a Top 20 recruit when we already have Payne.

Oh boy howdy!!!
 


USAF said:
Speakimg of awful takes...
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Garcia gets 18. TT and Samuels don't play. Rebaca fouls out trying to stop Garcia. We were in the bonus early anyway but with Garcia at the line we make 6-8 more free throws. We never trail by double figures. We lead at times. Close at the end. Good chance we win.

Where's the bad take?
 

Dakota2 said:
Garcia gets 18. TT and Samuels don't play. Rebaca fouls out trying to stop Garcia. We were in the bonus early anyway but with Garcia at the line we make 6-8 more free throws. We never trail by double figures. We lead at times. Close at the end. Good chance we win.

Where's the bad take?
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Duh, come on guys, we were undef...ohh wait we were still terrible with Garcia?? We still lost by giant margins with him? We were still 1-5 in conference with him? This can't be true, with elite talent and an amazing coach those things simply cannot be true!
 

Dakota2 said:
This is a seriously awful take. Evans is a Top 20 recruit in the country and the No. 1 shot blocker in high school basketball. Payne is not remotely similar.

During their time together they most certainly will be on the floor together. Next year they may mostly split time. That would be ideal for Evan's first year development.

To follow your logic, you believe Ben has wasted a scholarship by signing a Top 20 recruit when we already have Payne.

Oh boy howdy!!!
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Where did I say he wasted a scholarship taking Evans? You're just making things up. There's a huge glut of PF/C's on this team besides those 2.

Despite his high ranking, Evans doesn't have blue bloods all over him like they are for other similarly ranked players for a reason. That ranking is almost entirely based on what he could be and not what he is today, or will be even next year.

Evans is averaging 14.7 PPG, 10 RPG, and 5.6 BPG for a 17-13 high school team. Outside of blocks, those aren't dominant numbers for someone ranked as high as him, and even his blocks are down this year. Payne averaged 22 PPG, 12 RPG, and 2 BPG on a better high school team.

Against smaller lineups, which is what the majority of college basketball is, you're not going to be able to play Evans and Payne on the court much at the same time defensively because they're not quick enough. Offense will also be an issue because neither have range beyond 3 ft right now either.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Where did I say he wasted a scholarship taking Evans? You're just making things up. There's a huge glut of PF/C's on this team besides those 2.

Despite his high ranking, Evans doesn't have blue bloods all over him like they are for other similarly ranked players for a reason. That ranking is almost entirely based on what he could be and not what he is today, or will be even next year.

Evans is averaging 14.7 PPG, 10 RPG, and 5.6 BPG for a 17-13 high school team. Outside of blocks, those aren't dominant numbers for someone ranked as high as him, and even his blocks are down this year. Payne averaged 22 PPG, 12 RPG, and 2 BPG on a better high school team.

Against smaller lineups, which is what the majority of college basketball is, you're not going to be able to play Evans and Payne on the court much at the same time defensively because they're not quick enough. Offense will also be an issue because neither have range beyond 3 ft right now either.
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Maybe one of them can play PG. Like Ihnen.
 

Dakota2 said:
This is a seriously awful take. Evans is a Top 20 recruit in the country and the No. 1 shot blocker in high school basketball. Payne is not remotely similar.

During their time together they most certainly will be on the floor together. Next year they may mostly split time. That would be ideal for Evan's first year development.

To follow your logic, you believe Ben has wasted a scholarship by signing a Top 20 recruit when we already have Payne.

Oh boy howdy!!!
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He also said Asuma was mid level PG in the thread about him - he has no idea that he’s ranked as the 23rd PG in his class.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Where did I say he wasted a scholarship taking Evans? You're just making things up. There's a huge glut of PF/C's on this team besides those 2.

Despite his high ranking, Evans doesn't have blue bloods all over him like they are for other similarly ranked players for a reason. That ranking is almost entirely based on what he could be and not what he is today, or will be even next year.

Evans is averaging 14.7 PPG, 10 RPG, and 5.6 BPG for a 17-13 high school team. Outside of blocks, those aren't dominant numbers for someone ranked as high as him, and even his blocks are down this year. Payne averaged 22 PPG, 12 RPG, and 2 BPG on a better high school team.
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It may well be that opposing teams don't go inside as much this year on Evans. But I agree, those HS numbers don't exactly scream of freshman dominance in the Big Ten.
GopherWeatherGuy said:
Against smaller lineups, which is what the majority of college basketball is, you're not going to be able to play Evans and Payne on the court much at the same time defensively because they're not quick enough. Offense will also be an issue because neither have range beyond 3 ft right now either.
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I think Payne will start at C next year. My guess is that one of Battle/Garcia will be gone and the other will play PF. I also expect that Payne will develop skills to shoot from 15 feet (and make 70% of his FTs). Payne IS quick. He doesn't play great defense yet because he is still thinking instead of reacting but he can defend.

I think Evans is 15 minutes per game next year and will be played in situations where post defense/shot blocking is what is needed. The kid I expect bigger things of next year is Christie- his HS numbers are great. POY contender in Illinois is a pretty darn good prospect.

I could see it this way:

Payne
Garcia or Battle
Ola Joseph/Henley
Henley/Christie
Portal PG

Wild cards/depth
Fox
Ihnen
Carrington
Evans
Betts

I think 3 will leave- guessing Cooper, Thompson and one of Battle/Garcia
 
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