Sean Stherlin Commited

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PMWinSTP said:
Pitino drove this program into the ditch and into the nearest colvert. It's basically a dumpster fire and complete rebuild.
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OK, wait a minute, that's overselling the point. I can't stand Pitino and I'm thrilled he's gone but he didn't do any lasting damage to this program. He just failed to upgrade the program. As far as all the players who left, that's on them, not Pitino. We are also facing a very unique situation where there may be no obstacle to a free transfer this year; that's something new coaches haven't had to face before. Ben's doing his best to deal with it. So far, he has picked up more transfers than any other Big Ten coach.
 

SanDiegoGopherFan said:
www.cbssports.com

College basketball transfer portal: Winners and losers so far of a wild offseason of players on the move

The 2020-21 college basketball season is over, but transfer portal season is just getting started
www.cbssports.com www.cbssports.com



Loser: Minnesota's leading scorer looks to leave​

Minnesota dismissed Richard Pitino after eight seasons and hired Xavier assistant Ben Johnson, a former Gophers captain, as coach. Predictably, the change is causing some roster turnover. Most notably, leading scorers Marcus Carr and Liam Robbins are in the portal. Carr could end up in the NBA Draft after averaging 19.4 points this season, but the possibility of losing the star guard to another school is a painful thought. Robbins, a seven-footer who transferred in from Drake, emerged as an interior force in his lone season with the program. He averaged 11.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.7 blocks in just 24.7 minutes per game. The trajectory of his development is appealing, and losing him to another school would be a tough blow. Several other Gophers are in the portal as well, meaning Johnson will have some work to do in building his first roster.

That process has begun with the transfer commitments of Lafayette's E.J. Stephens, William & Mary's Luke Loewe and George Washington's Jamison Battle. All have been productive at the mid-major level. But depending on how this roster fills out, Johnson's first squad could face a steep learning curve in the Big Ten.
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In all honesty....the thought of watching another year with Pitino coaching the Gophers was a painful thought for me. I'm excited for next season and think we will be way better than most people on this board. When Deandre Mathieu transferred in no one expected anything from him. i would think after watching the tournament that people would begin to realize that some of these mid major teams are pretty good. Illinois, who almost everyone on this board thought was going to make the Final 4 for sure was never really that competitive with the Summit League champion.
 

cjbfbp said:
OK, wait a minute, that's overselling the point. I can't stand Pitino and I'm thrilled he's gone but he didn't do any lasting damage to this program. He just failed to upgrade the program. As far as all the players who left, that's on them, not Pitino. We are also facing a very unique situation where there may be no obstacle to a free transfer this year; that's something new coaches haven't had to face before. Ben's doing his best to deal with it. So far, he has picked up more transfers than any other Big Ten coach.
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Disagree. As another poster said, most these guys were headed to the portal regardless of the coach. I agree Ben is doing what needs to happen, get the roster with experienced players for 2021.
 

WriterGoph said:
Whatever event in your life led to your much increased volume posting this past season (and since Ben's hiring), we need to find a time machine and go back and alter history. Bill and Ted, where are you?!?
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Can we go into the future instead and see how BJ ends up doing?
 



cjbfbp said:
OK, wait a minute, that's overselling the point. I can't stand Pitino and I'm thrilled he's gone but he didn't do any lasting damage to this program. He just failed to upgrade the program. As far as all the players who left, that's on them, not Pitino. We are also facing a very unique situation where there may be no obstacle to a free transfer this year; that's something new coaches haven't had to face before. Ben's doing his best to deal with it. So far, he has picked up more transfers than any other Big Ten coach.
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I disagree....he failed in a time when we had the best talent in the history of our state by a long shot. I get sick hen I see all the talent that has left this state and should have worn Maroon and Gold.
 


ethomasp31 said:
In all honesty....the thought of watching another year with Pitino coaching the Gophers was a painful thought for me. I'm excited for next season and think we will be way better than most people on this board. When Deandre Mathieu transferred in no one expected anything from him. i would think after watching the tournament that people would begin to realize that some of these mid major teams are pretty good. Illinois, how almost everyone on this board thought was going to make the Final 4 for sure was never really that competitive with the Summit League champion.
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Good post, but minor correction: "The Missouri Valley" champion. Oral Roberts, the other giant killer, was the Summit League champion.
 

SanDiegoGopherFan said:
Can we go into the future instead and see how BJ ends up doing?
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Hang in there. Almost all of the best stories in life start out with very little promise. Ben is going to build culture this coming year with guys that want to be here and work hard. Let's see how this goes. If he doesn't sign a strong class this fall- then start worrying. For now, I think he is going fine.
 




umn99 said:
With the off-season we have had and the number of players that chose to leave - I'll celebrate those who choose to be Gophers. Whether they are depth players or starters.
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Agreed. I posted something a few days back that there should be a special team award for those who stayed. If I'm tempted to say something bad about any of them next season I'm going to remember this time and stop myself.
 

ethomasp31 said:
I disagree....he failed in a time when we had the best talent in the history of our state by a long shot. I get sick hen I see all the talent that has left this state and should have worn Maroon and Gold.
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According to whom? Do the players have a say at al where they attend college or are they just obligated to be Gophers if they grow up in this State?

cjbfbp is actually right. Pitino didn't do any lasting damage to this program. He leveled off and never got us to an upper division finish. His two best years went South when a key player or two went down. Other coaches can overcome injuries. Pitino never could. But he isn't leaving the program post scandal or is in any way responsible for the players that decided to leave.
 

WriterGoph said:
Thanks for saying what needed to be said. No one poster has made the board more unreadable since Ben's hire.
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Again, put him on ignore. You could tell less than two days in that's all you'd get from that poster. I don't know how people can read this board without using the ignore button on these guys. I can barely read it even with my liberal use of the ignore feature.
 




golfing18now said:
According to whom? Do the players have a say at al where they attend college or are they just obligated to be Gophers if they grow up in this State?

cjbfbp is actually right. Pitino didn't do any lasting damage to this program. He leveled off and never got us to an upper division finish. His two best years went South when a key player or two went down. Other coaches can overcome injuries. Pitino never could. But he isn't leaving the program post scandal or is in any way responsible for the players that decided to leave.
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Of course they do...it would have been nice if we would have had a coach who actually recruited them.
 

My biggest concern with landing all these guys is that they all played for really bad teams.

GW was 227 in KenPom
Lafayette was 262
William & Mary was 302

And New Hampshire was 248 in 2019-2020 when Sutherlin played there.

This is where my Michael Carter Williams rookie year theory comes into play. Someone had to score 15 ppg on that awful Sixers team. Are any of these guys really great, or did team circumstance lead them to having the numbers that they had?

This is just a huge step up in competition, especially for Loewe, Stephens and now Sutherlin. That is really my biggest concern. Hopefully them all being older will help balance out the fact they haven't played great competition.
 

Gophers7633 said:
My biggest concern with landing all these guys is that they all played for really bad teams.

GW was 227 in KenPom
Lafayette was 262
William & Mary was 302

And New Hampshire was 248 in 2019-2020 when Sutherlin played there.

This is where my Michael Carter Williams rookie year theory comes into play. Someone had to score 15 ppg on that awful Sixers team. Are any of these guys really great, or did team circumstance lead them to having the numbers that they had?

This is just a huge step up in competition, especially for Loewe, Stephens and now Sutherlin. That is really my biggest concern. Hopefully them all being older will help balance out the fact they haven't played great competition.
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On the flip side, every one of these kids is coming with a chip on his shoulder having been overlooked in the past.
 

Gold Vision said:
You’ve been the exact same way about Fleck since he was hired.
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Just not true. I have had high praise for his recruiting. Been to more than a few Spring and Fall practices and have posted how well he runs those practices.
 

Gophers7633 said:
My biggest concern with landing all these guys is that they all played for really bad teams.

GW was 227 in KenPom
Lafayette was 262
William & Mary was 302

And New Hampshire was 248 in 2019-2020 when Sutherlin played there.

This is where my Michael Carter Williams rookie year theory comes into play. Someone had to score 15 ppg on that awful Sixers team. Are any of these guys really great, or did team circumstance lead them to having the numbers that they had?

This is just a huge step up in competition, especially for Loewe, Stephens and now Sutherlin. That is really my biggest concern. Hopefully them all being older will help balance out the fact they haven't played great competition.
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Well, that was a blast from the past! I'm a Sixers' fan and watched during MCW's wildly overrated rookie year. To Sam Hinkie's credit, he understood that and traded him as quickly as he could after that year.

I enjoyed your post but I'm not ready to call any of these guys Michael Carter Williams just yet. Maybe after the season starts!
 

ethomasp31 said:
I disagree....he failed in a time when we had the best talent in the history of our state by a long shot. I get sick hen I see all the talent that has left this state and should have worn Maroon and Gold.
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I wasn't a fan of Pitino for a few reasons and believed he should have been let go a few years ago, but I will say when not all but seems like more than monson for sure, of his teams were healthy, we were a tourney team. If we dont get injury bug last year and what 3 years ago (maybe 4) we are tournament teams.

Would we have gone far in the tourney? I have no idea. We could ask Bill and Ted to find a machine to travel to alternate universes.
 

Parker Fox nodding his head. Gonna get the band back together.
Sly (thats what I’m calling Sutherlin) led Irondale to a 5-21 record as a senior. Maybe why I don’t remember him.
 

golfing18now said:
According to whom? Do the players have a say at al where they attend college or are they just obligated to be Gophers if they grow up in this State?

cjbfbp is actually right. Pitino didn't do any lasting damage to this program. He leveled off and never got us to an upper division finish. His two best years went South when a key player or two went down. Other coaches can overcome injuries. Pitino never could. But he isn't leaving the program post scandal or is in any way responsible for the players that decided to leave.
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Exactly what I just posted. Players leaving and leaving Ben with just 2, maybe 3 players from last year is not on Pitino. Had the entire team stayed, Liam, Carr, Gabe, Mash, etc, we could be a tourney team next year. Who were we really losing. I know people will say Carr, but a lot of articles mention that he will test NBA waters again, but more than likely he's gonna end up at Kentucky.
 

SanDiegoGopherFan said:
I wasn't a fan of Pitino for a few reasons and believed he should have been let go a few years ago, but I will say when not all but seems like more than monson for sure, of his teams were healthy, we were a tourney team. If we dont get injury bug last year and what 3 years ago (maybe 4) we are tournament teams.

Would we have gone far in the tourney? I have no idea. We could ask Bill and Ted to find a machine to travel to alternate universes.
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I'm sorry but the injury bug is just lame. They were not tournament team because of his coaching ability.
 

MennoSota said:
On the flip side, every one of these kids is coming with a chip on his shoulder having been overlooked in the past.
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I mean I guess so, it's not like any of these guys blew up as FR though. In Loewe's SO year he avg 4 ppg as a starter on a very bad team. He scored a total of 500 points his first 3 years. Pretty underwhelming. Stephens has pretty much the same story. And Sutherlin had to go thr JoCo route for two years.

I don't want to knock these guys, I'm glad they are Gophers and I'll be cheering them on, I'm just worried about their career trajectory at this point. This is a huge step up in competition for 3 of these guys. Even Johnson going from the MAC to the B1G wasn't as big of a jump so I think you could project a little better for him.
 

Gophers7633 said:
My biggest concern with landing all these guys is that they all played for really bad teams.

GW was 227 in KenPom
Lafayette was 262
William & Mary was 302

And New Hampshire was 248 in 2019-2020 when Sutherlin played there.

This is where my Michael Carter Williams rookie year theory comes into play. Someone had to score 15 ppg on that awful Sixers team. Are any of these guys really great, or did team circumstance lead them to having the numbers that they had?

This is just a huge step up in competition, especially for Loewe, Stephens and now Sutherlin. That is really my biggest concern. Hopefully them all being older will help balance out the fact they haven't played great competition.
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Yeah, the #1 part of my non-excitement, but BJ gets a mulligan next year. I'll still be excited, numb or disappointed with any news until 2022, but as soon as the hire was made, my expectations were low for year 0.

The kids we just signed should be our bench (unless some surprise of course). We have 5-6 spots left open. Those guys need to have 3 years left so we can have some continuity. If we end up with a team this year full of players with 1-2 years of eligibility, BJ better shock the world in 2022 with the recruits he lands.
 


PMWinSTP said:
I'm sorry but the injury bug is just lame. They were not tournament team because of his coaching ability.
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yeah, I agree 100%. He never gave the bench experience, he was bad at adjustments, when he tells the media he told his players dont shoot so many 3's and yet they did, that was the last straw, but if it all played out like it had been last year. Outside of Illinois, we end up winning the rest of the home games and win out against the bottom team at the end of the year. which should have made us a tourney team
 

SanDiegoGopherFan said:
Yeah, the #1 part of my non-excitement, but BJ gets a mulligan next year. I'll still be excited, numb or disappointed with any news until 2022, but as soon as the hire was made, my expectations were low for year 0.

The kids we just signed should be our bench (unless some surprise of course). We have 5-6 spots left open. Those guys need to have 3 years left so we can have some continuity. If we end up with a team this year full of players with 1-2 years of eligibility, BJ better shock the world in 2022 with the recruits he lands.
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Good grief.
 

Gophers7633 said:
I mean I guess so, it's not like any of these guys blew up as FR though. In Loewe's SO year he avg 4 ppg as a starter on a very bad team. He scored a total of 500 points his first 3 years. Pretty underwhelming. Stephens has pretty much the same story. And Sutherlin had to go thr JoCo route for two years.

I don't want to knock these guys, I'm glad they are Gophers and I'll be cheering them on, I'm just worried about their career trajectory at this point. This is a huge step up in competition for 3 of these guys. Even Johnson going from the MAC to the B1G wasn't as big of a jump so I think you could project a little better for him.
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I gotcha. I see a team of lunch pail kids along the lines of Miles Tarver and Richard Coffey. We're not going to win with better athletes. Gonna have to be extremely sound fundamentally.
 

GameDay said:
That's where I'm at. Excited for what Ben is able to do as he gets more traction but resigned to the fact that this is probably a bottom end B1G team for the next two years. Not a popular opinion to voice, but I'm just speaking honestly. I'll say that if Ben can close the borders more, we're going to be in great shape long term.
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Think you are going to have a tough time finding anyone that expects this team to be a contender anytime soon. Johnson is taking over a mediocre to bad team and has to replace basically the entire roster.

Goal for 21-22 season is to just field a competent team that can compete on a nightly basis even if they don't come out on the winning end all that often.

It sucks knowing the team is going to struggle but that is often the case with coaching changes, especially with a roster in flux leading to essentially a full rebuild.

The main thing that fans need to do is be patient and see how the rest of the roster fills out. Right now they seem to be pursuing guys with limited eligibility left in order to fill out the roster for next season but also leave lots of scholarships available for future players from the high school ranks.
 

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