Gopher Basketball
On a personal level, this is obviously a devastating blow to any player with the start of the season just a few weeks away. It’s even tougher for a senior to swallow, having to deal with the reality that his college basketball career might already be over.
And I think it’s even tougher for Adam. He came back to his hometown team with a lot of expectations, and he’d be the first to admit that he didn’t live up to many of them last season (especially his own). That no doubt drove his workouts all summer long and had him itching to get back on the court and prove the doubters wrong. Hopefully that will still be able to happen, but it will be a while.
On the team level, this is a huge blow. Whether you’re a Boone fan or a critic, his importance to the team this year was undeniable. He was the team’s leading returning scorer, one of its leaders, and perhaps most importantly, its most experienced guard.
Adam’s absence now leaves the Gopher backcourt with a huge void of depth and experience. While I was hoping that freshman Rico Tucker could win the starting point guard spot this season (which would allow Adam to spend much of his time at shooting guard), Adam was the starting PG heading into the season and certainly would have been the failsafe if Rico needed some time to develop.
Now, there really isn’t a failsafe. Senior Aaron Robinson does have four years of experience with the program, but his career minutes are still pretty low, and his lack of size and scoring ability make him better suited as a sparkplug off the bench rather than a lead guard. So Rico most likely is going to be thrown to the wolves as The Guy, and Aaron is going to be needed to play significant minutes as well. They’re really the only two ball handlers Minnesota has.
A quick look at the shooting guard position reveals an equally murky picture. With Moe Hargrow‘s appeal to play this season being turned down by the NCAA a few weeks ago, Adam in my opinion was the best two-guard on the roster. Vincent Grier certainly has talent, and he’ll now definitely be seeing some minutes at SG, but I still see him as more of a small forward. Freshmen Alex Popp and Miles Webb, both of whom were potential redshirt candidates at one point, could also now see some minutes even though they’re both unproven and still developing.
And the biggest result of this could be the role of senior Brent Lawson. The former walk-on transfer has a very good chance of playing 20+ minutes per game if the Gophers decide they’d like to stick with a smaller lineup and keep Grier at the ‘3’ as much as possible. And even if they go bigger, Brent’s still a cinch to play double-digits.
I actually don’t have many concerns about Brent getting those types of minutes. He’s a very good defender, a good shooter, and basically just a smart, all-around basketball player. The problem is that he’s not really a ball handler. And with inexperience at the point guard spot, that could be a cause for concern against teams with backcourt quickness and pressure defense.
The one thing I’m certain of is that I’m really not certain of much. What was already destined to be a very interesting season with a lot of questions in need of answers just stepped up another level. I guess we’ll see what happens when the season starts, which suddenly isn’t all that far away.
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