Vanderbilt transfer Payton Willis just verbally committed to Minnesota

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Go Gophers!!
 

Pretty meh signing. Let’s hope Pitino’s knows what he’s doing.


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A bench player from a 12-20 team?!? And he can't even play next year!?! Keep the good news coming!!!
 

Doesn't help next year. He may never play for Pitino.

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I only like this signing if we use the remaining two spots on players who can actually play next year. We still need a pg who can play a decent chunk of minutes next year.
 


It'll be interesting to see what Musselman can do with him.
 

BleedGopher said:
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Go Gophers!!
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A top 150 kid out high school. Gophers were in his top 4 before his Vandy commit. Not the immediate help at pg that we need but depth for the future.


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I like the idea of it. 6’4” and shoots well. But Richard’s back is a little against the wall so hopefully he trusts the other 2 scholarships + in-house team.
 

Another questionable roster move by Pitino. He can't help next year, which is when we need it and he doesn't seem to be panning out great (who cares what he was ranked in HS). Would much rather have us bank the scholly if we can't get a grad transfer and go after a rising senior prospect. For the first time, I'm starting to believe that Pitino may not be around much longer. I certainly hope I'm wrong, but this move just doesn't make sense to me.
 



SPEGOPHER said:
Another questionable roster move by Pitino. He can't help next year, which is when we need it and he doesn't seem to be panning out great (who cares what he was ranked in HS). Would much rather have us bank the scholly if we can't get a grad transfer and go after a rising senior prospect. For the first time, I'm starting to believe that Pitino may not be around much longer. I certainly hope I'm wrong, but this move just doesn't make sense to me.
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Even if you're playing for big success the year after next, will he be able to hit the ground running fresh off the transfer year?
 

Disappointing to get Bryce's throwaways. I know he's got a solid recruiting class coming in, Top 10 in some rankings, but this is tough to digest. I'm sure hoping things get better...and soon.
 

Pitino gets that he has to get one or two that can play right away. He wants to win next year worse than any of us do. I like the fact that he is confident enough in next year that he is stowing away a player for the following year. And he will need one to be ready with McBrayer moving on. This is a good move if Pitino get 2 more for this coming fall. Nobody plays 13 deep. There are always a few that aren't going to play anyway. This is a swap for Harris. Does anyone actually think that Harris was going to get big minutes next year? I don't and it's not because Harris isn't very good- he just didn't fit where he was needed. The guy we need for next year is a PG.
 

I sure wish he would recruit guys who are eligible to play. But, he saw this guy a lot, he knows him as a teammate of Curry. Obviously Richard thinks he has untapped potential. If he gets to coach him it could be a helpful move. Like many of you...I'd rather we recruited 3 guys good enough and eligible to get minutes. The other two have to be able to play and one needs to be a point guard or I really don't think Richard will be here to coach this guy...sadly.

109 of 138 shots on the year were from 3. He made 34% from 3. He made 34% from 2. He played 18.5 minutes per game. He averaged 5.1 pts, 1.9 reb, and 1.4 assists. He shot 35 free throws in 31 games and made 65% of those.
18.5 minutes per game is encouraging until you factor in the 12 and 20 record. The rest is not inspiring for someone who has to sit a year. Wouldn't do it...

Perspective...Gophers from 3:
Hurt 43%
Mason 39%
Coffey 37%
Dupree, Fitz, Harris 34%
Murph 31%
IW 24%
 



Obviously pitino knows he needs guys to play right away. But we were never going to be able to sign 3 quality guys that could play next year. And the writing was probably on the wall with our chances of getting a Marcus carr type sit out transfer. So we grab a guy hat will give us depth and length at the guard position after next year.

I will hold off on calling this signing a whiff until we see who else he brings in. If he is able to still find a pg that can help next year that’s really all I’m 100% concerned about.
 



I don’t mind taking a flyer on a guy when you have three schollies to use. However, this guy is going to eat up a schollie for three years. Pitino’s roster management is just confounding. If this is what is available, just bank the scholarship.


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RickDornsby said:
I like the idea of it. 6’4” and shoots well. But Richard’s back is a little against the wall so hopefully he trusts the other 2 scholarships + in-house team.
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IDK about shoots well. 34.9% from 3 is decent, but that's almost literally all he does. He was 10-29 from 2.
 

Not an exciting commit, but I'm willing to give Pitino the benefit of the doubt as long as we get a solid, immediately eligible PG/CB.
 

justthefacts said:
IDK about shoots well. 34.9% from 3 is decent, but that's almost literally all he does. He was 10-29 from 2.
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So essentially he's a bigger and better ball handling version of Jamir Harris. I don't have a problem with that.

And now with this addition, next year's scholarship roster breakdown looks like this:

3 SRs
2 JRs
3 SO
3 FR

So adding a Sophomore who will redshirt also better balances the classes. Again, I don't see anything wrong with this, especially because he also had enough talent to be a top 150 player out of HS.
 

FWIW, just posted a thread with comments from Pitino on the Sports Huddle. he said he's looking at all options - and one of those options is that they might not use all the available scholarships for next year. Pitino said it's good to have 1 or 2 scholarships available to use for various situations - transfers, 5th-year transfers, etc.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
FWIW, just posted a thread with comments from Pitino on the Sports Huddle. he said he's looking at all options - and one of those options is that they might not use all the available scholarships for next year. Pitino said it's good to have 1 or 2 scholarships available to use for various situations - transfers, 5th-year transfers, etc.
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Admittedly, my recruiting knowledge is far from vast. However, it seems to me that a PG and a shooting wing would be very helpful for next season, especially with some of our injury recovery concerns. Willingness to bank a scholarship puzzles me. Maybe this means we are not having much luck attracting quality and would rather not settle? I don't know.
 

Maybe Pitino is also planning for beyond next year because he knows his job is more secure than Gopherhole.
 

If this would have transpired after Pitino snagged a good player or two who will play this coming season, I'd be a lot more accepting. Just am having a hard time keeping the faith in his roster management.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
FWIW, just posted a thread with comments from Pitino on the Sports Huddle. he said he's looking at all options - and one of those options is that they might not use all the available scholarships for next year. Pitino said it's good to have 1 or 2 scholarships available to use for various situations - transfers, 5th-year transfers, etc.
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. Makes sense since each year he always has such a deep playing roster.
 

Eric Curry was also able to play on the same AAU team, so there is someone who has spent time with Willis and been around his game longer than most. Like stated in one of my other comments, that if you haven't watched Willis play the stats are really deceiving. He is not a Mav type of player. He's not a player that you watch and then think to yourself "He's not a power 5 basketball player" he will be productive in his two years in Minnesota. Happy to have him on board. Btw Vandy actually had 3 really good guards LaChance, Fisher-Davis, and freshman Saban Lee.
 

SM_25 said:
Eric Curry was also able to play on the same AAU team, so there is someone who has spent time with Willis and been around his game longer than most. Like stated in one of my other comments, that if you haven't watched Willis play the stats are really deceiving. He is not a Mav type of player. He's not a player that you watch and then think to yourself "He's not a power 5 basketball player" he will be productive in his two years in Minnesota. Happy to have him on board. Btw Vandy actually had 3 really good guards LaChance, Fisher-Davis, and freshman Saban Lee.
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This is good to hear.
 

MissouriGopher said:
Maybe Pitino is also planning for beyond next year because he knows his job is more secure than Gopherhole.
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I don't think the good people of GopherHole appreciate you saying that their website is not secure.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
If this would have transpired after Pitino snagged a good player or two who will play this coming season, I'd be a lot more accepting. Just am having a hard time keeping the faith in his roster management.
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It kind of depends on how the recruiting cycle ends, if the result is one not used and two that have to sit out a year then I would see rough sailing going forward, his days might be numbered.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
So essentially he's a bigger and better ball handling version of Jamir Harris. I don't have a problem with that.

And now with this addition, next year's scholarship roster breakdown looks like this:

3 SRs
2 JRs
3 SO
3 FR

So adding a Sophomore who will redshirt also better balances the classes. Again, I don't see anything wrong with this, especially because he also had enough talent to be a top 150 player out of HS.
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Why would an arbitrary ranking from two years ago play into your opinion at all?

Go Gophers!!
 

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