Next year's scholarships

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march madness

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Next Year:

PG: Willis, Asuma, Tomes
SG: Asuma, Kai S.
SF: Portal?, N. Anderson
PF: JCJ , Durkin, Grove
C: Vailhola, JCJ, Mpoyi

I really think they need a good scoring wing, who is also athletic and strong, to replace some of what Reynolds brought 6-5+, over 200lbs. Of course, if Niko does this that is 12 scholarships. Meaning Turner and Omot aren't?
 


march madness said:
Next Year:

PG: Willis, Asuma, Tomes
SG: Asuma, Kai S.
SF: Portal?, N. Anderson
PF: JCJ , Durkin, Grove
C: Vailhola, JCJ, Mpoyi

I really think they need a good scoring wing, who is also athletic and strong, to replace some of what Reynolds brought 6-5+, over 200lbs. Of course, if Niko does this that is 12 scholarships. Meaning Turner and Omot aren't?
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10- you counted JCJ twice. I am going to assume that of the 13 that could be here (Stephens also), 3-4 of them are not coming back. That leaves perhaps 5 portal openings. That's about right. The talent has to improve. I like the idea of going after 3-4 quality portal guys instead of trying to get 9-10 of them. I think Niko will do great in the portal. He sure got some quality guys this year in a short span. Reynolds, Durkin, Tyson, JCJ and Willis were all good gets and maybe Vaihola as well.
 

Beerculees said:
Counterpoint, Kyan Evans is transferring here next year. (No inside information, just hopium)
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Not so sure they will spend a big bag on him, considering that he does what Tomes will do. I like Evans though.
 

march madness said:
Next Year:

PG: Willis, Asuma, Tomes
SG: Asuma, Kai S.
SF: Portal?, N. Anderson
PF: JCJ , Durkin, Grove
C: Vailhola, JCJ, Mpoyi

I really think they need a good scoring wing, who is also athletic and strong, to replace some of what Reynolds brought 6-5+, over 200lbs. Of course, if Niko does this that is 12 scholarships. Meaning Turner and Omot aren't?
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I don't know it's even worth doing this exercise. We literally have 0 idea who will be back in this day and age of NIL. You can have the best staff, program, playing time etc and all that can mean 0 if someone else has a bag of $ waiting for someone.

I have also been keeping an eye on Evans, his playing time has taken a dip. I wouldn't mind taking another UNC reclamation project next year.
 


I would be pleasantly surprised if Tomes contributes much as a Gopher. Not that quick, no defensive interest at all, 5'11", funky shot that goes in but it starts at his chest...defended by a long armed 6'5 quick intense defender he'll be in trouble. Game is very ball dominant.
He could grow, he seems a bit quicker as a senior so maybe he improves his quickness.
Love to be wrong about his upside.
Tomes Scores 50
 






Huge need is to sign 2-3 excellent three point shooters. That roster you listed is full of either unproven in college or poor deep shooters, and that sunk us today vs Wisconsin.
 

I wonder if Kyle Jorgensen could be an option. He's a bit undersized but can shoot the hell out of it for a big man. He's made a nice jump in his Sophomore year but I see he's injured right now. Medved recruited him out of HS from Washburn in Minneapolis.
 

Frank Grimey Grimes said:
I wonder if Kyle Jorgensen could be an option. He's a bit undersized but can shoot the hell out of it for a big man. He's made a nice jump in his Sophomore year but I see he's injured right now. Medved recruited him out of HS from Washburn in Minneapolis.
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I like this kid. I watched him in the UST team camp.. good pick and pop.. plays hard
 




60's Guy said:
I would be pleasantly surprised if Tomes contributes much as a Gopher. Not that quick, no defensive interest at all, 5'11", funky shot that goes in but it starts at his chest...defended by a long armed 6'5 quick intense defender he'll be in trouble. Game is very ball dominant.
He could grow, he seems a bit quicker as a senior so maybe he improves his quickness.
Love to be wrong about his upside.
Tomes Scores 50
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There are 13 scholarship players. Tomes doesn't ever have to start to be valuable. Most teams don't start two 6-5 guys at guard. Most lead guards are in the 6' to 6-3 variety. So if a 6-5 guy is on him, then the 6-1 PG is guarding someone like 6-4 210 Reynolds? If he plays 4 years and contributes as a knock down 3 pt shooter and backup pg, was the scholarship wasted? If teams have a lockdown 6-5 guy, I doubt he is on Tomes, I see him more as a 4th/ 5th option eventually.

I think there is some thought to getting MN guys to come here and be a place to play and not keep losing them to Wisconsin. As the gophers improve, so should the type of MN recruits, that is the hope anyway.
 

march madness said:
Next Year:

PG: Willis, Asuma, Tomes
SG: Asuma, Kai S.
SF: Portal?, N. Anderson
PF: JCJ , Durkin, Grove
C: Vailhola, JCJ, Mpoyi

I really think they need a good scoring wing, who is also athletic and strong, to replace some of what Reynolds brought 6-5+, over 200lbs. Of course, if Niko does this that is 12 scholarships. Meaning Turner and Omot aren't?
Click to expand...

Yes, I would say that Turner "isn't" and Omot shouldn't be. Of course, Chance Stephens shouldn't be either.

#1 need is a scorer. Could be but doesn't have to be forward. They could play a three-guard lineup.. We're losing our top and 3rd place scorer and #3 (Reynolds) is second in conference games as he's averaging about 4 points more in conference games than his overall season average.
 

Why wouldn't Omot be a possibility to be back? He's listed as a redshirt junior which means he must have gotten a medical redshirt last year.
 

60's Guy said:
I would be pleasantly surprised if Tomes contributes much as a Gopher. Not that quick, no defensive interest at all, 5'11", funky shot that goes in but it starts at his chest...defended by a long armed 6'5 quick intense defender he'll be in trouble. Game is very ball dominant.
He could grow, he seems a bit quicker as a senior so maybe he improves his quickness.
Love to be wrong about his upside.
Tomes Scores 50
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Niko teaches team defense. If Tomes doesn't play D- he won't play. I am willing to bet he plays defense just fine under Niko and is a very good contributor. My guess is defensive positioning and awareness is why we don't see Turner. If one guy breaks down, the whole scheme does.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Why wouldn't Omot be a possibility to be back? He's listed as a redshirt junior which means he must have gotten a medical redshirt last year.
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Yes, I'm guessing he did but I'm getting pretty sick of our history of rehab projects. Both Fox and Ihnen were on the roster for two years without playing a single minute. Last year we had Cochran who didn't play at all but seems to be playing just fine for Rhode Island. Now we have Vaihola, Willis, Stephens, and Omot on the disabled list.

I can see Vaihola and Willis because they played and were hurt while playing but I hope the others (and Turner who can't see the floor) are not here next season.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
Yes, I'm guessing he did but I'm getting pretty sick of our history of rehab projects. Both Fox and Ihnen were on the roster for two years without playing a single minute. Last year we had Cochran who didn't play at all but seems to be playing just fine for Rhode Island. Now we have Vaihola, Willis, Stephens, and Omot on the disabled list.

I can see Vaihola and Willis because they played and were hurt while playing but I hope the others (and Turner who can't see the floor) are not here next season.
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I guess it just depends on if this might be an ongoing issue with Omot or not. We know little about what is actually going on. I think he's too talented to not try to get him back (if they think he will get back to 100%).
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
Yes, I'm guessing he did but I'm getting pretty sick of our history of rehab projects. Both Fox and Ihnen were on the roster for two years without playing a single minute. Last year we had Cochran who didn't play at all but seems to be playing just fine for Rhode Island. Now we have Vaihola, Willis, Stephens, and Omot on the disabled list.

I can see Vaihola and Willis because they played and were hurt while playing but I hope the others (and Turner who can't see the floor) are not here next season.
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I'm cool with keeping all the injured guys around, but I'd hope they'd be willing to take a pay cut, especially if their NIL hinders us from adding more 'sure-fire' quality players that fit Niko's system.

Niko is maxing out his talent this year. Everybody in the CBB landscape sees this.

I really think what he did with Cade Tyson could open up the floodgates this transfer period.

My order of priority for the injured guys:
  1. Vaihola: Greater screener, rebounder, and above-average post passer. Seemed to be a solid system guy.
  2. Omot: Hard to gauge, but probably benefits by not seeing him play much. Should be versatile, especially defensively, and still has two years (I think?).
  3. Willis: Didn't seem to gel in the system; doesn't help our shooting woes; turnover-prone. I also don't know if his injury was impacting him before the Stanford game; it could have been.
  4. Stephens: I know nothing about him. Could be a sharp shooter off the bench?
 

GophersInIowa said:
I guess it just depends on if this might be an ongoing issue with Omot or not. We know little about what is actually going on. I think he's too talented to not try to get him back (if they think he will get back to 100%).
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Yeah, I don't think you pull the plug on him if he is going to be back and healthy next season. His situation is strange though because nothing is said about it.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I guess it just depends on if this might be an ongoing issue with Omot or not. We know little about what is actually going on. I think he's too talented to not try to get him back (if they think he will get back to 100%).
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Here's my problem with that. We may not have all that many scholarships to give to portal transfers and any one given to a "let's just keep him and see what happens" kind of player will reduce whatever we have to offer active portal players with high potential. And we need one or two with high potential.

Assuming every scholarship player with remaining eligibility who played at all this season (except Turner who I expect will transfer) returns, that's seven players. Add the three incoming freshmen to that list and you have 10. That leaves two or three scholarships for portal transfers.

We're losing our leading scorer (who is also one of the league leaders) and another player who has averaged 14.5 points per game in conference games so far. I'm pretty confident that Omot isn't capable of approaching Tyson's scoring especially after not playing for almost two years (he only played 4 games for Cal last season).

This is just my preference of course. Ultimately it's up to Niko and I'll trust whatever he does.
 

topos said:
I'm cool with keeping all the injured guys around, but I'd hope they'd be willing to take a pay cut, especially if their NIL hinders us from adding more 'sure-fire' quality players that fit Niko's system.

Niko is maxing out his talent this year. Everybody in the CBB landscape sees this.

I really think what he did with Cade Tyson could open up the floodgates this transfer period.

My order of priority for the injured guys:
  1. Vaihola: Greater screener, rebounder, and above-average post passer. Seemed to be a solid system guy.
  2. Omot: Hard to gauge, but probably benefits by not seeing him play much. Should be versatile, especially defensively, and still has two years (I think?).
  3. Willis: Didn't seem to gel in the system; doesn't help our shooting woes; turnover-prone. I also don't know if his injury was impacting him before the Stanford game; it could have been.
  4. Stephens: I know nothing about him. Could be a sharp shooter off the bench?
Click to expand...

"Niko is maxing out his talent this year. Everybody in the CBB landscape sees this."

Agreed but I hope he isn't having to max out his talent in order to barely keep his team's head above water next season too.

"I really think what he did with Cade Tyson could open up the floodgates this transfer period."

You might be right which is all the more reason to have adequate scholarships available for those portal players with high potential.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
Here's my problem with that. We may not have all that many scholarships to give to portal transfers and any one given to a "let's just keep him and see what happens" kind of player will reduce whatever we have to offer active portal players with high potential. And we need one or two with high potential.

Assuming every scholarship player with remaining eligibility who played at all this season (except Turner who I expect will transfer) returns, that's seven players. Add the three incoming freshmen to that list and you have 10. That leaves two or three scholarships for portal transfers.

We're losing our leading scorer (who is also one of the league leaders) and another player who has averaged 14.5 points per game in conference games so far. I'm pretty confident that Omot isn't capable of approaching Tyson's scoring especially after not playing for almost two years (he only played 4 games for Cal last season).

This is just my preference of course. Ultimately it's up to Niko and I'll trust whatever he does.
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If they feel like he will fully heal and the issue won't be ongoing, I wouldn't consider it a "let's see what happens" situation. It would be a "are we confident we would find a better replacement for his roster spot?"
 

One thing I think is obvious, whatever the roster looks like, I believe Niko will be determined to put 4-5 guys on the floor who can all shoot it from range. With this offense, the only way people are stopping it is to sag off of guys that can't shoot from distance. Reynolds has been terrific but if he could shoot outside, we'd be 5-1 right now.
 

bga1 said:
One thing I think is obvious, whatever the roster looks like, I believe Niko will be determined to put 4-5 guys on the floor who can all shoot it from range. With this offense, the only way people are stopping it is to sag off of guys that can't shoot from distance. Reynolds has been terrific but if he could shoot outside, we'd be 5-1 right now.
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Agree 100%. Is a bummer that Reynolds isn't more comfortable with the 3 point shot because teams are daring him to shoot them in order to muck things up and cut off passing lanes.
 

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