Cedric Tomes commits!!!

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It is kind of interesting he's rated 6 of 6 for MN on 247, 274th in the nation while Jayden Moore is at 209. Who would you rather have next year?
 







Didn't see him today, but I have seen that act before. He seems to think he has to score every point, or make his point that he his a great player. Would be much better if used his teammates more.
 

GOPHERFAN77 said:
Part of the reason why the 31% or lower number shocked me…

I’m an old guy….In 2001, I played on Cretin-Derham Hall’s team that featured 6’6 forward Steve Sir and 6’5 guard Joe Mauer, and I thought I remembered both of those guys shooting at a much higher percentage (with better size, form, elevation, and shot selection). I looked up CDH’s all-time records, and Steve Sir shot 49.3% (146/296) from three on higher volume than Tomes. Steve validated that in college as well, shooting 48% (93/189) and 49% (123/252) from three during his junior and senior years at Northern Arizona. In his third best sport, Joe Mauer shot 42% from three (61/145) on likely a similar make volume to Tomes.

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Maybe Sir and Mauer’s numbers were a mistake to compare Tomes to because he shoots NBA range threes? Maybe being a 31% or lower three point shooter in high school is considered good now due to them taking NBA range threes? And maybe I came in with too high of expectations because I heard people comparing Tomes to Jake Sullivan. I thought Tomes was essentially supposed to be a once in a generation Minnesota shooter. I didn’t expect him to be the second best three point best shooter on his team as a junior, but who knows maybe the spacing Tomes created allowed his teammate to be the better three point shooter. People do really seem to think Tomes is a shooter with unlimited range so I must be the one who wrong on this.

I was at the East Ridge vs Cottage Grove game on Tuesday. According to my numbers, Tomes made 18/20 free throws (he is a great free throw shooter). He scored 30 points. He went 0/5 from three. He went 6/25 from the field. I believe 3 of Tomes 6 made shots were uncontested breakaway layups. So, Tomes went 3/22 on contested shots.

Towards the end of the game, Cottage Grove fans started chanting “free throw merchant” at Tomes. Incase this isn’t a term known by all…a free throw merchant is a term used to sort of criticize players who hunt for fouls and build their scoring around free throws rather than from the field. The term should actually be viewed as a compliment. Tomes is great at getting foul calls and knocking down like 80%-90% of free throws. He gets the other best teams players in foul trouble and gets his team in the bonus. This is a huge advantage for East Ridge.

I have seen East Ridge play 5 times this year and an average game for Tomes has looked like 6/18 on 2 Pointers, 2/7 on 3 pointers, 12/15 on free throws. So, 12 points on twos, 6 points on threes and 12 points on free throws and 30 total points on 8/25 (32%).

Of Tomes 6 made 2 pointers, 2-3 are usually uncontested fast break layups. So, in these games Tomes could essentially go 3/15 on contested two pointers and 2/7 on three pointers and still end up at 30 a game due to free throws and uncontested layups. He makes like 5/22 contested shots. It can be odd to watch. In someways he makes getting to 30 points look easy, but the scoring can maybe seem a bit gimmicky and not necessarily dominant in my opinion. He dominates the game by getting to the free throw line and not by shooting in my opinion.

I know Tomes has had great games against great teams this year that I didn’t see and I am sure the Gophers have seen great things in workouts that I have not. And again, everyone seems to believe Tomes is a Jake Sullivan level shooter so that shooting percentage must not be indicative of the shooter Tomes is. If I trust other people’s analysis and I trust Niko, I am sure Tomes will turn out to be a great player and great shooter for the Gophers. And again, I think seeing Steve Sir and Joe Mauer shoot 50% and 42% from three in high school made me have unrealistic expectations.

So my analysis was probably wrong and should probably be disregarded.
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What I took away from this is that you’re stating Tomes will be the Gophers version of Shea Gilgeous-Alexander. Sold!
 







Slim Tubby said:
BREAKING: High School kid has some flaws and things to work on!!!

Every team needs a guy that can create for himself and score in volume. I can't wait to see Tomes in Maroon & Gold getting instruction from Niko.
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He sounds like Lawrence Westbrook to me. Which makes sense because he was also polarizing.
 



Roland Brooks said:
4-20 from the floor and whined his arse off today against CDH
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Cedric really struggled yesterday. Cretin and East Ridge kids got chippy on both sides and it really seemed to affect him. Forced too many shots, had some dumb TOs etc.

Still excited about CT, think he will be the type of kid who looks good with better athletes, size, and players around him at the next level.
 

Sounds like the East Ridge coach needs to coach better team basketball maybe? Sounds like he relies on one player too much
 


MonikerSchmoniker45 said:

Just clips, but he looks uninterested on the defensive end.
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The great thing is that defense can be taught. Hard to teach shooting by the time a kid is 18 or 19. One thing I have observed with Niko is that he has an expectation of excellence and he won't compromise that expectation. I believe that is why Turner sat the pines and is no longer on the team.
Tomes has been watching this Gopher team and how they have played. He knows that the expectations for him at U of M will be much, much, different than at East Ridge. Niko is going to demand much more from him within a disciplined system. If Tomes doesn't like that, he will follow Turner out the door. But, with the foundation that was laid this season, I think Tomes will thrive under the structure. He won't need to be the main man at Minnesota. He will just need to learn the system and find his shots within the system. Give him some space and let him learn. He's going to be a plus for the Gophers.
 

FinnGopher said:
The great thing is that defense can be taught. Hard to teach shooting by the time a kid is 18 or 19. One thing I have observed with Niko is that he has an expectation of excellence and he won't compromise that expectation. I believe that is why Turner sat the pines and is no longer on the team.
Tomes has been watching this Gopher team and how they have played. He knows that the expectations for him at U of M will be much, much, different than at East Ridge. Niko is going to demand much more from him within a disciplined system. If Tomes doesn't like that, he will follow Turner out the door. But, with the foundation that was laid this season, I think Tomes will thrive under the structure. He won't need to be the main man at Minnesota. He will just need to learn the system and find his shots within the system. Give him some space and let him learn. He's going to be a plus for the Gophers.
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The lack of effort was pretty glaring. Hard to say without seeing the roster, but I doubt he gets much time as a freshman.
 

I have only seen him play once, so I don't have a large sample size. He did feel like a volume scorer, but who knows. Sometimes you need a guy with a scorer's mentality and have to rope him in sometimes...
 


Great observations. Also, players want to play. The good ones will do what it takes to get on the floor. If the Coach demands effort defensively and playing within the offense, the good ones will respond. Especially, if the reward is PT!
FinnGopher said:
The great thing is that defense can be taught. Hard to teach shooting by the time a kid is 18 or 19. One thing I have observed with Niko is that he has an expectation of excellence and he won't compromise that expectation. I believe that is why Turner sat the pines and is no longer on the team.
Tomes has been watching this Gopher team and how they have played. He knows that the expectations for him at U of M will be much, much, different than at East Ridge. Niko is going to demand much more from him within a disciplined system. If Tomes doesn't like that, he will follow Turner out the door. But, with the foundation that was laid this season, I think Tomes will thrive under the structure. He won't need to be the main man at Minnesota. He will just need to learn the system and find his shots within the system. Give him some space and let him learn. He's going to be a plus for the Gophers.
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Can’t argue.. but different times now the public schools are right there behind them…
 

I have zero issues with Niko taking a chance on Tomes, even if he sits at the end of the bench in year one. There's 13 scholarships, even if everyone's healthy, coaches typically stick to an ~8 man rotation.

If someone would have said at the beginning of the season that Grove and Shinholster would be significant contributors this season, and the Gophers would win more B1G games than they did last season, they would have been laughed off this board.

Niko knows what he's doing and what he's looking for.
 


MonikerSchmoniker45 said:
The lack of effort was pretty glaring. Hard to say without seeing the roster, but I doubt he gets much time as a freshman.
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Will be interesting to see how much he plays vs Moore from Hopkins who chose to go to UND and will likely play right away.
 

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