RandBall: As transfer portals close, Gophers basketball is thriving

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Gold Vision said:
Oh look. Badgerman taking a bad take on an unpopular opinion and beating it to death in another thread. Shocker.
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Seriously, what is the bad take? I’m not trying to argue. I’m honestly asking a question.
 



gopherbadgerman said:
Not sure where the excitement is coming from. Not a lot of high end newcomers…
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We just won 8 games in the best conference in the country while half the team was hurt. The excitement for me is largely around the coach and staff that has a system, a plan that clearly works. The excitement is also because we have 5 contributors returning (a pretty big deal in today's college basketball), a 6th that previously played in the same system under the same coach (and had success in it), and several younger transfers that have multiple years left to grow and develop.

Things are clearly going in the right direction, especially if you compare this to what we've seen previously.
 

GophersInIowa said:
We just won 8 games in the best conference in the country while half the team was hurt. The excitement for me is largely around the coach and staff that has a system, a plan that clearly works. The excitement is also because we have 5 contributors returning (a pretty big deal in today's college basketball), a 6th that previously played in the same system under the same coach (and had success in it), and several younger transfers that have multiple years left to grow and develop.

Things are clearly going in the right direction, especially if you compare this to what we've seen previously.
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Agree with your assessment. This team won 8 Big Ten conference games with five of the top nine players missing most if not all of the season. That gives me hope that this coaching staff is just what is needed to move forward. The young well regarded transfers are hungry to show they are ready for a significant role. And the freshmen will hopefully earn some playing time and get experience. It should be an interesting season and better results with an actual roster with some depth.
 

GophersInIowa said:
We just won 8 games in the best conference in the country while half the team was hurt. The excitement for me is largely around the coach and staff that has a system, a plan that clearly works. The excitement is also because we have 5 contributors returning (a pretty big deal in today's college basketball), a 6th that previously played in the same system under the same coach (and had success in it), and several younger transfers that have multiple years left to grow and develop.

Things are clearly going in the right direction, especially if you compare this to what we've seen previously.
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Yeah, but show me the numbers that prove these guys can do it or have done it before, man! 😂
 

Wondering if anyone from the Star Tribune reads this site and sees how they have lost most of the gopher sports fans?

Now that the Tribune is printed in Des Moines maybe they will cover Iowa sports!
 



howeda7 said:
It's close to zero. Stephens is zero. Viohola won't come here with the Michigan big in that spot. Omot bailed early, he's a zero. Willis is the only one I could possibly see, but he's not coming back to be Evans back-up IMO. That's likely why left.
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I agree with you, but we are living in strange times. I’ve never seen the Mich big Kordel. Vaihola is a senior so I’d feel ok giving him minutes.
 

GophersInIowa said:
We just won 8 games in the best conference in the country while half the team was hurt. The excitement for me is largely around the coach and staff that has a system, a plan that clearly works. The excitement is also because we have 5 contributors returning (a pretty big deal in today's college basketball), a 6th that previously played in the same system under the same coach (and had success in it), and several younger transfers that have multiple years left to grow and develop.

Things are clearly going in the right direction, especially if you compare this to what we've seen previously.
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Fair point. I just don’t feel there’s a large upgrade over last year. Time will tell.
 


gopherbadgerman said:
Fair point. I just don’t feel there’s a large upgrade over last year. Time will tell.
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The upgrade is not large. The capacity to play more than 6 people is there and we now have a handful of guys who understand Niko’s offense and philosophy quite well.
I don't think any realistic person thinks the Gophers will be at the top of the league. I do think this upcoming team will have a better chance to make the NCAA tournament than last year's team. I also think the team will see a vast improvement from November to February as everyone finds their roles.
So, if you won't be happy unless the Gophers are top 5 in the B1G, then expect to be disappointed.
 



FinnGopher said:
The upgrade is not large. The capacity to play more than 6 people is there and we now have a handful of guys who understand Niko’s offense and philosophy quite well.
I don't think any realistic person thinks the Gophers will be at the top of the league. I do think this upcoming team will have a better chance to make the NCAA tournament than last year's team. I also think the team will see a vast improvement from November to February as everyone finds their roles.
So, if you won't be happy unless the Gophers are top 5 in the B1G, then expect to be disappointed.
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Very well said. Goal for next year should be making the NCAA tournament and this current roster is better setup to do that then last year's roster was. Highly unlikely that we are in the mix for the conference title but I don't see that as a failure in year 2.
 

FinnGopher said:
The upgrade is not large. The capacity to play more than 6 people is there and we now have a handful of guys who understand Niko’s offense and philosophy quite well.
I don't think any realistic person thinks the Gophers will be at the top of the league. I do think this upcoming team will have a better chance to make the NCAA tournament than last year's team. I also think the team will see a vast improvement from November to February as everyone finds their roles.
So, if you won't be happy unless the Gophers are top 5 in the B1G, then expect to be disappointed.
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I would be happy if they make the NCAA tournament
 

gopherbadgerman said:
I would be happy if they make the NCAA tournament
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Anything less and it's my opinion that every Gopher fan should be greatly disappointed. Niko will certainly continue to establish his coaching brand at the U but the days of traditional "program building" are long gone with NIL and the transfer portal.
 

The fact is that the usual Big Ten suspects have the money to buy top transfer players, as Michigan did this season. Everyone else is just along for the ride, with an occasional surprise like Nebraska.
 

Slim Tubby said:
Anything less and it's my opinion that every Gopher fan should be greatly disappointed. Niko will certainly continue to establish his coaching brand at the U but the days of traditional "program building" are long gone with NIL and the transfer portal.
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The program building you have to do now (at our level) is:

A) win enough to gain he confidence and enthusiasm of your donor base
in order to....
B) keep enough of your core players who are fits to the system each year so that portal shopping is limited to 3-4 key additions each year
and
C) recruit quality HS players that can contribute year 1 and be ready to start by year 2 (and are given a competitive offer to stay)

Purdue does this most effectively.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
Frankly, I don't know how anyone could be "sold" on it.

With the exception of Evans who does have a collegiate record of some accomplishments, these portal acquisitions are all "potential" and Evans' history doesn't scream "star."
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Everybody said the same thing last year about Tyson and company, now your worried about how he is going to be replaced.
 

Outsider said:
Dude you’ve been dragging the portal adds thru the mud across several threads. Give it up, and just for the record you didn’t ask a question, you made a statement.
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Absolutely have not been dragging them through the mud. I simply do not see them moving the needle too much. That's it. I hope they are great.
 

bga1 said:
The program building you have to do now (at our level) is:

A) win enough to gain he confidence and enthusiasm of your donor base
in order to....
B) keep enough of your core players who are fits to the system each year so that portal shopping is limited to 3-4 key additions each year
and
C) recruit quality HS players that can contribute year 1 and be ready to start by year 2 (and are given a competitive offer to stay)

Purdue does this most effectively.
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Purdue basketball is a great example of a program that is doing really well without relying heavily on the portal.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Purdue basketball is a great example of a program that is doing really well without relying heavily on the portal.
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They have had their share of key contributors from the portal. They are not in it in volume but they are for key components. Cluff a good example this year.
 

Holy Man said:
They have had their share of key contributors from the portal. They are not in it in volume but they are for key components. Cluff a good example this year.
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True but their top 3 scorers last year and 4 of their top 5 were all guys they brought in out of high school. If you look at their year by year transfer portal the number of guys going in and out is pretty small.

Easier said then done, means you have to really good at evaluating and projecting high school players and then have the resources to keep them around in an era where guys are jumping ship all the time.
 

MNVCGUY said:
True but their top 3 scorers last year and 4 of their top 5 were all guys they brought in out of high school. If you look at their year by year transfer portal the number of guys going in and out is pretty small.

Easier said then done, means you have to really good at evaluating and projecting high school players and then have the resources to keep them around in an era where guys are jumping ship all the time.
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And the portal has changed immeasurably since revenue sharing began. Pay for play changes everything. I have close contacts in the Purdue fan base and they know how good they have had but also know the era of four year players is functionally done. Painter will get it done but it is not likely to be with multiple players playing four years for him. It’s a harder job now than it has ever been.
 

Rocksoldier said:
Everybody said the same thing last year about Tyson and company, now your worried about how he is going to be replaced.
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I don't remember anyone saying that last season. Don't make up stuff.

I can assure you that I never said that about Tyson. In fact, I didn't say that about any of Niko's portal recruits last season, not even Turner. My concern for this offseason is that we lost two very significant players and although we landed a very likely starter replacement, we are leaning heavily on unproven players for the rest.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Purdue basketball is a great example of a program that is doing really well without relying heavily on the portal.
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Michigan State doesn't rely much on the portal either but they recruit enough blue bloods that they probably don't have to do that.
 


TwistingMyMelon said:
I don't remember anyone saying that last season. Don't make up stuff.

I can assure you that I never said that about Tyson. In fact, I didn't say that about any of Niko's portal recruits last season, not even Turner. My concern for this offseason is that we lost two very significant players and although we landed a very likely starter replacement, we are leaning heavily on unproven players for the rest.
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Last year we had two returning players and only one had played any minutes the previous season. This year we have five returning players, including 3 starters. We're clearly in a better place than one year ago.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
I don't remember anyone saying that last season. Don't make up stuff.

I can assure you that I never said that about Tyson. In fact, I didn't say that about any of Niko's portal recruits last season, not even Turner. My concern for this offseason is that we lost two very significant players and although we landed a very likely starter replacement, we are leaning heavily on unproven players for the rest.
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It is going to be interesting to see how this portal class works out. My guess is that Niko feels good about the base that is in place so he felt he could roll the dice on high upside guys without proven track records in college.

To me that says he trusts the foundation he has returning and if a guy like Winters Grady pans out we could really have something.

Going into this off season I felt like we had to go find our go to guy in the portal for next year but the more I thought about it the more it feels like that guy may already be here in the form of JCJ who if he takes another step in development can quickly move up among the league leaders in scoring and rebounding.

As long as Evans follows the trend of UNC duds doing well for us we will just need decent production from the new faces to have a solid roster next year that should be able to make the NCAA tournament.
 

Lifeleadership said:
I think Medved did great in the portal. Filled some needs for us and a handful of guys have mulitple years of eligibility. Cade Tyson was a portal guy last year and he didn't produce at North Carolina. Under Medved's system and the development program, Cade really thrived. I think the guys we picked up have the same opportunity. Two guys coming from Michigan tells you what type of HS players they must have been. Now they have one good year of development at Michigan. I think Goves has a big upside and Evans might have a bust out senior year. With the returning guys, I am very pumped for next season. I may be one of very few but I love what is happening with Medved. Go Gophers!
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most gopher fans are optimistic on medved
 

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