I would like to think Coyle has learned his ex-Gopher hire lesson after Ben and Whalen and will hire an experienced and proven winning coach like he did for women in Coach Plitzuweit.
Interesting read:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6035757/2025/01/08/jim-crutchfield-nova-southeastern-dii-basketball/?source=user_shared_article
Too old for MN, but his methods and style of play is interesting and might make Nolan Richardson’s “40 mins of hell” seem like a walk in the park.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6028371/2025/01/02/drake-bulldogs-basketball-ben-mccollum-transfers/?source=user_shared_article
A true coach who can actually change his system to best fit his personnel.
Hard to say what Betts has to offer with the way Ben manages the game. I would have at least tried a bigger lineup instead of the 3 guard/bricklayers and Garcia + Frank/Edmunds/Fox.
Maybe the bricklayers would actually improve if Ben had offensive sets?
Asuma is the only true PG on the team...
Hard to find consistency when you have a good first half and then get zero second half minutes.
Who knows what goes thru Ben’s mind? Loved how Ben killed the legs of the guys in the second half of the Wake game. Trying to condition them for B1G play?
I’d like to see Garcia, Edmunds, Betts, Patterson/Mike Mitchell, and Asuma. Betts looked decent at SF in the first half a game or two ago. Edmunds has more life and is at least in shape versus Frank Mitchell.
Ben’s failure to try different combos and develop players during the non conference...
Build a new “Barn” with a raised floor and play games at Mariucci. 9700 capacity for hockey more than sufficient for basketball. The way the Gopher basketball programs are going the Women could play at Mariucci and Men at Ridder.
Saw this when searching for info on him:
Unless he pulls a Hawkins, he is staying at Charlotte.
https://www.thecharlottepost.com/news/2024/04/10/sports/lu-cye-patterson-decides-to-stick-with-charlotte-49ers/