Kyan Evans Commits to the Gophers!

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leib0039 said:
Great pickup! Pick off guys from Michigan and unc every year!

Evans/Asuma/Tomes
Asuma/Groves/Kai
Durkin/Grady/Groves
JCJ/Durkin/Anderson
Grove/Mpoyi/kordel

That's my guess to start, eventually I think Grady starts and Durkin is our 6th man sharpshooter as was seemingly the plan this year. Also think Grayson found his role and is a good option to start. Feels like C is 18min GG 8 Mpoyi 8 Kordel 6 JCJ small ball.

Not a lot of star power per se but feels like a lot of options.
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I think there is a star somewhere on this roster- we just don't know who he is yet...just as it was with Tyson.
 


Who starts is often political, ego, or economically determined in college basketball.
What we might know is that Niko wants to play 9 guys...that looks like what happened at CSU.
First question: who is on the roster? are we adding one, two, three or four more guys?
or are Shinholster and Lorenson on the roster? It would seem neither would play if they are.

In the political, ego, economic decision making who is playing equation...going to be tough for the freshmen to get on the floor. They gotta jump up and make it so obvious to their teammates that they are in the top 9 that they gotta see the floor. Mpoyi would seem the most logical choice to be able to do that. Anderson, obviously is next.

I don't think we can almost even guess who the nine are.... (1) without knowing if we are adding one more meaningful player or four? (2) without seeing how they fit and who is better than who on the court.

I think we know JCJ, Evans, Durkin and Asuma are kinda captains, if you will.
Groves and Grady wouldn't be here if they were not assured they are important parts on the floor playing. That's 6. Five of them are guard like, but Niko likes to play small.

Grove, Kordel, and the new guy coming in are probably 7, 8, 9...these are the three guys the freshmen gotta beat out to play. And are we adding 1, 2, 3 or 4 more new guys? We are not likely to afford a better big, but that's the softest part of our competition. Mpoyi could earn minutes. But if you are a new guard, small forward...you gotta be good to play.

If we add one more new guy we got 11 guys who I'd say are fighting to be top 9...so I think we have depth. 2 of the 11 fighting to see the floor would be freshmen.

We don't have a proven Cade Tyson replacement but we have some nice candidates. We do have some nice competition for playing time if we add just one more somewhat proven or highly rated addition. So far we are different than how we did it last year but we certainly could/should be better.
 


He’s a starter. I learned that yesterday here. That’s why he cost 1M dollars
Bad Gopher said:
I don't know whether he'll be a starter or reserve, but I believe he'll be a top-7 rotation player, and I'm really happy about his addition, especially with Grady's health history.

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TwistingMyMelon said:
If they grab another player, I think it should be in the frontcourt. There are only four of them (JCJ, Grove, Kordel, and an incoming freshman).
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Agree. I'm old and the game has flipped a bit with shooters now being valued much more highly than bangers, but you still need bangers so you don't get manhandled.
 


50PoundHead said:
Agree. I'm old and the game has flipped a bit with shooters now being valued much more highly than bangers, but you still need bangers so you don't get manhandled.
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I'm old too and I agree that we need bangers. We need to get more offensive rebounds so we can get more shots at the bucket on possessions. We were outrebounded by 4.5 boards per game in conference games.
 





daveozark said:
If you look at what he meant to CSU there is no doubt he is going to be Nikos point guard for the next 2 years. Bettter get those season tickets now, the future looks bright.
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I think he's a senior....so one more year unless the new rules allow as many senior years as he wants which seems to be happening.
 

60's Guy said:
Who starts is often political, ego, or economically determined in college basketball.
What we might know is that Niko wants to play 9 guys...that looks like what happened at CSU.
First question: who is on the roster? are we adding one, two, three or four more guys?
or are Shinholster and Lorenson on the roster? It would seem neither would play if they are.

In the political, ego, economic decision making who is playing equation...going to be tough for the freshmen to get on the floor. They gotta jump up and make it so obvious to their teammates that they are in the top 9 that they gotta see the floor. Mpoyi would seem the most logical choice to be able to do that. Anderson, obviously is next.

I don't think we can almost even guess who the nine are.... (1) without knowing if we are adding one more meaningful player or four? (2) without seeing how they fit and who is better than who on the court.

I think we know JCJ, Evans, Durkin and Asuma are kinda captains, if you will.
Groves and Grady wouldn't be here if they were not assured they are important parts on the floor playing. That's 6. Five of them are guard like, but Niko likes to play small.

Grove, Kordel, and the new guy coming in are probably 7, 8, 9...these are the three guys the freshmen gotta beat out to play. And are we adding 1, 2, 3 or 4 more new guys? We are not likely to afford a better big, but that's the softest part of our competition. Mpoyi could earn minutes. But if you are a new guard, small forward...you gotta be good to play.

If we add one more new guy we got 11 guys who I'd say are fighting to be top 9...so I think we have depth. 2 of the 11 fighting to see the floor would be freshmen.

We don't have a proven Cade Tyson replacement but we have some nice candidates. We do have some nice competition for playing time if we add just one more somewhat proven or highly rated addition. So far we are different than how we did it last year but we certainly could/should be better.
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As we saw last year, there will inevitably be injuries as well
 



bga1 said:
Back to Evans- I really like that a Niko coached guy wants to come back and play for him again. Great sign. Evans is a really good shooter. I want to see one more guy 6-3 to 6-6 who can fly.
We lack that one big time athlete for match up purposes. Overall, this definitely feels like an upgraded squad from last year. More depth, more size, more shooting. Also this team can legit go big or small.
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I'd like to see us add a 3rd starting level guard. l think we need 3 like last year.

Maybe cut Shinholster free & put those funds toward an extra guard. Not sure where Shinholster fits in anymore?

Honestly I wish we hadn't lost Willis. He's exactly the kind of guard I think we need to add.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
I'd like to see us add a 3rd starting level guard. l think we need 3 like last year.

Maybe cut Shinholster free & put those funds toward an extra guard. Not sure where Shinholster fits in anymore?

Honestly I wish we hadn't lost Willis. He's exactly the kind of guard I think we need to add.
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I wonder if Niko wanted Evans more because of the shooting ability and thought Evans wouldn't come if Willis were here. I would still like to get an athletic guard as well.
 

The little that I watched UNC, once Evans passed the ball he rarely touched it. That will change playing for Niko. However, he was very ineffective against MSU guarding Fears. That is my main concern with Evans as he is not a strong defender. At least the little I have seen.

Not that this matters but a take on Kyans season at UNC. Very slow start then he played better at end of season.

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Bayfield Gopher said:
The little that I watched UNC, once Evans passed the ball he rarely touched it. That will change playing for Niko. However, he was very ineffective against MSU guarding Fears. That is my main concern with Evans as he is not a strong defender. At least the little I have seen.

Not that this matters but a take on Kyans season at UNC. Very slow start then he played better at end of season.

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Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
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Few points of reference. His sophomore year at CSU Evans had an off/def ratings of 117/104 , last year his off/def rating was 96/109. So do you think he got worse or maybe the coach didn't use him well or didn't fit. Reynolds this year was 107/111. I liked Reynolds a lot, but seems like some on here think we are losing MJ and adding Anthony Peeler ha.

At this point i think with guys like Evans, Grady, Groves, Niko has proven to be a good talent evaluator and has earned the benefit of the doubt. If he thinks they fit I'll trust him.
 

leib0039 said:
Few points of reference. His sophomore year at CSU Evans had an off/def ratings of 117/104 , last year his off/def rating was 96/109. So do you think he got worse or maybe the coach didn't use him well or didn't fit. Reynolds this year was 107/111. I liked Reynolds a lot, but seems like some on here think we are losing MJ and adding Anthony Peeler ha.

At this point i think with guys like Evans, Grady, Groves, Niko has proven to be a good talent evaluator and has earned the benefit of the doubt. If he thinks they fit I'll trust him.
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The way the team played while short handed and under sized definitely earns Niko some benefit of the doubt that he is a good judge of guys that will fit his system and play the way he wants them too which in turn enables them to overcome other factors.

This will be the test of that for sure in the upcoming season because he has brought in guys that haven't proved a ton at the college level but all have upside if it works out.
 

leib0039 said:
Few points of reference. His sophomore year at CSU Evans had an off/def ratings of 117/104 , last year his off/def rating was 96/109. So do you think he got worse or maybe the coach didn't use him well or didn't fit. Reynolds this year was 107/111. I liked Reynolds a lot, but seems like some on here think we are losing MJ and adding Anthony Peeler ha.

At this point i think with guys like Evans, Grady, Groves, Niko has proven to be a good talent evaluator and has earned the benefit of the doubt. If he thinks they fit I'll trust him.
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Watch the UNC vs MSU game and tell me what you think. BTW he graded a -24. There comes a time where players must rely on their talent rather than just playing in a system. Will Niko get him back to a serviceable player? He found a way to make Durkin play better D inspite of his warts.
 

leib0039 said:
Great pickup! Pick off guys from Michigan and unc every year!

Evans/Asuma/Tomes
Asuma/Groves/Kai
Durkin/Grady/Groves
JCJ/Durkin/Anderson
Grove/Mpoyi/kordel

That's my guess to start, eventually I think Grady starts and Durkin is our 6th man sharpshooter as was seemingly the plan this year. Also think Grayson found his role and is a good option to start. Feels like C is 18min GG 8 Mpoyi 8 Kordel 6 JCJ small ball.

Not a lot of star power per se but feels like a lot of options.
Click to expand...
I agree it does seem like we're a scoring guard / wing type guy away from being more bonafied (ha)
But it's a lot of depth. That helps. Nice foundation to build on for years to come if you can create a consistent roster year after year.

*Edit. I like folks saying maybe that star is already on this roster. Never really know who will pop or Niko can help to hit that pop.
Evans
Asuma
Grady
These seem like the likely 3 but maybe one of the freshmen come in and surprise as well. Or really anybody could make a jump. What do I know.
 

skiumah1 said:
I agree it does seem like we're a scoring guard / wing type guy away from being more bonafied (ha)
But it's a lot of depth. That helps. Nice foundation to build on for years to come if you can create a consistent roster year after year.

*Edit. I like folks saying maybe that star is already on this roster. Never really know who will pop or Niko can help to hit that pop.
Evans
Asuma
Grady
These seem like the likely 3 but maybe one of the freshmen come in and surprise as well. Or really anybody could make a jump. What do I know.
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Don't sleep on JCJ taking another step. There were times last year when was clearly the best player on the floor. He averaged 13 points and 7 rebounds last year.

Another off season of development and experience, if he can come back and add a few points to that average he pretty quickly moves up among the best in the conference.
 

Bayfield Gopher said:
Watch the UNC vs MSU game and tell me what you think. BTW he graded a -24. There comes a time where players must rely on their talent rather than just playing in a system. Will Niko get him back to a serviceable player? He found a way to make Durkin play better D inspite of his warts.
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Ahh yes, the let me find one bad game and highlight it crowd!

How about -28 on 4/11 shooting and 0/4 from 3, against purdue. That guy must suck too, stupid cade Tyson i knew he was awful! 🥴

I'm not here to tell you Evans is a top 5 player in the country and going to be 20-10 a night, but he's proven in Nikos system to be a very good player. Scheme and style matter. Watch sam darnold in a good system vs a bad one, same guy, way different results.
 

leib0039 said:
Ahh yes, the let me find one bad game and highlight it crowd!

How about -28 on 4/11 shooting and 0/4 from 3, against purdue. That guy must suck too, stupid cade Tyson i knew he was awful! 🥴

I'm not here to tell you Evans is a top 5 player in the country and going to be 20-10 a night, but he's proven in Nikos system to be a very good player. Scheme and style matter. Watch sam darnold in a good system vs a bad one, same guy, way different results.
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May the name Sam Darnold be stricken from all lips and keyboards!
 

MNVCGUY said:
Don't sleep on JCJ taking another step. There were times last year when was clearly the best player on the floor. He averaged 13 points and 7 rebounds last year.

Another off season of development and experience, if he can come back and add a few points to that average he pretty quickly moves up among the best in the conference.
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Especially if he doesn’t have to play out of position
 

Grayson Grove played well in stretches last season, but clearly he needs to come off the bench as an energy guy. He is too limited offensively and is a poor free throw shooter, which limits his upside. I’m not optimistic his offense can be improved in the offseason.
 


leib0039 said:
Ahh yes, the let me find one bad game and highlight it crowd!

How about -28 on 4/11 shooting and 0/4 from 3, against purdue. That guy must suck too, stupid cade Tyson i knew he was awful! 🥴

I'm not here to tell you Evans is a top 5 player in the country and going to be 20-10 a night, but he's proven in Nikos system to be a very good player. Scheme and style matter. Watch sam darnold in a good system vs a bad one, same guy, way different results.
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Agree. Evans has a lot of topside and seemed to thrive with Niko. I sure hope that translates after a bad situation for him at UNC. I really like his quickness with the ball but that doesn't appear to help him as much on D probably due to his smaller frame.

BTW, I picked the MSU game because it was a BIG foe and it was his highest mpg. I could have done OSU but he only played half as much and with not very good stats. Maybe someone can watch the FSU game where he scored 15 his high for the season.
 


restovich said:
Hopefully Niko will help him work on his -D-
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With the amount of zone played last season due to such a short bench and because they played well when in zone, I wonder if they will incorporate that at times next season, even with a deeper bench.
 


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