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Agreed, this is not a very physical team, in particular the backcourt of Mitchell, Hawkins, and Christie are not physical. And that will hurt them mostly on defense when they try to defend big physical guards (Ohio State, a host of others). But they also don't have any guys other than Payne and...

In response to your post, I'd respond with these: Or have we designed our offense to play with his abilities? In view of Hawkins lack of consistency and the difficulty in designing an offense around his abilities (to design an offense around one player who may only play 1/2 the game is very...

Agreed that Hawkins is the most "pure" point guard. And I don't have a problem with having 3 guys playing the point and getting some reps running the offense in game situations, especially early in the season. For instance, Hawkins sprains an ankle, Mitchell starts and gets into foul trouble...

Agreed that Ihnen is a perimeter player, and there are many that want to make him a power forward and keep him close to the basket. That's not his makeup, and I've coached enough kids to know that when they're "basket facing" players, it's awfully hard to get them to adopt turnarounds, jump...

I agree that was a demoralizing game. The first 2/3 or so showed some really good things. And the last 1/3 showed poor defense, an inability to effectively attack and stay aggressive when Missouri turned up the intensity on defense, carelessness with the ball, and nobody stepping up and scoring...

It's certainly true that this was an inferior opponent, and Ihnen has a lot more to prove. But at least so far he's been able to show he can still move and can get off the floor after his 2 surgeries. His ability to rebound and play defense (assuming he stays healthy) will provide a huge lift...

Agreed, and it's the guard play that will largely determine their success this year. What I'm having trouble wrapping my head around is reading that JOJ now has a 46 inch vertical jump. That's pretty crazy. And I wonder how many players there are around who have a 46 inch vertical and still...

I know this can seem frustrating at times when good players from the state seem to be bypassed for others out of state. And while there are many reasons for this, I've seen Wilson play many times, and he's a good all around player. I don't believe at his size and position however, that he has...

Agreed, and all of those things (except for the rebounding) can be addressed by the new guards showing the kind of quickness that was absent last year. We had one of the slowest backcourts in Div 1 last year, and just getting the ball up the court against pressure was a challenge. If Mitchell...

Agreed that he will benefit a huge amount from having better shooters on the perimeter and more room to work underneath. He'll shoot a ton of free throws next year no matter how the perimeter players shoot it, but another key is whether he's ready to show the other aspects of his offensive...

I'll give you that there is one person on this board here who has a grating personality, and the amount of optimism is absurd. I'm a supporter of Ben, at least through this year. I think he's building something, and I think he can coach. But if this year is poor (many different definitions of...

Agreed, Donley has the kind of quickness and ball skills that will translate to the next level if he continues to develop. He's a fun kid to watch. Wilson is a good ball player and very well-rounded, but it may be tough for him to match up physically. I haven't seen Wooley from Orono play enough...

I'm also pretty pumped to see Hawkins quickness and ability to get by people. And I would argue that quickness at the guard position will be the biggest factor in the Gophers improvement this coming season. We had one of the slowest backcourts in major college basketball last year, and it hurt...

No, you're right, being a good assistant doesn't guarantee anything. And in my coaching experience it would be pretty hard to define a coaching assistant as a "failure" if the team didn't have a good season-even at a number of different places. That seems to fall much more into the lap of the...

This year will tell everything about whether Johnson will earn any more years as the head coach. If he doesn't produce significant improvement, he'll be gone. But to suggest that he is a massive failure because these teams made the tournament after he left as an assistant coach? You can make...

He is showing up very well against elite competition in AAU ball, and let's hope he doesn't decide to play football this Fall, like he's talked about. From the descriptions of him I've read about, he's exactly the kind of person you'd like running the point-great leadership qualities. We'll see...

Agreed, and in an event with about 50 D-1 players in Denver, to have 2 Gopher-committed players rated in the top 5 regardless of class (no, I don't know much about the person doing the rating) is pretty impressive. No matter how you judge Johnson so far, it seems apparent that he's a good judge...

Let your conscience be your guide..

I have a request Rockraven. I haven't been on this board for too long, but I enjoy reading opinions and information relative to Gopher basketball here, even when those opinions differ from mine. What bothers me is when the comments are belittling and insulting. You're not the only one doing...

I understand, I think he may well be best suited near the basket. In order for him to be effective on the wing, he would have to have made significant progress on his ball handling and some other areas of his game. I think that's possible, we'll have to see. I didn't seem him as an awful ball...