After the Cooper commit: Constructing the roster.

[short ornery norwegian]

Ihnen seems to be one of those 'lightning-rod' players. Some people see him as this great raw talent who just needs health and good coaching to break out and become an impact player.

Others see him as a guy who played a few minutes off the bench and did not show anything to justify such lofty expectations.

from my point of view - Ihnen did not play in the '21-22 season. So anything he does in '22-23 will be an improvement over the previous year.

If he can just give the Gophs some solid minutes, score a few points, grab a few rebounds, and try to guard someone, I see that as a plus. Anything more would be gravy.

 

[Dakota2]

Ihnen seems to be one of those 'lightning-rod' players. Some people see him as this great raw talent who just needs health and good coaching to break out and become an impact player.

Others see him as a guy who played a few minutes off the bench and did not show anything to justify such lofty expectations.

from my point of view - Ihnen did not play in the '21-22 season. So anything he does in '22-23 will be an improvement over the previous year.

If he can just give the Gophs some solid minutes, score a few points, grab a few rebounds, and try to guard someone, I see that as a plus. Anything more would be gravy.

There were many games last year where we just wore down because the opponent just kept throwing good athletes on floor, starters and depth.

We didn't lose games because the other teams had better star players than Battle and Willis (Illinois is a notable exception because Kofi played where we were weakest). We mostly lost because our opponents had more good athletes including backups. Just more good horses.

Ihnen brings that. Another long and good athlete . He's not going to be a superstar but he'll never be a liability. He's the kind of guy all good teams have in abundance to supplement their stars.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

There were many games last year where we just wore down because the opponent just kept throwing good athletes on floor, starters and depth.

We didn't lose games because the other teams had better star players than Battle and Willis (Illinois is a notable exception because Kofi played where we were weakest). We mostly lost because our opponents had more good athletes including backups. Just more good horses.

Ihnen brings that. Another long and good athlete . He's not going to be a superstar but he'll never be a liability. He's the kind of guy all good teams have in abundance to supplement their stars.

The question with Ihnen is whether that athleticism has an impact (IMO). Take Andrew Wiggins, he is a fantastic athlete but it doesn't mean anything on the basketball court because he is a poor rebounder, doesn't get steals, doesn't deflect a lot of passes, etc.

Ihnen's athleticism does seem to be slightly better than the guys we had last year. I agree, he wouldn't hurt our team getting minutes in the post.

Ihnen (per 40) - 10 reb / 2 block / 1 steal
Eric Curry (per 40) - 8.3 reb / 1.1 block / 1.3 steal
Thompson (per 40) - 5.8 reb / 1.6 blocks / .8 steals
Daniels (per 40) - 7 rebs / 2.0 blocks / 1.2 steals

Where it starts getting really dicey for Ihnen is when you think about him playing the 3. Unless he drastically improves (possible for all of our players), he would hurt the team playing on the wing. He hasn't shown any ability to handle the ball. He hasn't shown any ability to pass (half as many assists per 40 than Charlie Daniels) and his shooting while decent for a post is not a plus for a wing. The things he does well are defending the post, altering shots, rebounding and stretching a 4 away from the basket. Those things are completely marginalized with him at the 3.

For me, he doesn't hurt us at the 4/5. He'll be competing for minutes with a number of games, but he is intriguing depth with real upside. I just hope Ben Johnson doesn't feel the need to shoehorn him into lineups playing out of position.

 

[bga1]

The question with Ihnen is whether that athleticism has an impact (IMO). Take Andrew Wiggins, he is a fantastic athlete but it doesn't mean anything on the basketball court because he is a poor rebounder, doesn't get steals, doesn't deflect a lot of passes, etc.

Ihnen's athleticism does seem to be slightly better than the guys we had last year. I agree, he wouldn't hurt our team getting minutes in the post.

Ihnen (per 40) - 10 reb / 2 block / 1 steal
Eric Curry (per 40) - 8.3 reb / 1.1 block / 1.3 steal
Thompson (per 40) - 5.8 reb / 1.6 blocks / .8 steals
Daniels (per 40) - 7 rebs / 2.0 blocks / 1.2 steals

Where it starts getting really dicey for Ihnen is when you think about him playing the 3. Unless he drastically improves (possible for all of our players), he would hurt the team playing on the wing. He hasn't shown any ability to handle the ball. He hasn't shown any ability to pass (half as many assists per 40 than Charlie Daniels) and his shooting while decent for a post is not a plus for a wing. The things he does well are defending the post, altering shots, rebounding and stretching a 4 away from the basket. Those things are completely marginalized with him at the 3.

For me, he doesn't hurt us at the 4/5. He'll be competing for minutes with a number of games, but he is intriguing depth with real upside. I just hope Ben Johnson doesn't feel the need to shoehorn him into lineups playing out of position.

Maybe Ihnen will make the kind of improvement that Rodney Williams made in year 3. Nobody could jump like Rodney but he played the perimeter in years 1 and 2 and always looked lost. Tubby moved him to play more as a 4 and he did much better despite his poor shooting stroke. In year three he average nearly 12pts 6 rbs- solid.

Rodney Williams College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

Rodney Williams - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more

www.sports-reference.com

 

[Minnesara]

Name the coach -- former Gopher coach or not -- who could have done more with that roster.

Bill Fitch.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Maybe Ihnen will make the kind of improvement that Rodney Williams made in year 3. Nobody could jump like Rodney but he played the perimeter in years 1 and 2 and always looked lost. Tubby moved him to play more as a 4 and he did much better despite his poor shooting stroke. In year three he average nearly 12pts 6 rbs- solid.

Rodney Williams College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

Rodney Williams - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more

www.sports-reference.com

100%. Moving to the 4 really let Williams open up. He wasn't counted on to handle the ball as much and didn't need to shoot as much (his 3 FGA went down).