All Things 2013 Basketball Recruiting Thread UPDATED 5/15: Malik Smith a Gopher!

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If our 13 class ended up being McNeil, Mathieu, Smith, and Buckles:

Freshman:
McNeil
Buggs (RS)

Sophomore:
Wally Ellenson
Joey King (WO)

Junior:
Dre
Coleman
Oto
Mo
EE
Mathieu

Senior:
Austin
Smith
Buckles
Mav
 

MadtownGopher said:
Buckles will likely be coming too. We'd be ridiculously deep in the backcourt:

Dre
Dre
Austin
Coleman
McNeil
Smith
Mav

Competition for playing time will be very very interesting.
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Don't forget Wally too.

My count puts us at, if the last two spots are Smith and Buckles:

G (3 lineup spots) - 8
F/C (2 lineup spots) - 5

Which actually makes some more sense looking at it that way with guards taking up 60% of the lineup at any given time and making up about 60% of the roster.
 

scher215 said:
Don't forget Wally too.

My count puts us at, if the last two spots are Smith and Buckles:

G (3 lineup spots) - 8
F/C (2 lineup spots) - 5

Which actually makes some more sense looking at it that way with guards taking up 60% of the lineup at any given time and making up about 60% of the roster.
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Yep, my bad. Had him in my class breakdown above though.
 

scher215 said:
Don't forget Wally too.

My count puts us at, if the last two spots are Smith and Buckles:

G (3 lineup spots) - 8
F/C (2 lineup spots) - 5

Which actually makes some more sense looking at it that way with guards taking up 60% of the lineup at any given time and making up about 60% of the roster.
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Does it still make sense if you look at it with the perspective of the Au. and An. Hollins both being guys who should play 30+ minutes per game and Joe Coleman being the only other returning starter and only other returner who got consistent, meaningful minutes?
 

Gopher Warrior said:
Does it still make sense if you look at it with the perspective of the Au. and An. Hollins both being guys who should play 30+ minutes per game and Joe Coleman being the only other returning starter and only other returner who got consistent, meaningful minutes?
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Elliott Eliason?
 


Huh...that sure is a lot of guards. Smith can shoot it from deep (averaged three 3-pointers per game last year...had 12 games with 4 or more 3's!). Can he handle the ball? He never had more than 4 assists in a game.

Smith has one year left. He wouldn't come here unless Pitino had a plan for him and gave him some decent minutes. Unless we do something crazy like play Hollins/Coleman/Ellenson at the 4...some guys who think they will see time will be riding the bench.

I really hope King walks on and Buckles gets his waiver. The idea of Elliason/Mo/Buggs soaking up all the time at the 4/5 scares me.
 

Gopher Warrior said:
Does it still make sense if you look at it with the perspective of the Au. and An. Hollins both being guys who should play 30+ minutes per game and Joe Coleman being the only other returning starter and only other returner who got consistent, meaningful minutes?
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It does when you have less than 45 days to put together a roster and Mark Olberding doesn't come walking thru the door.
 

Seems to me the roster is pretty evenly distributed, if Buckles ends up being a Gopher you have

Osenieks, Buggs, and Buckles at the 4
Walker and Eliason at the 5
I wouldn't be surprised to see Osenieks and Buckles playing the 4 and 5 if they go small at times.

Coleman and Ellenson at the 3, with Austin Hollins playing the 3 at times.
Austin Hollins and Ahamisi at the 2, with Andre playing the 2 and sometimes PG.

I would think that Mathieu and Dre Hollins will share most time at PG, with Mcneil getting limited time.

Maverick's playing time is going to get squeezed the most is my guess.
 

KSBGopher said:
Elliott Eliason?
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Started only 1 Big Ten game. Averaged only 13.7 minutes for the season, 12.5 in conference - both down from his freshman year. Games under 10 minutes played were double his games over 20 minutes. The guy just didn't get much playing time.
 



Gopher Warrior said:
Started only 1 Big Ten game. Averaged only 13.7 minutes for the season, 12.5 in conference - both down from his freshman year. Games under 10 minutes played were double his games over 20 minutes. The guy just didn't get much playing time.
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He always played behind a senior who had, at minimum, the interest of the NBA. Check our winning percentage in games EE started. Another poster said sometime ago, EE was a stonewall against the average B1G center, but had problems against the best. Just what I would expect from a sophomore big. EE took the leap at the very end of last season when he finally starting looking for his shot. I have no concerns whatsoever about EE starting the next 2 years.
 

Gopher Warrior said:
Started only 1 Big Ten game. Averaged only 13.7 minutes for the season, 12.5 in conference - both down from his freshman year. Games under 10 minutes played were double his games over 20 minutes. The guy just didn't get much playing time.
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Yes and he was our 6th man in mpg, not to mention he averaged 15.1 minutes per game the year before. That's still a lot of time on the hardwood, he should be ready.
 

Gopher Warrior said:
Started only 1 Big Ten game. Averaged only 13.7 minutes for the season, 12.5 in conference - both down from his freshman year. Games under 10 minutes played were double his games over 20 minutes. The guy just didn't get much playing time.
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If you watch that Indiana game again, you can see his potential. Can be a great defender and is able to score when he wants to. Plus, he's still got 2 years left. I think he's like a Spencer Tollackson, except a better passer too.
 

The biggest thing for EE is he has to get in better shape. The skills and hustle are definitely there.
 



Guys, just to be clear: my comment was in response to the breakdown of interior players vs. guards and wins... and that the experience is with the guards. That's all.

i.e., this roster still needs help inside.
 

mcal24 said:
If you watch that Indiana game again, you can see his potential. Can be a great defender and is able to score when he wants to. Plus, he's still got 2 years left. I think he's like a Spencer Tollackson, except a better passer too.
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Bigger than Spencer and much more potentional. I do think Austin will play a decent amount at the three
 

MadtownGopher said:
If our 13 class ended up being McNeil, Mathieu, Smith, and Buckles:

Freshman:
McNeil
Buggs (RS)

Sophomore:
Wally Ellenson
Joey King (WO)

Junior:
Dre
Coleman
Oto
Mo
EE
Mathieu

Senior:
Austin
Smith
Buckles
Mav
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If you mention King as a Walk On in our roster, you have mention the man, the myth, the legend Kendall Shell. The best towel waver in the B1G. Then, if he doesn't transfer we have the original white mamba Chris Halverson
 

Thugunin said:
If you mention King as a Walk On in our roster, you have mention the man, the myth, the legend Kendall Shell. The best towel waver in the B1G. Then, if he doesn't transfer we have the original white mamba Chris Halverson
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I'd say we were easily in the Top 3 of the Big Ten for bench support. Pitino's got a solid base to build off of in that department.
 

HOOP DREAMS said:
Yes and he was our 6th man in mpg, not to mention he averaged 15.1 minutes per game the year before. That's still a lot of time on the hardwood, he should be ready.
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Which means he wasn't a returning starter as GWs quoted post was claiming....
 

howieramone said:
He always played behind a senior who had, at minimum, the interest of the NBA. Check our winning percentage in games EE started. Another poster said sometime ago, EE was a stonewall against the average B1G center, but had problems against the best. Just what I would expect from a sophomore big. EE took the leap at the very end of last season when he finally starting looking for his shot. I have no concerns whatsoever about EE starting the next 2 years.
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I agree. I would be shocked if he is not starting a majority, if not all, of the games next year. So excited to see him hit his potential.
 

@leeksmith24: Time to decide

Malik Smith: getting all kinds of Bama support, hit him up on twitter!
 


InfraRen said:
@leeksmith24: Time to decide

Malik Smith: getting all kinds of Bama support, hit him up on twitter!
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I got your back.. He just retweeted me.

I was just discussing this with a friend of mine, but if Smith decides to come here, how does everyone feel about a possible reshirt for McNeil?

I just think with Dre Hollins, Malik Smith, and Dre Mathieu all here it would be mighty hard for McNeil to see the floor. Also, with the Tyus ship all but sailed, it would be nice to have a pg to develop and become a good four (five technically but I am not counting his redshirt year) year player. I think if we were to redshirt him, best case scenario when Dre Hollins leaves you have him step in and start with two years of development (redshirt year, then presumably time as backup pg) and three years of eligibility left. By the time he became a senior we could have a nice little pg on our hands. Obviously this is best case scenario, but it is something to think about.
 

slarson said:
I got your back.. He just retweeted me.

I was just discussing this with a friend of mine, but if Smith decides to come here, how does everyone feel about a possible reshirt for McNeil?

I just think with Dre Hollins, Malik Smith, and Dre Mathieu all here it would be mighty hard for McNeil to see the floor. Also, with the Tyus ship all but sailed, it would be nice to have a pg to develop and become a good four (five technically but I am not counting his redshirt year) year player. I think if we were to redshirt him, best case scenario when Dre Hollins leaves you have him step in and start with two years of development (redshirt year, then presumably time as backup pg) and three years of eligibility left. By the time he became a senior we could have a nice little pg on our hands. Obviously this is best case scenario, but it is something to think about.
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The only recruit I've seen so far that I think would benefit by redshirting is J.P. Macura in the class of 2014. Believe he needs time to develop a B1G body. I really like McNeil, but don't believe he will ever start. McNeil is reasonably close to having a B1G body and if Coleman actually leaves, he should get fairly big minutes.
 

Agree 100% on Macura, think once he has that body though, he will be a stud. Can never have enough people that can fill it up from deep!!

Makes sense what you are saying about McNeil. I just don't see many minutes at all this year for him if we get Malik Smith. But I think that we should get a four year guy to develop at the point in the 2014 class, unless we get a great pg recruit. In my opinion, I think having a hard nosed veteran at the point in a couple years would be great for the program. An Al Nolen type is kinda what I'm getting at I guess.
 

slarson said:
Agree 100% on Macura, think once he has that body though, he will be a stud. Can never have enough people that can fill it up from deep!!

Makes sense what you are saying about McNeil. I just don't see many minutes at all this year for him if we get Malik Smith. But I think that we should get a four year guy to develop at the point in the 2014 class, unless we get a great pg recruit. In my opinion, I think having a hard nosed veteran at the point in a couple years would be great for the program. An Al Nolen type is kinda what I'm getting at I guess.
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I'm counting on Jarvis Johnson in the class of 2015. I agree that McNeil is a Eric Harris/Al Nolen type.
 

I think redshirting McNeil could be a good idea. The rotation in the backcourt/wings will probably look something like this...

PG - Dre / Malik / Mav
SG - Dre / Wally / Mav
SF - Austin / Coleman

It would be difficult for McNeil to get decent minutes, even with Pitino implementing his full court press that will demand a much deeper bench than past seasons.
 

Mav getting minutes ahead of anyone is somewhat amusing to me. Have most of you seen McNeil play live or just going off YouTube videos? Because I have no idea who should redshirt or play right away. Also, no idea who is better than who at this point. I must not have a sharp YouTube eye.
 

"So Malik, what made you choose Minnesota?"
"Well, when it came right down to it, I made one of my biggest life decisions based on the comments I got from strangers on Twitter.".......

Said nobody ever!

These athletes do love the attention though and I can't blame them for that.
 

MinnesotaNice said:
"So Malik, what made you choose Minnesota?"
"Well, when it came right down to it, I made one of my biggest life decisions based on the comments I got from strangers on Twitter.".......

Said nobody ever!

These athletes do love the attention though and I can't blame them for that.
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Haha, so true! I always feel like it helps for some reason though.
 


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