All Things 2021 Gophers Basketball Recruiting Thread

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He has to find some guards. This team has none right now and Mashburn isn’t coming back.
 


Tyree Ihenacho is also in the portal. From Prior Lake Summit league player of the year. Averaged 9 points, 4 boards and 3 assists a game. Look good when the gophers played UND.

There are plenty of guard options.
 







bc2211 said:
Here I’ll fix it: Do these two players scream improvement?

Back the question I was responding to... I’m not on Johnson’s back, I’ll root for him to succeed... maybe even buy season tickets for the first time this year - but these two players don’t do anything to ease my unease at this hire. Of course he’s going to fill out a roster with scholarship players. This was my first post on the hire, so I’m not one of the folks bashing it on the internet.

I just don’t think signing these two guys does anything to suggest he’ll be a good coach or recruiter. It doesn’t necessarily suggest that latter either.
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Well, considering we were one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the country yes Battle is an instant upgrade.

Fox would be a nice depth piece. He is an uber athletic high motor guy, that is great defensively. He's not going to be a star player, but he will be a valuable piece to some team because of his D alone.

You have to start somewhere and with the transfer market being the wild wild west this year, who knows how many roster spots Johnson is going to have to fill. Both of these guys are easy takes if they want to come here.
 



I’m assuming Thompson is staying and Photo is leaving. If Carr, Mashburn, Omersa, and Johnson leave at minimum, he could have a ton of open roster spots to bring in his own guys immediately. It will be an interesting spring recruiting period.
 

Larry Suggs have any connection to Ben?
 

Travdaddy84 said:
What if just maybe he’s actually a good coach and not just a recruiter?
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He could be, but so could anybody else they brought in. Who knows, he has no head coaching experience to base an opinion on. He's been an assistant under unsuccessful coaches, and others have said that you can't pin that on Johnson, either. So basically, the only thing we can pin on him is the point that he was brought here to be a good local recruiter.
 

His 1st test is selecting assistants. The 2nd test who he recruits and keeps. That being said both need to happen in short order. The assistants may determine who stays and give fans confidence in his ability to attract high level basketball assistants. The recruiting process, both of incoming freshmen and players in the portal, will give fans an answer to his ability to recruit above average players.
His 3rd test comes this fall when his coaching skills are tested.

GO BEN!
 



abrams said:
Tyree Ihenacho is also in the portal. From Prior Lake Summit league player of the year. Averaged 9 points, 4 boards and 3 assists a game. Look good when the gophers played UND.

There are plenty of guard options.
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How was he player of the year with those stats?
 









Travdaddy84 said:
What if just maybe he’s actually a good coach and not just a recruiter?
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This is hard to know. He gave really generic answers to his style of play and improving 3 point shooting percentage. "Live in the gym and get more reps" doesn't fix fundamentally flawed mechanics.

I was slightly encouraged by the press conference. I hope we have an amazingly detailed x&o person combined with a dazzling recruiter. This next season will show us what kind of a teacher Coach Johnson is. If we are fundamentally solid, running crisp sets and exploiting weaknesses in opponents, I will be thrilled. We simply have no history to look at and know.
 

per Marcus:

He's ready to take his talents to Division I – and he's got a ton of options.

The Mahtomedi, Minn., native currently has nearly 30 Division I schools he's considering since he announced he was transferring last week. His home state Gophers are on a list that includes teams from all six major conferences.

"I grew up a big Gophers fan," Fox said. "I was a court kid basically every year. We would go to all the basketball, hockey and football games."

Newly-named Gophers basketball coach Ben Johnson talked to Fox over the phone Tuesday. It's still early in the process, but Fox is looking forward to a video meeting with Johnson and eventually his assistants in the near future.

"I had a good conversation with Ben Johnson last night," Fox said. "We were able to express that he was interested in me, obviously, and wanted to continue this recruitment process. He's got to figure out his roster situation with the guys he's bringing back and bringing in. So, hopefully once they're able to get through that we'll have a zoom set up … That's an exciting deal."

www.startribune.com

High-flying Division II transfer Parker Fox talked to Gophers among long list of suitors

The 6-8 Northern State (S.D.) All-America and other transfers from Minnesota talked recently with new Gophers basketball coach Ben Johnson
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!
 



bc2211 said:
Only one NCAA team reaching out to Fox:


maybe it’s semantics, but I wouldn’t call this great. I’d call it filling out a roster. Nothing about these two players is going to get me excited, or give me hope that he lands big ten caliber recruits out of high school. These guys are arguably not big ten caliber after several years in college.

great maybe if we were Saint Thomas
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Oh no... now we have New Mexico to contend with for our home town players! /s
 


I think Fox and El-Amin would both be solid pickups and entirely possible, makes a lot of sense for them and the gophers.
 

jovs said:
Not going to be high end of B1G, cup board's really bare, El Amin is in the portal and wants to play another year, that is the type of player you can get and are going to need.
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Holy inefficient...Would rather we struggle with a young guy than have a guy come in who is going to jack a bunch of shots up. Every offense is different but these don't look great
1616687598708.png
EDIT: Also a disclaimer I haven't watched him play so I really shouldn't say anything overly strong either way
 

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