All Things 2023 Gophers Basketball Recruiting Thread

Exactly, walkon's have no guarantee, the others are guaranteed four years of eligible college scholarship years.
Quick caveat... the four year athletic scholarship is only guaranteed at Power 5 conferences. A player cannot lose their scholarship due to lack of athletic performance but can for a variety of 'off the court' issues.

Most other conferences only guarantee athletic scholarships for one year. In those conferences, a coach can choose to not renew a player's schollie simply because they are not performing on the playing field.
 

Early signing starts on Wednesday I believe. Are they all expected to sign during that time?
 


The early signing period starts tomorrow. Any news if both commitments are expected to sign?
 

Quick caveat... the four year athletic scholarship is only guaranteed at Power 5 conferences. A player cannot lose their scholarship due to lack of athletic performance but can for a variety of 'off the court' issues.

Most other conferences only guarantee athletic scholarships for one year. In those conferences, a coach can choose to not renew a player's schollie simply because they are not performing on the playing field.
Also, this rule only applies to scholarships award to a freshman. If the scholarship isn't award right away, then it is only a one-year with renewal.

I don't know about basketball, but volleyball does this specifically quite often, where they will not offer a so-called "four year" scholarship. IE, they will purposefully withhold the scholarship the first year, and then offer it at a later year (for less than four years total).
 



The early signing period starts tomorrow. Any news if both commitments are expected to sign?
The Strib has some quotes that makes them seem very committed.

'We were able to talk to each other a little bit," Christie said about Evans. "He loves to work. He's focused on basketball. He's not worried about any of the other stuff. He just wants to get better and help the team win. I'm excited to be with like-minded people."'

'"It's a great experience finally getting to sign," Evans said. "I really liked the culture and that [Johnson] was always truthful with me. He never lied to me about the situation or anything."'
 


Both of our studs signed yesterday. We're fortunate - seems like Ben is genuine, which I think leads these kids to be convicted. I scanned the Rivals top 150 this morning and a large number of verbal commits did not sign yesterday. We have the #20 class in the nation according to rivals. 4th in the Big Ten. On 247 we're #32 nationally and 7th in BIG.
 













BJ got himself a good one there!!
It looks like he is dunking from about 5 feet out! That is some wingspan! I see him and Payne starting together next year making it really difficult for opponents to score in the paint.
 


It looks like he is dunking from about 5 feet out! That is some wingspan! I see him and Payne starting together next year making it really difficult for opponents to score in the paint.
This amazed me too! I was sure after his post move, he would need to do a hook shot or finger roll the ball toward the rim. Nope!

His shot-blocking prowess will also be just a massive asset as well. If he were on the team this year, he'd clean up many of the "blow-bys" plaguing our guards.
 

This amazed me too! I was sure after his post move, he would need to do a hook shot or finger roll the ball toward the rim. Nope!

His shot-blocking prowess will also be just a massive asset as well. If he were on the team this year, he'd clean up many of the "blow-bys" plaguing our guards.
People think that with modern basketball you have to have a stretch 4 so Payne can't be a PF. I say you put your best talent out on the court, build a system that works with it and make other teams adapt to what you have. Payne and Evans would be a very solid defensive combo.
 

People think that with modern basketball you have to have a stretch 4 so Payne can't be a PF. I say you put your best talent out on the court, build a system that works with it and make other teams adapt to what you have. Payne and Evans would be a very solid defensive combo.
It will be interesting to see. I look at Purdue last year, I think Painter is one of the better coaches in the country and he just could not figure out a way for Williams/Edey to play together, they were just a bad fit. Sometimes that happens even to great players/coaches. I would tend to think they would both maximize their ability without the other one on the floor in the paint but I do think they could get a few minutes together. Something like 28min for both, where they share the floor for 8 min a game. To me the more exciting part is that one of them should be on the floor 100% of the time, gone would be the days of OMG why do we have to play Konate 8 min or Curry 30 or TT starting type thing. 40 minutes of at least one dominant big on the floor at all times is huge in the B1G.
 

People think that with modern basketball you have to have a stretch 4 so Payne can't be a PF. I say you put your best talent out on the court, build a system that works with it and make other teams adapt to what you have. Payne and Evans would be a very solid defensive combo.
In the modern game one of them will need to capably guard on the perimeter. Okay to have one guy roam the paint but the second big needs to guard a stretch 4 somehow.
 


It will be interesting to see. I look at Purdue last year, I think Painter is one of the better coaches in the country and he just could not figure out a way for Williams/Edey to play together, they were just a bad fit. Sometimes that happens even to great players/coaches. I would tend to think they would both maximize their ability without the other one on the floor in the paint but I do think they could get a few minutes together. Something like 28min for both, where they share the floor for 8 min a game. To me the more exciting part is that one of them should be on the floor 100% of the time, gone would be the days of OMG why do we have to play Konate 8 min or Curry 30 or TT starting type thing. 40 minutes of at least one dominant big on the floor at all times is huge in the B1G.
Good post. The Purdue comparison is interesting, I thought of them as well. I think that the Payne/Evans pairing is more athletic though and Payne would have to have an outside shot to make it work.

It's early on Payne. The assumption is that what you see is what you get- a guy who gets all of his points off of dunks, doesn't drive to the hoop or shoot jumpers. He's a good bit ahead of Oturu at the same stage and look at Oturu in year two. He developed the ability to drive and shoot from the outside. I think Oturu made a huge mistake going pro when he did. He should have played PF for another year and he might have gotten drafted higher, forcing a team to be patient with him.

It would be ideal for Payne - at 6-9 to develop PF skills and I would bet that he is thrilled that Ben has Evans coming in. Payne has great quickness for a kid his size.
 


People think that with modern basketball you have to have a stretch 4 so Payne can't be a PF. I say you put your best talent out on the court, build a system that works with it and make other teams adapt to what you have. Payne and Evans would be a very solid defensive combo.
Payne had a decent outside game in AAU, he obviously needs to get to a point where he's comfortable with it at this level and that may not be next year, but skill set is there to make a jump that Oturu made.
 

Good post. The Purdue comparison is interesting, I thought of them as well. I think that the Payne/Evans pairing is more athletic though and Payne would have to have an outside shot to make it work.

It's early on Payne. The assumption is that what you see is what you get- a guy who gets all of his points off of dunks, doesn't drive to the hoop or shoot jumpers. He's a good bit ahead of Oturu at the same stage and look at Oturu in year two. He developed the ability to drive and shoot from the outside. I think Oturu made a huge mistake going pro when he did. He should have played PF for another year and he might have gotten drafted higher, forcing a team to be patient with him.

It would be ideal for Payne - at 6-9 to develop PF skills and I would bet that he is thrilled that Ben has Evans coming in. Payne has great quickness for a kid his size.
After watching a small sample of tape on Evans and watching PP, I can see them on the floor together. IMO, as they appear to be more athletic/versatile than Williams/Edney and provide more options on offense. But as you stated, skills would need to be developed.

For discussion purposes, I would implement a double low post offense similar to this: https://www.coachesclipboard.net/MascotMotionOffense.html or . Evans 5 and PP 4 or reverse them. It allows for ball movement, good spacing, motion, screens and options for a hi/low post and allow two bigs to be in close proximity for offense boards. Plus this would utilize Battle's skill set and possibly Garcia and Fox/Ihnen. But Ben would have to revamp his current "offense" philosophy for what it is worth.

After watching the attached links, I see very little of this type of motion and sets from Ben. Take a look Ben, you may learn something!! ;):)

Thoughts??
 

After watching a small sample of tape on Evans and watching PP, I can see them on the floor together. IMO, as they appear to be more athletic/versatile than Williams/Edney and provide more options on offense. But as you stated, skills would need to be developed.

For discussion purposes, I would implement a double low post offense similar to this: https://www.coachesclipboard.net/MascotMotionOffense.html or . Evans 5 and PP 4 or reverse them. It allows for ball movement, good spacing, motion, screens and options for a hi/low post and allow two bigs to be in close proximity for offense boards. Plus this would utilize Battle's skill set and possibly Garcia and Fox/Ihnen. But Ben would have to revamp his current "offense" philosophy for what it is worth.

After watching the attached links, I see very little of this type of motion and sets from Ben. Take a look Ben, you may learn something!! ;):)

Thoughts??
Love it! Ben's offense is not making the defense move (or the players aren't running it). It's easy to defend us right now.
 

After watching a small sample of tape on Evans and watching PP, I can see them on the floor together. IMO, as they appear to be more athletic/versatile than Williams/Edney and provide more options on offense. But as you stated, skills would need to be developed.

For discussion purposes, I would implement a double low post offense similar to this: https://www.coachesclipboard.net/MascotMotionOffense.html or . Evans 5 and PP 4 or reverse them. It allows for ball movement, good spacing, motion, screens and options for a hi/low post and allow two bigs to be in close proximity for offense boards. Plus this would utilize Battle's skill set and possibly Garcia and Fox/Ihnen. But Ben would have to revamp his current "offense" philosophy for what it is worth.

After watching the attached links, I see very little of this type of motion and sets from Ben. Take a look Ben, you may learn something!! ;):)

Thoughts??
I believe Gard is already successfully using swing offense.
 




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