All Things Gophers Basketball Class of 2022 Recruiting Thread

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tyecko said:
Don't know anything about this kid, someone we may want?

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I think he was originally from elsewhere, don’t remember exactly where, and attended a prep school in the cities. I don’t think we offered, so I’d assume we won’t now.
 






leib0039 said:
Freitag is going to have big time offers by the end of this summer
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I know these differences don't matter as much today as they did in other years, but do you see him as a PG? I actually see him more as an off guard at the next level.

That said, he is the most impressive recruit in state since Chet.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I know these differences don't matter as much today as they did in other years, but do you see him as a PG? I actually see him more as an off guard at the next level.

That said, he is the most impressive recruit in state since Chet.
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I think Willis style makes sense. I think he could play PG and do very well, but could also play SG alongside another pass first PG. I think him and a kid like dre Hollins would fit well together
 



Basketball is moving in the direction of a "position-less" game, or at least a "position-flexible" game.

as long as you have someone on the team who can get the ball into the front court, once the ball is in the front court, the offense can be initiated by anyone - a guard, a forward, or even the center.

once upon the time, centers never got more than a few feet away from the basket. Now you have centers or stretch-4's who are among the best 3-point shooters.

I seem to remember Ben Johnson talking about that type of idea - where the offense could run through different players instead of having the traditional PG run everything.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Basketball is moving in the direction of a "position-less" game, or at least a "position-flexible" game.

as long as you have someone on the team who can get the ball into the front court, once the ball is in the front court, the offense can be initiated by anyone - a guard, a forward, or even the center.

once upon the time, centers never got more than a few feet away from the basket. Now you have centers or stretch-4's who are among the best 3-point shooters.

I seem to remember Ben Johnson talking about that type of idea - where the offense could run through different players instead of having the traditional PG run everything.
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Agreed. The problem with that comes into play when the opposition has a beefy but athletic center like Cockburn. You have to have a 5 on defense that can counter.
 

Since we have no PG or experienced transfer CG yet, I would hedge my bets with a true floor leader.
Ryan James posted this about Alonzo Dodd a couple of years ago:
“16) Alonzo Dodd of South St. Paul (6’2 CG). One of the hardest working battlers I have ever seen. A triple double guy who fits for everything he can get. Has taken SSP from the doormat of the Twin Cities and made them a 19 win team with his 25 points, 8 boards, and 6 assists a game.”

We need a leader, a facilitator off the bench, if nothing else. I like Ryan’s profile. Might not be the best shooter, but I like his work ethic and his winning background.
 

VanillaThunder said:
Since we have no PG or experienced transfer CG yet, I would hedge my bets with a true floor leader.
Ryan James posted this about Alonzo Dodd a couple of years ago:
“16) Alonzo Dodd of South St. Paul (6’2 CG). One of the hardest working battlers I have ever seen. A triple double guy who fits for everything he can get. Has taken SSP from the doormat of the Twin Cities and made them a 19 win team with his 25 points, 8 boards, and 6 assists a game.”

We need a leader, a facilitator off the bench, if nothing else. I like Ryan’s profile. Might not be the best shooter, but I like his work ethic and his winning background.
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You are almost as impatient as me when it comes to securing players in the portal.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
You are almost as impatient as me when it comes to securing players in the portal.
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True! I hate unknowns and no Plan Bs!

I have cold sweat flashbacks to when Pitino lost a few players to injury and Gophers were led by walk ons, notably Stephon Sharpe from Hopkins. I sure would like to have a gritty scholarship PG like Dodd come in and replace a TBD transfer. He seems to be one that could really learn from an experienced transfer guard.
I think we need more leaders on this team. Battle seems to be a quiet leader. Maybe Fox? Ihnen no. I don’t know enough about the other freshman to be recruits to judge.

Walton and Garcia seem more like quiet leaders if they were to transfer in. Out of the portal, I am looking for one quality player with leadership capabilities.
 



VanillaThunder said:
Since we have no PG or experienced transfer CG yet, I would hedge my bets with a true floor leader.
Ryan James posted this about Alonzo Dodd a couple of years ago:
“16) Alonzo Dodd of South St. Paul (6’2 CG). One of the hardest working battlers I have ever seen. A triple double guy who fits for everything he can get. Has taken SSP from the doormat of the Twin Cities and made them a 19 win team with his 25 points, 8 boards, and 6 assists a game.”

We need a leader, a facilitator off the bench, if nothing else. I like Ryan’s profile. Might not be the best shooter, but I like his work ethic and his winning background.
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Dodds weakness is he doesn't value every possession and makes lazy passes. He works hard and sees the court, but he needs to shore up each possession and not make ill advised passes. Ultimately he's a kid that is best fit for the Summit League at some place like South Dakota State or St Thomas.
 
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VanillaThunder said:
I sure would like to have a gritty scholarship PG like Dodd come in and replace a TBD transfer. He seems to be one that could really learn from an experienced transfer guard.
I think we need more leaders on this team. Battle seems to be a quiet leader. Maybe Fox? Ihnen no. I don’t know enough about the other freshman to be recruits to judge.
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OK, you've almost convinced me. Perhaps you could offer him a scholarship but recruit over him from the transfer portal. If he's as good as you've stated, he should show something within 2 years.
 

cjbfbp said:
OK, you've almost convinced me. Perhaps you could offer him a scholarship but recruit over him from the transfer portal. If he's as good as you've stated, he should show something within 2 years.
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Unfortunately with the portal college coaches aren’t as quick to give out developmental scholarships. In 2 years, with good coaching I’m sure Dodd could develop into a solid player at that level. Now they can get a players who’s already proved themselves…. Speaking of that I don’t know how much separation there is between Dodd and Hollomen… MSU already has a highly ranked pg in the ‘23 class. Looks like if he struggles year 1 he might be an early portal candidate
 

SoMpls said:
Unfortunately with the portal college coaches aren’t as quick to give out developmental scholarships. In 2 years, with good coaching I’m sure Dodd could develop into a solid player at that level. Now they can get a players who’s already proved themselves…. Speaking of that I don’t know how much separation there is between Dodd and Hollomen… MSU already has a highly ranked pg in the ‘23 class. Looks like if he struggles year 1 he might be an early portal candidate
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SoDakSt had a scout watching Dodd the other night. Dodd can develop at a mid-major and the enter the portal if he's good enough. Go lower. Get playing time.
 

MennoSota said:
Dodds weakness is he doesn't value every possession and makes lazy passes. He works hard and sees the court, but he needs to shore up each possession and not make ill advised passes. Ultimately he's a kid that is best fit for the Summit League at some place like South Dakota State or St Thomas.
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If court vision is a trait and carelessness is a bad habit, maybe that is something he can learn and be an asset by his sophomore year. I liked that I saw him take several charges in his highlight tape! And yeah he had a lot of nifty passes which means he's probably had some real risky ones too.

One of our problems with filling the portal is we can't promise playing time to every guy, and we can't promise a chance to be a smaller role player on a team making a deep run. I've seen a lot of people say Loewe/Stephens would have been nice as 15 mpg guys...well they wouldn't have come here if they thought that's what they would get.

This year we filled the end of bench with guys like Ogele and Daniels and Thiam and had an unfilled scholly (I think) because we couldn't get any else to sign up after our initial strong start of Willis/Loewe/Stephens. I would rather sign a local developmental recruit now than a random ass marginal transfer later in July.

Just my 2 cents. And 2 cents isn't worth as much as it used to be.
 

MennoSota said:
SoDakSt had a scout watching Dodd the other night. Dodd can develop at a mid-major and the enter the portal if he's good enough. Go lower. Get playing time.
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Yeah, it could kind of work both ways too. We desperately need a PG and I have a hard time believing Dodd couldn't scratch 8-10 minutes per game for the Gophers, let him get comfortable here and get comfortable with Ben. Even if it's just in the Justin Cobbs role (when he was here), it'd be really nice to have some depth at PG. After two seasons, if he isn't Big 10 type of basketball player, he'll know and be buried on the depth chart and likely move on.

I think the worst case scenario is that we don't add enough PG depth and we could have added Dodd that sort of fills two needs (flyer on young talent, emergency PG depth).

That said, I hear what you're saying too. I'm not sure if I want a FR class much larger than 4 players unless the 5th is a slam dunk. So it's a tough call.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Yeah, it could kind of work both ways too. We desperately need a PG and I have a hard time believing Dodd couldn't scratch 8-10 minutes per game for the Gophers, let him get comfortable here and get comfortable with Ben. Even if it's just in the Justin Cobbs role (when he was here), it'd be really nice to have some depth at PG. After two seasons, if he isn't Big 10 type of basketball player, he'll know and be buried on the depth chart and likely move on.

I think the worst case scenario is that we don't add enough PG depth and we could have added Dodd that sort of fills two needs (flyer on young talent, emergency PG depth).

That said, I hear what you're saying too. I'm not sure if I want a FR class much larger than 4 players unless the 5th is a slam dunk. So it's a tough call.
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I'd love for Ben to have at least one more frosh to develop. The problem you have with the transfer portal is all of the decent ones want to play NOW. A transfer that is willing to come in and play 10 minutes, isn't very good. It should be different long term, 3-4 frosh per year is plenty. But for now, get some young guys in and work with them. If they don't have potential, let them move on.
 

I wonder why he is unsigned? Does not have a ton of offers. His name has been out there for some time. He played for Sizzle so he got the exposure and they have many connections.. not many low D 1’s seem interested.. seems odd
 

Roland Brooks said:
I wonder why he is unsigned? Does not have a ton of offers. His name has been out there for some time. He played for Sizzle so he got the exposure and they have many connections.. not many low D 1’s seem interested.. seems odd
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It's a good question. I also think a lot of programs are slow-playing recruiting this year because there are so many unknowns with the portal (# of available scholarships, roster needs, potential portal signings, etc.).
 

Roland Brooks said:
I wonder why he is unsigned? Does not have a ton of offers. His name has been out there for some time. He played for Sizzle so he got the exposure and they have many connections.. not many low D 1’s seem interested.. seems odd
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I know nothing, seems like he's waiting for a "better" offer? And it hasn't come. Tcu looks pretty good this year and he has an offer there. Could see him being a David Jenkins jr, Zeke Mayo type at south dakota state
 

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