Big Ten Basketball: Way-too-early power rankings for 2023-24 season (14. Minnesota)

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14. Minnesota Golden Gophers​

2022-23 season record: 9-22 (2-17)

For a team that ranked in the bottom-15 nationally in scoring, it’s hard to say that Minnesota’s offense got much better. They lost two of their top three players in wing Jamison Battle and starting point guard, Ta’Lon Cooper. The good news is that they return their best player in forward Dawson Garcia, who led the team with 15.3 ppg and 6.7 rpg.

The Gophers did add a couple of guards via the portal. Mike Mitchell averaged 11.4 ppg and 5.0 apg at Pepperdine, while Elijah Hawkins produced 12.9 ppg and 6.0 apg at Howard. These are two of the better passers from the transfer portal but are there many weapons to pass the ball to?

Any hope for Minnesota could come down to having forwards Parker Fox and Isaiah Ihnen finally healthy. In a bizarre circumstance, both players have missed the past two seasons due to injuries. Having them will give Minnesota some kind of depth next season, while Pharrel Payne and Joshua Ola-Joseph will need to have breakout sophomore campaigns in order for them to be competitive.

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Big Ten Basketball: Way-too-early power rankings for 2023-24 season

So far this offseason, there has already been plenty of Big Ten Basketball roster changes. Which teams are set up for a big 2023-24 campaign?
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Go Gophers!!
 

This is the 3rd or 4th way too early power ranking I've seen, and each one has had Minnesota last.
 

Anybody paying attention can't rank us any where but last. Hopefully, the fellas playing for the Gophers disagree.
Heck, the Miami Heat are in the Finals from the #8 seed. Climbing out of last place would seem a similar task for the Gophers. Iowa and Michigan seem like our two best chances in May and Wisconsin usually lets everybody stay close.
 

They obviously really sucked last year and you could throw a dart at a target of all the parts of the game and it would hit something that has to be improved on.
But man, really wish they could learn to play defensively. Such a disappointing area with this regime. The return of the defensive coaching guru messiah might be the biggest miss thus far of all the assembled parts of the team.
 

EG#9 said:
This is the 3rd or 4th way too early power ranking I've seen, and each one has had Minnesota last.
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Not surprising in any way. We are coming off back to back last place finishes and we didn't land any of the really flashy transfer portal guys.

I would expect all pre-season predictions to have us in last or if not last, towards the back of the conference. Team will have to prove it on the court before places doing these rankings are going to buy in at all which is totally understandable.
 


MNVCGUY said:
Not surprising in any way. We are coming off back to back last place finishes and we didn't land any of the really flashy transfer portal guys.

I would expect all pre-season predictions to have us in last or if not last, towards the back of the conference. Team will have to prove it on the court before places doing these rankings are going to buy in at all which is totally understandable.
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Yep - every single one of these fly over analyses will have us last. Maybe we will be. I doubt it.
 







fan of Ray Williams said:
They obviously really sucked last year and you could throw a dart at a target of all the parts of the game and it would hit something that has to be improved on.
But man, really wish they could learn to play defensively. Such a disappointing area with this regime. The return of the defensive coaching guru messiah might be the biggest miss thus far of all the assembled parts of the team.
Click to expand...
I’ve been watching Thorson coached teams for pver thirty years; no worries here. Defensive positioning takes awhile to coach. I could see his schemes working as they shoukd and the breakdowns appeared mostly learning curve (and the dynamic affects that flow through fron having multiple freshman on the floor for long stretches).
 

atsgopher said:
I’ve been watching Thorson coached teams for pver thirty years; no worries here. Defensive positioning takes awhile to coach. I could see his schemes working as they shoukd and the breakdowns appeared mostly learning curve (and the dynamic affects that flow through fron having multiple freshman on the floor for long stretches).
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Sincerely hope your observations are correct.
 

atsgopher said:
I’ve been watching Thorson coached teams for pver thirty years; no worries here. Defensive positioning takes awhile to coach. I could see his schemes working as they shoukd and the breakdowns appeared mostly learning curve (and the dynamic affects that flow through fron having multiple freshman on the floor for long stretches).
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So all incoming new players will not have the defensive schemes down by seasons end? How long is a while? Considering roster turnover
 





Maybe they have to do what ISU does. 5 a.m. practice sessions on DEFENSE. Don’t show, don’t play.
 


atsgopher said:
No, but frosh are quite different. Ya gotta start where they are.
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Each player is different. Some pick it up faster. Some slower. The key is them playing together to know each other to create team defense. Learn. Drill. Practice/rehearse. Execute with maximum effort.
 

Rockraven said:
Each player is different. Some pick it up faster. Some slower. The key is them playing together to know each other to create team defense. Learn. Drill. Practice/rehearse. Execute with maximum effort.
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The other two keys IMO are to have great players mixed with great coaches.
 

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