Fox 9: Gophers: Who are the new faces for the 2024-25 basketball squad?

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I think Frank Mitchell is a lock to start along with Dawson and MMJR. Having a guy who has a knack for cleaning the glass and who wants to is something we really haven't had consistently. He's a presence.
 


Bayfield Gopher said:
Had some time to kill today so I looked at MPG stats. Interesting info.

On a national level, Hawkins ranked at #215 at 33.2mpg and Garcia at 32.0 wasn't ranked in the top 350 players! Surprised? Me too! Yet NU's Buie and Barnhizer ranked #11 & #14 at 36.5 and 36.4 mpg and no one talks about that.

In the BIG for all games, Hawk is #12, Garcia #19, Christie #28, MM #30 and PP #65. NU had 3 guys in the top 11. For BIG games only, Hawk is #5, Garcia #24, MM #29, Christie #31 and PP #57. NU had 3 in the top 17. Nebraska didn't have a player listed until #26 and #28 which may indicated that they use their bench the most of any BIG probably followed by Wisky.

With four of our players listed at or near the top 30 of BIG games only, the Gophers and NU clearly are relying on their top guys.

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A few things I'd add. It's easy (for either argument) to cherry pick 1 team and use it as an argument. That didn't give context to injuries, type of games etc. PP was lower on minutes because they were worried about his back and fouls. On pure talent he would've played 30-34 a night.

As someone posted above, it is true it's only been 3 years so not a long track record, but pretty clear CBJ struggles to find good depth pieces and also struggles to develop them. Is JOJ a 30mpg stud, no, but after 2 years he's got enough ability to have some role I'd say. So until he proves me wrong, I'd guess we play 6 maybe 7 guys when it matters.

RJ had a write up about the roster as well. I generally like his work but wuff talk about a puff piece. He said Odukale is a better fit for next year than CC would've been, he can't be serious. Losing one of the top ast guys in the country will help DG? seems unlikely. And losing PP isn't that bad, I mean come on. I'm not saying we have 0 talent and are undoubtedly screwed for next year but we lost major pieces, it's more likely it turns bad than great.
 

leib0039 said:
A few things I'd add. It's easy (for either argument) to cherry pick 1 team and use it as an argument. That didn't give context to injuries, type of games etc. PP was lower on minutes because they were worried about his back and fouls. On pure talent he would've played 30-34 a night.

As someone posted above, it is true it's only been 3 years so not a long track record, but pretty clear CBJ struggles to find good depth pieces and also struggles to develop them. Is JOJ a 30mpg stud, no, but after 2 years he's got enough ability to have some role I'd say. So until he proves me wrong, I'd guess we play 6 maybe 7 guys when it matters.

RJ had a write up about the roster as well. I generally like his work but wuff talk about a puff piece. He said Odukale is a better fit for next year than CC would've been, he can't be serious. Losing one of the top ast guys in the country will help DG? seems unlikely. And losing PP isn't that bad, I mean come on. I'm not saying we have 0 talent and are undoubtedly screwed for next year but we lost major pieces, it's more likely it turns bad than great.
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IMO the most glaring weakness is wing depth. Odukale needs a backup or co-starter. Until that wing is added, our crew of 6'2" combo guards is going to be destroyed by Illinois' (and other teams') 6'7" wings.
One new big wing transfer can solve that problem weakness!
Also when comparing Odukale to Christie, don't ignore defense and rebounding.
Christie is NOT being drafted for his defensive and rebounding skills.
 
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Sane24 said:
IMO the most glaring weakness is wing depth. Odukale needs a backup or co-starter. Until that wing is added, our crew of 6'2" combo guards is going to be destroyed by Illinois' (and other teams') 6'7" wings.
One new big wing transfer can solve that problem weakness!
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I would think CBJ has had that conversation with Betts, and he will see time at the 3.
 


SplitDecision said:
I would think CBJ has had that conversation with Betts, and he will see time at the 3.
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I hope you are right, but CBJ's comments about Betts are about his body development which sound more like power forward skills improvement rather than wing skills improvement. Betts may still be too bulky and slow to succeed as a wing.
The Gophers have six guys in the ht-wt range around 6'8" 220# and the other five are all post players.
Frank Mitchell, Fox, Grove, Reader and Meister are the other five.
I hope Betts is the exception who can play wing.
I guess all the other guys playing post makes it likely that Betts is more needed at wing.
I recall that Betts was a wing in HS before he gained weight. So at least he has experience on his side.
And maybe CBJ's comments were about weight loss, rather than about strength gain. If that is the case, maybe we have gained a new, improved wing in Betts!
 
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leib0039 said:
A few things I'd add. It's easy (for either argument) to cherry pick 1 team and use it as an argument. That didn't give context to injuries, type of games etc. PP was lower on minutes because they were worried about his back and fouls. On pure talent he would've played 30-34 a night.

As someone posted above, it is true it's only been 3 years so not a long track record, but pretty clear CBJ struggles to find good depth pieces and also struggles to develop them. Is JOJ a 30mpg stud, no, but after 2 years he's got enough ability to have some role I'd say. So until he proves me wrong, I'd guess we play 6 maybe 7 guys when it matters.

RJ had a write up about the roster as well. I generally like his work but wuff talk about a puff piece. He said Odukale is a better fit for next year than CC would've been, he can't be serious. Losing one of the top ast guys in the country will help DG? seems unlikely. And losing PP isn't that bad, I mean come on. I'm not saying we have 0 talent and are undoubtedly screwed for next year but we lost major pieces, it's more likely it turns bad than great.
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RJ has changed his tune some after doing more film study. He now states that Odukale will be a downgrade from CC but Odukale should be a defensive upgrade compared to last years film. Interesting that he thinks that Mitchell will be a better fit looking at this years squad but PP would certainly will be a better player in two years. The Patterson/Hawk comparisons are tough to make as they are very different players/skill set. Hawks attack style often resulted in easy baskets for the bigs but that is just on factor. Patterson/etc at PG will be very different and I think we see better ball movement and D.

This years squad will be very different from what we have seen. We will see if this very seasoned group of players and Asuma hype will force Ben to spread the minutes.
 

Sane24 said:
IMO the most glaring weakness is wing depth. Odukale needs a backup or co-starter. Until that wing is added, our crew of 6'2" combo guards is going to be destroyed by Illinois' (and other teams') 6'7" wings.
One new big wing transfer can solve that problem weakness!
Also when comparing Odukale to Christie, don't ignore defense and rebounding.
Christie is NOT being drafted for his defensive and rebounding skills.
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That highly ranked wing recruit will be added right around the time @EasyThere Pilgrim files his massive lawsuit against the NCAA.....
 




Sane24 said:
I hope you are right, but CBJ's comments about Betts are about his body development which sound more like power forward skills improvement rather than wing skills improvement. Betts may still be too bulky and slow to succeed as a wing.
The Gophers have six guys in the ht-wt range around 6'8" 220# and the other five are all post players.
Frank Mitchell, Fox, Grove, Reader and Meister are the other five.
I hope Betts is the exception who can play wing.
I guess all the other guys playing post makes it likely that Betts is more needed at wing.
I recall that Betts was a wing in HS before he gained weight. So at least he has experience on his side.
And maybe CBJ's comments were about weight loss, rather than about strength gain. If that is the case, maybe we have gained a new, improved wing in Betts!
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I believe CBJ has Betts in development phase to be the "next" Amir Coffey-type, which would be the most likely position at the next level. Betts is very quick with good hops, shooting mechanics, and if he put weight onto his frame he'll be the formidable wing you seek. Defense is unknown. He is a potential breakout player in the BigTen.
 

SplitDecision said:
I believe CBJ has Betts in development phase to be the "next" Amir Coffey-type, which would be the most likely position at the next level. Betts is very quick with good hops, shooting mechanics, and if he put weight onto his frame he'll be the formidable wing you seek. Defense is unknown. He is a potential breakout player in the BigTen.
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Ben should be playing 3 guards at all times. This worked for us last year. Betts is not a guard. He is a forward and competing with Fox/Edmonds for reserve minutes. He may get spot minutes at the 3 if we are running a bigger lineup. Maybe he took a tremendous jump since the team last played, maybe not. His time to shine will be 2025-2026 when all of our forwards graduate. If Ben's rotation is as limited as last year, Betts is likely to have similar playing time as well. He is not even close to Coffey, but we can dream I suppose.
 


GopherBlood777 said:
Ben should be playing 3 guards at all times. This worked for us last year. Betts is not a guard. He is a forward.
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If we play small against big teams like Illinois, our defense will get slaughtered.
Our small guards cannot defend against big wings. Our small guards are not quick enough to take advantage of big defenders. Hawkins is gone and Gopher small ball went to Texas with him!
 



Sane24 said:
If we play small against big teams like Illinois, our defense will get slaughtered.
Our small guards cannot defend against big wings. Our small guards are not quick enough to take advantage of big defenders. Hawkins is gone and Gopher small ball went to Texas with him!
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Not really sure why those want bets to be in a big role this season when it won't be required. If he is playing heavy minutes, then one of our transfers expected to play will have been a total flop. He is maybe 10th on the depth chart going into the season. He will get more minutes this year, but I don't see him making the cut by the time we get to the second half of conference play. Again, this is fine. We really just need him to continue to get better and stick around. He has a boatload of minutes waiting for him if he does next season..
 

GopherBlood777 said:
Not really sure why those want bets to be in a big role this season when it won't be required. If he is playing heavy minutes, then one of our transfers expected to play will have been a total flop. He is maybe 10th on the depth chart going into the season.
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Agree, unless an opponent plays two big wings, or Odukale is injured.
If Betts is the #2 big wing, you don't want to have one of our 6'2" midget combo guards defending a 6'7" wing for very long time period.
 

60's Guy said:
We need scoring...we need an offensive threat besides Garcia. I think the guy that can possibly be "the guy" is Caleb Williams. #1 he needs the opportunity to be in the rotation in the non-conference games. (Not the last four minutes) If he is and doesn't pan out...okay, but he's the guy with the most scoring potential. I hope he gets a chance.

Another nice interview with him in the video above.
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I agree with this
 



Sane24 said:
and about ten seconds before that lawsuit is dismissed with disgust.
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Yeah by a corrupt judge...or a judge that wants to ruin college basketball too.

But if it gets to a jury...good luck convincing them that Payne & Hawkins are popular to Texas customers of BMW & fur coats.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
What might turn out to be Ben’s biggest coup was getting Mitchell from Canisius. (Brilliant if no NIL was involved.) Similar to last year however, the team is probably a good player short. Hopefully they can defend.
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If they are only one player short, that will be an amazing result given the roster turnover. Just hard for me to see lower rung players succeeding enough at this level to be competitive.
 

Bayfield Gopher said:
Had some time to kill today so I looked at MPG stats. Interesting info.

On a national level, Hawkins ranked at #215 at 33.2mpg and Garcia at 32.0 wasn't ranked in the top 350 players! Surprised? Me too! Yet NU's Buie and Barnhizer ranked #11 & #14 at 36.5 and 36.4 mpg and no one talks about that.

In the BIG for all games, Hawk is #12, Garcia #19, Christie #28, MM #30 and PP #65. NU had 3 guys in the top 11. For BIG games only, Hawk is #5, Garcia #24, MM #29, Christie #31 and PP #57. NU had 3 in the top 17. Nebraska didn't have a player listed until #26 and #28 which may indicated that they use their bench the most of any BIG probably followed by Wisky.

With four of our players listed at or near the top 30 of BIG games only, the Gophers and NU clearly are relying on their top guys.

www.ncaa.com

NCAA College Men's Basketball DI current individual Stats | NCAA.com

Discover the current NCAA Division I Men's Basketball leaders in every stats category, as well as historic leaders.
www.ncaa.com www.ncaa.com
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Good information. I’m surprised too. But there was talk ad nausium about NW lack of depth and they unsurprisingly ran out of gas in a lot of games last year.
 


Holy Man said:
But there was talk ad nausium about NW lack of depth and they unsurprisingly ran out of gas in a lot of games last year.
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They certainly did in the overtime of the first game against us. Unfortunately, they more than made up for that in the second game by giving us our worst lost of the season.
 


Holy Man said:
Just hard for me to see lower rung players succeeding enough at this level to be competitive.
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My guess is that a fair percentage of posters on this board considered Hawkins and Mitchell to be lower rung players at this time one year ago.

I'll admit to being a snob at times but I'm not going to dismiss our top three transfers who managed to earn all-conference honors (albeit 2nd and 3rd teams) last season. Two of those have logged over 3,000 minutes in their careers and the third managed to be the 4th leading rebounder in the nation in only his first US D1 season.

We have one of the best forwards in the Big Ten, a low-double figure scoring starting guard, and a productive 6th man returning. Add the three transfers mentioned above and a freshman guard who has been rated among the top 10 at his position and I'd say one has to go beyond the top 7 before anyone should be considered lower rung. At this point, I would guess that Rigsby and Edmonds would be considered #8 and #9. I don't expect Edmonds to be a great player but I suspect he will be better than Charlie Daniels or Treyton Thompson and I expect Rigsby to be as least as good as Carrington.
 


I am wearing my M/G colored sunglasses as I write this. Figuratively speaking.

#5 will be equal to and could be better than last season. More depth and consistent boards. D the same. FT shooting will still be an issue. Hope MM and Edmonds can be a reasonable threat from 15 feet but not certain that will be the case.

#4 will be better as Garcia should be a better all around player and Fox will be physically much stronger. The kid from Alex could contribute if healthy.

#3 is a tough one as Odukale won't be able to produce instant offense and carry the team for a stretch like CC did at times. Being stronger and more physical he will be better 15ft and closer to the hoop. However, he will be an improvement over what CC did on D as well as his ball handling. Call it even. Holding my breath on Betts as the sample size is very small.

#2 Mitchell will be better and Rigsby will at least equal Carrington.

#1 is another tough one as Hawk did some great things but was a deficit in other areas. Patterson will be a slower, bigger and stronger presence. I am bullish on Asuma and expect him to contribute after the NC is done and a couple of BIGs under his belt. Expect the PG to show better ball movement and a huge decrease in dribbling which will help create more good looks compared to the frantic dash to the hoop and dish that boosted Hawks assist numbers. And more consistent and stronger D. Better depth. Slight drop from the FT line. 3pt the same. Slight improvement.

We will benefit from experience but will see a drop in physicality. And likely a much lesser liklehood that we see any attitude issues as the all Sr.s have been through a lot during their careers and seem to have been strong team players.

Even though we will be a more mature and deeper squad, I don't expect to be in the top 1/3 BIG but on the fringe and capable of a NCAA berth or earning a NIT spot.

Fire away!!!
 

Bayfield Gopher said:
I am wearing my M/G colored sunglasses as I write this. Figuratively speaking.

#5 will be equal to and could be better than last season. More depth and consistent boards. D the same. FT shooting will still be an issue. Hope MM and Edmonds can be a reasonable threat from 15 feet but not certain that will be the case.

#4 will be better as Garcia should be a better all around player and Fox will be physically much stronger. The kid from Alex could contribute if healthy.

#3 is a tough one as Odukale won't be able to produce instant offense and carry the team for a stretch like CC did at times. Being stronger and more physical he will be better 15ft and closer to the hoop. However, he will be an improvement over what CC did on D as well as his ball handling. Call it even. Holding my breath on Betts as the sample size is very small.

#2 Mitchell will be better and Rigsby will at least equal Carrington.

#1 is another tough one as Hawk did some great things but was a deficit in other areas. Patterson will be a slower, bigger and stronger presence. I am bullish on Asuma and expect him to contribute after the NC is done and a couple of BIGs under his belt. Expect the PG to show better ball movement and a huge decrease in dribbling which will help create more good looks compared to the frantic dash to the hoop and dish that boosted Hawks assist numbers. And more consistent and stronger D. Better depth. Slight drop from the FT line. 3pt the same. Slight improvement.

We will benefit from experience but will see a drop in physicality. And likely a much lesser liklehood that we see any attitude issues as the all Sr.s have been through a lot during their careers and seem to have been strong team players.

Even though we will be a more mature and deeper squad, I don't expect to be in the top 1/3 BIG but on the fringe and capable of a NCAA berth or earning a NIT spot.

Fire away!!!
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Good post! The one area I would differ with is that I think we will see more physicality-specifically at the PG and the 3G. We will lose some speed and athleticism with the loss of Hawkins and Payne and certainly some shooting, minus Christie. I would love to see us get one more guard-the kid that is a great defender from Toledo would be an excellent get!
 


Bayfield Gopher said:
I am wearing my M/G colored sunglasses as I write this. Figuratively speaking.

#5 will be equal to and could be better than last season. More depth and consistent boards. D the same. FT shooting will still be an issue. Hope MM and Edmonds can be a reasonable threat from 15 feet but not certain that will be the case.

#4 will be better as Garcia should be a better all around player and Fox will be physically much stronger. The kid from Alex could contribute if healthy.

#3 is a tough one as Odukale won't be able to produce instant offense and carry the team for a stretch like CC did at times. Being stronger and more physical he will be better 15ft and closer to the hoop. However, he will be an improvement over what CC did on D as well as his ball handling. Call it even. Holding my breath on Betts as the sample size is very small.

#2 Mitchell will be better and Rigsby will at least equal Carrington.

#1 is another tough one as Hawk did some great things but was a deficit in other areas. Patterson will be a slower, bigger and stronger presence. I am bullish on Asuma and expect him to contribute after the NC is done and a couple of BIGs under his belt. Expect the PG to show better ball movement and a huge decrease in dribbling which will help create more good looks compared to the frantic dash to the hoop and dish that boosted Hawks assist numbers. And more consistent and stronger D. Better depth. Slight drop from the FT line. 3pt the same. Slight improvement.

We will benefit from experience but will see a drop in physicality. And likely a much lesser liklehood that we see any attitude issues as the all Sr.s have been through a lot during their careers and seem to have been strong team players.

Even though we will be a more mature and deeper squad, I don't expect to be in the top 1/3 BIG but on the fringe and capable of a NCAA berth or earning a NIT spot.

Fire away!!!
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Even if everything goes as well as possible...we're looking at about equaling our last-year's team.

The issue is...we will never be an actual contender. Like we might have been if we kept our last-year's team.
 

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