Gabe in Portal





So I know people on this board debate how good Gabe is all the time, but at some point do we just get concerned about filling out a roster with competent players? We have half a roster open.
I think we need to be more worried about the long term future next years team probably blows.
 


Yeah totally buy this.... which is why he waited until after Pitino was fired and after "his guy" was hired to put his name in the portal....
Believe what you want but Ben being named the coach is the one thing thats gonna make Gabe think about staying. Without him Gabe would 100% transfer out.
 

Not a great ringing endorsement for the new coach when the kid you recruited and from your high school leaves before you even coach there.

People need to stop trying to make a value judgement about the new coach based on what happens with our current players and the transfer portal. It's possible we could have a complete roster turnover. That doesn't mean Ben did a bad job. The coach has to figure out what and who he wants to build with, but our current players putting their names in the portal is about frustration with their experience thus far and wanting to look at all their options as opposed to an indictment of Ben. With this new transfer situation and a free year of eligibility, it's an unprecedented time in college basketball.

That said, I really like Gabe and value him and hope he stays with us!
 


Believe what you want but Ben being named the coach is the one thing thats gonna make Gabe think about staying. Without him Gabe would 100% transfer out.
I’m curious to where Gabe would go. He is a solid defender who can’t shoot and doesn’t handle the ball. I know teams would take him but come on.

Also, Gabe may save me from having to donate to your favorite charity if he comes back!
 




People need to stop trying to make a value judgement about the new coach based on what happens with our current players and the transfer portal. It's possible we could have a complete roster turnover. That doesn't mean Ben did a bad job. The coach has to figure out what and who he wants to build with, but our current players putting their names in the portal is about frustration with their experience thus far and wanting to look at all their options as opposed to an indictment of Ben. With this new transfer situation and a free year of eligibility, it's an unprecedented time in college basketball.

That said, I really like Gabe and value him and hope he stays with us!
Do you anticipate this happening at Texas, UNC, Marquette, Indiana, etc because all the factors you listed apply to those teams also.

Just curious.
 


I’m curious to where Gabe would go. He is a solid defender who can’t shoot and doesn’t handle the ball. I know teams would take him but come on.

Also, Gabe may save me from having to donate to your favorite charity if he comes back!
Maybe to a place where the fans don't rip him all the time.
 



Do you anticipate this happening at Texas, UNC, Marquette, Indiana, etc because all the factors you listed apply to those teams also.

Just curious.
I believe Indiana has the same number of players - six - in the portal as Minnesota does. But with the rapid-fire changes, my numbers could be out of date.
 

Maybe to a place where the fans don't rip him all the time.

Well, if he plays lots of minutes and shoots like he did the last two years, he'll have plenty of fans ripping him at his new location as well unless he goes somewhere where they just don't pay much attention to the basketball team.
 

We can make jokes about Gabe being in a 2-year slump and that is fair, but I still think have a score first PG like Carr hurt his performance. I am not even a big Gabe advocate. I just saw too many times where Carr saw him too late and he was out of rhythm or Gabe force a shot because he didn't get a touch in a while. Hopefully he comes back and find his form
 

Well, if he plays lots of minutes and shoots like he did the last two years, he'll have plenty of fans ripping him at his new location as well unless he goes somewhere where they just don't pay much attention to the basketball team.

I don't disagree with you....but it's probably a little different pressure in your hometown and maybe he doesn't want that anymore.
 

Surprising, I doubt he finds more playing time anywhere else short of St Thomas or New Mexico.
 




He's a starter at the moment here and has been all past season. What could possibly be a better fit than that?. We relied on him when healthy and it clearly showed. I don't see how a different team could somehow be better than that.
 

I would agree with that.


I was maybe a little out of line with the previous comment about fans ripping him. I hope Gsbe comes back and still have confidence that Ben Johnson will have a better team next year than we did last year.
 






Apparently you can't be critical of Johnson/the hiring process and still support him and the team but here we go!

Do I think this destroys the program either way, no I don't. Gabe is solid, i hope he comes back, but if he doesn't we will survive. My CONCERN is that we basically hired Johnson to keep kids like Gabe home and happy. The mere fact he went into the portal is a red flag for me. Again I'm not saying fire Johnson we are doomed but it's a concern. The same people who get upset with this way of thinking were likely the same ones in Pitino years 5-6-7 who kept buying "well if we would have just been healthy we would have been unbelievable." Sure injuries didn't help but there were bigger issues. Same thing applies here. Is Gabe in the portal an absolute omen we are screwed, absolutely not, but if you think it's a total non-issue I think you are just avoiding some of the facts.
 

"So what does this say about wanting to build the team on hometown players?"

I would have loved to have a team built around Sims, Wright, Gabe, Race, Garcia, Davison, Reuvers, John....with other guys sprinkled in right now. We would have probably had a shot at Hurt, Suggs, Walton, Dainja and Chet if we did.
 




Top Bottom