Gopher Potential Portal Pursuits

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TwistingMyMelon said:
Well, first of all, we're not a blueblood and no amount of complaining about that is going to make us one. Secondly, even the bluebloods are taking in upperclassmen transfers. Whether Ben succeeds or not doesn't nullify what is the prevalent course of action these days.

Here are the numbers of incoming freshmen recruits for the conference teams (either they are listed as hard commits or for having signed a letter of intent (at least one or more of the latter I suspect will not end up playing at those schools)):

Illnois
2​
Indiana
1​
Iowa
2​
Maryland
2​
Mich St
3​
MICH
3​
Minn
2​
Nebraska
2​
NW
2​
OSU
2​
Oregon
1​
PSU
4​
Purdue
6​
Rutgers
5​
UCLA
1​
USC
1​
WASH
3​
Wisc
2​

12 of the 18 have two or fewer freshmen recruits.

Purdue is the clear outlier but Painter can afford to have a rebuilding year or two. I'm a bit surprised to see Rutgers having 5 but they did land two 5 stars amazingly.
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Painters confidence in his freshmen aqueezed out Gillis, I’m told by Boiler people.
 

Dave H said:
You have to admit, even trying to stay positive things are not feeling too great right now. I mean people are openly hoping a transfer from Macalaster will happen. What no one from Hamline available?

Obviously we will sign some people there is way too many in the portal not to, but if you were a betting man what would you say the chances are the team is overall better this coming season than last? Gun to your head what is your guess?

We are basically hoping this is Major League and we are the Indians. Its hard to stay positive in real time when you are watching that happen.
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Question can’t be answered as long as Christie is unknown.
 


Dave H said:
You have to admit, even trying to stay positive things are not feeling too great right now. I mean people are openly hoping a transfer from Macalaster will happen. What no one from Hamline available?

Obviously we will sign some people there is way too many in the portal not to, but if you were a betting man what would you say the chances are the team is overall better this coming season than last? Gun to your head what is your guess?

We are basically hoping this is Major League and we are the Indians. Its hard to stay positive in real time when you are watching that happen.
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I don't see the point in worrying about what the roster looks like on April 27th. There are still tons of guys in the portal and we don't know what the final roster is going to look like when it is all said and done. Most of us had never even heard of Hawkins when he committed here.

A huge part of our outlook for next season also hinges on whether or not Christie comes back. With him back I like our chances to be as good or better, without him it is much more up in the air.

I have no clue how it is all going to play out. I get why pessimism reigns around here but I want to see how it all plays out roster wise before sounding the alarm bells.

Clearly with no Hawkins, Payne and Christie it will be an uphill battle for the team to improve upon this past season. But until we see the final roster and then get to see them in action anything is possible.
 

Holy Man said:
Painters confidence in his freshmen aqueezed out Gillis, I’m told by Boiler people.
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I have read that too. As a national runner up, wouldn't you want try to run it back? I guess probably not possible without the big man either
 


MNVCGUY said:
Some of you never leave panic mode. Not even May 1st yet and there are tons of players in the portal. If you want to panic feel free....I prefer to wait and see how it all plays out before heading for the bomb shelter.
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at the risk of sounding pessimistic......

college basketball is now functioning under the law of the jungle. you are either predator or prey. and even if you think you are a predator, there is usually a bigger, scarier predator waiting to gobble you up if you leave yourself vulnerable.

on the pecking order of college hoops, the Gophers are way down at the bottom of the major-conference teams. Doogie in a recent podcast said the Gophers are 16th out of 18 teams in NIL for the new B1G.

there is no magic wand for the Gophers to wave. there is no easy, simple solution. the other teams have more resources. period. bottom line. it's a game of Monopoly, and the other teams have hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place, while the Gophers are trying to get by with a couple of houses on Baltic and Mediterranean.
 

Dakota2 said:
Question can’t be answered as long as Christie is unknown.
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I know...part of that "not much to be positive about" scenario because losing Christie all but guarantees next year is going to be painful to watch.

We just need some positive news to break the cycle. And signing another guy who is likely or hopefully a bench player won't be enough.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I don't see the point in worrying about what the roster looks like on April 27th. There are still tons of guys in the portal and we don't know what the final roster is going to look like when it is all said and done. Most of us had never even heard of Hawkins when he committed here.

A huge part of our outlook for next season also hinges on whether or not Christie comes back. With him back I like our chances to be as good or better, without him it is much more up in the air.

I have no clue how it is all going to play out. I get why pessimism reigns around here but I want to see how it all plays out roster wise before sounding the alarm bells.

Clearly with no Hawkins, Payne and Christie it will be an uphill battle for the team to improve upon this past season. But until we see the final roster and then get to see them in action anything is possible.
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I get that...but then why be in in any of these threads? If you aren't going to worry about roster construction it would make sense to avoid threads about those topics because right now there is zero reason to be positive. I mean we are discussing our "targets" here and people are going to be pessimistic because the ones we seem to have the best chance with are steps down in most cases.

And I know Hawkins came out of nowhere to be the player he was so we can be hopeful that whatever player we get can do that again...the odds are not in our favor that will always happen. And if it doesn't then next year even with Cam could be really ugly.

This thread is going to be rather negative in real time until some very good news hits. When news is not positive you can't really expect the fans to stay positive ya know?

Come the beginning of the season though, as I said, hope springs eternal :)
 



short ornery norwegian said:
at the risk of sounding pessimistic......

college basketball is now functioning under the law of the jungle. you are either predator or prey. and even if you think you are a predator, there is usually a bigger, scarier predator waiting to gobble you up if you leave yourself vulnerable.

on the pecking order of college hoops, the Gophers are way down at the bottom of the major-conference teams. Doogie in a recent podcast said the Gophers are 16th out of 18 teams in NIL for the new B1G.

there is no magic wand for the Gophers to wave. there is no easy, simple solution. the other teams have more resources. period. bottom line. it's a game of Monopoly, and the other teams have hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place, while the Gophers are trying to get by with a couple of houses on Baltic and Mediterranean.
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Would that make Doogie a bug? You know, the kind that thrive on carnage, consume, infest, live off the dead and destroy other species? Because I really don't see him lifting a finger to do anything other than profit off of being yet another siren of despair for his alma mater.

1714325040882.png
 

DarthGopher said:
Would that make Doogie a bug? You know, the kind that thrive on carnage, consume, infest, live off the dead and destroy other species? Because I really don't see him lifting a finger to do anything other than profit off of being yet another siren of despair for his alma mater.

View attachment 31239
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He learned from Sid.
 

DarthGopher said:
Would that make Doogie a bug? You know, the kind that thrive on carnage, consume, infest, live off the dead and destroy other species? Because I really don't see him lifting a finger to do anything other than profit off of being yet another siren of despair for his alma mater.
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I don't pay much attention to media people and the negative obsession many around here have about them is foreign to me. What I do know is that their primary mission is to report and inform. I think informing the public that the MN basketball program is 16th of 18 in the conference in NIL funding is valuable information regardless of what the public does or doesn't do about it.
 

Dave H said:
I get that...but then why be in in any of these threads? If you aren't going to worry about roster construction it would make sense to avoid threads about those topics because right now there is zero reason to be positive. I mean we are discussing our "targets" here and people are going to be pessimistic because the ones we seem to have the best chance with are steps down in most cases.

And I know Hawkins came out of nowhere to be the player he was so we can be hopeful that whatever player we get can do that again...the odds are not in our favor that will always happen. And if it doesn't then next year even with Cam could be really ugly.

This thread is going to be rather negative in real time until some very good news hits. When news is not positive you can't really expect the fans to stay positive ya know?

Come the beginning of the season though, as I said, hope springs eternal :)
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As with pretty much everything it all comes down to perspective and how you chose to view things.

Why be in the threads? Because it is the off season and we are in this crazy world where ridiculous numbers of players are going into the portal and switching teams. So you follow the threads to see how it is all unfolding and to catch bits of information about players we are pursuing and who might have mutual interest.

If the season started tomorrow we would be in a lot of trouble with our current roster. But the season doesn't start tomorrow so there is no point in trying to project anything until the roster is finalized. And even then we really won't know how the new pieces are going to function together until they hit the court.

I don't think anyone expects everyone to be positive about everything but some have a real tendency to assume the worst all the time even when that might not be how it all works out in the end.
 



Well I tend to just skip past the people who are insufferable...or at best scan them ;) But I am going to call a spade a spade and right now there is just not much to be hopeful about. I dont hate the additions we made or anything, but they are (likely) a deficit from what we lost so we need something that makes us go "ok now we are talking!" and unfortunately that news is just nowhere to be found. Nature of the beast. Not unique to us, but the problem is it is compounded by other factors. That is probably why we are taking this a bit harder than say Iowa or Wisconsin is even though they are getting hit hard.

I think if we had a coach with a better track record these threads would be different.
 




DarthGopher said:
Would that make Doogie a bug? You know, the kind that thrive on carnage, consume, infest, live off the dead and destroy other species? Because I really don't see him lifting a finger to do anything other than profit off of being yet another siren of despair for his alma mater.

View attachment 31239
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Not lifting a finger? What would you want him to do specifically? He's not a millionaire, and even if he was, he couldn't donate $$ to NIL while working in sports media.

If you don't like him overall, fine. But he's one of the few local sports people who cover or pay any attention to Gopher basketball at all and he's usually positive and likes Ben. So I don't get the hate.
 

nooram said:
www.si.com

Five potential options for the Gophers to replace Elijah Hawkins

Elijah Hawkins shocked many when he entered the transfer portal last Monday. The Gophers are now tasked with replacing one of the most prolific passers in colle
www.si.com www.si.com
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If you read this article, some of the "5" are point/combo guards who the Gophers have not contacted. Since the portal is not exactly a smorgasbord of great talent at this point, I think the Gopher staff should be contacting almost any point guard left who has played regularly and performed at a pretty good level this past season.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
at the risk of sounding pessimistic......

college basketball is now functioning under the law of the jungle. you are either predator or prey. and even if you think you are a predator, there is usually a bigger, scarier predator waiting to gobble you up if you leave yourself vulnerable.

on the pecking order of college hoops, the Gophers are way down at the bottom of the major-conference teams. Doogie in a recent podcast said the Gophers are 16th out of 18 teams in NIL for the new B1G.

there is no magic wand for the Gophers to wave. there is no easy, simple solution. the other teams have more resources. period. bottom line. it's a game of Monopoly, and the other teams have hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place, while the Gophers are trying to get by with a couple of houses on Baltic and Mediterranean.
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I have no hate for Doogie but he has demonstrated very often he just makes stuff up. Mark Coyle says we are in the middle of Big Ten NIL. Dinkytown collective says we are in the middle of Big Ten NIL. I believe that's closer to the truth than Doogie's bottom.
AND, not everybody transferring is going to get paid a lot of money....probably the majority are not. So, it's back to selling your vision. No, we are not going to out recruit Arkansas or Kentucky or 25 others but there are 250 other teams in our pool...beat them. We have the Big Ten to offer. We have A+ facilities to offer. We have a game venue that rocks if you win...sell it!
 
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60's Guy said:
I have no hate for Doogie but he has demonstrated very often he just makes stuff up. Mark Coyle says we are in the middle of Big Ten NIL. Dinkytown collective says we are in the middle of Big Ten NIL. I believe that's closer to the truth than Doogie's bottom.
AND, not everybody transferring is going to get paid a lot of money....probably the majority are not. So, it's back to selling your vision. No, we are not going to out recruit Arkansas or Kentucky or 25 others but there are 250 other teams in our pool...beat them. We have the Big Ten to offer. We have A+ facilities to offer. We have a game venue that rocks if you win...sell it!
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I find it easier to believe we are 16th in NIL than 9th. Reusse claimed last season (22-23) that we had essentially no NIL for basketball at all. Also, who has more motivation to fudge the # in this case? Coyle.
 










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