I forgot Ihnen as well. Ihnen and JOJ were starters for several games and between the two of them they averaged 27 minutes per game. So you had those two, Fox and Garcia all stacked at the 4.
Betts' year is next year when Garcia and Fox are gone. I can see him getting more minutes in non conference this season, but I also expect him to be cut from the rotation come conference season. I hope he sticks around and becomes a productive player as an upperclassman.
Portal success won't be know with certainty until next March, for us or anyone else. What all the portal prognosticators are doing is trying to measure individual players' talents against those who left. What that does not predict well at all is team effort and cohesion.
I'd be SHOCKED if he ever amounts to anything. I doubt you can find a P5 player in the portal era (last 5-6 years) who was a 3* guy who essentially played 0 meaningful minutes in 2 years and then did something useful at that same school.
Betts was a high school senior in year one and the maturity of a freshman this past year. So before you discard him as let’s see how this year goes and see if he can help.
He may want of U of M degree, too. Just a thought. There could be a few of those left in high major basketball.
betts was 17 when he got on campus and turned 18 november his first year. young, but i was hoping we'd see something from him year 2
Can’t comment on Betts specifically, but there is a terrible tendency on this board of writing off young players almost immediately if they don’t produce immediately.
I'm of the opinion that if you have a player who can't see the floor at all as a freshman, they are probably not going to be a major contributor as an upperclassman.
For me this is just a part of the change in AAU/college basketball. In 1990 if a kid came in a year early and sat, then freshman year didn't play that was semi normal. Kids now days are playing high level opponents all the time and are more prepared for P5 early.
To be fair, who is the last Minnesota player that didn’t play at all early in their career, and ended up being a good D1 player? I honestly can’t name one in recent memory.
Off top of the head I think Dusty Rychart or Damian Johnson.
Justin Cobb was used sparingly as a frosh. Also Mbakwe score like 1 point per game as a frosh for Marquette. Damien Johnson.
Damian Johnson. Aaron Robinson. Similar era, but a long time ago, true.
If they become contributing rotation players that is OK too. If they can’t play at this level they need to move on to some where they can play, unless their degree is more important and they manage to keep their scholarship.
Jeff Hagen....literally the same era. LOL
Greenlee interestingly peaked as a sophomore at Florida Atlantic after he left the Gophers. He averaged 10 points, 44% 3PT shooting, 66% FT, 3 assists, 29 minutes.
And just like other aspects of life, there is always someone who is better or who works harder who wants to take your job. So you better keep improving at what you do.
Yeah it's possible we find another transfer that's as good as Hawkins was last year. But not as good as he'll be this year. And not as good as Payne & Christie (who entered the portal) growing with the same team for multiple years.
One guy has Utah, Cal, TAMU and St. Johnsn after him, the other has BYU, Texas and Texas Tech among others. The extra schools added aren't really in the mix, these are good schools to be competing with, not sure what you're talking about...
How do you know they aren't in the mix
Because no one is choosing Samford over Texas if they have the option to go to both for athletics.
