Gophers Basketball 2023 Off-Season To-Do List

[skiumah1]

Payne, Carrington, JoJ, and maybe Garcia isn't much of a base. They need about 5 guys, again.

Ihnen, Betts, Fox, Christie should all be depth pieces. Haven't heard anything from Henley. Add 2-3 guards / 2 Guards and a Big and we should be fine.

The big question is what caliber of transfers are we going to be bringing in.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

Ihnen, Betts, Fox, Christie should all be depth pieces. Haven't heard anything from Henley. Add 2-3 guards / 2 Guards and a Big and we should be fine.

The big question is what caliber of transfers are we going to be bringing in.

What is the transfer track record for Ben? That is what you will get.

 

[Wet_Blanket_Guy]

Be interesting to see how long it takes to know who is coming back and who isn't. Then once Ben makes his decisions and know, he needs to work the transfer portal really hard to land some scoring. Still think we don't have a true PG or a true Center for the Big Ten. Payne will be a good 4! Garcia is a 4.

Payne is not a 4. Could you imaging the spacing issues if Payne is playing the four? Why even get guards who want to drive the paint as we’d have Payne and a C clogging the lane.

Payne’s lack of range limits him to the C position.

 

[bga1]

Payne is not a 4. Could you imaging the spacing issues if Payne is playing the four? Why even get guards who want to drive the paint as we’d have Payne and a C clogging the lane.

Payne’s lack of range limits him to the C position.

Payne will play the 5 next year, but he will also show up next year with more range to his game. Its a mistake to think that players never add pieces to their game- especially big guys.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Payne is a low-post player. In certain circumstances, I could see him being used in a double-post offense - but these days, it's hard enough to find one good post player, let alone two. Payne is strong enough to hold his own against most centers. now, if the other team has a 7' beast like Edey, that's a problem. But there just aren't a lot of those running around. against most teams, Payne is plenty big enough and strong enough to be a low post.

 

[Big Dawg]

Payne is a low-post player. In certain circumstances, I could see him being used in a double-post offense - but these days, it's hard enough to find one good post player, let alone two. Payne is strong enough to hold his own against most centers. now, if the other team has a 7' beast like Edey, that's a problem. But there just aren't a lot of those running around. against most teams, Payne is plenty big enough and strong enough to be a low post.

You mean national player of the year Edey? The best player in the nation Edey? Doubt the Gophers will be facing too many Zac Edey's next season. Some tough bigs? Sure. Can't see too many bigs dominating Payne next season. Payne is a 5. Fact. Payne currently is (here at the end of the season) and will be next year, one of the best 5's in the BIG. Unless something weird happens, I am guessing he will be (at a minimum) Honorable Mention All BIG next season. Yes, I'm making that prediction.

 

[Gopher Teeth]

I'm betting there are 10 of those guys out there in non P6 conferences that would enjoy basically a guaranteed starting spot on a BIG team playing with a front court of Payne and Garcia. I could sell that. A guy like that with a combo of Carrington/Cooper/Henley/JOJ/Betts at the 2 and 3 would be nice. If I was Ben, I'd target mayby one more PG and a wing/shooter and look at a big to help Payne.

Let’s see if Ben is able to accomplish what you could.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

There could be massive changes to this roster over the next couple of months, but for the sake of this exercise, I'm just going to assume Thompson is out and Battle is out. I know there is speculation about others (Henley, Fox, Ihnen, Cooper) but I am just going to assume most of them are back.

1. Add another primary ball handler.
   1. Ideally this is someone who is really quick with the ball in their hand and can penetrate at the Big 10 level. This will allow Cooper to get some rest, play off the ball at times, and for us to match up better with quick PGs.
2. Add 2 more transfer portal wing (s)
   1. One needs to be able to handle the ball a bit and shoot a bit. I don't have delusions that this player will be an All American, but a player of EJ Stephens caliber would go (and would have this year) gone a really long way.
   2. The other one needs to be depth. If he is one dimensional, hopefully it will be just shooting or just defense.
3. Stop patching together lineups and putting guys in positions to succeed.
   1. Olo-Joseph does not handle the ball or shoot it well enough to be a SF. Those things can improve, but he needs to start being more of that JYD type player, needs to log a lot of his minutes as an undersized PF.
   2. We cannot keep playing a PF at the wing. It completely gums up the works - this is true if it's Battle (closest thing to a wing), Olo-Joseph and it will be especially true with Ihnen. So even if our lineup is less talented when putting people in better positions, we need to do it. This isn't NBA2K, it matters

We do have some talent returning. I have much bigger question marks about roster construction than I do talent acquisition but there are pieces there. As much as I have sh!t on Ben, there are some good things that could be a result of his coaching: (1) Henley, at times, really locks in on defense and could be elite; (2) Garcia really locked in and just came off as a more mature player than he was in the first month; (3) people continued to play hard for him.

 

[dbmn]

Yes and no. Ben seems to relate well to recruits and their families. He's well liked by many people locally and nationally. I think he lacks in game coaching experience. Many assistants sit around a lot during games. Would help Ben to have an experienced voice on his bench. I'm not ready to give up on Ben (though if he was gone I wouldn't be that disappointed) but I think its a similar mistake to much of what Richard did here if he doesnt change his staff and add a veteran, former college HC.

Pitino changed his staff and added CBJ. Does that count? Pitino wasn't a total failure though; only 6 of 8 years was. Pitino would qualify as a veteran assistant since he's a former head coach.

 

[Bad Gopher]

OK...so...four or five scholarships available depending on Ramberg:

 

[skiumah1]

OK...so...four or five scholarships available depending on Ramberg:

Would've liked to have Henley but it is what it is.

This roster has a foundation to compete. The portal allows that. This is not over for Ben. It's going to be tough, but that's on him.