Gophers in CSUF G transfer Latrell Wrightsell Jr. top 3

His first official visit is to Nebraska on Friday. Seems like NEB likely has the inside track if they can sell him. I'd imagine we're right behind them though.

We need to be able to win this IMO as NEB has an abundance of guards. We have a starting spot for him Day 1.

I'll say 25% we land him.
Better than 2%.
 







I think a lot of high quality guards are attracted to playing with our front court. NIL would close deals for us.
 


Unfortunately we had the same drawing card last year and couldn’t get a decent guard. I have very little hope things will be different this year. 🤞
We do have a more proven front court to offer this year, though.
 













Hopefully he at least has some Raising Cane's coupons to offer as NIL....
He wouldn't be that big of an NIL guy to begin with, he's good but he's not a massive star which is where the real NIL goes. If he thinks he can up his profile by playing a starting role and go pro somewhere, that money would be way more than whatever NIL he'd make on the bench at Alabama.
 



He wouldn't be that big of an NIL guy to begin with, he's good but he's not a massive star which is where the real NIL goes. If he thinks he can up his profile by playing a starting role and go pro somewhere, that money would be way more than whatever NIL he'd make on the bench at Alabama.
It seems like lots of guys who shouldn't be worth much NIL are getting $$$ though.
 



Unfortunately we had the same drawing card last year and couldn’t get a decent guard. I have very little hope things will be different this year. 🤞
Talon Cooper was a pretty good "get" for us. He was being recruited by USC, Iowa State, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, South Carolina and Florida. He ended up not being a particularly good fit, but part of that IMO was roster construction/coaching.

IMO the real failure was basically shutting down our backcourt recruiting with signing Taurus Samuels, and thinking that Henley/Carrington/Ihnen were going to be anything more than a last place place B10 finish group of guards. I'm curious if they even went hard after another guy, or if Ben was worried about taking away too many minutes from his new recruits.
 
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Unfortunately we had the same drawing card last year and couldn’t get a decent guard. I have very little hope things will be different this year. 🤞
Cooper was more than a "decent" guard, and would've looked even better had we have any sort of ball handling help for him whatsoever.

The real failure was settling for Samuels, or striking out on a better option after Cooper had committed.
 

Talon Cooper was a pretty good "get" for us. He was being recruited by USC, Iowa State, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, South Carolina and Florida. He ended up not being a particularly good fit, but part of that IMO was roster construction/coaching.

IMO the real failure was basically shutting down our backcourt recruiting with signing Taurus Samuels, and thinking that Henley/Carrington/Ihnen were going to be anything more than a last place place B10 finish group of guards. I'm curious if they even went hard after another guy, or if Ben was worried about taking away too many minutes from his new recruits.
I think so, unfortunately.
 

I think so, unfortunately.
If so it was a terrible decision. IF, however, he is able to land a good transfer portal group this spring- it actually could pay off for him. Obviously our guys got a baptism of fire in the Big Ten that was more than they were ready for. Will it help them develop faster?
 

If so it was a terrible decision. IF, however, he is able to land a good transfer portal group this spring- it actually could pay off for him. Obviously our guys got a baptism of fire in the Big Ten that was more than they were ready for. Will it help them develop faster?
I think his worry was losing freshmen to the portal (even though it still happened) I think Ben is focused on his development of the 2022 Class so they can be his core for the 24-25 season. JOJ, Carrington, & Payne will be juniors, Betts & Christie will be sophomores, Garcia will decide if he wants to be a super senior but we’ll still have Mitchell (hopefully). If we can show progress this season & pull off strong 2024 recruiting class. The 24/25 season should be a tourney year. I don’t know if Ben will survive if we don’t bring at least 2 impact transfers this off-season
 

If so it was a terrible decision. IF, however, he is able to land a good transfer portal group this spring- it actually could pay off for him. Obviously our guys got a baptism of fire in the Big Ten that was more than they were ready for. Will it help them develop faster?
It did not pay off for him. We had our worst season in the history of the program. One of the guys being baptized by fire transferred after starting over half the games as a freshman. Cooper transferred as well, after playing more minutes and taking more shots in the B10 than he did in the Ohio Valley. Carrington was hurt for 1/3 of the year, and Samuels had to end up playing major minutes for us and shot 26% from the floor. It was an unmitigated disaster.

I hope that Ben learned from it and lands Wrightsell, and has enough depth to make freshmen earn minutes in the future.
 

Cooper was more than a "decent" guard, and would've looked even better had we have any sort of ball handling help for him whatsoever.

The real failure was settling for Samuels, or striking out on a better option after Cooper had committed.
We signed Cooper and then essentially had a starting two guard spot available and couldn’t get anyone sums it up Could never understand how selling major playing time and as a main scoring option in the Big Ten can’t get you a player.
 




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