Gophers in N Alabama transfer Daniel Ortiz top 6

The pieces have to fit, though. Puzzles are basically chaos until they are nearly complete. This one isn't even close, yet.
I agreešŸ’Æand weā€™ll know next season if Ben dud it correctly or not; Twins pieces are fitting nicely thus far šŸ˜ƒ
 

I honestly can't imagine just how tough transfer portal recruiting is. High School recruiting is done over an extended period of time where you establish a relationship with the player and their family.

Transfer recruiting is done in a super short window where you have to be able to make contact with a player, setup visits, study film all while battling tons of other schools in the same situation all trying to get the same players. And somehow in all that you have to figure out if a guy is going to be a good fit for your team and style of play.

And while that is going on you also have to make sure nobody is trying to poach your current players.
I bet NO coaches are able to successfully build and/or improve teams in such conditions! Can't expect Johnson to do his job!!
 


I bet NO coaches are able to successfully build and/or improve teams in such conditions! Can't expect Johnson to do his job!!
No matter the subject, mnvcguy will find a fitting excuse.
 

I bet NO coaches are able to successfully build and/or improve teams in such conditions! Can't expect Johnson to do his job!!
Did I mention Johnson's name anywhere in my post? Nope....it was just a general comment about the difficulties associated with transfer portal recruiting that all teams deal with.

Obviously Johnson has to navigate the portal just like everyone else and his long term job security at Minnesota will almost certainly hinge on him being successful at finding the right pieces.
 


Me, on 24/7s Transfer Portal site:
Search for PGs
4-Starsā€¦Taran Armstrong, Caleb Love, about 15-20 othersā€¦
3-Starsā€¦.Omar Sylvario, Noah Fernandez, about 45 othersā€¦
2-Starsā€¦hmmm, no PGsā€¦
No Starsā€¦Jayden Nunn, KJ Jenkins, about 15 othersā€¦
No Daniel Ortiz. That canā€™t be good.
Maybe heā€™s considered a 6ā€™0ā€ combo guardā€¦nope, not listed there either.
I hope Ben isnā€™t overlooking the 75+ PGs in the portal and is targeting Ortiz to save his job.

Here's a piece of advice: Do not search for prospects using 247 Sports and their star ratings. Caleb Love was very highly rated coming out of high school (#13 RSCI) but his college career has fallen far short of what you would expect from someone of that ranking (Career 13.3 Player Efficiency Rating through 3 years). On the other hand, a Wofford freshman point guard who was unrated coming out of high school (Jackson Paveletzke) has been flooded with offers since he hit the portal (20.0 PER as a freshman). I don't see him among the first 50 or so guards listed on 247.

Go to Verbal Commits and pick "Transfers" from the menu. At the top, they will show a section for the most recent transfers. If you go below that section, you can find the full database that can be sorted by various variables.

Then go to College Basketball at Sports Reference and look up players by their name or their school to see their stats (basic and advanced), whether they finished among the top players for a long list of stats, and to see whether they received any post season honors.
 
Last edited:

Here's a piece of advice: Do not search for prospects using 247 Sports and their star ratings. Caleb Love was very highly rated coming out of high school (#13 RSCI) but his college career has fallen far short of what you would expect from someone of that ranking (Career 13.3 Player Efficiency Rating through 3 years). On the other hand, a Wofford freshman point guard who was unrated coming out of high school (Jackson Paveletzke) has been flooded with offers since he hit the portal (20.0 PER as a freshman). I don't see him among the first 50 or so guards listed on 247.

Go to Verbal Commits and pick "Transfers" from the menu. At the top, they will show a section for the most recent transfers. If you go below that section, you can find the full database that can be sorted by various variables.

Then go to College Basketball at Sports Reference and look up players by their name or their school to see their stats (basic and advanced), whether they finished among the top players for a long list of stats, and to see whether they received any post season honors.
Too much work...way easier to look at one metric....jump to conclusions and be outraged. :)
 

Hello, we need MORE guards. We also need more THAN ONE guy who can run the point. If Mitchell goes down with an ankle sprain we R F'ed. DEPTH, DEPTH, DEPTH.

Yes, all of us who are paying close attention and have a brain know what we need.

The only questions are: 1) will Johnson & Company have the perseverance and determination to get us the depth we should have and 2) assuming the coaches fulfill the first point, how will our set of new players match up to our needs.

Personally, I don't think we need to recruit 5 players but we really should try to get 4. In my view, 3 would be the bare minimum but I hope the coaches don't settle for that.
 




I agreešŸ’Æand weā€™ll know next season if Ben dud it correctly or not; Twins pieces are fitting nicely thus far šŸ˜ƒ
I mean starting with the Royals and Marlins certainly helps....but yeah, so far so good. On pace to go 162-0 :)

Johnson doesn't need to have that level of success but hopefully he finds the pieces to get things moving in the right direction.
 

I honestly can't imagine just how tough transfer portal recruiting is. High School recruiting is done over an extended period of time where you establish a relationship with the player and their family.

Transfer recruiting is done in a super short window where you have to be able to make contact with a player, setup visits, study film all while battling tons of other schools in the same situation all trying to get the same players. And somehow in all that you have to figure out if a guy is going to be a good fit for your team and style of play.

And while that is going on you also have to make sure nobody is trying to poach your current players.

I agree with your characterization, of course. I actually feel a bit sorry for the new Penn State coach. He inherited a roster with about five players out of eligibility and has had another five enter the transfers portal. He's in the position we were in two years ago and he hasn't picked up a transfer yet. I guess part of the reason I feel some sympathy is that he grew up in the same general area I did in PA.
 

Me, on 24/7s Transfer Portal site:
Search for PGs
4-Starsā€¦Taran Armstrong, Caleb Love, about 15-20 othersā€¦
3-Starsā€¦.Omar Sylvario, Noah Fernandez, about 45 othersā€¦
2-Starsā€¦hmmm, no PGsā€¦
No Starsā€¦Jayden Nunn, KJ Jenkins, about 15 othersā€¦
No Daniel Ortiz. That canā€™t be good.
Maybe heā€™s considered a 6ā€™0ā€ combo guardā€¦nope, not listed there either.
I hope Ben isnā€™t overlooking the 75+ PGs in the portal and is targeting Ortiz to save his job.
They have to get another starting 1 or 2 guard from the portal to be decent next year IMO. Ortiz is not that and neither is Plitzuweit. If they're the 9th or 10th guy in the rotation, that's fine.

A lineup of Mitchell, Transfer SG, Christie/Carrington, Garcia, Payne with 6-8 of Carrington/Christie, JOJ and a transfer big/Fox has a chance at least.
 

I'm not sure of the meaning of that reaction but everything he wrote was correct.
Iā€™d rather listen to a Helen Reddy record, that was the ultimate punishment for Mrs. Cheech & Chong, on their seminal Suster Mary Elephant.
 



They have to get another starting 1 or 2 guard from the portal to be decent next year IMO. Ortiz is not that and neither is Plitzuweit. If they're the 9th or 10th guy in the rotation, that's fine.

A lineup of Mitchell, Transfer SG, Christie/Carrington, Garcia, Payne with 6-8 of Carrington/Christie, JOJ and a transfer big/Fox has a chance at least.

I'd certainly prefer Claudell Harris Jr. (who put us on his visit list) over Ortiz but Harris is visiting some other P6 programs and won't be easy to get. Ortiz isn't rat meat. He was All Freshman Atlantic Sun two years ago and second team as a sophomore last year. He took 7.8 three point shots per game and hit 41% of them. I'd say if he can come close to that percentage in the Big Ten, he won't be playing 9th or 10th man minutes on this team.
 

Agree with all of this. I'm not particularly confident either...I think he needs to sell more guys on the vision of playing time, and then not feel bad when an inferior player is unhappy and transfers. I would much rather have that than the games where we only have 6 scholarship players suiting up and starting walk-ons.

Me, on 24/7s Transfer Portal site:
Search for PGs
4-Starsā€¦Taran Armstrong, Caleb Love, about 15-20 othersā€¦
3-Starsā€¦.Omar Sylvario, Noah Fernandez, about 45 othersā€¦
2-Starsā€¦hmmm, no PGsā€¦
No Starsā€¦Jayden Nunn, KJ Jenkins, about 15 othersā€¦
No Daniel Ortiz. That canā€™t be good.
Maybe heā€™s considered a 6ā€™0ā€ combo guardā€¦nope, not listed there either.
I hope Ben isnā€™t overlooking the 75+ PGs in the portal and is targeting Ortiz to save his job.
If Ortiz is good enough to save Ben's job, he's your No. 1 target.
 

Yes, all of us who are paying close attention and have a brain know what we need.
My response was sparked by the comment that "Mitchell is our point guard". That sounds to me like people (or just the OP) think(s) we are fine at the guard spot. We are not. I agree that one more G and a big will be the min. Cooper could have used some help this season. Hopefully Mitchell has someone of quality to spell him this upcoming season.
 

My response was sparked by the comment that "Mitchell is our point guard". That sounds to me like people (or just the OP) think(s) we are fine at the guard spot. We are not. I agree that one more G and a big will be the min. Cooper could have used some help this season. Hopefully Mitchell has someone of quality to spell him this upcoming season.
If we don't get other guards we're in a bad spot. Like you said, 1 at minimum, but I think we're in trouble if we don't get 2 more guards.
 

If we don't get other guards we're in a bad spot. Like you said, 1 at minimum, but I think we're in trouble if we don't get 2 more guards.

Yes, the problem with getting only 1 more (even if that person is good) is that, if any of them are injured, you're then down to three guards and that is a very precarious position.
 


They have to get another starting 1 or 2 guard from the portal to be decent next year IMO. Ortiz is not that and neither is Plitzuweit. If they're the 9th or 10th guy in the rotation, that's fine.

A lineup of Mitchell, Transfer SG, Christie/Carrington, Garcia, Payne with 6-8 of Carrington/Christie, JOJ and a transfer big/Fox has a chance at least.
No one expects Ihnen to contribute? For sure, it's been a tough road for him, but if Fox is worth mentioning, then why not Ihnen at 6'10" (?). It'd be a heck of a welcome surprise if he and Fox both show up healthy.
 

No one expects Ihnen to contribute? For sure, it's been a tough road for him, but if Fox is worth mentioning, then why not Ihnen at 6'10" (?). It'd be a heck of a welcome surprise if he and Fox both show up healthy.
I hope he does. But if you're relying on him to be one of your top 8, you're in trouble. Fox is worth mentioning because we're not likely to add more than one big man, so he has an easier shot at playing time. Ihnen will (hopefully) be behind Mitchell, a transfer SG, Carrington and Christie for playing time. Doesn't mean he can't/won't.
 

I hope he does. But if you're relying on him to be one of your top 8, you're in trouble. Fox is worth mentioning because we're not likely to add more than one big man, so he has an easier shot at playing time. Ihnen will (hopefully) be behind Mitchell, a transfer SG, Carrington and Christie for playing time. Doesn't mean he can't/won't.
If Ihnen is competing for time with our shooting guards, we are seriously in trouble. He should be thinking of backing up Garcia to get his minutes.
 

If Ihnen is competing for time with our shooting guards, we are seriously in trouble. He should be thinking of backing up Garcia to get his minutes.
Yeah I really hope the Ihnen guard talk is all just smoke because that's a nightmare. And he's a decent player in the post if healthy. At least defensively.
 

If Ihnen is competing for time with our shooting guards, we are seriously in trouble. He should be thinking of backing up Garcia to get his minutes.
On the other hand - if Ihnen is a serious competitor for time at the 3- the other possibility is that we have a heck of a player. None of us (that I know of) has seen him for two years other than in sweats on the sideline. While laid up with injury from heavy activity, he might have used as much time as he had developing aspects of his game he needs. Maybe his shot is more consistent. Perhaps he has gained confidence and skill on driving to the hole.

I know that everyone likes to disparage Ben's basketball acumen. I know I have done it. But he knows more about basketball than any of us here and I trust he saw something in Ihnen when he said he could play anywhere from the 3 to the 5. I haven't given up on him or Fox and I admire their will to stick with it through incredible adversity.
 

If Ihnen is competing for time with our shooting guards, we are seriously in trouble. He should be thinking of backing up Garcia to get his minutes.
Ben says he's a guard and I've read on here he as "cat like" instincts/defense....
 

On the other hand - if Ihnen is a serious competitor for time at the 3- the other possibility is that we have a heck of a player. None of us (that I know of) has seen him for two years other than in sweats on the sideline. While laid up with injury from heavy activity, he might have used as much time as he had developing aspects of his game he needs. Maybe his shot is more consistent. Perhaps he has gained confidence and skill on driving to the hole.

I know that everyone likes to disparage Ben's basketball acumen. I know I have done it. But he knows more about basketball than any of us here and I trust he saw something in Ihnen when he said he could play anywhere from the 3 to the 5. I haven't given up on him or Fox and I admire their will to stick with it through incredible adversity.
Thanks for that. So many messages in here are ā€œif we get player X and heā€™s starting weā€™re in big trouble, heā€™s probably another Samuels,ā€ ā€œif player Y has to play the 2 or 3 spot we wonā€™t win a gameā€ blah blah blah.

Nobody knows what the team is gonna look like next year or how hard kids have worked to improve their game.
 

On the other hand - if Ihnen is a serious competitor for time at the 3- the other possibility is that we have a heck of a player. None of us (that I know of) has seen him for two years other than in sweats on the sideline. While laid up with injury from heavy activity, he might have used as much time as he had developing aspects of his game he needs. Maybe his shot is more consistent. Perhaps he has gained confidence and skill on driving to the hole.

I know that everyone likes to disparage Ben's basketball acumen. I know I have done it. But he knows more about basketball than any of us here and I trust he saw something in Ihnen when he said he could play anywhere from the 3 to the 5. I haven't given up on him or Fox and I admire their will to stick with it through incredible adversity.
Ben couldn't even figure out that Payne needed to start this season. I'm skeptical of how great his on court strategizing is. He couldn't figure out how to use Battle at the 3, hard to ask anyone to believe he will be more successful with a player coming off 2 major knee injuries. I will acknowledge that Ben probably knows how to run a better practice than anyone here though.
 

Thanks for that. So many messages in here are ā€œif we get player X and heā€™s starting weā€™re in big trouble, heā€™s probably another Samuels,ā€ ā€œif player Y has to play the 2 or 3 spot we wonā€™t win a gameā€ blah blah blah.

Nobody knows what the team is gonna look like next year or how hard kids have worked to improve their game.
People also advised on patience before last year too, how'd that work out? Hint: Exactly as most predicted.
 

Ben couldn't even figure out that Payne needed to start this season. I'm skeptical of how great his on court strategizing is. He couldn't figure out how to use Battle at the 3, hard to ask anyone to believe he will be more successful with a player coming off 2 major knee injuries. I will acknowledge that Ben probably knows how to run a better practice than anyone here though.
The season's over now. You might as well spill the beans on how Battle really should have been used at the 3. No need to keep the truth hidden now.
 





Top Bottom