coolhandgopher
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So, as the two commitments came in today, preceded by Battle's earlier in the week, I've seen a degree of snarkiness towards the construction of the roster, to this point by Coach Johnson. There's a few points that have emerged in my mind:
1. I'm perplexed by the dismissiveness shown by some posters towards the players who have chosen to join the Gophers next season. No, there have not been any Top 150 recruits joining the team yet, but the three players joining the roster all scored over 15 ppg this past season, are veterans, and at least in the case of Loewe, have bonafide recognition on the defensive side of the ball. These look like three solid additions to a team, lead by. . .
2. A first-year coach who is starting with a roster almost from scratch. I could be wrong, but the only Gopher from last year who has publicly expressed that they are solidly on board for next season is Ihnen. Robbins and Brandon Johnson are hopeful returns and I'm assuming Gach is a sure thing to return, but I figured the one guy who'd be back without a thought would be Kalscheur, so I'm not putting any player into the returnee category until that player confirms. I have to think all three of our transfers would have solid other options, so I'm quite happy with Coach Johnson convincing them to take a leap of faith with him, especially in the case of Loewe and Stevens, who I believe will be completing their eligibility next year at the "U".
3. I'm also really confused by who some of the posters are expecting to land on campus. Take a look at Marreon Jackson's list of suitors-this mid-major point guard is being courted by a host of schools, including several that made the tourney this past season. UNC's Walker Kessler, who didn't start a game and averaged 8 minutes a game, is purported to be bound for Gonzaga. If it isn't Adam Miller or Dawson Garcia (who's not even in the portal) arriving on campus, are the players dismissed as unworthy of attention and support?
4. I've witnessed the Gophers go through four coaching transitions in my lifetime (Johnson will be #5). With every transition, players came in, often unheralded and provided a level of stability to the transition:
1986 (Dutcher/Williams to Haskins): We were fortunate that the trio recruited by Dutcher of Willie Burton, Melvin Newburn, and Jim Shikenjanksi held to their commitment with Clem, but Haskins supplemented that freshman class with Richard Coffey, who as we all know was a former paratrooper and a bit older than his peers and juco guard Kim Zurcher.
1999 (Haskins to Monson): Most of the roster carried over from the Gangelgate season, except for those exhausting their eligibility and Kevin Clark and Kevin Nathaniel. Monson also benefitted from holding onto the recruits Michael Bauer and Kevin Burleson and the juco transfer John Blair-Bickerstaff. As memory serves, JBB was particularly important after Pryzbilla left the team and emerged as a leader his two seasons on the team. Look at JBB's stats and the team he was coming from at Oregon State--I doubt anyone could have predicted the impact he would have on the team in Monson's early years.
2007 (Monson to Tubby): Al Nolen and Blake Hoffarber came onto the roster as freshmen and I believe they were continuations of Monson's recruiting. There were no recruits added that season, but Lawrence Westbrook and particularly Damien Johnson took big leaps forward from their prior seasons as Gophers--with Johnson in particular, it was as if a new player was added to the team.
2013 (Tubby to Pitino): DeAndre Mathieu and Malik Smith came on board and supplemented a veteran team towards the NIT title (which of course was a bit of fool's gold to how the Pitino era would go).
5. Coach Johnson's construction of this roster, from what I can see thus far, makes a lot of sense. Bringing in veterans, whether with one or two years of eligibility, allows for several roster spots for the Class of '22, which as has been recognized as a deep roster of prospects within the state of MN. Knowing that Stevens, Loewe, and Kalscheur (assuming he returns) are moving on after next year would seem to be an attractive selling point to the likes of Tre Holloman and Eli King. Bringing someone on board such as KyKy Tandy (who very well could still come to the "U", who knows?) might clog the lanes for Johnson's vision of remaking the roster within a year or two.
I would also like to think that having veterans coming up from mid-majors to the Big Ten will result in a squad that what may lack in NBA potential will translate to savvy, hard working players with a chip of their shoulder wanting to prove they belong at this level. A group that could really set a tone of what a new coach wants to establish year after year in the program.
6. Second to last point-post '97, one of my favorite Gopher teams is the 2004-05 squad, the only team in Monson's tenure to make the NCAA tournament. Monson had a lot of talent come through the program, but that team didn't boast much of it. They did have a dynamic juco guard in Vincent Grier, but the others were a senior center who was a former walk-on (Jeff Hagen), an undersized senior point guard who had barely played his first three seasons (Aaron Robinson), a local transfer from St. Francis who was a walk on starter (Brent Lawson) a juco power forward who gave up several inches to most Big Ten opponents (J'Son Stamper) and a trio of green freshmen (Dan Coleman, Spencer Tollackson, and Rico Tucker). (Jordan Nuness was a sophomore and Ryan Saunders a freshman on that team also, although both played sparingly). Grier was the only consensus Top 100 recruit coming out of high school and he busted at his first stop.
I don't expect next year's team to make the NCAA tournament, but if they could show 80% of the heart of that '04-05 squad, it would be an excellent start to the Ben Johnson era.
7. Final point-I just find it to be BS disparaging the guys who are coming on board-I stated it already in point #2, but these guys are taking a chance--while none of them may be able to walk onto any Power 5 roster, I am quite certain that each of them could find a roster spot with an established coach in a power conference or high level mid-major, at worst. Instead, they're buying into Johnson and the "U" for their final year or years of their competitive basketball lives. They're going to put in the hours and sweat and likely some lumps next season-they are going to be an important bridge to the next era of Gopher basketball, no matter if their time with the program is only a year.
1. I'm perplexed by the dismissiveness shown by some posters towards the players who have chosen to join the Gophers next season. No, there have not been any Top 150 recruits joining the team yet, but the three players joining the roster all scored over 15 ppg this past season, are veterans, and at least in the case of Loewe, have bonafide recognition on the defensive side of the ball. These look like three solid additions to a team, lead by. . .
2. A first-year coach who is starting with a roster almost from scratch. I could be wrong, but the only Gopher from last year who has publicly expressed that they are solidly on board for next season is Ihnen. Robbins and Brandon Johnson are hopeful returns and I'm assuming Gach is a sure thing to return, but I figured the one guy who'd be back without a thought would be Kalscheur, so I'm not putting any player into the returnee category until that player confirms. I have to think all three of our transfers would have solid other options, so I'm quite happy with Coach Johnson convincing them to take a leap of faith with him, especially in the case of Loewe and Stevens, who I believe will be completing their eligibility next year at the "U".
3. I'm also really confused by who some of the posters are expecting to land on campus. Take a look at Marreon Jackson's list of suitors-this mid-major point guard is being courted by a host of schools, including several that made the tourney this past season. UNC's Walker Kessler, who didn't start a game and averaged 8 minutes a game, is purported to be bound for Gonzaga. If it isn't Adam Miller or Dawson Garcia (who's not even in the portal) arriving on campus, are the players dismissed as unworthy of attention and support?
4. I've witnessed the Gophers go through four coaching transitions in my lifetime (Johnson will be #5). With every transition, players came in, often unheralded and provided a level of stability to the transition:
1986 (Dutcher/Williams to Haskins): We were fortunate that the trio recruited by Dutcher of Willie Burton, Melvin Newburn, and Jim Shikenjanksi held to their commitment with Clem, but Haskins supplemented that freshman class with Richard Coffey, who as we all know was a former paratrooper and a bit older than his peers and juco guard Kim Zurcher.
1999 (Haskins to Monson): Most of the roster carried over from the Gangelgate season, except for those exhausting their eligibility and Kevin Clark and Kevin Nathaniel. Monson also benefitted from holding onto the recruits Michael Bauer and Kevin Burleson and the juco transfer John Blair-Bickerstaff. As memory serves, JBB was particularly important after Pryzbilla left the team and emerged as a leader his two seasons on the team. Look at JBB's stats and the team he was coming from at Oregon State--I doubt anyone could have predicted the impact he would have on the team in Monson's early years.
2007 (Monson to Tubby): Al Nolen and Blake Hoffarber came onto the roster as freshmen and I believe they were continuations of Monson's recruiting. There were no recruits added that season, but Lawrence Westbrook and particularly Damien Johnson took big leaps forward from their prior seasons as Gophers--with Johnson in particular, it was as if a new player was added to the team.
2013 (Tubby to Pitino): DeAndre Mathieu and Malik Smith came on board and supplemented a veteran team towards the NIT title (which of course was a bit of fool's gold to how the Pitino era would go).
5. Coach Johnson's construction of this roster, from what I can see thus far, makes a lot of sense. Bringing in veterans, whether with one or two years of eligibility, allows for several roster spots for the Class of '22, which as has been recognized as a deep roster of prospects within the state of MN. Knowing that Stevens, Loewe, and Kalscheur (assuming he returns) are moving on after next year would seem to be an attractive selling point to the likes of Tre Holloman and Eli King. Bringing someone on board such as KyKy Tandy (who very well could still come to the "U", who knows?) might clog the lanes for Johnson's vision of remaking the roster within a year or two.
I would also like to think that having veterans coming up from mid-majors to the Big Ten will result in a squad that what may lack in NBA potential will translate to savvy, hard working players with a chip of their shoulder wanting to prove they belong at this level. A group that could really set a tone of what a new coach wants to establish year after year in the program.
6. Second to last point-post '97, one of my favorite Gopher teams is the 2004-05 squad, the only team in Monson's tenure to make the NCAA tournament. Monson had a lot of talent come through the program, but that team didn't boast much of it. They did have a dynamic juco guard in Vincent Grier, but the others were a senior center who was a former walk-on (Jeff Hagen), an undersized senior point guard who had barely played his first three seasons (Aaron Robinson), a local transfer from St. Francis who was a walk on starter (Brent Lawson) a juco power forward who gave up several inches to most Big Ten opponents (J'Son Stamper) and a trio of green freshmen (Dan Coleman, Spencer Tollackson, and Rico Tucker). (Jordan Nuness was a sophomore and Ryan Saunders a freshman on that team also, although both played sparingly). Grier was the only consensus Top 100 recruit coming out of high school and he busted at his first stop.
I don't expect next year's team to make the NCAA tournament, but if they could show 80% of the heart of that '04-05 squad, it would be an excellent start to the Ben Johnson era.
7. Final point-I just find it to be BS disparaging the guys who are coming on board-I stated it already in point #2, but these guys are taking a chance--while none of them may be able to walk onto any Power 5 roster, I am quite certain that each of them could find a roster spot with an established coach in a power conference or high level mid-major, at worst. Instead, they're buying into Johnson and the "U" for their final year or years of their competitive basketball lives. They're going to put in the hours and sweat and likely some lumps next season-they are going to be an important bridge to the next era of Gopher basketball, no matter if their time with the program is only a year.
