Gophers target: Morehead State PG Ta'Lon Cooper (5.9 APG)

[WriterGoph]

Well, all right, but he went to high school in South Carolina so I figured he was from there.

Yeah i caught that as well, but just found him claiming "313" on his Twitter bio interesting. 2.5 hours and we will know.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

He was one of my favorite PGs of the bunch. Unlike some of the other guys, he is a real PG. The Purdue guy and McIntosh really appeared to be small SGs. Cooper is more like a good sized PG. He doesn't need to score a ton to really help us and although he didn't shoot great last year, his career stats show a guy who is a decent shooter (career 37% shooter). By every advanced metric, he really appears to be the best defender of the bunch. He is also 6'4", if we fill out our class with another PG/tweener, he is large enough to add some defensive versatility to lineups.

 

[Fleckoff]

Cooper should be able to give 20-25 a night with a combo taking the remaining minutes

 

[Spottedmuskie]

Cooper should be able to give 20-25 a night with a combo taking the remaining minutes

I bet all 5 starters get 30+ average, unless foul trouble is an issue

 

[MNVCGUY]

I bet all 5 starters get 30+ average, unless foul trouble is an issue

Maybe but we should be in a much better position depth wise next season, especially in the front court, so guys may not be asked to play such heavy minutes.

 

[Gophs24]

I bet all 5 starters get 30+ average, unless foul trouble is an issue

i hope we are in better position depth wise that that isn't the case....

 

[Fleckoff]

He corrected it right away....and he isn't the one saying this is a done deal. Cooper is the one who started responding to the tweets. I have no idea if he is coming or not. I would expect he isn't since he is scheduled to visit this weekend. But the way Cooper responded to the tweets was interesting.

Gophercrew is a fucking moron who just steals Ryan James' work and calls it his own and often times butchers it anyways

 

[Spottedmuskie]

i hope we are in better position depth wise that that isn't the case....

30 minutes out of 40 isn't bad. Pretty much every good team in the country plays their best players 30 minutes a night unless you can take out Zach Edey and put in Trevion Williams

 

[Blackhammer]

SEC seems likely. Question is has he visited any schools?

 

[Fleckoff]

I bet all 5 starters get 30+ average, unless foul trouble is an issue

I could see it at some point, towards the end of the year, but a lot of it depends on who we get off the bench. One of Payne or Fox will not be starting. If Josiah Strong commits he's a six man whose going to get run at both the guard spots. I do think Battle and Garcia will be over 30 minutes, but I think everyone else is either going to have to earn it or someone will have to fail to meet expectations at the other spots

 

[GopherPlaya]

He was one of my favorite PGs of the bunch. Unlike some of the other guys, he is a real PG. The Purdue guy and McIntosh really appeared to be small SGs. Cooper is more like a good sized PG. He doesn't need to score a ton to really help us and although he didn't shoot great last year, his career stats show a guy who is a decent shooter (career 37% shooter). By every advanced metric, he really appears to be the best defender of the bunch. He is also 6'4", if we fill out our class with another PG/tweener, he is large enough to add some defensive versatility to lineups.

Strong & Stewart would be great adds to go with Cooper & Dawson. We would have the piece to be a tourney team. Dawson is the perfect big for our 5 out system

 

[GopherPlaya]

I could see it at some point, towards the end of the year, but a lot of it depends on who we get off the bench. One of Payne or Fox will not be starting. If Josiah Strong commits he's a six man whose going to get run at both the guard spots. I do think Battle and Garcia will be over 30 minutes, but I think everyone else is either going to have to earn it or someone will have to fail to meet expectations at the other spots

I agree. I expect to see more 22-28 minutes for guys outside of Jamison & Dawson

 

[cjbfbp]

SEC seems likely. Question is has he visited any schools?

I was wondering that myself.

 

[Zeppelin Gopher]

This is a done deal per RJ.

LOVE IT!!!

 

[ethomasp31]

Gophercrew is a fucking moron who just steals Ryan James' work and calls it his own and often times butchers it anyways

That's probably true....I don't have any idea who gopher crew even is....I was saying that Cooper responded to Tweets in a way that was interesting. The thing about Tiason and Sy Chatman being brothers, half of the people on this board would have no idea if they were or not. People can make that mistake...I guess I'm more frustrated with half the negative trolls on this board rather than a fan who makes a mistake whether two guys are siblings or not.

I'm not trusting Gopher Crews predictions....I honestly thinking based on timing that Cooper probably isn't going to be committing to the Gophers. Ryan James hasn't mentioned it on Twitter....but both Marcus and Tony Liebert have mentioned his announcement coming today on Twitter.

 

[alchemy2u]

At worst, he gets to play for a bad Big 10 team but will likely get a TON of minutes. At best, there are some intriguing pieces here too.

No one wants to transfer up to sit on the bench (except maybe Theo John?), and he has to feel pretty comfortable in his chances of getting a lot of PT here.

Wow, nice fan..... Automatically claiming we will be a bad B1G team....

 

[Holy Man]

Hes 100% coming here.

Huge confidence is shown by those 100% in the know, or less than 2% in the know. Which one are you?

 

[Gophs24]

30 minutes out of 40 isn't bad. Pretty much every good team in the country plays their best players 30 minutes a night unless you can take out Zach Edey and put in Trevion Williams

yeah thats true
i mean Garcia & Battle will both be pushing that mid 30's minutes.
But Fox? i dont think he gets 30 minutes a game....or whomever is the other front court starter
I would guess our priority PG we are after will get that 30 point range.
The other wing spot? i dont think that spot gets 30 mintues a game either

but maybe thats me more wishful thinking in that i truly believe that Henley/Payne/Carrington will all be able to provide us with at least something as true freshman

and maybe some of it is wishful thinking in the idea that i dont want to watch 5-6 guys getting all the minutes every game like we did last year and then clearly just running out of gas both as the season went on and as each game went on

 

[Holy Man]

He will be committing here I believe in a few hours. I have no insider info. However, in reading the tea leaves, he is committing here. The Gophers have others who want to commit now and especially after Honor signed with Mizzou, Cooper was the top PG target. I think he will commit now and then confirm it with his visit.

Believe when I see.

 

[Keyser Söze]

Wow, nice fan..... Automatically claiming we will be a bad B1G team....

He said at worst, i.e., that's the worst case scenario for him if he comes here.

 

[Johnnyboy18]

Huge confidence is shown by those 100% in the know, or less than 2% in the know. Which one are you?

Unless his mom is into trolling, he's coming here.

 

[Holy Man]

Wow, nice fan..... Automatically claiming we will be a bad B1G team....

Bob needs no defense, but that is not what he said. "At worst, a bad B1G team" is not predicting a bad team. This appears to be narrative pushing.

 

[Holy Man]

Unless his mom is into trolling, he's coming here.

Anyone can troll. Even moms.

 

[GopherOhana]

yeah thats true
i mean Garcia & Battle will both be pushing that mid 30's minutes.
But Fox? i dont think he gets 30 minutes a game....or whomever is the other front court starter
I would guess our priority PG we are after will get that 30 point range.
The other wing spot? i dont think that spot gets 30 mintues a game either

but maybe thats me more wishful thinking in that i truly believe that Henley/Payne/Carrington will all be able to provide us with at least something as true freshman

and maybe some of it is wishful thinking in the idea that i dont want to watch 5-6 guys getting all the minutes every game like we did last year and then clearly just running out of gas both as the season went on and as each game went on

no idea why any player would play more than 28 minutes when the gophers will consistently be up by double digits with 10 to play.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Wow, nice fan..... Automatically claiming we will be a bad B1G team....

You're a really dumb person.

I said worse case scenario, what would be worse?

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Bob needs no defense, but that is not what he said. "At worst, a bad B1G team" is not predicting a bad team. This appears to be narrative pushing.

I'm pushing a narrative? LOL. Literally, I was advocating why, despite having a bad year last year, we should still be attractive to any PG prospect. We play in the Big 10 and we have a ton of minutes to give a PG.

So even if we are bad, it's not a bad spot for a transfer PG to land.

If I thought we'd be bad, I wouldn't have to pussy foot around it. I have absolutely no idea how we'll be next year. Garcia is extremely intriguing and kind of up and down. Battle is good and the rest are unknowns. I've been consistently optimistic about our FR class. At the end of the day, I think we're two more decent transfers away from being a really intriguing team.

Some of you people really squint to find slights out of nowhere.

 

[skiumah1]

Strong & Stewart would be great adds to go with Cooper & Dawson. We would have the piece to be a tourney team. Dawson is the perfect big for our 5 out system

Total agreement on that crew

 

[cjbfbp]

I'm pushing a narrative? LOL. Literally, I was advocating why, despite having a bad year last year, we should still be attractive to any PG prospect. We play in the Big 10 and we have a ton of minutes to give a PG.

So even if we are bad, it's not a bad spot for a transfer PG to land.

If I thought we'd be bad, I wouldn't have to pussy foot around it. I have absolutely no idea how we'll be next year. Garcia is extremely intriguing and kind of up and down. Battle is good and the rest are unknowns. I've been consistently optimistic about our FR class. At the end of the day, I think we're two more decent transfers away from being a really intriguing team.

Some of you people really squint to find slights out of nowhere.

I don't think he was referring to "your" narrative.

 

[bga1]

yeah thats true
i mean Garcia & Battle will both be pushing that mid 30's minutes.
But Fox? i dont think he gets 30 minutes a game....or whomever is the other front court starter
I would guess our priority PG we are after will get that 30 point range.
The other wing spot? i dont think that spot gets 30 mintues a game either

but maybe thats me more wishful thinking in that i truly believe that Henley/Payne/Carrington will all be able to provide us with at least something as true freshman

and maybe some of it is wishful thinking in the idea that i dont want to watch 5-6 guys getting all the minutes every game like we did last year and then clearly just running out of gas both as the season went on and as each game went on

Both Fox and Ihnen are wild cards. Fox certainly performed at a high level in D2. My concern, is how did he do it. Did he simply bully his way with his superior leaping ability and score on a lot of dunks?
He shot 50% on his free throws and shot very few threes. While his FG percentage was very high at about 64% , we don't know how that will translate at the Big Ten level.

With Ihnen, he has the length and the athleticism and a good looking shot, the question is whether he can add the dribble drive and more muscle to what we saw a couple years ago. And.....can Ben find the right role for him. I personally, like him better on the inside than on the perimeter because he defaulted so quickly to the outside shot and almost never drove to the basket. In the paint, he is able to block shots and keep rebounds alive with his length. I hope we see a much improved and more confident Ihnen this fall.

Perhaps there will be matchups where one or the other fits better but I agree that neither appear to be 30 minute guys.

 

[Holy Man]

I'm pushing a narrative? LOL. Literally, I was advocating why, despite having a bad year last year, we should still be attractive to any PG prospect. We play in the Big 10 and we have a ton of minutes to give a PG.

So even if we are bad, it's not a bad spot for a transfer PG to land.

If I thought we'd be bad, I wouldn't have to pussy foot around it. I have absolutely no idea how we'll be next year. Garcia is extremely intriguing and kind of up and down. Battle is good and the rest are unknowns. I've been consistently optimistic about our FR class. At the end of the day, I think we're two more decent transfers away from being a really intriguing team.

Some of you people really squint to find slights out of nowhere.

The narrative wasn’t yours. It was the guy who quoted you. Calm down. I haven’t been a “you people” in a long time.