Indiana State River College (JUCO) guard Abdoulaye Thiam commits to Minnesota

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The write up is encouraging. Makes me think of a Bobby Jackson type player who has a chip on his shoulder and a drive to succeed.
 


small ball, we are here. should be an interesting season.

Serious question, anyone know the last B1G team that played small ball for a year?
 



PeterMac05 said:
Same JUCO as Charlie Daniels? That can’t just be a coincidence.
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Would guess there is a connection to the coaching staff at this JUCO with Ben or an assistant coach knowing them.
 



DeathClutch said:
Shot 63/130 (48.5%) from 3. He was only a freshman too. Looking at game logs he got better as the season went on, with a couple of 20+ point performances, against ranked teams, in the tournament.
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He's quite a good shooting and scoring guard. 15 points a game as a freshman off the bench is impressive. He's obviously not a point guard and we could use one of those (Johnson said a week ago that he was looking for one).
 



cjbfbp said:
He's quite a good shooting and scoring guard. 15 points a game as a freshman off the bench is impressive. He's obviously not a point guard and we could use one of those (Johnson said a week ago that he was looking for one).
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Did you see tape on him to state that "he's obviously not a point guard?" Believe it or not, point guards can shoot the ball and score when needed. Clearly his JUCO team needed him to score, but that doesn't mean he can't handle the rock and distribute when needed. I think you're a little quick to say he's not a point guard.
 

cjbfbp said:
He's quite a good shooting and scoring guard. 15 points a game as a freshman off the bench is impressive. He's obviously not a point guard and we could use one of those (Johnson said a week ago that he was looking for one).
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I completely agree they need another point guard but I'm glad he didn't pass up a shooter with his insane numbers and the intensity you want as described by his coach. Maybe he has some ball handling ability that can be further developed. Regardless this is an addition I am excited about.
 

MennoSota said:
Did you see tape on him to state that "he's obviously not a point guard?" Believe it or not, point guards can shoot the ball and score when needed. Clearly his JUCO team needed him to score, but that doesn't mean he can't handle the rock and distribute when needed. I think you're a little quick to say he's not a point guard.
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"Believe it or not, point guards can shoot the ball and score when needed."

Gee, thanks for telling me. (Schmuck)

He had only 15 assists in 24 games despite playing a lot of minutes. He had a lousy assist to turnover ratio (.50) overall and even worse in conference (.30). If he was trying to be a point guard, he certainly did a terrible job of it. He appears to be a fine shooter and scorer and I'm glad we got him but he is not a natural point guard and doesn't appear to have played with that intention.
 

Ragnor said:
I completely agree they need another point guard but I'm glad he didn't pass up a shooter with his insane numbers and the intensity you want as described by his coach. Maybe he has some ball handling ability that can be further developed. Regardless this is an addition I am excited about.
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Oh, absolutely, me too! This softens the disappointment of the Charlie Daniels acquisition somewhat.
 




cjbfbp said:
"Believe it or not, point guards can shoot the ball and score when needed."

Gee, thanks for telling me. (Schmuck)

He had only 15 assists in 24 games despite playing a lot of minutes. He had a lousy assist to turnover ratio (.50) overall and even worse in conference (.30). If he was trying to be a point guard, he certainly did a terrible job of it. He appears to be a fine shooter and scorer and I'm glad we got him but he is not a natural point guard and doesn't appear to have played with that intention.
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Do you have video to show us? It seems the statisticians at this JUCO were not meticulous in their record keeping so I don't hold a lot of stock in the data and that includes shooting percentage. At this point, all we can go on is the tweets from Thiam himself.
 

From the Strib:

Gophers' Ben Johnson lands Florida junior college shooter Abdoulaye Thiam​

Gophers basketball coach Ben Johnson wasn't finished adding to his backcourt this spring with a commitment from junior college guard Abdoulaye Thiam on Friday.
The 6-foot-3, 180-pound freshman averaged 15 points and shot 48 percent from three-point range last season at Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Fla.
"I know it's a rebuilding process for Minnesota right now, but I want to be a part of that," Thiam said. "Coach Ben this being his first year, I would love to be a part of that to make history for Minnesota."
Thiam played for the same junior college as 6-9 Stephen F. Austin graduate transfer Charlie Daniels, who committed to the Gophers on Thursday.
In the national junior college tournament, Thiam had 23 points on 9-for-13 shooting and 5-for-9 shooting from three-point range in a win vs. the College of Southern Idaho to reach the Elite Eight.
He had seven 20-point performances in his last 13 games, including a career-high 31 points on 7-for-11 shooting from beyond the arc.
"He's just scratching the surface," Indian River State College coach Charlie Wilson said. "He's kind of a late bloomer. He's highly efficient. He's a high-level shooter with an unbelievable motor. He's an even better kid."
Thiam will have four years of eligibility for the Gophers since he was a full academic qualifier out of Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando last year. His parents are from Senegal, but Thiam's originally from Atlanta.
The Gophers have their eighth transfer joining the team, but they still have three scholarships remaining to find more size for the frontcourt.
Johnson has several experienced guards transferring into the program, including seniors E.J. Stephens (Lafayette), Luke Loewe (William & Mary), Payton Willis (Charleston) and Sean Sutherlin (New Hampshire).
"Since I'm a freshman, I'd say first year I would be a specialist," Thiam said about his role. "Just shooting the ball. But obviously, I have to go there to work hard and develop every day, so that I can get opportunities to touch the ball."

m.startribune.com

Gophers' Ben Johnson lands Florida junior college shooter Abdoulaye Thiam

Indian River State College freshman guard gives the Gophers their second recruit in 24 hours
m.startribune.com m.startribune.com
 

Hopefully a sniper off the bench. Haven't had that since....?
 

howeda7 said:
Hopefully a sniper off the bench. Haven't had that since....?
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Since our coach has mentioned that he's trying to build a program that can defend, I'm assuming this guy can also be a solid on-ball and team defender (or at least can be quickly developed into one) as well. We need to make sure we keep that skill set near the top of our qualification standards. It wasn't mentioned anywhere in the press release, which is why I bring it up. If a guy scores 13, but continually gives up 15, that does us no good.
 

Chico Gopher said:
Since our coach has mentioned that he's trying to build a program that can defend, I'm assuming this guy can also be a solid on-ball and team defender (or at least can be quickly developed into one) as well. We need to make sure we keep that skill set near the top of our qualification standards. It wasn't mentioned anywhere in the press release, which is why I bring it up. If a guy scores 13, but continually gives up 15, that does us no good.
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I understand your concern. However, it is much easier to teach team defense than it is to teach shooting. Give me a pure shooter I can teach defense to over a great defender who I have to teach how to shoot.
 

MennoSota said:
I understand your concern. However, it is much easier to teach team defense than it is to teach shooting. Give me a pure shooter I can teach defense to over a great defender who I have to teach how to shoot.
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The general attitude I've gotten in talking to coaches over the years is that they aren't that worried about finding guys who can score. Guys willing to consistently defend seems to be a rarer thing. Obviously, you need both. But my experience is that while coaches aren't fond of guys taking bad shots or missing good shots, they seem more upset by guys who can't/won't play defense.
 


Chico Gopher said:
Since our coach has mentioned that he's trying to build a program that can defend, I'm assuming this guy can also be a solid on-ball and team defender (or at least can be quickly developed into one) as well. We need to make sure we keep that skill set near the top of our qualification standards. It wasn't mentioned anywhere in the press release, which is why I bring it up. If a guy scores 13, but continually gives up 15, that does us no good.
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I agree and I have confidence he will be at least a decent defender from his coaches quoate: "He's just scratching the surface," Indian River State College coach Charlie Wilson said. "He's kind of a late bloomer. He's highly efficient. He's a high-level shooter with an unbelievable motor. He's an even better kid."

Defense is all about effort and appropriate athleticism. He must be fairly athletic in that he doesn't seem to have much trouble dunking at 6'3".
 


MennoSota said:
Do you have video to show us? It seems the statisticians at this JUCO were not meticulous in their record keeping so I don't hold a lot of stock in the data and that includes shooting percentage. At this point, all we can go on is the tweets from Thiam himself.
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So they were meticulous enough with their shooting stats to know he can shoot but not meticulous enough with the rest of their stats to know whether or not he is more of a scorer than a point guard?
 

SanDiegoGopherFan said:
small ball, we are here. should be an interesting season.

Serious question, anyone know the last B1G team that played small ball for a year?
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Michigan plans pretty small. This year they had more size.

In 2019-2020, they had a large center but Livers (~6'6" - 6'7") played the other F slot. A couple of years earlier, their top 7 or 8 guys were essentially Moritz Wagner and guards.

If you're innovated enough, small ball can be effective. Battle is actually a pretty ideal small ball 4.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
So they were meticulous enough with their shooting stats to know he can shoot but not meticulous enough with the rest of their stats to know whether or not he is more of a scorer than a point guard?
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It's hard to know. That's my point. If you're a good point guard on a bad team, you will have to score more than assist simply because there is no one else to do the scoring. Until we see game footage, we cannot really know what kind of a point guard he is.
 


Glad we got a guy who was on a winning team and who had good stats....We need to fill that roster. Now we have 10...3 to go for scholarships and then we need some walk ons.
 


MennoSota said:
It's hard to know. That's my point. If you're a good point guard on a bad team, you will have to score more than assist simply because there is no one else to do the scoring. Until we see game footage, we cannot really know what kind of a point guard he is.
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Look, you moron, why don't you just look this up? They had two guys who were designated as point guards. One was named AJ Cajuste. He had 104 assists in 24 games. He obviously was the starter. The other was named Tanahj Pettway and he had 52 assists in 24 games. He obviously was the backup.

Thiam was not the point guard and he's not designated as one on the roster but even if you didn't know that, his stats should tell you that he's not.

Carr was primarily a scoring point but he still had a lot of assists.

Why do you insist on arguing before you even done any research? That's the hallmark of a blowhard and a dope.
 

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