Jack Wilson commits

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Legend has it that Big Jack roams the lakes of the lower 48 looking for the one that got away. His 4-star pedigree haunts his mind and leads to an insatiable lust for low-post battles. While his skills are raw, his natural instincts and god-given size will amount to at least one double-double in conference play which will become the legend of our people. The story of Big Jack may fade as will Coach Johnson’s tenure, but Big Jack’s spirit will lurk the halls of Athlete’s Village for eternity, always looking for the one that got away.
 


Goldy-Wan Kenobi said:
Legend has it that Big Jack roams the lakes of the lower 48 looking for the one that got away. His 4-star pedigree haunts his mind and leads to an insatiable lust for low-post battles. While his skills are raw, his natural instincts and god-given size will amount to at least one double-double in conference play which will become the legend of our people. The story of Big Jack may fade as will Coach Johnson’s tenure, but Big Jack’s spirit will lurk the halls of Athlete’s Village for eternity, always looking for the one that got away.
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Fantastic post! Love it!

Go Gophers!!
 






Formerswish said:
That's going to be a lot of muscle and weight pounding with he and Payne against each other in practice this coming year. I hope the guy stays on the hardwood and shows some skills. If he can push some people around, rebound, screen, and play defense for 7-8 min a game, we may be OK here. But we'll have to see.
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topos said:
Nice! We got our center depth piece.

I just watched an interview, and it looks like he started his career at Idaho playing hoops (two years), then transferred to Washington St. to focus on football. Last year the W. St. basketball team had injury issues, and he stepped in to provide practice depth.

One of his teammates commented, "We knew he was big, but we were all surprised how good he actually was."

At 6'11" and 340 lbs, Jack should definitely be able to play a few minutes in the big ten, grab a rebound or two, and not be pushed around.

We really needed a bruiser #5, with Garcia being more finesse and Payne slightly undersized. Mission accomplished.
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topos said:
I bet it's SUPER easy to recruit someone to play 4-8 minutes a game, but only if the three guys in front of him are in foul trouble.

We have five scholarships. Relax. We only ever needed depth at the #5 to eat up some fouls and grab a rebound.
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eker0016 said:
What I want Jack Wilson to do:
- bang with Payne in practice. I felt he sometimes struggled to get his shot off against the taller/more physical guys
- give us 5 really hard fouls against Edey
- be a positive locker room presence, as a 6th year guy who wants to be a strength/conditioning coach
- give us 5-10 minutes in a pinch if Payne is in foul trouble

What I don't want Wilson to do:
- ever need to see the floor for more than 5-10 minutes as spot duty
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bmb5270 said:
I actually think this guy is a better fit for a back up big than Thompson. He should be able to body up a guy like Edey. Thompsons problem was that he wasn’t strong enough to defend in the paint and wasn’t quick enough to defend the perimeter.
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At request of melon twister, this is from page 1 of 21 - didn't bother to go further
 






This thread is a good read.

We have people celebrating how good he'll be at practice and arguing it is a good signing because we don't need to play him. LOL. This is almost as good of an argument celebrating Christie's and Garcia's poor play because they'll stay longer.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
This thread is a good read.

We have people celebrating how good he'll be at practice and arguing it is a good signing because we don't need to play him. LOL. This is almost as good of an argument celebrating Christie's and Garcia's poor play because they'll stay longer.
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It was a brilliant signing because Ben knew he was going to have a playing rotation of only six players anyway, so what's the point of recruiting anyone to actually play once you have your starters on the roster!?
 

Bad Gopher said:
It was a brilliant signing because Ben knew he was going to have a playing rotation of only six players anyway, so what's the point of recruiting anyone to actually play once you have your starters on the roster!?
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Ben's learning and growing as a coach. "Can't keep more than 8 guys happy" has evolved to 6.
 

Things about fans that baffle me. Not pointing fingers at anybody in particular, but I know I've seen plenty of posts expressing the idea that; "if this player can't or won't do what's expected of him, sit him on the bench until he gets it". Nothing wrong with a coach having that philosophy, many of them do. What's baffling is, after seeing all the posts during the season, recommending that policy, and seeing Ben apparently take that tact in terms of JOJ and Ihnen specifically in the past few weeks, posters complain about those guys not getting into the game.

Sometimes seems like fan forums have a lot of "Turn off the lights! Why did you do that, now it's too dark?" going on.
 

Chico Gopher said:
Things about fans that baffle me. Not pointing fingers at anybody in particular, but I know I've seen plenty of posts expressing the idea that; "if this player can't or won't do what's expected of him, sit him on the bench until he gets it". Nothing wrong with a coach having that philosophy, many of them do. What's baffling is, after seeing all the posts during the season, recommending that policy, and seeing Ben apparently take that tact in terms of JOJ and Ihnen specifically in the past few weeks, posters complain about those guys not getting into the game.

Sometimes seems like fan forums have a lot of "Turn off the lights! Why did you do that, now it's too dark?" going on.
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I don't blame Ben for not playing JOJ. I'm in that camp that I wouldn't play him until he figures it out. However, I do blame Ben for bringing in someone like Jack Wilson who, by every metric available to everyone, has no business playing Big 10 basketball. He is a signing like Ogele.

For me, he was short about 2 guards. We have 1 injury and we literally only have three playable players for three spots.
 


I still don't think bringing Wilson in was that big of a deal. The days of players developing on the bench are largely gone. Most teams are going to have open scholarships or guys at the end of the bench that are there simply for deep depth.

Remember they expected Evans to be here now too. It's hard to find a quality backup transfer that are willing to go somewhere to play maybe 5-10 minutes a game at the most.
 
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Bob_Loblaw said:
This thread is a good read.

We have people celebrating how good he'll be at practice and arguing it is a good signing because we don't need to play him. LOL. This is almost as good of an argument celebrating Christie's and Garcia's poor play because they'll stay longer.
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I GUARANTEE you guys would have been campaigning for Haskins' firing too.

His first 2 seasons had a terrible won-loss record...and even on his good teams he had guys like Hosea Crittenden and other bench-warmers.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
This thread is a good read.

We have people celebrating how good he'll be at practice and arguing it is a good signing because we don't need to play him. LOL. This is almost as good of an argument celebrating Christie's and Garcia's poor play because they'll stay longer.
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Would you want a scenario where Garcia & Christie dominate and carry the team through the NIT ? Really break out and have scouts taking extra notice?

Me...my #1 hope by far is that everyone returns.
 


Bob_Loblaw said:
This thread is a good read.

We have people celebrating how good he'll be at practice and arguing it is a good signing because we don't need to play him. LOL. This is almost as good of an argument celebrating Christie's and Garcia's poor play because they'll stay longer.
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Not saying it true but could make the argument that bringing in a banger like Wilson has allowed PP to get better in the post and finishing through contact better.

The commentators the other night mentioned how much better he is even compared to the beginning of the season.

Could going against someone like Wilson help contribute to PPs development? 🤷‍♂️
 

Bad Gopher said:
It was a brilliant signing because Ben knew he was going to have a playing rotation of only six players anyway, so what's the point of recruiting anyone to actually play once you have your starters on the roster!?
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howeda7 said:
Jack has 11 points, so needs another 11 (at least) points on Saturday to take the lead. You can do it!
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howeda7 said:
Ben's learning and growing as a coach. "Can't keep more than 8 guys happy" has evolved to 6.
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This thread is a good read if you enjoy mud-slinging.
 


pharmacygopher said:
Not saying it true but could make the argument that bringing in a banger like Wilson has allowed PP to get better in the post and finishing through contact better.

The commentators the other night mentioned how much better he is even compared to the beginning of the season.

Could going against someone like Wilson help contribute to PPs development? 🤷‍♂️
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PP's numbers really haven't improved that much this season though. He's playing about the same number of minutes as last season, his points and rebounds are up slightly, but his FG% has dropped from 69% to 62%., along with his FT%.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I still don't think bringing Wilson in was that big of a deal. The days of players developing on the bench are largely gone. Most teams are going to have open scholarships or guys at the end of the bench that are there simply for deep depth.

Remember they expected Evans to be here now too. It's hard to find a quality backup transfer that are willing to go somewhere to play maybe 5-10 minutes a game at the most.
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They do seem hard to find. So far, The Fiddler, Driving Danny and Big Jack. No solutions from me.
 

pharmacygopher said:
Not saying it true but could make the argument that bringing in a banger like Wilson has allowed PP to get better in the post and finishing through contact better.

The commentators the other night mentioned how much better he is even compared to the beginning of the season.

Could going against someone like Wilson help contribute to PPs development? 🤷‍♂️
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Is it possible to bring in someone to help with development AND be playable for 5-10 minutes? Some seem to think it was an impossibility to find a player like that in the portal. Bringing in a one year guy to backup at center is fine. Bringing in an unplayable guy for one year to backup a position with no other depth is the problem. It has hurt us down the stretch as many predicted it would. If he signed Wilson in mid-june after striking out with 5 other players, would totally get it as well. He was signed in early may and was seemingly their priority target to backup at center which is why it was so head scratching.

Very happy with PP and his play, but the "improvements" he has made this year have been overstated in my opinion. His awareness is better so he's not fouling as much, and the one move he has in the post is nearly unstoppable. His conditioning is not much better (he has been battling injuries so not really concerned) and I expected him to at least have a baby hook or something else by now. His only post move is to try and spin past the defender for a layup. If he can't get immediately to the rim he struggles to score. Nearly unstoppable when it works, but when it doesn't it is basically a guaranteed turnover (offensive foul, gets stripped, wild shot, etc...) . He did attempt a couple of mid-range jump shots and did make one early in the year. I'm guessing the staff said no more of that since he completely erased that from his thought process.

Maybe Ben just didn't want to bring in anyone that would come close to making Payne feeling threatened about his standing on the team. Maybe big Jack's physicality in practice is why Payne has been injured all season? We probably won't ever know either. Ben's short rotations would suggest he is trying to win now, so why is he signing guys as if he doesn't plan on winning until later? Too many questions.
 

Paynes improvement has been a little better than stated above. His footwork is better, he finishes better. His PPG would be better, but this isn’t a team who spends much time passing to post up centers. His moves to the basket now start further out, and no he doesnt lose the ball that often. He is a relentless worker, and a load on the boards. Plus, his FT shooting has improved considerably. Did Wilson’s practice presence help? Hard to say, I wasnot at practice, along with everyone else here. But it’s hard to practice and improve moves and box outs against players inferior in size to you. In that vein Wilson might have contributed?

The Gophers have not had that bad a year for a team picked to finish last in the league. They have mostly been competitive, there are teams with far more talent that have had poorer years. I know this has been trying for the Fire Ben crowd, but you will get over it. Maybe when he is here a couple more years you will mellow? But your dream of having some stud coach come in here and turn this into a consistent to 20 team is just that, a dream. We seemingly can’t, or won’t compete in NIL money making recruiting very difficult. Just selling recruits on the university, team, coach and area won’t cut it. In the words of the ever venerable Randy Moss, "straight cash homey"!
 

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