Kyan Evans

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Drew21 said:
Which Gopher back court has made it to the Sweet 16 in the last 25 years? I'll wait.
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I don't remember Asuma and Evans, who doesn't even play for us yet, making the sweet 16, or even start 1 game for a B1G team.

I do remember all of the other guards that I mentioned playing in multiple NCAA tournament games though. Gabe also made the sweet 16 at Iowa St, and Carr made the elite 8 at Texas.
 

Here's where Asuma ranked of all freshmen who played in the B10 (dead last, by a wide margin):
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Here's where he ranked among the 23 "Combo Guards":
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Yes, 3 Washington Huskies were objectively better.

Now, if you make an argument that he was a true freshman that was deferring to teammates that all had 5 years of college experience, I would concede that point - having potential is not the same thing as realizing it, though.
 

Kojo said:
Isn't it time to leave the Ben Johnson bashing behind? He brought in a lot of good players who left due to insufficient NIL funds. His players were well coached and played hard if you went to any gopher game. The athletic director hired a inexperienced coach to a changing college athletics landscape and Ben was not prepared to deal with NIL stuff. That's all. He wasn't a bad coach or person.
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I'm not bashing him and I would have been fine if Coyle gave him the support in the new era of revenue sharing. Coyle went another direction and I support it. I've put in other threads that Ben had really good talent last year and they all left.

It is a true however that Ben has limited experience in a winning culture.
 


He is 100% wrong about Evan‘s an Asuma being the best duo since Eric Harris and Bobby Jackson. Plenty of good back courts since then, and although Isaac’s a very good talent and will get better, we don’t even have Evans yet. But Harris and Jackson are the last back court due to make a sweet 16 game.
 









formerlybis said:
Here's where Asuma ranked of all freshmen who played in the B10 (dead last, by a wide margin):
View attachment 36356
Here's where he ranked among the 23 "Combo Guards":
View attachment 36357
Yes, 3 Washington Huskies were objectively better.

Now, if you make an argument that he was a true freshman that was deferring to teammates that all had 5 years of college experience, I would concede that point - having potential is not the same thing as realizing it, though.
Click to expand...
I would submit that Asuma just did not fit Ben's system at all. Asuma will be perfect for Niko, he is a pass first guard.
 



GopherWeatherGuy said:
I don't remember Asuma and Evans, who doesn't even play for us yet, making the sweet 16, or even start 1 game for a B1G team.

I do remember all of the other guards that I mentioned playing in multiple NCAA tournament games though. Gabe also made the sweet 16 at Iowa St, and Carr made the elite 8 at Texas.
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Arguing other than post freshman year Gabe was anything but a significant disappointment would be silly. His shooting slump continued for two full years.
 

bga1 said:
I would submit that Asuma just did not fit Ben's system at all. Asuma will be perfect for Niko, he is a pass first guard.
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Maybe. It’s also possible he’s just a guy. There are portal players with much more *realized* potential. If he was from another state, this board would be looking to replace him.
 

formerlybis said:
Here's where Asuma ranked of all freshmen who played in the B10 (dead last, by a wide margin):
View attachment 36356
Here's where he ranked among the 23 "Combo Guards":
View attachment 36357
Yes, 3 Washington Huskies were objectively better.

Now, if you make an argument that he was a true freshman that was deferring to teammates that all had 5 years of college experience, I would concede that point - having potential is not the same thing as realizing it, though.
Click to expand...
Lol… The first five, maybe six, guys in the first list are first round NBA draft choices… Hardly a fair comparison. As far as the second chart, there is only one or two true freshmen on the whole list. To say that he was bad, is ridiculous.
 
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cheeseheadgophfan said:
Lol… The first five, maybe six, guys in the first list are first round NBA draft choices… Hardly affair comparison. As far as the second chart, there is only one or two true freshmen on the whole list. To say that he was bad, is ridiculous.
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OK. I'll listen to well-reasoned arguments. What would be a better comparison? Even if you look at just the Gophers, he was 6th. He was bad. Does he have potential? Of course, but he did not fare well as a true frosh.
 


I can't believe people are diminishing Asuma. He didn't light the world on fire last year, but he was fairly productive last year for a true freshman. IMO he should have been starting at least the latter half of last season. He was much more of a threat to do something than Mike Mitchell at that point. He played quite a bit considering he was competing only with Seniors for playing time.
 

GopherBlood777 said:
I can't believe people are diminishing Asuma. He didn't light the world on fire last year, but he was fairly productive last year for a true freshman. IMO he should have been starting at least the latter half of last season. He was much more of a threat to do something than Mike Mitchell at that point. He played quite a bit considering he was competing only with Seniors for playing time.
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This may surprise you, but I’m not sure everyone with a moniker on the Gopherhole is an expert at talent evaluation.
 

GopherBlood777 said:
I can't believe people are diminishing Asuma. He didn't light the world on fire last year, but he was fairly productive last year for a true freshman. IMO he should have been starting at least the latter half of last season. He was much more of a threat to do something than Mike Mitchell at that point. He played quite a bit considering he was competing only with Seniors for playing time.
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Agree. Why knock the kid that 100% wants to be here no matter the coach and will fill a role on Niko's team.

2nd year players with Power conference experience don't grow on trees for new coaches. He filled 25 minutes a game with solid freshmen minutes.
 

GopherBlood777 said:
I can't believe people are diminishing Asuma. He didn't light the world on fire last year, but he was fairly productive last year for a true freshman. IMO he should have been starting at least the latter half of last season. He was much more of a threat to do something than Mike Mitchell at that point. He played quite a bit considering he was competing only with Seniors for playing time.
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The Ben offense was to dribble your way to get your own points and guys ended up throwing up a lot of bad shots. Patterson for example scored almost 12 points a game, but his shooting percentages were 36.8% FG and 26.4% on 3s while Asuma was at 43.7 and 35.7 respectively. He just didn't take bad shots. That's the way Asuma's game is wired. I think he will be really good in Niko's offense.
 

Is there an option between.....
(a) if he wasn't from Minnesota we would be looking to replace him and
(b) he is one half of the best guard tandems at Minnesota of the last 35 years?

If so, I would take that option.
 
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formerlybis said:
Maybe. It’s also possible he’s just a guy. There are portal players with much more *realized* potential. If he was from another state, this board would be looking to replace him.
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With so many other open spots to fill, I don't think so.
 


GopherBlood777 said:
I can't believe people are diminishing Asuma. He didn't light the world on fire last year, but he was fairly productive last year for a true freshman. IMO he should have been starting at least the latter half of last season. He was much more of a threat to do something than Mike Mitchell at that point. He played quite a bit considering he was competing only with Seniors for playing time.
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This is Gopherhole -- so I believe pretty much any line of conversation is possible.

After having watched decades of Gophers basketball, I've come to see that most talented four-star types of freshman appear pretty lost through about the first 80% of their first season. Only at the very end of the season do we get a glimpse of what is to come.

By that standard, I thought Asuma was impressive. He was poised from Day One. Steady. Didn't do much in the way of pure stupidity. Didn't change the game or drive its direction, but was productive and opportunistic. By my book, that's a solid "A" for a freshman.

I'd think that with this past year in his back pocket, he'll take a nice step up.
 

bga1 said:
I would submit that Asuma just did not fit Ben's system at all. Asuma will be perfect for Niko, he is a pass first guard.
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Ben had a system? Dribbling the ball flat with near zero movement could be considered a system I guess.

As for your assessment, I think you are spot on! Asuma should mesh very well with Niko’s offensive strategy. I think he will also actually get plays called for him for the first time!
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Agree. Why knock the kid that 100% wants to be here no matter the coach and will fill a role on Niko's team.

2nd year players with Power conference experience don't grow on trees for new coaches. He filled 25 minutes a game with solid freshmen minutes.
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Who's knocking Asuma? This whole conversation started because someone ridiculously called an Asuma/Evans backcourt the best since Bobby Jackson and Eric Harris. That is insane.

Some of us are just being realistic. I like Asuma, I'm happy he's staying, and I think he has a good chance to develop into a solid staring B1G guard in Niko's system.

But he has a long ways to go. His freshman numbers were very similar to Braden Carringtons, and nowhere near Nate Mason's, Amir Coffey's, or Gabe K's freshman numbers. There have been a lot of freshman guards who have put up better numbers at Minnesota over the last 30 years.
 


touchdownvikings said:
This is Gopherhole -- so I believe pretty much any line of conversation is possible.

After having watched decades of Gophers basketball, I've come to see that most talented four-star types of freshman appear pretty lost through about the first 80% of their first season. Only at the very end of the season do we get a glimpse of what is to come.

By that standard, I thought Asuma was impressive. He was poised from Day One. Steady. Didn't do much in the way of pure stupidity. Didn't change the game or drive its direction, but was productive and opportunistic. By my book, that's a solid "A" for a freshman.

I'd think that with this past year in his back pocket, he'll take a nice step up.
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Some coach once said the best thing about freshmen is they become sophomores. Only 12 freshmen in the whole league were part of their team's regular rotation, so that is an accomplishment in and of itself. My judgement of Asuma is not based on production *for a freshman*, but production for a player regardless of experience. By that standard - admittedly a tough one, but if you're playing, your stats count just the same as any other player - he was well below B10 average.

But freshmen do become sophomores.
 

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