Niko’s roster construction

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Willis on board!
so sitting at 5 open spots.

GUARDS
1-Willis (PG-with ability to play along side a guy like Asuma)
2-Asuma (PG-wtih ability to play along side Willis)
3-Reynolds (SG)
4-Shinholster (SG)

WINGS
5-Durkin (more of that true SF)
6-BJ (SF who can get some minutes at the 2 as well)
7-JCJ (PF who can get some minutes at the 3 as well, and currently will need to play some minutes at the 5 as well)

BIGS
8-Vaihold-
9-Grove
10-Reader (Walk on)

whats next with the 5 spots left....and at least 2-3 of these guys that can be ready to contribute right this year!
1 more guard
2 more wings
2 more bigs-currently our biggest need to get 1 more guy that can contribute
 
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Gophs24 said:
Willis on board!
so sitting at 5 open spots.

GUARDS
1-Willis (PG-with ability to play along side a guy like Asuma)
2-Asuma (PG-wtih ability to play along side Willis)
3-Reynolds (SG)
4-Shinholster (SG)

WINGS
5-Durkin (more of that true SF)
6-BJ (SF who can get some minutes at the 2 as well)
7-JCJ (PF who can get some minutes at the 3 as well, and currently will need to play some minutes at the 5 as well)

BIGS
8-Vaihold-
9-Grove
10-Reader (Walk on)

whats next with the 5 spots left....and at least 2-3 of these guys that can be ready to contribute right this year!
1 more guard
2 more wings
2 more bigs
Click to expand...
Need a guard that can see significant minutes to avoid needing to rely on true freshman. And need at least one more big body (doesn't have to be really tall but need decent height and mass) to bang down low and this has the look of a solid roster on paper.

Will be interesting to see how the remainder of the roster fills out and then see what we have once all the new pieces can get out there and start playing together. Hopefully Niko is able to get guys adjusted to this level quicker then Ben was able to.

Side Note - I don't think it will happen but if somehow Dawson Garcia got another year of eligibility he would be an awesome addition to this roster and would go a long way towards shoring up the front court.
 

It will be interesting to see how Niko in a year can find his pieces to fit into his system. So far (on paper) seems we will have more SPEED!
 

drewhaus7 said:
It will be interesting to see how Niko in a year can find his pieces to fit into his system. So far (on paper) seems we will have more SPEED!
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Should be significantly better from the free throw line as well :)
 

It looks pretty good. Need at least two more bench players and/or possibly a starting center.

1-Willis
2-Reynolds
3-Durkin
4-Omot
5-JCJ

Bench:
6-Asuma
7-Vaihold
8-??

9-??
10. Grove
11. Shinholster
12. ??
13. ??
14. Reader
15. Walk-on
 


TwistingMyMelon said:
I agree with that although nothing is impossible, just unlikely. After all, Indiana, a team that had been to five bowls since 1993, just had 11 wins and a college football playoff appearance.

The reason I come to this board is that I don't know anyone in my non-cyber life who cares about gopher basketball. The closest was a work colleague who did discuss and watch the Gophers during their 2019 postseason. The only times I've ever seen the Gopher basketball team on the TV while at a restaurant or bar was during the early years of Tubby's tenure and that was only a couple of times. In contrast, I've seen the Gopher hockey team on TV at those places many times during my 20+ years here.
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1744647660878.png

It really would be nice to have real-life friends who knew anything about Gophs MBB lol

It's also been oddly difficult to follow the team... Fuller and Wolfson always seem to give approx 4% effort to coverage and they were the only options. Liebert is going to make an absolute killing once he properly monetizes his efforts. Three useful accounts to follow on Twitter?
 

Three pointers made:
Asuma: 25, 36%
Willis: 33, 28%
Reynolds: 18, 41%
Durkin: 91, 36%
Crocker-Johnson: 34, 35%
Omot: 53 (28%) at UND and 6 (35%) at Cal
Vaiola: 0%

Last year at Colorado State Niko had three guys making 65 or more 3's:
Evans: 70, 45%
Lake: 69, 35%
Clifford: 66, 38%
JCJ: 34, 35%
Born: 31, 32%
Williams: 19, 37%
Jorgensen, 14, 31%

Obviously Durkin will be our big 3PT threat.

I will be curious to see if Grayson Grove is a threat at all or if Omot can sustain that 35% he had at Cal or if he regresses to UND. Willis shot 29% from 3PT at JUCO and 30% at Saginaw Valley State so I'm guessing he is who he is.

Reynolds shot 41% which is really nice but only made 18, and in his highlight video they were all wide open shots with what looked like a slow release so not sure he will be able to up that.

Kyan Evans was just a 32% 3PT shooter (9/28) his freshman year before massively improving this year so I'm curious to see if Medved can help anybody develop into a bigger 3PT threat.
 

NYtoWItoMN said:
View attachment 36597

It really would be nice to have real-life friends who knew anything about Gophs MBB lol

It's also been oddly difficult to follow the team... Fuller and Wolfson always seem to give approx 4% effort to coverage and they were the only options. Liebert is going to make an absolute killing once he properly monetizes his efforts. Three useful accounts to follow on Twitter?
Click to expand...
Liebert has no connections IMO. He just does what many do, follows twitter and pay site and then packages it with some graphics as if he's breaking something.

Ryan James is likely the most locked in, but he isn't going to put much out for free.

Niko will likely build a local media favorite over time and share things with them.
 

Gophs24 said:
Willis on board!
so sitting at 5 open spots.

GUARDS
1-Willis (PG-with ability to play along side a guy like Asuma)
2-Asuma (PG-wtih ability to play along side Willis)
3-Reynolds (SG)
4-Shinholster (SG)

WINGS
5-Durkin (more of that true SF)
6-BJ (SF who can get some minutes at the 2 as well)
7-JCJ (PF who can get some minutes at the 3 as well, and currently will need to play some minutes at the 5 as well)

BIGS
8-Vaihold-
9-Grove
10-Reader (Walk on)

whats next with the 5 spots left....and at least 2-3 of these guys that can be ready to contribute right this year!
1 more guard
2 more wings
2 more bigs-currently our biggest need to get 1 more guy that can contribute
Click to expand...
This is what I was looking for, thanks - perfect summary
 



I like the additions! I'd like:

One elite shooting SG. doesn't need to be a 30min a game guy but a 43%ish sniper guy.

Groves: added G depth and balances classes

A big PF/C type. Someone who could play C with JCJ or PF with vaihola.

Again no of us have any idea on how much $$ we have or how much these guys are getting. No real superstar massive names, maybe that is by design to have 8-9 good players. Or are we sitting waiting for that one final piece?

Overall I like the roster build. Feels like a team that will compete night in night out.
 


bmb5270 said:
On3 has the Gophers transfer class rated 10th in the country, and that was before Willis
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Don't take offense to this, but this is such a note that needs a lot of context added to it. Most of these rankings are skewed because of numbers. Sure we have some solid pickups, I like the roster, but most of this is that we have a higher volume of transfers as opposed to purely talented guys. So for the most part it's going to "score" higher.

It happens in football all the time, Gophers have the 5th ranked class! Sure because we have 15 3* and OSU only has 7 guys, but those guys are 5 5* and 2 4*, and the end of the day we won't be close to that number. Quit looking at those rankings people they mean nothing. 🤣

I trust niko and think he's putting together a nice class, it won't end up near the top 10 and that is perfectly fine.
 

leib0039 said:
Don't take offense to this, but this is such a note that needs a lot of context added to it. Most of these rankings are skewed because of numbers. Sure we have some solid pickups, I like the roster, but most of this is that we have a higher volume of transfers as opposed to purely talented guys. So for the most part it's going to "score" higher.

It happens in football all the time, Gophers have the 5th ranked class! Sure because we have 15 3* and OSU only has 7 guys, but those guys are 5 5* and 2 4*, and the end of the day we won't be close to that number. Quit looking at those rankings people they mean nothing. 🤣

I trust niko and think he's putting together a nice class, it won't end up near the top 10 and that is perfectly fine.
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While absolutely true they're skewed by numbers, most of the teams in front of us only have 1 less guy and Durkin, Omot and Reynolds they have as 4 stars.
 



leib0039 said:
Don't take offense to this, but this is such a note that needs a lot of context added to it. Most of these rankings are skewed because of numbers. Sure we have some solid pickups, I like the roster, but most of this is that we have a higher volume of transfers as opposed to purely talented guys. So for the most part it's going to "score" higher.

It happens in football all the time, Gophers have the 5th ranked class! Sure because we have 15 3* and OSU only has 7 guys, but those guys are 5 5* and 2 4*, and the end of the day we won't be close to that number. Quit looking at those rankings people they mean nothing. 🤣

I trust niko and think he's putting together a nice class, it won't end up near the top 10 and that is perfectly fine.
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Yeah, looks like he is pulling together a solid roster but ranking it against anyone else is a pointless effort because none of us has any clue (recruiting sites included) how all these newly formed rosters are going to perform next year.

So much of your success in basketball hinges on how well the players work together. It explains how a team like Rutgers with some great individual talent fisnished below .500 and missed post season play this year in-spite of having 2 potential top 5 NBA draft picks.
 

bmb5270 said:
On3 has the Gophers transfer class rated 10th in the country, and that was before Willis
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Willis now in there, and still at #10.

Keep in mind, though, that this is a net index considering who a team has lost and who they're bringing in. It measures the value added to the team through the transfer process.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yeah, looks like he is pulling together a solid roster but ranking it against anyone else is a pointless effort because none of us has any clue (recruiting sites included) how all these newly formed rosters are going to perform next year.

So much of your success in basketball hinges on how well the players work together. It explains how a team like Rutgers with some great individual talent fisnished below .500 and missed post season play this year in-spite of having 2 potential top 5 NBA draft picks.
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Puts a premium on coaching; the best coaches can get players to play together in a shifting landscape every 12 months. The best coaches can roll with it because they have a system that can be executed relentlessly.
 

I am really liking the Langston addition. I think his addition helps give us the ability to play small ball, because he is a guard who can attack the rim and rebound.

Willis is an addition that is growing on me a bit. It is tough to average the amount of points that he did (and he rebounds well, assists, and can get steals). I think on a more complete team he can raise his FG% because he won't have the need to shoulder all of the scoring. I will have to spend more time and watch some highlights and film of him to truly gauge it though. To me he seems like a taller Elijah Hawkins who can't shoot as well but less turnovers. It's also interesting that Western Michigan as a whole sucked at 3pt shooting. Their best shooter was 31.6% and only made 43 3s. I don't know what that means for Willis, but maybe that means we can expect more Willis assists this year.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Willis now in there, and still at #10.

Keep in mind, though, that this is a net index considering who a team has lost and who they're bringing in. It measures the value added to the team through the transfer process.
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Willis, Vaihoa and JCJ don’t have a transfer rating by On3 yet.
 





All right people .... I totally get it. The numbers are important however how do each of these players fit into a team?
Team chemistry needs to be dealt with on some level. It's just not all analytics ....
 

I was kind of hoping for 2 or 3 of the CSU players to follow Niko to MN. Not that we can’t land just as good transfers from elsewhere, but to bring familiarity with program and system. JCJ is the only one that knows what Niko expects and can be the role model for his teammates. Would have been nice to have one or two more.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Liebert has no connections IMO. He just does what many do, follows twitter and pay site and then packages it with some graphics as if he's breaking something.

Ryan James is likely the most locked in, but he isn't going to put much out for free.

Niko will likely build a local media favorite over time and share things with them.
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Forgot about Ryan James! Boots on the ground guy for sure
 

Mariner said:
All right people .... I totally get it. The numbers are important however how do each of these players fit into a team?
Team chemistry needs to be dealt with on some level. It's just not all analytics ....
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Well, that's the coach's job. And we now have a coach who has been doing for 12 years. I think he has a plan.
 


In the construction of the roster, I am not sure we have enough inside muscle.
We have a lot of wing players.
We still need a big guy to be in the paint and rebound.
 

rwbPhilly said:
In the construction of the roster, I am not sure we have enough inside muscle.
We have a lot of wing players.
We still need a big guy to be in the paint and rebound.
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Based on his Colorado State teams, it's clear Niko does not value size for the sake of size.

Last season's CSU team had 6 players 6'8" or taller; two of those players redshirted and three were in the rotation, averaging a total of 42.1 MPG. Last season's Gopher team averaged 78.5 MPG from players 6'8" or taller.

The 2023-2024 team had only 2 players 6'8" or taller. They averaged a total of 28.9 MPG.

2022-23 had three such players who averaged a total of 47.4 minutes. The 2022-23 team is the second worst record he had at CSU, behind his first season.

During his tenure at Colorado State, the team was consistently in the bottom half of the conference in total rebounding and in the bottom three of offensive rebounding. The Gophers will not be using the Tubby Smith "dump and chase" offensive system under Medved.
 

rwbPhilly said:
In the construction of the roster, I am not sure we have enough inside muscle.
We have a lot of wing players.
We still need a big guy to be in the paint and rebound.
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True. I have concerns, too. I like bangers, space eaters and wide bodies. But, some skinny guys have shown to be great rebounders such as Dennis "The Worm" Rodman and more recently, Jarred Vanderbilt.
 

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