***OFFICIAL IOWA AT MINNESOTA IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

[Wet_Blanket_Guy]

Garcia gets 18. TT and Samuels don't play. Rebaca fouls out trying to stop Garcia. We were in the bonus early anyway but with Garcia at the line we make 6-8 more free throws. We never trail by double figures. We lead at times. Close at the end. Good chance we win.

Where's the bad take?

Garcia playing changes the entire flow of the game. You also have to acknowledge that Iowa shot piss poor. And they missed a ton of easy shots…not tough shots due to great, tough as nails defense…easy shots. If they shoot a better percentage they win by 25. So you add Garcia back into the mix, it most likely reduced the production of Henley and JOJ, and we probably get either the same results or worse.

You can’t just add his numbers without subtracting anyone else’s.

 

[Wet_Blanket_Guy]

Where did I say he wasted a scholarship taking Evans? You're just making things up. There's a huge glut of PF/C's on this team besides those 2.

Despite his high ranking, Evans doesn't have blue bloods all over him like they are for other similarly ranked players for a reason. That ranking is almost entirely based on what he could be and not what he is today, or will be even next year.

Evans is averaging 14.7 PPG, 10 RPG, and 5.6 BPG for a 17-13 high school team. Outside of blocks, those aren't dominant numbers for someone ranked as high as him, and even his blocks are down this year. Payne averaged 22 PPG, 12 RPG, and 2 BPG on a better high school team.

Against smaller lineups, which is what the majority of college basketball is, you're not going to be able to play Evans and Payne on the court much at the same time defensively because they're not quick enough. Offense will also be an issue because neither have range beyond 3 ft right now either.

This is reality, people don’t want to hear reality. Many think Payne will develop into Dirk Nowitzki this summer based on some shots he made in his driveway in 8th grade.

As you stated, the reality is Payne can’t make shots / won’t attempt shots that are not layups or dunks. Either the coaching staff told him not to based on what they have seen in practice, or Payne internally doesn’t have the confidence. His range, based on what he has shown at the collegiate level is 3 feet, maybe 3.5 on a good day. And on one of the easiest shots in basketball, the free throw, he is 45.5% (and while many will say he’s been better of late…he is shooting 50% in his last 5 games).

For Evans, his offensive highlights do not inspire confidence when it comes to range beyond 3 feet. Yes he makes some, but they are highlight videos (of course they show him making them). Here is a recent game clip (3 weeks ago of his team’s win against the Arlington Lions 61-52).

Game clip

Comments:
- he has like 8 points in the game and he towers over his opponents
- the other team is letting him move freely within the pain without really putting a body on him (the big10 is going to be the complete opposite of this)
- I have major concerns about his center of gravity
- these weak hook shots will not work against B10 caliber players (which could be why he never really played on team USA U17)
- he clogs the lane 100% of the time he is in the game: you cannot play him and Payne together with success
- on a positive, he seems to be a good passwr

 

[MennoSota]

Just use a little common sense.

So no poll, just opinion without proof. Got it.

 

[MennoSota]

This is reality, people don’t want to hear reality. Many think Payne will develop into Dirk Nowitzki this summer based on some shots he made in his driveway in 8th grade.

As you stated, the reality is Payne can’t make shots / won’t attempt shots that are not layups or dunks. Either the coaching staff told him not to based on what they have seen in practice, or Payne internally doesn’t have the confidence. His range, based on what he has shown at the collegiate level is 3 feet, maybe 3.5 on a good day. And on one of the easiest shots in basketball, the free throw, he is 45.5% (and while many will say he’s been better of late…he is shooting 50% in his last 5 games).

For Evans, his offensive highlights do not inspire confidence when it comes to range beyond 3 feet. Yes he makes some, but they are highlight videos (of course they show him making them). Here is a recent game clip (3 weeks ago of his team’s win against the Arlington Lions 61-52).

Game clip

Comments:
- he has like 8 points in the game and he towers over his opponents
- the other team is letting him move freely within the pain without really putting a body on him (the big10 is going to be the complete opposite of this)
- I have major concerns about his center of gravity
- these weak hook shots will not work against B10 caliber players (which could be why he never really played on team USA U17)
- he clogs the lane 100% of the time he is in the game: you cannot play him and Payne together with success
- on a positive, he seems to be a good passwr

Tommie Boy, who on this board has ever compared Pharyll Payne to Dirk Nowitzski? LOL, you pull shit out of your asshole and call it gold.

Pharyll has the capacity to be similar to Mbakwe and Murphy, but no one has claimed he'll be like Nowitzski.

Go back to Cleveland and Summit.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

This is reality, people don’t want to hear reality. Many think Payne will develop into Dirk Nowitzki this summer based on some shots he made in his driveway in 8th grade.

As you stated, the reality is Payne can’t make shots / won’t attempt shots that are not layups or dunks. Either the coaching staff told him not to based on what they have seen in practice, or Payne internally doesn’t have the confidence. His range, based on what he has shown at the collegiate level is 3 feet, maybe 3.5 on a good day. And on one of the easiest shots in basketball, the free throw, he is 45.5% (and while many will say he’s been better of late…he is shooting 50% in his last 5 games).

For Evans, his offensive highlights do not inspire confidence when it comes to range beyond 3 feet. Yes he makes some, but they are highlight videos (of course they show him making them). Here is a recent game clip (3 weeks ago of his team’s win against the Arlington Lions 61-52).

Game clip

Comments:
- he has like 8 points in the game and he towers over his opponents
- the other team is letting him move freely within the pain without really putting a body on him (the big10 is going to be the complete opposite of this)
- I have major concerns about his center of gravity
- these weak hook shots will not work against B10 caliber players (which could be why he never really played on team USA U17)
- he clogs the lane 100% of the time he is in the game: you cannot play him and Payne together with success
- on a positive, he seems to be a good passer

Few things on my 56 years of life on this planet have been static (residing in a state of inertia).

Players improve all the time - paging Zach Edey, who until this year didn’t even average 30 minutes a game and now us playing at an All American level and may end up being the Player of the Year. I wonder what your scouting report would have said about him - a three star, who was ranked the 440 player in his class and the 35 the center, per 247. He was physically bigger than Evans, however, Dennis is only 17 now as well and appears much more athletic at this point in time than Edey does as Jr in college.


Payne really only needs to be a threat to ~10-12 feet, which isn’t a big ask.
Murphy and Lynch played well together during their short time as teammates.

You guys act like no one will improve, get better, where the real improvement happens is in the off- season, as basketball players love playing all day/every day.

So in a couple years we’ll see what’s what. If being negative makes you feel better about yourself Soggy, fine, but bring that into this paint and it’s gonna be rejected

 

[Dakota2]

Duh, come on guys, we were undef...ohh wait we were still terrible with Garcia?? We still lost by giant margins with him? We were still 1-5 in conference with him? This can't be true, with elite talent and an amazing coach those things simply cannot be true!

We were not blown out by Iowa. With our best player on the floor it is highly likely we would have led at the half, kept it close or led much of the second half, and been in position to win.

Garcia's 35 minutes erases non-productive 12 minutes from TT and Samuels and TT's turnovers stay on the bench. Garcia also takes 5-7 minutes each from three freshmen and Battle. More turnovers and missed free throws stay on the bench, resulting in 10-15 more shots from the field and 6-8 more made free throws.

We were in the game. Not hard to understand how a good performance by Garcia would have put us in good position to win.

 

[Dakota2]

Where did I say he wasted a scholarship taking Evans? You're just making things up. There's a huge glut of PF/C's on this team besides those 2.

Despite his high ranking, Evans doesn't have blue bloods all over him like they are for other similarly ranked players for a reason. That ranking is almost entirely based on what he could be and not what he is today, or will be even next year.

Evans is averaging 14.7 PPG, 10 RPG, and 5.6 BPG for a 17-13 high school team. Outside of blocks, those aren't dominant numbers for someone ranked as high as him, and even his blocks are down this year. Payne averaged 22 PPG, 12 RPG, and 2 BPG on a better high school team.

Against smaller lineups, which is what the majority of college basketball is, you're not going to be able to play Evans and Payne on the court much at the same time defensively because they're not quick enough. Offense will also be an issue because neither have range beyond 3 ft right now either.

You said it when you called Evans redundant. Redundancy is waste. You just said it again by publishing a book telling us a 7-foot center ranked in the top 20 nationally is unimportant to a team that gave Iowa six consecutive offensive rebounds in a single sequence.

Maybe just go back to explaining NORAD, Karine.

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

You said it when you called Evans redundant. Redundancy is waste. You just said it again by publishing a book telling us a 7-foot center ranked in the top 20 nationally is unimportant to a team that gave Iowa six consecutive offensive rebounds in a single sequence.

Maybe just go back to explaining NORAD, Karine.

And Payne was a better rebounder in high school than Evans is. How'd that work out against Iowa?

I'd love a rotation of Evans and Payne, if the rest of the roster had the guards to be competitive. But we don't. This roster is full of plodding forwards, and Evans is a project. He's not going to move the needle much next season because of the redundant players on this team.

I know you don't want to believe that, but that's understandable because the few remaining Ben supporters don't understand what good basketball is supposed to look like.

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

He also said Asuma was mid level PG in the thread about him - he has no idea that he’s ranked as the 23rd PG in his class.

He's a 3* and ranked 88 overall by 247. That's as mid level as you can get.

But hey let's wait 2 more years to maybe get a 3* PG while everyone else continues to out recruit and out coach us. Great strategy.

 

[cjbfbp]

This is reality, people don’t want to hear reality. Many think Payne will develop into Dirk Nowitzki this summer based on some shots he made in his driveway in 8th grade.

As you stated, the reality is Payne can’t make shots / won’t attempt shots that are not layups or dunks. Either the coaching staff told him not to based on what they have seen in practice, or Payne internally doesn’t have the confidence. His range, based on what he has shown at the collegiate level is 3 feet, maybe 3.5 on a good day. And on one of the easiest shots in basketball, the free throw, he is 45.5% (and while many will say he’s been better of late…he is shooting 50% in his last 5 games).

For Evans, his offensive highlights do not inspire confidence when it comes to range beyond 3 feet. Yes he makes some, but they are highlight videos (of course they show him making them). Here is a recent game clip (3 weeks ago of his team’s win against the Arlington Lions 61-52).

Game clip

Comments:
- he has like 8 points in the game and he towers over his opponents
- the other team is letting him move freely within the pain without really putting a body on him (the big10 is going to be the complete opposite of this)
- I have major concerns about his center of gravity
- these weak hook shots will not work against B10 caliber players (which could be why he never really played on team USA U17)
- he clogs the lane 100% of the time he is in the game: you cannot play him and Payne together with success
- on a positive, he seems to be a good passwr

I haven't read anyone comparing Payne to a budding Dirk Nowitzki. I think you dreamt that one.

What I saw of Evans in this video was a relaxed guy playing in lower gear who is content to give the spotlight to his teammates during his final HS season. Yes, he is a good passer so we probably don't have to worry about him being a black hole. I'm sure he realizes that he would have to step up the intensity quite a bit in the Big Ten.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

That Purdue giant was only a 3 star? Wow

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

He's a 3* and ranked 88 overall by 247. That's as mid level as you can get.

But hey let's wait 2 more years to maybe get a 3* PG while everyone else continues to out recruit and out coach us. Great strategy.

128 player in the country and 23rd PG - far from mid level for rational people; mid level would be your posting on a Good day.

As I said in the post in his thread, nobody knows whom will be recruited out of the portal as a PG for next season, so you make the assumption none will be, which is beyond intellectually dishonest - no wonder you’re such a pleasant person, beloved by all

 

[cjbfbp]

128 player in the country and 23rd PG - far from mid level for rational people; mid level would be your posting on a Good day.

I guess he thinks there are only about 250 D1 prospects in the country.

By the way, Damian Lillard was rated a 2 star by both Scout and Rivals, the 100th PG by Scout, and 48th point guard by ESPN.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

I guess he thinks there are only about 250 D1 prospects in the country.

Isn’t math involved in meteorology? Or is he our Brick Hamlin?

By the way, Damian Lillard was rated a 2 star by both Scout and Rivals, the 100th PG by Scout, and 48th point guard by ESPN.

Modelo!

I wasn’t a great HS player in any sport, good and played a little college baseball and could h have played football.

I was one of the weakest kids in my 9th grade class, when I graduated I was second strongest (granted there were only 2 guys in the class), but I lived in the weight room literally for my HS years and even had a key to it the school as the AD was a family friend. None of what I mentioned in the first paragraph would have happened, without that work.

Now think if you’re Payne/Evans and how they’re going to spend their summer! I’m super pumped for next year and looking for nice leaps by everyone - JOJ is shooting 29% from 3 this year and what about by his Jr. Season, you can see confidence building game by game. Isn’t that what Gabe shot his last year here?

Maybe some of these guys who don’t get the improvement concept all were Mozart’s out of the womb, were born on third base (thinking the hit a triple), trolls or just only happy when they’re unhappy ( sad existence in my experience and opinion)?

 

[Bad Gopher]

That Purdue giant was only a 3 star? Wow

...and Aaron Judge was drafted with the last pick of the first round. Fools! Always draft a giant!

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

128 player in the country and 23rd PG - far from mid level for rational people; mid level would be your posting on a Good day.

As I said in the post in his thread, nobody knows whom will be recruited out of the portal as a PG for next season, so you make the assumption none will be, which is beyond intellectually dishonest - no wonder you’re such a pleasant person, beloved by all

As it stands today, we don't have any scholarships to give to a PG this offseason. And I was already told here that Cooper and Samuels was the best we could do last offseason, so why should that give us hope?

We didn't take a PG in 2023, where there's 3 higher ranked PG's committed to B1G schools, and there are currently 3 in 2024 ranked higher than Asuma going to B1G schools, with many remaining uncommitted. That doesn't include what is already on their rosters, which in nearly every case is better than Cooper, and what they will do in the transfer portal. So yes, he is mid level.

 

[Wet_Blanket_Guy]

Few things on my 56 years of life on this planet have been static (residing in a state of inertia).

Players improve all the time - paging Zach Edey, who until this year didn’t even average 30 minutes a game and now us playing at an All American level and may end up being the Player of the Year. I wonder what your scouting report would have said about him - a three star, who was ranked the 440 player in his class and the 35 the center, per 247. He was physically bigger than Evans, however, Dennis is only 17 now as well and appears much more athletic at this point in time than Edey does as Jr in college.


Payne really only needs to be a threat to ~10-12 feet, which isn’t a big ask.
Murphy and Lynch played well together during their short time as teammates.

You guys act like no one will improve, get better, where the real improvement happens is in the off- season, as basketball players love playing all day/every day.

So in a couple years we’ll see what’s what. If being negative makes you feel better about yourself Soggy, fine, but bring that into this paint and it’s gonna be rejected

He had about 100 LBs on him as a prospect and I he weighs over 300 pounds now...

Zach Edey scores all his points within 1 foot of the hoop. The difference between him and Evans is his frame is massive, which is different than Evans. Evans looks like a good gust of wind could knock him over. And at 7'4"...you don't really need to be athletic (from a jumping stand point).

 

[Wet_Blanket_Guy]

I haven't read anyone comparing Payne to a budding Dirk Nowitzki. I think you dreamt that one.

What I saw of Evans in this video was a relaxed guy playing in lower gear who is content to give the spotlight to his teammates during his final HS season. Yes, he is a good passer so we probably don't have to worry about him being a black hole. I'm sure he realizes that he would have to step up the intensity quite a bit in the Big Ten.

Here come the apologists. If he doesn't look good "he's playing in a lower gear to give the spotlight to his teammates.".

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

As it stands today, we don't have any scholarships to give to a PG this offseason.

Inane comment - obviously it won’t take much effort to find one, if needed.

And I was already told here that Cooper and Samuels was the best we could do last offseason, so why should that give us hope?

Because of the young talent here now and upcoming; you’re a negative person, many people aren’t- they are young talent here and more coming next year and they see playing time as well.

We didn't take a PG in 2023, where there's 3 higher ranked PG's committed to B1G schools, and there are currently 3 in 2024 ranked higher than Asuma going to B1G schools, with many remaining uncommitted. That doesn't include what is already on their rosters, which in nearly every case is better than Cooper, and what they will do in the transfer portal. So yes, he is mid level.

That’s not what the ranking show for him in his class- that’s called data and no matter how much you change the goal posts (the definition of his abilities), most rational people can see you are incorrect. You obviously had no idea of his rank when you first posted this in his thread.

we all understand by now, you’d rather lose a limb than admit that you’re wrong it that someone else who disagrees with you has a valid point and that’s generally the sign of an insecure person in my experience.

You’re entitled to you point which I disagree with and in a few years we’ll see how well you “Ben Johnson is a disaster thread” ages. If you’re right I’ll admit it in the thread and kiss your virtual ring, the question is are you man enough to reciprocate, if the converse is true ?????????

 

[EasyThere Pilgrim]

we all understand by now, you’d rather lose a limb than admit that you’re wrong it that someone else who disagrees with you has a valid point and that’s generally the sign of an insecure person in my experience.

You’re entitled to you point which I disagree with and in a few years we’ll see how well you “Ben Johnson is a disaster thread” ages. If you’re right I’ll admit it in the thread and kiss your virtual ring, the question is are you man enough to reciprocate, if the converse is true ?????????

I don't think it' about being wrong or disagreements.

These guys are fans of other teams and enjoy trolling us.

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

Inane comment - obviously it won’t take much effort to find one, if needed.

Inane? It's a fact.

Because of the young talent here now and upcoming; you’re a negative person, many people aren’t- they are young talent here and more coming next year and they see playing time as well.

I can appreciate young talent if they show high upside and are coached well. This team is beyond poorly coached, and all of the young talent have serious flaws in their game, including next year's class. There is no one on this roster even close to an Oturu, Murphy, Coffey, Gabe, Mason, as a FR, and outside of 1 season, they all played on Gopher teams that finished in the bottom half of the B1G.

That’s not what the ranking show for him in his class- that’s called data and no matter how much you change the goal posts (the definition of his abilities), most rational people can see you are incorrect. You obviously had no idea of his rank when you first posted this in his thread.

we all understand by now, you’d rather lose a limb than admit that you’re wrong it that someone else who disagrees with you has a valid point and that’s generally the sign of an insecure person in my experience.

You’re entitled to you point which I disagree with and in a few years we’ll see how well you “Ben Johnson is a disaster thread” ages. If you’re right I’ll admit it in the thread and kiss your virtual ring, the question is are you man enough to reciprocate, if the converse is true ?????????

I know what all of our commits and prospects rankings are, Asuma is mid level no matter how you want to try and slice it. I've been spot on about this team since the summer, and many tried to tell me then I didn't know what I was talking about. You can keep dreaming up fairy tales about this roster and Ben, I'll continue to live in reality.

If Ben somehow proves me wrong, which there is a near 0 chance of, I'll be happy because I'll finally be watching winning basketball again. But if we don't beat Penn St on Saturday, we will have gone a full calendar year only winning 1 B1G game. That's beyond pathetic.

 

[stocker08]

Opens what door? What basis do you have to say he wouldn't have signed his tender in November after verbally committing in July? Everything you say about him would be true of Evans and Christie who are higher rated.

It is very unusual to re-classify a recruit 4 weeks before school starts. That is the outlier here. You're acting like the opposite is true.

I'm not acting like anything. We have no idea what he would have done if things had been different. My thoughts are that Johnson didn't think there was another transfer player he could have gotten that would have made a big impact and decided to instead lock down Betts.

Again....CBJ presumably went down his list of transfer targets from top to bottom. He already took Samuels...who most agree doesn't belong on a Big Ten team. Yet here you are bitching that CBJ didn't take a Samuels fall back option rather than Betts. It's just a dumb argument.

 

[stocker08]

IIRC, Samuels was brought in as a back up PG to Cooper. The other guards who visited or had interest in Minnesota, like Spenser, Sessoms, Honor, Stewart, Strong, etc. had other dreams but not to ride the bench. So we ended up with Cooper and Samuels. I wonder who Ben really wanted from that list.

Sure. My point is that the people bitching are ignoring the fact that bringing in another transfer was unlikely to make much of an impact....considering that CBJ had already been forced to take a guy who probably didn't belong in the Big Ten anyways. These people bitch for no other reason than they have nothing better to do.

 

[EasyThere Pilgrim]

Inane? It's a fact.



I can appreciate young talent if they show high upside and are coached well. This team is beyond poorly coached, and all of the young talent have serious flaws in their game, including next year's class. There is no one on this roster even close to an Oturu, Murphy, Coffey, Gabe, Mason, as a FR, and outside of 1 season, they all played on Gopher teams that finished in the bottom half of the B1G.



I know what all of our commits and prospects rankings are, Asuma is mid level no matter how you want to try and slice it. I've been spot on about this team since the summer, and many tried to tell me then I didn't know what I was talking about. You can keep dreaming up fairy tales about this roster and Ben, I'll continue to live in reality.

If Ben somehow proves me wrong, which there is a near 0 chance of, I'll be happy because I'll finally be watching winning basketball again. But if we don't beat Penn St on Saturday, we will have gone a full calendar year only winning 1 B1G game. That's beyond pathetic.

All 4 of our freshmen have shown enough flashes to be good players as juniors.

And I was right about last year's and this year's team too. I'm not expecting instant winning. I'm hoping for Clem-style ground-up rebuild success.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

Inane? It's a fact.

I said they’d find one if need be - try to keep up Mr. Mensa.

I can appreciate young talent if they show high upside and are coached well. This team is beyond poorly coached, and all of the young talent have serious flaws in their game, including next year's class. There is no one on this roster even close to an Oturu, Murphy, Coffey, Gabe, Mason, as a FR, and outside of 1 season, they all played on Gopher teams that finished in the bottom half of the B1G.

We’ll see how much they develop over the next couple years.

I know what all of our commits and prospects rankings are, Asuma is mid level no matter how you want to try and slice it. I've been spot on about this team since the summer, and many tried to tell me then I didn't know what I was talking about. You can keep dreaming up fairy tales about this roster and Ben, I'll continue to live in reality.

I’m an optimist Eyore.

If Ben somehow proves me wrong, which there is a near 0 chance of, I'll be happy because I'll finally be watching winning basketball again. But if we don't beat Penn St on Saturday, we will have gone a full calendar year only winning 1 B1G game. That's beyond pathetic.

First off 0% is not a real statistic - anything is possible - sound like you’re not very familiar with the difference between possible and probable.

I can wait to see your apology posted in own your thread; if you don’t up, you’ll show your true colors.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

He had about 100 LBs on him as a prospect and I he weighs over 300 pounds now...

Zach Edey scores all his points within 1 foot of the hoop. The difference between him and Evans is his frame is massive, which is different than Evans. Evans looks like a good gust of wind could knock him over. And at 7'4"...you don't really need to be athletic (from a jumping stand point).

Learn to read - I clearly addressed that I y post.
This Salient point was the difference in their rankings coming out of HS and how Edey developed in his three years in college and I’m sure a hoops guru such as you would have slammed it as many.

What a Soggy like you doesn’t get is that hard work is the great equalizer and players improve a lot all the time - hard workers understand that, average achievers not so much.

 

[Dakota2]

Garcia playing changes the entire flow of the game. You also have to acknowledge that Iowa shot piss poor. And they missed a ton of easy shots…not tough shots due to great, tough as nails defense…easy shots. If they shoot a better percentage they win by 25. So you add Garcia back into the mix, it most likely reduced the production of Henley and JOJ, and we probably get either the same results or worse.

You can’t just add his numbers without subtracting anyone else’s.

Right, took into account Garcia would have taken a few minutes and some small production from Henley and JOJ. Also that he would have taken 12 minutes of no production from TT and Samuels. He would also have left a bunch of turnovers and missed free throws (same as turnovers) on the bench.

What I did not account for was your calculation that Garcia's presence would automatically produce a 25 point loss due to Iowa making twice as many shots. Good catch.

 

[Dakota2]

So no poll, just opinion without proof. Got it.

LOL ... You need a poll to show you what a child can recognize? Stay safe.

 

[Dakota2]

And Payne was a better rebounder in high school than Evans is. How'd that work out against Iowa?

I'd love a rotation of Evans and Payne, if the rest of the roster had the guards to be competitive. But we don't. This roster is full of plodding forwards, and Evans is a project. He's not going to move the needle much next season because of the redundant players on this team.

I know you don't want to believe that, but that's understandable because the few remaining Ben supporters don't understand what good basketball is supposed to look like.

My comments have nothing to do with Ben. I am talking about players and whether a Top 20 five star recruit will improve the team or, as you say, will be a wasted scholarship because he is "redundant". I am quite confident in my judgment there in comparison to your lunacy.

For the record, I think Ben has done a great job in recruiting and a poor job of coaching.

 

[Dakota2]

Here come the apologists. If he doesn't look good "he's playing in a lower gear to give the spotlight to his teammates.".

A Top 20 recruit in the country who is the best shot blocker in high school does not need apologists. You, by contrast, need a cadre of apologists resembling the Chinese Red Army in numbers.