PAYTON WILLIS COMMITS TO MINNESOTA, RETURNS BACK

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I'm onboard with this. Steady player and fills a need of shooting. I thought he was pretty solid here until that ankle injury sapped the life outta him in Big Ten play.
 

WriterGoph said:
BRO, I understand what you did. I'm telling you as someone that has watched and remembered A LOT more sports than you, that it's a dogshit point. F-ing Baker Mayfield couldn't touch the field when he was 18 at Texas Tech. Then he matured and a few years later won the Heisman for Oklahoma. Rui Hachimura averaged 2.6 points and 1.4 rebounds as a freshman at Gonzaga. 2 years later, he was one of the best players in college basketball. There are hundreds more examples just like this.

He played one year in a lesser conference. I don't care. His 3pt trend has been rising each year in his college career. You choose to use something that happened 5 YEARS AGO when he was barely an adult. I understand how young men mature between 18 and 22 and put more weight in his recent trends and results. We'll see who is right next season. I'd wager he shoots 36% or over next year - which back to my original point - makes him a "more than OK" shooter.
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You act like I went back to ONLY his FR season. I gave his statistics for his entire time playing against comparable competition. So that season really seems to really bother you, then throw it out. He is a career 35% 3PT shooter against comparable competition. So, by your definition, still just an OK shooter.

As to your definition of a good shooter, shooting 36% would put him right at 33rd in the Big 10 Conference last year. Just to put that into perspective, the person who was 33rd in the Big 10 in rebounding nabbed an impressive 4.5 per game.

As to players improving, please tell me more. It's so enlightening.
 

Keyser Söze said:
I remember him being a good defender prior to injuring his ankle his last year with us, but it’s been a while so maybe my memory is off.
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I thought he struggled a bit from my memory.

I'll say this though, Pitino definitely did not play him to his strengths. Gabe was always getting the toughest matchup on the wing. So there were definitely times I was clamoring for Pitino to put in Tre Williams for defensive reasons, but I'm not certain that is as much Payton's fault as it was Pitino's.

My thoughts on Willis at the time were that I didn't hate him as a player but I didn't think he should be playing 30 MPG. I've said it many times on here that I think Pitino's system actually made it harder on shooters. They got looks that were openish, but shooters always shoot better after multiple swing passes. That rarely happened for us (it was almost always off of drive and dish or down screen).

So I think Payton is really the exact kind of player (kind of like Gabe) who was a really poor fit in Pitino's scheme. So maybe there is more there than he showed. Maybe my memory of his defense is off too.
 

gopherguy15 said:
I'm onboard with this. Steady player and fills a need of shooting. I thought he was pretty solid here until that ankle injury sapped the life outta him in Big Ten play.
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Agreed. We need glue guys like Willis who can give us solid minutes. If we hit on the two Texas A&M transfers and get a serviceable center the roster will be definitely be competitive. Exciting stuff.
 




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Bob_Loblaw said:
I'm lukewarm on it.

He is pretty much just a shooter who is only an ok shooter. I don't see him as a true PG, he isn't a particularly strong defender. That said, he isn't awful and we need folks.

I think Ben's and Peyton's paths probably crossed briefly at the U. So that's a plus.
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Ok shooter? At 40% from 3 he would have been heads and shoulders above our best 3 point shooter in 2020-2021. A welcome addition for a three had ZERO good shooters last year!
 

schw0509 said:
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Ok shooter? At 40% from 3 he would have been heads and shoulders above our best 3 point shooter in 2020-2021. A welcome addition for a three had ZERO good shooters last year!
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In my opinion, he is an OK shooter.

I think he'll shoot closer to his SO and JR seasons (somewhere between 34-37% from 3). This is what I put in another message to this same question: Shooting 36% would put him right at 33rd in the Big 10 Conference last year. Just to put that into perspective, the person who was 33rd in the Big 10 in rebounding nabbed an impressive 4.5 per game.

To me, that's being an OK shooter. If he shoots around 40% or better, that is a good shooter. I get this opinion has set a few people off. So I also think if a forward grabbed 4.5 rebounds per game, I would consider them an OK rebounder.

I don't think he'll be a 40% shooter in a better conference. I hope I'm wrong.
 

I for one am happy he is coming back. Clearly need decent bodies on the team who want to be here and not just take a scholarship. This team knows they are a mix from all over. With that in mind, they will be determined to do well this fall. I for one am looking forward to the season for a change.
 



Parcival said:
Agreed. We need glue guys like Willis who can give us solid minutes. If we hit on the two Texas A&M transfers and get a serviceable center the roster will be definitely be competitive. Exciting stuff.
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My thoughts exactly. With plenty of scholarships to give the 2022 class.
 

Really like this unexpected pickup. Peyton can knock down the open 3 and provides B1G experience and leadership. If he plays with commitment in Year 6 he will really help the team. I expect him to play quite a bit of PG.
 


Bob_Loblaw said:
Look at my original post. It was 100% civil and your idiot in arms was butt hurt that I said Payton Willis is a an OK shooter. That's what set him off. He was obviously still butt hurt from another thread. My post that set this off was 100% on point and completely uncontroversial. Writer cried. You were still sad from the other day and joined on.

As far as going off-topic on a basketball board, are you completely incapable of reading the thread title? Why did you click into it? It was posted by someone at GH and it was clearly not about basketball. I didn't take it off topic, it was off topic. You left that thread because you were humiliated. Then you cried to get it pulled down. Because you're our favorite little runaway.

So I'm glad you're finally admitting that you didn't want to make that bet. I called it before I offered it to you. You say sh!t you can't stand by and cry to the mods.
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This is a basketball thread, let's just have a fun conversation about out team without all of the name calling and hate towards others.
 




Tried to make sure I didnt repeat something here but a lot of posts on the subject. Here goes. I thought he had a slow/deliberate shot/release previous and in general played a bit that way but if it results in few mistakes all good as it was painful watching the telegraph passes by Gophers as they were unfolding this past season. Net positive addition. Gophers badlly need some size, and one signing won't do. Waiting....
 

golfing18now said:
I thought the same thing but this portal phenomenon might change how teams rebuild. I would prefer to build from the ground up in year one with young players but there just isn’t enough quality freshman left over to fill all the open roster spots when your whole team enters the portal. The 2022 team will hopefully include some high upside freshmen but I’m assuming we will still be in the transfer arena too.
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I'm sure you're right. But, if the goal is to load up on a super class of freshmen for the following year, the table definitely is being set.
 
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cjbfbp said:
I'm sure you're right. But, if the goal is to load up on a super class of freshmen for the following year, the table definitely is being set.
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I don't think he has much choice at this stage of the game. I just hope it isn't a big turnover every year for many teams.
 


Bob_Loblaw said:
Look at my original post. It was 100% civil and your idiot in arms was butt hurt that I said Payton Willis is a an OK shooter. That's what set him off. He was obviously still butt hurt from another thread. My post that set this off was 100% on point and completely uncontroversial. Writer cried. You were still sad from the other day and joined on.

As far as going off-topic on a basketball board, are you completely incapable of reading the thread title? Why did you click into it? It was posted by someone at GH and it was clearly not about basketball. I didn't take it off topic, it was off topic. You left that thread because you were humiliated. Then you cried to get it pulled down. Because you're our favorite little runaway.

So I'm glad you're finally admitting that you didn't want to make that bet. I called it before I offered it to you. You say sh!t you can't stand by and cry to the mods.
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Hey, counselor. I see you are still in the midst of your aneurism. If you need your face beaten in with a tire iron, please indicate this by continuing to be an unhinged jackass. I might know a guy that can help you out.
 

As I recall -- Willis is friends with Eric Curry. I think they are from the same area, and Curry is going to be a grad assistant next year.

And - with all due respect - considering how totally horse-bleep of a shooting team the Gophers were last year, if Willis is just an "O-K" shooter - then he is going to be an improvement over most of last year's team.

I mean - new coach - complete roster turnover - and they have a chance to bring in an experienced player - and people are complaining because he is only an average 3-pt shooter.

Does anyone really believe that some lights-out 3-pt shooter is going to choose MN - to play for a new head coach with a completely re-worked roster? In that case, you probably believe that the Publishers' Clearinghouse Prize Patrol is on their way to your house as we speak.
 

GopherJake said:
Hey, counselor. I see you are still in the midst of your aneurism. If you need your face beaten in with a tire iron, please indicate this by continuing to be an unhinged jackass. I might know a guy that can help you out.
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Who is your tire iron guy?
 

Parcival said:
You okay Bob? Seem a little stressed out man.
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The last week or two, he's seriously snapped. Post count is up like 2000%, and on the OTB it's up like 10000%.

I never recall seeing him post this much before.
 


matt said:
Who is your tire iron guy?
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Better-Call-Saul-Season-5-Mike-Lalo.jpg
 

MplsGopher said:
Sentence fragment, even! Can't be bothered to type "I like it", takes too much time to get all that out.
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Actually, it's a complete sentence. A subject and a verb. Direct object is optional.

Sorry to be that guy, but I couldn't restrain myself.
 


Vandy>MN>CC>MN> He's just another unathletic guard that cannot finish at the rim or create his own shot. Maybe he will be better being a 6th year player and he did shoot well from the outside in the SOCON.
 

bigyetti18 said:
Vandy>MN>CC>MN> He's just another unathletic guard that cannot finish at the rim or create his own shot. Maybe he will be better being a 6th year player and he did shoot well from the outside in the SOCON.
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Sounds like half the players on Bo's various conference-title champions.
 

GopherJake said:
Hey, counselor. I see you are still in the midst of your aneurism. If you need your face beaten in with a tire iron, please indicate this by continuing to be an unhinged jackass. I might know a guy that can help you out.
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I could be wrong, but I believe you have beat the police brutality drum and now you threaten violence because you think someone’s being a jackass? Unwise. Disappointing. Hypothetical. Double standards.
 


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