Possible grad transfers for the Gophers

[builtbadgers]

You're right. You won't find an all b1g player but I would hope teams aren't looking for those. I assume most teams are looking for the role player that the gopher are also in need of. The list seems to have plenty of these guys.

Bullseye on your behalf, they are mostly complimentary but not all that impressed with the number so far. Of course the Gophs only need to get one. There are 4 grad transfer guards i like.

 

[sal]

Bullseye on your behalf, they are mostly complimentary but not all that impressed with the number so far. Of course the Gophs only need to get one. There are 4 grad transfer guards i like.

Do tell. I’m all ears.


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[vagopher]

A question that requires everyone to take the rose colored glasses off for a minute:

Why would anyone worth taking want to transfer here? Honest question. Until we prove otherwise, we're one of the worst programs in the major conferences. Our best season in nearly a decade ended in getting utterly dominated and bounced from the tourny by a mid-major. Student athletes have been getting raked over the coals and have have been treated as sex offenders based on he said/she said and social media posts (whether it's justified is not my point...in cases it was and in others it wasn't....either way it can't be real attractive to a player or their family). It's now been proven by the FBI that players around the country are getting paid....here Richard Pitino gets chastised publicly for bringing a rental car back a little light in the tank. If the guy is African-American and happens to google Minnesota, some of the top results he'll probably find are two black kids shot and killed by police (again, not about right/wrong....it happened and it's out there).

What exactly is there that would be attractive to a quality grad transfer? A decent business school that they're not going to attend? The most overrated Mall in America? The ability to hop on public transportation and watch bad professional basketball at a terrible venue (Target Center)? A hamburger with cheese in the middle?

I know we all love Minnesota because we grew up here. I would never even consider leaving this place willingly. But, why exactly would one of the top grad transfers in the country want to come here? We can't even get our best high schoolers to stick around, and we expect a kid to forgo a significant playing time on a sure tournament team somewhere for a team that couldn't even make the NIT?

I'd rather take a high school kid that can potentially develop into something down the road than another Fitzgerald, which is about all we should realistically expect.

I don’t understand the negativity. I would think we would be very attractive to a grad transfer. Barring injuries and a suspension this past year, we were on-track to have what could have been one of our best seasons ever. The season before, our coach was name coach of the year in the Big Ten. With hopefully every returning player healthy, and a strong incoming recruiting class, a grad transfer could well be the missing piece that will make for a very competitive upcoming season. Plus we now have state-of-the- art facilities, an academically strong university, and a metropolitan area that ranks at or near the top for quality-of-life.

 

[alchemy2u]

What college town are you talking about? Big Rapids or Bemidji? Vermillion or Midland?

Many other B1G school, many SEC schools, ACC schools, etc.... Bloomington , Lincoln, Auburn, Athens, Tuscaloosa, Omaha, Durham, Blacksburg, etc... most of them wish they had the city amenities that that the U has to entice players from big cities.


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[MennoSota]

Many other B1G school, many SEC schools, ACC schools, etc.... Bloomington , Lincoln, Auburn, Athens, Tuscaloosa, Omaha, Durham, Blacksburg, etc... most of them wish they had the city amenities that that the U has to entice players from big cities.


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Do you have evidence to that claim?

 

[SM_25]

A question that requires everyone to take the rose colored glasses off for a minute:

Why would anyone worth taking want to transfer here? Honest question. Until we prove otherwise, we're one of the worst programs in the major conferences. Our best season in nearly a decade ended in getting utterly dominated and bounced from the tourny by a mid-major. Student athletes have been getting raked over the coals and have have been treated as sex offenders based on he said/she said and social media posts (whether it's justified is not my point...in cases it was and in others it wasn't....either way it can't be real attractive to a player or their family). It's now been proven by the FBI that players around the country are getting paid....here Richard Pitino gets chastised publicly for bringing a rental car back a little light in the tank. If the guy is African-American and happens to google Minnesota, some of the top results he'll probably find are two black kids shot and killed by police (again, not about right/wrong....it happened and it's out there).

What exactly is there that would be attractive to a quality grad transfer? A decent business school that they're not going to attend? The most overrated Mall in America? The ability to hop on public transportation and watch bad professional basketball at a terrible venue (Target Center)? A hamburger with cheese in the middle?

I know we all love Minnesota because we grew up here. I would never even consider leaving this place willingly. But, why exactly would one of the top grad transfers in the country want to come here? We can't even get our best high schoolers to stick around, and we expect a kid to forgo a significant playing time on a sure tournament team somewhere for a team that couldn't even make the NIT?

I'd rather take a high school kid that can potentially develop into something down the road than another Fitzgerald, which is about all we should realistically expect.

Go ask Akeem Springs how his 1 year at Minnesota went. He loved every second of it. I don't understand how people can honestly look at next years team and not see a competitive team..our record this year has no effect on how good the team is next year. We played without Coffey and Lynch for half the year, we were without Curry for the entire year. Now next year you add a healthy Coffey, Curry, a healthy McBrayer, Oturu, Washington (who looked like a totally different player the last couple games of the year), Gabe, and Matz. A Grad guard is going to be salivating coming into a team with talent like this.

Many of times, these grad players are coming from small schools, and the player just wants that satisfaction of playing at a Big school in a big conference. They look at the team coming back, and how many players are at their position, because they aren't going to pick a place where there is so much competition. Right now the only guy we have is Washington, and the grad transfer would be getting big minutes regardless of who is on the court together. We have ONE ball handler on our team, and it would be wise to get a player with college experience, because we will be good next year.

Going into next year is the same feeling I had when the gophers were coming off the sex video incident. Its not hard to look around and see the talent thats coming in. Oturu is going to be a key piece for the Gopher next year. Im not saying he's going to be the best player on the court, but having him protecting the paint compared to Konate protecting, will make this team look like night and day.

 

[cjbfbp]

Go ask Akeem Springs how his 1 year at Minnesota went. He loved every second of it. I don't understand how people can honestly look at next years team and not see a competitive team..our record this year has no effect on how good the team is next year.

Yes, and Akeem came here after an 8 win season. We do offer significant benefits to a potential grad transfer point guard, particularly a mid-major. The player would be almost guaranteed playing time and have about 80% or more of his games available on nationally televised outlets; and we now have first class facilities. The primary drawback to recruiting is the climate (Remember that Springs was from Waukegan, IL - in the northernmost part of the state on Lake Michigan - and he went to Wisconsin Milwaukee so he was used to cold weather).

Like you I am generally optimistic about next year (as long as we get a decent point or combo guard) but we do have some uncertainties: at least two (maybe three if you count McBrayer) significant players are coming back from injuries. We have to rely on a freshman big man to play significant minutes. The other center should contribute but we don't have a lot of playing time in his past to get much of a sense of him.

 

[builtbadgers]

Do tell. I’m all ears.


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Taylor, Zach Johnson,Chartouny, Coleman, Armond Davis maybe.

 

[XMan]

Do you have evidence to that claim?

This goes back to a player from a long time ago but I can tell you that in a recent conversation I had with Walter Bind he said exactly that it was the potential the twin cities offered that was a big factor in his decision. Both what he would get when on campus and also potential options post college. He also said this is true for other players as well.

 

[MennoSota]

This goes back to a player from a long time ago but I can tell you that in a recent conversation I had with Walter Bind he said exactly that it was the potential the twin cities offered that was a big factor in his decision. Both what he would get when on campus and also potential options post college. He also said this is true for other players as well.

And yet we miss out on the best players time and time again. Hmmm....
I don't dispute the opportunities available in networking after college. I just don't think players are thinking strategically as most envision playing in the NBA.

 

[sal]

Taylor, Zach Johnson,Chartouny, Coleman, Armond Davis maybe.

Thanks, always appreciate the info. Things are very quiet on the recruiting front right now so any insight is welcome.
I’m looking forward to some good news.


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[MissouriGopher]

Thanks, always appreciate the info. Things are very quiet on the recruiting front right now so any insight is welcome.
I’m looking forward to some good news.


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Transfer recruiting is always quiet since you don’t have HS and AAU coaches spilling the beans to reporters.


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[builtbadgers]

And yet we miss out on the best players time and time again. Hmmm....
I don't dispute the opportunities available in networking after college. I just don't think players are thinking strategically as most envision playing in the NBA.

Actually most know they will not make the NBA but hundreds of schools offer opportunities that are great as well. Most people do not want to live in the twin cities. Kids that go to school at UCLA tons of opportunities in and out of L.A.. Kids at UVA have tons of opportunities all over the world. Kids from Northwestern are plugged in everywhere. Stanford kids have tons of choices in the Valley, in China anywhere. The center of fortune 500 companies in the Twin Cities has not led to dozens and dozens of Gopher Basketball players getting jobs with those companies. It has incredible assets if your looking for a city, campus on the water, decent job market, local kid that wants to stay home. More kids choose the journey of getting away from home and that is true for every state and every program. We can make a list of 50 reasons kids pick schools. There are not more hear or more would have the U as a first choice.

 

[alchemy2u]

Do you have evidence to that claim?

It has been mention by Pitino and others that the large city atmosphere of Minneapolis is quite attractive to Big City recruits, you can look it up on your own... I was responding to how Herc basically described the U and the Twin Cities as a ****hole and he couldn't see why anyone would come here to play (I am paraphrasing his post). We have a lot more to offer in the area than many other schools.

 

[MennoSota]

It has been mention by Pitino and others that the large city atmosphere of Minneapolis is quite attractive to Big City recruits, you can look it up on your own... I was responding to how Herc basically described the U and the Twin Cities as a ****hole and he couldn't see why anyone would come here to play (I am paraphrasing his post). We have a lot more to offer in the area than many other schools.

It is a marketing and recruiting angle. Has it been more successful than others?

 

[book]

Someone who can shoot PLEASE see Villinova...

 

[KillmeNow]

Considering what I am usually trying to accomplish when I post, to defend a good coach who is being unfairly criticized or a team that is being unfairly criticized, it wouldn't be a good sign if I had alot of GHers that liked me.

 

[dpodoll68]

Considering what I am usually trying to accomplish when I post, to defend a good coach who is being unfairly criticized or a team that is being unfairly criticized, it wouldn't be a good sign if I had alot of GHers that liked me.

Which criticisms of the coach or the team are unfair? And what evidence is there that Pitino is a good coach?

 

[KillmeNow]

Which criticisms of the coach or the team are unfair? And what evidence is there that Pitino is a good coach?

Seemingly blaming or crediting Pitino with a horrible season(this season), as if it was his fault for sitting Curry, Lynch, Coffey & Stockman and like he beat McBreyer with a chair or something so he'd have to miss a few games and play injured the rest of the games?


As for coaching competence? NIT Title with mostly previous coaches players. BTCOY in year 4. Minus injuries, yr 5 should have been a small step up from yr 4, with yr 5 being a step forward in way of depth(we'll have to wait to see regarding performance)

 

[Frank Grimey Grimes]

Seemingly blaming or crediting Pitino with a horrible season(this season), as if it was his fault for sitting Curry, Lynch, Coffey & Stockman and like he beat McBreyer with a chair or something so he'd have to miss a few games and play injured the rest of the games?


As for coaching competence? NIT Title with mostly previous coaches players. BTCOY in year 4. Minus injuries, yr 5 should have been a small step up from yr 4, with yr 5 being a step forward in way of depth(we'll have to wait to see regarding performance)

This gets conveniently ignored/underatted by a lot of people on this board. I am not convinced Pitino is the next great coach, but people act like he has acheived nothing or has never proved he can coach.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

This gets conveniently ignored/underatted by a lot of people on this board. I am not convinced Pitino is the next great coach, but people act like he has acheived nothing or has never proved he can coach.

If people are pointing to a season where he missed the tournament as evidence of his coaching prowess, we are grasping at straws.

 

[cjbfbp]

This gets conveniently ignored/underatted by a lot of people on this board. I am not convinced Pitino is the next great coach, but people act like he has acheived nothing or has never proved he can coach.

1) Pitino hasn't "proven" he can coach. That's not the right word to use anyway. One doesn't "prove" he can coach in the same way that an investigator "proves" or "disproves" that someone committed a crime or a scientist "proves" or "disproves" a theory. Coaches have to "demonstrate" consistently that they can coach successfully. By successfully, the most important factor is how well they perform in relation to their peers (and, to be fair, there can be different levels of peers even within the same conference - no one ever expects us to do as well in football as Ohio State). The evaluation of coaching is an ongoing process. That's why most coaches eventually get fired. Having one really good year doesn't "prove" anything.

2) The NIT run in his first year was a nice memory. But, we should mention the following:

a) He was handed a veteran team. Admittedly, he improved that team by getting Walker in playing shape and recruiting DeAndre Mathieu.

b) They had a pretty easy run to the NIT final four getting to play High Point, St. Mary's, and Southern Mississippi all at home. They did win both games in Madison Square Garden but one was by 3 points in overtime and the other was by two points.

I did very much enjoy that run (even went to the St. Mary's game) but their NIT championship wasn't nearly as impressive as Penn State's, who faced tougher competition and had only one home game, this season. In some ways, the feat of Tubby's young and injury depleted team of two years earlier that went to the final game while playing all of their tournament games on the road was more impressive.

 

[gophereric30]

1) Pitino hasn't "proven" he can coach. That's not the right word to use anyway. One doesn't "prove" he can coach in the same way that an investigator "proves" or "disproves" that someone committed a crime or a scientist "proves" or "disproves" a theory. Coaches have to "demonstrate" consistently that they can coach successfully. By successfully, the most important factor is how well they perform in relation to their peers (and, to be fair, there can be different levels of peers even within the same conference - no one ever expects us to do as well in football as Ohio State). The evaluation of coaching is an ongoing process. That's why most coaches eventually get fired. Having one really good year doesn't "prove" anything.

2) The NIT run in his first year was a nice memory. But, we should mention the following:

a) He was handed a veteran team. Admittedly, he improved that team by getting Walker in playing shape and recruiting DeAndre Mathieu.

b) They had a pretty easy run to the NIT final four getting to play High Point, St. Mary's, and Southern Mississippi all at home. They did win both games in Madison Square Garden but one was by 3 points in overtime and the other was by two points.

I did very much enjoy that run (even went to the St. Mary's game) but their NIT championship wasn't nearly as impressive as Penn State's, who faced tougher competition and had only one home game, this season. In some ways, the feat of Tubby's young and injury depleted team of two years earlier that went to the final game while playing all of their tournament games on the road was more impressive.

Yes, I want to see pitino be successful here. Yes, I would rather play in Ncaa tournament every year than win the Nit, but lets not start ripping pitino because he had an easy road in the nit. We won the thing! In the history books is there an asterisk next to our name because we didn't win by more than 3 points in the two games at msg? People already criticize Pitino for certain things, but now were starting in on him for having an easy road and only winning by a certain margin? You can only play the teams they put you up against! Not his fault.

 

[cjbfbp]

Yes, I want to see pitino be successful here. Yes, I would rather play in Ncaa tournament every year than win the Nit, but lets not start ripping pitino because he had an easy road in the nit. We won the thing! In the history books is there an asterisk next to our name because we didn't win by more than 3 points in the two games at msg? People already criticize Pitino for certain things, but now were starting in on him for having an easy road and only winning by a certain margin? You can only play the teams they put you up against! Not his fault.

I don't disagree with that and I'm not so much dismissing the accomplishment as putting that season in perspective. That first year post-season run and last year's regular season were the heights of a five year career here. Yes, those were "highs" but they weren't spectacular highs. In contrast, Pitino's lows have been rather spectacular lows.

 

[KillmeNow]

1) Pitino hasn't "proven" he can coach. That's not the right word to use anyway. One doesn't "prove" he can coach in the same way that an investigator "proves" or "disproves" that someone committed a crime or a scientist "proves" or "disproves" a theory. Coaches have to "demonstrate" consistently that they can coach successfully. By successfully, the most important factor is how well they perform in relation to their peers (and, to be fair, there can be different levels of peers even within the same conference - no one ever expects us to do as well in football as Ohio State). The evaluation of coaching is an ongoing process. That's why most coaches eventually get fired. Having one really good year doesn't "prove" anything.

2) The NIT run in his first year was a nice memory. But, we should mention the following:

a) He was handed a veteran team. Admittedly, he improved that team by getting Walker in playing shape and recruiting DeAndre Mathieu.

b) They had a pretty easy run to the NIT final four getting to play High Point, St. Mary's, and Southern Mississippi all at home. They did win both games in Madison Square Garden but one was by 3 points in overtime and the other was by two points.

I did very much enjoy that run (even went to the St. Mary's game) but their NIT championship wasn't nearly as impressive as Penn State's, who faced tougher competition and had only one home game, this season. In some ways, the feat of Tubby's young and injury depleted team of two years earlier that went to the final game while playing all of their tournament games on the road was more impressive.

Why do you assume High Point, St Mary's & S Miss were easy opponents? Or is it just the fact they were home games?

 

[KillmeNow]

I don't disagree with that and I'm not so much dismissing the accomplishment as putting that season in perspective. That first year post-season run and last year's regular season were the heights of a five year career here. Yes, those were "highs" but they weren't spectacular highs. In contrast, Pitino's lows have been rather spectacular lows.

And one of those lows, this last year, was that Pitino's fault? Because without last year, he only had ONE really bad year. And every coach since Muss that's ever coached the Gophers for more than 2 seasons, has had at least one really bad year.

And as someone who followed the Gophers that year, the team was very young, and lots of those games were very close games, and I know that I am not alone thinking this, but I could see that the team had TONS of promise and potential and I fully expected the next year to be a much better year.

 

[jovs]

And one of those lows, this last year, was that Pitino's fault? Because without last year, he only had ONE really bad year. And every coach since Muss that's ever coached the Gophers for more than 2 seasons, has had at least one really bad year.

And as someone who followed the Gophers that year, the team was very young, and lots of those games were very close games, and I know that I am not alone thinking this, but I could see that the team had TONS of promise and potential and I fully expected the next year to be a much better year.

I agree ,they were very good at the start of the year before Mcbrayer's started having problems and Mason's ankle injury, I could see them easily ending up in the top 4 in the conference, I never thought they played with the defensive intensity needed to progress in the NCAA tournament though. I don't see how you can judge Pitino on last years results because of the injuries, if they remain healthy they can contend for the B1G title next year.

 

[cjbfbp]

Because without last year, he only had ONE really bad year.

No, he had two bad years prior to last year. The one you're referring to was historically bad - without precedent in the category of badness. However, his second season was also bad. He took a veteran team with most of its players returning from the NIT championship the year before and turned them into a 6-12 Big Ten team that played on Wednesday of the Big Ten tournament and received no postseason bid.

By the way, you don't get a complete pass for bad luck - not when you're making about 1.6 million a year anyway. What you do with bad luck counts. Seems like Pitino has had a lot of bad luck. Maybe it's not all luck? In any event, I think there are some coaches would have managed to finish a little better than 2-14 with similar circumstances to the Gophers. Wisconsin had some key injuries too and had a very young team but they still managed to win 7 conference games.

 

[bizzle22]

And one of those lows, this last year, was that Pitino's fault? Because without last year, he only had ONE really bad year. And every coach since Muss that's ever coached the Gophers for more than 2 seasons, has had at least one really bad year.

And as someone who followed the Gophers that year, the team was very young, and lots of those games were very close games, and I know that I am not alone thinking this, but I could see that the team had TONS of promise and potential and I fully expected the next year to be a much better year.

Yea, sorry but this is another example of not properly comparing other coaches to Pitino. In what you said above, you basically say that Tubby's worst season counts as a bad year, but Pitino's second season doesn't count as a bad year. Let's compare them...

Pitino's second season (2014-15): 18-15 overall, 6-12 in B1G
Tubby's worst season (2010-11): 17-14 overall, 6-12 in B1G


Those look pretty darn similar to me. I don't see how anyone looking at it from an unbiased perspective could put them in different categories.

 

[HOOP DREAMS]

Pitino's second season (2014-15): 18-15 overall, 6-12 in B1G
Tubby's worst season (2010-11): 17-14 overall, 6-12 in B1G


Those look pretty darn similar to me. I don't see how anyone looking at it from an unbiased perspective could put them in different categories.

Did Tubby lose 3-4 of his top 6 guys that season?