Returning Playas for 2024-25

Donate To GopherHole

GopherMarroon said:
Will be interesting to see how JOJ turns out next year.
Click to expand...
I think he'll do alright anywhere he can play the 4 and be a big part of the offense. He does not have the mindset to be a role player. If he isn't getting the ball, he doesn't move without the ball, he has atrocious vision, and he doesn't play with a ton of energy.

He is an athletic guy and he is somewhat skilled offensively so he could be a decent scorer on a lower level team.
 


Some thoughts:
Cam going pro would hurt for sure but I dont think it would be a devastating blow that will send us back to weakling wednesday. He was our best shooter and a great offensive weapon as a scorer. He was not an overly good ball handler, creator for others, or defender. I dont think it is crazy to say we could come close to replacing his production from this year with a portal addition. I agree that it would hurt to lose out on seeing what a year 2 Cam Christie could do, as I think he is already a stud and has all the potential in the world.
All that said, having a 3/4 star kid go pro after developing with us for a year is not the worst thing in the world for a program. Helps sell the program to recruits and portal guys and generally raises the image of the team in my opinion.
 

I hope we can keep Garcia, but am mentally preparing for him to leave. There is crazy money being spent in NIL and 6'10" big guys who are as quick as him dont grow on trees. No question in my mind teams are trying to tamper with him right now and lure him out.
 


bomba$$_golf said:
Ben’s reluctance to develop and play joj is probably the biggest headscratcher of this entire season. Joj has high major athleticism that needed to be taught how to play major basketball. The fact this staff chose not to is a travesty.
Click to expand...

Well sounds like you should have some insider knowledge about JOJ. I'm under the impression maybe his concussion issues were worse then we were told? I really don't disagree with anything you say regarding JOJ, just finding your join date and posts, interesting to say the least.

I'm interpreting your post as JOJ is GONE!
 


billytwoshoes said:
Some thoughts:
Cam going pro would hurt for sure but I dont think it would be a devastating blow that will send us back to weakling wednesday. He was our best shooter and a great offensive weapon as a scorer. He was not an overly good ball handler, creator for others, or defender. I dont think it is crazy to say we could come close to replacing his production from this year with a portal addition. I agree that it would hurt to lose out on seeing what a year 2 Cam Christie could do, as I think he is already a stud and has all the potential in the world.
All that said, having a 3/4 star kid go pro after developing with us for a year is not the worst thing in the world for a program. Helps sell the program to recruits and portal guys and generally raises the image of the team in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Good post! We could definitely replace the Cam of this past year in the portal and we very likely could not replace what he will be in 2024-25. I really hope he stays on and has a terrific year and one to remember for the team.
 

bga1 said:
Good post! We could definitely replace the Cam of this past year in the portal and we very likely could not replace what he will be in 2024-25. I really hope he stays on and has a terrific year and one to remember for the team.
Click to expand...
I think it would be a really good portal pickup for us to replace Christie of last year in the portal. I'd be ecstatic if we landed a 6'6" guy who shoots 40% from 3 at a high volume who is also a decent ball handler (not just a spot up shooter).

But you're both right, the biggest loss would be the loss of potential. Christie could be special next year and losing out on that option would be tough.
 




SplitDecision said:
There is a lot of discussion based on ??? nothing. JOJ knows exactly why he didn't get major minutes in the second half. CBJ wouldn't sit a guy for no reason. He, like Christie, doesn't defend at a high level. Christie has offensive punch, so he got more time, but he doesn't defend well, as witnessed by multiple instances in Ind. St. game. NBA is out of the question.
Garcia has much to develop, ball handling skills, shooting 3's, getting stronger to the rim... There is no reason to debate transfer portal issues because we don't know anything. Anybody can guess anything, and if it turns out that way they will act like a genius instead of the beneficiary of luck and coincidence.
Click to expand...

I to, get upset at message boards I choose to read and comment on.
 


Spottedmuskie said:
Well sounds like you should have some insider knowledge about JOJ. I'm under the impression maybe his concussion issues were worse then we were told? I really don't disagree with anything you say regarding JOJ, just finding your join date and posts, interesting to say the least.

I'm interpreting your post as JOJ is GONE!
Click to expand...

Maybe he is JOJ?
 
Last edited:



bomba$$_golf said:
2 shovels or 1? Your inability to see things how they were is dumbfounding. I guess that’s why you are in support of the staff and what they did.
Click to expand...
So what exactly are you accusing the staff of doing? We have all admitted the situation with JOJ seemed odd but many of us are willing to believe there was a solid reason for why his role shifted as drastically as it did.

You seem convinced it was complete malpractice by the coaching staff.....what is your proof? This isn't about blindly supporting the staff or the decisions they make, for most of us it is simply the understanding that as fans we only see a snapshot of what is going on whereas the coaches are with the players all the time.

What we know is....over the final 1/3 of the season his minutes were cut pretty drastically and he also dealt with a concussion during that time. When he was on the court over that stretch he looked bad and the guys directly in front of him (Fox, Garcia, and Payne) were 3 of our best players most games. But if there is something nefarious we are all missing please feel free to enlighten us.
 

Spottedmuskie said:
Well sounds like you should have some insider knowledge about JOJ. I'm under the impression maybe his concussion issues were worse then we were told? I really don't disagree with anything you say regarding JOJ, just finding your join date and posts, interesting to say the least.

I'm interpreting your post as JOJ is GONE!
Click to expand...
Hmmmmm?
 

billytwoshoes said:
Some thoughts:
Cam going pro would hurt for sure but I dont think it would be a devastating blow that will send us back to weakling wednesday. He was our best shooter and a great offensive weapon as a scorer. He was not an overly good ball handler, creator for others, or defender. I dont think it is crazy to say we could come close to replacing his production from this year with a portal addition. I agree that it would hurt to lose out on seeing what a year 2 Cam Christie could do, as I think he is already a stud and has all the potential in the world.
All that said, having a 3/4 star kid go pro after developing with us for a year is not the worst thing in the world for a program. Helps sell the program to recruits and portal guys and generally raises the image of the team in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Why does having a kid leave to be a fringe NBA player help your program? I have never undestood this line of thinking.
Selling the program these days has to do with 2 things, money and winning. Kids don't care that an NIT team sent a guy to the pros to be a 2nd round pick. Losing him hurts the program much more than him going pro right now.
 

Go Gophs said:
Why does having a kid leave to be a fringe NBA player help your program? I have never undestood this line of thinking.
Selling the program these days has to do with 2 things, money and winning. Kids don't care that an NIT team sent a guy to the pros to be a 2nd round pick. Losing him hurts the program much more than him going pro right now.
Click to expand...
Agreed. 100%. Dont see people coming here because we sent Oturu and Coffey to the NBA. Different staff but I dont think Richard gained from them leaving.
 

The thinking is that Cam would only leave if he was promised a 1st round pick. He would only be promised a pick if a team thought he could be more than a fringe NBA player. Obviously it would be much better for the program if he stays and has a great college career. But I think it adds some credibility to the program to kids and families considering the gophers, especially because the winning portion hasnt happened yet. Youre right it wont be the deciding factor like winning and money, but its something
 



Otis said:
Thought it would be good to consolidate who is guaranteed to be on the roster in the fall.

Returning Starters:
Hawkins


Incoming freshmen:
Asuma
Groves

Eligible to return yet undeclared:
Garcia
Payne
Mitchell
Christie
Fox
Carrington
JoJ
Ihnen
Keinys
Betts

Non-Scholarship:
Purcell
Reader

Out of Eligibility:
Jack Wilson
Will Ramberg

Hopefully the starters will return and we can upgrade our bench through the portal.
Click to expand...

Update it you Slacker!
 
Last edited:

bomba$$_golf said:
This 100%.
Click to expand...
From my vantage point Ola looked like a classic trap player. If you coach long enough in any sport you'll see guy like him.

He's a guy that has some extreme athletic traits that would bail him out. I coached baseball, where the game inherently gives you feedback on this very early; 13/14 year old (right when the bases go to 90 ft combined with puberty). In basketball you can hide from it. And Ola is an almost perfect example.

Robbie Avila from ISU is a perfect counterexample. He had no tools other than height.

You had said earlier about the last 6 weeks despite him starting before as an example of non development. That sounds backwards.

Ola didn't progress properly. The coaches gave him feedback - clearly. Especially the last six weeks. You can see it in that the little details of the game didn't progress. A player like him that is "getting it" should slowly, but clearly progress further and further in the little things. Which I guarantee showed up a ton in practice consistency. He didn't meet coaches checkpoints. Checkpoints that I'm confident were communicated beforehand. You can tell, because they would show up sometimes in games.

These guys are really hard to communicate to once they have been coached another way. Often times the attitude will be great too. His good personality likely even made this harder (Ben often made this comment). The Ego protects us, and offers stupid little excuses until the emotions build up and you get in a chronic outward blame cycle. The ability to transfer will likely hurt him more than help him.

Ola needs to learn how to practice better. He has to make that decision himself. its 100% mental with him.

I was a latch key kid. So life would generally teach this to us. Kids since have been deliberately raised opposite. You can see it more often. So much promise then stagnation.
 



This is’nt looking good with all the Sophomores jumping ship!

Stand by for heavy waves as I can’t see why Garcia and Christie would possibly stay without Payne.
 

I would think that MN would be a great spot for a quality big now that JOJ and Payne are gone. Minutes galore!!
 

Ihnen jumped ship as well!
 

I listened to that Mike Grimm podcast last week where he interviewed Ryan James. Incredibly, they said that a major reason Ben Johnson missed on all those in state recruits this year was we only had 2 scholarships to give, and JOJ/Betts were already clogging up the PF spot. When I heard it I figured he was either naive or playing dumb.

With 4 scholarships opening up already, I fully expect a couple of walk-ons to get unused scholarships. Bleh.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I think he'll do alright anywhere he can play the 4 and be a big part of the offense. He does not have the mindset to be a role player. If he isn't getting the ball, he doesn't move without the ball, he has atrocious vision, and he doesn't play with a ton of energy.

He is an athletic guy and he is somewhat skilled offensively so he could be a decent scorer on a lower level team.
Click to expand...
Very well said. If he played with the passion of Fox he could be unstoppable but he rarely played that way. I don't think you can learn that passion.
 

eker0016 said:
I listened to that Mike Grimm podcast last week where he interviewed Ryan James. Incredibly, they said that a major reason Ben Johnson missed on all those in state recruits this year was we only had 2 scholarships to give, and JOJ/Betts were already clogging up the PF spot. When I heard it I figured he was either naive or playing dumb.

With 4 scholarships opening up already, I fully expect a couple of walk-ons to get unused scholarships. Bleh.
Click to expand...
If you're using multiple scholarships on walk-ons in year 4, it'a joke.

So here's the current (Playable) roster:

Asuma
Hawkins
Mitchell
Christie
Betts
Garcia

(Fox)

*Get the NDSU kid to commit and then let's just keep the transfers coming in. We're not a total dumpster as of yet.
 
Last edited:

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom