Rose into the Portal

[Gopher Ally]

Now we will find out who’s staying or entering the portal. I would think the players would be excited about having a highly successful coach guiding them. Maybe we pick up Hottinger and others now. This could be a quick turnaround with a couple added pieces!

 

[thatjanelpick]

Micheaux is built like and plays like a PF, not a Center. The Gophers need to hit the transfer portal, and perhaps pick up Frannie Hottinger, or someone else that gives us some height as well as physicality down low. Hottinger would also bring a real inside presence for rebounding, as well as strong shooting numbers.

You think Hottinger is a B1G center?

 

[SHGopher]

Incoming Grace Grocholski is said to be an ideal wing forward (small forward). "Grocholski a strong and versatile wing who is a matchup nightmare with her three-level scoring. She is also a standout on defense with the ability to guard perimeter and post players." So she's a 3.

Heyer stays at power forward -- why mess with a good thing -- where she shoots really from the perimeter and moves around. She fits the Coach P perimeter system perfectly.

That means Micheaux was the odd person out for starting roles. She would have projected to a rotation player with Hart and Heyer. She didn't attempt a single 3-point shot last season, so Heyer gives you more. It would have been great if Micheaux stayed. Micheaux is good. I just wouldn't move Heyer to accomodate her starting at power forward, especially with Grocholski likely coming in at the 3.

And then in a different topic is Holloway who we don't know yet but possibly projects to a 6th (wo)man role at multiple forward spot, not sure. She's athletic enough to play 3 but longer shooting wasn't consistent enough back in high school that was awhile ago now.

 

[rwlarson]

Based upon what I’ve heard Coach P say about her preference for a large roster, I think she wants to have the ability to go with offensive and defensive-oriented lineups based upon opponent and game situation. Based upon her track record, I think she will be able to figure out how to utilize her roster effectively so the team gains something defensively when it sacrifices some offense, and vice versa.

Incoming Grace Grocholski is said to be an ideal wing forward (small forward). "Grocholski a strong and versatile wing who is a matchup nightmare with her three-level scoring. She is also a standout on defense with the ability to guard perimeter and post players." So she's a 3.

Heyer stays at power forward -- why mess with a good thing -- where she shoots really from the perimeter and moves around. She fits the Coach P perimeter system perfectly.

That means Micheaux was the odd person out for starting roles. She would have projected to a rotation player with Hart and Heyer. She didn't attempt a single 3-point shot last season, so Heyer gives you more. It would have been great if Micheaux stayed. Micheaux is good. I just wouldn't move Heyer to accomodate her starting at power forward, especially with Grocholski likely coming in at the 3.

And then in a different topic is Holloway who we don't know yet but possibly projects to a 6th (wo)man role at multiple forward spot, not sure. She's athletic enough to play 3 but longer shooting wasn't consistent enough back in high school that was awhile ago now

 

[GopherGal_]

Rose to Virginia Tech via her Instagram

 

[SHGopher]

It looks like Virginia Tech was interested in Micheaux as soon as she hit the portal. This is based on mid-March posts in the Virginia Tech forum.

 

[SHGopher]

The unavoidable reality is that the Gophers had Rose Micheaux, Sophie Hart and Mallory Heyer -- all starters -- but only two starting spots. Who does not start? That requires an answer. Yea, coaches want talent to mix things up for different looks and there are enough minutes to go around blah blah blah but the reality is that one is not going to start.

Moving Heyer to wing (which she partly is) small forward has a new set of problems. The Gophers have a log jam of wing/small forward talent in the pipeline that includes incoming G-money Grace Grocholski plus your pick of several interesting other players where someone(s) is going to break out.

I loved watching Rose play. I am happy she landed in a nice spot. Obviously the entire situation has resolved well. Good luck Rose! And enjoy the ride.

 

[BigTenGuy]

The unavoidable reality is that the Gophers had Rose Micheaux, Sophie Hart and Mallory Heyer -- all starters -- but only two starting spots.

Has Hart looked good enough in practice to be confident she is a quality starter? While N.C. State was loaded last year, when healthy, Hart was 11th player/3rd string center before she transferred, correct?

 

[SHGopher]

Has Hart looked good enough in practice to be confident she is a quality starter? While N.C. State was loaded last year, when healthy, Hart was 11th player/3rd string center before she transferred, correct?

Good points. I wouldn't know about practice. It had been said here that the freshmen want to stay and play with Hart, when people were wondering who might leave after the coaching switch.

I do think you raise a good point about, "What can we count on? She hardly played at NC State."

I personally am not sold on Hart going full starter minutes. I'd feel more comfortable with a 50%/40%/10% rotation of Hart/Ware/Zie.

I don't mean to snub any of them. Zie is making a big leap from JUCO to Big Ten where I'm simply not going to believe anyone doing that will make the leap until proven otherwise. Ware is great but to me would help herself most by managing her injury risk in a rotation role. Maybe Hart would be her best with moderated minutes since she seemed to have conditioning issues in the past. Yea it would be great to have Micheaux in a time share.

We do know from reporting that Coach P tried very hard to get Hart from the transfer portal when Coach P was at WV. So she thinks highly of Hart and knows how to use her.

Ignore anything I wrote in favor of "trust coach P" and what do I know. Just tossing out whatever clues I may know here...

 

[SHGopher]

This next point gets over my level of understanding and I need to pay better attention... I'm trying to figure this out... but I'm going to toss this out anyway.

In modern "position-less" basketball, the lines between the various positions are blurred. Most of the players are expected to be versatile and do several of the same things. Positions thus are closer to this:

1. Wings
2. Ball handlers
3. Post

The wings are expected to shoot outside and inside, and they still need to be able to dribble, move the ball, defend a couple types of players, and create assists. They are like shooting guards with combo guard skills or wings/small forwards with combo guard skills.

The ball handlers bring the ball up court, drive for shots, and all the things point guards do except they are also expected to shoot from the perimeter and defend up a level.

And post are the bigger players that defend at the rim but still ideally you like to see them getting out for more kinds of shots and actively passing the ball around with ball handling skills.

It doesn't entirely work like that but that's more the trend. Each position does more than the old days.

Perimeter shooting is so important these days.

So... that would mean that Micheaux and Hart are playing the same position: post. Both are low post players. Micheaux is not a wing-type and never attempted 3's. Hart certainly is not a wing-type.

Heyer is a wing-type but also a high post type, or playing more there.

Coach P, I believe, comes from the positionless tradition with perimeter shooting and moving the ball around to create scoring opportunities, and each player needs to make stuff happen.

I don't know if this post was worth posting but I do believe Hart-low-post, Micheaux-high-post, Heyer-small-forward-wing doesn't make sense. I think it would have been more Hart-Micheaux-share-post, Heyer-high-post-wing.

I don't think it even made sense to think of Micheaux as a classic power forward playing next to a center. The proper framework is that Hart and Micheaux are the same position.

But wait, I'm not done.

One thing I loved about Hart is that she can pass the ball well. And she's tall. So she's not just a tree standing there. Toss her the ball. Now what is she going to do with it?

Pass-score!

Turn-score!

Post player as kind of a point guard feeding assists to other players.

Or maybe not. I don't really know.

I am real interested to see what this looks like next season, especially if Coach P has players that will make this work. Like wings who can score and score and score.

 

[walleye]

I was sorry to see Micheaux leave. She was a huge asset to the team. She would have had plenty of playing time with Hart coming in. What the Gophers lacked last year was someone who could spell Micheaux, keep her fresh, help keep her out of foul trouble, and provide quality minutes. My gut feeling is that no one would push Micheaux out of the starting lineup for next year but there should be better substitution options and backups. ESPN ranked Micheaux as the 20th best player in the portal. She switched to a highly competitive program while her stock was rising.

 

[Willwin40]

Micheaux would have played the low post and Hart the high post. Heyer could play a wing along with Braun and
Battle the point guard.

 

[Aesop70]

Micheaux proved she can play in the BIG10. Hart hasn't yet proven herself (as a starter) at the division 1 level. Micheaux had no reason to feel threatened for opportunity. She merely traded up to an NCAA tournament team and probably got some NIL in the process.

 

[MOGopher]

Micheaux should be a strong add for the Hokies next season. However, Coach Brooks played a 5 person rotation this past season and rarely played BIG10 star Ashley Owusu in his lineup. She has the physical attributes to play in the ACC, hopeful the VT coaching staff can coach her up a notch in post knowledge and skills.

 

[Ragnor]

Micheaux proved she can play in the BIG10. Hart hasn't yet proven herself (as a starter) at the division 1 level. Micheaux had no reason to feel threatened for opportunity. She merely traded up to an NCAA tournament team and probably got some NIL in the process.

I agree with you from the standpoint of what we have seen, but we haven't seen how the 2 performed against each other in practice. It is certainly possible that Hart had the better play in practice.

 

[gopherdudepart2]

Good luck to Rose, will be a fan of her's going forward, wish her the best. She never said a bad word or thing about the Gophers.

 

[tripledouble]

Totally disagree with SHGopher who said that there were only two starting spots for 3 positions for Rose, Hart, and Heyer. I'm of the feeling that all 3 would have started, with Battle and Braun the guards. Rose was an all-conference honorable mention and she was at times last year the Gophers best player. The thought that she can't play forward instead of post is probably misguided also. We'll see how VT uses Rose...whether it is at a starting forward spot or a backup post to Kitley. I suspect it will be as a forward. (I doubt if Rose would have committed to VT if she was thinking she was going to be a backup post.)

 

[Black N Gold]

I'm thinking Rose will replace Taylor Soule. It's a perfect fit. Same type of player but I think Rose has more upside than Taylor did. Just my opinion.

 

[SHGopher]

I'm thinking Rose will replace Taylor Soule. It's a perfect fit. Same type of player but I think Rose has more upside than Taylor did. Just my opinion.

Taylor Soule - Women's Basketball - Virginia Tech Athletics

Taylor Soule (13) Foward - 2022-23 (Graduate Student) Soule started all 36 games en route to an ACC title and the program's first Final Four appearance.

hokiesports.com

 

[Hoopsmom]

With both South Dakota and West Virginia, Coach P tended to use more post rotation than guards. Guards usually see more minutes per game, both starters and coming off the bench. But on her previous teams, and in general, posts play more physically, and it’s rough in there. More fouls are called inside. So when she was able, she used a four post rotation, fitting them into a version of her motion offense. If she had a strong post inside, she altered the offense to fit that.

 

[gwbbfan82]

With both South Dakota and West Virginia, Coach P tended to use more post rotation than guards. Guards usually see more minutes per game, both starters and coming off the bench. But on her previous teams, and in general, posts play more physically, and it’s rough in there. More fouls are called inside. So when she was able, she used a four post rotation, fitting them into a version of her motion offense. If she had a strong post inside, she altered the offense to fit that.

Thank you for your insight!

 

[SHGopher]

Virginia Tech has fortified.

Wake Forest Transfer Olivia Summiel Commits to Virginia Tech

Wake Forest transfer Olivia Summiel has committed to the Virginia Tech Hokies. Summiel was a two-year starting forward at Wake previously.

techlunchpail.com

The 6'2'' Summiel is another strong addition for the Hokies who strengthens an already strong VT frontcourt headlined by two-time ACC Player of the Year Liz Kitley plus All-B1G Honorable Mention honoree Alanna Micheaux and top 100 recruit Clara Strack. Summiel should slide right into the D'Asia Gregg role as a versatile forward who can provide a lot on the glass and defensively while also having some three-point shooting upside. ummiel averaged career highs in points (7.4) and blocks (1.4) plus 5.6 rebounds in 29.0 minutes per game. She is also a career 39.7% shooter including 33.7% from three-point range plus 72.9% from the free-throw line.

 

[Black N Gold]

Taylor Soule - Women's Basketball - Virginia Tech Athletics

Taylor Soule (13) Foward - 2022-23 (Graduate Student) Soule started all 36 games en route to an ACC title and the program's first Final Four appearance.

hokiesports.com

I watched a lot of V. Tech this season and I still think Rose will be the better player.

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

Former Spartan, Matilda Ekh, joins Rose at Virginia Tech

 

[SHGopher]

Former Spartan, Matilda Ekh, joins Rose at Virginia Tech

She was Big Ten Honorable Mention and one of the leading 3-point scorers in the conference. Major bummer Minnesota is not the destination for her or one of the other three. Dang.

I think the departure of most the Minnesota team last season leaving only 3 players and no juniors or seniors is part of the reason because Gophers would have had a better record this last year with some of those veterans. Players in the portal probably look at Minnesota's dismal record this year.

And then looking at the top 2024 recuits in the upper Midwest, they have all committed to schools already except Illinois.

It is looking more and more like the team needing to improve the record substantially with what they have.

While Virginia Tech has just stacked.

 

[Black N Gold]

She was Big Ten Honorable Mention and one of the leading 3-point scorers in the conference. Major bummer Minnesota is not the destination for her or one of the other three. Dang.

I think the departure of most the Minnesota team last season leaving only 3 players and no juniors or seniors is part of the reason because Gophers would have had a better record this last year with some of those veterans. Players in the portal probably look at Minnesota's dismal record this year.

And then looking at the top 2024 recuits in the upper Midwest, they have all committed to schools already except Illinois.

It is looking more and more like the team needing to improve the record substantially with what they have.

While Virginia Tech has just stacked.

That's the 4th. player Virginia Tech has grabbed from the B1G in the last couple of years.