Shama: Medved Expects ‘Large Number’ of Returnees to Gophers

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I have no issue with Willis returning, but I'd still rather have Evans as the starting PG, and have Willis in the Langston Reynolds role off the bench.

If everyone returns except Turner, Omot and Stephens, they will only have two of the top 12 scholarships to fill in the portal. I'll take Evans and whoever Niko can identify as the next Tyson.
 

60's Guy said:
Average NIL Budgets this past year from the Athletic surveying college basketball coaches with the promise of anonymity.
The Gophers could not have spent any where close to $8.5M on our roster....hopefully.
From the story it was verified Kentucky spent $22M in NIL money on their basketball roster.
View attachment 43322
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Supposedly, Coyle was giving them 20% of the $21 million revenue sharing so that would be $4.2 million. And I think they had a couple million in NIL as well. I'd estimate our roster at $6 million last year.
 

I'd take Evans, but he doesn't seem like the cleanest of fits if Willis returns.

Having multiple ball handlers is a good thing but Asuma/Willis/Evans/Tomes is a pretty small back court.
 

Does anybody else feel strongly that instead of:

"How are we going to replace Tyson?"
"How are we going to replace Reynolds?"

If Niko has 9 guys he trusts to play, it will take care of itself.

I feel like a lot of the Iron 5's flaws were mostly just from playing too many minutes. There should be big steps from essentially everyone returning, and having solid subs that can play within the system will lead to many more wins in conference.

I literally have no worries that Niko will pick the guys who will impact winning immediately, even if they aren't scoring 20 ppg or a "should be" All-Big Ten Defender.
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
I'd take Evans, but he doesn't seem like the cleanest of fits if Willis returns.

Having multiple ball handlers is a good thing but Asuma/Willis/Evans/Tomes is a pretty small back court.
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Eh I'm okay with Tomes waiting, Evans and Asuma can also play off the ball a bit and get open looks from 3. I'd roll the dice with Evans and Asuma over Willis if we had to choose
 


11th in conf record at 8-12. 15-17 overall.
What the gophers were good at this year? Ball movement, backdoor cuts, improved 3 pt shooting, high assist to low turnovers. Bad rebounding team, we tried hard. Played defense very well with what we had by the end of the season.

What Tyson provided: 20ppg, 5 reb, 50% from 2, 42% from 3, 83% on FT.
Reynolds: 11ppg, 4 reb, almost 5 ass. 54% FG, just 26% from 3. Toughest player, improved playmaker, great at getting to the line, and getting a shot off at the end of games when the refs shwallow the whistles.

Injured players should bring:
Vaihola was really rebounding and provides a physicality only JCJ gave us last year. Not a shooter.
Willis has very good quickness and strength, he hadn't adjusted to the big ten before he left. Not a shooter.

Recruits;
N. Anderson 6-7 210 stretch 4, or combo forward. Plays a lot like Durkin, possibly a bit better athlete, superb 3 pt shooter. Needs to and will get stronger. Could back up either forward spot.
Tomes, elite 1 on 1 player and high volume shooter. A bit of a wild card but doesnt need to see major minutes as a fr.
Mpoyi big athletic body, built like Payne. Should get some run, I don't see Groves playing out of position at the 5 as much next year.

On paper, without a couple of impact transfers, we have more bigger bodies. We should rebound and potentially play better post defense. We shouldn't be as worn down at the end of games. Playing Willis and Vaihola we will be stout but now we have 2 players who won't stretch the floor.

Impact transfer: We Need a Tyson replacement, someone who can shoot, score, and cut. We need a Reynolds replacement, we absolutely need a bigger athletic wing who can guard people and also get to the basket, and if he can also provide mental toughness awesome!
 

march madness said:
11th in conf record at 8-12. 15-17 overall.
What the gophers were good at this year? Ball movement, backdoor cuts, improved 3 pt shooting, high assist to low turnovers. Bad rebounding team, we tried hard. Played defense very well with what we had by the end of the season.

What Tyson provided: 20ppg, 5 reb, 50% from 2, 42% from 3, 83% on FT.
Reynolds: 11ppg, 4 reb, almost 5 ass. 54% FG, just 26% from 3. Toughest player, improved playmaker, great at getting to the line, and getting a shot off at the end of games when the refs shwallow the whistles.

Injured players should bring:
Vaihola was really rebounding and provides a physicality only JCJ gave us last year. Not a shooter.
Willis has very good quickness and strength, he hadn't adjusted to the big ten before he left. Not a shooter.

Recruits;
N. Anderson 6-7 210 stretch 4, or combo forward. Plays a lot like Durkin, possibly a bit better athlete, superb 3 pt shooter. Needs to and will get stronger. Could back up either forward spot.
Tomes, elite 1 on 1 player and high volume shooter. A bit of a wild card but doesnt need to see major minutes as a fr.
Mpoyi big athletic body, built like Payne. Should get some run, I don't see Groves playing out of position at the 5 as much next year.

On paper, without a couple of impact transfers, we have more bigger bodies. We should rebound and potentially play better post defense. We shouldn't be as worn down at the end of games. Playing Willis and Vaihola we will be stout but now we have 2 players who won't stretch the floor.

Impact transfer: We Need a Tyson replacement, someone who can shoot, score, and cut. We need a Reynolds replacement, we absolutely need a bigger athletic wing who can guard people and also get to the basket, and if he can also provide mental toughness awesome!
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I think Asuma can fill the role that Reynolds had - except teams won't be able to sit in the lane against Asuma like the did with Reynolds.
Reasons:
He was a good to great defender this year. With another year in the same system he should be an even better defender in 26-27. When they played man, Reynolds was always tasked with trying to stop the other teams number 1 scoring guard. When Reynolds got in foul trouble it was Asuma who assumed that role.
He started to develop an attack the basket attitude as the season went on and has a nice floater when he can't get all the way to the rim. Reynolds really attacked the rim when he could and his quickness/strength were keys to him doing that. Asuma isn't as quick but he is not too far off and he has the strength and a better handle (most of the time) than Reynolds
He rebounds well, just like Reynolds
He has room to grow as a shooter and is also better from 3 than Reynolds will ever be.
His FT shooting is a plus compared to Reynolds
He handles the ball better than Reynolds
 

GFBfan said:
I think Asuma can fill the role that Reynolds had - except teams won't be able to sit in the lane against Asuma like the did with Reynolds.
Reasons:
He was a good to great defender this year. With another year in the same system he should be an even better defender in 26-27. When they played man, Reynolds was always tasked with trying to stop the other teams number 1 scoring guard. When Reynolds got in foul trouble it was Asuma who assumed that role.
He started to develop an attack the basket attitude as the season went on and has a nice floater when he can't get all the way to the rim. Reynolds really attacked the rim when he could and his quickness/strength were keys to him doing that. Asuma isn't as quick but he is not too far off and he has the strength and a better handle (most of the time) than Reynolds
He rebounds well, just like Reynolds
He has room to grow as a shooter and is also better from 3 than Reynolds will ever be.
His FT shooting is a plus compared to Reynolds
He handles the ball better than Reynolds
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I love this assessment. Well done, and I agree.

I'd also argue Asuma's floor is way higher than Reynolds. When Reynolds was off, it was really ugly with tons of ill-advised turnovers. I think Asuma is close enough to some of Reynolds' strengths but so much better in other areas, it would be a net positive.
 





howeda7 said:
Supposedly, Coyle was giving them 20% of the $21 million revenue sharing so that would be $4.2 million. And I think they had a couple million in NIL as well. I'd estimate our roster at $6 million last year.
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I think that $6M sounds plausible...I have no idea the landscape of who gets what in recruiting...I think we seemed to get good fits as teammates, good people, probably with exception of Turner where we gambled on a big guy and it didn't work. He never seemed happy to be here.
But, man...if that's the talent we got for $6M it doesn't go very far. Coming year, we gotta pay the guys we already have outta that money...so there is not much left unless Tyson got half of it. Hopefully, if it was $6M ... it's now at least $8M.
And we need to get lucky again...I'd say we hit pretty well on Tyson, Reynolds, Durkin, JCJ, Vaihola if he was healthy. Can do that well again with 5 new guys evaluation wise? And can we make the money work?
 

Beerculees said:
Top targets:
Kyan Evans- this feels inevitable
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I hope not, at least not as the #1 transfer prospect. I think we could do better. The guy has had one good year out of three. He had an outstanding True Shooting Percentage that season (.645) but only an average player efficiency rating (15.3) and he only averaged 10.6 points per game.

Tyson and Reynolds combined for over 31 points per game in conference games this season. Those are some big shoes to fill.
 

60's Guy said:
And we need to get lucky again...I'd say we hit pretty well on Tyson, Reynolds, Durkin, JCJ, Vaihola if he was healthy. Can do that well again with 5 new guys evaluation wise?
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We won't have 5 new transfers. Don't have the space for them unless more leave or incoming freshmen decommit. I'd say three.
 



topos said:
I love this assessment. Well done, and I agree.

I'd also argue Asuma's floor is way higher than Reynolds. When Reynolds was off, it was really ugly with tons of ill-advised turnovers. I think Asuma is close enough to some of Reynolds' strengths but so much better in other areas, it would be a net positive.
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I agree that Reynolds' turnovers could make one wince but Asuma was no slouch in that department. Reynolds tied for 4th in the league in turnovers but Asuma was 8th. Part of that is due to the fact that both players played big minutes per game
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
Now do Bobby Durkin's stats over his first 7 games.

Believe it or not, there are many reasons why transfers get off to poor starts. Learning a new system/teammates/coach, acclimating to higher level of competition, etc.

Judging guys based off the first 3 weeks of the season is a fools errand.
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My response was to this comment: (Willis) "Is a really good player I hope we get back - he and Asuma would be great."
I hear your point that players can get better...you could see Durkin was a shooter...easy to see it's possible he'd get more comfortable.
Willis was the leading scorer for Western Michigan at 17ppg and 6 assists...that's good. He missed 8 games and shot 42% from the field and 28% from 3...not so good. Shooting is a pretty big factor for guards...Reynolds attacks the basket really well to compensate for his lack of shooting.
My comment was in regards to he and Asuma "would be great". For Willis and Asuma to be considered great...I do not see that happening in the Big Ten conference.
My biggest theme...we need better players to get into the top 10 standings of the conference....and I'd like to get to top 6 annually...which probably requires better players?
 

60's Guy said:
My response was to this comment: (Willis) "Is a really good player I hope we get back - he and Asuma would be great."
I hear your point that players can get better...you could see Durkin was a shooter...easy to see it's possible he'd get more comfortable.
Willis was the leading scorer for Western Michigan at 17ppg and 6 assists...that's good. He missed 8 games and shot 42% from the field and 28% from 3...not so good. Shooting is a pretty big factor for guards...Reynolds attacks the basket really well to compensate for his lack of shooting.
My comment was in regards to he and Asuma "would be great". For Willis and Asuma to be considered great...I do not see that happening in the Big Ten conference.
My biggest theme...we need better players to get into the top 10 standings of the conference....and I'd like to get to top 6 annually...which probably requires better players?
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No disagreement but I also think the chances of getting better players rise with continued success and a coach and system that are coherent that players see themselves in.

Nothing original but Niko and his guys this season did a great job of laying a foundation to build on. I’m more optimistic than I have been in at least 15 seasons, and I’m one who has always given the benefit of the doubt to coaches.

Your goal of consistently in the top six means tournament every year with a seed of around four to six. That’s basically phenomenal with our history.
 

GFBfan said:
I think Asuma can fill the role that Reynolds had - except teams won't be able to sit in the lane against Asuma like the did with Reynolds.
Reasons:
He was a good to great defender this year. With another year in the same system he should be an even better defender in 26-27. When they played man, Reynolds was always tasked with trying to stop the other teams number 1 scoring guard. When Reynolds got in foul trouble it was Asuma who assumed that role.
He started to develop an attack the basket attitude as the season went on and has a nice floater when he can't get all the way to the rim. Reynolds really attacked the rim when he could and his quickness/strength were keys to him doing that. Asuma isn't as quick but he is not too far off and he has the strength and a better handle (most of the time) than Reynolds
He rebounds well, just like Reynolds
He has room to grow as a shooter and is also better from 3 than Reynolds will ever be.
His FT shooting is a plus compared to Reynolds
He handles the ball better than Reynolds
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I love Asuma, I am an Iron Ranger. But I would prefer another taller/bigger wing be brought in. It is nice to have Asuma, but I'm not having him guard a true 3.

PG Willis, Asuma, Tomes
SG Asuma, , **transfer, Shinholster
SF **Transfer, Anderson?
PF JCJ, Durkin, Grove
C Vaihola, JCJ, Mpoyi

I am not sure who we have returning that can really guard SF's.
Durkin is fine on offense, not sure I'd have him guard a 3. Anderson probably only spot minutes. Shinholster needs a lot of strength to play there. Asuma is maybe 6-3. Tyson was 6-7 195 and a decent athlete. Some SF's in the big ten this year: Yaxel 6-9 240, P Sanfort 6-7 215, Stojakovic 6-7 205, Carr 6-6 225,

Not sure Vaihola would start, maybe Niko rolls with JCJ at the 5, Durkin at the 4. If he does this they definitely need a good sized athleic 3. I still see a huge whole. I don't think asking Niko to bring in one athletic wing with some size is a huge ask in the NIL world of today. He should have whatever NIL tyson and Reynolds were getting right?
 

march madness said:
I love Asuma, I am an Iron Ranger. But I would prefer another taller/bigger wing be brought in. It is nice to have Asuma, but I'm not having him guard a true 3.

PG Willis, Asuma, Tomes
SG Asuma, , **transfer, Shinholster
SF **Transfer, Anderson?
PF JCJ, Durkin, Grove
C Vaihola, JCJ, Mpoyi

I am not sure who we have returning that can really guard SF's.
Durkin is fine on offense, not sure I'd have him guard a 3. Anderson probably only spot minutes. Shinholster needs a lot of strength to play there. Asuma is maybe 6-3. Tyson was 6-7 195 and a decent athlete. Some SF's in the big ten this year: Yaxel 6-9 240, P Sanfort 6-7 215, Stojakovic 6-7 205, Carr 6-6 225,

Not sure Vaihola would start, maybe Niko rolls with JCJ at the 5, Durkin at the 4. If he does this they definitely need a good sized athleic 3. I still see a huge whole. I don't think asking Niko to bring in one athletic wing with some size is a huge ask in the NIL world of today. He should have whatever NIL tyson and Reynolds were getting right?
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If Illinois makes the Final Four, especially if Michigan goes with them, the landscape of college basketball will get tilted back to tall. Syracuse philosophy under Boheim returns. In that environment the place for the six foot guard shrinks. When I saw Illinois at conference tournament I thought they were soft. But their height gave Houston fits and Michigans twin towers approach does the same thing. Makes getting a real four and five even more important for the rest of us.
 

Holy Man said:
Your goal of consistently in the top six means tournament every year with a seed of around four to six. That’s basically phenomenal with our history.
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Yes, in fact that would be phenomenal for the overwhelming majority of teams' histories. I've gotten the impression at times that more than a few fans think that good teams should make the NCAA tournament every year or almost every year. If that is the standard, we don't have many good teams in the USA. About 15 years ago I did a count of teams that made the NCAA tournament at least 8 out of the last 10 seasons. As I recall, that only amounted to about nine or ten teams at that time. I don't know how that count would differ now but if you limited the pool to include only those with seedings 6 or higher, it would be smaller.
 

march madness said:
I love Asuma, I am an Iron Ranger. But I would prefer another taller/bigger wing be brought in. It is nice to have Asuma, but I'm not having him guard a true 3.

PG Willis, Asuma, Tomes
SG Asuma, , **transfer, Shinholster
SF **Transfer, Anderson?
PF JCJ, Durkin, Grove
C Vaihola, JCJ, Mpoyi

I am not sure who we have returning that can really guard SF's.
Durkin is fine on offense, not sure I'd have him guard a 3. Anderson probably only spot minutes. Shinholster needs a lot of strength to play there. Asuma is maybe 6-3. Tyson was 6-7 195 and a decent athlete. Some SF's in the big ten this year: Yaxel 6-9 240, P Sanfort 6-7 215, Stojakovic 6-7 205, Carr 6-6 225,

Not sure Vaihola would start, maybe Niko rolls with JCJ at the 5, Durkin at the 4. If he does this they definitely need a good sized athleic 3. I still see a huge whole. I don't think asking Niko to bring in one athletic wing with some size is a huge ask in the NIL world of today. He should have whatever NIL tyson and Reynolds were getting right?
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Spot on, that's our #1 need most glaring weakness to address in the portal. Must find an athletic, 2-way, Big Ten sized wing.
 


march madness said:
I love Asuma, I am an Iron Ranger. But I would prefer another taller/bigger wing be brought in. It is nice to have Asuma, but I'm not having him guard a true 3.

PG Willis, Asuma, Tomes
SG Asuma, , **transfer, Shinholster
SF **Transfer, Anderson?
PF JCJ, Durkin, Grove
C Vaihola, JCJ, Mpoyi

I am not sure who we have returning that can really guard SF's.
Durkin is fine on offense, not sure I'd have him guard a 3. Anderson probably only spot minutes. Shinholster needs a lot of strength to play there. Asuma is maybe 6-3. Tyson was 6-7 195 and a decent athlete. Some SF's in the big ten this year: Yaxel 6-9 240, P Sanfort 6-7 215, Stojakovic 6-7 205, Carr 6-6 225,

Not sure Vaihola would start, maybe Niko rolls with JCJ at the 5, Durkin at the 4. If he does this they definitely need a good sized athleic 3. I still see a huge whole. I don't think asking Niko to bring in one athletic wing with some size is a huge ask in the NIL world of today. He should have whatever NIL tyson and Reynolds were getting right?
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I'd predict:

1. Evans via transfer
2. Asuma
3. Durkin
4. Transfer forward
5. JCJ

6. Willis
7. Grove
8. Vioholla

9. Anderson
10. Shinholster/Transfer

Possible red shirt:
11. Tomes
12. Mpoyi

13-15 Local Practice players.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
I hope not, at least not as the #1 transfer prospect. I think we could do better. The guy has had one good year out of three. He had an outstanding True Shooting Percentage that season (.645) but only an average player efficiency rating (15.3) and he only averaged 10.6 points per game.

Tyson and Reynolds combined for over 31 points per game in conference games this season. Those are some big shoes to fill.
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One out of three. Wash his freshman year, most freshman aren't big contributors. Sophomore year he had a big jump up. Typically Junior year you will see another jump up, but he transferred to UNC. Cade Tyson, our top scorer this year averaged 2 ppg at UNC. Evans averaged 4 ppg. Evans will average ~15ppg for us next year.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
I hope not, at least not as the #1 transfer prospect. I think we could do better. The guy has had one good year out of three. He had an outstanding True Shooting Percentage that season (.645) but only an average player efficiency rating (15.3) and he only averaged 10.6 points per game.

Tyson and Reynolds combined for over 31 points per game in conference games this season. Those are some big shoes to fill.
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I like Evans because he knows how Niko's offense works and did well in it. Hubert Davis is a terrible coach who does less with more talent than anyone I can remember. If you watched any UNC games his offense is like a pickup game. He relies on his 5 star recruits to use their athleticism and go one on one to score. It's the reason Tyson looked lost at UNC. That's not Evans strong suit either.
 

howeda7 said:
I'd predict:

1. Evans via transfer
2. Asuma
3. Durkin
4. Transfer forward
5. JCJ

6. Willis
7. Grove
8. Vioholla

9. Anderson
10. Shinholster/Transfer

Possible red shirt:
11. Tomes
12. Mpoyi

13-15 Local Practice players.
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I don't love Durkin at the three defensively, but what can you do? He really improved on that end. And his rebounding isn't at a PF level. Love him on offense.

I guess the other issue, is overall post size with teams like Purdue, Michigan, and Illinois in our conference.
 

cheeseheadgophfan said:
I like Evans because he knows how Niko's offense works and did well in it.
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Not as well as Tyson did in it, not even close.

The fact that Evans didn't do much at UNC doesn't concern me at all and it wasn't a concern to me when Tyson transferred here. I thought he would be good here and he was even a little better than I thought he would be.

I think a lot of people around here went ga-ga over Evans when he had that 23-point game against Memphis in the NCAA tournament but he had only two 20+ point games that season and averaged 10.6 points per game for the year. Tyson had 15 20+ point games in fewer games overall this season. Crocker-Johnson had 5 in even fewer games. Reynolds had three and he was more praised for his defense and distributing the ball.

I'm not against Evans coming here but it's going to take a lot more than him to replace what we lost.
 

Holy Man said:
No disagreement but I also think the chances of getting better players rise with continued success and a coach and system that are coherent that players see themselves in.

Nothing original but Niko and his guys this season did a great job of laying a foundation to build on. I’m more optimistic than I have been in at least 15 seasons, and I’m one who has always given the benefit of the doubt to coaches.

Your goal of consistently in the top six means tournament every year with a seed of around four to six. That’s basically phenomenal with our history.
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Right, nothing in the last 25 years makes that seem likely but if Niko gets better players I believe he can do that. And it is a goal...it is attainable. Not easy but not Cignetti like either.
Clem took us to 6 NCAA's in 10 years along with two NIT Championships. He had winning records in the conference most of his years.
I think Niko can do that...just be relevant again. (Clem was bad his first two years...then he took us to the Sweet 16). Niko was incredible in year one. I just don't wanna go backwards...it's easier to be good than it ever has been. But, you do need players.
 

howeda7 said:
I'd predict:

1. Evans via transfer
2. Asuma
3. Durkin
4. Transfer forward
5. JCJ

6. Willis
7. Grove
8. Vioholla

9. Anderson
10. Shinholster/Transfer

Possible red shirt:
11. Tomes
12. Mpoyi

13-15 Local Practice players.
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I am not sure Evans is that good. He really only had a few standout games at CSU and really struggled at UNC this year. The difference between him and a Cade Tyson, was Cade was much more productive at the mid major level. If Evans is good, I think this lineup is good enough to be in the tournament provide that Transfer forward is pretty good. I like the idea of JCJ as the center (provided we don't land some beast at the position via the portal) because I thought his offense took a leap when he played there after the Vaihola injury. I will be interested to see if Medved makes Evans a priority or goes after a guard who's had more production. If he goes after Evans, I'll assume I am worrying too much about his lack of a sample size of impact play.
 

EG#9 said:
I am not sure Evans is that good. He really only had a few standout games at CSU and really struggled at UNC this year. The difference between him and a Cade Tyson, was Cade was much more productive at the mid major level. If Evans is good, I think this lineup is good enough to be in the tournament provide that Transfer forward is pretty good. I like the idea of JCJ as the center (provided we don't land some beast at the position via the portal) because I thought his offense took a leap when he played there after the Vaihola injury. I will be interested to see if Medved makes Evans a priority or goes after a guard who's had more production. If he goes after Evans, I'll assume I am worrying too much about his lack of a sample size of impact play.
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Evans averaged more points than JCJ at CSU. It was a Hubert Davis issue.
 

Seeing reports JCJ is beck next year. Assumed that but good to know. Kid is a stud and I think may be our best player next year and an all conference guy.
 

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