Spring recruits/transfers only thread.

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RYAN WOOLRIDGE would be a huge pickup. Fills an immediate need and seems like he is a really solid player. Would be an amazing get to finish out the class for next year
 

Lakers612 said:
RYAN WOOLRIDGE would be a huge pickup. Fills an immediate need and seems like he is a really solid player. Would be an amazing get to finish out the class for next year
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The thing is that we have 2 open scholarships with Amir leaving. If I had to guess we pick up Woolridge today/this week and grab a sit 1 transfer (SF, PF)
 

ohiogopher75 said:
The thing is that we have 2 open scholarships with Amir leaving. If I had to guess we pick up Woolridge today/this week and grab a sit 1 transfer (SF, PF)
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I would be surprised if they grabbed a sit 1 year transfer unless they felt he was better than anyone they could get next year. We are fairly young at every position except perhaps power forward depending upon what one thinks of Omersa and Curry as our future PFs.

Center - soph and frosh
PF - soph/ junior/senior GT
SF - frosh/senior
2G - soph/frosh
PG - soph/junior/ sr GT(?)
 

ohiogopher75 said:
The thing is that we have 2 open scholarships with Amir leaving. If I had to guess we pick up Woolridge today/this week and grab a sit 1 transfer (SF, PF)
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or you can bank a scholarship for the supposedly great 2020 class (at least for Minnesota high schoolers anyways)..

I am not too worried about the SF/PF position. We have Hurt's last season and the freshman Ihnen coming in. Would rather try to get a stud SF next year to be the true replacement of Coffey
 

Keyser Söze said:
Anyone know anything about Federico Miaschi? He was considering visiting us at one point, but I can't find updates on his recruitment since then.
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Last thing I read on him was that he was leaning towards remaining in the current Italian pro league he is playing in and is likely not going to play college basketball.
 


die hard gopher said:
I think his numbers say otherwise and also I think Woolridge could definitely start for us alongside Carr with the opening Coffey left us. I think that would give us the 5 best players starting.

With Demir it's a tough evaluation because his numbers indicate he is certainly a Big Ten caliber starter but his film tells me he his game might not translate well to the Big Ten due to his severe lack of athleticism, similar to Stull. With Woolridge he has both the numbers to indicate he is a Big Ten player and the size and athleticism that translates to the Big Ten.
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Agree to disagree. Everyone's highlight film looks good, especially at a lower competition level. I'm more in the camp with Ryan James & Marcus Fuller, who seem to think he's more of a depth guy.

Ryan James: "Ryan could provide the type of guard depth that Minnesota needs to finalize their class"

Marcus Fuller: "Gophers could use more experience in backcourt."
 

bga1 said:
I would be surprised if they grabbed a sit 1 year transfer unless they felt he was better than anyone they could get next year. We are fairly young at every position except perhaps power forward depending upon what one thinks of Omersa and Curry as our future PFs.

Center - soph and frosh
PF - soph/ junior/senior GT
SF - frosh/senior
2G - soph/frosh
PG - soph/junior/ sr GT(?)
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We have several nice PF prospects coming out of Mn next year to fill that spot. We should be able to land one of them. Fingers crossed it's Dawson Garcia.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
Agree to disagree. Everyone's highlight film looks good, especially at a lower competition level. I'm more in the camp with Ryan James & Marcus Fuller, who seem to think he's more of a depth guy.

Ryan James: "Ryan could provide the type of guard depth that Minnesota needs to finalize their class"

Marcus Fuller: "Gophers could use more experience in backcourt."
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I'm not basing it off his highlights, I'm basing it off his numbers. Averaging between 11.7-12.7 PPG, 4.8-5.8 APG, 5+ rebounds and 1.9-2.0 SPG over the last two years in Conference USA impresses me a lot more than averaging 5 PPG in the SEC like Willis did. Willis may have improved a ton in the offseason and Pitino may decide he wants more shooting in his starting lineup but I would think Woolridge would be the better player right now between the two. And better than Hurt and the freshman.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
Agree to disagree. Everyone's highlight film looks good, especially at a lower competition level. I'm more in the camp with Ryan James & Marcus Fuller, who seem to think he's more of a depth guy.

Ryan James: "Ryan could provide the type of guard depth that Minnesota needs to finalize their class"

Marcus Fuller: "Gophers could use more experience in backcourt."
Click to expand...

I have no opinion on Woolridge, but you may be reading too much into those tweets. RJ may very well think that Woolridge would be a backup, but adding starters improves depth, too. And how does Fuller pointing out that Woolridge would add experience to our young backcourt equate to him thinking he will come off the bench?
 



die hard gopher said:
I'm not basing it off his highlights, I'm basing it off his numbers. Averaging between 11.7-12.7 PPG, 4.8-5.8 APG, 5+ rebounds and 1.9-2.0 SPG over the last two years in Conference USA impresses me a lot more than averaging 5 PPG in the SEC like Willis did. Willis may have improved a ton in the offseason and Pitino may decide he wants more shooting in his starting lineup but I would think Woolridge would be the better player right now between the two. And better than Hurt and the freshman.
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Willis also wasn't playing starter minutes, he was a key reserve in an NCAA team three years ago, also started against and held Nate Mason in check as a Freshman. I think that's a safer bet than the PG on the 9th place CUSA team

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
 

bemidjigopher said:
Willis also wasn't playing starter minutes, he was a key reserve in an NCAA team three years ago, also started against and held Nate Mason in check as a Freshman. I think that's a safer bet than the PG on the 9th place CUSA team

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Willis started 12 games as Freshman and 4 as a Sophomore. He actually played slightly more minutes per game (18.5 vs 17.5) as a Sophomore. While Woolridge might have been the PG on a 9th place CUSA team, Willis was absolutely horrific for an absolutely terrible Vanderbilt team as a Sophomore and was reportedly encouraged to transfer. Vanderbilt finished 6-12 in the conference and 12-20 overall good for 13th out of 14 in the SEC. Willis shot 34.8 (!)% from the field, 65.7% from the line, and averaged 5.1 points, 1.4 assists, and 1.9 rebounds. Also concerning was that he was only able to get off slightly less than one two point shot per game (.9) and made only 34.7% of those shots. If you go solely by his stats, he was basically a 3 point shooting specialist (3.5 attempts) that wasn't particularly good at his specialty (34.9%).

Woolridge is facing a big jump in competition and his shooting seems to be a major concern (check out those free throw numbers), but Willis has already struggled at this level. Maybe Willis has grown a ton in his year on campus, but I am not sure how he's a safer bet to provide a positive contribution based on game play to date.
 

EG#9 said:
Willis started 12 games as Freshman and 4 as a Sophomore. He actually played slightly more minutes per game (18.5 vs 17.5) as a Sophomore. While Woolridge might have been the PG on a 9th place CUSA team, Willis was absolutely horrific for an absolutely terrible Vanderbilt team as a Sophomore and was reportedly encouraged to transfer. Vanderbilt finished 6-12 in the conference and 12-20 overall good for 13th out of 14 in the SEC. Willis shot 34.8 (!)% from the field, 65.7% from the line, and averaged 5.1 points, 1.4 assists, and 1.9 rebounds. Also concerning was that he was only able to get off slightly less than one two point shot per game (.9) and made only 34.7% of those shots. If you go solely by his stats, he was basically a 3 point shooting specialist (3.5 attempts) that wasn't particularly good at his specialty (34.9%).

Woolridge is facing a big jump in competition and his shooting seems to be a major concern (check out those free throw numbers), but Willis has already struggled at this level. Maybe Willis has grown a ton in his year on campus, but I am not sure how he's a safer bet to provide a positive contribution based on game play to date.
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Willis transferred because they signed two five star guards and proceeded to go 0fer in the SEC, you conveniently left out his 3pt percentage, which us similar to his overall. If anything he shot too many threes his sophomore year. Willis proved he can be in the rotation on a Tourney team, that's all we need him to do. Simply put he is proven at this level and Woodridge is not, doesn't mean I wouldn't take him and find d out, but Willis also has a year in the program on top of high major and NCAA Tourney experience

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
 

bemidjigopher said:
Willis transferred because they signed two five star guards and proceeded to go 0fer in the SEC, you conveniently left out his 3pt percentage, which us similar to his overall. If anything he shot too many threes his sophomore year. Willis proved he can be in the rotation on a Tourney team, that's all we need him to do. Simply put he is proven at this level and Woodridge is not, doesn't mean I wouldn't take him and find d out, but Willis also has a year in the program on top of high major and NCAA Tourney experience

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Okay, I'm going to do some cherry picking. It seems like he played pretty well against top competition his freshman year. He does seem a little turnover prone, and doesn't really fill out the stat sheet much besides shooting 3's.

Freshman year: Willis goes up against eventual #4 seed Butler: 27 MIN, 5-8 FG, 2-5 3P, 5-6 FT, 3 REB, 2 AST, 1 BLK, 2 TO, 17 PTS
In three combined games against eventual #8 seed Arkansas: 50 MIN, 5-13 FG, 2-9 3P, 4-10 FT (ouch), 4 REB, 2 AST, 6 TO, 14 PTS
In two combined games against eventual #2 seed Kentucky: 21 MIN, 4-7 FG, 2-3 3P, 2-2 FT, 2 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 4 TO, 12 PTS
In three combined games against eventual #4 seed Florida: 45 MIN, 6-11 FG, 3-7 3P, 6 REB, 4 AST, 2 STL, 1 BLK, 1 TO, 15 PTS
In one game against South Carolina (a dud): 13 MIN, 0-2 FG, 0-1 3PT, 1 AST, 1 BLK, 2 TO

He is now in his 4th year in college basketball. I think a guy who could play like that his freshman year will at least be a major upgrade to Stull. I wish he didn't have to start but it seems like he may have to with Amir gone.
 



bemidjigopher said:
Willis transferred because they signed two five star guards and proceeded to go 0fer in the SEC, you conveniently left out his 3pt percentage, which us similar to his overall. If anything he shot too many threes his sophomore year. Willis proved he can be in the rotation on a Tourney team, that's all we need him to do. Simply put he is proven at this level and Woodridge is not, doesn't mean I wouldn't take him and find d out, but Willis also has a year in the program on top of high major and NCAA Tourney experience

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
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I am not sure he proved anything other than that he's not been very effective at this level. He shot 34.9% from 3 in his Sophomore year and 31.3% from 3 in his Freshman year. For reference, NCAA teams made an average of 35.2% of their 3's in 2018. For what it's worth the advanced stats weren't kind to his defense either. He hasn't been an effective player in any statistical category through 2 years of college. Hopefully, Willis simply fits better in Minnesota's system than he did in Vandy's. Hopefully, he has also improved significantly since his last game.
 


Costa Rican Gopher said:
Agree to disagree. Everyone's highlight film looks good, especially at a lower competition level. I'm more in the camp with Ryan James & Marcus Fuller, who seem to think he's more of a depth guy.

Ryan James: "Ryan could provide the type of guard depth that Minnesota needs to finalize their class"

Marcus Fuller: "Gophers could use more experience in backcourt."
Click to expand...

RJ also thinks Michael Hurt is going to start next year at SF. Not everything RJ says is some genius Basketball take.
 


EG#9 said:
I am not sure he proved anything other than that he's not been very effective at this level. He shot 34.9% from 3 in his Sophomore year and 31.3% from 3 in his Freshman year. For reference, NCAA teams made an average of 35.2% of their 3's in 2018. For what it's worth the advanced stats weren't kind to his defense either. He hasn't been an effective player in any statistical category through 2 years of college. Hopefully, Willis simply fits better in Minnesota's system than he did in Vandy's. Hopefully, he has also improved significantly since his last game.
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I would be interested to see the average 3pt % for Freshman and sophmores, versus all of NCAA, which would be lifted by veteran junior and seniors. I think its pretty common for players to dramatically improve their % throughout college. I like Willis' increase from freshman to sophmore year. That is a trend that bodes well. If he can lift it to 38% this year we are on the right track and he will certainly add a lot of value.
 

EG#9 said:
I am not sure he proved anything other than that he's not been very effective at this level. He shot 34.9% from 3 in his Sophomore year and 31.3% from 3 in his Freshman year. For reference, NCAA teams made an average of 35.2% of their 3's in 2018. For what it's worth the advanced stats weren't kind to his defense either. He hasn't been an effective player in any statistical category through 2 years of college. Hopefully, Willis simply fits better in Minnesota's system than he did in Vandy's. Hopefully, he has also improved significantly since his last game.
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34.9 % would have been absolutely wonderful on last year's team. Gabe shot 41% but from there....Coffey was next best among regulars at 30% and the team shot 32%. If next year's team shoots 35% on 3 pointers - we will be fine. Not only were we a bad 3 point shooting team, but it forced us to shoot very few 3 point shots. The average team shoots 22 3 pointers per game- the Gophers shot 15 per game. We ranked number 300 on 3's. Welcome Payton Willis! I love the idea that we are going to be putting competent 3 point shooters at 4 of the starting positions this coming year. We lost 3 points per game compared to the average NCAA team last year because of weak outside shooting.

We lost two fantastic players in Murphy and Coffey and a nice player McBrayer but those three guys combined to shoot 29% from 3 point range. So despite those losses we may be able to make some big gains on shooting.
 
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EG#9 said:
Willis started 12 games as Freshman and 4 as a Sophomore. He actually played slightly more minutes per game (18.5 vs 17.5) as a Sophomore. While Woolridge might have been the PG on a 9th place CUSA team, Willis was absolutely horrific for an absolutely terrible Vanderbilt team as a Sophomore and was reportedly encouraged to transfer. Vanderbilt finished 6-12 in the conference and 12-20 overall good for 13th out of 14 in the SEC. Willis shot 34.8 (!)% from the field, 65.7% from the line, and averaged 5.1 points, 1.4 assists, and 1.9 rebounds. Also concerning was that he was only able to get off slightly less than one two point shot per game (.9) and made only 34.7% of those shots. If you go solely by his stats, he was basically a 3 point shooting specialist (3.5 attempts) that wasn't particularly good at his specialty (34.9%).
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Vanderbilt got this recruit named Darius Garland (plays the same position as Willis) who is projected to be a top 5 pick in this year's draft. That's why he was encouraged to transfer
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
Agree to disagree. Everyone's highlight film looks good, especially at a lower competition level. I'm more in the camp with Ryan James & Marcus Fuller, who seem to think he's more of a depth guy.

Ryan James: "Ryan could provide the type of guard depth that Minnesota needs to finalize their class"

Marcus Fuller: "Gophers could use more experience in backcourt."
Click to expand...

RJ also said this in his scouting report of Woolridge: "Ryan could allow Marcus Carr to move over to the off guard spot and this is a player that would step on the floor and look to get a team high percentage shots with the right pass."

https://247sports.com/college/minne...-Verdict-Just-what-Minnesota-needs-132582489/
 


RatherBeGolfing said:
RJ also thinks Michael Hurt is going to start next year at SF. Not everything RJ says is some genius Basketball take.
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Never seen him say that. I have seen him state that he thinks Hurt will get some minutes and the ball movement is usually solid when he is on the floor and he does the little things well.
I could see it though. Doesn't mean he will play starter minutes but could get the start and play until the first media timeout or so. Who starts isn't near as important as to who finishes.
 


per Shama:

Pitino is optimistic about his incoming recruiting class and said it’s been ranked as high as fourth best in the Big Ten. Among those getting attention is Isaiah Ihnen from Germany who is ranked a top 100 player. “I think if Isaiah were in the States he would probably be more like a top 50 recruit,” Pitino said. “That’s how talented he is.”

The Gophers have one more scholarship available for next season and speculation is it could go to North Texas transfer Ryan Woolridge, a guard who as a junior averaged 11.7 points, six rebounds and five assists last season. He would be expected to provide immediate impact next fall.

http://shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!
 


Woolridge looks like he could do some things to help the team. Sounds like he's a willing defender. Looks pretty good in transition. True PG who looks to pass first. No reason he couldn't give us some minutes. I hope we get him.

That said, there's a reason he's available. He wasn't highly sought after in the transfer market & was a fall back option for us after losing Kereem South to Cal. I get the Al Nolen comparison in that Nolen didn't shoot much, but Al Nolen was a million times better than Woolridge. People who have him penciled in as a starter, or one of our five best, are getting waaaaaay out ahead of their skis, imo.
 

die hard gopher said:
RJ also said this in his scouting report of Woolridge: "Ryan could allow Marcus Carr to move over to the off guard spot and this is a player that would step on the floor and look to get a team high percentage shots with the right pass."

https://247sports.com/college/minne...-Verdict-Just-what-Minnesota-needs-132582489/
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Agree 100%. Carr absolutely has the ability to slide over & play some SG when Woolridge is on the floor. Pitino want's more than one ball handler on the court at a time. Adding Woolridge gives us one more.
 

RatherBeGolfing said:
RJ also thinks Michael Hurt is going to start next year at SF. Not everything RJ says is some genius Basketball take.
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Doesn't sound so crazy to me. Joey King & Oto Osenieks started. Who's his competition? True Freshman Tre Williams, at 6'4"? Isaiah Ihnen, an athletic recruit who's has never played US basketball before? It's going to be a 'by committee' situation I imagine & we could go 3 guards, but there's no reason to think Hurt won't be firmly in that mix & could well be the starter.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
Doesn't sound so crazy to me. Joey King & Oto Osenieks started. Who's his competition? True Freshman Tre Williams, at 6'4"? Isaiah Ihnen, an athletic recruit who's has never played US basketball before? It's going to be a 'by committee' situation I imagine & we could go 3 guards, but there's no reason to think Hurt won't be firmly in that mix & could well be the starter.
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If Hurt plays more than 10 minutes per game that will mean we suck and are vying for 12th or lower in the B1G standings.
 

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