STrib: Gophers coach Ben Johnson searches for answers to better backcourt play

[SplitDecision]

Go back to last spring and Convince Christie and your PG to stay.

This team with Hawkins, and Payne would be an NCAA Tourney team.

Agree 100%, esp with a long JOJ rotating. Great to think of "what ifs", but that Idiot Wind has blown through a lot of our teeth on this board.

 

[howeda7]

Go back to last spring and Convince Christie and your PG to stay.

This team with Hawkins, and Payne would be an NCAA Tourney team.

Christie went pro. If you swapped Hawkins and Payne for Patterson and Frank Mitchell, you'd have about four more wins (North Texas, Wichita, OSU and Washington), but probably still not be an NCAA tournament team at this moment.

 

[atsgopher]

Christie went pro. If you swapped Hawkins and Payne for Patterson and Frank Mitchell, you'd have about four more wins (North Texas, Wichita, OSU and Washington), but probably still not be an NCAA tournament team at this moment.

I think this misses the dynamics.

If you swapped your starting PG and PF that were in a 2nd year in a system that takes significant time up front to learn, you speed a ton of the curve and allow more freedom and flexibility. It would be more than a linear improvement. It also would help significantly in team defense, as there is less to learn, and thus less flow through affects. You could hide some of the one dimension.

And why not take big Frank and patterson? Why not Williams and Edmonds. Last in first out in the hypothetical?