The Athletic: Big Ten basketball transfer portal tiers (Tier 5 out of 5: Minnesota and wisconsin)

BleedGopher

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Per The Athletic:

Tier 5​

Minnesota

Additions: Femi Odukale (New Mexico State), Frank Mitchell (Canisius), Brennan Rigsby (Oregon), Trey Edmonds (UTSA), Lu’Cye Patterson (Charlotte)

Departures: Elijah Hawkins (Texas Tech), Pharrel Payne (Texas A&M), Joshua Ola-Joseph (Cal), Braeden Carrington (Tulsa), Isaiah Ihnen (Liberty)

The good news is that Minnesota is getting players that other schools want. That’s also the bad news. The Gophers lost a promising big man in Payne and a veteran point guard in Hawkins, who tied for the Big Ten lead with 7.5 assists per game last season. They also lost Cam Christie, who declared for the NBA Draft after averaging 11.3 points per game as a freshman.

On paper, it will be tough for the Gophers to replace everything they lost with the transfers they have coming in. They’ll need Patterson and Rigsby to fill supporting roles alongside Dawson Garcia, who’s back for a fifth season after averaging 17.6 points and 6.7 rebounds last year.

Wisconsin

Additions: Camren Hunter (Central Arkansas), Xavier Amos (Northern Illinois), John Tonje (Missouri)

Departures: Chucky Hepburn (Louisville), AJ Storr (Kansas), Connor Essegian (Nebraska), Gus Yalden (Seton Hall), Isaac Lindsey (South Dakota State), Ross Candelino (Lipscomb), Luke Haertle (Winona State)

The Badgers could have been a preseason Top 25 team if Hepburn and Storr had returned, but instead they’re in rebuild mode. Hunter, the Atlantic Sun freshman of the year, is a combo guard who takes more than 50 percent of his shots in the paint. Tonje had a productive four-year stint at Colorado State before missing much of last season at Missouri with a foot injury. Amos, a 6-8 forward, is an efficient 3-point shooter off the catch and an active shot blocker.


Go Gophers!!
 

I love when "experts" declare power rankings, winners and losers, etc. After looking at all the Big Ten teams, additions/subtractions I can make an argument against any team NOT winning the conference, and how every team AT BEST will have at least 6-7 conf. losses, and the worst team will have 6-7 wins. Its going to be crazy with new teams, travel, and coaching transitions. The conference's new coaches--Altman, Cronin, May, Musselman, Sprinkle, (Diebler) probably won't win the league so that eliminates Oregon, UCLA, Michigan, USC, Wash, OSU. Purdue projected as conf champ without Edey likely won't happen as Kaufman-Renn is not nearly the factor in the paint and freshmen 7-footers aren't the answer. A lot of teams are all over the map and could be good or meh--Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Northwestern, Rutgers, Oregon, Maryland, Ohio St., Minnesota, USC. Young teams don't win it, so that eliminates Rutgers, Illinois, Iowa. Teams without a notable big man won't win it, so check off UCLA (again), USC (again), Rutgers (again), Oregon (again), Washington (again), Penn St. Teams need an old back court that can also shoot, so more teams eliminated. It will be a rock fight all year and NO ONE will project it accurately.
 

I love when "experts" declare power rankings, winners and losers, etc. After looking at all the Big Ten teams, additions/subtractions I can make an argument against any team NOT winning the conference, and how every team AT BEST will have at least 6-7 conf. losses, and the worst team will have 6-7 wins. Its going to be crazy with new teams, travel, and coaching transitions. The conference's new coaches--Altman, Cronin, May, Musselman, Sprinkle, (Diebler) probably won't win the league so that eliminates Oregon, UCLA, Michigan, USC, Wash, OSU. Purdue projected as conf champ without Edey likely won't happen as Kaufman-Renn is not nearly the factor in the paint and freshmen 7-footers aren't the answer. A lot of teams are all over the map and could be good or meh--Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Northwestern, Rutgers, Oregon, Maryland, Ohio St., Minnesota, USC. Young teams don't win it, so that eliminates Rutgers, Illinois, Iowa. Teams without a notable big man won't win it, so check off UCLA (again), USC (again), Rutgers (again), Oregon (again), Washington (again), Penn St. Teams need an old back court that can also shoot, so more teams eliminated. It will be a rock fight all year and NO ONE will project it accurately.
There will be tons of close games. Win more than your share of close games and the season will be successful.
 

I love when "experts" declare power rankings, winners and losers, etc. After looking at all the Big Ten teams, additions/subtractions I can make an argument against any team NOT winning the conference, and how every team AT BEST will have at least 6-7 conf. losses, and the worst team will have 6-7 wins. Its going to be crazy with new teams, travel, and coaching transitions. The conference's new coaches--Altman, Cronin, May, Musselman, Sprinkle, (Diebler) probably won't win the league so that eliminates Oregon, UCLA, Michigan, USC, Wash, OSU. Purdue projected as conf champ without Edey likely won't happen as Kaufman-Renn is not nearly the factor in the paint and freshmen 7-footers aren't the answer. A lot of teams are all over the map and could be good or meh--Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Northwestern, Rutgers, Oregon, Maryland, Ohio St., Minnesota, USC. Young teams don't win it, so that eliminates Rutgers, Illinois, Iowa. Teams without a notable big man won't win it, so check off UCLA (again), USC (again), Rutgers (again), Oregon (again), Washington (again), Penn St. Teams need an old back court that can also shoot, so more teams eliminated. It will be a rock fight all year and NO ONE will project it accurately.
Our problem though is...even if everything goes better than expected and we climb into mediocrity...we lose Garcia and anyone else who does well the following year.
 

Our problem though is...even if everything goes better than expected and we climb into mediocrity...we lose Garcia and anyone else who does well the following year.
I'm just going to take one year at a time and hope for the best. MN does have some talented recruits in the pipeline, and the portal will be a constant.
 





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