Gophers obviously need Battle back - but they also need Carrington to be a 3-point threat.
Get some scoring from the perimeter, and that opens up the lane for Garcia or Payne to maneuver.
On Thompson - said it last year, and I'll say it this year. He is a 7'0" small forward. not physical and doesn't have the instincts to play inside. If he can hit some outside shots, he can play. if he can't hit some outside shots, he shouldn't play.
Rebounding is about positioning, but it's also about "want to." Jordan Murphy was not a physical specimen - he just wanted the bleepin' ball more than anyone else on the court. JOJ and Payne look like they might have some of that. Thompson doesn't, and I don't think that's something you can teach.
These are good points, it is clear that Thompson got the axe early from Johnson after showing no "want to" the first few minutes, and he has some seriously poor hands. A rebound in his hands is as likely to get knocked away as it is to be retained. Payne, on the other hand, has great hands, and while he'll have plenty of mistakes, he shows the ability to both be a physical presence and to feed the post or others slashing to the rim. The other thing is that he hasn't shown any of the spin moves or other things he can do-the best by far is yet to come.
The other issue here is the outside shooting. I think at one point they were 4 for 23 in the first half other than Payne's 5 for 5. They need Battle of course, and they need Carrington, Henley, and Cooper to shoot it better from the arc so Payne and Garcia can have some room to score inside. Cooper and Henley have each had moments, but it's been inconsistent, and Garcia had a couple of God-awful looking three's last night. Carrington will help a lot this year, the kid can shoot it. Of course, he has to prove it in games.
But the last big issue is team quickness. They can put some pretty good size on the court, but they don't have the quickness to stay in front of quick guards and will be punished all year by that. It shows up in long rebounds as well, as they have been beaten to the ball repeatedly. I'm not sure Ben can fix that, and it may mean playing more zone, which could maximize their size and hide their lack of quickness. Depaul has a quick team, and they looked faster all night.
They've put together some good pieces that will have success in the future, but I wouldn't mind seeing a couple of explosively quick guards come in the transfer portal to round things out!
