Visit with Howard transfer G Elijah Hawkins

[Spaulding!No!]

No Catholic schools after him that I can see. Think there’s a chance.

Papists!

 

[Holy Man]

Henley gets the credit for Evans not Ben

Maybe. Maybe not. I doubt you have any more data than I do to support your statement. But the assumption is a classic case of not conceding where credit is due when it doesn’t fit the conclusion already preset. The truth is that he can still be an unsuccessful coach and do a few things right. The two are not mutually exclusive.

 

[Mikie S]

What's more concerning?

Hawkins' 4 TOVs a game or
Mike Mitchell's 0.7 FTs a game?

Both of these guys are marginal B1G talents, but they really fill a need for the Gophers.

 

[leib0039]

 

[WriterGoph]

Chalk another one up for the "bad" recruiter!

On a serious note, this is a really solid get. Happy to see it!

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

What's more concerning?

Hawkins' 4 TOVs a game or
Mike Mitchell's 0.7 FTs a game?

Both of these guys are marginal B1G talents, but they really fill a need for the Gophers.

That's a massive upgrade to what we saw from our backcourt last year.

 

[WriterGoph]

What's more concerning?

Hawkins' 4 TOVs a game or
Mike Mitchell's 0.7 FTs a game?

Both of these guys are marginal B1G talents, but they really fill a need for the Gophers.

I think it's already been explained ad nauseum that Howard played an extremely fast pace, so turnovers were going to be more frequent in that system. He still has time to develop with multiple years left.

 

[CoMn]

So glad we have two point guards. When a team only has one and he gets injured the team is screwed. It's just too important of a position to only have one guy. Now let's hope Ben fills the last position and doesn't decide he has enough guys.

 

[topos]

That's a massive upgrade to what we saw from our backcourt last year.

It honestly looked like it was physically painful for Cooper to sprint. Could we actually get some transition buckets this year?

Also of note, every mid-major we played last year seemingly had a small shifty PG that absolutely burned us and had their way with our slow-footed guards.

It feels good to add a crucial element that was sorely missed last year defensively and offensively (footspeed and lane penetration).

 

[Gophs24]

Solid get! having both Mitchell and Hawkins as multi year transfers is great news! we need to stop the revolving door each year on the guard front!

 

[eker0016]

What's more concerning?

Hawkins' 4 TOVs a game or
Mike Mitchell's 0.7 FTs a game?

Both of these guys are marginal B1G talents, but they really fill a need for the Gophers.

The turnovers are very bad. I wonder if he was trying to play hero ball or what. Or if a couple of those per game were from drives to the basket where he dribbled it off his foot/had it stripped/traveled etc. I am gonna rewatch the Kansas game if I get time today and see how those 7 TO's happened. They mention in the very first possession of that game that Hawkins is known for driving to the hoop.

His 3PT% improved from 30% to 47% from his freshman to his sophomore season. And he actually took fewer shots ( 15.4 per 40 minutes to 12.8 per 40 minutes). Hopefully evidence of his ability to grow and be receptive to coaching/changing his role.

Let's look at some per 40 minutes stats and %.

Hawkins averaged 5.8 FTA, which would be second just behind Payne (6.6 FTA) on last year's team. He also shot 47% from 3PT, and 76% from the line.

Battle, our second highest usage player at 22.8%, averaged 1.3 FTA. Mitchell averaged 0.8, which tells me he is a pure shooter. Not so bad when you are shooting 44% from 3PT. Hawkins' willingness to drive brings an element sorely missing from our wings and guards last year.

Cooper's FT% made him a liability last year, he was an average 3PT shooter last year despite his hot start, and he struggled to bring the ball up the court. Replacing him with two guys capable of bringing the ball up the court and playing PG is a huge upgrade IMO.

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

There is every reason to be pessimistic, as you are, about the program. Ben is a "bad recruiter" just isn't one of them. He has not a lot to sell other than playing time and I would say that his freshmen have been at least average or better:

Payne
Hensley - wish we still had him
Carrington
JOJ
Evans - he signed him
Betts
Asuma

Which of those are "bad" recruits? I'd say none.

I am not defending the program, I just think you are over the top negative insisting that nothing can be good about what Ben does.

Outside of Payne, those players are fringe B1G players at best. Pretty much everyone was in agreement that we needed to add 2 quality guards to improve this season. And that was with Cooper, Battle, Henley staying. 2 of those 3 were our best players last season.

Now we lost all of those players off of a historically bad team, and we've added a guard from last place Pepperdine, a tiny guard from a MEAC team, and a walk on football player from a NIT Pac 12 team.

And this is called good recruiting? Give me a break.

 

[eker0016]

It honestly looked like it was physically painful for Cooper to sprint. Could we actually get some transition buckets this year?

Also of note, every mid-major we played last year seemingly had a small shifty PG that absolutely burned us and had their way with our slow-footed guards.

It feels good to add a crucial element that was sorely missed last year defensively and offensively (footspeed and lane penetration).

I mentioned this in another thread, we were ranked 347 out of 352 teams in fast break points last year. We averaged 4 fast break points per game. Wisconsin was 349. We need to improve at this.

 

[WriterGoph]

Outside of Payne, those players are fringe B1G players at best. Pretty much everyone was in agreement that we needed to add 2 quality guards to improve this season. And that was with Cooper, Battle, Henley staying. 2 of those 3 were our best players last season.

Now we lost all of those players off of a historically bad team, and we've added a guard from last place Pepperdine, a tiny guard from a MEAC team, and a walk on football player from a NIT Pac 12 team.

And this is called good recruiting? Give me a break.

We're also adding Ihnen, Fox, Christie and Betts - plus another wing/shooter transfer to come. Yet another disingenuous post from you. You must be tired writing all this trash on every thread.

 

[goldenboy]

If this kid is anything like DeAndre Mathieu, we could see the Gophers increase their pace of play significantly. Mathieu was often a one man fast break as he could beat everybody down the floor.

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

I mentioned this in another thread, we were ranked 347 out of 352 teams in fast break points last year. We averaged 4 fast break points per game. Wisconsin was 349. We need to improve at this.

Yup, among countless other things. Huge area for improvement in all basically all facets of the game.

 

[Holy Man]

How many years of eligibility? Does this clog future scholarships if more than one year?

 

[topos]

We're also adding Ihnen, Fox, Christie and Betts - plus another wing/shooter transfer to come. Yet another disingenuous post from you. You must be tired writing all this trash on every thread.

We could get a commitment from Nikola Jokic, and GWG would be disappointed in Ben's roster construction and over-emphasis on length.

 

[Holy Man]

Yup, among countless other things. Huge area for improvement in all basically all facets of the game.

I think he improves on ball defense immediately.

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

I think he improves on ball defense immediately.

Gosh I hope so.

 

[WriterGoph]

Outside of Payne, those players are fringe B1G players at best. Pretty much everyone was in agreement that we needed to add 2 quality guards to improve this season. And that was with Cooper, Battle, Henley staying. 2 of those 3 were our best players last season.

Now we lost all of those players off of a historically bad team, and we've added a guard from last place Pepperdine, a tiny guard from a MEAC team, and a walk on football player from a NIT Pac 12 team.

And this is called good recruiting? Give me a break.

If you want clarity on GWG's agenda, all you need to read is the fact he mentions that Mitchell came from a "last place team" as opposed to him being rated as a 4-star transfer (as if the record of the team a player transfers from has shown to dictate success at their next stop). Or you can see that he mentions Hawkins' size as opposed to him shooting 47% from 3 and a good (and high volume FT shooter) or the fact that he had a ton of assists. Finally, he completely fails to mention one of our best recruits since Amir Coffey in Cam Christie ("Izzo had cooled on him," he will say).

It's been a while since any poster was so transparently a joke as GWG has become.

 

[rowdaboat]

How many years of eligibility? Does this clog future scholarships if more than one year?

2 years he just finished sophomore season

 

[WriterGoph]

How many years of eligibility? Does this clog future scholarships if more than one year?

2 years left. We needed a PG to help with Asuma's transition his freshman year anyway, so this is ideal.

 

[Holy Man]

If you want clarity on GWG's agenda, all you need to read is the fact he mentions that Mitchell came from a "last place team" as opposed to him being rated as a 4-star transfer (as if the record of the team a player transfers from has shown to dictate success at their next stop). Or you can see that he mentions Hawkins' size as opposed to him shooting 47% from 3 and a good (and high volume FT shooter) or the fact that he had a ton of assists. Finally, he completely fails to mention one of our best recruits since Amir Coffey in Cam Christie ("Izzo had cooled on him, he will say").

It's been a while since any poster was so transparently a joke as GWG has become.

He's making his case, and there is nothing wrong with that. The issue is that he doesn't very often acknowledge any data points that go contra to his case (several that you mention here). That weakens the argument, but doesn't make the points he does make go away.

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

How many years of eligibility? Does this clog future scholarships if more than one year?

Two from what I have read. Played two years at Howard with two left.
Edit: apologies, didn’t see the previous posts on this…Captain Redundant

 

[Crappie]

Chalk another one up for the "bad" recruiter!

On a serious note, this is a really solid get. Happy to see it!

Looks like in this and other posts below you feel very confident in the roster. Great!

How many conference wins next season? How many non con wins? NCAA?

Let's hear it.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

Outside of Payne, those players are fringe B1G players at best. Pretty much everyone was in agreement that we needed to add 2 quality guards to improve this season. And that was with Cooper, Battle, Henley staying. 2 of those 3 were our best players last season.

Now we lost all of those players off of a historically bad team, and we've added a guard from last place Pepperdine, a tiny guard from a MEAC team, and a walk on football player from a NIT Pac 12 team.

And this is called good recruiting? Give me a break.

Take a bite out of recruiting and optimism, Crime !

Take 2 out of petty

 

[WriterGoph]

He's making his case, and there is nothing wrong with that. The issue is that he doesn't very often acknowledge any data points that go contra to his case (several that you mention here). That weakens the argument, but doesn't make the points he does make go away.

It's all fine making a case, obviously. But when you're not acknowledging ANY positive aspects, a person loses credibility.

 

[BleedGopher]

Go Gophers!!

 

[WriterGoph]

Looks like in this and other posts below you feel very confident in the roster. Great!

How many conference wins next season? How many non con wins? NCAA?

Let's hear it.

It's coming together, but I know they're not done yet. Ask me when they're done in a couple weeks. Can't comment on non-con wins without knowing the schedule.