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Post by Kapitan on Mar 28, 2024 14:37:06 GMT
Well the bad news just keeps coming: another of the trio of locals who signed with the Gophers out of HS in '22, C/F Pharrel Payne, is in the transfer portal.
Payne is the most productive of the three, a future star if he could stay on the court. (He's had injury issues and foul trouble through his first two seasons.) He's a powerful, throwback big man who can dominate down low, shooting about 64% FG over two seasons and averaging 10 ppg, 6.1 rpg, and 1.4 bpg in just 23 mpg.
Toward the end of the season, he was talking about how great it would be if everyone--meaning star Dawson Garcia and future star Cam Christie--stuck around. I don't know what changed his mind since then, but this really hurts. It seems to me more likely Garcia and Christie will leave if the situation doesn't look promising, and losing Payne certainly makes next season look less promising.
I hate that it seems every season is a full rebuild, thanks to the portal and NIL. Power programs with deep pockets can manage it, but it's hell for everybody else. Players do well? They want to move to a better spot. Players do poorly? They want to go to where they can be bigger stars. And everybody wants a bigger paycheck. It just sucks.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 28, 2024 16:19:31 GMT
And then there were none: the last of the aforementioned trio of locals, Braeden Carrington, entered the portal. Three unheralded, under-recruited local players were scouted and signed by this coaching staff, played significant minutes as true freshmen and sophomores, and decided the grass was now greener elsewhere, now that they've proven themselves as P5 players.
I'm so annoyed right now.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 1, 2024 13:02:38 GMT
A rare moment of positivity and fun in the Minnesota college sports scene: over the past weekend or so, the men's and women's basketball teams from Minnesota State-Mankato both won their sports' respective national championships. The MSU Mavericks are DII champs in both sports.
Very cool: it's apparently the first time in 40 years that the men's and women's programs from the same school both won a DII title in the same year in the same sport.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 6, 2024 12:37:37 GMT
A controversial call at the end of the UConn-Iowa Women's Final Four game last night. It was an illegal screen, a moving pick, an offensive foul, but I don't know if I could/would make that call. Would you? That referee had guts, I'll say that.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 6, 2024 15:03:36 GMT
I agree that it was a moving screen, but don't think I'd have called it--at least not unless you'd been calling those all night.
Pretty remarkable how much attention this year's women's tournament is getting. The game is currently blessed with some Magic-and-Bird level stars, especially in Paige Bueckers (my own personal favorite by far) and Caitlin Clark, though there are many others. It's an advantage that fewer women go pro early, and fewer women at the highest level seem to transfer (especially multiple times)--though some do. It makes it easier for fans to enjoy, getting familiar with these players and teams year to year.
Unfortunately very few of the best men's prospects even stay for two years of college, much less at the same school, much less more than two years. It makes it harder to identify with and really cheer for the men's teams, in my opinion.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 8, 2024 14:28:08 GMT
Huge college basketball news, with John Calipari reportedly leaving Kentucky to take the Arkansas job. He must really have soured on the situation with UK, as he is reportedly taking less in base salary (though with a lot of incentives) to join the Razorbacks on a 5-year contract. Leaving a blueblood to join an occasionally strong program? That's not normal. (Tubby Smith did it when he left Kentucky for Minnesota, though.) The fan base has been very unhappy in recent years because of the Wildcats' relative lack of success. I think Calipari struggled to adapt, first to the challenges of not just top-tier stars being one-and-done (on which he was an early adopter), but talented recruits who didn't necessarily produce also being one-and-done; and then the portal and NIL money being something of an equalizer. His teams have recently struggled to produce consistently, to seem like cohesive teams ... and that's because that takes time to build, especially if half your roster is 18 or 19 years old and has one foot out the door before they arrive. It will be VERY interesting to see who Kentucky nabs to be their next coach and how different (and how talented) their roster is next season. I'd bet we'll see at least 10 new players on that roster, if not more. Arkansas already had guys leaving their program once Eric Musselman left for USC; so we'll now also see what Cal can do on short notice with that roster. Guessing the portal is going to be the main source of talent for them.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 9, 2024 12:09:40 GMT
I was not shocked but surprised to see Calipari leave Kentucky. Most coaches spend their careers striving and working their way up to positions like the head coach of Kentucky basketball. Rarely do they leave, especially a job like Kentucky, to take a "lesser" position - and less money. Also, assuming Calipari is (arguably?) one of the ten greatest coaches in college basketball history, how many times do you see them receive such negative feedback and criticism, literally causing them to go elsewhere, unless they've broken rules/policies etc.
Being Captain Obvious here, but college sports has now changed so much...it's nuts! With transfer portals, NIL, and win at all costs, I think it's a case of "beware of what you ask for". Who would even want to be a head coach anymore (can you say Nick Saban, Jay Wright, Chip Kelly?). The fans, alumni, social media, and TV/radio talking heads are so influential. Can you blame Calipari for wanting to take an incredible weight off his shoulders and for lowering expectations, at least for a couple of years.
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