Sample Early Roster Preview
It's too early for this shit, but here's what Minnesota could look like.
Minnesota: Dawson Garcia 30%+ usage incoming. No reasonable person should blame Ben Johnson for the brutal roster attrition amidst the Gophers’ paltry NIL situation. While Cam Christie entering the Draft/Portal was unsurprising, this team was not built to withstand the sudden departure of Elijah Hawkins — one of the ten best shot-creating lead guards in the country. Hawkins is a dynamo in P & R and was an ideal playmaking complement to Dawson Garcia. The new backcourt of vagabond Femi Odukale and erstwhile Charlotte breakout Lu’Cye Patterson is thoroughly underwhelming offensively for the B1G, as Patterson is the far superior P & R option but will likely be bumped off the ball by Odukale, who is strictly a downhill, (inefficient) on-ball driver who attempted 58% of his shots at the rim last year and will see a high rate of drop coverage in the B1G, thereby mitigating his best skill (drawing fouls). Both new guards will take a back seat in to Garcia, through whom the entirety of the offense should run, as his versatility is the lone saving grace in the post-Mitchell/Christie Era. The new bigs (Trey Edmonds and Frank Mitchell) were solid adds as a combined replacement for Pharrell Payne. Mitchell was a high-usage post scorer at Canisius and is a relentless two-way rebounder, while Edmonds was primarily a roller at UTSA, working in tandem with an excellent P & R guard, Jordan Ivy-Curry. Mike Mitchell and Oregon transfer Brennan Rigsby are going to have low-usage spot-up/cutter roles, though Mitchell could spend a little bit of time on the ball as well.
Johnson has shown year-to-year to adaptability based upon his personnel. To wit, the Gophers doubled their transition rate from 7.1% in 2022-23 to 14.5% last season with Hawkins at the controls. I expect Minny to revert back to half court crawl ball with Johnson’s customary patterned offensive sets and a devotion to playing through Garcia at a high rate. This should also be a significantly better defensive roster. While he generated a high rate of steals, Hawkins was undersized on the perimeter and Christie was frequently hunted by older and bigger guards. Odukale and Patterson are well-built and physical (and Odukale is extremely disruptive on the ball) which should result in fewer opposing paint touches and a major improvement over last season’s 291st rank in FG% allowed at the rim. In short, this is an old team with some high-effort workhorses but lacking any semblance of dynamism. Stable floor. No ceiling.
Current Torvik Rank: #61
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