A Way-Too-Early-Look At Gopher Basketball’s Starting 5.
With the end of the NBA Finals, basketball is officially on hiatus for everyone except those whose college team has someone going top 25 in the draft. Seeing as that isn’t Minnesota (real shocker there) this gives me the perfect opportunity to kick my feet up, watch the Twins dominate the American League, not-so-silently pray for a Karl-Anthony Towns, and mentally prepare myself for what is most likely to be another season of misery for Gopher Basketball.
Now as you read this article you might think to yourself “man this guy hates Gopher Basketball” but please believe me when I tell you that couldn’t be farther from the truth, there’s nothing I want more than to see The Barn filled to the brim with fans again, or a banner in the rafters with a year on it that doesn’t predate The Great Depression. But, alas, I’m neither a pessimist nor an optimist, I’m a realist, and if we’re being real, ending out last year at 9-22, that’s not good. Going 2-17 in our conference schedule, also not good. 1-9 on road games, you guessed it, not good.
However as inhabitants of the Midwest we have short memories, and last year was last year so let’s take a look at what the starting 5 is potentially shaping up to be for our Golden Gophers.
Starting at Point Guard – Mike Mitchell Jr.
All signs point to Mitchell, a recent addition to the team out of the transfer portal by way of Pepperdine, as the most likely candidate to take the helm of Ben Johnson’s offense. So what do we love about him? Not much, but hold your horses now, we don’t hate much about him either. He’s stands an adequate 6-2, shoots 43% from the field, 44% from 3, and averaged 11ish ppg through 2 years at Pepperdine. Seems solid, if otherwise uninspiring, a guy you can trust to not mess things up, make the right play, has a great feel for the game, etc etc insert generic phrase about a guy that’s decent at most things but great at few.
Starting at Shooting Guard – Braeden Carrington
A sophomore who saw sporadic minutes usage across 22 games last year as a true freshman, Braeden is a bit of an unknown when it comes how much he’s actually capable of. He flashed potential flame throwing capabilities going 8-15 from deep in his final four games, but that’s not exactly a sample size I can say I’m going to put all that much stock in. Speaking of size, at 6-4 I wouldn’t hate another inch or two knowing we’re likely to be running a small guard, but he knows the offense, and maybe, just maybe (fingers crossed) with more minutes we’ll find out he is in fact a volume shooter from range.
Starting at Small Forward – Joshua Ola-Joseph
Another returner from last year, this is my dark horse pick for a breakout season. This guy saw HEAVY usage as a true freshmen and while he didn’t exactly light it up, 7ish ppg isn’t nothing. He dunks a lot, he dives for loose balls, he stays out of foul trouble, he works hard, just an absolute glue guy that you love to have on the floor. He specializes in getting to the rack, but I’m hoping to see what a summer of work has done to his distance shooting.
Starting at Power Forward – Dawson Garcia
Ok now here’s where we get to the fun part. This is our guy, our dog, our bucket getter. Dawson was the singular bright spot in an otherwise abysmal year, he averaged 18, 8, & 2 last year. Who doesn’t love a big guy who shares the rock? Who doesn’t love a big guy that nets that ball at a 42% clip from 3? Who doesn’t love a Minnesota basketball player from Minnesota who stays in Minnesota? All in all, this is the guy to watch for, and watch while you can, depending on how he does he might be on his way to the league next year. (NBADraft.net has a profile on him so it must be true.)
Starting at Center – Pharrel Payne
This is another guy that might just maybe surprise us a bit this year, though admittedly I am less certain. Our man in the middle gave us 8pp, which is solid, but he accompanied that with a very underwhelming average of only 3 rebounds per game. Not nearly enough for a guy who spent just about 22 minutes a game on the floor. Now I get that at 6’9 he’s not exactly tall for a center, but you don’t rebound the ball with the top of your head, so stick your hands up young fella, throw that 255-pound frame around a bit and go snack on some boards. The best thing he can do is be good enough defensively, rebounding and rim protection wise, to free up Dawson to go be a Dog-son. I don’ think that’s too much to ask.
Overall Season Record Prediction: 13-8
I think we’ll be better, but not by much. Honestly this all depends on how much everyone else around Dawson improves. If everyone can be marginally, like 1 or 2 points better, than their averages were last year, that could make a world of difference. But as it stands, we’re sporting a squad that’s primarily reliant on transfer portal question marks and true freshmen who really only showed what looks like potential if you squint the right way. I’m not counting on anything out of the ordinary, but man it sure would be nice to notch a .500 record eh?
NETWORK PARTNERS
