View this post on Instagram

#msfdaily: Gopher Basketball is back… you just can’t watch them yet unless you go to The Barn… yes it’s still 2019. #gophers #gophersbasketball #gopherbasketball #minnesotabasketball #minnesotagophers #richardpitino #pitino #uofm #gogophers #rtb #skiumah #gophermbb #cleveland #ncaa #ncaabasketball #bigten #bigtenbasketball #clevelandstateuniversity #clevelandstate

A post shared by Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) on Nov 5, 2019 at 4:18am PST

With all of the positivity surrounding Gopher Football, and with one of the biggest football games in school history taking place this weekend on campus, many may have forgotten that Gopher Basketball tips off its season tonight vs something called “Cleveland State University”. The game isn’t on TV though… and I didn’t even know that was possible anymore, in 2019. You could stream this game on your YouTube channel with nothing but iPhones and fans would be happy… I just don’t understand how a major college sports team plays a game (that counts) and it doesn’t end up on the internet, somewhere. Most high schools have streams for both home and away games, at this point… Oh well, I’m moving on.

I haven’t done much digging into Cleveland State, so I’ll be honest about that on the front-end, I guess. The Gophers should win this game by a lot of points (they are favored by 20.5). But, there are some reasons to keep an eye on this game (if you were able to..).

Gabe and Dan:

Dan Oturu and Gabe Kalscheur announced that they would stay home to play for Richard Pitino and the Gophers, almost 3 years ago now. We thought it would be an opening of the floodgates, for a bunch of top-level MN recruits coming through the pipeline after them… but it wasn’t. Richard has struggled to keep Minnesota kids in-state, in what seems to be a perplexing issue. Nonetheless, he keeps posting some of the best recruiting classes in school history, so it’s hard to argue with results, no matter where the kids are coming from.

And, if Dan and Gabe blossom into the NBA players they both have a chance to be, the Minnesota kids will start flocking to the U of M campus, whether Richard wants them there or not. It could happen too. Dan Oturu was listed as a national top-20 big man, by The Athletic last month, and the biggest thing missing from his game last season, was size. Now, he’s added 20 pounds of muscle in the offseason. This could be Dan’s time to cement himself as one of the best big men in the Big Ten, for the foreseeable future, given he’s only a Sophomore and not seen as someone who will leave early, at this point. How he handles the grown men of the Big Ten this season, will go a long way in predicting the overall results for this Gophers team in 2019-20. 

People are sleeping on Gabe Kalscheur and that’s about to end. I’ve heard Pitino give a couple of interviews, touting how good Gabe has looked and how big his plans are for him. Richard also said on KFAN a couple of weeks ago, that Kalscheur is the guy who opposing coaches have told him, they worry about most. 

In today’s day and age, that’s not overly-surprising. I wrote about it last year around this time, that Gabe has the natural shot to be that player. I have played and watched a lot of basketball in my 30 years on this planet, and I can promise you, that I haven’t seen very many shots as beautiful as Gabe Kalscheur’s. On top of that, he is the best defensive player on Pitino’s squad AND he’s the hardest worker. Bundle all of that into one person like we have with Gabe, and big dreams can can be seen from over the horizon.

The Transfers:

The Gophers return Gabe and Dan but they lost everyone else in the starting lineup from 2018. Dupree McBrayer, Amir Coffey, and Jordan Murphy are all gone and we are left with 3 transfers to fill their void. Luckily, I don’t think there will be as much drop off, as people expect. Marcus Carr and Payton Willis are going to surprise people with how good they are. Both played major minutes as Freshman (including starting minutes), at big college programs, before transferring here (Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt). Carr and Willis are both combo guards that will have the ball a lot, and will put up big box scores.

Alihan Demir is the key to a Gophers NCAA Tournament run in February/March of 2020. The graduate transfer from Drexel will be the 5th starter and he’ll be expected to fill the shoes of Jordan Murphy. At his best, Demir looks like a guy who could actually fit Richard’s offense better than Murphy did. He’s a guy who can hit with consistency from deep and has the passing abilities that are stereotypical of European big men. He has the skill-set to put up double-double numbers in this offense on the regular.

But with all of that being said, the Gophers played an exhibition game in front of fans and media last week vs Southwest Minnesota State University and, by all reports, Demir didn’t look all that comfortable. His box score didn’t looked even less comfortable.. at least on my eyes: 17 MIN | 1/7 FG | 0/2 3PT | 3 PTS | 2 REB | 0 AST

The Gophers will struggle to win games if Demir isn’t better than that. Hopefully, he can have a good game tonight, and calm my worries about him going forward. With Eric Curry hurt again and Omersa not ready to be “that guy”… Pitino doesn’t have a choice but to hope he picked the right grad-transfer.

It’s too bad we can’t watch this game because there are so many unknowns about this Gopher team, and it won’t take long before the schedule ramps up. Already on Saturday, the Gophers will play in Sioux Falls for a neutral-site game vs Oklahoma, and it doesn’t get any easier from there…

This is a big season for Richard Pitino. This is a team that is being picked to finish in the bottom of the Big Ten. That means, Richard could come out and surprise/impress people with nothing more than another NCAA Tourney appearance. Low expectations, high aspirations.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Please read. Took me at least 15 minutes to write it! https://t.co/tWOGqqW8Jr

— Richard Pitino (@CoachPitinoMN) July 30, 2019

[/et_pb_code][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.26.6″]

Want to get queasy for a second?  We ranked 300 out of 353 in 3-point shooting percentage last season.  Ranked 64 of the 68 teams in the tournament.  Pretty remarkable.  That has to improve moving forward and it will.  As I said before, we are making some big changes to the offense.  Feel free to tweet me your thoughts during the season.  Especially after losses!

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”3.26.6″ width=”62%” module_alignment=”center”][/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.26.6″]

There are a lot of things I like about Richard Pitino. His regularly updated blog is definitely near the top of my list (so is his Twitter). It’s a good mix of his impressive writing ability, up-front and honest nature, and dry humor. I’m sure he’d love if you called him a good blogger.

In his most recent post earlier this afternoon, Richard brought his best yesterday, when writing his thoughts on the status of his basketball team in all aspects, as they enter the bulk of their summer program which includes a trip to Italy this week, to play some against some international competition. 

It looks like we should expect a pretty major change, offensively… drastic even. That is a major trend in this blog post and that’s good to see. He thinks he will have 4-5 guys on the floor at all times who will have the green light to shoot from distance. It also sounds like he has changed the schematics of his offense to reflect the additional launching from the deep line. The 3-point shooting is literally the first thing he talks about, basketball-wise:

We have had six practices and this team feels totally different.  The goal from an offensive stand point is to have at least four if not five players who can shoot the 3 on the court all the time.  I think this roster has that.  Our three point shooting will be substantially improved.  I have really tinkered with the offense and think it’s been looking good.  It will be fun to see how it all evolves. 

After a few paragraphs, Pitino quickly gets into his roster. Again, he is very open and honest about his evaluations and I have to appreciate that. Here are some of the evals that stuck out to me:

Alihan Demir

Alihan Demir – Has been terrific this summer.  Perfect in our offensive system.  So fundamental.  Great pickup for us by our staff.

Demir is a grad-transfer from Drexel and he’ll be a starter in 2019-20. When he committed to Minnesota for his final season of eligibility, I did some research on his game and quickly found out why Pitino wanted him so badly. He fits Pitino’s offense perfectly. He’s a true point-forward in the half-court and passes like a Divac-style European big man down low. His passing highlights in the lane are impressive.

It’s not just passing that he does well offensively, though. Don’t forget about Pitino’s 3-pt blog theme because Alihan can do that too. I’d imagine that a big part of the offensive change coming, involves that power-forward spot. Last year, Jordan Murphy caught the ball a lot around the 3-pt line in pick-and-pop’s on the wing and at the top of the key, as the swing-man in the regular offense. He didn’t shoot from deep often (or very successfully) so teams were giving him 5-8 ft. of space to launch (which he rarely did), clogging up the lane for Pitino’s high/low post offense. They won’t be giving Demir that room.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.26.6″]

[/et_pb_code][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.26.6″]

Marcus Carr | Payton Willis

Marcus Carr – Tough!  Has terrific leadership qualities for a sophomore.  Should be a major factor on our roster this year.  Doesn’t care where he plays.  Just wants to win!

Payton Willis – Has been so solid across the board this summer.  Multi-positional.  Can really shoot!  Lives in the gym.  Love his work ethic. 

These two combo guards will also be MAJOR factors in the offense this season. You can tell that Pitino is excited about both of these two and a lot of things that they will bring both on and off the floor. Both can play different positions and both look like they have great work ethics. I haven’t watched practice or spoken with anyone but, going into this offseason, I thought we would see Carr starting and Willis coming off of the bench. We’ll see…

Tre Williams

Tre’ Williams – Very impressive summer so far.  Makes tough shots!  Can’t believe how underrated he was in high school.  Plays with great confidence.  Good size and skill. 

Tre is another kid who can play multiple positions and has good size. That will be apparent this season too. The Gophers are going to be pretty lengthy from top to bottom, comparatively speaking to positions. Guards will definitely be able to matchup size-wise with the biggest in the Big Ten.

Beyond more size and athleticism, you can tell that Pitino thinks he might have gotten a bit of a steal with Williams. That’s interesting because it’s not Tre was a walk-on. He was ranked as a very high 3-star prospect by 247 Sports. So, either Pitino is forgetting what kind of prospect Tre was, or he is really seeing something special early-on, with the Freshman.

Final Notes:

Alright, I have a lot more that excited me about this offseason update by Pitino but I’ve already written too many words in this blog so I’ll just end with some quick notes. DO NOT forget about Gabe Kalscheur. Pitino mentions more good things about his game, his offseason, and his improvements. Daniel Oturu‘s main focus has been expanding his game without the ball. They’ve been experimenting with his 3-pt shooting but Pitino seems worried about him liking it too much.

And, Jarvis Omersa…. I’m not worried about Jarvis, but Pitino’s blip about him made me slightly nervous AND made me feel more solid about Pitino’s honesty about the rest of his evaluations…

Jarvis Omersa – Needs to make a huge jump this summer and fall.  Got a lot out of that Michigan State game at the end of the year.  Sky’s the limit if he lives in the gym.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

Well, if you were around MinnesotaSportsFan.com yesterday, you would’ve been waiting for this all day and just as the workday was ending, Richard Pitino’s Gopher GIF was tweeted and Alihan Demir, the Turkish stretch-4 grad-transferring out of Drexel, was committed to the University of Minnesota.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.22.5″]

pic.twitter.com/kH5K1gSyvY

— Alihan Demir (@alihandemir) May 2, 2019

[/et_pb_code][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.22.5″]

Let’s be honest, Gopher fans, we were nervous AF for how this class was going to turn out, as the 2018-19 season came to an end. However, as we’ve learned over the last few years, Pitino is a much better recruiter in the spring than he is in the fall. He proved that again this year, when he went from thin in the future frontcourt, to landing 3 of his 4 2019 commitments at PF/C and hopefully suring up our big men for the future and the immediate present.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.22.5″]

[/et_pb_code][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.22.5″]

2019-20 will depend on two things. One of them is how much this new frontcourt help can account for the loss of Jordan Murphy to graduation AND whether or not Amir Coffey decides to go through with the NBA draft, which we will find out later this month. No matter what, this year’s Gophers will look A LOT different than the last, with quite the list of new contributors. You won’t see Sam Freeman because, if all stay healthy and play to expectations, it will be tough for him to see the floor.

• Marcus Carr – SOPH | CG | Transfer – Pitt
• Peyton Willis – JUNIOR | CG | Transfer – Vandy
• Alihan Demir – GR SENIOR | PF
• Eric Curry (injured last 2 years) – RS JUNIOR | PF 
• Isaiah Ihnen – FRSH | F
• Tre Williams – FRSH | F

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

Fresh off of the biggest signing for his Gopher Men’s Basketball 2019 recruiting class, Richard Pitino is on his spring prowl again today. He’s in Philadelphia, probably near the Drexler campus. Hopefully it’s a nicer day there than it is back here in the Twin Cities, where my mental status needs sun worse than my skin doesn’t need cancer.

Who is Richard’s target this time?

Alihan Demir is a graduate transfer from Drexler, who’s apparently seen enough horse shit eaten off the streets of Philly. Now that he has his degree, he’s looking for somewhere more sophisticated. The University of Minnesota is seemingly the front-runner for the 6-9 stretch-PF out of Turkey, who you might want to run the point guard after watching the tape below.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.22.5″]

[/et_pb_code][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.22.5″]

You can see exactly what Richard Pitino is excited for, when you watch Demir play. He’s the classic stretch-4 guy that the Gophers have lacked since…. forever (in Richard Pitino land). He likes to step out and shoot the 3 but can get to the basket when overplayed. The best part though… his passing gets me uncomfortably excited.

Pitino loves to put his big man at the top of the key with the ball in his hands, and while it was ugly at times with Jordan Murphy last season, since he never shot the ball out there, the high-low game could be lethal with Oturu low in the box getting leverage and Demir at the top with the ball.

Alihan has been highly sought after since hitting the transfer market. He appeared on The Scoop Podcast with Darren Wolfson of KSTP and SKOR North, and said he was contacted by over 40 teams. Since they are eligible to play immediately, graduate transfers have become a hot commodity in recent years.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.22.5″]

SUPPORT MSF

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_shop posts_number=”1″ columns_number=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22.5″ custom_margin=”-26px|||||” custom_padding=”0px|||||”][/et_pb_shop][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.22.5″]

(hopefully) Our Turkish PF has offers from a pretty legitimate list of schools that includes (according to Ryan James of GopherIllustrated.com) Cal, Marquette, Nebraska, and Miami but the only real competition came down to Kansas State, who Demir visited over the weekend, after seeing Minnesota.

But from what I read all over and what I listened to when he was on with Doogie, playing time and offensive fit are the most important pieces to landing Demir and the Gophers fit everything he wants. We are the HARD favorites right now. Expect his decision VERY soon too.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan 

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]