[Minnesota Ute]

Is it just me or is Jacob Patrick a Shaun Green doppelganger? I hope he can shoot like Shaun!

[Minnesota Ute]

Interesting

In announcing Utah’s basketball roster, it’s also noted that Dawes became the first University of Utah student-athlete to sign a revenue share agreement.

Last Friday’s watershed House vs. NCAA settlement paved the way for schools to directly pay athletes. The settlement goes into effect July 1.

[Minnesota Ute]

With that kind of shooting percentage, he might be that spot up knock down shooter we need. It seems like many great teams have the guy that comes off the bench that throws the D for a loop because everyone is in help mode, then all of a sudden you hang 6 or 9 points on them in a handful of possessions. Not sure if that’s the plan but it sounds good.

[Minnesota Ute]

Very exciting! Kid knows how to get to the rim and seems to have a high motor to go with some nice skills.

[Minnesota Ute]

It’s interesting to me how some pine for the P12. I had my fill of that nonsense conference. Poorly managed, s**t start times, horrible officiating, zero reputational bump, terrible money, and a sad mix of haves and have nots. If your name wasn’t USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, or Arizona the P12 didn’t give a s**t about you. It’s no wonder it folded, everyone in it, including the anointed ones, couldn’t wait to get out. But I get it if I’m in the minority, after all I’ve lived in the midwest for most of my adult life, so I’m excited about the team coming east rather than west.

However, I also think the point is moot if the NCAA doesn’t figure out a way to incorporate some sort of contract to the NIL that at least gives the school and fan base some expectation that the players they pay big bucks for are actually going to stick around for a couple of years. Just as I’m a fan of players getting paid because they are ostensibly adult professionals, I’m also a fan of them having obligations tied to that money that lasts more than 1 season. The small market team that takes a flyer on a midlevel recruit that blossoms, should at least get the benefit of find for the subsequent year if they are willing to sign a 2 year deal.

[Minnesota Ute]

Good point 🙂

[Minnesota Ute]

I think we can all agree that once you clear 6’8, you can be a rim protector but
it doesn’t mean you are, and you can be 7′ and suck.

Last year, if I’m remembering correctly, we were one of the biggest teams in the NCAA. But we just weren’t that good, on offense or defense, or at least not good enough to get to the dance.

While it looks like this roster AJ is building has lots of potential, most of them have a limited data set so we’ll see. Personally, I think if you have good size and athleticism across the line in the front court, you don’t necessarily NEED a rim protector. If you had a choice of 3 guys averaging 1 block per game each, or 1 guy averaging 3 blocks, I’d take the former.

But what every team needs, especially if you hope to make any impact at all, is a PG. Just watch any random NBA playoff game going on currently, guard play is critical! PG with good handles and good decision making, and a guard line that all can fill it up.

Also need a several members of the front court that can stretch the floor.

Hopefully we have all that!

[Minnesota Ute]

I wish him the best and will be very interested to see how it goes for him.

[Minnesota Ute]

To be fair, they are/were both Finnish products (see what I did there :P)

Seriously though, I’m disappointed that neither Mike nor Miro ever really got a solid shot. Like everything else with Craig, it just seemed like another revolving door. So I don’t know that we really know how Miro would have finished up the season if he had been getting 25 to 30 min per game through the whole season.

That said, I also remember looking at the highlights from Miro’s international play and don’t remember him having this lengthy of a tape showing this much aggressive play. Granted, as you say, it’s against presumably inferior competition, but I would not be surprised in the least if it translates.

More over, it kind of has to translate, because if he comes here and doesn’t play, the likelihood is he’ll enter the portal next year and be gone. Unfortunately in this day and age, there is virtually no ROI you can assign to investing in a future player (certainly not a guaranteed one). So if they aren’t productive from the hop, then you really don’t know what their are worth to the program will be and you kind of have to assume it to be zero.

[Minnesota Ute]

I don’t have any inside information, but from the outside looking in, a coaches salary comes with the understanding that you can be fired at any time if the organization loses confidence and doesn’t like the results. A staff member on the other hand doesn’t have that fat salary but still has bills to pay and mouths to feed. So honestly, it was probably a very nice gesture to keep him on. Obviously he could have resigned if he was uncomfortable. They maybe could have offered him a severance to provide a bridge, but other than that, keeping him gainfully employed for a period of time isn’t necessarily the worst thing.

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