Settle the @$#% down, please.

[Otis]

You knew this team was going to be bad so why are people losing their minds?

Yes, there are flaws to the roster construction, how many players did Johnson inherit? 1? It takes time.

So he got a couple of transfers to insert into the lineup who have major limitations. And he has signed a freshman class with clear signs of promise.

True, he still needs a floor general PG that can penetrate and dictate the defense.

There are ways to cover the teams limitations. But what they need is experience.

My only complaint is sticking with man to man with guys who haven’t yet figured out the speed of play for helping and switching. Would it be easier to go zone and limit the exposure. Yes, but they wouldn’t get better at what Johnson wants to run.

His stubbornness may irritate you but he has a plan.

I don’t agree with his defense selection or his starting lineup, but I’m not the coach.

Give him some time to get these HS players up to speed!

 

[short ornery norwegian]

You knew this team was going to be bad so why are people losing their minds?

Yes, there are flaws to the roster construction, how many players did Johnson inherit? 1? It takes time.

So he got a couple of transfers to insert into the lineup who have major limitations. And he has signed a freshman class with clear signs of promise.

True, he still needs a floor general PG that can penetrate and dictate the defense.

There are ways to cover the teams limitations. But what they need is experience.

My only complaint is sticking with man to man with guys who haven’t yet figured out the speed of play for helping and switching. Would it be easier to go zone and limit the exposure. Yes, but they wouldn’t get better at what Johnson wants to run.

His stubbornness may irritate you but he has a plan.

I don’t agree with his defense selection or his starting lineup, but I’m not the coach.

Give him some time to get these HS players up to speed!

this is just my opinion, but:

there are people who believe Johnson was a "diversity" hire and should not have been hired. Those people also believe there were other, better candidates who were not considered because the U was determined to hire a minority coach.

and the team's poor performance - in their eyes - "proves" they were right.

so, from their point of view, this was an avoidable situation.

 

[Wet_Blanket_Guy]

You knew this team was going to be bad so why are people losing their minds?

Yes, there are flaws to the roster construction, how many players did Johnson inherit? 1? It takes time.

So he got a couple of transfers to insert into the lineup who have major limitations. And he has signed a freshman class with clear signs of promise.

True, he still needs a floor general PG that can penetrate and dictate the defense.

There are ways to cover the teams limitations. But what they need is experience.

My only complaint is sticking with man to man with guys who haven’t yet figured out the speed of play for helping and switching. Would it be easier to go zone and limit the exposure. Yes, but they wouldn’t get better at what Johnson wants to run.

His stubbornness may irritate you but he has a plan.

I don’t agree with his defense selection or his starting lineup, but I’m not the coach.

Give him some time to get these HS players up to speed!

what's his plan? Play with no guards...

 

[MennoSota]

what's his plan? Play with no guards...

I know this bothers you, but you're on a need to know basis where you don't need to know. So, settle down Nancy.

 

[Holy Man]

this is just my opinion, but:

there are people who believe Johnson was a "diversity" hire and should not have been hired. Those people also believe there were other, better candidates who were not considered because the U was determined to hire a minority coach.

and the team's poor performance - in their eyes - "proves" they were right.

so, from their point of view, this was an avoidable situation.

There are also many people, perhaps a majority, that were not in favor of the hire for basketball reasons that had nothing to do with "diversity." That basketball reason was the lack of head coaching experience when there were head coaches with experience who were very interested in the job. The U repeated its previous hire by hiring someone with practically no head coaching experience, and there is immediate evidence that results are similar. It's not a good look. Period.

Fans are angry and frustrated. Let us be angry and frustrated. We'll get over it. But we still have right to be angry and frustrated about what is happening before our eyes. From the U's perspective, it is better to have us angry and frustrated than walking away like so many of our peers have in the last decade.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

We expected to lose every game til 2025 so yeah, why is everybody all mad and stuff. 0-64! I am cool with it.

 

[Ope3]

Fans are angry and frustrated. Let us be angry and frustrated. We'll get over it. But we still have right to be angry and frustrated about what is happening before our eyes. From the U's perspective, it is better to have us angry and frustrated than walking away like so many of our peers have in the last decade.

I'm not angry nor frustrated. I'm indifferent to the point that the loss last night had zero emotional attachment.

That might be worse.

 

[GopherBlood777]

this is just my opinion, but:

there are people who believe Johnson was a "diversity" hire and should not have been hired. Those people also believe there were other, better candidates who were not considered because the U was determined to hire a minority coach.

and the team's poor performance - in their eyes - "proves" they were right.

so, from their point of view, this was an avoidable situation.

I also feel that many who were upset with the process used to hire Johnson (myself included) were rather encouraged after last year with the job the staff did. I also have no complaints regarding Johnson's prep recruiting, he has exceeded expectations to me in this aspect. Don't say we KNEW this team was going to be bad. We have a thread outlining a realistic path to post season play, albeit an NIT birth. Even those that thought we would be bad, didn't think it would look this bad on the floor. They are visibly lost and look uncomfortable on offense during many possessions. Not knowing where to be on the floor is a coaching issue, not a skill issue. It's almost like people think they just showed up a week before the first game. They spent the entire summer preparing for what we have seen.

 

[Holy Man]

I'm not angry nor frustrated. I'm indifferent to the point that the loss last night had zero emotional attachment.

That might be worse.

Way worse.

 

[Wet_Blanket_Guy]

I know this bothers you, but you're on a need to know basis where you don't need to know. So, settle down Nancy.

Please, articulate his plan… or anyone who thinks they know what his plan is articulate it.

Is the plan to hope on the transfer portal for a stud guard to come to a last place big ten team? Other than that, I don’t see it.and I don’t think that is a good plan.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

On the PG, it looks like they are really going all-out on recruiting Isaac Asuma from Cherry. (a 2024 recruit)

there was a big showcase event in the Twin Cities last weekend. Johnson was there with his entire coaching staff and about 5 players to watch Asuma.

the kid is one heck of an athlete. looked really good at last year's State Tournament.

 

[Wet_Blanket_Guy]

On the PG, it looks like they are really going all-out on recruiting Isaac Asuma from Cherry. (a 2024 recruit)

there was a big showcase event in the Twin Cities last weekend. Johnson was there with his entire coaching staff and about 5 players to watch Asuma.

the kid is one heck of an athlete. looked really good at last year's State Tournament.

I hope that is the case, but I also hope there is someone who can play before the 2024-25 season.

 

[Holy Man]

On the PG, it looks like they are really going all-out on recruiting Isaac Asuma from Cherry. (a 2024 recruit)

there was a big showcase event in the Twin Cities last weekend. Johnson was there with his entire coaching staff and about 5 players to watch Asuma.

the kid is one heck of an athlete. looked really good at last year's State Tournament.

Grad transfer needed for 23-24 then. Maybe Payton Willis can come join the staff to recruit the kid.

 

[CentralGopher]

There is zero reason this team can’t play better defense. That is my main gripe right now. Coaching and effort can give you good defense despite age or transfer status.

 

[SelectionSunday]

I'm not angry nor frustrated. I'm indifferent to the point that the loss last night had zero emotional attachment.

That might be worse.

I second that.

I’ve had to miss Gopher games before, but I can honestly say last night was the first time in my 31 years as a season-ticket holder that I skipped one simply because of the time (7:30 on a Sunday night) combined with I had no interest in driving 35 minutes to invest in this team. I’ll get over it, but I needed a break. I made the right decision.

 

[Minnesconsin fan]

On the PG, it looks like they are really going all-out on recruiting Isaac Asuma from Cherry. (a 2024 recruit)

there was a big showcase event in the Twin Cities last weekend. Johnson was there with his entire coaching staff and about 5 players to watch Asuma.

the kid is one heck of an athlete. looked really good at last year's State Tournament.

the rest of the players were on the upper level so they could watch both courts- The DeLasalle vs Minnetonka game was on the other court and was a better game. I talked to one of the assistants as I was leaving and he said all the players wanted to show up-- nothing mandatory, they had their practice and the players went to the games on their own.
I hope it had the desired effect on Asuma- that was a lot of attention from a lot of Gophers.
I left after the DeLasalle game so do not know how long they stayed- Osseo was playing next and then Freitag and Bloomington after that, but it seems like that ship has sailed.

 

[Bad Gopher]

Way worse.

I second that.

I’ve had to miss Gopher games before, but I can honestly say last night was the first time in my 31 years as a season-ticket holder that I skipped one simply because of the time (7:30 on a Sunday night) combined with I had no interest in driving 35 minutes to invest in this team. I’ll get over it, but I needed a break. I made the right decision.

I'll know it's time to see myself out when there's no fire left on these pages. Apathy is the real death knell.

But where would we go? College basketball is the greatest sport on Earth, and we have a high-major Division 1 team right here in town! How lucky are we?! But it's only the greatest sport on Earth when the teams you're watching play a good brand of basketball and the game is competitive. That's all we're asking, man.

 

[leib0039]

You knew this team was going to be bad so why are people losing their minds?

Yes, there are flaws to the roster construction, how many players did Johnson inherit? 1? It takes time.

So he got a couple of transfers to insert into the lineup who have major limitations. And he has signed a freshman class with clear signs of promise.

True, he still needs a floor general PG that can penetrate and dictate the defense.

There are ways to cover the teams limitations. But what they need is experience.

My only complaint is sticking with man to man with guys who haven’t yet figured out the speed of play for helping and switching. Would it be easier to go zone and limit the exposure. Yes, but they wouldn’t get better at what Johnson wants to run.

His stubbornness may irritate you but he has a plan.

I don’t agree with his defense selection or his starting lineup, but I’m not the coach.

Give him some time to get these HS players up to speed!

So I will disagree on your first part. I dont think saying you are going to be bad and then being bad is acceptable. Sure not everyone can win their conf/national title every year, but you cant just say welp we had a new coach last year so you know the drill we will be terrible for multiple years just accept it! Especially is todays world of the portal. I feel like being frustrated should be acceptable for fans.

On your 2nd point I do agree. The team is clearly slow footed and not great on defense in a man to man. On the other side of that, I feel like the limited possessions of zone have been a total disaster. I would tend to think that would be because I doubt we practice much zone and jumping in and out of it 1-2 possessions at a time can be tough. At this point I would maybe just gamble and play something like 80% zone the next 3 to get prepped and run it out there against WI and NEB (neither are GREAT 3pt shooting teams) and just try it. What is the worst that can happen? We are on a 5 game slide and getting dump trucked in every game, it really cant get worse so why not try something.

 

[Formerswish]

There are also many people, perhaps a majority, that were not in favor of the hire for basketball reasons that had nothing to do with "diversity." That basketball reason was the lack of head coaching experience when there were head coaches with experience who were very interested in the job. The U repeated its previous hire by hiring someone with practically no head coaching experience, and there is immediate evidence that results are similar. It's not a good look. Period.

Fans are angry and frustrated. Let us be angry and frustrated. We'll get over it. But we still have right to be angry and frustrated about what is happening before our eyes. From the U's perspective, it is better to have us angry and frustrated than walking away like so many of our peers have in the last decade.

One of the major reasons that Johnson was hired was that he has a history of success as a recruiter. So far, he has showed that he can recruit very successfully. In terms of the product on the court this year, it has been disappointing. But the notion that this is all coaching, and that the coaching so far has been horrible, needs to be viewed with a bit of perspective.

Believe it or not, there are many freshmen across the country who struggle badly, don't execute on the offensive end, and don't play good defense. This is not all on the coach. If at the end of the season there is no improvement, that is a problem. What armchair coaches at home and on message boards see is a totally different thing than a coach sees. And you can't just "make" players immediately better and run a smooth offense-it takes time. By the way, Battle and Garcia (other than last night) have not been exactly produced the kind of play and leadership that this team desperately needs.

I watched last year's team, and I thought the coaching was pretty damn good, throughout the season. Did the coaches just get stupid over the past year? This will take time folks, and you have every right to be frustrated and angry. But putting this on Johnson is looking in the wrong place.

I

 

[gopherbadgerman]

You knew this team was going to be bad so why are people losing their minds?

Yes, there are flaws to the roster construction, how many players did Johnson inherit? 1? It takes time.

So he got a couple of transfers to insert into the lineup who have major limitations. And he has signed a freshman class with clear signs of promise.

True, he still needs a floor general PG that can penetrate and dictate the defense.

There are ways to cover the teams limitations. But what they need is experience.

My only complaint is sticking with man to man with guys who haven’t yet figured out the speed of play for helping and switching. Would it be easier to go zone and limit the exposure. Yes, but they wouldn’t get better at what Johnson wants to run.

His stubbornness may irritate you but he has a plan.

I don’t agree with his defense selection or his starting lineup, but I’m not the coach.

Give him some time to get these HS players up to speed!

While I agree with you. Go back and look at the preseason predictions thread.

 

[GopherBlood777]

So I will disagree on your first part. I dont think saying you are going to be bad and then being bad is acceptable. Sure not everyone can win their conf/national title every year, but you cant just say welp we had a new coach last year so you know the drill we will be terrible for multiple years just accept it! Especially is todays world of the portal. I feel like being frustrated should be acceptable for fans.

On your 2nd point I do agree. The team is clearly slow footed and not great on defense in a man to man. On the other side of that, I feel like the limited possessions of zone have been a total disaster. I would tend to think that would be because I doubt we practice much zone and jumping in and out of it 1-2 possessions at a time can be tough. At this point I would maybe just gamble and play something like 80% zone the next 3 to get prepped and run it out there against WI and NEB (neither are GREAT 3pt shooting teams) and just try it. What is the worst that can happen? We are on a 5 game slide and getting dump trucked in every game, it really cant get worse so why not try something.

With the length we have at the Forward position, shouldn't our zone be even better than it was last year? I thought our zone was fairly effective last year when we mixed it in with our man, but they have seemed to have gone away from it now almost entirely this year. What's missing?

 

[howeda7]

I'm not angry nor frustrated. I'm indifferent to the point that the loss last night had zero emotional attachment.

That might be worse.

It's 100% worse.

 

[howeda7]

I second that.

I’ve had to miss Gopher games before, but I can honestly say last night was the first time in my 31 years as a season-ticket holder that I skipped one simply because of the time (7:30 on a Sunday night) combined with I had no interest in driving 35 minutes to invest in this team. I’ll get over it, but I needed a break. I made the right decision.

At least you were able to sell your tickets for big $$ on StubHub, right?

 

[bga1]

There are also many people, perhaps a majority, that were not in favor of the hire for basketball reasons that had nothing to do with "diversity." That basketball reason was the lack of head coaching experience when there were head coaches with experience who were very interested in the job. The U repeated its previous hire by hiring someone with practically no head coaching experience, and there is immediate evidence that results are similar. It's not a good look. Period.

Fans are angry and frustrated. Let us be angry and frustrated. We'll get over it. But we still have right to be angry and frustrated about what is happening before our eyes. From the U's perspective, it is better to have us angry and frustrated than walking away like so many of our peers have in the last decade.

100% right. I know a ton of people who no longer pay any attention to what the Gophers are doing. Too much losing for too long. A frustrated fan is a passionate fan. When losing no longer frustrates people- they cease to be fans.

 

[Holy Man]

100% right. I know a ton of people who no longer pay any attention to what the Gophers are doing. Too much losing for too long. A frustrated fan is a passionate fan. When losing no longer frustrates people- they cease to be fans.

And more importantly to the U, ticket purchasers, season or otherwise.

 

[goldenboy]

Last year our guard quickness was below average. We managed to get enough help defense out of an experienced (if unathletic) crew. Guard quickness this year is abysmal, so there are lots of blow-bys. And we’re so young we haven’t shown any confidence in rotating properly to help.

 

[bga1]

But putting this on Johnson is looking in the wrong place.

I will refer you to the list of comparable year 2 coaches. This is the age of free agency.

 

[goldengophers]

this is just my opinion, but:

there are people who believe Johnson was a "diversity" hire and should not have been hired. Those people also believe there were other, better candidates who were not considered because the U was determined to hire a minority coach.

and the team's poor performance - in their eyes - "proves" they were right.

so, from their point of view, this was an avoidable situation.

I don't know that the charges of diversity hire are fair, Whalen was hired with zero coaching experience and if anything Ben was far more qualified in that way. My issue is that post Pitino you cannot go with a candidate at or below that experience par.

 

[Wet_Blanket_Guy]

I don't know that the charges of diversity hire are fair, Whalen was hired with zero coaching experience and if anything Ben was far more qualified in that way. My issue is that post Pitino you cannot go with a candidate at or below that experience par.

Whalen had the highest level of on the job training one could have essentially...a HOF WNBA career along with a HOF college career @ the institution that she coaches...slightly different than Ben Johnson.

I'm sure if any of us were the AD and we had to chose between these two candidates:
-Candidate A: NBA Hall of Famer, College Hall of Fame, State product, Alumni, Young, Seen as one of the best winners in NBA history ..... or

Candidate B:
-Alumni who played two years with the program (albeit not during the greatest stretch)
-Assistant coach / but never an associated head coach *no real winning at Xavier or at the U with Pitino*
-No head coaching experience
-Turned down at multiple lower level schools for the HC job
-No Pro career

We all would take candidate A

 

[GopherBlood777]

Whalen had the highest level of on the job training one could have essentially...a HOF WNBA career along with a HOF college career @ the institution that she coaches...slightly different than Ben Johnson.

I'm sure if any of us were the AD and we had to chose between these two candidates:
-Candidate A: NBA Hall of Famer, College Hall of Fame, State product, Alumni, Young, Seen as one of the best winners in NBA history ..... or

Candidate B:
-Alumni who played two years with the program (albeit not during the greatest stretch)
-Assistant coach / but never an associated head coach *no real winning at Xavier or at the U with Pitino*
-No head coaching experience
-Turned down at multiple lower level schools for the HC job
-No Pro career

We all would take candidate A

Thank you. People need to stop with the Whalen comp. The only similarity is no head coaching experience. Aside from that, the roads travelled are completely different.

The only person even comparable on the men's side would be someone like Kevin McHale.