Ben Johnson says Gophers hoping for postseason after Big Ten Tournament (video)

Donate To GopherHole
MNVCGUY said:
If they do bring Johnson back for year 5 he will need some massive wins in the portal to get people excited about next year. I would expect to see season ticket renewals tank even worse then they already have been and the Barn will be a ghost town.

I would love to see Ben Johnson succeed here but there is no way to spin the current trajectory of the team in any sort of positive way given what we are losing and what we currently have coming back.

The good news about basketball is that you can change your fortunes quickly with a few players....I'm just not convinced that Johnson would be able to get those players.
Click to expand...
They're not going to get anyone in the portal that will move the needle with ticket buyers. And at best you might get Ben to schedule one decent non-conference home game. But probably not, because they still have to play at Missouri and in a tournament. More than 2 non-cupcakes is just too many for him.
 

There probably isn't a hire out there that will significantly impact season ticket sales. Nor will non-con scheduling.
A couple really big name transfers might have a small effect, but even that's doubtful.
There's been too much long term rot allowed to happen. Gopher basketball is off most people's radar. Few care, fewer follow.

It'll take winning, and for more than a year, to bring it back.

And the rot is why you don't allow this situation to fester.
 

bga1 said:
The only chance Coyle brings him back is if he has assessed that he can give Johnson what he believes are the resources Ben needs. While I am still not optimistic that it would work…I am confident that no coach will succeed here without competitive financial backing.
Click to expand...
This!
 

Question: Has any past player, whom Ben Johnson coached, stood up and called for Ben Johnson to keep coaching the Gopher men's basketball team? I cannot recall any past player saying he really has to stay. Am I wrong? If no past player has stood up for Coach Johnson, what does that tell us?
 

FinnGopher said:
Question: Has any past player, whom Ben Johnson coached, stood up and called for Ben Johnson to keep coaching the Gopher men's basketball team? I cannot recall any past player saying he really has to stay. Am I wrong? If no past player has stood up for Coach Johnson, what does that tell us?
Click to expand...
Is that common practice?
 




USAF said:
There probably isn't a hire out there that will significantly impact season ticket sales. Nor will non-con scheduling.
A couple really big name transfers might have a small effect, but even that's doubtful.
There's been too much long term rot allowed to happen. Gopher basketball is off most people's radar. Few care, fewer follow.

It'll take winning, and for more than a year, to bring it back.

And the rot is why you don't allow this situation to fester.
Click to expand...
Only Musselman or Dutcher would significantly increase season ticket sales. Any new coach will at least stop the bleeding. Year 5 of Ben will bring hundreds to a couple thousand cancellations. I don't honestly know why anyone would renew for that, but kudos to those that do.
 

MNVCGUY said:
If they do bring Johnson back for year 5 he will need some massive wins in the portal to get people excited about next year. I would expect to see season ticket renewals tank even worse then they already have been and the Barn will be a ghost town.

I would love to see Ben Johnson succeed here but there is no way to spin the current trajectory of the team in any sort of positive way given what we are losing and what we currently have coming back.

The good news about basketball is that you can change your fortunes quickly with a few players....I'm just not convinced that Johnson would be able to get those players.
Click to expand...
I think the bold speaks for all of Gopher fans. No one wants to see a middle of the pack team from the MEAC and the SWAC at all, much less make the games wayy closer than they need to be. I get wanting to get wins, but when the nonconference schedule doesn't even crack the top 300 year after year, people aren't going to show and legit players won't be lining up to wear the maroon and gold. That's is another obvious reason for change.
 



FinnGopher said:
Question: Has any past player, whom Ben Johnson coached, stood up and called for Ben Johnson to keep coaching the Gopher men's basketball team? I cannot recall any past player saying he really has to stay. Am I wrong? If no past player has stood up for Coach Johnson, what does that tell us?
Click to expand...
EJ Stephens said he's a coaching genius.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Every player has flaws in their game outside of a very very select few. That was the point Spotted and I were trying to make to the poster who made it out that Johnson hadn't brought in any good players from the portal....that simply isn't true. He has brought in a number of good players but has failed to assemble a complete roster that can truly compete with the best in the conference.
Click to expand...

You're absolutely right. I don't get this black or white mentality: good or bad and nothing in-between.

The same thing applies to the Gophers 7 Quad 1 wins. That's good! But, their 1-8 record in Quad 2 & 3 games is bad so it averages out to not good enough.
 





JZABR said:
I think the bold speaks for all of Gopher fans. No one wants to see a middle of the pack team from the MEAC and the SWAC at all, much less make the games wayy closer than they need to be. I get wanting to get wins, but when the nonconference schedule doesn't even crack the top 300 year after year, people aren't going to show and legit players won't be lining up to wear the maroon and gold. That's is another obvious reason for change.
Click to expand...

I think too much ruckus has been made about the nonconference schedule. That's symptomatic of a contemporary obsession with rating indexes (similar to the obsession with fantasy sports). There are multiple teams who have done just fine these past two seasons with nonconference schedules that weren't much different. Plus, the nonconference schedule wasn't all that horrible when you consider that Wake Forest has done well in the ACC, Omaha won the Summit, North Texas had a fine season, and Cleveland State was in the running for the Horizon championship.

The nonconference schedule is only 11 games compared to 20 for the conference and that schedule certainly is challenging enough. When they increased the conference schedule from 18 to 20 (it had been increased from 16 to 18 games after the 2007 season), it probably was inevitable that teams would weaken their nonconference schedules.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Garcia is the obvious one. Battle, Hawkins, Odukale, Patterson, Willis, Cooper, M. Mitchell, Fox. The last two for sure would probably be better served as bench options on good teams but Johnson has brought in a number of good solid players.

All of his rosters have had clear flaws and the results haven't been good enough but that doesn't change the fact that he has brought in some good transfers. Just not enough of them to get the team to the point where it was competitive with the top of the conference.

It's the main reason I would make the change after this year knowing that the roster is going to need to be rebuilt again and to this point Johnson has not shown an ability to get the players he needs to take the team to the next level.
Click to expand...
Hawkins is the only one that is anything more than a role player on most teams. Battle did make the NBA so it appears Ben didn’t know how to use him effectively. Garcia is here because of his family not Ben. The rest are clear role players. Ben’s rosters are not filled with players that would be anything more than role players on most teams.
 


TwistingMyMelon said:
I think too much ruckus has been made about the nonconference schedule. That's symptomatic of a contemporary obsession with rating indexes (similar to the obsession with fantasy sports). There are multiple teams who have done just fine these past two seasons with nonconference schedules that weren't much different. Plus, the nonconference schedule wasn't all that horrible when you consider that Wake Forest has done well in the ACC, Omaha won the Summit, North Texas had a fine season, and Cleveland State was in the running for the Horizon championship.

The nonconference schedule is only 11 games compared to 20 for the conference and that schedule certainly is challenging enough. When they increased the conference schedule from 18 to 20 (it had been increased from 16 to 18 games after the 2007 season), it probably was inevitable that teams would weaken their nonconference schedules.
Click to expand...
The ruckus is warranted. It makes it that much easier to completely ignore the program through December at Williams Arena except for the 1 early Big 10 game which is mandated by the Conference.

It also forces them to win 11 or 12 Conference games to make it to the NCAA Tournament. That rarely happens.
 

Ope3 said:
It also forces them to win 11 or 12 Conference games to make it to the NCAA Tournament. That rarely happens.
Click to expand...

Well, we'll never know about that for sure when it comes to the Gophers because they fell short of even .500 in conference. They could have had a top 20 nonconference schedule and they still wouldn't have gotten in.

Unfortunately, there aren't any good examples to test that theory this season. Georgia and Vanderbilt are 8-10 in conference. Georgia has a nonconference schedule rated #322 by Pomeroy and is rated as #33 by Pomeroy. Vanderbilt has a nonconference schedule rated #343 by Pomeroy and rated #45 by the same. It wouldn't surprise me at all if neither team made the tournament because they are only 8-10 in conference and there are two other teams with the same conference record.

Some other teams with low rated nonconference schedules (e.g., Maryland and BYU) have very good conference records so those are no-brainers.
 

CentralGopher said:
Hawkins is the only one that is anything more than a role player on most teams. Battle did make the NBA so it appears Ben didn’t know how to use him effectively. Garcia is here because of his family not Ben. The rest are clear role players. Ben’s rosters are not filled with players that would be anything more than role players on most teams.
Click to expand...
We can go back and forth on what defines a good player. He has brought in a number of guys that can compete at this level.....he hasn't brought in enough difference makers and that is why the team has been unable to get past the .500 mark in conference play.
 

Uninspiring is almost too kind. I am sure he's a nice guy like people say but the excuses (both stated and implied) are just brutal to listen to. Ben "thinks" they've won "5 of their last 8 or 9".? Who says that? Especially when you've lost 4 of your last 5?

This absolutely cannot continue.
 

bga1 said:
What you said there is mostly true. But.....the U will now have an edge over teams from other conferences which allows us to compete for better players- if the U properly funds basketball.

There are a lot of good players out there if you can afford them.
Click to expand...
Well Ben's "system" ain't gunna attract sht..
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom