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I agree that Payne has a chance to be an NBA player, and agree that he has a ways to go before having a chance. Specifically, Payne needs to not only develop a reasonably reliable short jumper and jump hook to have more opportunities to score, he needs to clean up his ball handling enough to be...

As a defender of Johnson even through the fecal matter of the first two seasons, one thing that needs to be noted is that the guard play has improved SO much through this season. Hawkins has gone from 4 turnovers a game and 6 assists at Howard last year to 2.7 turnovers a game and 7.7 assists...

Agreed, and I would say if they can go 3-3 in their last 6 games he is back for sure. I don't think there is much appetite at all for starting over again. One of the encouraging things here is that 2 of their wins were achieved without either Garcia or Payne-and so far, the injury-Gods are being...

I agree with you that it's absurd to expect a kid to choose a school because their parents did, or to think that Johnson should get every single Minnesota kid to commit. I also agree that Madison is a great college town and has an excellent program. But a "shithole city and university that cares...

That is the truth, as his 8 for 35 on 3's shows us so far this year. It seems likely he'll come around as the year goes on, but the positive piece is that he doesn't have much of a chance to be drafted based on his play so far. And I don't know what his plans are, but if he returns I really like...

Getting Payne good post feeds is a missing ingredient to this team so far, and Payne showed what a force he could be last night. Observations about that and other observations: Garcia struggled again to feed Payne when he sealed his defender (which he does better than just about anybody). Not...

Agreed that a deep and balanced roster makes a difference. Either that or Johnson miraculously gained much deeper basketball knowledge over the course of the Summer. Another thing besides the good use of rotations is that he hasn't been afraid to pull guys out who are underperforming. I recall...

Agreed that the Big Ten is not a conference that's likely to have a national assist leader. Too physical, and too slow a pace for for that to happen. One of the remarkable things we've seen so far is the evolution of Hawkins into a much better decision-maker in the passes he throws. Notice how...

I'll defer to your vast knowledge and your absolute determination to stay with the "he sucks and should be fired" approach. It was a mistake to reply to your post. It reminds me of certain saying about certain people, "often wrong, but never in doubt."

You wrote post a while back saying "Ben's first year situation was the same as every other first year head coach who was hired at the same time or after." If you look at what happened with the players that left and what Johnson had to work with his first year, and you compare it with what other...

Agreed that both Hawkins and Mitchell are improving, and of course the real test will the the next bunch of Big Ten games against bigger and quicker players. While they both played well against Nebraska, the Huskers are not a physical team-their guards are not physically imposing. So in both of...

Agreed, this is not a very physical team, in particular the backcourt of Mitchell, Hawkins, and Christie are not physical. And that will hurt them mostly on defense when they try to defend big physical guards (Ohio State, a host of others). But they also don't have any guys other than Payne and...

In response to your post, I'd respond with these: Or have we designed our offense to play with his abilities? In view of Hawkins lack of consistency and the difficulty in designing an offense around his abilities (to design an offense around one player who may only play 1/2 the game is very...

Agreed that Hawkins is the most "pure" point guard. And I don't have a problem with having 3 guys playing the point and getting some reps running the offense in game situations, especially early in the season. For instance, Hawkins sprains an ankle, Mitchell starts and gets into foul trouble...

Agreed that Ihnen is a perimeter player, and there are many that want to make him a power forward and keep him close to the basket. That's not his makeup, and I've coached enough kids to know that when they're "basket facing" players, it's awfully hard to get them to adopt turnarounds, jump...

I agree that was a demoralizing game. The first 2/3 or so showed some really good things. And the last 1/3 showed poor defense, an inability to effectively attack and stay aggressive when Missouri turned up the intensity on defense, carelessness with the ball, and nobody stepping up and scoring...

It's certainly true that this was an inferior opponent, and Ihnen has a lot more to prove. But at least so far he's been able to show he can still move and can get off the floor after his 2 surgeries. His ability to rebound and play defense (assuming he stays healthy) will provide a huge lift...

Agreed, and it's the guard play that will largely determine their success this year. What I'm having trouble wrapping my head around is reading that JOJ now has a 46 inch vertical jump. That's pretty crazy. And I wonder how many players there are around who have a 46 inch vertical and still...

I know this can seem frustrating at times when good players from the state seem to be bypassed for others out of state. And while there are many reasons for this, I've seen Wilson play many times, and he's a good all around player. I don't believe at his size and position however, that he has...

Agreed, and all of those things (except for the rebounding) can be addressed by the new guards showing the kind of quickness that was absent last year. We had one of the slowest backcourts in Div 1 last year, and just getting the ball up the court against pressure was a challenge. If Mitchell...