Andy Katz podcast with Ben Johnson

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Oh, oh...all those doubters who don't see Ben leading the Gophers to a top 8 finish better not listen to this. Pretty hard not to see the Gophers kicking tail all season long.
Garcia could score 30, could average 18 and 8 among the topics discussed.
Talk of tough, tough non-conference schedule...addition of Missouri. Big San Francisco game.
Ball State...."feel bad"...recently their top 3 players transferred but...lots of different styles of play in our non conference opponents.
"I'm not scared of competition." Ben Johnson
"We got all veterans, guys who have been through it, they've experienced college basketball, all except for Christie and not worried about him..."
 


60's Guy said:
Oh, oh...all those doubters who don't see Ben leading the Gophers to a top 8 finish better not listen to this. Pretty hard not to see the Gophers kicking tail all season long.
Garcia could score 30, could average 18 and 8 among the topics discussed.
Talk of tough, tough non-conference schedule...addition of Missouri. Big San Francisco game.
Ball State...."feel bad"...recently their top 3 players transferred but...lots of different styles of play in our non conference opponents.
"I'm not scared of competition." Ben Johnson
"We got all veterans, guys who have been through it, they've experienced college basketball, all except for Christie and not worried about him..."
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Make or break season...I predict it as a make season for BJ. But to be realistic it won't take much. Finishing in the middle of the B1G and beating Iowa and Wisconsin will certainly do it. All in all a season in the right direction.
 


PhiloVance said:
Make or break season...I predict it as a make season for BJ. But to be realistic it won't take much. Finishing in the middle of the B1G and beating Iowa and Wisconsin will certainly do it. All in all a season in the right direction.
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The B1G will be pretty balanced again after Purdue and the Spartans. We could finish anywhere between 3rd and 6th. Could be Sweet Sixteen bound!
 










Was Andy Katz trolling in this interview or was he really this unprepared?

1. Says that Minnesota was really close last year and would just "run out of steam". Huh? They were out of many games by halftime.

2. Says Minnesota could have come out and scheduled a bunch of cupcakes after such a tough year, but "you didn't do that". Huh? There's one high major team on the schedule and zero true road games. Only Missouri has a possiblity (on paper) of qualifying as a Quad 1 win.

3. Talks to Ben about Jamison Battle transferring within conference and how "you used to not be able to do that". Huh? Ben himself transferred from Northwestern to Minnesota.

As far as Ben Johnson, he repeated the nonsense about "baking" something that he talked about in his media session this Summer. To use his ridiculous analogy, he went in to his first season giving 80% of his minutes to Seniors. Essentially 4/5 of whatever he was baking were gone after his first season. Then he followed that up by losing 3/5 of his starters after his even more disasterous 2nd year. He has exactly zero minutes returning from his first season...all the ingredients of whatever he claims he was baking in that first last place season have been replaced. Did you start preheating the oven again? Remember the nonsense about how that first last place team set some sort of foundation for future success?

The next issue was Ben took no responsiblity for his 6-33 record in this podcast, nor mentioned the word "fans" one time in more than half an hour. He would briefly say things like "we knew what it is" (What does that even mean?) or "At Minnesota" (At Minnesota what? like what are these challenges? I am sure whoever hired you didn't hear "At Minnesota" when you interviewed for the job).

Finally, Andy Katz asked about adding UCLA and USC, and Ben just talked about how they are great brands and how the league just got that much harder. He did say he was "sick" and looking forward to competing with them, but man did he sound defeated. If you just listened to this segment and had no idea about Minnesota basketball, you wouldn't think Ben believed he could compete in this league.

Bottom line. Just win games this year. Get to .500 in the conference or get out. If you've actually been baking something, it's time for the taste test and it has to at least be palatable.
 

Yeah they were out of alot of games last year by halftime. But they did have a handful of games last year that were decided in the last few minutes of the game. And in the those games and the ones they lost, they definitely showed that fight. If we had the depth last year that we look like we have this year, I feel we probably could've won those. But...thats the land of coulda woulda shoulda. This year will be better because of the depth we added this year, and the experience those guys from playing last year. If it goes south this year, then I think CBJ probably is gonna get axed
 

EG#9 said:
Was Andy Katz trolling in this interview or was he really this unprepared?

1. Says that Minnesota was really close last year and would just "run out of steam". Huh? They were out of many games by halftime.

2. Says Minnesota could have come out and scheduled a bunch of cupcakes after such a tough year, but "you didn't do that". Huh? There's one high major team on the schedule and zero true road games. Only Missouri has a possiblity (on paper) of qualifying as a Quad 1 win.

3. Talks to Ben about Jamison Battle transferring within conference and how "you used to not be able to do that". Huh? Ben himself transferred from Northwestern to Minnesota.

As far as Ben Johnson, he repeated the nonsense about "baking" something that he talked about in his media session this Summer. To use his ridiculous analogy, he went in to his first season giving 80% of his minutes to Seniors. Essentially 4/5 of whatever he was baking were gone after his first season. Then he followed that up by losing 3/5 of his starters after his even more disasterous 2nd year. He has exactly zero minutes returning from his first season...all the ingredients of whatever he claims he was baking in that first last place season have been replaced. Did you start preheating the oven again? Remember the nonsense about how that first last place team set some sort of foundation for future success?

The next issue was Ben took no responsiblity for his 6-33 record in this podcast, nor mentioned the word "fans" one time in more than half an hour. He would briefly say things like "we knew what it is" (What does that even mean?) or "At Minnesota" (At Minnesota what? like what are these challenges? I am sure whoever hired you didn't hear "At Minnesota" when you interviewed for the job).

Finally, Andy Katz asked about adding UCLA and USC, and Ben just talked about how they are great brands and how the league just got that much harder. He did say he was "sick" and looking forward to competing with them, but man did he sound defeated. If you just listened to this segment and had no idea about Minnesota basketball, you wouldn't think Ben believed he could compete in this league.

Bottom line. Just win games this year. Get to .500 in the conference or get out. If you've actually been baking something, it's time for the taste test and it has to at least be palatable.
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Hard to argue with his analogy. I hope BJ can turn it around this year or it may prove what many of his critics have said he was never up to the task nor will he be.
 


UpAndUnder43 said:
I could not imagine spending significant time on another teams board. I feel bad spending time on my teams board!
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Up and Under definitely not a troll!

So cut him some slack, getting sick of people’s unwarranted enthusiasm is hardly trolling.

It’s just intelligence openly displayed!
 

Spaulding!No! said:
EG9 crushed it.
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I thought you had jumped on the Rockraven “only positive thoughts” bandwagon!

But supporting an honest and accurate assessment of Ben is a sign there is hope for you yet.
 

Otis said:
Up and Under definitely not a troll!

So cut him some slack, getting sick of people’s unwarranted enthusiasm is hardly trolling.

It’s just intelligence openly displayed!
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Appreciate it. Definitely not a troll. Doesn’t mean I have to think this is a sweet 16 caliber team
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Appreciate it. Definitely not a troll. Doesn’t mean I have to think this is a sweet 16 caliber team
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I wholeheartedly agree!

I do believe they have the potential for a first round exit, from the NIT.
 

When Battle and Garcia were healthy they played tough, with Carrington getting experience and recovering from his injuries I thought they were decent. Losing Battle hurts but the year of experience and additions to the roster should more than compensate for that. Another slew of injuries like they had last year and sure it will be a disaster, stay healthy they can be mid pack in the B1G.
 

jovs said:
When Battle and Garcia were healthy they played tough, with Carrington getting experience and recovering from his injuries I thought they were decent. Losing Battle hurts but the year of experience and additions to the roster should more than compensate for that. Another slew of injuries like they had last year and sure it will be a disaster, stay healthy they can be mid pack in the B1G.
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Losing Battle vintage 2022-23 is a plus. There are 3 or 4 better replacements on the team. With Battle having a decent 2021-22 year allows many to believe his sporadic good play in 22 made him a big plus. He was overall a negative on a poor team. Not debatable.
 


The new guy shattered Battle’s confidence in practice. Additionally Defense is half the game.

Ihnen, Betts, JOJ, Christie are all going to be a big step up for us at the 3. Give KK a little time too. That’s only 5 names to chew on. All names you don’t know squat about.

I hope Battle regains his form at OSU even when we spank them on the court. And we will. I don’t dislike Battle personally. Just his play last year was very disappointing especially after his first year.
 
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I am excited and optimistic that J.O.J. helps us significantly this year. I feel like there is raw athletic talent there and he can give us a jolt with hustle plays.
 

gopherfrommt said:
I am excited and optimistic that J.O.J. helps us significantly this year. I feel like there is raw athletic talent there and he can give us a jolt with hustle plays.
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You are correct in my opinion. I was able to watch him practice recently...he is so quick twitch and is definitely learning. I would love to see him be a great defensive player this year as well.
 

gopherfrommt said:
I am excited and optimistic that J.O.J. helps us significantly this year. I feel like there is raw athletic talent there and he can give us a jolt with hustle plays.
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He will be placed in better positions to help too. He is starter worthy, but he won’t. Would love to see him get 15 to 20 minutes a game. That will be tough but he should earn it. He is good for team chemistry. There just not enough minutes for Garcia, Ihnen, JOJ, Betts, Parker, and Christie at PF and SF to do their talents justice. We will see if KK has the stuff to play this year.
 
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Spaulding!No! said:
Please understand, if Battle was such a liability it says more about the coaching
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Actually true. Ben should not have sat by and allow Battle to hurt the team. He should have been benched periodically to accept the concept of team play.
 

Dakota2 said:
Actually true. Ben should not have sat by and allow Battle to hurt the team. He should have been benched periodically to accept the concept of team play.
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I don't think this is what our infamous 'Ben Hater' had in mind, but your angle is correct.
 

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