Are we done with signings?

[howeda7]

Here is the link for those that want to read it themselves. Hedges a lot on Ihnen for obvious reasons but also leaves open the possibility of him seeing more time at a number of spots. Odd that Fox isn't mentioned, not a premium member so don't know if he elaborated on the Fox part in the comments on the story.

Minnesota Gophers Basketball: Predicting the 2023-24 Rotation

The 2023-24 Minnesota Gopher basketball roster is nearly complete. There is likely one more spot to go (a wing) on the 15 man roster but we are going to hand out these 200

247sports.com

All the more reason that sitting on two scholarships isn't good.

 

[Big Dawg]

It was a poorly constructed roster full of young guys who were green and an older guy like Battle who didn't fit in well. It certainly appears that what we have coming for this year has better balance to it and the Battle of last year, how he played cannot realistically be considered a big loss. There is plenty of hope.

I think that the assumption here, which is fair is that Ben assembled a poor roster (he did) AND he doesn't know how to coach- if both are true- it's hopeless. I don't think that the second part of that is true although I am certain that he has a lot to learn and I am guessing he will be better this year at his craft.

HC's, when hired at P6 schools, should have almost NOTHING to learn. They should have learned it at all of their other HC stops along the way. Oh, wait. What? lol

Poor roster construction? Definitely. Can he coach? I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now. Haven't seen it yet.

 

[Rockraven]

We can’t hire a P6 qualified B1G HC. That is more certain than last year’s shooting percentages. We have to be patient enough to grow our own or just keep stumbling along for another 40 years.

 

[GopherBlood666]

We can’t hire a P6 qualified B1G HC. That is more certain than last year’s shooting percentages. We have to be patient enough to grow our own or just keep stumbling along for another 40 years.

Please elaborate, this is quite a claim.

 

[eker0016]

I see RJ posted a new minutes projection yesterday and had 0 minutes for Fox. Doesn't mention him at all. That to me signals he is probably not playing much at all if any. We need to fill that roster spot. We are already wasting multiple scholarships, can't waste another.

And looks like 8 minutes for II. the crowd saying those 2 will be huge additions aren't looking great.

This was how Parker responded today to Tony Liebert's tweet with his stats. Obviously cryptic, but I'm guessing he wouldn't be doing that unless he wasn't confident he would be able to contribute.

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

This was how Parker responded today to Tony Liebert's tweet with his stats. Obviously cryptic, but I'm guessing he wouldn't be doing that unless he wasn't confident he would be able to contribute.

Those two faces also. One whispering to be quiet and the other with the mouth zipped. I’m much too old to decipher this stuff. (Please, Lord, don’t send Rockraven to interpret. )

 

[atsgopher]

Those two faces also. One whispering to be quiet and the other with the mouth zipped. I’m much too old to decipher this stuff. (Please, Lord, don’t send Rockraven to interpret. )

Betts has scared him with him unusually strong play in practice during his redshirt campaign. Fox is so overwhelmed, he cannot talk. He’s scared…. I mean, what else could it be?

 

[Ragnor]

Those two faces also. One whispering to be quiet and the other with the mouth zipped. I’m much too old to decipher this stuff. (Please, Lord, don’t send Rockraven to interpret. )

Ryan James post on 247 predicted 0 minutes/game on average for Fox this year. I hope this is a lazy oversight and not some breaking news....

https://247sports.com/college/minne...ll-predicting-the-2023-24-rotation-210445833/

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

Ryan James post on 247 predicted 0 minutes/game on average for Fox this year. I hope this is a lazy oversight and not some breaking news....

https://247sports.com/college/minne...ll-predicting-the-2023-24-rotation-210445833/

Understood. leib0039 posted about that this morning.

 

[bga1]

HC's, when hired at P6 schools, should have almost NOTHING to learn. They should have learned it at all of their other HC stops along the way. Oh, wait. What? lol

You are 100% right. But that's the decision the U made. Now we have to watch him learn on the job. It's an experiment and I hope it works.

Poor roster construction? Definitely. Can he coach? I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now. Haven't seen it yet.

I've seen signs...the first year he had those vets doing pretty well for a while. This past year, I saw some good stuff out of time outs, good out of bounds plays and I did some some players learn on the fly - Henley, Ola Joseph and Payne all got better. Carrington was hurt too much.

 

[CoMn]

Gonna have no depth again. Basically 4 wasted scholarships if we get nothing out of II, Fox, Wilson and Ramberg. Gonna need a big leap from the upcoming Sophomores and Betts. Hope they're significantly better, because that's what its going to have to take.

5 wasted scholarships if you include the un-used one.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

5 wasted scholarships if you include the un-used one.

Ben.

 

[goldengophers]

This is easily a tournament team, adding additional transfers would only disrupt playing time and chemistry.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Those two faces also. One whispering to be quiet and the other with the mouth zipped. I’m much too old to decipher this stuff. (Please, Lord, don’t send Rockraven to interpret. )

Yeah, I gave up years ago tying to make sense of random twitter posts like that. Cracks me up when people play detective and try to decipher the hidden meaning when they have no clue.

And to those already lamenting lost scholarships. Ramberg and Wilson are back of the rotation, limited minute guys that are found on every roster. Those aren't wasted scholarships they are limited role players.

I'm not willing to buy the line of thinking that says Fox won't play at all this year. I honestly believe if that was the case he would just medically retire to free up the roster spot. The fact that he hasn't tells me he is going to be in the mix. Then again.....there were those emojis he posted.....so all bets are off

 

[JZABR]

Ryan James post on 247 predicted 0 minutes/game on average for Fox this year. I hope this is a lazy oversight and not some breaking news....

https://247sports.com/college/minne...ll-predicting-the-2023-24-rotation-210445833/

Definitely feel like it's lazy oversight. Fox has had some bad luck with injuries obviously, but coming out of DIV II with the numbers he had, shown that he has some semblance of ability to play at this level. Whether he has the same bounce to his game remains another thing but I think he'll be a better option off the bench behind Payne than what we had last year.

 

[GopherBlood666]

Yeah, I gave up years ago tying to make sense of random twitter posts like that. Cracks me up when people play detective and try to decipher the hidden meaning when they have no clue.

And to those already lamenting lost scholarships. Ramberg and Wilson are back of the rotation, limited minute guys that are found on every roster. Those aren't wasted scholarships they are limited role players.

I'm not willing to buy the line of thinking that says Fox won't play at all this year. I honestly believe if that was the case he would just medically retire to free up the roster spot. The fact that he hasn't tells me he is going to be in the mix. Then again.....there were those emojis he posted.....so all bets are off

Wilson is a waste because literally any center playing d1 basketball last year could be an upgrade over him. We badly needed big man insurance for Fox. Totally cool with Ramberg being 13th scholarship. He's earned it in my opinion.

 

[bga1]

Yeah, I gave up years ago tying to make sense of random twitter posts like that. Cracks me up when people play detective and try to decipher the hidden meaning when they have no clue.

And to those already lamenting lost scholarships. Ramberg and Wilson are back of the rotation, limited minute guys that are found on every roster. Those aren't wasted scholarships they are limited role players.

I'm not willing to buy the line of thinking that says Fox won't play at all this year. I honestly believe if that was the case he would just medically retire to free up the roster spot. The fact that he hasn't tells me he is going to be in the mix. Then again.....there were those emojis he posted.....so all bets are off

The emojis made me think that he knows RJ is wrong.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

Wilson is a waste because literally any center playing d1 basketball last year could be an upgrade over him. We badly needed big man insurance for Fox. Totally cool with Ramberg being 13th scholarship. He's earned it in my opinion.

Ben’s scholarship usage is bonkers

 

[howeda7]

5 wasted scholarships if you include the un-used one.

That's totally fine. Only need 8. Cant keep more than 8 guys happy anyway

 

[WilliamsArenaGuy]

1. Those emojis make me think James is breaking news and Fox doesn't want him to yet. I am 99% certain Fox is done now based on the tweet and general Gopher bball history.

2. In response to the title of this thread: I sure fucking hope not.

 

[BleedGopher]

1. Those emojis make me think James is breaking news and Fox doesn't want him to yet. I am 99% certain Fox is done now based on the tweet and general Gopher bball history.

2. In response to the title of this thread: I sure fucking hope not.

100% this. Good gosh let's fill this roster with Big Ten level basketball players. We are a Big Ten basketball program and we apparently hired a coach who can recruit, let's start acting like it.

Go Gophers!!

 

[Rockraven]

100% this. Good gosh let's fill this roster with Big Ten level basketball players. We are a Big Ten basketball program and we apparently hired a coach who can recruit, let's start acting like it.

Go Gophers!!

We are a B1G basketball program in name only.

 

[bga1]

100% this. Good gosh let's fill this roster with Big Ten level basketball players. We are a Big Ten basketball program and we apparently hired a coach who can recruit, let's start acting like it.

Go Gophers!!

There are things we don't know about Fox, Ihnen and others that we don't. While I never thought this was a good hire, I do think Ben has a shot at becoming good at this and I believe that he also realizes that this year is do or die. So I assume that he is doing everything any one of us on the GH would do to scour the earth for good Big Ten players- considering his job is on the line.

 

[GopherPlaya]

100% this. Good gosh let's fill this roster with Big Ten level basketball players. We are a Big Ten basketball program and we apparently hired a coach who can recruit, let's start acting like it.

Go Gophers!!

How many Big Ten quality guys are out there. Look at the transfers we have lined up so far

 

[bga1]

How many Big Ten quality guys are out there. Look at the transfers we have lined up so far

We have gotten a couple of solid ones in Mitchell and Hawkins. What we don't appear to have gotten is a star. This will have to be done with teamwork and defense.

 

[BleedGopher]

How many Big Ten quality guys are out there. Look at the transfers we have lined up so far

Fair point. Johnson has done a decent job of bringing in BT level players in spring: Battle, Garcia, Stephens, Willis, but not enough and not always top end BT players. Remains to be seen on the 3 we have commitments from, but with the job on the line, we can’t afford anything less, and at least on paper, I’m not sure these 3 are upgrades over the guys who transferred out.

Go Gophers!!

 

[Rockraven]

We have gotten a couple of solid ones in Mitchell and Hawkins. What we don't appear to have gotten is a star. This will have to be done with teamwork and defense.

Teams will beat stars.

 

[skiumah1]

Have we officially cashed it in early again at this point?

 

[MonikerSchmoniker45]

Have we officially cashed it in early again at this point?

Would anyone here actually know the answer to that?

 

[Rockraven]

Have we officially cashed it in early again at this point?

What do we need? Many say a 3. When actually the 3 is a position of strength this year. No one can honestly and accurately claim a weak position now.