B1G Way Too Early Power Rankings

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Some guy said:
He just never really built a team. He assembled rosters.

I’d rate him:
Game planning - B
In game adjusting - D
Roster management - F
PR - A

and I actually think his inability to build depth is why his in game coaching looked so bad. When teams adjusted we couldn’t counter very well because we only ever had 2-3 good options.

I mean, we have this epic comeback against Iowa....but is that because we had a talented team? Or is that because a guy got lucky to go 8/9 from 3 when in all the other games he is a terrible 3 point shooter.

For people who think we have a good roster last year. I’d ask you to tell me who the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth best players.

in my mind, the gophers only had 4 guys who would be regular rotation players for any of the top 7, maybe 9 teams in the conference.
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3/4. Gabe/Johnson
5. Williams
6. Mashburn
7. Gach
8. Ihnen

Last years team had plenty of talent to be a .500 team. Honestly we had more pros on our roster than Wisconsin did and we were not a young team. Richards teams struggled because he couldn't ever get them to consistently defend as a team. It's the ranking correlates with his record and standings. Pitino's inability to build depth was in part his own fault. He never trusted guys on the bench imo, but I'll also argue that bench depth is pretty overrated. Really need 6 playable guys with two guys who are passable on the court and don't kill you.
 




manderson1984 said:
3/4. Gabe/Johnson
5. Williams
6. Mashburn
7. Gach
8. Ihnen

Last years team had plenty of talent to be a .500 team. Honestly we had more pros on our roster than Wisconsin did and we were not a young team. Richards teams struggled because he couldn't ever get them to consistently defend as a team. It's the ranking correlates with his record and standings. Pitino's inability to build depth was in part his own fault. He never trusted guys on the bench imo, but I'll also argue that bench depth is pretty overrated. Really need 6 playable guys with two guys who are passable on the court and don't kill you.
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Until the injuries start occurring in the B1G part of the season, then you are hosed if you aren't 8-9 deep.
 

jovs said:
Until the injuries start occurring in the B1G part of the season, then you are hosed if you aren't 8-9 deep.
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Go look through other B1G rosters. Most teams are not that deep. Kids don't sit around to be the 8th or 9th guy if they are good. They transfer and go play. I get that it'd be great to have, but it's just not that likely that it's possible. The 8th and 9th guys are normally 5-10 minute energy guys who can defend or at least just don't hurt you.
 

manderson1984 said:
3/4. Gabe/Johnson
5. Williams
6. Mashburn
7. Gach
8. Ihnen

Last years team had plenty of talent to be a .500 team. Honestly we had more pros on our roster than Wisconsin did and we were not a young team. Richards teams struggled because he couldn't ever get them to consistently defend as a team. It's the ranking correlates with his record and standings. Pitino's inability to build depth was in part his own fault. He never trusted guys on the bench imo, but I'll also argue that bench depth is pretty overrated. Really need 6 playable guys with two guys who are passable on the court and don't kill you.
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I mean we had a bunch of injuries and were like 5 buckets away from being 11-9
So it’s not like we did that bad though
 

manderson1984 said:
3/4. Gabe/Johnson
5. Williams
6. Mashburn
7. Gach
8. Ihnen

Last years team had plenty of talent to be a .500 team. Honestly we had more pros on our roster than Wisconsin did and we were not a young team. Richards teams struggled because he couldn't ever get them to consistently defend as a team. It's the ranking correlates with his record and standings. Pitino's inability to build depth was in part his own fault. He never trusted guys on the bench imo, but I'll also argue that bench depth is pretty overrated. Really need 6 playable guys with two guys who are passable on the court and don't kill you.
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I agree that bench depth can be overrated but it is nice to be able to go at least 8 deep with guys that can log significant minutes without hurting your team. Teams with short benches get into a lot of trouble when guys pick up early fouls.

Pitino's biggest issue was that guys clearly were not buying into playing the way he wanted them to play. Frustrated me to no end to hear him say after the game that he wished the team would take fewer 3s (he said this multiple times). You are the coach, if guys are refusing to play the way you want them to, sit them on the bench until they figure it out.
 



As far as "power rankings"

at this point, you cannot judge the Gophers' outlook because the roster is still under construction.

when the entire roster is set, then you can make a fair assessment of where this team sits in comparison to the rest of the conference.

the 2020-21 team finished in 13th place in the conference.

So in the worst-case scenario the 2021-22 team might finish one spot lower in the conference standings.

In all likelihood, I see this team somewhere between 10 and 14 in the final standings.

I personally am less concerned about wins and losses. I'm more concerned with seeing whether the team can develop an identity - show the ability to adjust during games - and show improvement during the season.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
As far as "power rankings"

at this point, you cannot judge the Gophers' outlook because the roster is still under construction.

when the entire roster is set, then you can make a fair assessment of where this team sits in comparison to the rest of the conference.

the 2020-21 team finished in 13th place in the conference.

So in the worst-case scenario the 2021-22 team might finish one spot lower in the conference standings.

In all likelihood, I see this team somewhere between 10 and 14 in the final standings.

I personally am less concerned about wins and losses. I'm more concerned with seeing whether the team can develop an identity - show the ability to adjust during games - and show improvement during the season.
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Agree with your sentiment but I am not sure a fair assessment will be able to be made about this team until we actually see them on the court. I mean these projections always involve a lot of guesswork anyway but in the case of the Gophers I am not sure anyone can have any clue what to expect given how many new faces there are going to be next year.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I agree that bench depth can be overrated but it is nice to be able to go at least 8 deep with guys that can log significant minutes without hurting your team. Teams with short benches get into a lot of trouble when guys pick up early fouls.

Pitino's biggest issue was that guys clearly were not buying into playing the way he wanted them to play. Frustrated me to no end to hear him say after the game that he wished the team would take fewer 3s (he said this multiple times). You are the coach, if guys are refusing to play the way you want them to, sit them on the bench until they figure it out.
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You can add playing defense to this too. I think Pitino game planned fine and had decent defensive schemes. He couldn't recruit or get the guys he had to do it consistently for a year.
 





gopherhoopsguy said:
Lol this is hilarious!
With this team and staff currently we are clearly finishing last by a ways. If we win 7 total games next year we should be excited. 0-2 big ten games would be a great accomplishment. We have landed one power 5 guy. We lost real big ten players Carr Liam Mash. U replaced them with mid majors who u beat up on in none conference and u think u got better omg. U don’t even have a center yet. Boy some people are going to be greatly disappointed.
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This is hilarious. Maybe the players we signed are ready for the jump - performing like “real Big Ten players” as Liam did when signed from a mid-major last year. Mashburn is such a “real big ten player” as you call him that he ended up in the MWC instead of P6 school. You are comical
 

MNVCGUY said:
Agree with your sentiment but I am not sure a fair assessment will be able to be made about this team until we actually see them on the court.
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Agreed. I have no idea who our first couple of opponents will be but I would assume that, given the nature of this team, weak opponents would be selected. If we're in a competitive game with the likes of Chicago State or SIU Edwardsville, then we know we're in trouble.
 
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Ozzy&Ray said:
This is hilarious. Maybe the players we signed are ready for the jump - performing like “real Big Ten players” as Liam did when signed from a mid-major last year. Mashburn is such a “real big ten player” as you call him that he ended up in the MWC instead of P6 school. You are comical
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He may not have received that offer if it hadn't been from his former coach. And still no destinations listed in the portal for Williams, Mitchell, and Freeman.

Carr probably got some assurance from one or more teams that a roster space would be open if he decided to return to college.
 

cjbfbp said:
Agreed. I have no idea who our first couple of opponents will be but I would assume that, given the nature of this team, weak opponents would be selected. If we're in a competitive game with the likes of Chicago State or SIU Edwardsville, then we know we're in trouble.
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Maybe, maybe not. Going to take time for all the new faces to get comfortable playing together so there might be some early season stumbles that get ironed out over the first few games.

But in the end it really doesn't matter anyway since the record next year is not what this team will be judged on.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Maybe, maybe not. Going to take time for all the new faces to get comfortable playing together so there might be some early season stumbles that get ironed out over the first few games.

But in the end it really doesn't matter anyway since the record next year is not what this team will be judged on.
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My sentiments exactly. I will be looking at how we play, effort and fundamentals. How screens are set precisely, how low and wide defensively, how well conditioned. It will be a reflection of how we practice. Practices will be grueling, attention to detail, closeness of the team, level of fight, mental toughness to never give in. Non negotiables.
 

builtbadgers said:
My sentiments exactly. I will be looking at how we play, effort and fundamentals. How screens are set precisely, how low and wide defensively, how well conditioned. It will be a reflection of how we practice. Practices will be grueling, attention to detail, closeness of the team, level of fight, mental toughness to never give in. Non negotiables.
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Will potentially be tough because people get so caught up in the record, but all those things are what I will be watching for as well. Should be able to get a good sense of the kind of play Johnson is going to be looking for from the team, even if the win/loss record isn't where we want it to be.

But I am also still holding out hope that we will all be pleasantly surprised by the on the court results as well. The transfer portal is such an unknown and with so many new faces there is just no way to really predict how the team will play. If Johnson hit a home run with a couple of these new kids coming in it doesn't take a lot to quickly change the fortunes of a basketball team.

It shouldn't be an expectation but it is a possibility.
 

cjbfbp said:
He may not have received that offer if it hadn't been from his former coach. And still no destinations listed in the portal for Williams, Mitchell, and Freeman.

Carr probably got some assurance from one or more teams that a roster space would be open if he decided to return to college.
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I thought I saw Mitchell ended up at Northern Illinois. Freeman chose Pacific.
 

gopherhoopsguy said:
Lol this is hilarious!
With this team and staff currently we are clearly finishing last by a ways. If we win 7 total games next year we should be excited. 0-2 big ten games would be a great accomplishment. We have landed one power 5 guy. We lost real big ten players Carr Liam Mash. U replaced them with mid majors who u beat up on in none conference and u think u got better omg. U don’t even have a center yet. Boy some people are going to be greatly disappointed.
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Sorry. I was begging folks to leave Pitino alone last year. At least we got some preseason hype a couple of years. At least I had hopes of making the tourney. Now, I just hope that they won't finish dead last for the next 3 years. Good grief this has gotten ugly in a hurry. Just ugly. It's so ugly that I feel bad for Parker Fox picking his home team. Rough.

No one can tell me right now that they wouldn't at least have hope if this was on the roster:
Gabe, Liam, Tre, Mash Jr, Ihnen, Freeman, Johnson, Thompson, Pohto, and maybe a transfer at the 1 and 2. No one. Zero percent chance. If you disagree, you are a liar.
 

VolitileGopher said:
Sorry. I was begging folks to leave Pitino alone last year.
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Look, you need some different perspectives in your thinking. I've noticed that your perspectives are bit limited.

Try Mae West's philosophy on for size: "When given a choice between two evils, I always pick the one I haven't tried before."
 

MNVCGUY said:
Maybe, maybe not. Going to take time for all the new faces to get comfortable playing together so there might be some early season stumbles that get ironed out over the first few games.

But in the end it really doesn't matter anyway since the record next year is not what this team will be judged on.
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Those teams I mentioned are bottom-of-the-barrel teams that go through something similar every year - lot's of new faces and usually not with the same pedigree of our transfers.

Stop speaking in cliches. Of course the record matters. And "this team" will be judged on that record even if the head coach is not in the long run. People don't have high expectations but if the team has something like 5 wins or less there will be lots of exasperation.
 


VolitileGopher said:
Sorry. I was begging folks to leave Pitino alone last year. At least we got some preseason hype a couple of years. At least I had hopes of making the tourney. Now, I just hope that they won't finish dead last for the next 3 years. Good grief this has gotten ugly in a hurry. Just ugly. It's so ugly that I feel bad for Parker Fox picking his home team. Rough.

No one can tell me right now that they wouldn't at least have hope if this was on the roster:
Gabe, Liam, Tre, Mash Jr, Ihnen, Freeman, Johnson, Thompson, Pohto, and maybe a transfer at the 1 and 2. No one. Zero percent chance. If you disagree, you are a liar.
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It was ugly two seasons ago. Lost what last 12 of 14 to end regular season this last year, and last 8 of 11 the year before? So lost 20 of 25.
 



SanDiegoGopherFan said:
Who knows.

Which coach in D1 is known for always overachieving with their talent?
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Well, I would mention one ex-coach: Bo Ryan. I also think that Fran McCaffrey's overall record at Iowa is a little better than his teams' talent levels would predict.
 

SanDiegoGopherFan said:
Who knows.

Which coach in D1 is known for always overachieving with their talent?
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Off the top of my head this list comes to mind:
Matt Painter, Greg Gard, Chris Beard, Jay Wright, Mark Few, Chris Holtmann, Mike Young, Mick Cronin, Bob Huggins, Craig Smith, Tony Bennett, and Kelvin Sampson to name a some. There are more.
 

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