Ben Johnson and this team

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May not be the worst thing to give these guys a day or two off of practice or keep it to walk throughs. Maybe do some skill drills with the underclassmen but the older guys are what they are, there’s nothing that’s going to happen in practice in the next 3 weeks that’s going to change anything about the way we’re playing right now.
 

I think they made a mistake not finding an opponent to make up the Alcorn State game. This team really needs a win. Against anyone. D2, D3, NAIA. They need to trounce someone.
 

3399 said:
I think they made a mistake not finding an opponent to make up the Alcorn State game. This team really needs a win. Against anyone. D2, D3, NAIA. They need to trounce someone.
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Beat Wisconsin and they make my day!
 


Season grade is at. D-. I should type F but the season isn’t over. Traschball
 

the shine has certainly worn off....and the playing only 7 guys in a ton of games has caught up to this team. the way it started was really hoping we would have 2-3 more wins at least by this point...now i just want 2 more wins the rest of the way
 

3399 said:
I think they made a mistake not finding an opponent to make up the Alcorn State game. This team really needs a win. Against anyone. D2, D3, NAIA. They need to trounce someone.
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Agree with this.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Honestly I think it is the use of "really bad team" that is sticking out to those of us that don't agree with your assessment.

To me, a really bad team is one that goes out and gets crushed every night and looks bad in the process. Stupid mistakes, terrible shots, dumb fouls, lack of effort...... Towards the end of last season the Gophers were playing like a really bad team, getting blown out by teams they should at the very least have been able to compete with.

This team is going to struggle because of the lack of depth and size, but they also look like they are going to be a tough out and not just roll over for teams. They will win some games we don't expect them to. Even if they end up finishing in the lower part of the standings, they can still be a solid group who came together for one year and played well.
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Somehow I got roasted for suggesting this isn’t a very good team.

the team got 14th out of 14 and got swept by 13 and 12

bottom 5 team in post WW2 gopher basketball history

In no order
2021-22
2015-16
2006-07
2003-04
1986-87
 




Some guy said:
Somehow I got roasted for suggesting this isn’t a very good team.

the team got 14th out of 14 and got swept by 13 and 12

bottom 5 team in post WW2 gopher basketball history

In no order
2021-22
2015-16
2006-07
2003-04
1986-87
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They split against Northwestern and Penn State. They also beat Rutgers who tied for 4th and Michigan who tied for 7th.

What record did you expect at the start of the season? Did they meet or exceed your expectations?

No one wanted us to field this roster but it was the roster that we had. There is nothing that anyone can do about the roster after the fact.

My hope rests on enjoying the wins they did have this season, seeing the competitiveness they showed in nearly every loss, understanding the foundation they are setting, and anticipating the recruits in the fold and those to come.

In a few short months, we will learn what pieces of the puzzle will join the team in the 22-23 season. We can then set expectations and move on to that season. This is the life of a fan.
 
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Some guy said:
Somehow I got roasted for suggesting this isn’t a very good team.

the team got 14th out of 14 and got swept by 13 and 12

bottom 5 team in post WW2 gopher basketball history

In no order
2021-22
2015-16
2006-07
2003-04
1986-87
Click to expand...
They finished with 4 wins in conference and 13 wins. They aren't a bottom 5 team lol

Also could have sworn I watched beat #12 (NW) less than 3 weeks ago. Must have been a different team.
 

Johnnyboy18 said:
They finished with 4 wins in conference and 13 wins. They aren't a bottom 5 team lol

Also could have sworn I watched beat #12 (NW) less than 3 weeks ago. Must have been a different team.
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Take a look at historical records. Yes this was a team that was among the worst 5 going all the way back to the 60's and beyond. In conference there is one 2 win season and couple of 3 win seasons and a few more at 4. But this is the first 4 win season with 20 Big Ten games the rest were with 16 or 18 conference games. There is no sugar coating this- it was an awful season. There are great kids who played hard and smart but really only two with Big Ten talent.

Ben shows a lot of promise as a coach so this one is a mulligan. We'll see what next year looks like but he needs to bring in some higher level transfers next year. Loading up with kids who played at a level down isn't going to work.

As the basketball sage built badgers has said here often- the best coaches win and turn things around quickly. We need to have much better results next year.
 
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bga1 said:
Take a look at historical records. Yes this was a team that was among the worst 5 going all the way back to the 60's and beyond. In conference there is one 2 win season and couple of 3 win seasons and a few more at 4. But this is the first 4 win season with 20 Big Ten games the rest were with 16 or 18 conference games. There is no sugar coating this- it was an awful season. There are great kids who played hard and smart but really only two with Big Ten talent.

Ben shows a lot of promise as a coach so this one is a mulligan. We'll see what next year looks like but he needs to bring in some higher level transfers next year. Loading up with kids who played at a level down isn't going to work.

As the basketball sage built badgers has said here often- the best coaches win turn things around quickly. We need to have much better results next year.
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Transfers were largely fine. The issue was losing the entire team to the portal and injuries which made the transfers play bigger roles than they were expected to. If Loewe was the 5th best starter, Stephens 6th man, Sutherlin 9th or 10th off the bench and Daniels 2 minutes a game the transfers wouldn't be looked down upon.
 

Johnnyboy18 said:
Transfers were largely fine. The issue was losing the entire team to the portal and injuries which made the transfers play bigger roles than they were expected to. If Loewe was the 5th best starter, Stephens 6th man, Sutherlin 9th or 10th off the bench and Daniels 2 minutes a game the transfers wouldn't be looked down upon.
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You are spot on. Lest anyone say that I am making excuses, we all know that Johnson recruited the vast majority of these players... one from JUCO and the rest out of the transfer portal. Johnson is responsible for the fact that most of these players are not ready to play quality B1G ball.

Our hope is that the 3 HS players from MN and Henley from CA will prove to be building blocks to a successful program beginning next year. We also hope that the next round of players plucked from the transfer portal will represent an upgrade in talent versus a slapdash attempt to put together a roster.

While not pleased with the losses, I will remember this team fondly for their heart and willingness to compete night in and night out despite being outgunned from the opening tip. They were underdogs in the truest sense of the word.
 


bga1 said:
Take a look at historical records. Yes this was a team that was among the worst 5 going all the way back to the 60's and beyond. In conference there is one 2 win season and couple of 3 win seasons and a few more at 4. But this is the first 4 win season with 20 Big Ten games the rest were with 16 or 18 conference games. There is no sugar coating this- it was an awful season. There are great kids who played hard and smart but really only two with Big Ten talent.

Ben shows a lot of promise as a coach so this one is a mulligan. We'll see what next year looks like but he needs to bring in some higher level transfers next year. Loading up with kids who played at a level down isn't going to work.

As the basketball sage built badgers has said here often- the best coaches win turn things around quickly. We need to have much better results next year.
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This is what I was going to say.
 

Johnnyboy18 said:
They finished with 4 wins in conference and 13 wins. They aren't a bottom 5 team lol

Also could have sworn I watched beat #12 (NW) less than 3 weeks ago. Must have been a different team.
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Name some other gophers teams better than this one other than those 4.

bottom 5 gopher team post world war 2
Name all the other times the team finished last place in the conference
 

ecoperson said:
They split against Northwestern and Penn State. They also beat Rutgers who tied for 4th and Michigan who tied for 7th.

What record did you expect at the start of the season? Did they meet or exceed your expectations?

No one wanted us to field this roster but it was the roster that we had. There is nothing that anyone can do about the roster after the fact.

My hope rests on enjoying the wins they did have this season, seeing the competitiveness they showed in nearly every loss, understanding the foundation they are setting, and anticipating the recruits in the fold and those to come.

In a few short months, we will learn what pieces of the puzzle will join the team in the 22-23 season. We can then set expectations and move on to that season. This is the life of a fan.
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We exceeded expectations.
I’ve already said that. I thought they’d win 1-2 big ten games. They won 4.
that doesn’t mean I was wrong for saying this is a bad team.
 

bga1 said:
Take a look at historical records. Yes this was a team that was among the worst 5 going all the way back to the 60's and beyond. In conference there is one 2 win season and couple of 3 win seasons and a few more at 4. But this is the first 4 win season with 20 Big Ten games the rest were with 16 or 18 conference games. There is no sugar coating this- it was an awful season. There are great kids who played hard and smart but really only two with Big Ten talent.

Ben shows a lot of promise as a coach so this one is a mulligan. We'll see what next year looks like but he needs to bring in some higher level transfers next year. Loading up with kids who played at a level down isn't going to work.

As the basketball sage built badgers has said here often- the best coaches win turn things around quickly. We need to have much better results next year.
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Is 7 B1G wins turning things around quickly, that is my guess on next years ceiling. Bens's just not going to get top guys off the portal and there are some big gaps that needs to be filled unless locals like Walton or Garcia decide they want to transfer back. In for the long hall and actually building a long term stable program is what I see occurring.
 

Some guy said:
Somehow I got roasted for suggesting this isn’t a very good team.

the team got 14th out of 14 and got swept by 13 and 12

bottom 5 team in post WW2 gopher basketball history

In no order
2021-22
2015-16
2006-07
2003-04
1986-87
Click to expand...
I was shocked to read that this was our first last place finish since 1987. Especially given the three seasons in bold above. That's quite disconcerting. Oh well. One more game and it's over.
 

jovs said:
Is 7 B1G wins turning things around quickly, that is my guess on next years ceiling. Bens's just not going to get top guys off the portal and there are some big gaps that needs to be filled unless locals like Walton or Garcia decide they want to transfer back. In for the long hall and actually building a long term stable program is what I see occurring.
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Not sure what anyone defines as top guys off the portal, as everyone's definition can differ. But no reason Gophers can't have a major. . .significant upgrade, especially where the inside game is concerned which has been painful to watch. If teams like Boise State, San Franciso and several others can find 6'10" 240lb guys like Mladen Armus (Boise State vis ETSU), then the Gophers can too. Again, no point in talking about prior to this season, but now a full recruiting cycle/season. Let's see what results. Armus I don't mention because he's a star, but merely to point out there are a lot of servicable players available. I'm not with those saying there aren't that many 6'9/6'10" quality guys around. They are out there.
 

I said this in another thread: we definitely saw some good things this year--things that looked like good coaching. But they just weren't the same team down the stretch, and it was more than just the quality of opponents. They were disconnected and seemingly uninterested on defense, and that's the opposite of the identity they had early on. They weren't making the hustle plays, weren't getting to loose balls and 50/50 balls, were getting outworked by teams they needed to outwork in order to beat. Like I've said elsewhere, I'll accept that at least some of that is exhaustion and the effects of the illnesses and injuries, Curry being especially hard hit (two injuries, one illness), and he's arguably the key player on the team. But it's good that we got to see the positive signs of good coaching early because they did not look like a well-coached team late.

What all exactly happened with this team is a mystery. Some of it is fatigue, but I don't buy that it's all fatigue. And the bots that keep replying to every post that they met or exceeded expectations can hold their tongue; that's not what this is about.
 

Other than fatigue, I think it is simple a matter of that the rest of the conference has good coaches and they figured out what you need to do to beat the Gophers.

We had a style and a strategy, and once teams figured it out, we weren't going to wholesale change to a new system.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Other than fatigue, I think it is simple a matter of that the rest of the conference has good coaches and they figured out what you need to do to beat the Gophers.

We had a style and a strategy, and once teams figured it out, we weren't going to wholesale change to a new system.
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And our lack of depth overall, most acutely in the post, really started to show.

I appreciate his year of service, but Charlie Daniels seeing court time was not a positive. Curry should never have played more than 20 minutes. Sutherlin as a 10-15 minute sparkplug. I really liked that core of Willis/Stephens/Loewe/Battle but ideally Stephens and Loewe are playing 25-30 minutes per game, and Battle/Willis ~35.

Any game where one of our top players was missing absolutely crippled us.

Really hope we have more depth next year.
 

eker0016 said:
And our lack of depth overall, most acutely in the post, really started to show.

I appreciate his year of service, but Charlie Daniels seeing court time was not a positive. Curry should never have played more than 20 minutes. Sutherlin as a 10-15 minute sparkplug. I really liked that core of Willis/Stephens/Loewe/Battle but ideally Stephens and Loewe are playing 25-30 minutes per game, and Battle/Willis ~35.

Any game where one of our top players was missing absolutely crippled us.

Really hope we have more depth next year.
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The funny thing is we went 3-15 over our last 18. One of those wins was a blowout of Northwestern without Willis, the other win was against Rutgers without Battle, Curry, and Stephens.

Although this finish was expected by many at the beginning of the season, it feels like they should have won more with how the season started, and with the wins I just mentioned without top players.
 

Last night, just don't think they were prepared to play. I mean it was 29-9 and no way this team can overcome that. I am not one to buy into the fatigue. They didn't jog to Evanston. They weren't ready at the start of the game. They seem much more involved after they were curb stomped.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
Last night, just don't think they were prepared to play. I mean it was 29-9 and no way this team can overcome that. I am not one to buy into the fatigue. They didn't jog to Evanston. They weren't ready at the start of the game. They seem much more involved after they were curb stomped.
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Mental fatigue is a thing too.

But it's not really that far off from what you're saying, that they weren't ready to be on that court. Their bodies were there, but their minds were not.
 


Some guy said:
Somehow I got roasted for suggesting this isn’t a very good team.

the team got 14th out of 14 and got swept by 13 and 12

bottom 5 team in post WW2 gopher basketball history

In no order
2021-22
2015-16
2006-07
2003-04
1986-87
Click to expand...
60% of the worst records were following coaching changes plus a twofer for some really bad coaches (Monson/Pitino). Can't give coaches 6 years to figure things out.
 
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