Ben Johnson is a Disaster

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MNJay said:
Ben's first recruits are freshmen. And he has better recruits on the way.

I 100% guarantee you same guys would all be calling for Haskins' firing during his 2-16 & 4-14 conference seasons with freshmen & sophomores.

You guys say times are different...but no, ripping the coaches never changes. Fans (and others) get all riled-up and throw temper-tantrums game by game...that never changes.
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This is almost certainly a bit, but what the hell, I'll respond anyway....

Exactly what is it that makes you so certain that if any of these freshmen (or anyone else for that matter) won't use this as merely a stepping stone to a much better program and better NIL money?

Yes, it IS different, sorry to break that for you; in about a hundred ways. Some of the most notable being that kids commit, stay committed, rarely transfer, and usually stay for 4 years.

But I don't want to overload that noggin of yours, so start simple; What's to stop anyone that is any good from going to a better program after even a solid year?
 

Ben Johnson needs through the 2024-25 season to put this together.

2023 commit center Dennis Evans is rated the #27, #31 and #60 overall prospect in the 2023, depending who you ask. He's between #4 and #7 center. He's a defense phenom.

*GAME CHANGER ALERT *

Highest rated prospect outside of Minnesota since 1995.

Thank Ben Johnson for that.




2023 Minnesota-commit shooting guard Cameron Christie is rated between the 22nd and 34th best shooting guard and approximately the 130th best overall player.



Ben Johnson needs through the 2024-25 season to put this together.

Be patient.

The team needs better point guard play. The point guard is the floor leader. A good point guard is an unselfish player (usually) that makes everyone better by passing, assists, reading the game, and yes driving for scores too. A point guard can be like glue for the team.


https://247sports.com/college/minnesota/Season/2023-Basketball/Commits/
 

Like it or not Ben Johnson is the mechanic for a couple more years.

His recruits are coming in and he gets to put a team together.
 



Battle's stats are down, yes...

Which shows how much they need a good point guard to settle things down and glue the team together.

The point guard is the floor leader, the assists leader, the glue. The point guard makes everyone else better.

I'm not asking for Magic Johnson but above average would be nice. It throws the whole team off.

1671856897669.png

www.basketballforcoaches.com

The 8 Must-Have Requirements of Every Point Guard

The 8 must-have requirements every point guard needs to possess if they want to succeed on the basketball court.
www.basketballforcoaches.com www.basketballforcoaches.com
 

The 8 must have requirements of every point guard. Who wrote that article?
Likely not a coach or a player who actually played the game.

Nothing mentioned about being able to play good D and defend the opponents PG. Probably the second most important other than leading your teams offense.
 

My book by my foot by Digger Phelps beats the drum about the point guard being unselfish to make the other players better.

Assists.

Passing.

Reading the floor.

Yes of course effort on defense and driving to score.

The all time prototype of a great point guard is Magic Johnson.





The Gophers suck at point guard.
 

Bfan said:
My book by my foot by Digger Phelps beats the drum about the point guard being unselfish to make the other players better.

Assists.

Passing.

Reading the floor.

Yes of course effort on defense and driving to score.

The all time prototype of a great point guard is Magic Johnson.





The Gophers suck at point guard.
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You know of any 6'9" point guards in the portal? 🙄
 



Wet_Blanket_Guy said:
Cooper can be useful, if utilized correctly. Great 3pt shooter...but his complete disregard for humanity when it comes for Free Throw shooting should mean he can't be trusted at the end of games - teams would just put him on the line + do I need to talk about defense / lack of quickness.

Hid ideal fit is almost as a small ball SF and gets tons of shots up, all while not having to guard the other teams quickest guys....this doesn't work with our current roster construction.

Then without Cooper handling the ball...that leaves (current options)...Samuels (not a true B10 caliber player...especially a starter) and Carrington (not a PG - he is a SG).

Digging deeper on Samuels:
*in 2021-22 *a year in which Dartmouth placed 5th in the 8 team Ivy League (behind Princeton, Yale, Penn, Cornell) and ahead of Harvard, Brown, & Columbia - their only non-conference games appear to have been:
-Dartmouth 55 @ CSU Bakersfield 61
-Dartmouth 55 @ Cal 61
-Dartmouth 78 @ Stanford 89 (OT)
- Boston U 65 @ Dartmouth 62
- Quinnipiac 72 @ Dartmouth 69
-Dartmouth 68 @ Florida Golf Coast University (OT)
- Dartmouth 65 @ Vermont 83
-Dartmouth 63 @ Bryant 61 (OT)
-Dartmouth 69 @ Georgetown (60) *Georgetown has fallen off the map*
-Boston College 73 @ Dartmouth 57

Here are the stats of those games: (season averages next to it for comparison)
* 2pt FG % 38% --> 41.58%
* 3PT FG % 24% --> 31.25%
* REB P/G 2.9 --> 2.1
* Points per game 10.3 --> 9.4
* Assists per game 1.9 --> 1.73
* TO per game 1.3 --> .83
* A/T ratio 1.46 --> 2.11
* Steals per game .7 --> .65

I don't know how one can look at these numbers against (when they are a middle of the pack IVY League school) and they lost to almost every non-IVY league school with the exception of Georgetown (who is having their own Minnesota Golden Gopher moment) and say,
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He couldn't attract a better player.
 


bc2211 said:
By 1%, and his percentage varies by 1% each year, which is shockingly consistent.
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Also, he's 21/61. Last year he was at 36.6%, or 22.3/61. If he had made 2 more, he'd be at a higher %.

Sure, you'd like to see him be at 38%+ or some improved number, but with this sample size he's pretty much at the same shooting percentage.
 

golfing18now said:
I agree with you. How many conference wins do you think they will have ultimately this year?
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I'm not sure, but you might have to run a Monte Carlo simulation to get the statistical mean number of expected wins. Does anyone here know how to do that?
 





Bad Gopher said:
I'm not sure, but you might have to run a Monte Carlo simulation to get the statistical mean number of expected wins. Does anyone here know how to do that?
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I'm not sure how to do a Monte Carlo simulation. But if we assume the ESPN matchup prediction percentages are accurate and assume independence across each game.....

There would be 262,144 unique combinations of how the season will play out.
Most likely scenario is lose all eighteen 4.342% chance
Least likely scenario is win all eighteen 0.00000000000001% chance
All probabilities in between for other combos.

Expected number of wins is 2.774 conference games.
 
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Bfan said:
Ben Johnson needs through the 2024-25 season to put this together.

2023 commit center Dennis Evans is rated the #27, #31 and #60 overall prospect in the 2023, depending who you ask. He's between #4 and #7 center. He's a defense phenom.

*GAME CHANGER ALERT *

Highest rated prospect outside of Minnesota since 1995.

Thank Ben Johnson for that.




2023 Minnesota-commit shooting guard Cameron Christie is rated between the 22nd and 34th best shooting guard and approximately the 130th best overall player.



Ben Johnson needs through the 2024-25 season to put this together.

Be patient.

The team needs better point guard play. The point guard is the floor leader. A good point guard is an unselfish player (usually) that makes everyone better by passing, assists, reading the game, and yes driving for scores too. A point guard can be like glue for the team.


https://247sports.com/college/minnesota/Season/2023-Basketball/Commits/
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Aside from the obvious, what sticks out to me about Evans is how soft (Opposite of Bakary) his hands are and the touch he has as well as his ability to affect pull up shots. He really does look like a game changer.
 

CentralGopher said:
Aside from the obvious, what sticks out to me about Evans is how soft (Opposite of Bakary) his hands are and the touch he has as well as his ability to affect pull up shots. He really does look like a game changer.
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The fact they have only two recruits coming in -- one elite and one very good -- says to me they put their value chips on Evans. He's worth it. Pony up for the best.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
It still puts them 90 spots lower than the next closest B1G team. So not only is their offense creating the worst shots in the B1G, as it was last season, they are making far fewer of them this season.

I'll agree that I prefer to watch games played on the court as well, but analytics tell you a lot in between.
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This whole being a good fan thing can be very confusing. I can recall times where it was only the "real fans" who questioned what the coaches were doing and the direction of the program and always my favorite "demand better"; now I guess it's only the true fans who blindly accept whatever the staff is doing and the direction of the program and those that question it at all are mean hateful bastards, or worse labels than that even
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
This whole being a good fan thing can be very confusing. I can recall times where it was only the "real fans" who questioned what the coaches were doing and the direction of the program and always my favorite "demand better"; now I guess it's only the true fans who blindly accept whatever the staff is doing and the direction of the program and those that question it at all are mean hateful bastards, or worse labels than that even
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"Thank you sir, may I have another?"
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
This whole being a good fan thing can be very confusing. I can recall times where it was only the "real fans" who questioned what the coaches were doing and the direction of the program and always my favorite "demand better"; now I guess it's only the true fans who blindly accept whatever the staff is doing and the direction of the program and those that question it at all are mean hateful bastards, or worse labels than that even
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Obviously a Badger fan
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
This whole being a good fan thing can be very confusing. I can recall times where it was only the "real fans" who questioned what the coaches were doing and the direction of the program and always my favorite "demand better"; now I guess it's only the true fans who blindly accept whatever the staff is doing and the direction of the program and those that question it at all are mean hateful bastards, or worse labels than that even
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@Ogee Oglethorpe , my complaint is that many of you don't take in to account the circumstances of last year and the consequent rebuild. You all want an instant fix and then you go all "Karen" on the team when it doesn't happen exactly as you want it to happen. The rest of us are standing in line while all you "Karen's" keep railing on the staff. It's tiring to watch you go all "Karen."
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
This is almost certainly a bit, but what the hell, I'll respond anyway....

Exactly what is it that makes you so certain that if any of these freshmen (or anyone else for that matter) won't use this as merely a stepping stone to a much better program and better NIL money?

Yes, it IS different, sorry to break that for you; in about a hundred ways. Some of the most notable being that kids commit, stay committed, rarely transfer, and usually stay for 4 years.

But I don't want to overload that noggin of yours, so start simple; What's to stop anyone that is any good from going to a better program after even a solid year?
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My opinion seems like a bit, a joke...because I'm actually able to follow a rebuilding plan. Instead of being the typical fan who blasts the coach after every loss, no matter what.

If our freshmen & recruits improve nicely but get bribed away and leave for other teams...I'll quit watching college basketball completely. I'll be done for sure, no exaggeration. But until that day, I say Ben should be allowed to recruit & develop.
 
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Ogee Oglethorpe said:
This whole being a good fan thing can be very confusing. I can recall times where it was only the "real fans" who questioned what the coaches were doing and the direction of the program and always my favorite "demand better"; now I guess it's only the true fans who blindly accept whatever the staff is doing and the direction of the program and those that question it at all are mean hateful bastards, or worse labels than that even
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I'm the first to blast our administration for their sabotaging of the basketball program over the last 25 years. And for their hiring of football coaches who couldn't recruit and had no chance to win.

I blast coaches who deserve to be fired.

Ben doesn't deserve to be blasted yet. His first recruits are freshmen, and he has good recruits on the way.
 

MNJay said:
I'm the first to blast our administration for their sabotaging of the basketball program over the last 25 years. And for their hiring of football coaches who couldn't recruit and had no chance to win.

I blast coaches who deserve to be fired.

Ben doesn't deserve to be blasted yet. His first recruits are freshmen, and he has good recruits on the way.
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His first recruits are not freshmen. Stop.
 

MennoSota said:
@Ogee Oglethorpe , my complaint is that many of you don't take in to account the circumstances of last year and the consequent rebuild. You all want an instant fix and then you go all "Karen" on the team when it doesn't happen exactly as you want it to happen. The rest of us are standing in line while all you "Karen's" keep railing on the staff. It's tiring to watch you go all "Karen."
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All teams had the same circumstances. Stop.
 

bc2211 said:
Probably should have been fired for it, too.
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I give you credit for at least being honest & consistent. Unlike those who blast Ben but claim they supported Clem.
 



GopherWeatherGuy said:
This isn’t a youth issue, this is a coaching and roster construction issue. It’s not going to get much better next season.

When you hire someone who doesn’t have any credentials to be a B1G coach, this is what you get. This is the worst Gopher basketball team I’ve seen in my lifetime.
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Yes it will get better next season.

The needs are not that bad.

Guard.

A shooting guard is coming in next season.

Maybe one good transfer portal player is needed.

We will alll be talking about portal player prospects -- but they need only one.

 

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