Ben Johnson is a Disaster

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Dano564 said:
If there is a way this season could have gone worse, I'm not quite sure what that would be.
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As bad as the season was it definitely could have been even worse. Zero conference wins, blowouts in every game, bad non-conf loses, freshman looking like total busts, off the court issues.....

As we sit here right now the future looks bleak but there were some flashes from the freshman that can at least give some hope for the future.

Johnson and company have their work cut out for them, they have to find the right pieces in the portal.....if they do there is a chance we could see things start to turn around, if they don't chances are we are right back in the same spot again next year and almost certainly looking for a new head coach.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Considering the way rosters evolve and that almost 60% of the league was around .500. Going 8-12 to 11-9 is reasonable.
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This season, that overwhelmingly impressive record (8-12) would have earned the Gophers 13th in the B1G instead of 14th.

Time for an extension at that point!!
 
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Holy Man said:
What’s your definition of bottom? He’s a respected assistant coach with good contacts in Minnesota. He will end up being a valuable addition to a mid major staff that wants inroads into Minnesota. We produce a lot of mid major talent here.
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High School. Possibly another assistant job at a mid Major or D2-3 program. He got handed this job and likely all the assistant ones he had as well.. He hasn't put in his time if I'm being honest. Maybe he can start a club program. Or help out with one that is already established.

And like I said, he is always welcome to come help out our youth program here, we could help him learn how to coach on the job. There are lots of coaching clinics we could send him to and we would pay for it.:ROFLMAO:
 


Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
This season, that overwhelmingly impressive record would have earned the Gophers 13th in the B1G instead of 14th.

Time for an extension at that point!!
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They would have had to beat some of the teams ahead of them, so on average it puts them at 10th or 11th, if they win 8 games. They do that next year and have a bunch of JR's & Sr's in 2024-25 Johnson will likely still be the coach.
 


Gophers_4life said:
Sorry for the bball newb question here:
let's say we do it your way, cut it to one, foul them, they make both, their lead is back to 3, as soon as we touch the ball they foul us. That means we can only make two points, can't even go for a three.

How do we get around that?
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That is something I'd like to see changed. I've heard it compared to a football team defending a four point lead to be able to committee a deliberate penalty on the last play, and the "punishment" is that the offense gets to advance the ball 5 yards but has to kick a field goal instead of being allowed to run the offense out there to try to score a touchdown. I'd personally just like to see the refs get really generous about calling a "shooting foul" when someone does like Battle did and tries to get in a shooting motion when that intentional foul comes. Or, if an "intentional foul" comes with 2 free throws and the ball, then call it as an intentional foul.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
That is something I'd like to see changed. I've heard it compared to a football team defending a four point lead to be able to committee a deliberate penalty on the last play, and the "punishment" is that the offense gets to advance the ball 5 yards but has to kick a field goal instead of being allowed to run the offense out there to try to score a touchdown. I'd personally just like to see the refs get really generous about calling a "shooting foul" when someone does like Battle did and tries to get in a shooting motion when that intentional foul comes. Or, if an "intentional foul" comes with 2 free throws and the ball, then call it as an intentional foul.
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that intentional foul was a basketball play and somewhat close to a charge on Battle
 



Go Gophs said:
High School. Possibly another assistant job at a mid Major or D2-3 program. He got handed this job and likely all the assistant ones he had as well.. He hasn't put in his time if I'm being honest. Maybe he can start a club program. Or help out with one that is already established.

And like I said, he is always welcome to come help out our youth program here, we could help him learn how to coach on the job. There are lots of coaching clinics we could send him to and we would pay for it.:ROFLMAO:
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Wow....that is post is just ignorant on your part. There can certainly be an argument made on whether on not he deserved to get his first head coaching job in the Big Ten but he has been coaching for 16+ years so it isn't like he is some fresh out of college guy.

Saying he was handed all his coaching opportunities is just being a douche bag.
 

Wet_Blanket_Guy said:
that intentional foul was a basketball play and somewhat close to a charge on Battle
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Agree it almost could have been a charge. But it seems to me that if a player intentionally commits a foul, it should be considered an "intentional foul" by definition.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Agree it almost could have been a charge. But it seems to me that if a player intentionally commits a foul, it should be considered an "intentional foul" by definition.
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But we all know that intentional fouls late in games no matter how intentional are never going to be called intentional.

The one way they could change that would be to start calling them intentional if the team that is leading commits them, but that would be a slippery slope.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Wow....that is post is just ignorant on your part. There can certainly be an argument made on whether on not he deserved to get his first head coaching job in the Big Ten but he has been coaching for 16+ years so it isn't like he is some fresh out of college guy.

Saying he was handed all his coaching opportunities is just being a douche bag.
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It was said sarcastically, but I just don't think taking chances with Big Ten jobs on guys that haven't had some success as a head coach somewhere or been assistant for a successful program is the way to go for power 5 college sports.
 



Go Gophs said:
It was said sarcastically, but I just don't think taking chances with Big Ten jobs on guys that haven't had some success as a head coach somewhere or been assistant for a successful program is the way to go for power 5 college sports.
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There may have been sarcasm in your post but saying he was handed his assistant jobs isn't being sarcastic it is being a jerk and taking a shot at someone who has almost certainly worked extremely hard to get where they have gotten in life.

I agree that it is very risky for a Big Ten team to hire someone without a head coaching track record. It failed in football when they hired Brewster and the first two years of the Johnson tenure have not gone well for the basketball team.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Sorry for the bball newb question here:
let's say we do it your way, cut it to one, foul them, they make both, their lead is back to 3, as soon as we touch the ball they foul us. That means we can only make two points, can't even go for a three.

How do we get around that?
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Definitely a good point. My thought is usually teams don't foul with under 5 seconds left as you never know when a guy may shoot it and you don't want to run the risk of fouling a 3 point shooter. Also, you would still have the opportunity to make one and miss the 2nd intentionally at that point.
 

GFBfan said:
What part of the answer he provided was him making an excuse?
I get that you don’t want him as our coach, but his answer to the question was pretty honest and most all coaches would answer in a similar way with statements of:
Can’t coach kids the same way as before
Players want to feel appreciated and feel good about the atmosphere around the program, both in terms of day to day things and winning - which is one thing that hasn’t happened with the Gophers Team…yet,
Players transfer for a multitude of reasons
All coaches are trying to understand the new landscape and make their situation better.
Focus on the guys you have and work to keep building a positive relationship and their basketball skills.
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For starters, Ben only lasted 2 years at NW before transferring himself. I also think there's a big difference between coaching and recruiting, and this sounds like he's letting transfer concerns affect his coaching. That's a big problem.

Do you think the most successful coaches in basketball or football have radically changed how they coach over the last few years? I don't. I think they've adapted to new generations, but the fundamentals of how they coach is the same.

Have they changed how they have recruited over the last 2 years? Absolutely. But those are two different things. Everyone knows it's year to year now. If you're sacrificing how you coach just to try and get, or keep a player, you're going to lose.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Agree it almost could have been a charge. But it seems to me that if a player intentionally commits a foul, it should be considered an "intentional foul" by definition.
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Then the end of every basketball game is going to be a bore to watch. There is strategy in basketball. Is hack-a-gopher all intentional fouls? We get rewarded if that’s the case
 


MaxyJR1 said:
That's a good start. Do what Nebraska and Northwestern did this year, improve by a handful of games. Other teams are going to change drastically. We don't know for better or worse at this point. If we don't make the jump, Johnson is likely out.
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Well, assuming we win at Nebraska then we would be 3-17 in Conference.
3-17 is dead last (14th) place in the conference.
Looking at this year's standings:
It would take 2 to 3 more wins to reach 13th place.
It would take 6 more wins to reach 12th place. (9-12)
It would take 7 more wins to reach 11th place. (10-12)

Your argument doesn't move us more than two places from the cratered bottom of the conference. That is not good enough, period. Time is of the essence because this is about the program's recent track record, not one coach's record. Ben is living in a hole that was started by previous coaches. He is not filling it in. He is digging deeper.

We can't rely on other programs to get worse, even if you do the the upside to any change is +2 places in Conference. That doesn't get us out of the bottom half of the conference.

So, your plan doesn't improve the optics of Gophers MBB in the eyes of recruits. It also guarantees a worse 4th year as the program doesn't appear to break out of the basement. This makes it even harder to recruit from HS or the TP.

All signs point to either firing Ben now or becoming a nationwide laughingstock for another decade.
 

34Gopher said:
Definitely a good point. My thought is usually teams don't foul with under 5 seconds left as you never know when a guy may shoot it and you don't want to run the risk of fouling a 3 point shooter. Also, you would still have the opportunity to make one and miss the 2nd intentionally at that point.
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That time is closer to under 2-3 seconds. 2 seconds is still two dribbles and a heave. 3 dribbles is coast to coast. Most teams either do one or the other on fouling when up 3.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
They would have had to beat some of the teams ahead of them, so on average it puts them at 10th or 11th, if they win 8 games. They do that next year and have a bunch of JR's & Sr's in 2024-25 Johnson will likely still be the coach.
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You could be right. There's quite a big discrepancy, a Grand Canyon, here in play between "will be the coach" and "should be the coach".

These two are most definitely not always going to be the same thing.
 


Ewert86PC said:
Well, assuming we win at Nebraska then we would be 3-17 in Conference.
3-17 is dead last (14th) place in the conference.
Looking at this year's standings:
It would take 2 to 3 more wins to reach 13th place.
It would take 6 more wins to reach 12th place. (9-12)
It would take 7 more wins to reach 11th place. (10-12)

Your argument doesn't move us more than two places from the cratered bottom of the conference. That is not good enough, period. Time is of the essence because this is about the program's recent track record, not one coach's record. Ben is living in a hole that was started by previous coaches. He is not filling it in. He is digging deeper.

We can't rely on other programs to get worse, even if you do the the upside to any change is +2 places in Conference. That doesn't get us out of the bottom half of the conference.

So, your plan doesn't improve the optics of Gophers MBB in the eyes of recruits. It also guarantees a worse 4th year as the program doesn't appear to break out of the basement. This makes it even harder to recruit from HS or the TP.

All signs point to either firing Ben now or becoming a nationwide laughingstock for another decade.
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why? Everyone is all over that it can be turned around in 1 year. Hire the right guy when he's fired and i would imagine everyone should hold the same expectation.

I'm not at all a fan of Ben the coach thus far (Ben the guy/man/player, sure he's solid). If they fired him now, I'd fully understand. They given him one more year with a short leash, I'd also understand. But if he's back next year and fired after it or fired this year will not meaningfully impact the next 9 years after it unless the U is accused of a scandal. Just puts more pressure on hitting your next hire (moreso for Coyle's job than anything; can't live off PJ and Motzko forever)
 

Gophers_4life said:
How much total gameday revenue do Gopher men's basketball games produce per year?

I would genuinely like to know this answer. Unfortunately the current data in the Equity in Athletics database is for 2020-21, which is useless.
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Well if they sell 10000 tickets at an average of 60 a piece that’s 600k, plus 15–20 per fan in concessions thats another 200k.
 

Dano564 said:
Gophers last in free throw shooting % at 61.5%.
Battle shot 80% and he's leaving.
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That didn't help much because he was 7th on the team in free throw attempts. Unfortunately, Payne who shot 47.5%, had the highest amount. 2nd was Garcia who was pretty good at 70.2%. 3, 4, and 5 were Cooper, Henley, and Ola-Joseph. Henley was 63.5% but the other two didn't hit 60%.
 

cjbfbp said:
That didn't help much because he was 7th on the team in free throw attempts. Unfortunately, Payne who shot 47.5%, had the highest amount. 2nd was Garcia who was pretty good at 70.2%. 3, 4, and 5 were Cooper, Henley, and Ola-Joseph. Henley was 63.5% but the other two didn't hit 60%.
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guards shooting under 70% from the line kills me.
 

upnorthkid said:
guards shooting under 70% from the line kills me.
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Yeah, that is a killer, especially from your point guards. Those are the guys you ideally need to be able to count on to hit those clutch free throws late in games.

Payne destroyed our free throw percentage by going under 50% and taking the most attempts on the team. Has to be a huge emphasis in the off season for him. Exciting part is that if he can get even up to around 60% it will raise his scoring average by multiple points a game and make him even more dangerous.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yeah, that is a killer, especially from your point guards. Those are the guys you ideally need to be able to count on to hit those clutch free throws late in games.

Payne destroyed our free throw percentage by going under 50% and taking the most attempts on the team. Has to be a huge emphasis in the off season for him. Exciting part is that if he can get even up to around 60% it will raise his scoring average by multiple points a game and make him even more dangerous.
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For sure. Anybody know what he shot in HS? His form doesn't look terrible so I'm optimistic it can get better.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yeah, that is a killer, especially from your point guards. Those are the guys you ideally need to be able to count on to hit those clutch free throws late in games.

Payne destroyed our free throw percentage by going under 50% and taking the most attempts on the team. Has to be a huge emphasis in the off season for him. Exciting part is that if he can get even up to around 60% it will raise his scoring average by multiple points a game and make him even more dangerous.
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I would guess he is a 70% FT shooter next year. His form is fine.

You are right though, other teams are hacking him without fear and there are a lot of times those hacks don't get called. Once they have to deal with him making the free throws he gets more respect.
 

upnorthkid said:
For sure. Anybody know what he shot in HS? His form doesn't look terrible so I'm optimistic it can get better.
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I would also love to know how he did from the line in high school. He doesn't look super uncomfortable from the line he just has to find a way to be a little more consistent.

As it stands right now if we hit a point where we are actually leading late in games he won't be able to be on the court because teams will do everything possible to hack him and put him on the line.
 

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