Ben Johnson is a Disaster

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PhiloVance said:
Players cheated while he peeked through his fingers and said he knew nothing.
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Give it up. People are talking about the way Clem coached the kids. He built an identity and the Final Four team was tough as nails. That's what we want again- and yes, no cheating. But with the rules today- how could you cheat?
 
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bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Agreed. This team looks bad, but to go 0-20 or 1-19 would be outrageously bad because, as you said, upsets happen every night. We can't possibly be so bad that we don't pull off a few of them in a 20 game season.
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I've posted many times but its been over 20 years since a team went winless in the big ten and that was a 16 game schedule. Its happened twice in 60ish years. Its very difficult to do. However, a handful of teams have had 1 win in the past 20 years. I think its happened 7 times. The Gophers may join that group. 0 wins seems impossible--for now.
 

bga1 said:
Give it up. People are talking about the way Clem coached the kids. He built an identity and the Final Four team was tough as nails. That's what we want again- and yes, no cheating. But with the rules today- how could you cheat?
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Good question. I suppose you could tamper with guys before they enter the portal or give them performance enhancing drugs. May still be some academic things you could get in trouble for but I would be surprised.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Correct, a win over UCLA.

3 appearances is more than 1 or 2.
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Even that UCLA win was weird. I think Shabazz Muhammad's real age came out right before the game. He still scored 20.

Gophers were on fire. 9/16 from 3. 28 from Andre, 16 from Austin, 14 from Coleman, Trevor with 12 boards.

UCLA had a few future TWolves with Muhammad and Kyle Anderson. Normal Powell has been a good pro.
 

bga1 said:
Give it up. People are talking about the way Clem coached the kids. He built an identity and the Final Four team was tough as nails. That's what we want again- and yes, no cheating. But with the rules today- how could you cheat?
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Our compliance dept would self report us so fast if we didn’t follow things to the letter of the law. Take NIL for example. It’s no secret that guys are getting deals to come to the school. If those guarantees were made here, we’d certainly tattle on ourselves and the local papers would go nuts and blow it up.
 


bga1 said:
Give it up. People are talking about the way Clem coached the kids. He built an identity and the Final Four team was tough as nails. That's what we want again- and yes, no cheating. But with the rules today- how could you cheat?
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Our compliance dept would self report us so fast if we didn’t follow things to the letter of the law. Take NIL for example. It’s no secret that guys are getting deals to come to the school. If those guarantees were made here, we’d certainly tattle on ourselves and the local papers would go nuts
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
I've posted many times but its been over 20 years since a team went winless in the big ten and that was a 16 game schedule. Its happened twice in 60ish years. Its very difficult to do. However, a handful of teams have had 1 win in the past 20 years. I think its happened 7 times. The Gophers may join that group. 0 wins seems impossible--for now.
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The stars are aligned!
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Even that UCLA win was weird. I think Shabazz Muhammad's real age came out right before the game. He still scored 20.

Gophers were on fire. 9/16 from 3. 28 from Andre, 16 from Austin, 14 from Coleman, Trevor with 12 boards.

UCLA had a few future TWolves with Muhammad and Kyle Anderson. Normal Powell has been a good pro.
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What was weird about it? They beat a team that peaked early which happens all the time in the tournament.
 




Gopher_In_NYC said:
How many times in the last 20 years have we beat them on their home floor?

We only lost by 3 to #14 team, out rebounded them substantially and the TOs did us in - tonight is an improvement and the realistic on here get it.

If incremental progress ain’t your thang, then maybe don’t watch for a while?
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There's reasons people on here want to see CBJ fail that go well beyond what happens on the court. Not sure this board was ever a place for logical thinking but it definitely isn't these days.
 

Gopherfan84 said:
Our compliance dept would self report us so fast if we didn’t follow things to the letter of the law. Take NIL for example. It’s no secret that guys are getting deals to come to the school. If those guarantees were made here, we’d certainly tattle on ourselves and the local papers would go nuts and blow it up.
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Yup, the administration to the rescue. :ROFLMAO:
 

GopherNuts said:
There's reasons people on here want to see CBJ fail that go well beyond what happens on the court. Not sure this board was ever a place for logical thinking but it definitely isn't these days.
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You’re not “nuts” btw😃.

Coyle has a lot of slack in my opinion- PJ has been a B+/A- hire and taken football to another level snd hockey seems squared away. The academics are improved and no major off field issues, with his coaches in place.

He took a unique approach with Whalen, who seems to be figuring it out and has strong recruiting and CBJ, who did what he had to in year zero to field a roster and provided some nice moments, beating Michigan on their court.

Yes it is not optimal to be on this spot, but rational people are looking for obvious improvement; 40-24 on the boards, including 11-2 offensive boards- I really don’t care that Wahl was out , what about our injuries then? People were baying like wolves about being out rebounded and I don’t think I saw one post acknowledging that improvement. So, no figure out the turnover part and work on that.
 
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Gopher_In_NYC said:
You’re not “nuts” btw😃
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I would argue Clem Haskins was the most popular/revered coach of any sport in the Twin Cities in my lifetime. He is still looked at fondly by most on this board. Tubby Smith was an incredibly popular hire here when he was brought in. The post you responded to was beyond "nuts". It was idiotic.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
You’re not “nuts” btw😃.

Coyle has a lot of slack in my opinion- PJ has been a B+/A- hire and taken football to another level snd hockey seems squared away. The academics are improved and no major off field issues, with his coaches in place.

He took a unique approach with Whalen, who seems to be figuring it out and has strong recruiting and CBJ, who did what he had to in year zero to field a roster and provided some nice moments, beating Michigan on their court.

Yes it is not optimal to be on this spot, but rational people are looking for obvious improvement; 40-24 on the boards, including 11-2 offensive boards- I really don’t care that Wahl was out , what about our injuries then? People were baying like wolves about being out rebounded and I don’t think I saw one post acknowledging that improvement. So, no figure out the turnover part and work on that.
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I mentioned the rebounding in the in game thread. It isn't worthy of its own thread unless it becomes the norm. If they start out rebounding teams on a regular basis that is significant.

I also have to chuckle at the people preaching patience with this team but then they get upset people arent acknowledging anecdotal gains. If we need to be patient to see where they are next year, the year after, etc. then we need to recognize if they shoot 20/20 on FTs next game, it doesnt mean that issue is behind them. It means they did well for a game.Just like with rebounding (though I think its been better in the past few games so maybe its fixed?)
 

golfing18now said:
I would argue Clem Haskins was the most popular/revered coach of any sport in the Twin Cities in my lifetime. He is still looked at fondly by most on this board. Tubby Smith was an incredibly popular hire here when he was brought in. The post you responded to was beyond "nuts". It was idiotic.
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Denny Green was pretty beloved as was Ron Gardenhire.
 

golfing18now said:
I would argue Clem Haskins was the most popular/revered coach of any sport in the Twin Cities in my lifetime. He is still looked at fondly by most on this board. Tubby Smith was an incredibly popular hire here when he was brought in. The post you responded to was beyond "nuts". It was idiotic.
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Not necessarily 100% color of the skin related. But people believe he was hired because of it and want him to fail due to that reason. Some people will never be on board with coaches due to whatever factor, to ignore it is stupid IMO. I was never on board with Pitino because I never liked his personality and thought the Tubby firing was stupid. Also never liked Jerry Kill as the Gophers coach.
 

golfing18now said:
I would argue Clem Haskins was the most popular/revered coach of any sport in the Twin Cities in my lifetime. He is still looked at fondly by most on this board. Tubby Smith was an incredibly popular hire here when he was brought in. The post you responded to was beyond "nuts". It was idiotic.
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You're always going to have "this" kind of person, it's inevitable.
 


UpAndUnder43 said:
I think some people do to be "right" that he was a bad hire. I think he was a bad hire but I hope he wins 9 consecutive national championships and we have to expand the barn to make room or the banners.
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I think it's most people (of those that didn't like the hire), it's human nature.
 

Johnnyboy18 said:
Not necessarily 100% color of the skin related. But people believe he was hired because of it and want him to fail due to that reason. Some people will never be on board with coaches due to whatever factor, to ignore it is stupid IMO. I was never on board with Pitino because I never liked his personality and thought the Tubby firing was stupid. Also never liked Jerry Kill as the Gophers coach.
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I just don't believe that the vast majority of the posters on this board want him to fail for that reason. I just don't. Many probably feel he was hired because of it but it doesn't necessarily lead to the other sentiment. I agree with you in many cases fandom can lead to irrational thinking. If you have made up your mind about a coach, you often only see the negative. Some of that is probably going on right now as it pertains to Ben Johnson. But the post cited was arrogant and stupid. If that was truly the case for most posters, I would stop posting here.
 

golfing18now said:
I would argue Clem Haskins was the most popular/revered coach of any sport in the Twin Cities in my lifetime. He is still looked at fondly by most on this board. Tubby Smith was an incredibly popular hire here when he was brought in. The post you responded to was beyond "nuts". It was idiotic.
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I never said PJ was more popular than Clem, that had nothing to do with my post- it was related to him having some capital to make unorthodox bucket hires; so you’re still a little hung from New Year’s or just slinging down the intellectual dishonest road? I don’t believe your reading comprehension is that bad as some of OTB scholars 👨‍🏫.

Wow, who pissed in your cheerios today?
 
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UpAndUnder43 said:
I think some people do to be "right" that he was a bad hire. I think he was a bad hire but I hope he wins 9 consecutive national championships and we have to expand the barn to make room or the banners.
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We are going to stick with Ben for a minimum of 5 years. No way would any Gopher fan want to suffer through 5 bad years to be right.
 


UpAndUnder43 said:
I mentioned the rebounding in the in game thread. It isn't worthy of its own thread unless it becomes the norm. If they start out rebounding teams on a regular basis that is significant.
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I used the language “I don’t think I saw” a positive comment regarding rebounding - so certainly not a declaration by any means. I’m glad you recognized the improvement and noted it
UpAndUnder43 said:
I also have to chuckle at the people preaching patience with this team but then they get upset people arent acknowledging anecdotal gains. If we need to be patient to see where they are next year, the year after, etc. then we need to recognize if they shoot 20/20 on FTs next game, it doesnt mean that issue is behind them. It means they did well for a game.Just like with rebounding (though I think its been better in the past few games so maybe it’s fixed?)
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I’m a glass half guy, always have been, and even more do over the last couple years due to personal reasons - so I try to appreciate anything where I see light/hope and be grateful for it.

Ben will get three years, come heck it high water, so I’m personally going to make the best of it - complaining accomplishes what exactly. If he’s not the guy, then someone else will be hired and the world won’t end regardless. Sometimes life only requires a new pair of glasses to view it differently 😃
 
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Johnnyboy18 said:
I think it's most people (of those that didn't like the hire), it's human nature.
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The inverse is also true. You'd had to have loved the hire to not be skeptical. There is no way anyone has seen anything over the last year and a half to convert a skeptic.

It's one thing if you're in the camp of undecided but if you're arguing CBJ is doing a great job, you started out liking him.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
I never said PJ was more popular than Clem, that had nothing to do with my post; so you’re still a little hung from New Year’s or just slinging down the intellectual dishonest road?
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I didn't mention PJ in any of my posts either, so maybe we are both still hung over?

The post I responded to implied the negativity toward Ben Johnson was race related. If I read that wrong, I'll apologize to the original poster. But that's the way it read to me. The reason I brought up Clem and Tubby is (last I checked) they are the same race as Ben Johnson and they were both very popular here. Ben Johnson will be lauded across the board if he turns this around and wins at a high level here. The winds of negativity will blow quickly in the opposite direction on this board. You really only need to look back 12 months to see confirmation of that.

EDIT: when I responded to your post initially, you had only responded with "You're not nuts btw." If was prior to the additional paragraphs you added.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
I never said PJ was more popular than Clem, that had nothing to do with my post- it was related to him having some capital to make unorthodox bucket hires; so you’re still a little hung from New Year’s or just slinging down the intellectual dishonest road? I don’t believe your reading comprehension is that bad as some of OTB scholars 👨‍🏫.

Wow, who pissed in your cheerios today?
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One has to chuckle at the irony of someone accusing another of the "intellectual dishonest road" when they felt the need to edit their post 17 minutes after initially posting... :unsure::unsure::unsure: 🤷‍♂️
 

golfing18now said:
I didn't mention PJ in any of my posts either, so maybe we are both still hung over?

The post I responded to implied the negativity toward Ben Johnson was race related. If I read that wrong, I'll apologize to the original poster. But that's the way it read to me. The reason I brought up Clem and Tubby is (last I checked) they are the same race as Ben Johnson and they were both very popular here. Ben Johnson will be lauded across the board if he turns this around and wins at a high level here. The winds of negativity will blow quickly in the opposite direction on this board. You really only need to look back 12 months to see confirmation of that.

EDIT: when I responded to your post initially, you had only responded with "You're not nuts btw." If was prior to the additional paragraphs you added.
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Thanks for clarifying, my bad- while we look at many things differently, I do respect your opinions (mostly😃)and generally appreciate your posts.

I think some people thought Bens race was an influence on his being hired; the reality is none of us on here know that for certain. Regardless, he’s the coach now and if we didn’t have Evans & Christie coming in, I would be much more suspect of him than zi am now.

My expectations for them now are competitive buckets the rest of the way, losing my no more than 10 in 70% of our future Ls (there will still be some blowouts) and winning 4-6 games including one no one sees coming, like beating Indiana or any of the B10 top dogs - I would consider this a success and hopefully last night was the cornerstone to this coming to fruition !
 
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Gopher_In_NYC said:
Thanks for clarifying, my bad- while we look at many things differently, I do respect your opinions (mostly😃)and generally appreciate your posts.

I think some people thought Bens race was an influence on his being hired; the reality is none of us on here know that for certain. Regardless, he’s the coach now and if we didn’t have Evans & Christie coming in, I would be much more suspect of him than zi am now.

My expectations for them now are competitive buckets the rest of the way, losing my no more than 10 in 70% of our future Ls (there will still be some blowouts) and winning 4-6 games including one no one sees coming, like beating Indiana or any of the B10 top dogs - I would consider this a success and hopefully last night was the cornerstone to this coming to fruition !
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By the way, nobody pissed in my Cheerios this morning. But I'm looking at two feet of snow out my back window on the golf course I spend my summer on, so there is that. :mad:

The Ben Johnson era is just beginning. He will likely get another few years to succeed. He is getting paid very nicely. The University is still requiring we pay high major ticket prices. As such criticism will come his way. If/when it doesn't, apathy has set in.
 

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