Ben Johnson is NOT a disaster....

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When the best comparison you can come up with to offer yourself hope is the winningest college basketball coach in history, you might have a problem.
 


howeda7 said:
When the best comparison you can come up with to offer yourself hope is the winningest college basketball coach in history, you might have a problem.
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Don't know about "best". Just offering a perspective to the CBJ-hating threads that are constantly posted here. Not all, but many.
 

LesBolstad said:
GWG was correct and it's you with the faulty memory: Monson won 40% of his Big 10 games and BJ is at a 21% clip. It's not even close
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Let’s see where we’re around after 7 seasons.
 

howeda7 said:
When the best comparison you can come up with to offer yourself hope is the winningest college basketball coach in history, you might have a problem.
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Cuz we might have the money to retain. Amiryt?
 


SplitDecision said:
A few notes of coaching comparison. Mike Krzyzewski, arguably the greatest college bb coach of all time, started at Duke in '80-'81 season, and his first three years were BAD.

'80-81 17-13 (6-8 conf.)
'81-'82 10-17 (4-10 conf.)
'82-'83 11-17 (3-11 conf.)

CBJ first three years thus far:

'21-22 13-17 (4-16 conf.)
'22-'23 9-22 (2-17 conf.)
'23-'24 current 13-7 (4-5 conf.)

For those who look only at wins and losses, they are comparable. I would argue that CBJ had it more difficult with player exits, injuries, Covid, but that's arguable due to portal gains/losses, plus he didn't have head coach experience like Coach K. Do I think CBJ will be the next Krzyzewski? Nobody knows. Unlikely, but that doesn't mean he's a bad coach. Do I think he's doing an admirable job thus far building a program from the ground up with local talent, playing gritty MN bb? Yes. (Of note, Asuma is now a higher rated recruit than Freitag). The next few years will be indicative of the trajectory the program is heading, and I think its positive.
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Satire?
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
In addition to what the others already responded to, Dan Monson took over after a scandal with scholarship reductions and a postseason ban in year one. He was still able to at least make the NIT in years 2, 3, and 4.

You definitely have a selective memory.
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What you say about Monson’s situation is true, and are relevant points. Ben has faced challenges as well, which are often scoffed at, or mimimized. My larger point is that this program has seen ups and downs, periods of struggles. The Monson years, overall, with 3 last place finishes and one next to last out of 7 years, was nothing to brag about.
 

I'm just waiting for when we get back to being where we were ten years ago, where only making it to the round of 32 and only reaching 3 NCAA Tourneys in six years is bad enough to get you fired. Not where making the NIT would be considered some kind of accomplishment.
 

MplsGopher said:
I forget this part. My bad.

So in other words it’s to sucker in Minnesota fans who are saying “No way we lose by more than single-digits! It’s at home!! Hell we might win!!” into taking the bet.
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Holy christ you're a moron.

You think "sucker" MN fans are more likely to wager on the Gophers if they're getting 1.5 points instead of 10??

I hope you get professional investment advice.
 



stocker08 said:
Difficult to say. As you said.....filling a roster with spring recruits is tough enough as it is....without the pressure of finding remaining unsigned high school players with lots of potential. But after some of the swings Pitino took to fill out recruiting classes.....I can understand why just grabbing a player for the hell of it may not be the route to take. Hawkins will hopefully still be here next year....and with him....there should be enough guys who can handle the ball while Asuma develops.
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Asuma will develop by playing a few minutes a game spelling Hawk, or more when Hawk has foul trouble.
 

SplitDecision said:
A few notes of coaching comparison. Mike Krzyzewski, arguably the greatest college bb coach of all time, started at Duke in '80-'81 season, and his first three years were BAD.

'80-81 17-13 (6-8 conf.)
'81-'82 10-17 (4-10 conf.)
'82-'83 11-17 (3-11 conf.)

CBJ first three years thus far:

'21-22 13-17 (4-16 conf.)
'22-'23 9-22 (2-17 conf.)
'23-'24 current 13-7 (4-5 conf.)

For those who look only at wins and losses, they are comparable. I would argue that CBJ had it more difficult with player exits, injuries, Covid, but that's arguable due to portal gains/losses, plus he didn't have head coach experience like Coach K. Do I think CBJ will be the next Krzyzewski? Nobody knows. Unlikely, but that doesn't mean he's a bad coach. Do I think he's doing an admirable job thus far building a program from the ground up with local talent, playing gritty MN bb? Yes. (Of note, Asuma is now a higher rated recruit than Freitag). The next few years will be indicative of the trajectory the program is heading, and I think its positive.
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure I know CBJ won't be the next coach K.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
In addition to what the others already responded to, Dan Monson took over after a scandal with scholarship reductions and a postseason ban in year one. He was still able to at least make the NIT in years 2, 3, and 4.

You definitely have a selective memory.
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Yup.

Monson took over during a $hitstorm. Way, way worse than cbj.
 




Go4POV said:
What you say about Monson’s situation is true, and are relevant points. Ben has faced challenges as well, which are often scoffed at, or mimimized. My larger point is that this program has seen ups and downs, periods of struggles. The Monson years, overall, with 3 last place finishes and one next to last out of 7 years, was nothing to brag about.
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And here you are talking up back to back last place finishes and a year three that has given perhaps the worst OOC schedule in decades.
 


Go4POV said:
What you say about Monson’s situation is true, and are relevant points. Ben has faced challenges as well, which are often scoffed at, or mimimized.
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True, but you're telling this to the person who is the primary scoffer and minimizer so you're just wasting your time. I don't read his posts anymore because 1) he's completely predictable, 2) offers nothing new and certainly nothing refreshing (I'm not even sure he's capable of offering anything interesting, refreshing, or entertaining about anything ever), and 3) I don't want to be tempted to reply because that would be unpleasant and a complete waste of time.
 

Go4POV said:
You either have a short memory or a selective memory — I suspect both. In his 7 years as head coach, Dan Monson finished 10th of the then ten teams in the Big Ten 3 times and 9th once.
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You do remember that Penn St. joined in the early '90's, giving the BIG Ten 11 members (hence 10th place wasn't last place). 03-04 Penn St and the Gophers tied for 10th in the standings, Gophers received the 10th seed. They split during the season.
 

Go4POV said:
What you say about Monson’s situation is true, and are relevant points. Ben has faced challenges as well, which are often scoffed at, or mimimized. My larger point is that this program has seen ups and downs, periods of struggles. The Monson years, overall, with 3 last place finishes and one next to last out of 7 years, was nothing to brag about.
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No one was.
 

I’m calling it and have changed the thread title.

Johnson may or may not end up being a long term solution but this year is showing he is not a complete disaster either. :)
 

MNVCGUY said:
I’m calling it and have changed the thread title.

Johnson may or may not end up being a long term solution but this year is showing he is not a complete disaster either. :)
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There's a 141 page thread full of people who have already made up their minds. Some of those who made up their mind before Johnson even coached a game.
 




Payne is starting to shine, if he can get injury free watch out, this team will be formidable. Generally you win with players. It is the coaches responsibility to put them in positions where they can succeed. Johnson seems to have assembled a pretty good group of players and is making adjustments. I don't see how anyone can deny they are improving as the season progresses.
 

Johnnyboy18 said:
Weird how some posters disappear followings wins. Then again some of them are fans of other teams (UST, Marquette, Kansas).
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Your timing on this post is brutal since the game just ended and the other hasn't finished. However, since you are pointing one finger at me I will say and have always said, I follow both teams and wish both to do well. I have personal attachments to both universities. With that being said, one is much easier to root for than the other for obvious reasons. Game day atmosphere, Fieldhouse vs the Barn no comparison, etc.
I hope Ben gets it going, I really do but he has a long way to go. His offense, if you want to call it that, is brutal at best. Very little movement, no cutting, spacing is generally terrible, etc.
Regarding recruiting, hopefully he can start getting more 4's and possibly a 5 every now and then. Doing so will possibly allow him to play more than 5 guys when playing a team at the same level or below.

GO GOPHER!!!
 

RockChalk said:
Your timing on this post is brutal since the game just ended and the other hasn't finished. However, since you are pointing one finger at me I will say and have always said, I follow both teams and wish both to do well. I have personal attachments to both universities. With that being said, one is much easier to root for than the other for obvious reasons. Game day atmosphere, Fieldhouse vs the Barn no comparison, etc.
I hope Ben gets it going, I really do but he has a long way to go. His offense, if you want to call it that, is brutal at best. Very little movement, no cutting, spacing is generally terrible, etc.
Regarding recruiting, hopefully he can start getting more 4's and possibly a 5 every now and then. Doing so will possibly allow him to play more than 5 guys when playing a team at the same level or below.

GO GOPHER!!!
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It's easier to build something great when you're allowed to cheat for decades.
 

This is going to be a very interesting off season.

Baring a complete collapse or scandal of some kind the big question on who will be coaching the team is settled in my opinion and Johnson will be back.

But this current free transfer with immediate eligibility, Pay-for-play/NIL mess that is college football and basketball right now makes it really tough for fans to get too excited about the future.

In the past we would look at this current team and feel really good about where things were headed. Most of the team should be back and we would be sweating whether or not Garcia was going to go pro or spend another year in college.....

....in this current landscape it will be worries about Christie, Garcia, Hawkins, Payne, Mitchel being poached by another school or just deciding to transfer. Feel ok about prospects of hanging onto Payne and I think Garcia plays here if he stays in college for one more year. But the rest don't have ties to the area and while you would hope they would all want to come back and keep building towards something we all know that in this day and age that is far from a sure thing.

Has been a lot of fun this year to finally see things moving in the right direction and there is some good young talent on this team that should only get better.....if they stay together and in this day and age that is a big IF unfortunately.
 

MNVCGUY said:
This is going to be a very interesting off season.

Baring a complete collapse or scandal of some kind the big question on who will be coaching the team is settled in my opinion and Johnson will be back.

But this current free transfer with immediate eligibility, Pay-for-play/NIL mess that is college football and basketball right now makes it really tough for fans to get too excited about the future.

In the past we would look at this current team and feel really good about where things were headed. Most of the team should be back and we would be sweating whether or not Garcia was going to go pro or spend another year in college.....

....in this current landscape it will be worries about Christie, Garcia, Hawkins, Payne, Mitchel being poached by another school or just deciding to transfer. Feel ok about prospects of hanging onto Payne and I think Garcia plays here if he stays in college for one more year. But the rest don't have ties to the area and while you would hope they would all want to come back and keep building towards something we all know that in this day and age that is far from a sure thing.

Has been a lot of fun this year to finally see things moving in the right direction and there is some good young talent on this team that should only get better.....if they stay together and in this day and age that is a big IF unfortunately.
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Christie had options. I'm not sure he would leave when he's doing what he came here to do.
 

MonikerSchmoniker45 said:
Christie had options. I'm not sure he would leave when he's doing what he came here to do.
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They all have options. 4-5 stars move around like the wind. I would be very concerned about Christie. The only players I think I would be comfortable with would be Garcia and Payne.
 

MNVCGUY said:
....in this current landscape it will be worries about Christie, Garcia, Hawkins, Payne, Mitchel being poached by another school or just deciding to transfer.
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I would be very surprised if Hawkins and Mitchell transferred. They've done well, play a lot of minutes here, and, since the NCAA appears to be getting tougher on repeat transfers, have a good chance of not being immediately eligible if they tried.
 

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