Ben Johnson is NOT a disaster....

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howeda7 said:
This is not a problem unique to Ben or MN. No team in 2024 can plan next year based on "if everyone who can comes back" because that will almost never happen. So it can't be an expectation of the fan base. But it also can't be used as an excuse by the coach. Each team is unique and the coaching staff owns it for good or bad.
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I don't see coaches using the portal as an excuse but I also don't think fans understand how hard difficult the roster management piece of college football and basketball is right now.

This is a truly crazy time in college athletics right now and the roster churn across the two major sports is off the charts.
 



Going into this homestand, I thought the odds of winning both games—NW and MSU was greater than losing both games. Same thing opposite with NW going on road to Purdue and MN—greater chance of losing both, than winning both. MSU is not the physical Parolees of past years. They are vulnerable, but MN needs to play 2 halves on both ends to beat Izzo. Taking stock in BTN standings, I’m buying MSU, but also MN. Gophers can do it!
 


Transferring twice without sitting out a year has not been determined yet. Court case is expected to occur sometime in the spring. Not sure if Garcia will graduate but I don't think the others will have. Payne and Christie still have their free transfer though. Anything is possible.
 

jovs said:
Transferring twice without sitting out a year has not been determined yet. Court case is expected to occur sometime in the spring.
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Although I don't know for sure, I suspect those court cases only will be determinative for those parties. They concern athletes who have transferred already and are in-place at their new schools. Those rulings may or may not have an effect on athletes with multiple transfers in the future.
 

SplitDecision said:
Going into this homestand, I thought the odds of winning both games—NW and MSU was greater than losing both games. Same thing opposite with NW going on road to Purdue and MN—greater chance of losing both, than winning both. MSU is not the physical Parolees of past years. They are vulnerable, but MN needs to play 2 halves on both ends to beat Izzo. Taking stock in BTN standings, I’m buying MSU, but also MN. Gophers can do it!
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Beating Michigan State on Tuesday would be a tremendous win for us. I was disappointed that we received only a 3 place NET bump from the win over NW. I believe a win over MSU would give us a bigger one. I wasn't bowled over by MSU when we played them there so I think we have a fair chance.
 

I enjoy watching this years team. My only hesitant is that Pitino had 4 teams this good. I grew up in the 90s where Clem had a consistent sweet 16 team it seemed like. Wins In February are clutch. Haven’t had that in a while
 



SonoranGopher1 said:
I enjoy watching this years team. My only hesitant is that Pitino had 4 teams this good. I grew up in the 90s where Clem had a consistent sweet 16 team it seemed like. Wins In February are clutch. Haven’t had that in a while
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Pitino had 3 teams this good (actually better) in 8 years. His 4th best team was 6-12 in conference despite probably having more talent than this one. I would be very surprised if we don't surpass that one.

As far as the glories of Clem's years, well, that was a long time ago and we have no choice but the live in the present.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
Pitino had 3 teams this good (actually better) in 8 years. His 4th best team was 6-12 in conference despite probably having more talent than this one. I would be very surprised if we don't surpass that one.

As far as the glories of Clem's years, well, that was a long time ago and we have no choice but the live in the present.
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Ya the 2021 team was 6-12 in the BIG but they took the court every night having a chance to win. Car was crazy good. Can’t say that for this years team, but they may win more BIG games.
 

I post very rarely,
And yes, if the sarcasm wasn't obviouwows on the last one, boo hoo.
Just re-watched the NU game.
Wow! Garcia is a man.
PP growing into a giant on the court.
Hawkins looks like the ideal PG.
And Cam...
Just wow!
Effort on defense, and offensive skill.
Future looks bright.
I'm pumped!
Hope to see you y'all at the barn Tuesday!
 

Streven said:
I post very rarely,
And yes, if the sarcasm wasn't obviouwows on the last one, boo hoo.
Just re-watched the NU game.
Wow! Garcia is a man.
PP growing into a giant on the court.
Hawkins looks like the ideal PG.
And Cam...
Just wow!
Effort on defense, and offensive skill.
Future looks bright.
I'm pumped!
Hope to see you y'all at the barn Tuesday!
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Meh, you are going a little wild on a below average outing for Garcia.
 






Gotta get a few more recruits and transfers!!!!!!! LFG
 

SonoranGopher1 said:
I enjoy watching this years team. My only hesitant is that Pitino had 4 teams this good. I grew up in the 90s where Clem had a consistent sweet 16 team it seemed like. Wins In February are clutch. Haven’t had that in a while
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I think the Pitino and Johnson will both be seen in the same light as coaches down the road. Both had multiple seasons derailed by injuries.

Both are middle of the conference bubble team coaches.

We do need to bulk the non conference schedule by 2-3 more games to start being taken seriously.

Hope Ben gets the boys back next year and builds off of the improvement this year.
 

Big Dawg said:
Ben had better have a plan. over 90% of D1 teams lose players to the portal every year. He may not know now, but when a player decides to leave MN, Ben had better have an IMMEDIATE plan IN PLACE to address that move. Expect the unexpected and have a plan in place. I don't want to hear any BS excuses next fall when Ben apologists say "it's not his fault all of his good players left. Poor Ben". I like what the Gophers are becoming. IF they all stay and start playing better (Ihnen, JOJ, Carrington!!!), they can become something special. I like what I see. Still have a few concerns.
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We all need to give to Dinkytown althletes or not complain. (not pointing at you). Ben has a plan...I do too...donate!
 

GophersInIowa said:
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Has been the case all year where this team seems to have trouble hitting shots in the first half but then kicks it into high gear in the second half.

Garcia seems to be a big component in this where in lots of games he is slow out of the gate but will turn it on at the end and take over.

Given the choice I would much rather finish strong then fade down the stretch but hopefully they can figure out how to play like they do in the second half most nights for the entire game. If they do they will be really tough to beat.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
Although I don't know for sure, I suspect those court cases only will be determinative for those parties. They concern athletes who have transferred already and are in-place at their new schools. Those rulings may or may not have an effect on athletes with multiple transfers in the future.
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You are probably right but I can't help but think that it will establish a precedent and impact the direction the NCAA goes in. I hope they don't rule in favor of the athletes, as bad as it is now it will be complete chaos if the direction NCAA sports trends is any transfer, any time, any where..
 

SonoranGopher1 said:
I enjoy watching this years team. My only hesitant is that Pitino had 4 teams this good. I grew up in the 90s where Clem had a consistent sweet 16 team it seemed like. Wins In February are clutch. Haven’t had that in a while
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Those Clem were also fun teams to watch like this year. Made the Dance about half his years here, sweet 16 three times.
 


We write like Ben can't manage his roster. He has consistently recruited under the radar guys who turn out great or long after he offered them, get noticed by better teams. He's had to deal with injuries in the past but because he has depth this year, he hasn't. He lost our 2nd best player last year in Battle who is playing well at Ohio St. and we lost Cooper and Samuels and he managed to replace them all with transfers, incoming freshmen and Fox and Inhen coming in off injuries and we are a much better team. A player or two might transfer (Donate to Dinkytown Athletes) but he figures it out. As far as coaching, I see improvement from all players. I never saw that from a Pitino team. Ben's team plays like a team....he doesn't have player like Carr dribbling all over the court and then launching a shot. Tons of our baskets are off assists. I love also the defense we have seen lately. It just keeps getting better. This is a fun team to support and I look forward to seeing what Ben can do in the next bunch of seasons.
 


SonoranGopher1 said:
Ya the 2021 team was 6-12 in the BIG but they took the court every night having a chance to win. Car was crazy good. Can’t say that for this years team, but they may win more BIG games.
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Did the logical inconsistency of that statement escape you? So, this team doesn't have the chance to win Big Ten games like Pitino's 6-12 second team even though this team is 5-5 after their first ten games while that team was 3-7 after the same number.

It's amazing what some people will convince themselves to believe.

I'm not sure who "Car" is but he wasn't on that team. If you're talking about "Carr" simply as an example of a top Piitino player, then I'll say that I'd rather have Garcia than him and I think the team plays better with Hawkins at the point than Pitino's teams did with Carr at the point.
 
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TwistingMyMelon said:
Did the logical inconsistency of that statement escape you? So, this team doesn't have the chance to win Big Ten games like Pitino's 6-12 second team even though this team is 5-5 after their first ten games while that team was 3-7 after the same number.

It's amazing what some people will convince themselves to believe.

I'm not sure who "Car" is but he wasn't on that team. If you're talking about "Carr" simply as an example of a top Piitino player, then I'll say that I'd rather have Garcia than him and I think the team plays better with Hawkins at the point than Pitino's teams did with Carr at the point.
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Pitino's 2021 team played an ncaa tournament opponent in everyone of those first 10 games. It really was an insanely difficult schedule. Going 4-6 was actually pretty good. The first 10 B1G games this schedule is probably 4 games against likely tournament teams(though NW & Nebraska have plenty of work to do). 2-2 is a good record IMO.
 

Gophers7633 said:
Pitino's 2021 team played an ncaa tournament opponent in everyone of those first 10 games. It really was an insanely difficult schedule. Going 4-6 was actually pretty good. The first 10 B1G games this schedule is probably 4 games against likely tournament teams(though NW & Nebraska have plenty of work to do). 2-2 is a good record IMO.
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How'd they finish the season against non NCAA tournament teams?
 



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