Ben Johnson Press Conference - Summer Update + Player Interviews

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GopherBlood777 said:
Agreed, it's now or never. Considering the offers Garcia and Mitchell got, hard to expect other guys of similar quality to come here for less unless there is some track record of winning. It will be a very tough sell if we miss the tournament again going forward.
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Pretty much agree but I'm not going to say the team has to be selected for the NCAA tournament because there is always some level of doubt about that when you're among that last group of potential at large teams and they always seem to leave out some deserving teams in headscratcher decisions. I do think they should have a good enough record and NET ranking to be among that group and make us at least think that they have a valid claim to be selected to the tournament. The Gophers haven't done that since 2019 and even that team probably wouldn't have made it without two wins in the BTT.
 






listened to the podcast with Mike Grimm and Ben Johnson. Johnson goes through every player on the roster.

Garcia - looking to move the needle. leading returning scorer in B1G. motivated. being consistent

Mike Mitchell - year 2. comfortable. playing like a veteran. flashes of growth. good energy.

Fox - leadership. veteran want-to. work ethic. built on his health. gain weight and strength in weight room.

Betts - gone through developmental process. it's his time. great size. body looks unbelievable. comfortable - want him to play free. with experience comes opportunity. let it rip. need him to be a contributor

Frank Mitchell - has a presence to him. personality. elite ability to rebound. great hands. skilled. can run stuff through him at elbow.

Edmonds - true size. hard to teach athleticism and speed. can play the 5 or the 4. play above rim. adds depth to front court. real worker.

Rigsby - ability to score the ball. knows what winning looks like. underrated athlete. explosive. gets stuff off bounce. catch and shoot. create offense.

Odukale - physical, tough, versatile - can play wing or guard. plays hard. does little things well. can guard wings, small forwards. can play pick-and-roll.

Williams - ability to shoot the basketball. can challenge Isaac, Mike, Brennan and strengthen our back-court. knows it's a jump to B1G. work ethic - confidence.

Patterson - known for a long time. watch development. understand how to play. tough, physical. coach's kid. been in a winning program. important to leave a mark.

Asuma & Grove - great energy. came in good shape. bodies look good. continue to work. understand how hard you have to play. be physically ready. add this summer. get them caught up in day-to-day habits. good feel, IQ. want to be coached. excited about where they're going to be after the summer.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
listened to the podcast with Mike Grimm and Ben Johnson. Johnson goes through every player on the roster.

Garcia - looking to move the needle. leading returning scorer in B1G. motivated. being consistent

Mike Mitchell - year 2. comfortable. playing like a veteran. flashes of growth. good energy.

Fox - leadership. veteran want-to. work ethic. built on his health. gain weight and strength in weight room.

Betts - gone through developmental process. it's his time. great size. body looks unbelievable. comfortable - want him to play free. with experience comes opportunity. let it rip. need him to be a contributor

Frank Mitchell - has a presence to him. personality. elite ability to rebound. great hands. skilled. can run stuff through him at elbow.

Edmonds - true size. hard to teach athleticism and speed. can play the 5 or the 4. play above rim. adds depth to front court. real worker.

Rigsby - ability to score the ball. knows what winning looks like. underrated athlete. explosive. gets stuff off bounce. catch and shoot. create offense.

Odukale - physical, tough, versatile - can play wing or guard. plays hard. does little things well. can guard wings, small forwards. can play pick-and-roll.

Williams - ability to shoot the basketball. can challenge Isaac, Mike, Brennan and strengthen our back-court. knows it's a jump to B1G. work ethic - confidence.

Patterson - known for a long time. watch development. understand how to play. tough, physical. coach's kid. been in a winning program. important to leave a mark.

Asuma & Grove - great energy. came in good shape. bodies look good. continue to work. understand how hard you have to play. be physically ready. add this summer. get them caught up in day-to-day habits. good feel, IQ. want to be coached. excited about where they're going to be after the summer.
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Fantastic review of it SON! Thanks!
 

short ornery norwegian said:
listened to the podcast with Mike Grimm and Ben Johnson. Johnson goes through every player on the roster.

Garcia - looking to move the needle. leading returning scorer in B1G. motivated. being consistent

Mike Mitchell - year 2. comfortable. playing like a veteran. flashes of growth. good energy.

Fox - leadership. veteran want-to. work ethic. built on his health. gain weight and strength in weight room.

Betts - gone through developmental process. it's his time. great size. body looks unbelievable. comfortable - want him to play free. with experience comes opportunity. let it rip. need him to be a contributor

Frank Mitchell - has a presence to him. personality. elite ability to rebound. great hands. skilled. can run stuff through him at elbow.

Edmonds - true size. hard to teach athleticism and speed. can play the 5 or the 4. play above rim. adds depth to front court. real worker.

Rigsby - ability to score the ball. knows what winning looks like. underrated athlete. explosive. gets stuff off bounce. catch and shoot. create offense.

Odukale - physical, tough, versatile - can play wing or guard. plays hard. does little things well. can guard wings, small forwards. can play pick-and-roll.

Williams - ability to shoot the basketball. can challenge Isaac, Mike, Brennan and strengthen our back-court. knows it's a jump to B1G. work ethic - confidence.

Patterson - known for a long time. watch development. understand how to play. tough, physical. coach's kid. been in a winning program. important to leave a mark.

Asuma & Grove - great energy. came in good shape. bodies look good. continue to work. understand how hard you have to play. be physically ready. add this summer. get them caught up in day-to-day habits. good feel, IQ. want to be coached. excited about where they're going to be after the summer.
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Thank you for the hard work that you obviously put into that review!
 



Sane24 said:
Thank you for the hard work that you obviously put into that review!
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thanks. piece of cake compared to when I used to try and do real-time transcribing of PJ Fleck's Sunday morning interviews on the Sports Huddle. PJ talks a LOT faster than I can type.

on the substance of the interview - we'll see what the rotation turns out to be. I keep waiting and hoping for Johnson to go deeper on the bench, but he always seems to default back to only using 7 or maybe 8 guys.

maybe too simplistic, but for me, if they're good enough to play, then play them. if they're not good enough to play, then don't recruit them.
 

One thing at the end, Grimm said Patterson is your point guard and seemed the statement was accepted by Ben. He didn’t mention anything about a committee, etc. In fact not a word to defuse it.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
listened to the podcast with Mike Grimm and Ben Johnson. Johnson goes through every player on the roster.

Garcia - looking to move the needle. leading returning scorer in B1G. motivated. being consistent

Mike Mitchell - year 2. comfortable. playing like a veteran. flashes of growth. good energy.

Fox - leadership. veteran want-to. work ethic. built on his health. gain weight and strength in weight room.

Betts - gone through developmental process. it's his time. great size. body looks unbelievable. comfortable - want him to play free. with experience comes opportunity. let it rip. need him to be a contributor

Frank Mitchell - has a presence to him. personality. elite ability to rebound. great hands. skilled. can run stuff through him at elbow.

Edmonds - true size. hard to teach athleticism and speed. can play the 5 or the 4. play above rim. adds depth to front court. real worker.

Rigsby - ability to score the ball. knows what winning looks like. underrated athlete. explosive. gets stuff off bounce. catch and shoot. create offense.

Odukale - physical, tough, versatile - can play wing or guard. plays hard. does little things well. can guard wings, small forwards. can play pick-and-roll.

Williams - ability to shoot the basketball. can challenge Isaac, Mike, Brennan and strengthen our back-court. knows it's a jump to B1G. work ethic - confidence.

Patterson - known for a long time. watch development. understand how to play. tough, physical. coach's kid. been in a winning program. important to leave a mark.

Asuma & Grove - great energy. came in good shape. bodies look good. continue to work. understand how hard you have to play. be physically ready. add this summer. get them caught up in day-to-day habits. good feel, IQ. want to be coached. excited about where they're going to be after the summer.
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Sounds like the coaches are legitimately expecting Betts to have a significant role, that makes me optimistic
 

Ski-U-Ham said:
Sounds like the coaches are legitimately expecting Betts to have a significant role, that makes me optimistic
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But what is that role?
It sounds like another big post player.
If so, who is Odukale, part 2?
If it is one of the 6'2" combo guards, good luck guarding Illinois 6'7" wing(S)!
 
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The Internet here is getting so shitty.. I'm sure it'll come out it's all wether related but whatever.. anyways I can't load the video atm but I'm glad you posted this because you are infact right. And it's extremely disheartening to hear that especially when the players your bringing into replace has you.ranked dead last with on3 whom I as many of you would say is a respected media outlet..

Bens year one IMHO was his best year coaching... It still turned out to be a shit season as we all witnessed. It also is a very low bar for coaching acumen
EasyThere Pilgrim said:
I listened plenty over the last 3 seasons. Believe me.

I just find it curious that now everyone seems so positive. That "back to Year 1" comment would have created an uproar just a few months ago.
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Ski-U-Ham said:
Sounds like the coaches are legitimately expecting Betts to have a significant role, that makes me optimistic
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It would be easier to be optimistic if they hadn't said the same thing about Betts last off-season. And Ihnen. Both were going to be huge factors last year.
 


Sane24 said:
But what is that role?
It sounds like another post!
If so, who is Odukale, part 2?
If it is one of the 6'2" combo guards, good luck guarding Illinois 6'7" wing(S)!
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I guess you can wait until November and find out like the rest of us or make one up that suits your needs for the time being, your choice
 
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howeda7 said:
It would be easier to be optimistic if they hadn't said the same thing about Betts last off-season. And Ihnen. Both were going to be huge factors last year.
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I don't remember phrases like, "it's his time," "play free," and "let it rip" being used for those guys, but I might be wrong.
 

Ski-U-Ham said:
I gues

I guess you can wait until November and find out like the rest of us or make one up that suits your needs for the time being, your choice
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He asks a good question, one that a fan would ask. Considering that we are picked to be in the bottom third (and I say that generously) it is hardly out of order to ask that we keep digging for one more piece to the puzzle.
 

It pains me to say this, (Geeze it hurts) but agree with Sane on a 6’6” or so wing.
 

bga1 said:
He asks a good question, one that a fan would ask. Considering that we are picked to be in the bottom third (and I say that generously) it is hardly out of order to ask that we keep digging for one more piece to the puzzle.
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I feel like I've seen this conversation before... We all want to know more about the roles of the players on the team, and most coaches aren't going to get into specifics about it at this point (regardless of where they're picked to finish in the conference). As I stated earlier, I'm simply optimistic that it sounds like the door is open to Betts having a significant role. You may not be, or you may not feel that he will be. So be it.
 

Ski-U-Ham said:
I feel like I've seen this conversation before... We all want to know more about the roles of the players on the team, and most coaches aren't going to get into specifics about it at this point (regardless of where they're picked to finish in the conference). As I stated earlier, I'm simply optimistic that it sounds like the door is open to Betts having a significant role. You may not be, or you may not feel that he will be. So be it.
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I like Betts' potential. I'd like to make the team as good as possible. I think we have talent, but certainly not enough of it to stop improving it. Wing would be a great spot to work on. If Betts can be that guy- I'd love it. But we need a 12-15 point scorer there with size to finish and defend. That would be a huge jump for Betts in one year.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
listened to the podcast with Mike Grimm and Ben Johnson. Johnson goes through every player on the roster.

Garcia - looking to move the needle. leading returning scorer in B1G. motivated. being consistent

Mike Mitchell - year 2. comfortable. playing like a veteran. flashes of growth. good energy.

Fox - leadership. veteran want-to. work ethic. built on his health. gain weight and strength in weight room.

Betts - gone through developmental process. it's his time. great size. body looks unbelievable. comfortable - want him to play free. with experience comes opportunity. let it rip. need him to be a contributor

Frank Mitchell - has a presence to him. personality. elite ability to rebound. great hands. skilled. can run stuff through him at elbow.

Edmonds - true size. hard to teach athleticism and speed. can play the 5 or the 4. play above rim. adds depth to front court. real worker.

Rigsby - ability to score the ball. knows what winning looks like. underrated athlete. explosive. gets stuff off bounce. catch and shoot. create offense.

Odukale - physical, tough, versatile - can play wing or guard. plays hard. does little things well. can guard wings, small forwards. can play pick-and-roll.

Williams - ability to shoot the basketball. can challenge Isaac, Mike, Brennan and strengthen our back-court. knows it's a jump to B1G. work ethic - confidence.

Patterson - known for a long time. watch development. understand how to play. tough, physical. coach's kid. been in a winning program. important to leave a mark.

Asuma & Grove - great energy. came in good shape. bodies look good. continue to work. understand how hard you have to play. be physically ready. add this summer. get them caught up in day-to-day habits. good feel, IQ. want to be coached. excited about where they're going to be after the summer.
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Thanks for this. I'm more of a reader than listener to long podcasts. Appreciate this!
 

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