What young players were available in Mid March and April for them to build with? Was it not valuable for Battle, Fox, TT, Theim, and the walk ons? I strongly disagree that it has to start with young players. In fact I’d argue it’s harder and not as smart to do so with a whole roster of younger more immature guys. It’s more important imo to build it in chunks. We have the chunk returning next year that will build it with 3-4 transfers and our 4 freshman. Then you add 3-4 more freshman the year after that. There will always be transfers, but eventually you get to the point where you are taking one or two for a specified or vacated role
| UCLA GAME | REG SEASON | Differential | |
| STARTERS | MINUTES | AVG MINUTES | |
| A. BacotF | 31 | 31 | 0 |
| B. ManekF | 38 | 30 | 8 |
| R.J. DavisG | 37 | 34 | 3 |
| C. LoveG | 40 | 34 | 6 |
| L. BlackG | 39 | 29 | 10 |
| Total Diff | 27 |
|
Different coaches have different philosophies....not saying there is only one way. But, if a recruit has a choice Minnesota or Miami, North Carolina, Kansas, Villanova, ....they are probably not choosing us. So those schools more easily get a higher rated candidate. Therefore those guys play more minutes. Just how they do it.
Looking at the record month by month season by season we were note top consistently. All programs suffer injuries etc.. We consistently mediocre no matter how i look at it.
40 leaves about 300 that are not better opportunities. I don't think the lack of availability of talent is the problem. It's philosophy, it's culture, it's diligence, it's discipline...in short it's coaching.
Consistently mediocre by season, totally agree. But Top 25 in many seasons for at least a few weeks. The potential was often there. Beat Louisville and Matz, who was playing well and Coffey are not available for the next game. Lose Reggie after being highly rated. Lose a lot of guys after starting strong in the last season. It was often.
UW lost Davis to a earlier injury, still won the Big 10. I DID NOT MENTION THEM SPECIFICALLY. All programs lose players for injuries and other circumstances. They have developed players better than we have. Pitino was a terrible coach. Pull his record in the conference, pull it against top 25 when he had healthy players and you will find healthy results. Do ther circumstances include Lynch ? He created that by recruiting a bad character. Everyone wants more good players. Hard to find 5 much less 9 or 10. Coaches are the overwhelming factor and no one on the planet thinks we have had anywhere close to great coaches. Mediocre.
My response was to your response about building a team culture based on character and value. There were no more young guys to go get was my point and if there were any that were interested (Battle, Fox, and Garcia), the staff tried to get them too. My other point is that contributing on the court isn’t the only way to contribute to building a strong culture on the team. All those guys returning will lead the incoming players and show them “how we do things here”. We just fundamentally disagree on the way you can build a strong foundation.
Not any multiple year guys who said yes. This year they have mor staff members and will know if they fit. Otherwise you take one year guys so you have more time to find guys who fit correctly. The staff could’ve taken some more chances, but made a specific point to not do that. I appreciate they refused to compromise on character. Also I’ll be shocked if we don’t end up with 2-3 or our 3-4 transfers this year being one year guys again.
It's a brave new world. Johnson has shown the world his system. Any guard or combo guard should be thrilled about the opportunity to step in and replace Peyton Willis. He absolutely thrived in Johnson's offense. Eric Curry managed to put up numbers in this system. Any 5 should be thrilled at the opportunity to play in this offense. With the transfer portal, you shouldn't be waiting 5 years for production. I am with the others. Now that transfers can look at the tape and imagine their role in a Big Ten team, I expect Johnson to draw superior talent than the transfers we lured last year on faith that Johnson knew how to coach. Now we get to see what kind of a salesman Ben Johnson is. I, for one, think he is going to kill it. We need someone capable of replacing Willis, and a rebounder.
I agree with a number of your points. Coaching matters. Wisconsin does not get "exceptional" talents to commit to Wisconsin. It's the system that allows the players to thrive. In Year 1, I saw all the evidence in the world that "good" talent will produce very good results with Johnson and Thorson in charge. I saw a system that can and I predict will win in the Big 10 if Johnson has time to coach them up.
Exactly. And again, the obvious parallel is Wisconsin. Mediocre talent, but routinely fantastic results. If you're a Gopher fan, you have to look at what Johnson and Thorson rolled out there in 2021-22 and think...The future is bright. The system is there, just need a couple more transfers to buy in and get those freshmen ready to contribute.History shows us that winning at Minnesota takes time (and often cheating). Clem is the last coach to have the program competitive. That was 20 years ago.
It is unrealistic to think a first time head coach is going to leap frog the coaching pedigree in the B1G and move quickly to the top. Whether we like it or not, UMN is not a dream destination for any basketball player who wasn't raised in maroon and gold. This program will only move up through a sustained process that is going to take time. No shortcuts for this program. This is not what people here will want to believe or hear, but I think it's the only way to go with this particular program (unless you want to cheat again).
Ben Johnson has a plan for process and he has the patient personality to see the process to fulfillment. He is a rare coach in this regard. Pitino was always looking for a quick fix and either hit or missed. Johnson is going to be particular regarding who he wants and how it fits to plan. I am excited to see this plan worked out to completion. That completion is likely a 5 year plan at minimum. (Sorry to all you impatient folks.)
Agree 100%. The base is there. Ben and staff laid the foundation. All interested transfers understand culture is the most important thing, and they will make their decision based on that. And I believe there are a lot of players in the portal and high school recruits that want that exact thing in their lives. Young kids that want support. I think that's a lot why PJ succeeds without the highest rated classes.
Mn took last. Mn took last
100%.. I don't blame them for the people they added, I was merely pointing out that talent needs to be better (as a whole) for us to improve. But I really don't blame Ben, at all, for the talent he brought in last year.
Don't align yourself with the biggest losers of this board and feel the need to bring up my profession every time you disagree with me. It makes you look bitter and pathetic. It also makes you look intimidated by someone's profession (like short guys constantly bringing up height). It's a bad look.
Preach it Built.
When do you think it's fair to expect those intangible things to lead to more wins? I'm not disagreeing with your take, I'm genuinely curious.
What record do you expect from this staff by year 3?
Just my opinion based on how i have seen other mediocre programs built to sustainability success. Elite success. UW failed miserably forever until they finally hired the right AD to hire the right coaches. Other programs that could not compete with the brand schools in recruiting found another way. Character, hard work, better scouting, better coaching, better development goes a long way. It takes time if you have been garbage for a long time.
Understood. Ben had a few months to get his guys. Richard had 8 years and had bad characters, bad defense, no identity. If by the end of year 3 we do not see better defense and a near .500 conference record then we have a problem. We had decades of poor fundamentals, bad characters. I already see strong fundamentals, non negotiables.
