Ben Johnson: We know we’re really close to breaking through. (video)

Donate To GopherHole
60's Guy said:
Is he delusional? Or does he have assurances from Coyle he gets one more year?
Delusional or confident? I don't think Ben is dumb...you can make bad decisions and be smart.
I think he actually believes we are close to turning it around.
I agree to the point we might win a game, but it would be a major surprise to make the Big Ten Tournament....so what is the definition of turning it around? I say, it would be delusional to think we could win three games in a row...Ben would disagree. I admire him for that... given where we are at.
Click to expand...


Yes, I wonder this as well. Will one more year be granted with changes in nil distribution as the reason.
 


I wouldn't read too much to any of these interviews or soundbites. Honestly, what else is he supposed to say at this point? Throw the team under the bus? Himself under the bus? Not going to happen.

Whoever his PR person is needs to remind him it is ok to be positive - i.e. we are working on improving, blah, blah, blah, but steer clear of any grand proclamations, like being close to breaking through. Especially considering most, if not all of his previous proclamations, have failed to materialize. Deliver on proclamations for a change. Then he can say whatever the heck he wants.
 


Bad Gopher said:
Continue to count me in the camp that this team is underperforming their talent and is still bound to win more than one conference game the rest of the year. I mean, heck, they HAD the OSU game won and yanked defeat out of the jaws of victory. The question to me is, what does Ben mean when he says breaking through? Breaking through...to where? A realistic goal at this point would be to get invited to the conference tournament. The NIT is a bridge too far now.
Click to expand...
The talent is bad. We have two proven players and one future player who could be really good.
The rest of the team are a collection of one dimensional misfits who we were able to get for a reason. The portal was a massive, massive failure for Ben this past year:

Edmunds and Mitchell - that duo was proposed to be the replacement for Payne.
Rigsby- a shooter at the 2-3 guard- has not worked out
Odukale - the best of the portal finds, plays excellent defense but is an offensive liability
Patterson- with 14 games to go he has put up a very high volume of shots and has more attempts than points- that's really, really bad. (33%FG/25% 3PFG)
Cochran- has not played- maybe he would be the best of the lot? Who knows?
Williams- DNP coaching decision-he is the only portal player that can actually shoot, but he is not used

Collectively they lack speed and shooting.

How they were not able to get anyone in town to help with Payne and Hawkins who wanted to stay if the dollars were there, is beyond me. This speaks to Ben's lack of engagement with the big hitters.

This would be a massive upgrade:
Payne
Garcia
Odukale
Mitchell
Hawkins

Bench
Asuma
Williams
Betts
______________ someone 6-9 or better than can play D
Williams
 
Last edited:



TwistingMyMelon said:
Pretty rare at a power conference school. A bit more common at a lowly non-major program. For example, here is the six-year record of John Pelphrey at Tennessee Tech.

2019-20Tennessee TechOVC31922.290-13.64-4.67
2020-21Tennessee TechOVC27522.185-14.13-3.84
2021-22Tennessee TechOVC321121.344-7.27-3.03
2022-23Tennessee TechOVC331617.485-9.40-6.37
2023-24Tennessee TechOVC311021.323-15.04-6.29
2024-25Tennessee TechOVC1798.529-9.16-5.30
Click to expand...
Better be careful, going to earn himself a 7th year
 

Man, some of you can dream up some pretty amazing scenarios to get paranoid about.

There is no way this team is going to string together enough wins to save Johnson's job at this point.

Coaches are confident people, when Johnson gets interviewed he is going to try and find a positive way to spin things because that is what coaches do when they are interviewed most of the time.

 

Spottedmuskie said:
Better be careful, going to earn himself a 7th year
Click to expand...

Since you enjoyed that one, I'll give you another hapless coach in his 6th season. Shane Burcar of Northern Arizona. Finished over .500 in his first year but it's been tough going since although it's picked up a bit this season.

SeasonSchoolConfGWLW-L%SRSSOSAP PreAP HighAP FinalNotesAdjusted
2019-20Northern ArizonaBig Sky301614.533-4.65-2.40
2020-21Northern ArizonaBig Sky22616.273-12.97-1.61
2021-22Northern ArizonaBig Sky32923.281-13.50-4.10
2022-23Northern ArizonaBig Sky351223.343-3.87-0.20
2023-24Northern ArizonaBig Sky331419.424-12.17-4.17
2024-25Northern ArizonaBig Sky17107.588-7.62-5.24
CareerNorthern Arizona16967102.396-9.13-2.95
​
 



TwistingMyMelon said:
Since you enjoyed that one, I'll give you another hapless coach in his 6th season. Shane Burcar of Northern Arizona. Finished over .500 in his first year but it's been tough going since although it's picked up a bit this season.

SeasonSchoolConfGWLW-L%SRSSOSAP PreAP HighAP FinalNotesAdjusted
2019-20Northern ArizonaBig Sky301614.533-4.65-2.40
2020-21Northern ArizonaBig Sky22616.273-12.97-1.61
2021-22Northern ArizonaBig Sky32923.281-13.50-4.10
2022-23Northern ArizonaBig Sky351223.343-3.87-0.20
2023-24Northern ArizonaBig Sky331419.424-12.17-4.17
2024-25Northern ArizonaBig Sky17107.588-7.62-5.24
CareerNorthern Arizona16967102.396-9.13-2.95
​
Click to expand...

Definitely, there are all kinds of guys like this in low majors. Heck, the Yale coach James Jones, who some want as a candidate here....check out his first 14 years on the job there.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Man, some of you can dream up some pretty amazing scenarios to get paranoid about.

There is no way this team is going to string together enough wins to save Johnson's job at this point.

Coaches are confident people, when Johnson gets interviewed he is going to try and find a positive way to spin things because that is what coaches do when they are interviewed most of the time.

Click to expand...
That kind of negativity will not be tolerated.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
Since you enjoyed that one, I'll give you another hapless coach in his 6th season. Shane Burcar of Northern Arizona. Finished over .500 in his first year but it's been tough going since although it's picked up a bit this season.

SeasonSchoolConfGWLW-L%SRSSOSAP PreAP HighAP FinalNotesAdjusted
2019-20Northern ArizonaBig Sky301614.533-4.65-2.40
2020-21Northern ArizonaBig Sky22616.273-12.97-1.61
2021-22Northern ArizonaBig Sky32923.281-13.50-4.10
2022-23Northern ArizonaBig Sky351223.343-3.87-0.20
2023-24Northern ArizonaBig Sky331419.424-12.17-4.17
2024-25Northern ArizonaBig Sky17107.588-7.62-5.24
CareerNorthern Arizona16967102.396-9.13-2.95
​
Click to expand...
He's also on the up and up, two really rough years there
 

tjgopher said:
Definitely, there are all kinds of guys like this in low majors. Heck, the Yale coach James Jones, who some want as a candidate here....check out his first 14 years on the job there.
Click to expand...

Checked it out. Took him awhile to get going but he's been pretty successful (certainly by Ivy League standards) in recent years. Those Ivies seem to like keeping their coaches a long time and the coaches seem to like being there. Tommy Amaker has been at Harvard for 18 years now.
 



While I agree with the opinion the comment is probably just a clumsy attempt to be positive and at best comes across as tone deaf, one would think Johnson would be better in these postgame and media statements by now - it's not like this is the first he's been asked about a losing stretch.
 

tjgopher said:
Definitely, there are all kinds of guys like this in low majors. Heck, the Yale coach James Jones, who some want as a candidate here....check out his first 14 years on the job there.
Click to expand...
Perhaps the ones suggesting that had a different Jim Jones in mind?
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom