Biggest disappointment of this season became evident tonight

[BleedGopher]

I get it, we expected Ihnen and Fox, we should have had 6 tonight, but all that taken into consideration what was frustrating tonight is this staff didn’t develop a single player worthy of playing the biggest game of the year against a 12-16 team.

Yes, we threw a hodge podge roster together, but I find it frustrating they didn’t develop anyone to come off the bench and give us something.

We need to recruit, we need to develop talent.

I’m very disappointed in the final 6-8 weeks of the season, yet I’m excited for a very good spring recruitment and will be fired up for next year.

Go Gophers!!

 

[MinnGopher]

I get it, we expected Ihnen and Fox, we should have had 6 tonight, but all that taken into consideration what was frustrating tonight is this staff didn’t develop a single player worthy of playing the biggest game of the year against a 12-16 team.

Yes, we threw a hodge podge roster together, but I find it frustrating they didn’t develop anyone to come off the bench and give us something.

We need to recruit, we need to develop talent.

I’m very disappointed in the final 6-8 weeks of the season, yet I’m excited for a very good spring recruitment and will be fired up for next year.

Go Gophers!!

I agree, but also feel we are just really talent deficient. Charlie Daniels and Ogele were portal whiffs (tough to develop GT's imo), and after that it was basically TT and Thiam left over. Would have hoped Thiam could have given us some meaningful minutes at times, so am with you there.

 

[JimmyJamesMD]

I get it, we expected Ihnen and Fox, we should have had 6 tonight, but all that taken into consideration what was frustrating tonight is this staff didn’t develop a single player worthy of playing the biggest game of the year against a 12-16 team.

Yes, we threw a hodge podge roster together, but I find it frustrating they didn’t develop anyone to come off the bench and give us something.

We need to recruit, we need to develop talent.

I’m very disappointed in the final 6-8 weeks of the season, yet I’m excited for a very good spring recruitment and will be fired up for next year.

Go Gophers!!

Now the excuses get to end. He's had a full recruiting year now.

 

[GopherAlum03]

I get it, we expected Ihnen and Fox, we should have had 6 tonight, but all that taken into consideration what was frustrating tonight is this staff didn’t develop a single player worthy of playing the biggest game of the year against a 12-16 team.

Yes, we threw a hodge podge roster together, but I find it frustrating they didn’t develop anyone to come off the bench and give us something.

We need to recruit, we need to develop talent.

I’m very disappointed in the final 6-8 weeks of the season, yet I’m excited for a very good spring recruitment and will be fired up for next year.

Go Gophers!!

100% agree with this.

 

[leftyslefty]

There is NO excuse for no substitutions against another bad team. I would love to know the reasoning. Even if TT gets torched (which he wouldn’t by Lurch of PS) he could say….see I told you you weren’t ready.

We weren’t going to win the BTT….Thompson should have played.

 

[EG#9]

I wonder if Ben has decided he just wants those scholarships to open back up. If not, then it's really hard to defend not giving minutes to guys who will be back next year especially when some of the Seniors playing big minutes weren't exactly killing themselves on both ends of the floor.

 

[bga1]

I wonder if Ben has decided he just wants those scholarships to open back up. If not, then it's really hard to defend not giving minutes to guys who will be back next year especially when some of the Seniors playing big minutes weren't exactly killing themselves on both ends of the floor.

Why? Is he going to recruit 10 new guys again? Tonight was poor coaching. Period. You have to figure out ways to give the guys a few minutes each half. By the end they were dead. For the night in general, they ran nearly zero offense. Find a shot and fire it up.

 

[EG#9]

Why? Is he going to recruit 10 new guys again? Tonight was poor coaching. Period. You have to figure out ways to give the guys a few minutes each half. By the end they were dead. For the night in general, they ran nearly zero offense. Find a shot and fire it up.

I said "I wonder". I was looking for a possible reason why nobody else played. Different coach, but people were wondering why Mitchell never got in a game last year when that team absolutely quit. He's not even on a college roster this year. On Senior Day, it was 70-45 against Indiana with 8 minutes left and neither of the kids on the bench with eligibility remaining had touched the floor. If the message isn't "I don't want you back", it's tough to argue it's anything but poor coaching.

 

[Spottedmuskie]

Pretty sad, this was against Penn State. Give 3 minutes to TT first half, if he was bad then give 3 to Daniels second half. Play one of Ramberg or Thiam for literally two minutes around the 5 minute mark in the first half or something. Anything. After watching last night, seems like we could have started Sutherlin earlier in the year, his size helps on D and plays bigger than he is.

 

[jovs]

Pretty sad, this was against Penn State. Give 3 minutes to TT first half, if he was bad then give 3 to Daniels second half. Play one of Ramberg or Thiam for literally two minutes around the 5 minute mark in the first half or something. Anything. After watching last night, seems like we could have started Sutherlin earlier in the year, his size helps on D and plays bigger than he is.

Shades of Pitino with roster management, time will tell, I'll give him a couple of more years to see if he can build a roster and develop it.

 

[Bad Gopher]

Shades of Pitino with roster management, time will tell, I'll give him a couple of more years to see if he can build a roster and develop it.

That's what makes this feel like us fans are in a level of purgatory we can't get out of. Meet the new boss; same as the old boss: no depth, players you can't trust on the floor, legitimate questions about player development, yada, yada. As with Pitino, veteran transfers came in with abilities and skill sets and powered the team (e.g. Akeem Springs), but we're left to wonder whether the freshmen will be able to develop to their level. To me, that's what you sell when you recruit: not just playing time and the ability to win, but a proven record of development. This staff can't recruit to that promise...yet.

This "rotation" was a head-scratcher to be sure. I get that you weren't going to win the tournament and so wanted to go out on a good note with at least one win. Was that the mentality? It must have been, because they put all their eggs in that basket. The iron five would have had to rise from coffins Thursday to even play a game. I have this feeling of dread that the Gophers are the laughingstocks of the league right now.

 

[bmb5270]

Pretty sad, this was against Penn State. Give 3 minutes to TT first half, if he was bad then give 3 to Daniels second half. Play one of Ramberg or Thiam for literally two minutes around the 5 minute mark in the first half or something. Anything. After watching last night, seems like we could have started Sutherlin earlier in the year, his size helps on D and plays bigger than he is.

I really wish Sutherland had another year. Not much of a shooter but he can do a little of everything and would be a nice veteran bench piece on a deeper team.

 

[Block M]

The player rotations (non-rotations) is the one red flag from the season. This indicates a lack of trust; lack of player development; and stubbornness. Surely playing only five or six guys did not give the team its best chance to win last night or probably during the season. A big thank you to the players. They gave it all they had.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

The real ‘tell’ will be if a coach or coaches leave. Sure, it will get massaged into ‘he had to take that great offer - it’s a great opportunity.’

 

[Lion King]

Shades of Pitino with roster management, time will tell, I'll give him a couple of more years to see if he can build a roster and develop it.

He's not Pitino,win or lose the job will be his for as long as he wants it. THIS IS MINNESOTA. They will be afraid.

 

[alchemy2u]

I think the predominant theme for the first year could have been culture and style of play.

It was obvious that they were short handed and played very few players, but let's look at it from another point of view. This is just my guess from a distance with no direct information.

Let's say the coach tells a player that they need to improve certain parts of their game (defense, etc.) before they can play. As the year goes on that player keeps making mistakes in practice and doesn't seem to be improving enough to get PT. What signal and lesson does it show if the coach still gives that player significant playing time without making the improvements? Does the team still listen to the coach or do they know that the coach will play guys he needs even if they ignore him?

It could just be a case where none of the players on the bench have earned PT. Coach could be sending a strong message that PT is not given, it is earned.

 

[Gophers_4life]

I think the predominant theme for the first year could have been culture and style of play.

It was obvious that they were short handed and played very few players, but let's look at it from another point of view. This is just my guess from a distance with no direct information.

Let's say the coach tells a player that they need to improve certain parts of their game (defense, etc.) before they can play. As the year goes on that player keeps making mistakes in practice and doesn't seem to be improving enough to get PT. What signal and lesson does it show if the coach still gives that player significant playing time without making the improvements? Does the team still listen to the coach or do they know that the coach will play guys he needs even if they ignore him?

It could just be a case where none of the players on the bench have earned PT. Coach could be sending a strong message that PT is not given, it is earned.

With his redshirt already gone, and everyone saying "why the heck didn't you play TT more??", there has to be a reason or reasons something like what you say here.

There has to be more to it that we fans don't know. Bad attitude in practice? Late to meetings, skipping class? I pulled those out of my rear end as hypotheticals, I have no info.

 

[leib0039]

I think the predominant theme for the first year could have been culture and style of play.

It was obvious that they were short handed and played very few players, but let's look at it from another point of view. This is just my guess from a distance with no direct information.

Let's say the coach tells a player that they need to improve certain parts of their game (defense, etc.) before they can play. As the year goes on that player keeps making mistakes in practice and doesn't seem to be improving enough to get PT. What signal and lesson does it show if the coach still gives that player significant playing time without making the improvements? Does the team still listen to the coach or do they know that the coach will play guys he needs even if they ignore him?

It could just be a case where none of the players on the bench have earned PT. Coach could be sending a strong message that PT is not given, it is earned.

All of this is could be true, what also could be true is that the coach may not have been able to help that player get better. If you are failing math class and the teacher says you need to get a C to pass but when you ask a question the teacher tells you to open the book and figure it out for yourself that could very well end up in an F despite the kid trying. Now, I am sure it is somewhere in the middle, but to just say the kid didnt improve in practice enough and its all on the player is wrong too.

 

[CentralGopher]

Meh. It takes more than a season to develop a bench that can contribute.

 

[eker0016]

I wonder if Ben has decided he just wants those scholarships to open back up. If not, then it's really hard to defend not giving minutes to guys who will be back next year especially when some of the Seniors playing big minutes weren't exactly killing themselves on both ends of the floor.

I've been wondering the same thing. I still have plenty of hope for TT. "can't teach size", and one of his issues is absolutely his lack of any bulk. It was fun to see him contribute in that Rutgers win, and honestly I thought it was the start of him getting ~15 minutes per game.

I'm wondering if Thiam is encouraged to transfer -- seems like a guy they rolled the dice on and it didn't pan out.

I made a post last year when people were upset about Martice Mitchell transferring -- my research generally showed that freshman who are complete non-factors like a Mitchell/Thiam almost never develop into anything. And he was a JUCO.

 

[howeda7]

I think the predominant theme for the first year could have been culture and style of play.

It was obvious that they were short handed and played very few players, but let's look at it from another point of view. This is just my guess from a distance with no direct information.

Let's say the coach tells a player that they need to improve certain parts of their game (defense, etc.) before they can play. As the year goes on that player keeps making mistakes in practice and doesn't seem to be improving enough to get PT. What signal and lesson does it show if the coach still gives that player significant playing time without making the improvements? Does the team still listen to the coach or do they know that the coach will play guys he needs even if they ignore him?

It could just be a case where none of the players on the bench have earned PT. Coach could be sending a strong message that PT is not given, it is earned.

I don't buy this excuse. If it was OK for Thompson to play 40 minutes against Rutgers, there's no good reason he couldn't play 10 minutes in the remaining games afterwards.

 

[leftyslefty]

Next year there will be 4 (at least) freshmen + Battle, Fox and Ihnen, and presumably 2 or more portal guys who will surely be promised big minutes. Where does that leave Thompson?

Here is a guy who is nearly 7 feet tall, moves well and has decent ball skills and shooting ability. THIS was the year to give him some run and find out where he is on the learning curve. Next year there should be far more depth and he could slip further down the rotation.

 

[Gophers_4life]

I don't buy this excuse. If it was OK for Thompson to play 40 minutes against Rutgers, there's no good reason he couldn't play 10 minutes in the remaining games afterwards.

THIS was the year to give him some run and find out where he is on the learning curve. Next year there should be far more depth and he could slip further down the rotation.

There has to be more to the story.

Something just did not click for TT and BJ.

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

About Thompson, at least freaking' say YES!, about subbing in. WTF!
(Man, I just have a seriously difficult time believing that, but It sounds like people heard Ben say it in the after game presser also.)

 

[Chico Gopher]

With his redshirt already gone, and everyone saying "why the heck didn't you play TT more??", there has to be a reason or reasons something like what you say here.

There has to be more to it that we fans don't know. Bad attitude in practice? Late to meetings, skipping class? I pulled those out of my rear end as hypotheticals, I have no info.

I remember seeing something similar play out on a team I covered 7-8 years ago. Redshirt Freshman who was ridiculously athletic. His first season, he saw exactly 12 minutes of game time over 25 or so games that season. Every time he played, you could see how athletically gifted he was, but he had no idea how to play college basketball. His problems? Turnovers, unable to figure out the offensive/defensive concepts, needed to get stronger and other than jumping passing lanes, not a good feel for defense.

Fast forward to his junior season, a runaway winner of the conference player of the year and the next year, he deferred to teammates a little more because he was the focus of defensive game plans, but also was named to the conference all-defensive team. His game had finally caught up to his talent. What happened? He didn't complain about not getting on the floor as a freshman, put in a lot of work during the summer and concentrated on his weaknesses in practice and over the course of the next year, it all started coming together and the coach started trusting him to do what he needed to do be successful on the floor.

Not claiming that's the probably path for TT, but pointing out that this kid's coach outlined what he had to show in practice every day before he was going to earn playing time, and stuck to that plan.

 

[DeathClutch]

I give Johnson a pass this year on the lack of depth. He had to basically build an entire roster in a few months.

The player development portion mostly comes in the off-season. I'm trying to think of a Freshman that significantly improved from game 1 to the end of the season and the only one that comes to mind is Andre Hollins. Others like Oturu, Coffey, Murphy and Mason were regular, consistent, contributers from day 1 but they didn't make a big jump until their sophomore or junior seasons.

 

[Tucker32]

Shades of Pitino with roster management, time will tell, I'll give him a couple of more years to see if he can build a roster and develop it.

Shades of Pitino? It's the end of year one, and he has a good class of four freshman coming in. Jesus, relax a little bit. There were really only two players that he could have played who didn't, Thiam and Thompson. Both of them, when given a chance, have made just bonehead plays being totally out of position on defense and TT picking up dumb fouls on offense right when he gets on the floor. Neither of them add anything off the bench, and that's not all about development - you don't get strong enough during the season with how far TT has to go, and Thiam, while athletic, also has a long ways to go.

The roster already looks way better next year. He has four solid kids coming in as freshman, two bigs in Fox and Ihnen to go along with Payne. If he adds a guard they will have more depth than this year already. Everyone gets hung up on a five, but most teams just have two bigs who can play inside and out. They are already better next year with Payne, Fox, Ihnen than they were this year with just Curry and almost nothing else. The traditional five is rare, even in the Big Ten.

 

[VanillaThunder]

There has to be more to the story.

Something just did not click for TT and BJ.

or for any bench player last night …

Every available player was brought in by Ben with exception of TT, who Ben must have encouraged to stay.

The iron 5 have it all they had. Ben failed them too last night in the most baffling display of Gopher (non) coaching I have ever seen.

 

[BarnBurner]

I think the predominant theme for the first year could have been culture and style of play.

It was obvious that they were short handed and played very few players, but let's look at it from another point of view. This is just my guess from a distance with no direct information.

Let's say the coach tells a player that they need to improve certain parts of their game (defense, etc.) before they can play. As the year goes on that player keeps making mistakes in practice and doesn't seem to be improving enough to get PT. What signal and lesson does it show if the coach still gives that player significant playing time without making the improvements? Does the team still listen to the coach or do they know that the coach will play guys he needs even if they ignore him?

It could just be a case where none of the players on the bench have earned PT. Coach could be sending a strong message that PT is not given, it is earned.

The term significant is , well, significant. No one said TT, for example, significant playing time.

The counter, of course, is kids need to actually play games to improve, at least a bit.

 

[bmb5270]

or for any bench player last night …

Every available player was brought in by Ben with exception of TT, who Ben must have encouraged to stay.

The iron 5 have it all they had. Ben failed them too last night in the most baffling display of Gopher (non) coaching I have ever seen.

How dare Ben think that he knows his team better than the posters on this board. Outrageous!