Caledonia native Eli King in portal from Iowa State

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I don't get it. I really don't. When King committed to ISU there was a lot of folks on this board claiming what a loss it was. What's the difference now? He's had one year to recuperate his knee injury. He's had a year of learning behind a really good defensive coach in TJO. He's got at least 3 years of eligibility left. He's a 100% take in my mind and the fact Ben hasn't contacted him yet is just sunk him even lower in my mind. He'll end up being a Brad Davidson type player (without the nut punch) and everyone here will be lamenting it 3 years from now. For shit's sake, we had Taurus Samuels on scholarship last year! Finally, what kind of stats you think he'd put up last year at Buffalo or St. Francis NY or in the NAIA (one player that some liked on here)?

As my Mom used to always say----you've got champaign tastes on a beer budget.
 

cheeseheadgophfan said:
I don't get it. I really don't. When King committed to ISU there was a lot of folks on this board claiming what a loss it was. What's the difference now? He's had one year to recuperate his knee injury. He's had a year of learning behind a really good defensive coach in TJO. He's got at least 3 years of eligibility left. He's a 100% take in my mind and the fact Ben hasn't contacted him yet is just sunk him even lower in my mind. He'll end up being a Brad Davidson type player (without the nut punch) and everyone here will be lamenting it 3 years from now. For shit's sake, we had Taurus Samuels on scholarship last year! Finally, what kind of stats you think he'd put up last year at Buffalo or St. Francis NY or in the NAIA (one player that some liked on here)?

As my Mom used to always say----you've got champaign tastes on a beer budget.
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Just entered the portal yesterday. How do you know Ben hasn't contacted Eli yet or closing in on a couple of point guards already?
 






minnyrules11 said:
Name calling, classy. My apologies for missing one post of a three page thread. I don't think one day is that big of a deal but would agree with you that Eli should be considered as a take.
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No worries....but kids are so fickle these days. Not putting in that phone call on the first day (it's just a freaking phone call) when apparently a lot of others have is a bad look IMO
 

Otis said:
If you want a portal guy you contact them immediately.

Ben is in no position to play hard to get.
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Reminds me of the Pitino comment where you can't offer all the local guys and no you can't, but like your comment implies you might end up without a date to prom if you're waiting for someone who's not interested.
 

Ben needs to win NOW... He needs guards who have major experience... Y'all won't be on his nuts of he wasn't from MN....

Fuck it.. no matter their current skill level.. bring all MN kids home!

If this is the level of play and experience we're bringing in... Ben won't be around after next year
 



MBIII_Fan said:
His Dad was quoted in the Rochester Post Bulletin saying many teams reached out to him yesterday after the news broke, and the Gophers werent one of them.
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Off-GridTNgopher said:
Ben needs to win NOW... He needs guards who have major experience... Y'all won't be on his nuts of he wasn't from MN....

Fuck it.. no matter their current skill level.. bring all MN kids home!

If this is the level of play and experience we're bringing in... Ben won't be around after next year
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That dude was suppose to win 2 years ago except…..he is not really competitive.
 


Off-GridTNgopher said:
Ben needs to win NOW... He needs guards who have major experience... Y'all won't be on his nuts of he wasn't from MN....

Fuck it.. no matter their current skill level.. bring all MN kids home!

If this is the level of play and experience we're bringing in... Ben won't be around after next year
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We apparently have plenty of scholarships available.....do you want to bring in five 5th year seniors? If so, we'll be in the same boat next year, win or lose. There's got to be some level balancing the roster.....
 

Off-GridTNgopher said:
Ben needs to win NOW... He needs guards who have major experience... Y'all won't be on his nuts of he wasn't from MN....

Fuck it.. no matter their current skill level.. bring all MN kids home!

If this is the level of play and experience we're bringing in... Ben won't be around after next year
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The goal of the program isn't to save Ben's job.
 



Otis said:
If you want a portal guy you contact them immediately.

Ben is in no position to play hard to get.
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So we have thread after thread talking about how Ben should get fired and if 23-24 isn't a much better year he should be fired....but apparently he should also spend a scholarship on a kid from Minnesota who didn't do much of anything as a freshman at ISU and is in now in the portal.

Ask yourself this, if Ben signs another portal guard with a matching profile to King's but a different home state would anyone be happy with that player?

I guarantee he would be blasted for it.
 

cheeseheadgophfan said:
No worries....but kids are so fickle these days. Not putting in that phone call on the first day (it's just a freaking phone call) when apparently a lot of others have is a bad look IMO
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Would think its a busy time with state tournament on campus yesterday (2 commits) this week plus working the portal. My guess is they feel pretty confident in some other guards already but who knows.
Would love to see a SE Minnesota player suit up in Maroon and Gold.
 

GopherLaundry2013 said:
The Gophers are definitely not above most Power 5 schools back up players currently and I'd have taken Eli King over Taurus Samuels in a heartbeat.
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Uh...that's not the choice the coach had. Assuming you have some integrity, try honest characterizations instead of propaganda. Samuels was a recruiting flub but he was recruited with the intention of being a backup for one year and Eli King was committed already. At least Samuels wasn't a long-term mistake.

If the coaching staff is recruiting guards other than Eli King at the moment, that is a defensible choice. Right now Johnson has to have the George Allen philosophy: "The future is now!"
 

cheeseheadgophfan said:
I don't get it. I really don't. When King committed to ISU there was a lot of folks on this board claiming what a loss it was. What's the difference now? He's had one year to recuperate his knee injury. He's had a year of learning behind a really good defensive coach in TJO. He's got at least 3 years of eligibility left. He's a 100% take in my mind and the fact Ben hasn't contacted him yet is just sunk him even lower in my mind. He'll end up being a Brad Davidson type player (without the nut punch) and everyone here will be lamenting it 3 years from now. For shit's sake, we had Taurus Samuels on scholarship last year! Finally, what kind of stats you think he'd put up last year at Buffalo or St. Francis NY or in the NAIA (one player that some liked on here)?

As my Mom used to always say----you've got champaign tastes on a beer budget.
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you gotta remember that there is a lot of fascination on this board with MN recruits.
and Ben Johnson was hired to get this type of prospect from MN.
so yes at the time because he was from MN a lot of people were dissapointed that Ben couldnt get him on board......if he was from Nebraska nobody would have put up a fight for him back then and you wouldnt be making this post today either....

And its just overall a bad comparison to bring up the NAIA guy....he has averaged over 22 PPG and hauled in oiver 10 RPG in his 4 years there and has played in 119 games......have Eli king go down to that level for 3 years and prove what he can do....the NAIA guy isnt a high end transfer target at the D1 level but im positive he could help a team next year
 

Bad Gopher said:
The goal of the program isn't to save Ben's job.
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So someone should force Johnson to take King even if it does nothing to improve the team for 23-24 and therefore might lead to him getting fired at the end of the year?

Trying to follow the train of thought....
 

MNVCGUY said:
So we have thread after thread talking about how Ben should get fired and if 23-24 isn't a much better year he should be fired....but apparently he should also spend a scholarship on a kid from Minnesota who didn't do much of anything as a freshman at ISU and is in now in the portal.

Ask yourself this, if Ben signs another portal guard with a matching profile to King's but a different home state would anyone be happy with that player?

I guarantee he would be blasted for it.
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You are correct but fairness and logical consistency are not attributes of particular merit for many who post here.
 

Otis said:
No word from Ben.

Makes you wonder what his priority targets are.

King would be a good backup to a veteran transfer pg. Maybe like Ihnen playing the 2, he thinks Carrington can run the point or Christie.
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Tre Holloman is already set to come back 🤫
 

Perhaps, and this is a big question of Ben’s self awareness, Ben knows he is incapable of coaching Eli up to his potential and he needs someone who’s ready to go.
 


cjbfbp said:
That's easy for you to say. You're not a coach coming off two losing seasons. What coach in that position wouldn't choose maximizing short-term success over potential longer-term program development?
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Well, a good coach would be able to do both.

Think of it like a race car driver, I have the one I intend to drive and a second one that could be ready if needed.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I personally think, for the best sake of the program, you can't be in completely short-term, save-my-job mode. If you have a promising, longer term prospect come available, you owe it to the program to bring him in.

I know it's expecting a lot to ask a coach who's probably on the hot seat to take a longer view, but what's the chicken and what's the egg here? In order words, you're not gong to have a very long career in the end anyways if you construct your roster based only on short-term considerations from year to year.
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IIRC the Gopher women used to have a coach who recruited the long game, and played 4 freshmen in rotation……. Used to being the operative word in that sentence….
 

Otis said:
Well, a good coach would be able to do both.

Think of it like a race car driver, I have the one I intend to drive and a second one that could be ready if needed.
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Bad analogy. Both of those race cars would be in fine working order and ready to perform if needed.
 



MNVCGUY said:
So we have thread after thread talking about how Ben should get fired and if 23-24 isn't a much better year he should be fired....but apparently he should also spend a scholarship on a kid from Minnesota who didn't do much of anything as a freshman at ISU and is in now in the portal.

Ask yourself this, if Ben signs another portal guard with a matching profile to King's but a different home state would anyone be happy with that player?

I guarantee he would be blasted for it.
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I think my expectations for what Ben will accomplish in the portal are so low that I'd be happy with a former top-150ish recruit who struggled for playing time at a top 25ish school. Especially knowing quite a bit about his game as I've seen him play many times.

I'd take a cast off from a P6 top-25 tournament team over, lets say, some kids from low major schools or Payne's brothers from UWRF (or wherever he is) or many of the other "gets" from the BenJo era so far. At least King (and anyone like him Ben could target) have shown the potential as a high schooler to be a productive P6 player.

Do I think King is all-B1G? No. But I think he'd be better than at least 1 of, if not multiple of, the guys Ben will fill out his roster with (assuming he fills out a roster this year--we know he doesnt like doing that). If it came down to Ramberg or King--you'd be happy with Ramberg? Not a chance.
 



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