CBJ performance

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Big Dawg

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The Ben disaster thread is old and tired. Most can agree he has moved well off the disaster spot on the performance dial With that being said I will not post on that old thread and thought we could start a new discussion on where Ben is now and where we think he and this team (and next's years) will go.

He has definitely earned year 4. I say no raise and no extension though. Has to produce in year four. Better than 500 in BIG and must make the NCAA.
 

Big Dawg said:
The Ben disaster thread is old and tired. Most can agree he has moved well off the disaster spot on the performance dial With that being said I will not post on that old thread and thought we could start a new discussion on where Ben is now and where we think he and this team (and next's years) will go.

He has definitely earned year 4. I say no raise and no extension though. Has to produce in year four. Better than 500 in BIG and must make the NCAA.
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He has done well in bringing in more talent and coaching team ball and strong defense.

No raise or extension required. But it is silly to set a year in advance at "must make" benchmark because the AD doesn't and won't do that. Too many things go into evaluation of program progress for that.
 

Agree, Ben should be the coach in year four. But, also like you say...how long do you go without at least making the NCAA tournament. Extending him now would seem foolish but my guess is it happens.
Lot of questions....what if we go 1 and 3 to finish? 9 and 11 is decent in our poor history but it will still be bottom 4 or close to it in the conference standings at the end of 2024.
How many guys decide to leave the Gophers? Way too early to know if we are better next year.
 


Dakota2 said:
He has done well in bringing in more talent and coaching team ball and strong defense.

No raise or extension required. But it is silly to set a year in advance at "must make" benchmark because the AD doesn't and won't do that. Too many things go into evaluation of program progress for that.
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I wasn't suggesting he be fired after next season if the Gophers don't make the NCAA but I can see how that looks/sounds. In fact, if next season is similar to this season (a .500 record) I think Ben will get a 5th year. I want to get out of the acceptance of mediocrity mode. Coaching in the BIG is a tough job. Many things to consider when evaluating a coach. Not playing on WW is a good first step along with other improvements the team is making. I'm hoping discussion on this thread is more civil and thought provoking than that other thread that I will never return to. Hope the mods shut it down.
 


An extension doesn't mean much anymore and the buyout I have never understood. In my opinion the play on both ends of the court makes it an easy decision for keeping CBJ past this year. The Nebraska game happened after most likely the most personal/emotional game (Battle) anyone on this team has went through. I want to see more from CBJ and his staff.
 

I've said that this year has absolutely earned CBJ another season. I would agree it's hard to say he needs to win X amount of games or make the tournament etc. To guarantee another year after.

I would say a few things I expect:

A MUCH stronger non con schedule and results. I understand the idea this year but next year that schedule would be unacceptable.

More consistency. The huge comebacks have been fun, but we can't be 16 games into the conference schedule with only 1 halftime lead hoping for a great half. That's a recipe for a bad year over time.

Lastly another good transfer class and an uptick in high school recruiting. We kind of have been getting 1 strong rotation player per year in the freshman classes. Be nice to get a Payne and Christie in one class. He should have more momentum to do that with a solid season on his resume now.
 

Five Toes said:
An extension doesn't mean much anymore and the buyout I have never understood. In my opinion the play on both ends of the court makes it an easy decision for keeping CBJ past this year. The Nebraska game happened after most likely the most personal/emotional game (Battle) anyone on this team has went through. I want to see more from CBJ and his staff.
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You think they lost to Nebraska by 18 because they played a former teammate (for the 2nd time this season) 3 days prior?
 

leib0039 said:
I've said that this year has absolutely earned CBJ another season. I would agree it's hard to say he needs to win X amount of games or make the tournament etc. To guarantee another year after.

I would say a few things I expect:

A MUCH stronger non con schedule and results. I understand the idea this year but next year that schedule would be unacceptable.

More consistency. The huge comebacks have been fun, but we can't be 16 games into the conference schedule with only 1 halftime lead hoping for a great half. That's a recipe for a bad year over time.

Lastly another good transfer class and an uptick in high school recruiting. We kind of have been getting 1 strong rotation player per year in the freshman classes. Be nice to get a Payne and Christie in one class. He should have more momentum to do that with a solid season on his resume now.
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All good points and I agree Ben deserves at least 1 more year. But this years non-conference schedule was unacceptable.

And 100% on the high school recruiting. In this current recruiting climate you need to add more good players because you may not get 3 or 4 years to develop them. Christie has been great and Payne (who frustrates me sometimes) has developed into a good B1G player.
 



Big Dawg said:
I wasn't suggesting he be fired after next season if the Gophers don't make the NCAA but I can see how that looks/sounds. In fact, if next season is similar to this season (a .500 record) I think Ben will get a 5th year. I want to get out of the acceptance of mediocrity mode. Coaching in the BIG is a tough job. Many things to consider when evaluating a coach. Not playing on WW is a good first step along with other improvements the team is making. I'm hoping discussion on this thread is more civil and thought provoking than that other thread that I will never return to. Hope the mods shut it down.
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Well, yes, it did sound like that was what you meant. Glad you didn't exactly mean it that way.

Nobody knows whether there will be major injuries to key players next year. (Remember, this is the team that had two guys go down in the summer with knee injuries that cost the entire season, and then it happened to the same two guys the following summer after they had rehabbed. That is almost too bizarre to contemplate).

If Dawson were hurt and The Prophet had mono for a month all your expectations are out the window.

Fortunately, the AD is there to look at every aspect of program development.
 

leib0039 said:
I've said that this year has absolutely earned CBJ another season. I would agree it's hard to say he needs to win X amount of games or make the tournament etc. To guarantee another year after.

I would say a few things I expect:

A MUCH stronger non con schedule and results. I understand the idea this year but next year that schedule would be unacceptable.

More consistency. The huge comebacks have been fun, but we can't be 16 games into the conference schedule with only 1 halftime lead hoping for a great half. That's a recipe for a bad year over time.

Lastly another good transfer class and an uptick in high school recruiting. We kind of have been getting 1 strong rotation player per year in the freshman classes. Be nice to get a Payne and Christie in one class. He should have more momentum to do that with a solid season on his resume now.
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I support the weak non-con schedule this season as the best way to prepare a team with eight new players for the Big Ten season.

I would be truly disappointed if next year's non-con is remotely the same. We will have a lot of guys returning who have played together. A pretty tough pre-conference schedule would be the best prep for next year.

We have our two high school recruits for next season. If other slots open up they will go to transfers who very likely will be much better than the guys they replace on the roster.
 





Dakota2 said:
Well, yes, it did sound like that was what you meant. Glad you didn't exactly mean it that way.

Nobody knows whether there will be major injuries to key players next year. (Remember, this is the team that had two guys go down in the summer with knee injuries that cost the entire season, and then it happened to the same two guys the following summer after they had rehabbed. That is almost too bizarre to contemplate).

If Dawson were hurt and The Prophet had mono for a month all your expectations are out the window.

Fortunately, the AD is there to look at every aspect of program development.
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If everyone is back and stays healthy, then yes it should be NCAA or bust next year. They’ll be a very veteran team if so
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
You think they lost to Nebraska by 18 because they played a former teammate (for the 2nd time this season) 3 days prior?
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UpAndUnder43 said:
You think they lost to Nebraska by 18 because they played a former teammate (for the 2nd time this season) 3 days prior?
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Exactly!
The Gophers got beat because they didn’t respond to how well Neb was prepared and executed their game plan. Neb nullified the Gophers strengths and played very well. We had no answer in spite of our effort. I was totally impressed with Neb as much as I was disappointed with the Gophers.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
You think they lost to Nebraska by 18 because they played a former teammate (for the 2nd time this season) 3 days prior?
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If they lost to Nebraska because of the emotional let down after playing Battle, that'd be MUCH MUCH worse than the truth - they just ran up against a pretty good team, on the road, and didn't hit shots.
 

Bayfield Gopher said:
Exactly!
The Gophers got beat because they didn’t respond to how well Neb was prepared and executed their game plan. Neb nullified the Gophers strengths and played very well. We had no answer in spite of our effort. I was totally impressed with Neb as much as I was disappointed with the Gophers.
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Bob_Loblaw said:
If they lost to Nebraska because of the emotional let down after playing Battle, that'd be MUCH MUCH worse than the truth - they just ran up against a pretty good team, on the road, and didn't hit shots.
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Exactly. Don’t make excuses.

Nebraska played well and are a good team.
 

It's still too early to make a complete evaluation. How do.you evaluate recruits that are still freshmen and sophomores.

The next frames are what count. What is the payoff, if any. Too early to know.

Critics will say little has been achieved despite the big improvement.

It's obvious this goes to next season for clarity.
 

Dakota2 said:
Well, yes, it did sound like that was what you meant. Glad you didn't exactly mean it that way.

Nobody knows whether there will be major injuries to key players next year. (Remember, this is the team that had two guys go down in the summer with knee injuries that cost the entire season, and then it happened to the same two guys the following summer after they had rehabbed. That is almost too bizarre to contemplate).

If Dawson were hurt and The Prophet had mono for a month all your expectations are out the window.

Fortunately, the AD is there to look at every aspect of program development.
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Nope.

Good program development would ensure players in place to continue winning, even with injuries.
 
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BleedGopher said:
This season has been a lot of fun and a pleasant surprise.

Expectation should be the NCAA Tournament next season. No excuses.

Go Gophers!!
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Agree that this season has been a lot of fun and a definite step in the right direction for the program.

As for next year, the expectation should definitely be to make the NCAA Tournament however I disagree with the no excuses part. Things can happen that drastically shift a teams expectations over the course of a season. The primary one would be injuries.

If this roster sticks together and they can add some additional pieces this should be a very good team next year.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Agree that this season has been a lot of fun and a definite step in the right direction for the program.

As for next year, the expectation should definitely be to make the NCAA Tournament however I disagree with the no excuses part. Things can happen that drastically shift a teams expectations over the course of a season. The primary one would be injuries.

If this roster sticks together and they can add some additional pieces this should be a very good team next year.
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No kidding!!! MNVCGUY loves his ability to pivot and use excuses.

IF the roster sticks together? CULTURE my good man.
 


UpAndUnder43 said:
You think they lost to Nebraska by 18 because they played a former teammate (for the 2nd time this season) 3 days prior?
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We never had our legs under us the whole game. Yes I do believe it played a role in our performance.
 

upnorthkid said:
If everyone is back and stays healthy, then yes it should be NCAA or bust next year. They’ll be a very veteran team if so
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There’s no if for next year

He’s gotta make moves regardless.

Roster retention is a huge part of the job. So if everyone is not back, and they suck again. That would actually be the most concerning
 

Maybe Neb. has a better coaching staff. Perhaps Fred didn’t waste scholarships on players like Dickinson or Fox.
 


Jack jones said:
Maybe Neb. has a better coaching staff. Perhaps Fred didn’t waste scholarships on players like Dickinson or Fox.
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Seriously? There are probably 7 teams in the conference who would kill to have someone like Fox. Able to not start without whining, and then come in and give a lift to whatever is ailing at the moment. Scoring, rebounding, defense, and energy. All time talent? Nope. But indispensable on a team. Remember, if you have ten starters on a roster, you usually end up with no tesm.
 

Maybe we should change the title of this thread to Johnson is mediocre and lock up the disaster thread?
 

BarnBurner said:
Nope.

Good program development would ensure players in place to continue winning, even with injuries.
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One injury fine, more than one than any program in the country would take a huge hit, this is just not true.
 

He has proven that he knows how to recruit/portal at the guard position. My concern is what is being recruited to back fill Garcia/Payne/Fox for the future? Our 2025 class needs some bigs.
 

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