Coach Dame: I love this from Ben.

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SplitDecision said:
Regarding Betts, if he wasn't already a Gopher, I'd be happy to take a 4-star SF, second best player in CO who reclassified a year early. He'll be a valuable part of '24-'25 as a stretch 3/4. By reclassifying, he was always going to be a project. Obviously, CBJ has had that conversation associated with JOJ departure, and Betts likes the UofM.

It'll be very interesting to see if MN has caught up at all in NIL, and if we can land some top portal players to fill gaps in front and back court. With conference restructuring, MN cannot afford to fall behind after taking a vital step forward in '24. Would be terrific to have O'Brien, Wolf, Dainja, Stojakovic, Porter, Morgan, Pedulla etc. come forward considering MN, depending on the "fit" evaluated by coaches. Dennis Evans hard pass.

Looking far forward in Big Ten, Dusty May signed a 10-year extension at FAU in April '24, promptly entered the coach portal, was bought out, and is now at Michigan...He will likely bring a couple players incl. 7'1" Vlad Goldin (if they can get into Michigan academically, ie. Caleb Love couldn't).

USC coach Andy Enfield evidently wanted no part of the Big Ten basketball, and portaled to the ACC and SMU while losing 4-star recruit Trent Perry, who was offered by MN. USC is scrambling for a coach will likely be the new bottom-dweller, with UCLA not far ahead.

Nick Cronin at UCLA was given a 2-yr extension thru '26-'27, but will unlikely coach through his contract. Just a guess, but his unpopularity in SoCal, plus the Big Ten gauntlet will likely be the demise of Cronin after '24-'25.

Oregon's Dana Altman in contracted through '26-'27 with buyouts $2-4M depending when he bolts. The Big Ten and SEC have become the power players in college sports, having both the exposure and financial backing to demand great teams and coaches moving forward. Altman is in a good place at Oregon, but I wonder how long he will last in lower third of conf., and as other high profile coaches enter the portal.
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What a steaming pile.

"The coach portal??"
 



Golden Deuce said:
Everyone acts like the cupboard is bare,

Payne is the only big loss, along with Carringtons defense.

Hawkins, Mitchell, Christie, with Azuma backing that up, Dawson Garcia playing most of the minutes at one of the forward spots,

Talk Parker Fox into one more year and that's a solid starting 5 with hopefully a good back up pg.

Can Kadyn Betts provide minutes?
What about the new guy from Alexandria?

Bring in the transfer from NDSU and everything is just fine.

The cupboard aint bare!!!!!!
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I feel like Betts is going to get a good opportunity to show his talent and I think he'll take advantage of that
 

Golden Deuce said:
Point being Dave, we've seen much worse and the cupboard aint bare, no one said stacked.

I suppose the guys who stay will have no way of improving either?

At min, they're all a year older and a year more mature.
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Just because players get older doesn't mean they get better.

The cupboard may not be bare but right now it isn't like we could make a decent meal out of what is in there. That's the point.
 


howeda7 said:
Take 9-11 team, subtract 6 guys, add one transfer from NDSU and two freshman = everything is fine?
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Yeah cause they're definitely done. This is your roster for next year. Well thought out. But I guess coming from the guy who calls every Gopher game before halftime, best not to expect much.
 


JZABR said:
I feel like Betts is going to get a good opportunity to show his talent and I think he'll take advantage of that
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Betts has had a good opportunity to show his talents in every single practice over the last two years. If he had showed an ability to help the Gophers, Ben would have played him. Presently, I put zero hope in Betts giving us a boost next season. I hope he proves me wrong.
 

Wet_Blanket_Guy said:
This assumes no one gets hurt. Which happens every year. What happens if Garcia is injured like 2 years ago? What then...no depth on the front line. Asuma has proven nothing yet, hopefully he is good, but he can't be counted on yet (look at how many Freshman transfer or don't produce every year...it's a lot (even top 100 recruits). - what if Hawkins goes down...

Long story short - the team has absolutely no depth and limited floor spacing.
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What team are you talking about? You have no idea what the roster will look like next fall.
 



bleedsmaroonandgold said:
It is happening all over the country, and we need to find a way to succeed in that environment.
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This is exactly right. There's no reason to feel bad for yourself. Embrace the portal. It's the way it is. I'm OK with it.

I do like this comment from Ben here.
 

WriterGoph said:
Yeah cause they're definitely done. This is your roster for next year. Well thought out. But I guess coming from the guy who calls every Gopher game before halftime, best not to expect much.
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I didn't say they were done. The OP said all we needed was the NDSU kid and we're fine. We need a lot more than that.

Get a new bit. I did that like twice 5 years ago and the Ben Lovers Club has claimed its "every game" about 15 times now.
 

Dakota2 said:
What team are you talking about? You have no idea what the roster will look like next fall.
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While that is accurate, what’s on paper now with current commits and guys who haven’t bailed yet, we are thin. extremely thin.
 




howeda7 said:
I didn't say they were done. The OP said all we needed was the NDSU kid and we're fine. We need a lot more than that.

Get a new bit. I did that like twice 5 years ago and the Ben Lovers Club has claimed its "every game" about 15 times now.
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Seriously??????? I am not, nor ever have been, in any sort of Ben Lovers Club. I thought it was the worst hire in history at the time and voted that we should fire him at the end of this season.

You call game over all the time. In all sports. It's your bit. Everyone knows it. It's highly annoying. But it's even worse if you are going to somehow deny it. You should be embracing it.
 


howeda7 said:
Find the last time I did it then. Or drop the bit.
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You are delusional. Wow.

And no, I won't be wasting my time "proving" it. Any long time poster that has ever been in a game thread knows it's true. I can't believe you are somehow trying to deny it. When people call you on it, you usually go to the "I was trying to anti-jinx them" card. It is the essence of howeda7 and has been forever.
 

WilliamsArenaGuy said:
You are delusional. Wow.

And no, I won't be wasting my time "proving" it. Any long time poster that has ever been in a game thread knows it's true. I can't believe you are somehow trying to deny it. When people call you on it, you usually go to the "I was trying to anti-jinx them" card. It is the essence of howeda7 and has been forever.
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It's not true. That's the point. The # of times you and a couple others have whined about it greatly outnumbers the # of times it was ever done. But I'll let it drop and put you on ignore, it's a pointless discussion. Game over!
 


bleedsmaroonandgold said:
It is happening all over the country, and we need to find a way to succeed in that environment.
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I think you have to define "succeed in that environment". You aren't going to win the Big Ten without substantial NIL money, you can strive for 500 conference record and be an NCAA bubble team but without decent NIL money that is about all you are going to get.
 

SplitDecision said:
Regarding Betts, if he wasn't already a Gopher, I'd be happy to take a 4-star SF, second best player in CO who reclassified a year early. He'll be a valuable part of '24-'25 as a stretch 3/4. By reclassifying, he was always going to be a project. Obviously, CBJ has had that conversation associated with JOJ departure, and Betts likes the UofM.

It'll be very interesting to see if MN has caught up at all in NIL, and if we can land some top portal players to fill gaps in front and back court. With conference restructuring, MN cannot afford to fall behind after taking a vital step forward in '24. Would be terrific to have O'Brien, Wolf, Dainja, Stojakovic, Porter, Morgan, Pedulla etc. come forward considering MN, depending on the "fit" evaluated by coaches. Dennis Evans hard pass.

Looking far forward in Big Ten, Dusty May signed a 10-year extension at FAU in April '24, promptly entered the coach portal, was bought out, and is now at Michigan...He will likely bring a couple players incl. 7'1" Vlad Goldin (if they can get into Michigan academically, ie. Caleb Love couldn't).

USC coach Andy Enfield evidently wanted no part of the Big Ten basketball, and portaled to the ACC and SMU while losing 4-star recruit Trent Perry, who was offered by MN. USC is scrambling for a coach will likely be the new bottom-dweller, with UCLA not far ahead.

Nick Cronin at UCLA was given a 2-yr extension thru '26-'27, but will unlikely coach through his contract. Just a guess, but his unpopularity in SoCal, plus the Big Ten gauntlet will likely be the demise of Cronin after '24-'25.

Oregon's Dana Altman in contracted through '26-'27 with buyouts $2-4M depending when he bolts. The Big Ten and SEC have become the power players in college sports, having both the exposure and financial backing to demand great teams and coaches moving forward. Altman is in a good place at Oregon, but I wonder how long he will last in lower third of conf., and as other high profile coaches enter the portal.
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I think Dana will be quite successful in the Big 10. Love to see him stay at Oregon.
 


Dave H said:
Just because players get older doesn't mean they get better.

The cupboard may not be bare but right now it isn't like we could make a decent meal out of what is in there. That's the point.
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BS Dave, Carrington did very little liked the way he played D at times, Payne is a big loss, Ihnen so what, the russian guy so what, JoJ fell out of the rotation, so what if he transfers.

4 guards coming back is more than Ben has ever had.

Yes we need more but, how many played at the end of the year anyway? 7 or 8?

At the D1 level it damn well better mean they get better, their summer job should be getting shots up and lifting. NIL $$ coming in, should be easy to do.
 

Golden Deuce said:
BS Dave, Carrington did very little liked the way he played D at times, Payne is a big loss, Ihnen so what, the russian guy so what, JoJ fell out of the rotation, so what if he transfers.

4 guards coming back is more than Ben has ever had.

Yes we need more but, how many played at the end of the year anyway? 7 or 8?

At the D1 level it damn well better mean they get better, their summer job should be getting shots up and lifting. NIL $$ coming in, should be easy to do.
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You are right...the team is definitely in a good place! Btw do you ay poker because we have an extra seat this weekend and we would love for your to attend!
 

Golden Deuce said:
BS Dave, Carrington did very little liked the way he played D at times, Payne is a big loss, Ihnen so what, the russian guy so what,
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Follow the Gophers pretty closely, dontcha?
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
Uh...no. He has to recruit at least four players and five would be preferable. The NDSU transfer would be a good start but he's just a start.
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Exactly and people that think he will replace Payne? LOL. Not close, and not half the player Payne was.
The Payne loss is huge no matter how folks want to spin it.
 

Golden Deuce said:
BS Dave, Carrington did very little liked the way he played D at times, Payne is a big loss, Ihnen so what, the russian guy so what, JoJ fell out of the rotation, so what if he transfers.

4 guards coming back is more than Ben has ever had.

Yes we need more but, how many played at the end of the year anyway? 7 or 8?

At the D1 level it damn well better mean they get better, their summer job should be getting shots up and lifting. NIL $$ coming in, should be easy to do.
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OK, that's fine. But a power 5 program, especially one in the Big Ten should not have to hand out scholarships to half of a roster that will see ZERO playing time and flat out aren't fit to play Big Ten ball.
You need 8-9 solids to have a real chance. Haven't had that here for quite a few years now.
 

Go Gophs said:
You need 8-9 solids to have a real chance. Haven't had that here for quite a few years now.
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No, we haven't. Looking back over the last 11 years (since Pitino's arrival), I'd say that we never had 9 in that time period. I'd say that we had 8 in Pitino's first season if you count Oto (who really wasn't too bad of a reserve in his final year). The 2017 team was the most successful of the period. You could say that they had 8 if you count Bakary who was adequate as a backup center that season. The 2019 team was fairly successful but I wouldn't say that they had 8 given Curry's health status and the fact that Pitino stopped playing Washington. It must be said that Pitino tried to assemble a deeper team before his final season but injuries and slumping players thwarted that plan.

It goes without saying that coach Johnson hasn't had 8 solids although early in this past season it looked like he might but that turned out to be fools gold.
 

Go Gophs said:
OK, that's fine. But a power 5 program, especially one in the Big Ten should not have to hand out scholarships to half of a roster that will see ZERO playing time and flat out aren't fit to play Big Ten ball.
You need 8-9 solids to have a real chance. Haven't had that here for quite a few years now.
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Tubby needed to have more, he used to substitute five at a time
 

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