Coach Dame: I love this from Ben.

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Wet_Blanket_Guy said:
I think Marcus fuller and Coach Dame (who can’t beat Orono) are wrong. It’s a combo of $$ + historical bad basketball + coaching = time to jet.

Enter the CBJ spin team.
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This spin is just an admission that he doesn't have what it takes to make a team out of the ever-increasing selfishness of players in the transfer portal era.
 

Wet_Blanket_Guy said:
I think Marcus fuller and Coach Dame (who can’t beat Orono) are wrong. It’s a combo of $$ + historical bad basketball + coaching = time to jet.

Enter the CBJ spin team.
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So it isn't happening all over the country and hasn't been for a few years now? Seriously, why is that so hard to accept? That can be true AND you can not like Johnson.

This is really getting old.
 



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!!!!!!
 

WilliamsArenaGuy said:
So it isn't happening all over the country and hasn't been for a few years now? Seriously, why is that so hard to accept? That can be true AND you can not like Johnson.

This is really getting old.
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Well said. Look at the thread dedicated to just the Big Ten transfers and you will see the majority of the teams are losing at least 3 players to the portal.

Some transfers make sense, some don't, but this is going on all over the country. It isn't about protecting Johnson it is about understanding that this isn't just a Minnesota or Johnson issue.
 





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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Doubt you will find anyone that doesn't agree with that sentiment.

It will be on Johnson to find a way to replace the guys he lost and put a winning team on the court next season. If he fails to do that it will almost certainly be his final year at the helm.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Doubt you will find anyone that doesn't agree with that sentiment.

It will be on Johnson to find a way to replace the guys he lost and put a winning team on the court next season. If he fails to do that it will almost certainly be his final year at the helm.
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Agreed. I don’t cheer for people to get fired. It makes for a lousy day to day life.
 

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!!!!!!
Click to expand...
Doubt Betts gets more than 5 minutes a game next year. Only got a couple in a few non conference games this year in garbage time. Based on that I’m also guessing Grove gets the same next year as Betts this year.
 

CentralGopher said:
Doubt Betts gets more than 5 minutes a game next year. Only got a couple in a few non conference games this year in garbage time. Based on that I’m also guessing Grove gets the same next year as Betts this year.
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Hopefully Betts is ready for a much bigger role than that. Next year will be his 3rd with the program. Even though he is still on the younger side, if he has the talent to compete at the Big Ten level he should be able to get on the court much more next season.
 



MNVCGUY said:
Hopefully Betts is ready for a much bigger role than that. Next year will be his 3rd with the program. Even though he is still on the younger side, if he has the talent to compete at the Big Ten level he should be able to get on the court much more next season.
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With Ihnen gone maybe he’ll improve but based on what we’ve seen if he is getting more than 5 a game we’re in trouble.
 


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!!!!!!
Click to expand...
You are acting like the team was stacked last year...they were a middle of the road NIT team.
 

Dave H said:
You are acting like the team was stacked last year...they were a middle of the road NIT team.
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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.
 

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!!!!!!
Click to expand...
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.
 

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!!!!!!
Click to expand...
If Parker Fox is the starting 5 next year, Johnson failed before the season starts.
 

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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Good lord man.....it is the off season.....it is ok to have a little optimism this time of year...... :)
 

CentralGopher said:
With Ihnen gone maybe he’ll improve but based on what we’ve seen if he is getting more than 5 a game we’re in trouble.
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With all due respect I really don't think any of us are in position to make declarations like this based on the limited amount we have seen of Betts to this point.

Kid has a whole off season to continue working with the coaching staff and improving his game. He will have had 2 full seasons to work on his body and learn how to play at this level. No guarantees on what kind of player he will turn out to be but there is certainly a chance he could be a productive player for us next year.
 

CentralGopher said:
With Ihnen gone maybe he’ll improve but based on what we’ve seen if he is getting more than 5 a game we’re in trouble.
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So, if Betts averages 6 minutes per game, we're in trouble? Michael Hurt averaged 6 minutes per game as a freshman and 7.8 minutes per game as a junior and those teams won 24 and 22 games respectively. You might consider choosing your words more carefully.
 



TwistingMyMelon said:
So, if Betts averages 6 minutes per game, we're in trouble? Michael Hurt averaged 6 minutes per game as a freshman and 7.8 minutes per game as a junior and those teams won 24 and 22 games respectively. You might consider choosing your words more carefully.
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If you want to draw hard lines go ahead but the point is so far he’s shown zero ability to give us heavy backup minutes. He’ll likely get used some but at this point should not be our primary backup. Probably 3rd in line for minutes at his position.
 


CentralGopher said:
If you want to draw hard lines go ahead but the point is so far he’s shown zero ability to give us heavy backup minutes.
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I wouldn't call "more than 5 minutes per game" heavy backup minutes particularly when that can occur even when someone doesn't play in a fair number of games.
 

When you see Dainja leaving Illinois and Storr leaving Wisconsin, you realize it's not about guys fleeing bad coaching, as both of those coaches are top shelf. In this new era, shit happens, and the challenge is to be able to roll with the punches and recover from it.
 


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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