Dartmouth transfer Taurus Samuels will visit Gophers May 5-6

[fan of Ray Williams]

Talon Taurus Battle Fox Payne

I'd say we have an A+ name lineup

Ha!

 

[BTChamp]

I was starting to think we couldn't afFord him

Kudos ford that one.

 

[GopherPlaya]

Henley's a 6'7" wing.

That leaves Cooper, and Carrington as the only guards currently on the roster. If we add Samuels, we have three guards. If that's what we go into the season with, Samuels is going to play major minutes.

Now consider Carrington has never played a minute of college ball, and that there are concerns about Cooper struggling defensively against smaller, quicker PG's, and it's hard not to envision Samuels playing a major role in the back court.

Additionally, both Cooper & Carrington can play the 2, with Samuels at the 1, but Samuels likely can't play the 2, which creates more opportunities for Samuels to see playing time.

I think Ben can play any combo of players as

PG Cooper, Samuels, Carrington
SG Carrington, Henley, Battle, Cooper
SF Battle, Henley, Ola-Joseph, Garcia
PF Ihnen, Fox, Garcia, Ola-Joseph, Thompson
C Garcia, Fox, Payne, Thompson

A lineup of Cooper-Battle-Garcia-Fox-Ihnen has a lot of length & potential imo. Playing zone with that length would be dangerous. They can play Fox as the post in the lineup and play 4 around 1. They can switch everything and pack the paint. I doubt this will be the starting lineup but I can see it being used at times along with inserting Payne for Fox.

I doubt Henley will play PG but he will definitely be used at both wing spots. I think Ben views him as a capable ball handler if needed. I think we will see Ihnen play as a stretch 4/3 where he will be involved on Pick & Pop situations to get him open 3s or guards switching on him for mismatches. What I like about Cooper is he excels in the PNR. We will run a lot of the Princeton concepts from last year with Garcia being like a Point Forward. Similar to how NBA teams run their offense through the center at the Elbow or top of the Key.

If we get the same effort and unselfish play as our less talented squad gave us last year, we will finish the 4-8 range in the B1G. We have enough different combinations of lineups we can use. Even if we have 2-3 injuries, I don't think the season is necessarily over. I think we will get a better read on Ben as a coach. I definitely understand why Ben feels comfortable with his depth. I love that they have the potential to play together for 2 years as well. This year can be a surprise but next year we should be a top 5 B1G team.

 

[BleedGopher]

I think Ben can play any combo of players as

PG Cooper, Samuels, Carrington
SG Carrington, Henley, Battle, Cooper
SF Battle, Henley, Ola-Joseph, Garcia
PF Ihnen, Fox, Garcia, Ola-Joseph, Thompson
C Garcia, Fox, Payne, Thompson

A lineup of Cooper-Battle-Garcia-Fox-Ihnen has a lot of length & potential imo. Playing zone with that length would be dangerous. They can play Fox as the post in the lineup and play 4 around 1. They can switch everything and pack the paint. I doubt this will be the starting lineup but I can see it being used at times along with inserting Payne for Fox.

I doubt Henley will play PG but he will definitely be used at both wing spots. I think Ben views him as a capable ball handler if needed. I think we will see Ihnen play as a stretch 4/3 where he will be involved on Pick & Pop situations to get him open 3s or guards switching on him for mismatches. What I like about Cooper is he excels in the PNR. We will run a lot of the Princeton concepts from last year with Garcia being like a Point Forward. Similar to how NBA teams run their offense through the center at the Elbow or top of the Key.

If we get the same effort and unselfish play as our less talented squad gave us last year, we will finish the 4-8 range in the B1G. We have enough different combinations of lineups we can use. Even if we have 2-3 injuries, I don't think the season is necessarily over. I think we will get a better read on Ben as a coach. I definitely understand why Ben feels comfortable with his depth. I love that they have the potential to play together for 2 years as well. This year can be a surprise but next year we should be a top 5 B1G team.

Good post. What I take away from the new roster is we have a lot more flexibility and depth to work with. The flexibility part is critical.

Go Gophers!!

 

[Holy Man]

I think Ben can play any combo of players as

PG Cooper, Samuels, Carrington
SG Carrington, Henley, Battle, Cooper
SF Battle, Henley, Ola-Joseph, Garcia
PF Ihnen, Fox, Garcia, Ola-Joseph, Thompson
C Garcia, Fox, Payne, Thompson

A lineup of Cooper-Battle-Garcia-Fox-Ihnen has a lot of length & potential imo. Playing zone with that length would be dangerous. They can play Fox as the post in the lineup and play 4 around 1. They can switch everything and pack the paint. I doubt this will be the starting lineup but I can see it being used at times along with inserting Payne for Fox.

I doubt Henley will play PG but he will definitely be used at both wing spots. I think Ben views him as a capable ball handler if needed. I think we will see Ihnen play as a stretch 4/3 where he will be involved on Pick & Pop situations to get him open 3s or guards switching on him for mismatches. What I like about Cooper is he excels in the PNR. We will run a lot of the Princeton concepts from last year with Garcia being like a Point Forward. Similar to how NBA teams run their offense through the center at the Elbow or top of the Key.

If we get the same effort and unselfish play as our less talented squad gave us last year, we will finish the 4-8 range in the B1G. We have enough different combinations of lineups we can use. Even if we have 2-3 injuries, I don't think the season is necessarily over. I think we will get a better read on Ben as a coach. I definitely understand why Ben feels comfortable with his depth. I love that they have the potential to play together for 2 years as well. This year can be a surprise but next year we should be a top 5 B1G team.

I'd like to see another shooter in the mix before I commit to a place in the standings that will get us to the tournament.

 

[eker0016]

I think Ben can play any combo of players as

PG Cooper, Samuels, Carrington
SG Carrington, Henley, Battle, Cooper
SF Battle, Henley, Ola-Joseph, Garcia
PF Ihnen, Fox, Garcia, Ola-Joseph, Thompson
C Garcia, Fox, Payne, Thompson

A lineup of Cooper-Battle-Garcia-Fox-Ihnen has a lot of length & potential imo. Playing zone with that length would be dangerous. They can play Fox as the post in the lineup and play 4 around 1. They can switch everything and pack the paint. I doubt this will be the starting lineup but I can see it being used at times along with inserting Payne for Fox.

I doubt Henley will play PG but he will definitely be used at both wing spots. I think Ben views him as a capable ball handler if needed. I think we will see Ihnen play as a stretch 4/3 where he will be involved on Pick & Pop situations to get him open 3s or guards switching on him for mismatches. What I like about Cooper is he excels in the PNR. We will run a lot of the Princeton concepts from last year with Garcia being like a Point Forward. Similar to how NBA teams run their offense through the center at the Elbow or top of the Key.

If we get the same effort and unselfish play as our less talented squad gave us last year, we will finish the 4-8 range in the B1G. We have enough different combinations of lineups we can use. Even if we have 2-3 injuries, I don't think the season is necessarily over. I think we will get a better read on Ben as a coach. I definitely understand why Ben feels comfortable with his depth. I love that they have the potential to play together for 2 years as well. This year can be a surprise but next year we should be a top 5 B1G team.

I agree overall, it's all about flexibility.

But I am guessing we finish somewhere closer to 7th-12th place. We finished 7th the year Oturu/Kalscheur were freshman and we had SR Murphy/JR Coffey and went on to beat Louisville.

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

I agree overall, it's all about flexibility.

But I am guessing we finish somewhere closer to 7th-12th place. We finished 7th the year Oturu/Kalscheur were freshman and we had SR Murphy/JR Coffey and went on to beat Louisville.

Yeah, thinking 7-12th sounds about right to me.

 

[Fleckoff]

I agree overall, it's all about flexibility.

But I am guessing we finish somewhere closer to 7th-12th place. We finished 7th the year Oturu/Kalscheur were freshman and we had SR Murphy/JR Coffey and went on to beat Louisville.

I would agree with that 7-9 gets you into the tourney most years in this tournament, in the covid year 11th place Indiana was going to make it, sometime's the 10th place team has a more favorable resume then the 7-9 teams as well, if they had better non con wins and they played more games against the top teams in the league. As usual I'll say nine non con wins a 10-10 conference record, pick up a Thursday evening win for good measure in the BTT and will have nothing to worry about. Which I think if this teams stays healthy is possible.

 

[Fleckoff]

Well in fairness to Ben, he said Isaiah could defend the 2. I don't think many of us can imagine Ihnen playing the 2 on offense.

In basketball you're what you can guard, if Ihnen can truly guard a three, against alot of teams where the wings are interchangeable the two and the three aren't that much different. Plus in a lot of offenses these days, it really doesn't matte when guys 1-5 are chucking threes like it's their job

 

[GopherPlaya]

I agree overall, it's all about flexibility.

But I am guessing we finish somewhere closer to 7th-12th place. We finished 7th the year Oturu/Kalscheur were freshman and we had SR Murphy/JR Coffey and went on to beat Louisville.

That team had no depth

 

[Jeremyp]

Good post by Gopherplaya. The 2 interviews that Coach Johnson did gives a lot of insight into his thinking. I think he wants to bank at least 3 scholarships for 2023 including the portal. He will, in theory, have Cooper, Carrington and Hensley back at guard. Battle, Garcia, JOJ, Ihnen, Thompson at forward and Fox and Payne in the post. That is 10 spots. Garcia and Battle could go pro with great years and one of the forwards could leave if they are odd man out. That would leave a spot for a PG ( looking at you Chatman), a sharpshooting wing, and maybe a skilled post.

It looks like they will only add a sharpshooting wing if it is either a 1 year guy or someone really good.
My guess of minutes breakdown

PG Cooper 26. Samuels 14
Combo Guard Carrington 20, Henley 10, Cooper 4Battle 6
Wing Battle 24, Ihnen 16
Stretch 4. Garcia 31, Thompson 6, Battle 3,
Post Fox 19, Payne 17, ihnen 4

Fire away

 

[Holy Man]

Good post by Gopherplaya. The 2 interviews that Coach Johnson did gives a lot of insight into his thinking. I think he wants to bank at least 3 scholarships for 2023 including the portal. He will, in theory, have Cooper, Carrington and Hensley back at guard. Battle, Garcia, JOJ, Ihnen, Thompson at forward and Fox and Payne in the post. That is 10 spots. Garcia and Battle could go pro with great years and one of the forwards could leave if they are odd man out. That would leave a spot for a PG ( looking at you Chatman), a sharpshooting wing, and maybe a skilled post.

It looks like they will only add a sharpshooting wing if it is either a 1 year guy or someone really good.
My guess of minutes breakdown

PG Cooper 26. Samuels 14
Combo Guard Carrington 20, Henley 10, Cooper 4Battle 6
Wing Battle 24, Ihnen 16
Stretch 4. Garcia 31, Thompson 6, Battle 3,
Post Fox 19, Payne 17, ihnen 4

Fire away

Is Garcia never a five? I don’t know enough about his game to know but it seems like in some circumstances a mobile big like that would work well in the five. Maybe 5-8 minutes a game.

 

[atsgopher]

Good post by Gopherplaya. The 2 interviews that Coach Johnson did gives a lot of insight into his thinking. I think he wants to bank at least 3 scholarships for 2023 including the portal. He will, in theory, have Cooper, Carrington and Hensley back at guard. Battle, Garcia, JOJ, Ihnen, Thompson at forward and Fox and Payne in the post. That is 10 spots. Garcia and Battle could go pro with great years and one of the forwards could leave if they are odd man out. That would leave a spot for a PG ( looking at you Chatman), a sharpshooting wing, and maybe a skilled post.

It looks like they will only add a sharpshooting wing if it is either a 1 year guy or someone really good.
My guess of minutes breakdown

PG Cooper 26. Samuels 14
Combo Guard Carrington 20, Henley 10, Cooper 4Battle 6
Wing Battle 24, Ihnen 16
Stretch 4. Garcia 31, Thompson 6, Battle 3,
Post Fox 19, Payne 17, ihnen 4

Fire away

I thought I read in an interview (maybe the athletic) that Ben planned on redshirting 2 frosh.

Also, I read him talk about Henley playing some Gaurd. And Payne in The post.

That would leave Carrington and Joseph as planned redshirts.

 

[Jeremyp]

Is Garcia never a five? I don’t know enough about his game to know but it seems like in some circumstances a mobile big like that would work well in the five. Maybe 5-8 minutes a game.

 

[Jeremyp]

His interior defense and rebounding are ok but not why you have him in the lineup

 

[Johnnyboy18]

I thought I read in an interview (maybe the athletic) that Ben planned on redshirting 2 frosh.

Also, I read him talk about Henley playing some Gaurd. And Payne in The post.

That would leave Carrington and Joseph as planned redshirts.

Nah, that was a shooter "scoop".

 

[atsgopher]

Nah, that was a shooter "scoop".

Certainly changes the calculus.

 

[SoMpls]

I thought I read in an interview (maybe the athletic) that Ben planned on redshirting 2 frosh.

Also, I read him talk about Henley playing some Gaurd. And Payne in The post.

That would leave Carrington and Joseph as planned redshirts.

Carrington won’t be one of them

 

[RockChalk]

Good post by Gopherplaya. The 2 interviews that Coach Johnson did gives a lot of insight into his thinking. I think he wants to bank at least 3 scholarships for 2023 including the portal. He will, in theory, have Cooper, Carrington and Hensley back at guard. Battle, Garcia, JOJ, Ihnen, Thompson at forward and Fox and Payne in the post. That is 10 spots. Garcia and Battle could go pro with great years and one of the forwards could leave if they are odd man out. That would leave a spot for a PG ( looking at you Chatman), a sharpshooting wing, and maybe a skilled post.

It looks like they will only add a sharpshooting wing if it is either a 1 year guy or someone really good.
My guess of minutes breakdown

PG Cooper 26. Samuels 14
Combo Guard Carrington 20, Henley 10, Cooper 4Battle 6
Wing Battle 24, Ihnen 16
Stretch 4. Garcia 31, Thompson 6, Battle 3,
Post Fox 19, Payne 17, ihnen 4

Fire away

It's interesting about so much discussion regarding minutes. I know last year he didn't have much to work with player depth wise. That being said I do believe he could have used players 6,7 and possibly 8 a little more. I understand he wanted to try to set a certain winning culture as much as his roster would allow however if one is being honest he along with everyone else knew the team was not going to advance to a tourney. What I saw from him last year was that he could get his players to play the correct kind of BB. This year, for me, I want to see him utilize his bench more now that he and most others believe he has put together a roster that can better compete this year. I don't really care who gets the minutes I just want to see them spread out amongst 7-9 players a lot more frequently.

 

[Blackhammer]

I thought I read in an interview (maybe the athletic) that Ben planned on redshirting 2 frosh.

Also, I read him talk about Henley playing some Gaurd. And Payne in The post.

That would leave Carrington and Joseph as planned redshirts.

Nobody will redshirt unless they’re hurt. This ain’t football. Only remote possibility would be Thompson.

 

[leib0039]

I do find a lot of these threads funny, if you say one of the FR might struggle you are just the worst pessimist ever, but if you pencil them in for 30+ min you are just being logical ha, but I digress.

On the red shirt, there is no way 2 of the freshman redshirt, if there are 2 redshirts it would be JOJ and TT, although I doubt we have any. To me with only 11 scholarship guys on the team there is no reason to redshirt guys. The odds a guy stays 5 years and is productive on the back end of that is almost nil. They either leave or arent good. Also everyone who says we should only have 10-11 guys on the roster, you also cannot say we should redshirt guys, its the same premise, if guys dont play they will leave or be upset and cause issues.

I do agree on the 7-12th in league, we have a far superior talent team to last year but the Big 10 is still good, between tough road games and the bottom being at least respectable its hard to get easy wins. On paper this is a bubble team, in that 11-9 to 9-11 conference record range, which most years puts you right on the bubble. Just for the love of mercy can we please avoid weakling wednesday, I dont know why but I just hate that, just feels like you are such an afterthought and no threat if you play that day.

 

[MNVCGUY]

It's interesting about so much discussion regarding minutes. I know last year he didn't have much to work with player depth wise. That being said I do believe he could have used players 6,7 and possibly 8 a little more. I understand he wanted to try to set a certain winning culture as much as his roster would allow however if one is being honest he along with everyone else knew the team was not going to advance to a tourney. What I saw from him last year was that he could get his players to play the correct kind of BB. This year, for me, I want to see him utilize his bench more now that he and most others believe he has put together a roster that can better compete this year. I don't really care who gets the minutes I just want to see them spread out amongst 7-9 players a lot more frequently.

Our big issue last year was lack of capable front court players after the injuries which led to heavier minutes for a smaller number of players. On paper we should not have the same issue this time around.

 

[RockChalk]

Our big issue last year was lack of capable front court players after the injuries which led to heavier minutes for a smaller number of players. On paper we should not have the same issue this time around.

I would disagree with this statement. Even before injuries took place he just never went that deep.

I would agree that his depth is better this year, which it should be now that he has been around longer. I feel it should improve each year moving forward.

 

[MNVCGUY]

I would disagree with this statement. Even before injuries took place he just never went that deep.

I would agree that his depth is better this year, which it should be now that he has been around longer. I feel it should improve each year moving forward.

Fox and Ihnen went down before the season so our list of capable front court options was short before the season even started.

I know there are a lot of concerns about how Johnson is going to use players and how deep he will go on the bench but I think we need to see how he does with a full strength roster before making too many assumptions about how he is going to manage his minutes. Hopefully we will get a chance to see that in the upcoming season.

 

[Bayfieldgopher]

Fox and Ihnen went down before the season so our list of capable front court options was short before the season even started.

I know there are a lot of concerns about how Johnson is going to use players and how deep he will go on the bench but I think we need to see how he does with a full strength roster before making too many assumptions about how he is going to manage his minutes. Hopefully we will get a chance to see that in the upcoming season.

At this point, it appears that Ben will have much more flexibility with this roster. That will be a huge improvement over last year. Most have the ability to play various positions and the staff will have to determine who is best suited for what. Samuel is an exception as he seems to be pure PG. If you watch Fox tapes, he was agile, active, ran the court and was aggressive. Where will TT end up? Inside or outside? Same with Ihnen. The FR are ?? right now but Ben is counting on them.

It will be interesting to see how Ben defends. The front court likely has much greater length, height and mobility. Can they be effective playing mostly M/M? Or will he implement more zone schemes?

I think Samuels and Cooper will be better at defending the ball over Willis. After watching Garcia getting destroyed by Purdue's Williams/Edey, he has a long way to go to defend the 5.

Been has a lot of pieces to work with than last year. Will be fun to watch.

 

[Holy Man]

At this point, it appears that Ben will have much more flexibility with this roster. That will be a huge improvement over last year. Most have the ability to play various positions and the staff will have to determine who is best suited for what. Samuel is an exception as he seems to be pure PG. If you watch Fox tapes, he was agile, active, ran the court and was aggressive. Where will TT end up? Inside or outside? Same with Ihnen. The FR are ?? right now but Ben is counting on them.

It will be interesting to see how Ben defends. The front court likely has much greater length, height and mobility. Can they be effective playing mostly M/M? Or will he implement more zone schemes?

I think Samuels and Cooper will be better at defending the ball over Willis. After watching Garcia getting destroyed by Purdue's Williams/Edey, he has a long way to go to defend the 5.

Been has a lot of pieces to work with than last year. Will be fun to watch.

Ben doesn't strike me as a zone guy and did it last year under duress. Hard to imagine a lot of zone being plan A for him.

 

[ethomasp31]

At this point, it appears that Ben will have much more flexibility with this roster. That will be a huge improvement over last year. Most have the ability to play various positions and the staff will have to determine who is best suited for what. Samuel is an exception as he seems to be pure PG. If you watch Fox tapes, he was agile, active, ran the court and was aggressive. Where will TT end up? Inside or outside? Same with Ihnen. The FR are ?? right now but Ben is counting on them.

It will be interesting to see how Ben defends. The front court likely has much greater length, height and mobility. Can they be effective playing mostly M/M? Or will he implement more zone schemes?

I think Samuels and Cooper will be better at defending the ball over Willis. After watching Garcia getting destroyed by Purdue's Williams/Edey, he has a long way to go to defend the 5.

Been has a lot of pieces to work with than last year. Will be fun to watch.

I find this kind of funny. Garcia had 26 and 8 against Purdue while Edey and Williams had a combined 29 points and 7 rebounds. That said, I personally think Garcia is more of a perimeter player and think Payne and Fox will be the more interior players for the Gophers. I'm only basing that on what I've heard about Payne and Fox and from watching Garcia play in high school.

I think we will see more lineups with Ihnen, Fox/Payne, Battle and Garcia on the court at the same time than people realize....especially after listening to Johnson's press conference.

 

[leib0039]

I find this kind of funny. Garcia had 26 and 8 against Purdue while Edey and Williams had a combined 29 points and 7 rebounds. That said, I personally think Garcia is more of a perimeter player and think Payne and Fox will be the more interior players for the Gophers. I'm only basing that on what I've heard about Payne and Fox and from watching Garcia play in high school.

I think we will see more lineups with Ihnen, Fox/Payne, Battle and Garcia on the court at the same time than people realize....especially after listening to Johnson's press conference.

I understand we are likely done adding a true impact player, I wouldnt mind having a true big/veteran body down low just for the Kofi's/Williams of the world, if anything just to lean on them for a few minutes. I would take like a Konate type honestly, big, strong and can pull down a few rebounds in a small 3-5 min stretch. I think Payne will get there but as a freshman he isnt a fully finished body yet.

 

[GopherPlaya]

I understand we are likely done adding a true impact player, I wouldnt mind having a true big/veteran body down low just for the Kofi's/Williams of the world, if anything just to lean on them for a few minutes. I would take like a Konate type honestly, big, strong and can pull down a few rebounds in a small 3-5 min stretch. I think Payne will get there but as a freshman he isnt a fully finished body yet.

No way I would want a Daniels or Konate playing 3-5 min next year. I rather have Payne and Thompson take their lumps than this. For those few rebounds you will get there will be 2-4 ridiculous fouls or turnovers which can be momentum swinging plays

 

[short ornery norwegian]

something to think about.

It was Johnson's first year as a Head Coach.

It's just possible that he learned a few things, and may just do some things differently in the future.

Like maybe using the bench more and managing minutes for the starters?

we expect (or demand) that players improve from one year to the next.

It's not unreasonable to expect that a young coach might improve as well.

experience is often the best teacher. I had a teacher tell me once that "you learn more in your first few months in a real job than you learn your entire time in school."