Fire Ben Johnson

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CentralGopher said:
Has a worse record than the coaches listed as Uncomfortably hot in this article. Mind boggling.

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College basketball hot seat rankings: Where 17 underwhelming coaches stand as high-major carousel picks up

Polling our college basketball experts on where high-major coaches stand amid shaky seasons
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There was a similar list of 10 in The Athletic and Ben wasn’t even mentioned. Not, I suppose, because his seat isn’t hot (it’s molten), but rather because the Minnesota men’s basketball program has become totally irrelevant as to no longer even register with national writers.
 

CentralGopher said:
Has a worse record than the coaches listed as Uncomfortably hot in this article. Mind boggling.

www.cbssports.com

College basketball hot seat rankings: Where 17 underwhelming coaches stand as high-major carousel picks up

Polling our college basketball experts on where high-major coaches stand amid shaky seasons
www.cbssports.com www.cbssports.com
Click to expand...
Records aren't the whole story. As I pointed out above he should be gone based on current state. Had they won the last two games, he's sitting at 8-9 and possibly not even included in the article. Part of it was expectation of 18th place and 8-9 would have them sitting top 1/2 of the league.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Records aren't the whole story. As I pointed out above he should be gone based on current state. Had they won the last two games, he's sitting at 8-9 and possibly not even included in the article. Part of it was expectation of 18th place and 8-9 would have them sitting top 1/2 of the league.
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So....4 years aren't the relative point. It's the last two games. That's what the decision hinges on.

Yikes. I may have to take "King of Bad Takes" away from Some Guy.
 

USAF said:
So....4 years aren't the relative point. It's the last two games. That's what the decision hinges on.

Yikes. I may have to take "King of Bad Takes" away from Some Guy.
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Never said I agree with it. 8-9 and 9th in league would be a completely different take on where the program is going by National Media and those that don't look back more than a year.

Win the last two games and they would have won 4 in a row and 8 of last 11 in conference. Couple that with the rebuild, on top of 9-11 last year and the decision would be a lot harder.

The reality is that it didn't happen and he's likely to be fired.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Never said I agree with it. 8-9 and 9th in league would be a completely different take on where the program is going by National Media and those that don't look back more than a year.

Win the last two games and they would have won 4 in a row and 8 of last 11 in conference. Couple that with the rebuild, on top of 9-11 last year and the decision would be a lot harder.

The reality is that it didn't happen and he's likely to be fired.
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The reality is that he should have been fired at least a year ago, and the last two games are just 2 more data points supporting that position. Two data points that are insignificant and overwhelmed by the dozens of previous data points. Had they won those two games, it wouldn't have changed a thing. It'd be two insignificant counter data points, still overwhelmed by the dozens of previous ones.
 





MaxyJR1 said:
Never said I agree with it. 8-9 and 9th in league would be a completely different take on where the program is going by National Media and those that don't look back more than a year.

Win the last two games and they would have won 4 in a row and 8 of last 11 in conference. Couple that with the rebuild, on top of 9-11 last year and the decision would be a lot harder.

The reality is that it didn't happen and he's likely to be fired.
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There is nothing Johnson could have, should have or will ever do to change USAF’s mind! He made that crystal clear when he acknowledged your 4 in a row, 8 of 11 would not have swayed him whatsoever. Frankly I admire someone like USAF whose opinion is immovable. That said, such solidity even in the face of possible shifting outcomes lends me to believe that there is more in play here?
 



Gopheritnow said:
There is nothing Johnson could have, should have or will ever do to change USAF’s mind! He made that crystal clear when he acknowledged your 4 in a row, 8 of 11 would not have swayed him whatsoever. Frankly I admire someone like USAF whose opinion is immovable. That said, such solidity even in the face of possible shifting outcomes lends me to believe that there is more in play here?
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Had they won those 2 games, would it have changed the Gophers future?

Made Johnson a better coach?
Improved the talent now or in the future?
Elevated the level of play?
Sold more tickets?
Re-energized the state?

You are ignoring the forest for a couple of small trees.

Johnson doesn't deserve to be judged on the outcome of 2 games. Bad OR good.
 

It was occurring to me today that Minnesota's wins this year were a bit lucky so I went back to look:

Michigan: trailed most of the game, got it to OT and hit a near half-court buzzer beater to avoid 2nd OT. At one point in the game, the probability of victory was 6.6%

@iowa: close through first half, got a lead in 2nd, and got a little closer at end. This one MN was the better team, though the low point was still a probability of 18%.

Oregon: most game-controlled win of the year, leading most of the game (low point 33% win probability)

@PSU: started out badly, but turned it around and pulled away late against a Niederhauser-less Nits (low point 9% win prob)

@USC: absolute miracle - they had a 6% chance to win with 24 seconds left

@UCLA: 7% chance with 2:09 left.

There haven't been many close losses, with the exception of the OSU game - that was one that MN had a 95% chance of winning in the first OT.

So, I would say at least 3 of the 6 wins were improbable and maybe give them one back for OSU. This should be a 4 win team.
 

formerlybis said:
It was occurring to me today that Minnesota's wins this year were a bit lucky so I went back to look:

Michigan: trailed most of the game, got it to OT and hit a near half-court buzzer beater to avoid 2nd OT. At one point in the game, the probability of victory was 6.6%

@iowa: close through first half, got a lead in 2nd, and got a little closer at end. This one MN was the better team, though the low point was still a probability of 18%.

Oregon: most game-controlled win of the year, leading most of the game (low point 33% win probability)

@PSU: started out badly, but turned it around and pulled away late against a Niederhauser-less Nits (low point 9% win prob)

@USC: absolute miracle - they had a 6% chance to win with 24 seconds left

@UCLA: 7% chance with 2:09 left.

There haven't been many close losses, with the exception of the OSU game - that was one that MN had a 95% chance of winning in the first OT.

So, I would say at least 3 of the 6 wins were improbable and maybe give them one back for OSU. This should be a 4 win team.
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What his record actually is is bad enough. I don't see much value in holding close wins against him. If the trend were reversed, I also wouldn't give him credit for close losses. The team and the coach earned all of those wins.
 




MNVCGUY said:
Firing has felt inevitable for a while.....after back to back home loses to 2 of the worst teams in the Big Ten there really is no reason to hold off any longer. May as well just make it official now.
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Whole thing is over in like 11-18 days
I would guess they’ll let him see it out but that the decision is already made
 

Some guy said:
Whole thing is over in like 11-18 days
I would guess they’ll let him see it out but that the decision is already made
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I agree but after these last two I think Coyle could just do it now. I know there are some that still think it won't happen but I just don't see any way they can run it back next year at this point.
 



MNVCGUY said:
Think some heads would explode around here if that happened.
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The world is a strange and wondrous place. It would be just like the world to have Ben be both the worst coach in Gopher history AND the only guy to coach the team to a BTT championship in the 28-year history of the event.
 


Bad Gopher said:
The world is a strange and wondrous place. It would be just like the world to have Ben be both the worst coach in Gopher history AND the only guy to coach the team to a BTT championship in the 28-year history of the event.
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Not with this team. Zero chance.
 







formerlybis said:
It was occurring to me today that Minnesota's wins this year were a bit lucky so I went back to look:

Michigan: trailed most of the game, got it to OT and hit a near half-court buzzer beater to avoid 2nd OT. At one point in the game, the probability of victory was 6.6%

@iowa: close through first half, got a lead in 2nd, and got a little closer at end. This one MN was the better team, though the low point was still a probability of 18%.

Oregon: most game-controlled win of the year, leading most of the game (low point 33% win probability)

@PSU: started out badly, but turned it around and pulled away late against a Niederhauser-less Nits (low point 9% win prob)

@USC: absolute miracle - they had a 6% chance to win with 24 seconds left

@UCLA: 7% chance with 2:09 left.

There haven't been many close losses, with the exception of the OSU game - that was one that MN had a 95% chance of winning in the first OT.

So, I would say at least 3 of the 6 wins were improbable and maybe give them one back for OSU. This should be a 4 win team.
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If I want data and facts I will ask for them.
 


I credit a number of posters who predicted the nature of this team: the combination of veteran players who generally play decent defense coupled with Dawson’s scoring touch & occasionally one of the guards shooting well wouid win a few Big Ten games. Five conference road wins is the most since 2016-2017 and three consecutive one possession wins as a road underdog is buy-a-lottery-ticket territory. I love every Gopher win in every sport. That said, I fear how the basketball will bounce next year no matter who’s coaching.
 

Married@SiebertField said:
I credit a number of posters who predicted the nature of this team: the combination of veteran players who generally play decent defense coupled with Dawson’s scoring touch & occasionally one of the guards shooting well wouid win a few Big Ten games. Five conference road wins is the most since 2016-2017 and three consecutive one possession wins as a road underdog is buy-a-lottery-ticket territory. I love every Gopher win in every sport. That said, I fear how the basketball will bounce next year no matter who’s coaching.
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Gonna have to pay a lot of money to buy a squad. Maybe they can get Cochran to come back, hope the big center Parker Jefferson is the real deal (has been putting up big numbers), Asuma matures into a good point guard and they go out and get a stud wing and shot blocking center in the portal along with a couple of sniper guards from long range.
 
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