Garcia and Payne Sidelined for Tonight's Game vs. Indiana

I've been aiming for the year-after-next, as you know. But...now I'm starting to think that both Battle & Garcia might return next year.

Before the season started...I said I hoped they both somehow do poorly this year. Because they will both be great players next year if they have decent support.

Ben is capable of getting a great guard in the portal. We could be a force next year, seriously.
I learned on Gopherhole that isn't how you build a program.
 



Now imagine if any time over the next 2 years a guard gets injured.

At the U, we realize depth is for dorks.
 



Someone is going to have to step up on offense because you know Indiana is going to focus entire D on Battle.

Lots of minutes for the 2 healthy freshman and probably a heavy dose of TT as well. Probably going to be a long night.
I think I'd go... Ola Joseph (we had him guard Edey!), Battle, Henley, Cooper, Samuels,

Thompson and Ramberg off the bench.

Play zone and hope Indiana is not motivated and gets cold from outside
 


in Alcoholics Anonymous, a key phrase is "hitting bottom."

as in, things have to reach a low point in order for most people to accept they have a problem and be willing to ask for help.

tonight will be an interesting game for the program in that sense. could tonight be "hitting bottom" or could things still get worse?

If Garcia and Payne are out for any length of time, the Gophers might seriously have to look at pulling in somebody from the intra-mural league. Hey, it worked when the intra-mural player was named Dave Winfield. although I don't think that the current intra-mural league has anyone of that caliber available.
 





A force?!?!?!?

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Haven't you heard about Dennis Evans' wingspan? Teams will be lucky to break 40 against us next year....
 


I just had this thought:

So, players sitting out tonight for various reasons:
Garcia - Payne - Carrington - Betts - Fox - Ihnen

could that group beat the group that will be playing tonight of
Cooper - Samuels - Battle - JOJ - Henley - TT - Ramberg - Purcell

something to ponder
 



Well....

Indiana doesnt have their coach tonight. Does he count for a 50 pt swing?
Maybe he thought, we are playing the gophers, I might as well stay home and rest, heck even put my elbows on the dinner table while I eat tonight.
 





Well we started the year with 4 scholarship spots unable to contribute. Two guys hurt for the year, one redshirting and the last being open that we gave to Ramburg. Rolling the dice and bad luck combined can result in a disaster.
 



One was to a walk on and the other to a kid they should have let go to prep school.
How many teams don’t give their 13th to a walk on? Also the prep school part is debatable. He came in with the idea that they’d redshirt if not ready. If he was, they’d played him. I don’t know how much you can guarantee prep school is a good thing for Betts. Was he going to play a ton and be the man? JOJ came off the bench for his prep. Was that better than Osseo? Was it better than practicing with the team every year? Can’t say one way or the other imo.
 

So are we going to start to get coach speak of how they've been riddled with injuries and that's why the losses are piling up? At the very least, I'm guessing that will be part of the narrative in the offseason when they hope people forget they were terrible before the injuries.
Yep.
 

He should have given the 13th spot to a high school PG like Alonzo Dodd (note: 48% FT would fit in). I would rather give a high school guy like that a chance to learn than a grad transfer with no pedigree like Samuels. Failing to recruit a single PG was a terrible mistake.
 



Never.

That would be a fireable offense.

You dont pull a guys redshirt half through the season of a season that literally could not be any worse.
Of all the things Ben could get fired for that's about 1000 spots the list. Good grief dude. So if three dudes foul out we going 4x5? And Henley turns into Colin Sexton?
 

How many teams don’t give their 13th to a walk on? Also the prep school part is debatable. He came in with the idea that they’d redshirt if not ready. If he was, they’d played him. I don’t know how much you can guarantee prep school is a good thing for Betts. Was he going to play a ton and be the man? JOJ came off the bench for his prep. Was that better than Osseo? Was it better than practicing with the team every year? Can’t say one way or the other imo.

I think prep school helped JOJ quite a bit. Huntington prep has some good, high major players, several ranked around what Betts was, but most are JRs. Playing meaningful minutes, even off the bench, is better than not playing in a game for an entire season while riding the pine for one of the worst Gopher bball teams in history.

And if Betts couldn't be a good player for that team, then what is he doing eating up a B1G scholarship in the first place?
 






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