Going into the Big Ten season, the Gophers team is?...

Going into the Big Ten season, the Gophers team is?...

  • Better than I expected

    Votes: 74 63.8%

  • Worse than I expected

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • About what I expected

    Votes: 42 36.2%
  • Total voters
    116
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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Going into the Big Ten season, the Gophers team is?...
 

We are better than I expected to date. I am disappointed in the Missouri and SF losses, but outside of 3 bad halves, we've been better so far than I'd expected.

Michigan is a winnable game, would be a great way to start the heart of the BT schedule.

Go Gophers!!
 

I'd say about what I expected. I thought they had the talent to win 7-8 games in the Big Ten and I still think that is the right range. One thing I like better than I thought is their ability to shoot. One thing I don't like as much as I hoped is the defense. That needs to get better as does their ability and patience to feed the post. This could be a 10-11 win team if they can get those two things squared away.
 
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I went with better. How much better remains to be seen but this team has shown flashes of being able to play really well at times.
 




Went about what I expected. My Christmas wish list. Wish they were better defensively. Wish Garcia was a better outside shot. Wish Ola-Joseph rebounded better and played better defense. Wish Payne was better at the line. Wish Hawkins was a little bigger. Wish Fox could shoot.
My thankful list. Thankful Mitchell is better that I thought. Thankful Ihnen and Fox recovered better that I envisioned. Thankful Christie is on the team. Thankful Braeden is returning and the team obviously needs his defense.
 

My expectation was 4-5 big ten wins, maybe 6. I think they’re about where I thought. Hopefully I’ll be wrong
 




The Gophers are: Still an unknown.
They could easily be 0-2 in the B1G if it weren't for an unusual comeback against Nebraska. This team could be middle of the pack team or it could be like Ben's first season where the preseason was good, but the B1G season was a bust. Until they prove themselves, I am skeptical.
 


I think they’re a team that can pull off some upsets, they look like a real basketball team for the most part, and it feels like we finally have some depth.

On a semi-related note, who is out of eligibility after this year? Fox, and Garcia? Feels like a decent core to build around then besides that, just need to bring in some size.
 



. … facing a reeling Michigan team/program that appears on the verge of losing its coach after the season. A golden opportunity awaits in Ann Arbor to pick up an early conference road win & some real momentum going forward.
 

skyman31 said:
On a semi-related note, who is out of eligibility after this year? Fox, and Garcia? Feels like a decent core to build around then besides that, just need to bring in some size.
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Fox and Garcia both can return, if they so choose.

We need a local NIL bag man to offer Dawson a large chunk of change to make it worth his while to stick around for his 5th (COVID) season.
 

I’d argue the team is about what I expected so far given the soft schedule. I was happy to have some fun basketball to watch, which I do believe will continue. I don’t think we’ll get blown out and be competitive. It’s certainly nice to have depth that we just haven’t had over the past two years. I also still think the jury is out on the team. We’ve been here so many times with optimism after a decent beginning only to crumble in the B1G season. Ultimately I think the B1G is so much worse than years prior that it won’t be as hard to win some more games than I had expected. 7-8 wins instead of 3-4 and another season for Ben Johnson, with a glimmer of hope on the side. Go Gophers!
 

looking a lot faster and more confident then last year. Has more depth. Hopefully can keep up with a solid start in the big 10 to keep confidence up. Think they have a shot to make the NCAA tournament if they can win at home and sneak a couple road wins. I like their starting five they had vs Maine and with Ihnen, Payne, Fox, Carrington all rotation off the bench is a good fit. All can get plenty of minutes and contribute. I know everyone expects Payne to start and be more, but even Zach Edey averaged only 19 minutes his sophomore season. Lot to develop at the 5, especially now in Big 10. Wouldn't be surprised to see Jack Wilson log few minutes here and there in the Big 10 games with his size.
 


While I rated the team better than I expected, one area that concerns me is our free throw shooting. I expect a lot of close games in the conference and we simply need to do better at the charity line if we expect to come out on top in those games.
 

formerlybis said:
My grade is … I don’t know. Even before the season started, I wondered what percent of the fan base would get fooled by a gaudy record fraudulently achieved. It appears it’s about 2/3.
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This is pretty much my thought as well. The worst non-conference schedule in the country has done what it was designed to do, give people hope and make people think this team is likely better than it is.

But they still lost 2 of those games, and a middle of a pack B1G team or better would have likely won both of those.
 

jblass said:
While I rated the team better than I expected, one area that concerns me is our free throw shooting.
Click to expand...

I thought the same thing while I watched the replay (I didn't see it live) of the Maine game. They started out doing really well at the line but are now regressing towards last season. Part of the decline can be attributed to the mix of free throw shooters, particularly during Garcia's absence.
 

formerlybis said:
I wondered what percent of the fan base would get fooled by a gaudy record fraudulently achieved. It appears it’s about 2/3.
Click to expand...

Reading the above reminds me of an old saying:

"Stupid people are like crazy people. They think everyone besides them is stupid."
 

Unfortunately, I don't think this team is ready to defend in the post. I also think they'll live and die with the 3 unless Hawkins can continue to dish out assists like he did during non-con.
 


formerlybis said:
My grade is … I don’t know. Even before the season started, I wondered what percent of the fan base would get fooled by a gaudy record fraudulently achieved. It appears it’s about 2/3.
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I don't think anyone is fooled by the record. There is zero doubt this year’s team is better than last year’s team. The only question is how much better.

This is easily the deepest and most balanced team we have had under Johnson.
 

formerlybis said:
My grade is … I don’t know. Even before the season started, I wondered what percent of the fan base would get fooled by a gaudy record fraudulently achieved. It appears it’s about 2/3.
Click to expand...

So you know why people think the team might be better...and it is just that we were all fooled by a bad non-conference record? Could it not be that quite a few of us thought the team would be awful and are surprised they actually aren't as bad as we figured? You seem to imply everyone who thinks the team is better than expected assumes they are going to crush in the Big Ten season and I would wager that is not the case.

Personally I thought the team would be lucky to win 4 Big Ten Games this year...even a couple weeks ago I posted that I would bet the under still. Now I would likely bet the over. That is better than expected but not exactly a ringing endorsement either. I would bet that is the mjority of the people who are surprised with their play...

Personally I wonder what percentage will not give any credit to the team if they do improve. For all the Duckies and Bunnies crowd that exists around here there is almost as many who will find any excuse not to admit they might have been wrong in their doomsday predictions. If somehow the Gophers have a decent Big Ten season how many will give credit to the team without having to denigrate it by saying the competition sucked?
 

Dave H said:
So you know why people think the team might be better...and it is just that we were all fooled by a bad non-conference record? Could it not be that quite a few of us thought the team would be awful and are surprised they actually aren't as bad as we figured? You seem to imply everyone who thinks the team is better than expected assumes they are going to crush in the Big Ten season and I would wager that is not the case.

Personally I thought the team would be lucky to win 4 Big Ten Games this year...even a couple weeks ago I posted that I would bet the under still. Now I would likely bet the over. That is better than expected but not exactly a ringing endorsement either. I would bet that is the mjority of the people who are surprised with their play...

Personally I wonder what percentage will not give any credit to the team if they do improve. For all the Duckies and Bunnies crowd that exists around here there is almost as many who will find any excuse not to admit they might have been wrong in their doomsday predictions. If somehow the Gophers have a decent Big Ten season how many will give credit to the team without having to denigrate it by saying the competition sucked?
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All I'm saying is that a rosy perception based on the performance so far might be fool's gold. I choose not to judge one way or the other because the record is as expected - possibly worse - against the worst schedule in all of college basketball.
 

It might be...but I guess I would rather enjoy it while it lasts. If they are as bad as I thought they were going into the year I will have plenty of time to whine about that later. Its like worrying about whether Johnson comes back as coach next year no use stressing about that now that will play itself out.

I personally don't think they are going to win as many games as some do but I wont dismiss that they might and I will remain hopeful they can.
 

formerlybis said:
All I'm saying is that a rosy perception based on the performance so far might be fool's gold. I choose not to judge one way or the other because the record is as expected - possibly worse - against the worst schedule in all of college basketball.
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It depends on your definition of rosy. I don’t think the schedule is fools gold for many people. The reason for hope appears to be better shooting and depth we have not seen in years.

I’m with the skeptical. Better shooting and some depth but weak competition leaves way too many unanswered questions.
 

I can tell you why I feel better at the moment (which could change on a dime) and that is for the first time under Ben the team looks like they know where they have an advantage over the other team and can exploit it. They don't always look lost or like they are trying to put a square peg in a round hole, they see that maybe Payne can out muscle the other team's big man and they feed him. They see that a team has an issue with a match up zone on defense and they go back to it whenever they need to stop a run. It is the bare minimum of what a competent team can do so it can be argued it is damning with faint praise, but it was the step I was expecting to see in Year 2 so at least for now we finally got there only delayed. If you play competent you will beat the teams you should and be competitive with teams on your level...which is how you build a foundation.

If the team is truly better then we should enjoy the Big Ten season quite a bit the next couple of months. If they aren't well...

And it should be noted Ben isn't the first coach to have that problem here. Pitino and Tubby had teams that had advantages they never found a way to exploit and instead got baited into playing into the game plan of the other team.
 

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