Gophers’ Ben Johnson feels good about his core returning for 2023-24

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GopherWeatherGuy said:
That team loses every game by 18 instead of 20. And I think I’m being nice.
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It's awful this year. The young guys show potential. I think they'll be better next year and Christie will be a big addition. I think they won't stay the same. Your view is understandable though. A lot depends on them getting that key guy out of the portal. If they don't get that difference maker then yeah- I think its a big problem.
 

EasyThere Pilgrim said:
Carrington had a 20-point game. Even ONE game like that as a freshman translates to him having the potential to be a good Big Ten player when he's a junior.
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You know that game was against Arkansas Pine Bluff. The same team who is 320th in kenpom and 10-18 playing in the SWAC.

You remind me of the guy on Wolf of Wall Street who gets talked into buying $6000 worth of penny stocks for a aerospace company. Only to find out their HQ is a 5×6 wood shed.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
No

m c a

If a coach tells a player, you’re a pine brother and won’t be playing, they’ll transfer. This has shown in the last several games - no meaningful minutes to be had.
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What does MCA mean?
 


Blackhammer said:
Carrington seems to being lauded for getting a few rebounds at guard We need ball handling, defense and shooting at guard first and foremost Hopefully he will be better next season but right now he gives us very little,
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That just shows how bad things are, that people are excited by terrible play, because its not horrendous play.
 




bga1 said:
I don't know on Betts but I like that we will have depth players.

Here's my 9:
Payne 30 Evans 10
Garcia 30 Ihnen 10
Ola Joseph 25 Ihnen 10 Henley 5
Henley 20 Christie 10 Carrington 10
Portal PG 30 Christie 10

I just have a feeling that Battle, Cooper and TT move on.
Battle, is just ok on defense and isn't playing team ball on offense
Evans is intriguing but not ready. I have no clue on Betts. If he is a shooter, he plays. If he is a bulldog defender, he plays
Who knows, maybe Fox is better than Ihnen, but I am thinking Ihnen for defense

My fear? Ben rolls the dice that Christie is a PG, Cooper stays for insurance, and our defense is Swiss cheese again.
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if that happens will Pat Kelsey be available yet to hire for the 24/25 season?!
 

Gophs24 said:
if that happens will Pat Kelsey be available yet to hire for the 24/25 season?!
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Pat Kelsey won’t take this job. Besides I don’t think it’s smart hiring a guy who has the best job in a lower conference. Find the coach who wins a a bad job in their conference and you have something that may translate here
 




fan of Ray Williams said:
Yeah, why MCA?
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Because Young Man there’s no need to feel down (after watching yet another L)

I said
Young Man pick yourself of the ground (because the Wingspan will lift us off this 💩 pile next year)

It’s fuuunnnn to be a Gopher Men’s Fan!!!!
Ever college loves when we visit, except The Buckeyes and Husker Dus - cause we’re kicking their azz on Saturday!!!
 
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Gopherfan84 said:
Pat Kelsey won’t take this job. Besides I don’t think it’s smart hiring a guy who has the best job in a lower conference. Find the coach who wins a a bad job in their conference and you have something that may translate here
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Pat Kelsey would be a homerun hire if he would take the job....but you are right, he wouldnt touch this job with a 10' pole.
 

Gophs24 said:
Pat Kelsey would be a homerun hire if he would take the job....but you are right, he wouldnt touch this job with a 10' pole.
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Never say never. It depends on whether a guy is up for a challenge. I mention this once in a while, but my second job out of college was where I left a successful firm to go to a firm where the department of my subject matter expertise was a bombed out crater. They had been essentially blacklisted because of poor work and errors. Not taking all the credit, because I was one of a few hires they made about that time, but we had that thing humming and growing almost out of control within a couple years.
 



Ben does have a nice set of forwards, wings, and big men returning or arriving next year.

He really needs to fill that remaining hole at point guard and he needs these wings to develop as 3 point threats.

You guys should have noticed they shot 70% from 3 last night. So that is kind of encouraging. I won’t ask why they didn’t shoot more. Positive game from Henley offensively so there is a spark there to ho with Payne playing well again.

I don’t agree with the minutes suggested above for next year. This is how I would like too see it go:

C - Payne 20 min/Evans 20
PF - Garcia 30/JoJ 10
SF - JoJ 10/Ihnen 15/Betts 10/Henley 5
SG - Christie 15, Henley 15, Carrington 10
PG - transfer 25-30, Carrington 10, 2nd transfer 5

That’s right I don’t have Battle on the team.
Nor TT, Fox, Cooper, Ramburg. They can all go.

They really need a home run transfer PG with 1-2 years and a second PG who can grow into position.

Oh and the main emphasis in the off season should be adding strength, agility and getting these guys to embrace defense.

Cause until they start playing defense the rest doesn’t matter.
 

Otis said:
Ben does have a nice set of forwards, wings, and big men returning or arriving next year.

He really needs to fill that remaining hole at point guard and he needs these wings to develop as 3 point threats.

You guys should have noticed they shot 70% from 3 last night. So that is kind of encouraging. I won’t ask why they didn’t shoot more. Positive game from Henley offensively so there is a spark there to ho with Payne playing well again.

I don’t agree with the minutes suggested above for next year. This is how I would like too see it go:

C - Payne 20 min/Evans 20
PF - Garcia 30/JoJ 10
SF - JoJ 10/Ihnen 15/Betts 10/Henley 5
SG - Christie 15, Henley 15, Carrington 10
PG - transfer 25-30, Carrington 10, 2nd transfer 5

That’s right I don’t have Battle on the team.
Nor TT, Fox, Cooper, Ramburg. They can all go.

They really need a home run transfer PG with 1-2 years and a second PG who can grow into position.

Oh and the main emphasis in the off season should be adding strength, agility and getting these guys to embrace defense.

Cause until they start playing defense the rest doesn’t matter.
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Yikes! Battle has had his problems this year, but I don't see him as a candidate for addition by subtraction. That kind of rash move is what makes bad teams worse.
 

I'm ready for the offseason after all portal entries. Get the discussion rolling about who we're getting.
 

Gopherfan84 said:
Find the coach who wins a a bad job in their conference and you have something that may translate here
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When you take a look at all the factors that combine together to go against winning big at the U (what Minneapolis/Minnesota is, what the U is, and what the Big Ten is), I really do wonder if there even exists another job in the country that reasonably would "translate here".
 

Bad Gopher said:
Yikes! Battle has had his problems this year, but I don't see him as a candidate for addition by subtraction. That kind of rash move is what makes bad teams worse.
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I consider that Battle is this year's Humphries. Let's go get Grier.
The problem with Battle is not that he is a bad player. He is redundant and not as good as Garcia who is at the position Battle has to play. He is high usage and one of the least efficient players on the team in terms of scoring per shot taken. He is an average defender at best, not a great rebounder. He's a good shooter who is forcing shots- which has taken his percentages way down (30% on 3s and 38% FG%)
 
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Gophers_4life said:
When you take a look at all the factors that combine together to go against winning big at the U (what Minneapolis/Minnesota is, what the U is, and what the Big Ten is), I really do wonder if there even exists another job in the country that reasonably would "translate here".
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That’s a fair point. It is a unique job.
 

Maybe Pitt. Though they don't have a NBA franchise there, but not sure how much the Wolves "steal away" fans from Gophers MBB?

Also still not nearly as isolated from bulk of population like Mpls is.


In any case, can you see any reasonable scenario where Pitt head coach had major success and then was hired away ... by Minnesota?
 

Gopherfan84 said:
That’s a fair point. It is a unique job.
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There are also unique advantages. (By hook or by crook), Jim Dutcher recruited the #1 class in the country to Minneapolis. Minnesota ain't the hellscape that a lot of people around here seem to think it is. Bonus: a top-notch education! Anyone who can't sell this institution and community isn't a very good salesperson.
 

Bad Gopher said:
There are also unique advantages. (By hook or by crook), Jim Dutcher recruited the #1 class in the country to Minneapolis. Minnesota ain't the hellscape that a lot of people around here seem to think it is. Bonus: a top-notch education! Anyone who can't sell this institution and community isn't a very good salesperson.
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Yep, the only thing we have going against us versus other potential programs who have been mediocre to bad over the past 20 years is the weather. The worst of it however is during the season when you are probably in the gym anyway. A little different than football, but it seems that PJ really found a couple key points to sell and went all in on those.
 

Everyone is WAY over thinking this. X coach wouldn't take this job or we will never win big because x y or z. All you are doing is giving the past/current coaches and administration a free pass. We are in a big sports area. We are a B1G school making money hand over fist, have a ton of national exposure opportunities and top end facilities. Might it take more money/fortitude from the administration yes, but this isn't an impossible job. You think Manhattan Kansas or Stillwater Oklahoma are kids dreams? How about Spokane Washington or Philadelphia PA? Fact is the infrastructure is there to be a an above average program. The past and current program leaders (coaches, athletic dept, school admin) have failed for the better part of 30 years and have now conditioned fans to empathize with them and given them all the free reign to put out a terrible product and expect fans and alumni to feel bad for them. I call BS, they all should be ashamed of where this program is and where it has been. Are we duke or Kansas no, but we also shouldn't be debating if the job at College of Charleston is a better gig.
 

GopherBlood666 said:
Yep, the only thing we have going against us versus other potential programs who have been mediocre to bad over the past 20 years is the weather. The worst of it however is during the season when you are probably in the gym anyway. A little different than football, but it seems that PJ really found a couple key points to sell and went all in on those.
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Weather, isolation, and competition (from pro teams) are factors that can't have anything done about them.

Minneapolis is pretty much you have to fly here if you aren't from around here. Sure, that happens to be true with many players on many rosters anyway. People try to pass it off like it's a zero factor. I'm not saying it's huge, but it's more than zero. Being able to drive 5 hours to 30+Million people, vs here where that's probably more like 6-7M, is a more than zero factor.
 

Bad Gopher said:
There are also unique advantages. (By hook or by crook), Jim Dutcher recruited the #1 class in the country to Minneapolis. Minnesota ain't the hellscape that a lot of people around here seem to think it is. Bonus: a top-notch education! Anyone who can't sell this institution and community isn't a very good salesperson.
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Winning obviously makes it better. It’s a little bit of a chicken or egg convo. You have to be selective of the kids though. They need to want or not be detoured by an urban setting. That does detour for many within our annexing states. Again all jobs have difficulties/challenges, I just think ours presents a few more of them. If you look around there are not many successful schools in pro sports towns. The ones that are mostly private.
 

Minneapolis has always been a beautiful town that is a little off the radar. People were pleasantly surprised when they actually got there and discovered there is so much more than snow.

Dutcher used this to recruit here.

I think that’s a lot harder in the new reality of Minneapolis post George Floyd. Not sure downtown and uptown will ever recover.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Weather, isolation, and competition (from pro teams) are factors that can't have anything done about them.

Minneapolis is pretty much you have to fly here if you aren't from around here. Sure, that happens to be true with many players on many rosters anyway. People try to pass it off like it's a zero factor. I'm not saying it's huge, but it's more than zero. Being able to drive 5 hours to 30+Million people, vs here where that's probably more like 6-7M, is a more than zero factor.
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I would actually think these days that having a local pro team may be a plus for kids with professional aspirations. I would be surprised if they weren't playing together in open run sessions during the summer. I don't really understand the isolation comment. The U campus is in the heart of a major, metro market with millions of people. Posters have argued that an isolated college environment like Iowa city or Madison is more desired by players. Our geography does have a more than 0 effect, I agree, but it is something a quality head coach should be able to overcome. The U is not a dead zone. PJ Fleck recently had the best Gopher season of my entire life. It can be done.
 

leib0039 said:
Everyone is WAY over thinking this. X coach wouldn't take this job or we will never win big because x y or z. All you are doing is giving the past/current coaches and administration a free pass. We are in a big sports area. We are a B1G school making money hand over fist, have a ton of national exposure opportunities and top end facilities. Might it take more money/fortitude from the administration yes, but this isn't an impossible job. You think Manhattan Kansas or Stillwater Oklahoma are kids dreams? How about Spokane Washington or Philadelphia PA? Fact is the infrastructure is there to be a an above average program. The past and current program leaders (coaches, athletic dept, school admin) have failed for the better part of 30 years and have now conditioned fans to empathize with them and given them all the free reign to put out a terrible product and expect fans and alumni to feel bad for them. I call BS, they all should be ashamed of where this program is and where it has been. Are we duke or Kansas no, but we also shouldn't be debating if the job at College of Charleston is a better gig.
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How about fucking Lubbock! And yet Chris Beard built that thing into a Final Four team and a national title contender. Before that, people probably said some of the same things about them and fucking Lubbock than they say about Minneapolis.
 

leib0039 said:
Everyone is WAY over thinking this. X coach wouldn't take this job or we will never win big because x y or z. All you are doing is giving the past/current coaches and administration a free pass. We are in a big sports area. We are a B1G school making money hand over fist, have a ton of national exposure opportunities and top end facilities. Might it take more money/fortitude from the administration yes, but this isn't an impossible job. You think Manhattan Kansas or Stillwater Oklahoma are kids dreams? How about Spokane Washington or Philadelphia PA? Fact is the infrastructure is there to be a an above average program. The past and current program leaders (coaches, athletic dept, school admin) have failed for the better part of 30 years and have now conditioned fans to empathize with them and given them all the free reign to put out a terrible product and expect fans and alumni to feel bad for them. I call BS, they all should be ashamed of where this program is and where it has been. Are we duke or Kansas no, but we also shouldn't be debating if the job at College of Charleston is a better gig.
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Here's what I think happens: Yes we have the money to do it. Yes we are a big university in a great conference. We have had a lot of difficulty getting coaches to come here in the past. The reason?
I think they get a whiff of our administration and hear about our reputation and think- these guys are not going to help me in the least and some of them are going to do everything they can to impede me. The tales of this stuff at the U of M are long and many. A coach wants to go to a school that wants to win badly and win big.
 

Assuming both Battle and Garcia stay - and they are currently junior and sophomore, respectively - there's a lot less PT to spread around to a lot of underclassmen bigs. Just looking at it logically, someone is not going to play as much as they want, and these days, that means portalling. Putting aside things like loyalty and being local, I would be worried that Payne is a prime candidate for this - he could be "the man" in another program vs. having to split time for 3 years if he stays. JOJ is in a similar, but maybe lesser, quandary.

Again, this is all based on Garcia and Battle both staying - that changes if they don't.
 

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