Gophers in N Alabama transfer Daniel Ortiz top 6

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This transfer totally transforms us!
 


Dakota2 said:
The season's over now. You might as well spill the beans on how Battle really should have been used at the 3. No need to keep the truth hidden now.
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He shouldn't have been used there at all, but if Ben decided that was the way to go, he should have had a better plan.
 

We can all hope for depth and to fill our scholarships, but CBJ has been known to play 5 guys only in a game. If we have depth will he play 10 guys?
 


gophereric30 said:
We can all hope for depth and to fill our scholarships, but CBJ has been known to play 5 guys only in a game. If we have depth will he play 10 guys?
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He hasn’t had any sort of depth to play. I don’t think we’ve seen any reason he won’t play 9 guys if he has 9 that deserve playing time
 

Bdrizzle said:
He hasn’t had any sort of depth to play. I don’t think we’ve seen any reason he won’t play 9 guys if he has 9 that deserve playing time
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Right. Deserve playing time. Getting 3 samuels in the portal and finding out they're terrible doesn't help later in the season when you realize you can't play them.
 


Why would Ben sign players who aren’t Big Ten quality. It sometimes appears that he doesn’t know what to do as a HC in the BT.
 



Bdrizzle said:
He hasn’t had any sort of depth to play. I don’t think we’ve seen any reason he won’t play 9 guys if he has 9 that deserve playing time
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We have had 10 guys to play. He always plays like 8 guys. Yes with injuries at times we have like 8. Bottom line is you need to get big ten players.
 

dlnavra said:
No one expects Ihnen to contribute? For sure, it's been a tough road for him, but if Fox is worth mentioning, then why not Ihnen at 6'10" (?). It'd be a heck of a welcome surprise if he and Fox both show up healthy.
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I don't expect Ihnen (or Fox) to contribute. I HOPE they can. Statistically most teams play 8-9 guys (10+ min/gm). I see Fox and Ihnen as 4's/5's. I see the 4/5 positions playing out as follows: Payne 30 min/gm at the 5. Garcia 25-30 min/gm at the 4 and 5-8 at the 5. Fox picking up any additional minutes at the 5. Ihnen backing up Garcia at the 4 at 10-15 min/gm. IF Ihnen can live up to his pre injury hype, maybe some time at the 3 for him. I think Mitchell will have 30+ at the PG. My concern is who gets the minutes at the 2 and the 3? It will be interesting to see who rises to the occasion. Carrington? Christie? Hoping we get those G's to back up Mitchell at the PG and also the 2/3 positions. Git r dun Ben.
 

Big Dawg said:
I don't expect Ihnen (or Fox) to contribute. I HOPE they can. Statistically most teams play 8-9 guys (10+ min/gm). I see Fox and Ihnen as 4's/5's. I see the 4/5 positions playing out as follows: Payne 30 min/gm at the 5. Garcia 25-30 min/gm at the 4 and 5-8 at the 5. Fox picking up any additional minutes at the 5. Ihnen backing up Garcia at the 4 at 10-15 min/gm. IF Ihnen can live up to his pre injury hype, maybe some time at the 3 for him. I think Mitchell will have 30+ at the PG. My concern is who gets the minutes at the 2 and the 3? It will be interesting to see who rises to the occasion. Carrington? Christie? Hoping we get those G's to back up Mitchell at the PG and also the 2/3 positions. Git r dun Ben.
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It's also simplistic to think about it at as 8-9 guys splitting time in one game. It's 8-9 guys splitting time over the course of the season. Guys get benched (e.g. Henley, Samuels) for performance reasons or are hurt (Battle, Garcia, Carrington). Ben simply can't just count on 7 guys to play for him all year.

To address your previous question...yes we need more guards, even if Ortiz commits IMO. I was pointing out that he wasn't a PG and we already have a prototypical PG profile. Would love to get a guy who can back him up in that role, I don't think we have it right now.
 

eker0016 said:
It's also simplistic to think about it at as 8-9 guys splitting time in one game. It's 8-9 guys splitting time over the course of the season. Guys get benched (e.g. Henley, Samuels) for performance reasons or are hurt (Battle, Garcia, Carrington). Ben simply can't just count on 7 guys to play for him all year.

To address your previous question...yes we need more guards, even if Ortiz commits IMO. I was pointing out that he wasn't a PG and we already have a prototypical PG profile. Would love to get a guy who can back him up in that role, I don't think we have it right now.
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^Agree with all of that. That's why you don't recruit "bench guys". In a perfect recruiting world, all of your (Ben's) recruits could potential start and/or see a lot of playing time. Love the Mitchell signing. Now patiently waiting for a few additional portal guys.
 



Big Dawg said:
^Agree with all of that. That's why you don't recruit "bench guys". In a perfect recruiting world, all of your (Ben's) recruits could potential start and/or see a lot of playing time. Love the Mitchell signing. Now patiently waiting for a few additional portal guys.
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👍
However, the patiently part stinks
 

Dakota2 said:
Where should he have been used and who should he have supplanted?
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I wasn't saying I knew better than Ben how to utilize Battle at the 3. I am saying Ben couldn't figure it out, and he is the coach of the team who gets paid to figure this out. What I know or do not know is irrelevant as I am not the coach.
 



GopherBlood666 said:
I wasn't saying I knew better than Ben how to utilize Battle at the 3. I am saying Ben couldn't figure it out, and he is the coach of the team who gets paid to figure this out. What I know or do not know is irrelevant as I am not the coach.
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Battle got plenty of shots this year (edged out Garcia for the most shots per game from the field on the team). He just didn't make them like he did last year. Was Pitino responsible for Gabe's continously declining 3 point percentage throughout his 3 years here?
 

GopherBlood666 said:
I wasn't saying I knew better than Ben how to utilize Battle at the 3. I am saying Ben couldn't figure it out, and he is the coach of the team who gets paid to figure this out. What I know or do not know is irrelevant as I am not the coach.
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Maybe Battle couldn’t figure it out.
 

cjbfbp said:
Battle got plenty of shots this year (edged out Garcia for the most shots per game from the field on the team). He just didn't make them like he did last year. Was Pitino responsible for Gabe's continously declining 3 point percentage throughout his 3 years here?
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Yes. It's a 2 way street, credit/blame goes to the player and coach involved.
 


GopherBlood666 said:
I wasn't saying I knew better than Ben how to utilize Battle at the 3. I am saying Ben couldn't figure it out, and he is the coach of the team who gets paid to figure this out. What I know or do not know is irrelevant as I am not the coach.
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Had Battle hit 40% from three, gone to the line 120 times and hit 80%, you would not be complaining that Ben didn't use him correctly. Bottom line is Battle had a bad year and just didn't play well. None of us know exactly what bothered him.
 

Dakota2 said:
Had Battle hit 40% from three, gone to the line 120 times and hit 80%, you would not be complaining that Ben didn't use him correctly. Bottom line is Battle had a bad year and just didn't play well. None of us know exactly what bothered him.
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This is correct, and this did not happen. So the only conclusion is that Battle struggled and the gameplan Ben had for him did not help to alleviate his struggles. I think we agree. Coaches are responsible for struggling players, especially when their only plan of action is to let them play through their struggles without making any other changes.
 

GopherBlood666 said:
This is correct, and this did not happen. So the only conclusion is that Battle struggled and the gameplan Ben had for him did not help to alleviate his struggles. I think we agree. Coaches are responsible for struggling players, especially when their only plan of action is to let them play through their struggles without making any other changes.
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What is Ben's fault is not putting together a better roster that would have allowed to bench Battle for forcing shots and failing to play in a team concept. Most people would have screamed if Ramberg would have come in for Battle.
 

Dakota2 said:
Had Battle hit 40% from three, gone to the line 120 times and hit 80%, you would not be complaining that Ben didn't use him correctly. Bottom line is Battle had a bad year and just didn't play well. None of us know exactly what bothered him.
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Of course not, that would have been evidence he was used correctly.
 

bga1 said:
What is Ben's fault is not putting together a better roster that would have allowed to bench Battle for forcing shots and failing to play in a team concept. Most people would have screamed if Ramberg would have come in for Battle.
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Mentally, Ben likely did as much as he could with Battle. Not easy.
 

bga1 said:
What is Ben's fault is not putting together a better roster that would have allowed to bench Battle for forcing shots and failing to play in a team concept. Most people would have screamed if Ramberg would have come in for Battle.
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Ben also deserves some blame (IMO) for not recognizing where to play players. If he really thought Ihnen could play the 2, why wouldn't he have thought Battle should play the 3?

I do agree with you, the biggest issue is the roster construction that forced these horrible lineups. However, I am not convinced Ben realized how poorly constructed the team was until he saw them play. That's a failure in analysis and construction - while those things obviously overlap (you construct based on your analysis), they also are independent issues.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I do agree with you, the biggest issue is the roster construction that forced these horrible lineups. However, I am not convinced Ben realized how poorly constructed the team was until he saw them play. That's a failure in analysis and construction - while those things obviously overlap (you construct based on your analysis), they also are independent issues.
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The roster construction is on Johnson but it isn't like they didn't try to land other guards they just didn't pull it off.

Portal recruiting is super competitive, and sometimes it feels like posters think it is just a matter of going out and picking the players you want without factoring in that the players you want are being pursued by a whole bunch of other teams as well.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Ben also deserves some blame (IMO) for not recognizing where to play players. If he really thought Ihnen could play the 2, why wouldn't he have thought Battle should play the 3?

I do agree with you, the biggest issue is the roster construction that forced these horrible lineups. However, I am not convinced Ben realized how poorly constructed the team was until he saw them play. That's a failure in analysis and construction - while those things obviously overlap (you construct based on your analysis), they also are independent issues.
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I can't defend Ben on this. He put together a roster that just didn't work. That's why I don't feel that Battle is a big loss as some do. The team has to fit together and work together on both ends. We are going to find out this year what Ben learns from it. I don't believe in firing people for making mistakes. I do believe that you have to be fired if you fail to learn from them.
 

bga1 said:
I can't defend Ben on this. He put together a roster that just didn't work. That's why I don't feel that Battle is a big loss as some do. The team has to fit together and work together on both ends. We are going to find out this year what Ben learns from it. I don't believe in firing people for making mistakes. I do believe that you have to be fired if you fail to learn from them.
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My one hope for this coming season is that we actually get to see the full roster Johnson puts together on the court.

Ihnen and Fox may or may not have moved the needle a ton this past year but the reality is that both were almost certainly going to be key parts of the rotation. Injuries are something all teams have to deal with but we have been very snakebitten by them the past two seasons.

In what is likely going to be a pivotal year in Johnson's tenure at the U it would be nice to see the team finally get to play at full strength to see just how Johnson really manages things.
 

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