Gophers Loaded with Up and Coming Talent

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MennoSota

MennoSota

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Just to counter the chicken littles.

Gophers basketball is loaded with up-and-coming talent | Sports Illustrated Minnesota Sports, News, Analysis, and More

www-si-com.cdn.ampproject.org www-si-com.cdn.ampproject.org

With two prized recruits on the way and four freshmen already playing key roles, the future could be bright for the Gophers.
Ben Johnson's 2022-23 Minnesota Golden Gophers might get beat most nights this season, but so it goes when developing a bunch of freshmen for what could be a special few years ahead.

Johnson took over a team last season that was made up primarily of transfer players after most of the team under Richard Pitino entered the portal and got out of town. In short order, Johnson has restocked the roster with young talent, headlined by a trio of 2022 Minnesota high school graduates.

Pharrel Payne (Park of Cottage Grove), Braeden Carrington (Park Center) and Josh Ola-Joseph (Osseo) are all playing key minutes as true freshmen, as is Jaden Henley (Ontario, California).
 

I think we are all aware of the potential involved with the current roster. The main issue so far is that they look completely lost on offense and defense when matched up with anything close to a quality team. There are not many complaints with Ben's prep recruiting, this has been very successful so far. The real question is if he can coach the talent that he is able to acquire. He still needs to prove this and is not doing himself any favors right now.
 

SI must not watch the games. I think they are writing a fluff piece for the Gophs to provide some much needed positive press…but in reality, have you guys seen lights out shooting from Carrington…or great ball handling from Henley (they were right that he is fearless with his shot…he just doesn’t make a lot of those fearless shots)
 

Henley will be solid he has some tools.. possibly a solid top 8 guy in the rotation
 

GopherBlood666 said:
I think we are all aware of the potential involved with the current roster. The main issue so far is that they look completely lost on offense and defense when matched up with anything close to a quality team. There are not many complaints with Ben's prep recruiting, this has been very successful so far. The real question is if he can coach the talent that he is able to acquire. He still needs to prove this and is not doing himself any favors right now.
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I think if you look at the stats and performance from most freshmen across the country at Div 1 schools in the first 10 games they play , you'll see a pattern for most freshmen of poor shooting and spotty performances in the large majority of cases. There is a decent amount of talent in this freshmen class, and so far they haven't played particularly well, with the exception of Payne. I realize there is a lot of angst after a last place finish last year, but let's give Johnson a chance here. There will be a LOT of growing pains.

Let's see where things are at by the end of the year. If they don't improve, then you've got a problem.
 


Wet_Blanket_Guy said:
SI must not watch the games. I think they are writing a fluff piece for the Gophs to provide some much needed positive press…but in reality, have you guys seen lights out shooting from Carrington…or great ball handling from Henley (they were right that he is fearless with his shot…he just doesn’t make a lot of those fearless shots)
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I do like what I've seen so far from Payne, Carrington and Joseph. They almost seem like they deserve more floor time than they're getting. Henley has not looked impressive to me to date and the guys I thought would be the consistent ones are the most disappointing.
 

By game 4 of conference play we’ll know a lot more about how the staff develops young talent.
 

Well the coach will have a couple years to get this “talent” to gel into a good team. I do think the talent level is substantially overrated.
 
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For our freshmen, all we should be looking for right now is that they look-the-part. It's not until about the last 5 games of the season that we should look for wins or for consistent good play.

It's not for sure...but I think they all look-the-part. If about every fourth game they have about 12 points or something, that's good enough for now.
 

Patience patience patience.

Might as well enjoy the process and look for small victories at this juncture; having a episode won’t change what will happen and only lead to not seeing/enjoying the small victories.
 

GopherBlood666 said:
I think we are all aware of the potential involved with the current roster. The main issue so far is that they look completely lost on offense and defense when matched up with anything close to a quality team. There are not many complaints with Ben's prep recruiting, this has been very successful so far. The real question is if he can coach the talent that he is able to acquire. He still needs to prove this and is not doing himself any favors right now.
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Correct. We know he can recruit. That's no longer a concern, and it's a plus.

The questions we need answered now are can he develop players, and can he coach X's and O's.
 

The biggest issue right now is roster construction. Can you imagine if those other 2 forwards were healthy? 1 post player, 2 guards, and about 8 forwards!
 



I see payne being hard to stop if ben can develop him. Great point.
GopherBlood666 said:
I think we are all aware of the potential involved with the current roster. The main issue so far is that they look completely lost on offense and defense when matched up with anything close to a quality team. There are not many complaints with Ben's prep recruiting, this has been very successful so far. The real question is if he can coach the talent that he is able to acquire. He still needs to prove this and is not doing himself any favors right now.
Click to expand...
 

Do you suppose it’s possible for CBJ to coach up quickness with the players?🤔
 

GoodasGold said:
Do you suppose it’s possible for CBJ to coach up quickness with the players?🤔
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I expect him to be able to devise a system that takes advantage of the skills they do have which also hides their weaknesses. This is fully Ben's team now with the exception of Ihnen and Thompson, neither of which are playing a major factor thus far. He bought the groceries, I expect him to have a plan on what to cook for dinner as well.
 

GopherBlood666 said:
I expect him to be able to devise a system that takes advantage of the skills they do have which also hides their weaknesses. This is fully Ben's team now with the exception of Ihnen and Thompson, neither of which are playing a major factor thus far. He bought the groceries, I expect him to have a plan on what to cook for dinner as well.
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Some meals take longer to prepare and cook...
You strike me as a microwaved hotdogs kind of guy. 😏
 

march madness said:
The biggest issue right now is roster construction. Can you imagine if those other 2 forwards were healthy? 1 post player, 2 guards, and about 8 forwards!
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Talk about the ideal opportunity to execute a matchup zone defense...
Glass half full, bro.
 

gopherbadgerman said:
Well the coach will have a couple years to get this “talent” to gel into a good team. I do think the talent level is substantially overrated.
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Freshmen or team as a whole? I think the freshmen talent level is not overrated at this point.
 


MennoSota said:
Some meals take longer to prepare and cook...
You strike me as a microwaved hotdogs kind of guy. 😏
Click to expand...
I love the metaphors flying here guys. I do think this meal will take some time- if anyone is thinking that a new coach in his 2nd year with the kind of turnover Johnson's had and the number of freshmen playing would have the program winning a lot already, I think you may have to look around a little. Sure, Musselman at Arkansas....different situation, and there are very few like that.
 

I'm all in with the freshman talent and waiting for improvements from b10 experience. However, if those core freshman or Garcia, Battle, Ihnen, Fox transfer Johnson's plan falls apart.
 



It would be great if the freshman were consistent. Probably won't happen. We'll start looking better when battle and garcia start playing better. When will that happen? Who knows, but we'll win some big ten games at home because there will be a couple times where they have big nights.
 


MennoSota said:
Some meals take longer to prepare and cook...
You strike me as a microwaved hotdogs kind of guy. 😏
Click to expand...
Gourmet chefs can make an exquisite meal with little time and resources, especially with a platoon of assistants.
 


MennoSota said:
Just to counter the chicken littles.

Gophers basketball is loaded with up-and-coming talent | Sports Illustrated Minnesota Sports, News, Analysis, and More

www-si-com.cdn.ampproject.org www-si-com.cdn.ampproject.org

With two prized recruits on the way and four freshmen already playing key roles, the future could be bright for the Gophers.
Ben Johnson's 2022-23 Minnesota Golden Gophers might get beat most nights this season, but so it goes when developing a bunch of freshmen for what could be a special few years ahead.

Johnson took over a team last season that was made up primarily of transfer players after most of the team under Richard Pitino entered the portal and got out of town. In short order, Johnson has restocked the roster with young talent, headlined by a trio of 2022 Minnesota high school graduates.

Pharrel Payne (Park of Cottage Grove), Braeden Carrington (Park Center) and Josh Ola-Joseph (Osseo) are all playing key minutes as true freshmen, as is Jaden Henley (Ontario, California).
Click to expand...
Half the posters on this board are clowns.

Anyone remember what Andre Hollins looked like most of his freshman year? Not good - with moments of promise in between. Then - with about a half-dozen games remaining - boom. It clicked. And we saw what he'd look like in the following year. That's typical of 4-star freshman players. They take time to acclimate - almost all of them do.

So here we are. Finally with an incoming class full of guys that show the promise of developing into legit players by the end of the year. And what happens? The clowns on this board want to deprive them of their opportunity. Forget W's and L's. Sit back, enjoy watching the guys develop, and know that you're seeing the vision come together.

I'm absolutely loving this year.
 


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