Gophers MBB is Bad but Future is Bright

Donate To GopherHole
60's Guy said:
We could be good: But, I don't see how it happens as written.
1. Fox and Ihnen earn starting roles.
2. Christie is Purdue freshman good...he scores 10 ppg
3. We somehow add another very good guard who can make free throws, set up the offense and defend the other teams point guard.
4 Battle, Garcia and Cooper return.
5. The four freshmen playing all the minutes actually develop into effective consistent bench players. Betts is happy or good.
6. Evans surprises as a freshman and is effective in his playing time.
7. TT let's us add a guard and we actually recruit a good one (3).
8. That would give us 13 guys who all think they should play. Ben wants to play 7. Many of those guys can't play together at the same time because of similar skills or lack there of.
So, ya we could be good if we keep all those guys and Ben figures out to keep them happy and how they can play together.
Without a new guard we can be better but my gosh this is a tall task...we have too many guys who can't shoot or can't run an offense or can't defend their position.
If they all stay...do the four freshmen with the minutes this year, Payne, Carrington, Ola Joseph, Henley plus Betts all sit next year?
Garcia, Battle, Cooper, Fox, Ihnen, Christie, Evans are your top 7? Right? Get a new guard and play 8?
Fox and Ihnen healthy are head shoulders better than the 5 freshmen, plus they are men.. Garcia, Battle and Cooper are our best players on this years team. Christie has to be good for us to be better. Evans has the wingspan and publicity that he has to play. Those 7 or 8 can't sit...right? Ben is not playing 10 or 13 guys. I'd rather not hope for injuries as a solution to those 5 freshmen playing. Do TT and half the 5 freshmen figure it out and transfer or patiently wait to play in the future?
Click to expand...
I'm not crazy about Cooper.
 

Article on current status of team by Alex Echo Press

Gophers Men's Basketball Coach understands pains of current losing streak.

“I don’t want them to lose that focus and perspective of let’s call a spade a spade sometimes,” Johnson said. “And make sure these guys understand there is going to be brighter days.”

I think he is speaking to a few guys on gopherhole.com at the same time as his team... could be wrong tho.
 

Chico Gopher said:
Got me curious about Sam Freeman. Playing with Pacific Tigers in California. Averaging about 12 minutes per game. 2nd on the team in blocked shots, but only averaging 3.0 pts and 2.8 Reb. per game. Only plays about 12 minutes a game. Hits a nice percentage of his shots, but seems to have an issue with committing a lot of fouls, relative to playing time. His team is 11-12 so far this season.
Click to expand...
He gets to play college ball with a free education- that may be his ceiling and one we’d all welcome.
 
Last edited:

Chico Gopher said:
Got me curious about Sam Freeman. Playing with Pacific Tigers in California. Averaging about 12 minutes per game. 2nd on the team in blocked shots, but only averaging 3.0 pts and 2.8 Reb. per game. Only plays about 12 minutes a game. Hits a nice percentage of his shots, but seems to have an issue with committing a lot of fouls, relative to playing time. His team is 11-12 so far this season.
Click to expand...

If only Ben Johnson could have convinced him to stay....:oops:
 

stocker08 said:
If only Ben Johnson could have convinced him to stay....:oops:
Click to expand...
Of course the overall level of competition at University of Pacific is different than what you face in the Big Ten. Also, numbers alone don't really tell the story of what the style of play is in that program or how, exactly, they utilize him as compared to how Ben might have utilized him. A lot of variables. Since I haven't watched any Pacific games, I couldn't really provide details on what their system is or how he fits into it.
 


Holy fucking shit, is Gopher basketball--both men's and women's--bad! This has got to be the most destitute of basketball wastelands anywhere right now. I can only imagine what Brian Coyle thinks of the situation he's created here.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Holy fucking shit, is Gopher basketball--both men's and women's--bad! This has got to be the most destitute of basketball wastelands anywhere right now. I can only imagine what Brian Coyle thinks of the situation he's created here.
Click to expand...

Yep disaster X2. I actually think the BJ hire was better than LW- she's clueless and inexperienced
At least they are both "one of us"
 





At least Ben had some seasoning. Whalen was essentially hired off the street. In both cases, I hoped Brian knew something I didn't. He didn't.
LesBolstad said:
Yep disaster X2. I actually think the BJ hire was better than LW- she's clueless and inexperienced
At least they are both "one of us"
Click to expand...
 

CPTMidnight said:
"There are valid questions about the coaching staff and there are concerns about the level this team can compete next year. But it is early in the Ben Johnson era. Steve Pikiell endured two brutal seasons in his first two at Rutgers. Going 3-15 in each of your first two seasons is a mountain to overcome. But he has his team rolling now with one of the best defenses in the country and they might be one of the top 20 teams in the country."
Click to expand...
More Pikiell love! We may as well just send all the lepers and blind to Piscataway to be healed and bring a big jug of water to be turned into wine. It'd be more obvious is he wore sandals and had long hair, but I suppose he wanted to go undercover. That way he can just use his divine powers to turn around Rutgers instead of being bogged down by saving humanity and bringing salvation to the rest of us.
 

Luck and Injuries discussion on Gopher Illustrated

Is Minnesota Unlucky?

Is our luck, injuries, or is it just the Charlie Brown fans getting what they deserve and taking the normal fans with them?? ...or is it just the team is in a deep rebuilding year (or three)?
 

CPTMidnight said:
Luck and Injuries discussion on Gopher Illustrated

Is Minnesota Unlucky?

Is our luck, injuries, or is it just the Charlie Brown fans getting what they deserve and taking the normal fans with them?? ...or is it just the team is in a deep rebuilding year (or three)?
Click to expand...
Nope it’s just excuses and normal for every team to have this many injuries. None were point guards blah blah blah.
 



Is the future brighter here in MN with Ben or in Nebraska with Fred Hoiberg?

Nebraska Basketball: Fred Hoiberg is safe despite losses piling up

Is Nebraska's future brighter than ours with coach Ben Johnson? Some might say that Fred's level of success as a player and a coach means that Ben could never attain his level of coaching - am I right?

After all Fred has 4 solid years as a player with Iowa State with a career average of ~16 points per game, Played in the NBA for 10 years, (Led the NBA in free throw percentage in final year), Coached Iowa State to 4 strait NCAA Tournaments (Including to Sweet16), and was an NBA coach for 4 years prior to taking the reigns at Nebraska (6-14 in Big Ten prior year). Since completing 3 seasons with Nebraska he has placed 14th, 14th, and 13th in the Big Ten and this year appears to be on pace for another 12th this year. Ben, on the other hand, Ben has very little pedigree compared to Fred and had the same record last year after Ben lost pretty much his entire team before he started. This year Fred appears to be headed towards finishing 2 spots ahead of the Gophers in conference play.

Is the future brighter with Fred or Ben? Place your bets.
 

CPTMidnight said:
Is the future brighter here in MN with Ben or in Nebraska with Fred Hoiberg?

Nebraska Basketball: Fred Hoiberg is safe despite losses piling up

Is Nebraska's future brighter than ours with coach Ben Johnson? Some might say that Fred's level of success as a player and a coach means that Ben could never attain his level of coaching - am I right?

After all Fred has 4 solid years as a player with Iowa State with a career average of ~16 points per game, Played in the NBA for 10 years, (Led the NBA in free throw percentage in final year), Coached Iowa State to 4 strait NCAA Tournaments (Including to Sweet16), and was an NBA coach for 4 years prior to taking the reigns at Nebraska (6-14 in Big Ten prior year). Since completing 3 seasons with Nebraska he has placed 14th, 14th, and 13th in the Big Ten and this year appears to be on pace for another 12th this year. Ben, on the other hand, Ben has very little pedigree compared to Fred and had the same record last year after Ben lost pretty much his entire team before he started. This year Fred appears to be headed towards finishing 2 spots ahead of the Gophers in conference play.

Is the future brighter with Fred or Ben? Place your bets.
Click to expand...

Fred should have been fired after last season. They had plenty of talent, but the Gophers kept him from finishing last in the B1G for the 3rd time in 3 seasons. Keeping Fred is just delaying the inevitable, and they will continue to be terrible. It's one of the many examples of why you don't need more than 3 seasons to know if you have the right coach.
 

CPTMidnight said:
Article on current status of team by Alex Echo Press

Gophers Men's Basketball Coach understands pains of current losing streak.

“I don’t want them to lose that focus and perspective of let’s call a spade a spade sometimes,” Johnson said. “And make sure these guys understand there is going to be brighter days.”

I think he is speaking to a few guys on gopherhole.com at the same time as his team... could be wrong tho.
Click to expand...
let's call a spade a spade!

2/4/23

Maryland 81
Minnesota 46

In the barn! It's hard to post, but yes, in the barn.
 

kg21 said:
let's call a spade a spade!

2/4/23

Maryland 81
Minnesota 46

In the barn! It's hard to post, but yes, in the barn.
Click to expand...
Bobby Knight's Worst Loss

Middle of the student section that day. Bobby Knight's career (no matter what you think of him personally) is not judged based on this one game and neither will Ben's career be judged by the Maryland game. It will be judged on the overall body of work which will be last a minimum of 3 years but a realistic minimum assuming there is improvement next year will be 4-6 years.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Fred should have been fired after last season. They had plenty of talent, but the Gophers kept him from finishing last in the B1G for the 3rd time in 3 seasons. Keeping Fred is just delaying the inevitable, and they will continue to be terrible. It's one of the many examples of why you don't need more than 3 seasons to know if you have the right coach.
Click to expand...
Ben's first recruits are freshmen. And he has a 5-star in next year's class. This talk about firing him is very dumb.
 

Formerswish said:
I agree that there are a lot of takes here that are very shaky. You might be able to say the talent is better at many of the positions (except clearly at point guard) if/when you assume some of the freshmen will keep improving, but the talent level right now is only better at the 4. And you could argue that Battle is a far inferior player to what he was a year ago. I don't think anyone saw him as shooting 36% from the field and 29.9% from 3. For that matter, Garcia at 44.7% and 32.3% isn't great either.

One of the factors in their dismal season has been the poor shooting of the veterans. Cooper shot the 3 well at the beginning of the season but has fallen off greatly in Big Ten Play. Samuels 3's are a prayer, but he'll be gone. Thompson, who almost exclusively shoots 3's (although with fairly limited attempts this year) shoots 3s at 12.5% this year. Assuming all of the veterans stay, they're going to have to shoot it better for this team to make significant improvement next year. I, for one, don't see how as a team they could possibly shoot it worse.
Click to expand...
Re: shooting. The same thing has been said around these parts for years. How can it get worse.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Fred should have been fired after last season. They had plenty of talent, but the Gophers kept him from finishing last in the B1G for the 3rd time in 3 seasons. Keeping Fred is just delaying the inevitable, and they will continue to be terrible. It's one of the many examples of why you don't need more than 3 seasons to know if you have the right coach.
Click to expand...
Fred not getting canned had nothing to do with him beating us. My god you’re reaching. You very well know he didn’t get fired because they knew they had to deal with Frost first. We get it, you’re ready to move on and you have your data to prove it.
 

CPTMidnight said:
Bobby Knight's Worst Loss

Middle of the student section that day. Bobby Knight's career (no matter what you think of him personally) is not judged based on this one game and neither will Ben's career be judged by the Maryland game. It will be judged on the overall body of work which will be last a minimum of 3 years but a realistic minimum assuming there is improvement next year will be 4-6 years.
Click to expand...
I was talking Gophers!

Nice deflection
 

Gopherfan84 said:
Fred not getting canned had nothing to do with him beating us. My god you’re reaching. You very well know he didn’t get fired because they knew they had to deal with Frost first. We get it, you’re ready to move on and you have your data to prove it.
Click to expand...

I wasn't trying to connect those dots, I was mainly stating how bad Fred has been and how he should have been fired after last season regardless of eeking out a 13th place finish. Nebraska isn't going anywhere under Fred, just like they weren't going anywhere under Frost. You knew that was the case with both of them within 3 years. Giving them 4th and 5th years is just extending a bad program.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I wasn't trying to connect those dots, I was mainly stating how bad Fred has been and how he should have been fired after last season regardless of eeking out a 13th place finish. Nebraska isn't going anywhere under Fred, just like they weren't going anywhere under Frost. You knew that was the case with both of them within 3 years. Giving them 4th and 5th years is just extending a bad program.
Click to expand...
Gotta pay to buy them out, but yeah I hear you. Fred did make the change to finally focusing on defense and it’s produced his best results in conference. Interesting switch for him since he’s never cared about it
 

Gopherfan84 said:
Gotta pay to buy them out, but yeah I hear you. Fred did make the change to finally focusing on defense and it’s produced his best results in conference. Interesting switch for him since he’s never cared about it
Click to expand...
College administrations are basically government...they don't want to give back the 'buyout' money or any money. Nebraska gave Frost an extra $15M for absolutely no reason...other than I'm sure he'll kick back half of it to his friends.
 


forever a gopher said:
More Pikiell love! We may as well just send all the lepers and blind to Piscataway
Click to expand...
Been there and no one should want to go there willingly.
forever a gopher said:
to be healed and bring a big jug of water to be turned into wine. It'd be more obvious is he wore sandals and had long hair, but I suppose he wanted to go undercover. That way he can just use his divine powers to turn around Rutgers instead of being bogged down by saving humanity and bringing salvation to the rest of us.
Click to expand...
 





You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom