Henley in portal

[howeda7]

Betts.

Also him.

At this moment we have 3 open scholarships (Battle, Henley, Evans). Cooper is almost certain to join them. Possibly one or two more. You can pretty much guarantee Ramberg will get one of them.

 

[Lion King]

Well this opens the door for Ben to go after a 2 guard in the portal to mentor Christie and Carrington.

I'm not sure their coming or staying , either
This is a dumpster fire !!

 

[cjbfbp]

We have as of the moment (assuming we lose Cooper and Battle):

Payne
Garcia
Ihnen
Fox
JOJ
Christie
Carrington

That leaves 6 open, 5 if you count Ramberg

Under these circumstances, I expect that Ramberg would keep his. 5 from the portal is a big enough task for us. Ramberg probably should keep his anyway. He's already shown that he can he can come into a game and give you 5 to 10 decent minutes which is all you can expect for a 13th man.

 

[Bad Gopher]

I see both JOJ and Carrington both liked Henley's tweet. Thoughts on what that means?

It means they liked his tweet.

 

[Gophers7633]

Ben needs to be fired asap. Odds are we'll keep Payne, Garcia, JOJ and Carrington no matter who the coach is because they are from MN. You have to have someone who can recruit the portal in this day and age and he clearly is unable to do so at a B1G level. We've got one incoming recruit(ranked in the 120's nationally) and how good will the guys from the portal be? For the betterment of the program, we just simply have to cut bait. I know it's costly, but fan apathy has set in big time. It's going to be embarrassing seeing how many empty seats will be at The Barn next year...unless we decide to give out free pizza to everyone.

 

[cjbfbp]

I'm hoping he didn't like the weather.

Otherwise its not promising for the program. This guy had no reason to leave

Obviously he had some reason.

 

[howeda7]

I'm not sure their coming or staying , either
This is a dumpster fire !!

If it was certain that a further roster exodus would expedite the end of this train-wreck, I'd be in favor of it. But I'm not sure that's the case.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Disappointing.
It's hard not to compare the University of Minnesota to Boston College, which just seems impossible to change.
Perhaps we just shut down the program, accept our losses, and move on to become the dominant swimming and diving University in the B1G.
It doesn't matter who is coach. No coach in the world can change the inevitable. UMN is the Boston College of the B1G.

If the guy who couldn't get a job at Northern Illinois or Montana State can't win here, it's crazy to think a qualified candidate could have any success.

 

[WindyCityGopher]

We could’ve realistically been in Year 2 of Brian Dutcher. Instead we got Ben Johnson. I 1000% guarantee we would have been significantly better now and looking at a much stronger future if they had instead picked a proven winner and master recruiter who actually wanted to be here. Oh well, maybe next year.

 

[cjbfbp]

Hopefully they will be around to be mentored. NCAA needs to go back to the transfer, sit one year rule.

That's not going to happen anytime soon.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

True. We tried Pitino and Johnson.

If they can't do it, I don't know how you turn this thing around.......

Notice the only REAL U of MN fans (MNJay, Menno) also are the ones who are the least optimistic about the program.

It's impossible to win. No one can do it.

They are so dug in on on their atrocious takes that the reality that they ignored creates an almost existential breakdown in their fandom because it's impossible that Ben Johnson is just a sh!tty coach.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Ramberg's scholarship for next year is looking rock solid right now.

Hell, Jackson Purcell's family is looking like they'll have a little more cash sitting around too.

 

[GopherPlaya]

Not unexpected but this is a gut punch. We just have to build a better program where people want to be. If Ben is going to be the one to do this, I can't see him surviving more than one of these this year among his core group. This has to be it.

I am beginning to dislike college basketball- a lot.

9 win team. Close friend backed out of his commitment & he is from 1000+ miles away. This would happen even before the portal

 

[Spaulding!No!]

So we lose Henly and Evans to Louisville, and they gave us Bakary. Hmm, I think Louisville is getting the better deal...

Pitino! I knew it!

 

[Dano564]

Pitino made 2 NCAA's in 8 years. The program overall had made 6 in 20 years this century. Now it's 6 in 22. I don't think two more bad seasons really changes much. The car was already full of dents.

And Pitino got fired because that wasn't good enough.
That's not the benchmark for a suitable coach as you are implying.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

So we lose Henly and Evans to Louisville, and they gave us Bakary. Hmm, I think Louisville is getting the better deal...

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

Few things.

1. Ben is unfit for this job
2. People here don't like the portal. You know why, because our coach is TERRIBLE as using it. I bet Penn St, IA St, Miami, like it.
3. Unlike pro sports, most kids are only at a school 3-4 years anyway, thus isn't like we went from 10 year careers to 1-2. College is about the program not individuals. Duke loses 7-8 kids a year, no one cares there.

This is a really, really harsh take.

And yet, it's difficult to find a lot that is horribly incorrect with it either.

Actually a really good point on the portal. If the Gophers had a coach that was snatching talent (yes, I said snatch) from the portal left and right, every Gopher fan would love it.

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

If Henley ends up at Louisville, they should take Ben off our hands as an assistant too.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

9 win team. Close friend backed out of his commitment & his from 1000+ miles away. This would happen even before the portal

Maybe but very few players who were starters would choose to sit out for a season.

It happened but nowhere near at the rate it happens now that they don't have to sit out.

 

[dbmn]

It’s a ding on the culture and system they are trying to develop.

Winning/losing is the culture and MN is losing.

 

[Off-GridTNgopher]

Me thinks I better fire up the generator so I can make me some of that popper corn.....

 

[cjbfbp]

Disappointing, I liked his potential with his combination of size, quickness, and some ability to drive and shoot. I’ll be curious to see if he’s done enough to get interest from other high majors. Maybe he ends up in the Mountain West somewhere?

Unless he follows Evans to Louisville, I kind of doubt he'll get much attention from high majors. We paid attention to him and saw his positive development through the latter part of the season but his overall numbers weren't very good for a player who played a lot of minutes, even for a freshman player. His PER was 7.4 for the full season (improved to 9.5 in conference but even that's not very good). His true shooting percentage was .462 for the season and almost the same in conference.

To put these numbers in perspective, there were 219 FRESHMAN GUARDS who played 300 minutes or more who had a true shooting percentage of .462 or better this season and 231 who had a PER of 7.4 or better.

I agree that he could end up in the Mountain West.

 

[howeda7]

And Pitino got fired because that wasn't good enough.
That's not the benchmark for a suitable coach as you are implying.

Where did I imply he was a suitable coach? I simply disagree that the program overall is significantly more "damaged" now than it was 2 years ago. It was already plenty damaged. It has a couple more dings now. The main positives and negatives of the job haven't changed.

 

[Gophers_4life]

If the guy who couldn't get a job at Northern Illinois or Montana State can't win here, it's crazy to think a qualified candidate could have any success.

Right … but that person will have to turn it around first.

Craig Smith would not be able to show up here in April and land solid guys from the portal by the end of this May.

I don’t believe that.

Now, if he came and turned it around in 23-24 with a decent year, they definitely I could see him getting better guys out of the portal.

 

[MNfootballfan]

UST was a middling team in a terrible Summit league. They aren't gaining "market share". We'll know that UST is making strides when they become the Gophers farm team.

I disagree. 24 months ago they were playing St. Olaf, Carleton, Hamline, etc. At face value they were a middling team but you are absolutely delusional if you don't see the trajectory they are in. UST is a direct competitor to the U. I would be shocked if by 2030 they aren't in the Big East with a brand new arena. If the U sits around and waits ang longer that gap is only going to get smaller.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

I disagree. 24 months ago they were playing St. Olaf, Carleton, Hamline, etc. At face value they were a middling team but you are absolutely delusional if you don't see the trajectory they are in. UST is a direct competitor to the U. I would be shocked if by 2030 they aren't in the Big East with a brand new arena. If the U sits around and waits ang longer that gap is only going to get smaller.

And until 2029, snobby Gopher fans will continue to refer to them as the minor league while they are flying by us.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Right … but that person will have to turn it around first.

Craig Smith would not be able to show up here in April and land solid guys from the portal by the end of this May.

I don’t believe that.

Now, if he came and turned it around in 23-24 with a decent year, they definitely I could see him getting better guys out of the portal.

I'm not sure what you're saying.

To turn it around, he's going to have to turn it around first?

 

[GopherPlaya]

Maybe but very few players who were starters would choose to sit out for a season.

It happened but nowhere near at the rate it happens now that they don't have to sit out.

Probably a higher rate now but he didn't start get starters until Evans decided to opt out of NLI

 

[Gophers_4life]

I'm not sure what you're saying.

To turn it around, he's going to have to turn it around first?

Everyone is talking about how much Ben is going to have to pull from the portal for next season.

 

[SelectionSunday]

Anyone poo-pooing St. Thomas as a future threat to Gopher athletics has their head buried in the sand. UST has much greater apsirations than the Summit League. Their leaders aren't shy about specifically identifying schools such as Marquette, Xavier, and Villanova (hmm, what conference are they all in?) as model universities for their future, both academically and athletically.

Pride comes before the fall.