Henley in portal

[jamiche]

I thought the system was the best when decisions had consequences and rewards. That way you were more likely to choose a destination for better reasons like - the right school, the right coach and the right fit. When a better offer came along, there was the chance to take it, but for a cost.

This new system is all about everyone getting what they can for themselves. Who cares about team mates, coaches, commitments and sticking to things when a person can get right away what feels good to good old #1. It's just like our society as a whole. What could go wrong?

Oh stop it. You get to do what feels right for you. Why shouldn't Henley. Sure it feels crappy that he's leaving, but he has every right to get paid and every right to better his situation. Or make a mistake. You always talk about "freedom." I think he he just exercised his own freedom. Now he will live with the consequences. That's how you grow. Not by bowing to the wishes of a grumpy season ticket holder.

 

[Dakota2]

His defense looked elite at times.

Yet, a month ago legions of posters were hoping Henley would leave. Said there was no hope of him ever being a Big Ten player.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Oh stop it. You get to do what feels right for you. Why shouldn't Henley. Sure it feels crappy that he's leaving, but he has every right to get paid and every right to better his situation. Or make a mistake. You always talk about "freedom." I think he he just exercised his own freedom. Now he will live with the consequences. That's how you grow. Not by bowing to the wishes of a grumpy season ticket holder.

I agree completely. Coaches should also be allowed to cut players and move on from them without any issue (which they have already sort of been doing). I can't blame a kid for going wherever he wants and getting money (if that's part of it). I don't blame the player.

 

[GopherJack]

Evans decommits and Henley hits the portal
So much for California Dreamin’

Sticking with your The Mamas & Papas theme, I'll just throw out there:

Monday, Monday (can't trust that day)

 

[DarthGopher]

I think he’s getting bad advice from this AAU coach, and thinks he is much better than he is. He is terrible defensively, and out of control offensively. Those both can improve, but he felt he should be getting more time than he had earned this year. He’s getting poor advice.

Spot on observations. Defensive liability (as in, seems quite disinterested in playing it). Offensive liability because he played so out of control. Has potential, but is a project nonetheless.

AAU emphasizes scoring, showboating and dunking. It is all about the image. Defense isn't flashy, so it's not emphasized. A player can get away with it playing against lesser competition. But in D1 ball, where most everybody was a top tier player, there is no hiding. You will be exposed.

 

[Dakota2]

I agree that Samuels didn’t offer much but Henley was a hot mess for a while and probably needed his minutes cut back some. I think it maybe took a little pressure off him and he played much better late in the season. Unfortunately in todays transfer portal world you can’t bench a player without risking him leaving the program.

Henley's late season improvement was a result of Ben's use of his minutes. Henley, to his credit, is coachable and learned. He cut down on his shots and worked harder on defense.

Ben used Samuels to coach up Henley.

 

[bga1]

Oh stop it. You get to do what feels right for you. Why shouldn't Henley. Sure it feels crappy that he's leaving, but he has every right to get paid and every right to better his situation. Or make a mistake. You always talk about "freedom." I think he he just exercised his own freedom. Now he will live with the consequences. That's how you grow. Not by bowing to the wishes of a grumpy season ticket holder.

No I don't. I do what I commit to doing. If I give you my word, sign a letter to that effect- then I'm doing it. You on the other hand probably do what you feel like. That is much of what is wrong with people these days.

 

[CentralGopher]

I think he’s getting bad advice from this AAU coach, and thinks he is much better than he is. He is terrible defensively, and out of control offensively. Those both can improve, but he felt he should be getting more time than he had earned this year. He’s getting poor advice.

He improved and played with more control as the season went on. Another year in the weight room and would have been more able to play through contact to increase his number of and 1’s. His defensive lapses are well known and a typical freshman thing I would also expect to improve. While he was hit and miss this year what is clear the s he has a lot of potential with some time and work.

 

[bga1]

Spot on observations. Defensive liability (as in, seems quite disinterested in playing it). Offensive liability because he played so out of control. Has potential, but is a project nonetheless.

AAU emphasizes scoring, showboating and dunking. It is all about the image. Defense isn't flashy, so it's not emphasized. A player can get away with it playing against lesser competition. But in D1 ball, where most everybody was a top tier player, there is no hiding. You will be exposed.

Not sure who you guys are watching. Henley was a very good on ball defender. Did he get lost on some back doors? Yep- as did all of his teammates. He was the team leader in steals per minute. Notice that Ben put him on Tominaga - you don't do that if a kid isn't giving the effort. He was our best chance to defend him.

 

[Dakota2]

It is quite possible that it may be nearly impossible to develop a minimum NCAA tournament-type program in the Big Ten when you have a very poor record and hardly a whiff of any NIL money. This is a very challenging combination, and with these last defections (and even worse if Cooper leaves), the pressure on Johnson to get quality portal players who are at a Big Ten level is enormous. So far, his high school recruiting was his strength, and his portal recruiting has not been promising.

Johnson will need a whole lot of things to fall into place to have any success next year, and things "falling into place perfectly" don't happen very often. So can all of the remaining freshmen improve before next year, can Ihnen and Fox buck the odds and contribute, can Christie be a difference-maker, and can Ben find quality players in the portal? All of these things are possible, but if I was a betting guy...

Your first three "can"s are likely. No. 4 is not.

 

[bga1]

Your first three "can"s are likely. No. 4 is not.

I think he gets one guy in the portal that make us excited and the others will be role players.

 

[benlaur]

"going to school" - I bet there are a lot of Jan Ganglehoff's running around these days and now the players can just pay from their own stash.

The new rules will ruin the product and are now doing so.

LOL. I am going to quote myself from above: Put something on paper, and someone will cheat it or abuse it...guaranteed.

You view it as a product and I view it as the lives of young people. Their lives are more important that the fans' product. That stated and to your point, scholarships are based on revenue and if there is no product, there is no scholarship. Dang, life is hard!

 

[GrampaGopher]

The body language on Henley was bad all year. He didn't seem to care for the team or his teammates. His leaving wasn't at all surprising to me. Henley was a developmental player who received significant minutes only because Minnesota was losing so much. If Fox or Ihnen was healthy Henley would not have played as many minutes. Replacing Henley, who did show improvement during the year but was terrible defensively and made questionable decisions, will be an easier task in the portal. What is more difficult and significantly more important for the Gophers is finding that lead guard. A main ball handler with a some quickness who can defend and create.

 

[stocker08]

are you saying Oral Roberts is one of the worst automatic qualifiers?
-Net Ranking is 36
-KenPom is 55
#23th adjusted offense in the country
#107 adjusted defense in the country
#7th best assist / turnover ratio in the country
#10th best effective FG % in the country
#14th best FT% in the country

-11-4 on the road
-3-0 in Neutral games
0-4 quad 1 (lost 78-70 @ St. Mary's *not a terrible loss, got crushed by Houston (not horrible loss as Houston is really good, Lost @ New Mexico by 7 (not a good loss), Lost @ Utah State by 10 - these games were all on the road

They are not the worst automatic qualifier...you just are trying to argue against the Summit League, this is a losing argument

No. It's one of the worst AQ conferences. Oral Roberts is the only team worth a damn this year. The Dakotas are at the top of the conference despite getting wiped all through the noncon. This isn't contained to them. Go through schedule by schedule and tell me what the conference's best win is.....overall. May very well be SDSU beating Boise State.

 

[Dakota2]

I think he gets one guy in the portal that make us excited and the others will be role players.

I'd be excited if he gets one guy who makes us excited.

 

[golfing18now]

The body language on Henley was bad all year. He didn't seem to care for the team or his teammates. His leaving wasn't at all surprising to me. Henley was a developmental player who received significant minutes only because Minnesota was losing so much. If Fox or Ihnen was healthy Henley would not have played as many minutes. Replacing Henley, who did show improvement during the year but was terrible defensively and made questionable decisions, will be an easier task in the portal. What is more difficult and significantly more important for the Gophers is finding that lead guard. A main ball handler with a some quickness who can defend and create.

This is too harsh on Henley. As someone who was critical of him in a few of the game day threads, I thought he showed as much improvement as anybody on the team. He was very likely a starter on this team next year. We are now looking at potentially replacing three starters (assuming Battle and Cooper leave) from a team that was already talent challenged. I'm not confident in our ability to attract four/five B1G caliber players. Losing functional pieces off the current roster and replacing them won't be easy or likely attainable.

 

[benlaur]

Good luck where ever you end up Jaden. Hopefully, you hit it out of the park and achieve your aspirations! Signed, the gopherhole!

 

[Crappie]

Correct, but we are not dumping big dollars on individual players...

Maybe that should change.

 

[bga1]

LOL. I am going to quote myself from above: Put something on paper, and someone will cheat it or abuse it...guaranteed.

You view it as a product and I view it as the lives of young people. Their lives are more important that the fans' product. That stated and to your point, scholarships are based on revenue and if there is no product, there is no scholarship. Dang, life is hard!

My view is that making commitments and keeping them is good for the young men. That's just me, watching a world that shuns commitment, suffer from failure.

 

[Wet_Blanket_Guy]

No. It's one of the worst AQ conferences. Oral Roberts is the only team worth a damn this year. The Dakotas are at the top of the conference despite getting wiped all through the noncon. This isn't contained to them. Go through schedule by schedule and tell me what the conference's best win is.....overall. May very well be SDSU beating Boise State.

Okay, I can agree with that.

 

[benlaur]

My view is that making commitments and keeping them is good for the young men. That's just me, watching a world that shuns commitment, suffer from failure.

Any commitment is a 2-way street. A coach can leave whenever they want. If they have a better situation, they can leave. If they are fired, they get guaranteed money. A college kid wants to leave for a better situation and people melt down.

These kids are not getting married, they are trying to figure out what they want to do in life. I am about as committed and loyal as they come. However, I think you are reading far too much into kids pursuing the best path for themselves.

I may write a book on society breaking down, but college kids transferring has no section in it. If anything, people are far too loyal to stupid.

 

[bga1]

Any commitment is a 2-way street. A coach can leave whenever they want. If they have a better situation, they can leave. If they are fired, they get guaranteed money. A college kid wants to leave for a better situation and people melt down.

These kids are not getting married, they are trying to figure out what they want to do in life. I am about as committed and loyal as they come. However, I think you are reading far too much into kids pursuing the best path for themselves.

I may write a book on society breaking down, but college kids transferring has no section in it. If anything, people are far too loyal to stupid.

As I have said, if the coach leaves or is fired, I have no problem with the kid leaving that year as well. Otherwise keep your commitment or sit out a year and move on. It's just my view that it is better for the kid and the sport both. We disagree and that's fine.

 

[USAF]

Ben used Samuels to coach up Henley.

LOL. Hilariously bad take.

 

[benlaur]

As I have said, if the coach leaves or is fired, I have no problem with the kid leaving that year as well. Otherwise keep your commitment or sit out a year and move on. It's just my view that it is better for the kid and the sport both. We disagree and that's fine.

Great debate BGA!

As an FYI, a panel of international arbiters, known as the IAA (Int. Arbiters Assoc.) declared me the winner unanimously per their email.

I am obviously joking. Agreeing to disagree is quite alright!

 

[Oatmeal Savage]

The lesson for Marcus Jenkins and Ben: when burned by Kool-Aid twice, don't ever drink it again.

 

[CPTMidnight]

I guess we know why Evans left. Henley called him and said "you can still come here but I wont be here when you arrive"

 

[bga1]

I guess we know why Evans left. Henley called him and said "you can still come here but I wont be here when you arrive"

chicken or egg? age old question...

 

[Spaulding!No!]

I'd be excited if he gets one guy who makes us excited.

There will be faux anticipation.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

Yes UMD, Mankato St and St Cloud St hockey agree with you… all have won or been to the finals more recent than the Gophers if I remember right…

UMD was the 8th member of the WHCA and has won three national championships, back to back in 2018 & 2019.

 

[WriterGoph]

We have more NIL money than people think here. The narrative on that is a poor excuse.

It's 100% fact that the U NILs will not offer NIL to incoming recruits or transfers. They will tell them that there are opportunities for them once they get established here. But it's not used as a recruiting tool. Do some research on it or listen to Derek Burns on a podcast explain it. It's all very available info.