Here are five story lines for Johnson's Gophers going into summer practice:

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per Marcus:

Here are five story lines for Johnson's Gophers going into summer practice:

Who runs the show?​

The best candidates to fill that spot are seniors Payton Willis and Luke Loewe, who have played point guard throughout their careers. Loewe (3.2) and Willis (3.1) led William & Mary and Charleston, respectively, in assists last season.

No big men on campus​

If you're scratching your head looking at the Gophers' opening summer practice roster with only one center, it's not a misprint. Freshman Treyton Thompson is the only player at the position right now.

Establishing starting lineup​

The Gophers are the only team in the Big Ten with no starters expected back. The lone returner is junior forward Isaiah Ihnen, who averaged 2.8 points last season.

Minnesota connections​

Johnson, a former Gophers player and assistant, is passionate about being a "Minnesota guy" and the head coach of his home state program. He also surrounded himself with others like him.

Getting healthy​

Fox, who could miss the 2021-22 season, is the only player sidelined completely from summer practice while recovering from a torn ACL and meniscus in his left knee.

www.startribune.com

Gophers men's basketball: Five things to watch as summer practice starts

New coach Ben Johnson will gather a team that has nine new players among its 10 scholarship players. There's plenty of learning ahead.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!
 



Spaulding!No! said:
Johnson chose Northwestern and left for the same job in Ohio but he is 100% a Minnesota guy?
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I’ve asked about this on here. Curious as to how that is explained by him. He left twice for the same situations. If you want to argue northwestern is better academically I’ll listen but he cared so much about that he didn’t get a degree there.
Maybe he likes private schools? St Thomas could have been an option.
 

I’ll pretend this isn’t trolling just for trolling sake, but Ben has talked about why he originally chose Northwestern over MN on one of the many interviews he did a few weeks ago. Also, Ryan James and others have hinted, if not right out said, why he left MN for Xavier. From Minnesota, graduated from Minnesota, and is now the HC at Minnesota - a Minnesota guy.
 


umn99 said:
I’ll pretend this isn’t trolling just for trolling sake, but Ben has talked about why he originally chose Northwestern over MN on one of the many interviews he did a few weeks ago. Also, Ryan James and others have hinted, if not right out said, why he left MN for Xavier. From Minnesota, graduated from Minnesota, and is now the HC at Minnesota - a Minnesota guy.
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What did he say about choosing Northwestern?
 

umn99 said:
I’ll pretend this isn’t trolling just for trolling sake, but Ben has talked about why he originally chose Northwestern over MN on one of the many interviews he did a few weeks ago. Also, Ryan James and others have hinted, if not right out said, why he left MN for Xavier. From Minnesota, graduated from Minnesota, and is now the HC at Minnesota - a Minnesota guy.
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Well said. Holy cow, we get nitpicky about a dude being a Minnesotan.
 








Have a feeling were not gonna win many games, hopefully it won't effect in state recruiting but it probably will. Most kids want to go to competitive programs
 



BigGopher69 said:
Have a feeling were not gonna win many games, hopefully it won't effect in state recruiting but it probably will. Most kids want to go to competitive programs
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But - one thing he can offer is instant playing time. If a recruit comes to MN next year, he is almost guaranteed that he will be playing major minutes. If that recruit goes to a blue-blood program, he could wind up seeing token duty while he waits for all the 4* and 5* recruits to go pro.

so the pitch is, get in on the ground floor, help us build the program, and you get to be in the regular playing rotation from day 1.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
But - one thing he can offer is instant playing time. If a recruit comes to MN next year, he is almost guaranteed that he will be playing major minutes. If that recruit goes to a blue-blood program, he could wind up seeing token duty while he waits for all the 4* and 5* recruits to go pro.

so the pitch is, get in on the ground floor, help us build the program, and you get to be in the regular playing rotation from day 1.
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He's already pitching guaranteed starting time to a few local recruits. It's not rocket science and something a lot of coaches from low performing programs do.

So we're not offering anything special, outside of playing at home.

Hope it works out, because it hasn't worked well so far.
 




SanDiegoGopherFan said:
He's already pitching guaranteed starting time to a few local recruits. It's not rocket science and something a lot of coaches from low performing programs do.

So we're not offering anything special, outside of playing at home.

Hope it works out, because it hasn't worked well so far.
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Says the guy from San Diego, who clearly has his finger on the pulse of Minnesota.
 


UpAndUnder43 said:
Is that why he left Xavier too? Seems like that is a sinking ship. Common denominator and all that can be ignored.
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He got a promotion to his dream job and a significant pay raise is why he left Xavier. He got a promotion (lead assistant) and more money at Xavier even though it was more of a lateral move.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
But - one thing he can offer is instant playing time. If a recruit comes to MN next year, he is almost guaranteed that he will be playing major minutes. If that recruit goes to a blue-blood program, he could wind up seeing token duty while he waits for all the 4* and 5* recruits to go pro.

so the pitch is, get in on the ground floor, help us build the program, and you get to be in the regular playing rotation from day 1.
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Instant playing time is available nearly everywhere all the time. If the best players come.......
 


manderson1984 said:
He got a promotion to his dream job and a significant pay raise is why he left Xavier. He got a promotion (lead assistant) and more money at Xavier even though it was more of a lateral move.
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It was a joke about leaving Xavier. Obviously he got a better job.
 

Unregistered User said:
Says the guy from San Diego, who clearly has his finger on the pulse of Minnesota.
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What does his location have to do with it? We used to say the same thing about football recruits - come here and play right away. Did that get us anywhere? Did Tyus Jones sit behind other 4*s before he got his playing time? Or the Minnehaha to Gonzaga guys - how much time total will the two of them have spent sitting behind other guys?
 


Question #6: Is this the least talented Gopher Basketball roster in the modern era?
 



FWIW - on Sunday, Barriero was talking about Fuller's article in the Strib on the player turnover.

Barriero said something to the effect that "this could be a disaster. They might not win a game in the Big Ten."

Based on other things he's said, I get the impression that he does not follow Gopher sports very closely. All he knows is what he reads in the local papers.
 

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