I'm Looking Forward to this Basketball Season

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Full Speed Ahead

Full Speed Ahead

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  1. For wins, I've set my expectations to zero, whatever they actually do will at least meet that. Win a few and it's icing on the cake
  2. I've always wanted the Gophers to have some decent 3 point shooters, and this class may give us a few. Crank 'em up from behind the line and see if they drop. I'm hoping to see 'em break the record (at least for attempts).
  3. What exactly is BJ's style of ball? Other than we're not going to bang it inside to our bigs, I don't really know. Full court press, fast break offense, half-court ball control, man-to-man, zone, "Princeton", we'll see.
Bottomline. If it was another Pitino year I'd be pretty much tuning out the season, at least now we've got something new to see how it unfolds.
 
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It seems like every year we play a nonconference game and the opposing team simply does not look very athletic, but they have a bunch of shooters on the floor and make it more of a game than was expected. Having a few shooters will make for some exciting games even if we aren't favored to win.
 


Agreed. 2022 recruiting has got me excited for the future of the program, and feeling a lot more confident in BJ than I was a few months ago. Hoping that the season can at least keep the momentum around that seems to be building - put together a solid nonconference season, win 5 or 6 big ten games, finish above last place, and maybe steal a game or 2 in the big ten tournament. Feel like it would really help the overall atmosphere around the program if they can at least show some signs of life this year.
 

Generally the most fun seasons are when a team you have low expectations for surprises. I guess this team can do that pretty easily since the expectations are almost zero. But there will be some pretty ugly hard to watch games along the way. I guess we had plenty of practice the last few games of last season though. I'm not sure the Illinois game will ever be topped.
 


There is no reason to expect anything beyond what Nebraska did last year. Fight hard, install the system you want ... nothing can overcome a talent gap that is too large.
 

gopherfrommt said:
It seems like every year we play a nonconference game and the opposing team simply does not look very athletic, but they have a bunch of shooters on the floor and make it more of a game than was expected. Having a few shooters will make for some exciting games even if we aren't favored to win.
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Exactly. Some nights, the shots may just start falling and we'll pull off an upset. Stats-wise, we do have some good 3 point shooters on this team.
 

Full Speed Ahead said:
  1. For wins, I've set my expectations to zero, whatever they actually do will at least meet that. Win a few and it's icing on the cake
  2. I've always wanted the Gophers to have some decent 3 point shooters, and this class may give us a few. Crank 'em up from behind the line and see if they drop. I'm hoping to see 'em break the record (at least for attempts).
  3. What exactly is BJ's style of ball? Other than we're not going to bang it inside to our bigs, I don't really know. Full court press, fast break offense, half-court ball control, man-to-man, zone, "Princeton", we'll see.
Bottomline. If it was another Pitino year I'd be pretty much tuning out the season, at least now we've got something new to see how it unfolds.
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Question: do you think Johnson would go inside to the bigs if he had them?

My concern with the injuries and lack of size is he may not be able to do what he wants, with could hurt overall growth for the team. Maybe he has no intentions of feeding the ball inside consistently but that hurts recruiting bigs and isn’t really sustainable. Just a thought
 

The only reason this season will be of any interest is to see what type of basketball on both ends of the floor a Ben Johnson led program might look like.

There are going to be plenty of ugly performances. Can’t get caught up in the overall record. Look for improvement from month to month and hope to see glimpses of where this might be headed 3 years from now.
 




I'm not.. it's going to be brutal in my opinion.. however.. get a couple more these cruits.. hit the portal for a few players and 22/23 let's go...
 


UpAndUnder43 said:
Question: do you think Johnson would go inside to the bigs if he had them?

My concern with the injuries and lack of size is he may not be able to do what he wants, with could hurt overall growth for the team. Maybe he has no intentions of feeding the ball inside consistently but that hurts recruiting bigs and isn’t really sustainable. Just a thought
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I am more concerned if Johnson will make his players tie their shoes. It could really hurt the shoe contract if players are stumbling around with shoes falling off….

They have bigs and of course the team will use them! Was that truly an actual question or just another way to chicken little the team?
 



Urbandale said:
I just want to get back in the Barn for a couple games. I miss that old geezer.
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I have no interest in derailing this thread. Simply, your comment makes me curious: are you against a tear down and rebuild, if knowing that it's necessary to make U bball a winner again and that attempting to refurb would cost the same and produce an inferior end result?
 

alchemy2u said:
I am more concerned if Johnson will make his players tie their shoes. It could really hurt the shoe contract if players are stumbling around with shoes falling off….

They have bigs and of course the team will use them! Was that truly an actual question or just another way to chicken little the team?
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His top two bigs are hurt. They brought in a low level D2 transfer and Eric Curry. TT is more of a stretch or wing at this point. You can’t believe those are reliable bigs. If they want to run an offense through a post eventually, they likely cannot this year. That is what I was saying.

The fact you always look for a negative in every post is your problem. I was opening a valid discussion.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Question: do you think Johnson would go inside to the bigs if he had them?

My concern with the injuries and lack of size is he may not be able to do what he wants, with could hurt overall growth for the team. Maybe he has no intentions of feeding the ball inside consistently but that hurts recruiting bigs and isn’t really sustainable. Just a thought
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Every coach wants to have the option of going inside to their bigs for an easy two, and if the other team leaves the lane open and only defends the perimeter, we'll do it this season. With the players we have for this season, I just don't see it being "Plan A". If it's available, take it, but "Plan A" will be a shot from behind the line. Maybe I'm wrong. It's all part of the mystery -- "what's BJ's offense?" -- and that's part of what makes me interested in this season.
 

MplsGopher said:
I have no interest in derailing this thread. Simply, your comment makes me curious: are you against a tear down and rebuild, if knowing that it's necessary to make U bball a winner again and that attempting to refurb would cost the same and produce an inferior end result?
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I think my post was a lot more simplistic than what you were driving at. After a couple years away, I just want to hear the roar of the Barn again from the inside.
 

howeda7 said:
Generally the most fun seasons are when a team you have low expectations for surprises. I guess this team can do that pretty easily since the expectations are almost zero. But there will be some pretty ugly hard to watch games along the way. I guess we had plenty of practice the last few games of last season though. I'm not sure the Illinois game will ever be topped.
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Um ... I believe Cockburn returns to Illinois.
 

MplsGopher said:
There is no reason to expect anything beyond what Nebraska did last year. Fight hard, install the system you want ... nothing can overcome a talent gap that is too large.
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Why do you feel the talent gap between this roster is so much worse than Penn State, NW, Wisconsin, and Iowa? Nebraska has talent this year, but they are a total roster overhaul and Hoiberg's teams don't defend. If it was last year's B1G I'd understand the concern more. The conference isn't nearly as deep this year. That's why I don't think it's crazy to think we can win 5 games if we defend.
 

scools12 said:
The only reason this season will be of any interest is to see what type of basketball on both ends of the floor a Ben Johnson led program might look like.

There are going to be plenty of ugly performances. Can’t get caught up in the overall record. Look for improvement from month to month and hope to see glimpses of where this might be headed 3 years from now.
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I agree this year will be ugly, but I don't think it will necessarily take three more years. Personally I think we can contend as early as next year if we add a good Grad transfer PG and finish this class off with Pierre and one of Byrd or Dunn.
 

MplsGopher said:
I have no interest in derailing this thread. Simply, your comment makes me curious: are you against a tear down and rebuild, if knowing that it's necessary to make U bball a winner again and that attempting to refurb would cost the same and produce an inferior end result?
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The practice facility is the bigger deal IMO as that's where the team will spend most of it's time. I think we have the best of both world's. A state of the art practice facility with a charming old barn that when it's full is the best ticket in town.
 

back to the OP. I guess my take is that I am very curious about the upcoming season.

As far as "looking forward," well, I realize that it could be a train wreck. I hope it isn't.

There are ways for a good coaching staff to off-set a talent gap with schemes. In that sense, this season might be the biggest test of Johnson's staff and their ability to adjust and react to situations. I suspect they will learn a lot this season. If they can find a way to win some games - or at the very least play competitive basketball, it could turn out to be a productive season that sets the program on a new, positive direction going forward.
 

Full Speed Ahead said:
Every coach wants to have the option of going inside to their bigs for an easy two, and if the other team leaves the lane open and only defends the perimeter, we'll do it this season. With the players we have for this season, I just don't see it being "Plan A". If it's available, take it, but "Plan A" will be a shot from behind the line. Maybe I'm wrong. It's all part of the mystery -- "what's BJ's offense?" -- and that's part of what makes me interested in this season.
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Agreed! My concern is that what he wants to run won’t be run because of his roster.
 

MplsGopher said:
I have no interest in derailing this thread. Simply, your comment makes me curious: are you against a tear down and rebuild, if knowing that it's necessary to make U bball a winner again and that attempting to refurb would cost the same and produce an inferior end result?
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Didn’t some of the new recruits we added say something like “when I stepped into Williams arena, I knew this is where I needed to be”? I’m pretty sure JOJ and Carrington both noted Williams Arena as a selling point.
 

When Ben was putting this team together picking players from the portal, pretty much everyone was looking at the stats of these guys and where they were transferring in from and saying "no way can they compete". IMO what we're seeing now is that Ben was looking at character more than stats -- "give me guys that will commit to the team and that can grind it out no matter what the odds". It's probably the biggest reason why he wanted a clean slate vs returning players from Pitino's years. For this first year, he's really focused on setting an attitude for the team versus a winning record. Even if you do lose, make sure you show up and compete. PJ did that with his RTB messaging, Ben is doing this with the players he selected. Bodes well for the coming years. Here's to you Ben.

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Full Speed Ahead said:
When Ben was putting this team together picking players from the portal, pretty much everyone was looking at the stats of these guys and where they were transferring in from and saying "no way can they compete". IMO what we're seeing now is that Ben was looking at character more than stats -- "give me guys that will commit to the team and that can grind it out no matter what the odds". It's probably the biggest reason why he wanted a clean slate vs returning players from Pitino's years. For this first year, he's really focused on setting an attitude for the team versus a winning record. Even if you do lose, make sure you show up and compete. PJ did that with his RTB messaging, Ben is doing this with the players he selected. Bodes well for the coming years. Here's to you Ben.

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He talked about this in his post-game presser too. Ben said "I'm very picky with who I surround myself with" alluding to him not just taking anybody to fill out the roster. It's nice to see that character he values so much paying off.
 

You can count me as one who was skeptical with the hire and then the transfers, BUT I love this team and coach so far. They play hard, they have a plan, they can adjust. They are very easy to cheer for!
 

Full Speed Ahead said:
When Ben was putting this team together picking players from the portal, pretty much everyone was looking at the stats of these guys and where they were transferring in from and saying "no way can they compete". IMO what we're seeing now is that Ben was looking at character more than stats -- "give me guys that will commit to the team and that can grind it out no matter what the odds". It's probably the biggest reason why he wanted a clean slate vs returning players from Pitino's years. For this first year, he's really focused on setting an attitude for the team versus a winning record. Even if you do lose, make sure you show up and compete. PJ did that with his RTB messaging, Ben is doing this with the players he selected. Bodes well for the coming years. Here's to you Ben.

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On the opposite side is what Pitino did his first year. I'm going from memory here, but he basically swung for the fences in recruiting and went all-in for getting elite basketball talent; and he mostly struck out. That meant he didn't make offers to great (lower than elite) players that he probably otherwise would have landed, and instead had to settle for good (lower than great) talent. Pitino's focus was getting the best possible basketball skill set, whereas Ben's was the best possible team attitude. Pitino's goal was get elite talent and more elite talent will follow; Ben's appears to be get players that will set the culture and we'll build a foundation on that culture. And yep, that's similar to what PJ did in his first year.
 
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