Isaiah Ihnen has suffered another season-ending knee injury, the U said Monday.

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Keyser Söze said:
I don't follow other teams closely enough, but is struggling to fill all 13 scholarships with quality players a common problem now with the new transfer rules? I'm guessing if you are a solid player, but are 12th or 13th on your team, you're probably just going to transfer to a new team where you can have playing time.
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It’s very hard. There is a reason why over 80% of teams done fill all their scholarships and normally always carry one over.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
It is, and it always will be going forward.
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Well maybe that's why we didn't fill all 13. Maybe we tried and it just didn't happen.

GopherWeatherGuy said:
There was room to sell more transfers on immediate playing time due to the large number of freshman on the roster and the re-injury potential of Fox and Ihnen.
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I really doubt that the re-injury potential of Fox and Ihnen selling point would have worked on anyone, regardless of what happened in hindsight. Right or wrong, most people don't take the long term implications of ACL injuries seriously anymore and don't expect re-injury the following season.
 

Keyser Söze said:
Well maybe that's why we didn't fill all 13. Maybe we tried and it just didn't happen.


I really doubt that the re-injury potential of Fox and Ihnen selling point would have worked on anyone, regardless of what happened in hindsight. Right or wrong, most people don't take the long term implications of ACL injuries seriously anymore and don't expect re-injury the following season.
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ACL's are different in basketball compared to other sports like football though. Basketball is much harder on your knees. Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard, and Jamal Murray are recent examples of players who have missed more than a season due to an ACL or additional injuries possibly due to favoring that knee. Derrick Rose also never fully regained his explosiveness. Then there's Eric Curry.
 

Gopherfan84 said:
It’s very hard. There is a reason why over 80% of teams done fill all their scholarships and normally always carry one over.
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Yeah, the same people saying we needed to fill all 13 spots would be the same people complaining when those 12-13 spots went to players like Charlie Daniels.

Some are way oversimplifying the whole process. In order to fill those last few spots you essentially have to find someone willing to come in and potentially see very little playing time. Johnson clearly wants to work in this year's freshman class into the rotation. Some may not like that but it is pretty clear that is part of his plan for the upcoming season. So he didn't have starters minutes to sell during the key transfer portal time. Had Fox/Ihnen been reinjured sooner than maybe that is a different situation but at the time both were slated to be key contributors this year.
 



MNVCGUY said:
Yeah, the same people saying we needed to fill all 13 spots would be the same people complaining when those 12-13 spots went to players like Charlie Daniels.

Some are way oversimplifying the whole process. In order to fill those last few spots you essentially have to find someone willing to come in and potentially see very little playing time. Johnson clearly wants to work in this year's freshman class into the rotation. Some may not like that but it is pretty clear that is part of his plan for the upcoming season. So he didn't have starters minutes to sell during the key transfer portal time. Had Fox/Ihnen been reinjured sooner than maybe that is a different situation but at the time both were slated to be key contributors this year.
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I don't think that's true at all. I think some people were surprised we couldn't give away significant Big 10 minutes to someone with a slightly better resume. I think a lot of people think we should use all of our scholarships every single season and that we should hopefully be able to add depth pieces that aren't the 9th man for Mercyhurst. Now, I'd rather have the 9th man on Mercyhurst than the scholarship to just blow in the wind but holding those two beliefs shouldn't be seen as outlandish.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Except the exact same thing happened to the same two players last summer. It also happened to Curry previously. Who could have ever seen it coming???
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No one. It is wildly improbable given the entire history of college basketball.
 

gopherguy15 said:
Gotta say, this response sure sounds a lot like MplsGopher...
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Don't think so. Citidiot just thought he was superior to suburban and rural rubes .... not superior to everyone.
 




GopherWeatherGuy said:
It is, and it always will be going forward. The difference with the Gophers this season is they were counting on 2 players to play significant roles coming off of significant injuries and only had 11 scholarships filled until the Betts re-classify. And one of those was a previous walk-on. It doesn't sound like they are expecting much from Betts this season.

If there was any season to fill all 13 with more proven players, it was this season with the injury concerns from last season. If Fox and Ihnen would have stayed healthy and been good, then that's good for the Gophers regardless if a few players are unhappy. There was room to sell more transfers on immediate playing time due to the large number of freshman on the roster and the re-injury potential of Fox and Ihnen. That could have taken time away from some of the freshman, but I think several of them are projects, and they'll transfer in a year or two if they don't play anyways.
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I think that it is very clear that most decent transfers were not giving Johnson and the Gophers the time of day. Johnson seems very keen on keeping his high school recruits happy so is passing on any transfers that are not clearly better than the newbies.

Johnson is seeking to balance the classes so did not want to recruit even more high school kids. With no serious interest from impact transfers other than Garcia and Cooper, he is banking the schollies rather than carrying a bunch of dead weight.

I've said this before and I will say it again, I am not generally a fan of the strategy of not filling every scholarship but I can see the method to the madness in these circumstances. I will be surprised if Johnson banks more than 1 schollie next year once he has balanced the classes and built the base to the program.
 

ecoperson said:
I think that it is very clear that most decent transfers were not giving Johnson and the Gophers the time of day. Johnson seems very keen on keeping his high school recruits happy so is passing on any transfers that are not clearly better than the newbies.

Johnson is seeking to balance the classes so did not want to recruit even more high school kids. With no serious interest from impact transfers other than Garcia and Cooper, he is banking the schollies rather than carrying a bunch of dead weight.

I've said this before and I will say it again, I am not generally a fan of the strategy of not filling every scholarship but I can see the method to the madness in these circumstances. I will be surprised if Johnson banks more than 1 schollie next year once he has balanced the classes and built the base to the program.
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I mainly just appreciate that how so many think that our staff hasn’t discussed this and weighted out the choice. I also love how they can assume the strategy has already failed this year before a game has been played. If understanding why a B1G head coach does something makes me an apologist then I guess I am. Worst investment and decisions are made because of a rate occurance. Even though it’s happened to us twice, we still shouldn’t operate as something this rare is the norm.

I would be surprised if he doesn’t bank at least one again. Someone will transfer or go pro or maybe both.
 


MNVCGUY said:
Yeah, the same people saying we needed to fill all 13 spots would be the same people complaining when those 12-13 spots went to players like Charlie Daniels.

Some are way oversimplifying the whole process. In order to fill those last few spots you essentially have to find someone willing to come in and potentially see very little playing time. Johnson clearly wants to work in this year's freshman class into the rotation. Some may not like that but it is pretty clear that is part of his plan for the upcoming season. So he didn't have starters minutes to sell during the key transfer portal time. Had Fox/Ihnen been reinjured sooner than maybe that is a different situation but at the time both were slated to be key contributors this year.
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Someone like Betts?
 



Gopherfan84 said:
We have one open scholarship for next season.
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That remains to be seen. There are 12 scholarship players now (counting the two injured ones). I don't expect the following back:

1) Fox (next year would be his 7th year in college);
2) Samuels (he's an Ivy Leaguer, the upcoming year will be his 5th year in college, and I think he will move on with his life instead of staying in college 6 years).

I say that the chances of Battle hanging around for a 5th year are well below 100%. Of course, there is always the possibility that someone else transfers.
 

gopherguy15 said:
Gotta say, this response sure sounds a lot like MplsGopher...
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You must not know me very well. If you did, that response wouldn't shock you at all.

No, I'm not him but I had no problem with him. I'd rather have him around that at least a dozen other twerps who post on this site.
 

cjbfbp said:
That remains to be seen. There are 12 scholarship players now (counting the two injured ones). I don't expect the following back:

1) Fox (next year would be his 7th year in college);
2) Samuels (he's an Ivy Leaguer, the upcoming year will be his 5th year in college, and I think he will move on with his life instead of staying in college 6 years).

I say that the chances of Battle hanging around for a 5th year are well below 100%. Of course, there is always the possibility that someone else transfers.
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That is truly what we have right now. Now the staff is still recruiting at least 3 2023 guys that we’ve had reported on here (Chatman, Winter, and Evans), so the staff obviously expects to not have everyone back. Right now Samuels is the only one required to leave. I could see Fox come back and try since playing at the barn has been his dream. Im sure we lose one of the two of Battle and Garcia as well. Plus I’m sure someone will transfer. My point is we are filling the roster like so many wanted in May.
 

cjbfbp said:
That remains to be seen. There are 12 scholarship players now (counting the two injured ones). I don't expect the following back:

1) Fox (next year would be his 7th year in college);
2) Samuels (he's an Ivy Leaguer, the upcoming year will be his 5th year in college, and I think he will move on with his life instead of staying in college 6 years).

I say that the chances of Battle hanging around for a 5th year are well below 100%. Of course, there is always the possibility that someone else transfers.
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Fox will definitely come back. 100%. He already implied it on Twitter to Ihnen and his lifelong dream is to play for the Gophers.
 

Gopherfan84 said:
That is truly what we have right now. Now the staff is still recruiting at least 3 2023 guys that we’ve had reported on here (Chatman, Winter, and Evans), so the staff obviously expects to not have everyone back. Right now Samuels is the only one required to leave. I could see Fox come back and try since playing at the barn has been his dream. Im sure we lose one of the two of Battle and Garcia as well. Plus I’m sure someone will transfer. My point is we are filling the roster like so many wanted in May.
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Not to nitpick, but I highly doubt they expect to get all 3 (if any) of those mentioned. Regardless of the open scholarship situation (1 vs 2 or 3) they’d be recruiting those guys.
 

Drake University Gopher said:
Not to nitpick, but I highly doubt they expect to get all 3 (if any) of those mentioned. Regardless of the open scholarship situation (1 vs 2 or 3) they’d be recruiting those guys.
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The point is they are recruiting them as they are expecting to have room for them all. If they don’t land one of those guys, I bet they fill those spots in the portal or with another recruit. I do think we get Winter, not sure about the others.
 

I get your point, I just disagree that they wouldn’t be recruiting them regardless of open positions next year. A spot always opens up (especially nowadays), so I get what you’re saying either way.
 

Gopherfan84 said:
The point is they are recruiting them as they are expecting to have room for them all. If they don’t land one of those guys, I bet they fill those spots in the portal or with another recruit. I do think we get Winter, not sure about the others.
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Don't you believe that most if not all coaches recruit "them all" until the very end.
 

60's Guy said:
And I'm sure there are others even if they are in the minority...but Houston and Texas Tech are two NCAA tournament teams that want to find 13 plus quality player candidates and play them. Musselman at Arkansas has absolutely done the same thing in recruiting this season.
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You named all teams who have been to the Final 4 or Elite 8 in recent memory in an area where boosters pay more. It’s not even a comparable situation
 

GopherPlaya said:
You named all teams who have been to the Final 4 or Elite 8 in recent memory in an area where boosters pay more. It’s not even a comparable situation
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Or maybe they've created highly competitive cultures under two great coaches and that's the main reason why they started winning.

Texas Tech hired a coach we fired not that long ago. They recruited similarly to the Gophers to build their winning teams under Beard. Now they're not comparable?

Houston did start pouring a ton of money into their sports programs around the time they hired Sampson. But they were a terrible program for decades prior to that, and Sampson has always been a great coach.

Both of these programs started winning when they hired great coaches, which was prior to NIL.
 

I've said it before, I'll say it again. Time to start implementing this guy's training principles in the Gopher bball program.

 

RockChalk said:
Don't you believe that most if not all coaches recruit "them all" until the very end.
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Well in the context of this discussion it needs to be brought up because most also don’t carry 13 scholarship guys and that isn’t a valid reason.
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
Or maybe they've created highly competitive cultures under two great coaches and that's the main reason why they started winning.

Texas Tech hired a coach we fired not that long ago. They recruited similarly to the Gophers to build their winning teams under Beard. Now they're not comparable?

Houston did start pouring a ton of money into their sports programs around the time they hired Sampson. But they were a terrible program for decades prior to that, and Sampson has always been a great coach.

Both of these programs started winning when they hired great coaches, which was prior to NIL.
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They also took their lumps early and it took a little time to build that culture. It wasn’t instant. Also NIL just made their paying players legal. Texas and SEC schools are dirty.

Comparable programs imo would be Wisconsin, Iowa, Virginia, etc…
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Or maybe they've created highly competitive cultures under two great coaches and that's the main reason why they started winning.

Texas Tech hired a coach we fired not that long ago. They recruited similarly to the Gophers to build their winning teams under Beard. Now they're not comparable?

Houston did start pouring a ton of money into their sports programs around the time they hired Sampson. But they were a terrible program for decades prior to that, and Sampson has always been a great coach.

Both of these programs started winning when they hired great coaches, which was prior to NIL.
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Yea they have both hired coaches 5+ years ago. It took time for them to build in to this point. Also they are in a state with damn near 50+ D1 prospects each year. We are talking about guys taking roles as a possible 9-13 guy. That is easier to sell for those schools based on recent success
 

GopherPete said:
I've said it before, I'll say it again. Time to start implementing this guy's training principles in the Gopher bball program.

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This all centers on strengthening muscles around and reducing knee pain related to the patellar and quadriceps tendons. Agree that this is great stuff for that, and probably a lot of it or similar is already done in the program.


As far as I (or I believe anyone) know, there is no possible exercise that can be done to strengthen the inner knee ligaments or help prevent their tearing.
 


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