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

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short ornery norwegian said:
FWIW - "Doogie" was on Skor North on Monday.

He said the Gophers have been looking at the portal for possible reinforcements for this season, but have not found anyone they think is able to contribute.

Doogie suggested that is one of the reasons behind Betts re-classifying.

take it for what you think it's worth.
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Great they are looking, but too late. Man, I was very optimistic prior to the two injuries. Now, not at all really.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
Great they are looking, but too late. Man, I was very optimistic prior to the two injuries. Now, not at all really.
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This can still be a good team if Henley can be solid as a freshman. We should still be in good shape in the frontcourt with Garcia and Payne playing the majority of the minutes at the 4 and 5. Thompson and Battle will play some there and if we're lucky maybe Ola-Joseph and/or Betts. We need Henley to be ready to be the primary backup at the 3 behind Battle. Obviously at least 2 out of Cooper, Carrington, and Samuels need to be good Big Ten players too, but that was true before the injuries. If Samuels or Carrington aren't ready, Henley could play backup minutes at the 2 as well.

We aren't going to win the Big Ten, but I still expect a much better season than last year.
 

Keyser Söze said:
This can still be a good team if Henley can be solid as a freshman. We should still be in good shape in the frontcourt with Garcia and Payne playing the majority of the minutes at the 4 and 5. Thompson and Battle will play some there and if we're lucky maybe Ola-Joseph and/or Betts. We need Henley to be ready to be the primary backup at the 3 behind Battle. Obviously at least 2 out of Cooper, Carrington, and Samuels need to be good Big Ten players too, but that was true before the injuries. If Samuels or Carrington aren't ready, Henley could play backup minutes at the 2 as well.

We aren't going to win the Big Ten, but I still expect a much better season than last year.
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Still should be a better team than last year but it is all going to come down to the freshman who will be forced to take on a larger role with the Fox and Ihnen injuries. That will determine how much better this team will end up being.

I don't think making the tournament is off the table but we will need the freshman to grow up fast and make the jump to the college game.

Whole thing is a bummer because I was really excited to see what Fox and Ihnen could do. Unfortunately those two just can escape the injury bug apparently.
 

Keyser Söze said:
This can still be a good team if Henley can be solid as a freshman. We should still be in good shape in the frontcourt with Garcia and Payne playing the majority of the minutes at the 4 and 5. Thompson and Battle will play some there and if we're lucky maybe Ola-Joseph and/or Betts. We need Henley to be ready to be the primary backup at the 3 behind Battle. Obviously at least 2 out of Cooper, Carrington, and Samuels need to be good Big Ten players too, but that was true before the injuries. If Samuels or Carrington aren't ready, Henley could play backup minutes at the 2 as well.

We aren't going to win the Big Ten, but I still expect a much better season than last year.
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Yeah, I like your optimism. Just too much reliance on the freshmen for me. Hopefully it pans out the way you described.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
Yeah, I like your optimism. Just too much reliance on the freshmen for me. Hopefully it pans out the way you described.
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If your freshman are good college basketball players, they will play as freshman. They will only need to be the 4th and 5th option on offense. That is a good spot for freshman who have to play more than maybe expected. We will still not be last in the conference with this roster.
 


fan of Ray Williams said:
Yeah, I like your optimism. Just too much reliance on the freshmen for me. Hopefully it pans out the way you described.
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Yeah certainly reasons to be nervous too. I want to make the NCAA tournament and hopefully win a game while we're there, but my main concern is just showing noticeable improvement each year and I expect that to happen even without Fox and Ihnen. We shall see.
 

Did anyone else watch the Twitter video of team testing? They were doing the vertical jump test that has the post with the sticks at the top that spin if you reach them. It looked like Ola Joseph who outjumped the stack and swung all of the sticks. He got mobbed by his mates.
Serious hops, and a thick body, too. Maybe he can provide more minutes than I was hoping for.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Still should be a better team than last year but it is all going to come down to the freshman who will be forced to take on a larger role with the Fox and Ihnen injuries. That will determine how much better this team will end up being.

I don't think making the tournament is off the table but we will need the freshman to grow up fast and make the jump to the college game.

Whole thing is a bummer because I was really excited to see what Fox and Ihnen could do. Unfortunately those two just can escape the injury bug apparently.
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Just win baby.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
Yeah, I like your optimism. Just too much reliance on the freshmen for me. Hopefully it pans out the way you described.
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50% of your players being made up of Freshman in a power 5 conference is going to be tough. If 3-4 of those Freshman were top 50 coming out of high school a little different story. In the end Freshman are Freshman who for most teams don't get big minutes. Last time I checked it was still a 5 on 5 game, so numbers 4 & 5 still need to hold up their end. To which they most likely will be staring at an upper classman on either end of the floor. A tall task for sure
 



RockChalk said:
50% of your players being made up of Freshman in a power 5 conference is going to be tough. If 3-4 of those Freshman were top 50 coming out of high school a little different story. In the end Freshman are Freshman who for most teams don't get big minutes. Last time I checked it was still a 5 on 5 game, so numbers 4 & 5 still need to hold up their end. To which they most likely will be staring at an upper classman on either end of the floor. A tall task for sure
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Stop saying the 50% will be freshman. They won’t get that allotment of minutes.
 


Fleckoff said:
Taking the L hard Built, just own your shit take and move on
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Ah, tough guy bully with the keyboard. Your not the boss of the board or in the position of policing other posters information or opinions. H e recruited several poor characters and was a lousy coach. Far from hate. You do not decide for me what you call hate.
 

RockChalk said:
How am I wrong? Take out the injured and the walk-ons and tell me what you have.

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2023-24 Men's Basketball Roster - University of Minnesota Athletics

The official 2023-24 Men's Basketball Roster for the University of Minnesota Gophers
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It’s wrong because of the context you are using it in. You are using it to fit a narrative. We were 50% playable scholarship freshman after we lost two guys in the summer (very rare and it happened to us twice in a row). As far as relying on them, they will play probably 30-35% of the minutes played. That’s higher than we hoped obviously but they are only relied on to be 4th and 5th options when they are out there. That’s not reliant on a developmental type program. It’s close to the norm actually with the exception of the percentage of minutes being about 15% higher (and that is because of pre season injuries).
 



Last year as they struggled, there was really no hope for the future on the floor.

This year when they struggle, there should be a lot of hope for the future on the floor. That makes things different for me.
 

kg21 said:
Last year as they struggled, there was really no hope for the future on the floor.

This year when they struggle, there should be a lot of hope for the future on the floor. That makes things different for me.
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Agree 100%. With hopes that Ben plays the freshman meaning he goes 8, 9 10 deep in games, especially during the non conference
 

after the mass exodus of players, this was always going to be a multi-year process to re-balance the roster.

no question, losing Fox and Ihnen hurts. that leaves Johnson with a choice of playing with a 6 or 7 man rotation again, or pushing the FR into more playing time.

but I like the quality of recruits Johnson has been bringing in. give him and his staff another full year to recruit, and the roster should be much better balanced next year.

and if they can just catch a freakin' break on the injuries, that would help, too.

don't get me wrong - I want to see the Gophers win more games this year. But I like the process so far and I think the coaches have a plan.
 

They had a team softball game today and Ihnen was walking around in socks and sandals 😬 but with no knee brace or anything. Maybe he's still mobile and pre-surgery, but I just thought that was interesting. Fox was an announcer in the press box.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
after the mass exodus of players, this was always going to be a multi-year process to re-balance the roster.

no question, losing Fox and Ihnen hurts. that leaves Johnson with a choice of playing with a 6 or 7 man rotation again, or pushing the FR into more playing time.

but I like the quality of recruits Johnson has been bringing in. give him and his staff another full year to recruit, and the roster should be much better balanced next year.

and if they can just catch a freakin' break on the injuries, that would help, too.

don't get me wrong - I want to see the Gophers win more games this year. But I like the process so far and I think the coaches have a plan.
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Agree. Love the way they do things.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
after the mass exodus of players, this was always going to be a multi-year process to re-balance the roster.

no question, losing Fox and Ihnen hurts. that leaves Johnson with a choice of playing with a 6 or 7 man rotation again, or pushing the FR into more playing time.

but I like the quality of recruits Johnson has been bringing in. give him and his staff another full year to recruit, and the roster should be much better balanced next year.

and if they can just catch a freakin' break on the injuries, that would help, too.

don't get me wrong - I want to see the Gophers win more games this year. But I like the process so far and I think the coaches have a plan.
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to me, it really doesn’t matter.
Even pre injury Johnson’s roster is a roster I would pick bottom 4 in conference, even without them I think it’s a better roster than last year (although I’m not sure our second best player is going to be better than last years second best player)…I hope we surprise and finish 9th. But really the most important thing is getting guys ready because years 3 and 4 is where Johnson has to prove he was the right hire.
 

Some guy said:
to me, it really doesn’t matter.
Even pre injury Johnson’s roster is a roster I would pick bottom 4 in conference, even without them I think it’s a better roster than last year (although I’m not sure our second best player is going to be better than last years second best player)…I hope we surprise and finish 9th. But really the most important thing is getting guys ready because years 3 and 4 is where Johnson has to prove he was the right hire.
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Wonderful post!!
 

Some guy said:
to me, it really doesn’t matter.
Even pre injury Johnson’s roster is a roster I would pick bottom 4 in conference, even without them I think it’s a better roster than last year (although I’m not sure our second best player is going to be better than last years second best player)…I hope we surprise and finish 9th. But really the most important thing is getting guys ready because years 3 and 4 is where Johnson has to prove he was the right hire.
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so, if we assume Battle was the 'best' player last year, that means Willis was the 2nd best player.

In other words, you think Willis last year will be better than what Garcia provides this year?

Hey, I liked what Willis provided. so let's look at the numbers:
15.9 pts/gm, 4.8 reb, 4.4 ast, 47% FG, 43% 3-pt, .625 FT%. - playing 36.3 min/gm

a solid year. But I certainly think Garcia is capable of matching that.

let's look at his numbers:
20-21 (FR) 27g, 13 pts, 6.6 reb, 0.8 ast, 0.5 blks - playing 29.7 min/gm
21-22 (SO) 16g, 9 pts, 5.5 reb, 0.7 ast, 0.3 blks - playing 20.6 min/gm

assuming Garcia is healthy, I think it's fair to assume that he will be playing more minutes at MN.
and assuming he is in a better frame of mind than he was last year at North Carolina, and playing at home with family on hand, I certainly think he is capable of putting up numbers that at least equal what Willis did.

having said that - different positions, different styles. you would expect the PG to have more assists, and you would expect a PF or C to have more rebounds.
 

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