Jamison Battle heading to Ohio State?

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Gopher Teeth said:
The Minnesota fans spat in his face first. I was really surprised at the number of fans that turned on him this year. What happened to him was not his fault it was coaching and if I was him, between the fans turning on him and the coaches setting him up to fail, I would love to drop a 20 pt game or two on the U, just to say hey it wasn’t me.
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Do you really think Ohio State fans are gonna be nice to him if he plays bad? If he feels fans "spat in his face" and left because of that he has zero future in basketball.

I hope he plays well but I also hope he grows up if any of what you say is close to reality.

I love how when a player people "like" plays bad it is coaching...no matter who the coach is. I don't particularly like Ben but Battle struggled because of Battle not Ben. Ben was his coach the year before as well.
 
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Gopher Teeth said:
The Minnesota fans spat in his face first. I was really surprised at the number of fans that turned on him this year. What happened to him was not his fault it was coaching and if I was him, between the fans turning on him and the coaches setting him up to fail, I would love to drop a 20 pt game or two on the U, just to say hey it wasn’t me.
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What???!! I was at every game- never heard anyone booing any of the kids. Were people disappointed with Battle's play? Of course. He played poorly this year. Here's a word to the wise- if you play big time basketball and you don't perform well- the fans will express their feelings about it.

If he has the mindset that he would love to drop 20 on the Gophers just to show that he is good and Ben is bad - then he is a dreadful human being. I don't think he thinks that, but he should show some maturity and go outside the Big Ten. Be decent.
 

Holy Man said:
Judicious use of the ignore feature reduces the toxicity of the board exponentially. There are a handful of one trick ponies, but even the most hardened opponents of Ben usually make reasoned points, occasionally drifting into spinning something that doesn’t make sense into an argument. I don’t think it’s nearly as toxic as some of you.
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I don't think it is toxic as fan boards go. I do think that we have people that just want to be right about how bad Ben is. I thought he was a bad hire. I want him to learn, grow and succeed. I think that one can feel both of the above. If Ben had a good roster, I think he would perform fine as a coach. He needs to get himself some better players- and that's his job. Battle is not a make or break guy by any means. He got us 6 wins in 2 years- so him leaving is of little concern in my view. I wish him well outside of the Big Ten. If he goes Big Ten then....have a nice life but I am no fan of him in that case.
 

Gophers_4life said:
I don't wish injury or anything like that upon him. I hope he goes on to have a nice pro career somewhere.

But I hope his season at Ohio State is a dud.

If he had gone outside the conference, I would have wished him well.
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Agree with this totally. You leave your home team and go to another in conference team, nope do not like.
 



Gopher Teeth said:
The Minnesota fans spat in his face first. I was really surprised at the number of fans that turned on him this year. What happened to him was not his fault it was coaching and if I was him, between the fans turning on him and the coaches setting him up to fail, I would love to drop a 20 pt game or two on the U, just to say hey it wasn’t me.
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Coaching caused him to force crazy shots early, most missed with the same result as a turnover? Coaches told him to never go inside to draw fouls? Interesting concept.
 


leib0039 said:
Agree with this totally. You leave your home team and go to another in conference team, nope do not like.
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I get that. But it doesn't matter what you or I like. Its his move and he obviously thinks OSU is a much better fit.

I respected Jamison as he was a solid student/athlete and team mate, played the game the right way and represented the UM well. In return, I choose to respect his decision. Obviously many others don't.
 






Drake University Gopher said:
But… he’s not our kid. We’re fans for cripes sake. Hopefully he has a long and successful career AFTER next season. Screw him when he’s our competition, especially when maybe he could make a difference for our team.
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No but he was a Gopher and played hard for the fans and his team. Were you cheering for him or for you?
Lets assume you had two boys who were good at hoops. One decided to go to a rival school. So screw him, right??

Fans generally could care less about a player once he or she leaves.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
I get that. But it doesn't matter what you or I like. Its his move and he obviously thinks OSU is a much better fit.

I respected Jamison as he was a solid student/athlete and team mate, played the game the right way and represented the UM well. In return, I choose to respect his decision. Obviously many others don't.
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I hope he starts putting his own ability into perspective. He can be a nice piece to team if he chooses to play team ball. Hopefully he got the nice bag of cash.
 



KATZ TOP 25
To those saying Ohio state sucks, Andy Katz has them at 17 in the country next year before the addition of Battle.
And Andy Katz is a Battle backer.....so in his eyes they'd move up.
I believe Battle was our most important player. He was our best shooter. He occupied the other team's best defender. (makes a huge difference how you are defended-going to make it harder for whoever our #1 guy is and whoever it is won't be used to the pressure that entails being defended by the other teams shut down defender to get his shots and score). Players have sweet spots and actions that lead to made shots for them. Caitlin Clark for instance, if we see a made 3's chart...a huge number of makes are deep left top of circle. She also does well with any crossover left. Battle has the same type of thing...he just shot too many shots he cant make this past season and didn't get to his sweet spots nearly often enough. Battle left wing catch and shoot is money...hardly got those looks.
Battle is a huge loss.
I do not in any way blame him for leaving.
And he wants to play at a high level with a promising team...Ohio State was his best fit. Maybe he'd love to go to Kentucky or Duke but they didn't offer...so he is a Buckeye.
Good luck Jamison!
 

bga1 said:
I hope he starts putting his own ability into perspective. He can be a nice piece to team if he chooses to play team ball. Hopefully he got the nice bag of cash.
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Seems that Garcia is a better fit for this team with the other players on the roster.

Battle simply wants to win and be part of a team where he fits better. He played out of position all year.

If we are a better team next year and tOSU is as well, it's a win/win for all involved.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Seems that Garcia is a better fit for this team with the other players on the roster.

Battle simply wants to win and be part of a team where he fits better. He played out of position all year.

If we are a better team next year and tOSU is as well, it's a win/win for all involved.
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He didn’t play out of position. He played the same position as last year. The difference was that the previous year Willis typically drew the top defender and created better opportunities for Battle. This year Battle drew the top perimeter defender - he shouldn’t be the top perimeter option anywhere. He wants to be though, which was part of the issue.
 

The transfer portal breeds non-loyalty, particularly when losing, which also breeds player dissent and more transfers. The roster has turned over almost completely 2X in 3 years. There's nobody to blame except the people building the roster, i.e. coach and staff and the AD that hired the person to build the roster. Don't worry though, cbj says "Coyle's got my back".
 
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bga1 said:
bga1 said:
What???!! I was at every game- never heard anyone booing any of the kids. Were people disappointed with Battle's play? Of course. He played poorly this year. Here's a word to the wise- if you play big time basketball and you don't perform well- the fans will express their feelings about it.

If he has the mindset that he would love to drop 20 on the Gophers just to show that he is good and Ben is bad - then he is a dreadful human being. I don't think he thinks that, but he should show some maturity and go outside the Big Ten. Be decent.
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The last boo's I remember were for Brad Davison, WI Badger, a few years back.
 

I think he will be really good for a team where he is the 6th-8th best player instead of the top 3.
Could be 4-5th best on an okay team.
 

bga1 said:
What???!! I was at every game- never heard anyone booing any of the kids. Were people disappointed with Battle's play? Of course. He played poorly this year. Here's a word to the wise- if you play big time basketball and you don't perform well- the fans will express their feelings about it.

If he has the mindset that he would love to drop 20 on the Gophers just to show that he is good and Ben is bad - then he is a dreadful human being. I don't think he thinks that, but he should show some maturity and go outside the Big Ten. Be decent.
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Just an FYI - note sure if you know but the supposed reason Gabe left was the fans treating him poorly.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
I get that. But it doesn't matter what you or I like.
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But actually, this is a fan message board, so what fans think precisely is the point of fan posts.

It goes without saying that in the real world, what fans think is irrelevant. The message board is our space where what we think matters.
 


Bayfieldgopher said:
I get that. But it doesn't matter what you or I like. Its his move and he obviously thinks OSU is a much better fit.

I respected Jamison as he was a solid student/athlete and team mate, played the game the right way and represented the UM well. In return, I choose to respect his decision. Obviously many others don't.
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Ohh you are 100% right, if that makes him happy that's great. But then he should respect my decision to boo him and hope his team this year is bad.
 

leib0039 said:
Ohh you are 100% right, if that makes him happy that's great. But then he should respect my decision to boo him and hope his team this year is bad.
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I'm try to look at this from Battles perspective which is much different from the average fan.

It will be interesting to see if the BIG schedules an OSU game at the Barn.
 


Dave H said:
Do you really think Ohio State fans are gonna be nice to him if he plays bad? If he feels fans "spat in his face" and left because of that he has zero future in basketball.

I hope he plays well but I also hope he grows up if any of what you say is close to reality.
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Grow up? Showing people who don’t believe in you, that they are wrong is what some of the most successful people do.
 

Why doesn’t Jamison think the gophers can’t win? Jamison could have stayed and been part of the big turnaround.
 

Tucker32 said:
I agree on it getting toxic. You make good points, and the one thing I would add is that I think Willis was our best player two years ago and he was the primary reason Battle had a good year. He put Battle in good position through his passing, and he consistently drew attention that no other perimeter player did this year. People keep saying Battle played out of position this year, but he really played the same exact position offensively. However, last year Wilis often got the top perimeter defender on him, and this year that was Battle before Cooper or Henley.

Defensively is where he was weakest and stood out. In the typical starting lineup, he was put on the weakest of three opposing players to guard between Garcia, Ola-Joseph, and himself. Ola-Joseph was most flexible defender. Battle couldn't guard anyone. That really wasn't any different than last year either - they hid him defensively both years.

The difference this year was there was no replacement for Willis on the perimeter, so Battle had the top defender on him.
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Very good take. Reasonable, lists pros and cons.

Battle is a spot shooter IMHO. He is not particularly adept at creating his own shots. Willis did a lot of the creating for him, and he did the shooting. When he did have to create, like you said, with a better, faster defender, he wasn't as successful.

There is nothing wrong with this per say. Being a spot shooter has a role on any team.

When you are a defensive liability, you have to shoot at least 50% or better to compensate for the possessions you are going to be unable to stop, or, you better be able to trade 3's for 2's. He didn't do either. Plus, many of his shots were quite ugly missses, indicative of poor shooting mechanics typically associated with rushing and/or being unable to create much separation.
 


in the end, we all make our own decisions for our own reasons.

and two things can each be true at the same time.
- losing an experienced player is not fun
- production can be replaced

you can look at this as a setback for the Gophers program, or you can look at this as an opportunity for other players - whether returning players, incoming FR or transfers - to pick up the lost production, or even surpass it.

we can sit here and do "what if" all day long. but until or unless Battle comes out and speaks publicly about it, we just don't know why he made the choices he did. maybe it was NIL. maybe he hates Ben Johnson. maybe someone told him that his pro prospects were not so great coming off this past season.

in the end, he has made his choice and now he has to live with it.
 

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