Jamison Battle to enter the Transfer Portal

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DarthGopher said:
Are you crazy? If he has even a modicum of success, these same people will be on here predicting when he gets hired away by a more prestigious program and how bad that is going to set us back. It - never - stops. :)

Some people are like my aunt. Perpetually miserable and determined to drag everyone else down with her. Always the victim. Always getting screwed over. Bitches that her ice cream is cold. Sucky-ass existence if you ask me. Glad I got her sister as my mom instead!
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Cold ice cream is the worst!! 😫
 

bga1 said:
Did something earth shaking happen here? Didn't we expect this? If we lose anyone else that will be very bad. But for now, this is the settling out of what we expected. Now we go get some players. Ben is up against the clock. I hope he gets it done.
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Put it this way...the story of Jamison Battle was the personification of Ben's strategy. He was an overlooked Minnesota player that Ben brought home. Battle performed relatively well at a smaller school, but Ben "recognizes talent" and gets him to come home. Sneaky good recruiter, can identify talent.

Battle was either the best or a close second best player off of a last place team, but that's ok because he was coming back as a major part of the core of the future and Ben is building something.

Battle was a big believer in Ben. What do good coaches do? They make their players better, through coaching of skills and scheme. Next, Battle is named to the All B1G preseason team, then he's named to the preseason national Julius Erving watchlist for being the best small forward in the country. Ben has a core player who others around the conference and the country see as one of the best in the country.

What happens? He has the worst season in his college career, even his Freshman year was better. It's not Jamison's fault, this is on Ben. Instead of putting him into the position to succeed, he put him in a position to fail. So of course any sane player would leave the program, why would you stay at a program where they set you up to fail? So now he leaves, which now dents the whole culture narrative, the all Minnesota type angle, confidence in Ben's coaching and what are other locals thinking when they look at Battle's story? Do they want to have coaches that don't know how to put them in positions to succeed?

Yeah fine we have a forward to fill the gap next year, but this is a huge red mark on Ben and the whole story of how Ben will succeed, in reality it debunks what we have been sold.
 

Gopher Teeth said:
Put it this way...the story of Jamison Battle was the personification of Ben's strategy. He was an overlooked Minnesota player that Ben brought home. Battle performed relatively well at a smaller school, but Ben "recognizes talent" and gets him to come home. Sneaky good recruiter, can identify talent.

Battle was either the best or a close second best player off of a last place team, but that's ok because he was coming back as a major part of the core of the future and Ben is building something.

Battle was a big believer in Ben. What do good coaches do? They make their players better, through coaching of skills and scheme. Next, Battle is named to the All B1G preseason team, then he's named to the preseason national Julius Erving watchlist for being the best small forward in the country. Ben has a core player who others around the conference and the country see as one of the best in the country.

What happens? He has the worst season in his college career, even his Freshman year was better. It's not Jamison's fault, this is on Ben. Instead of putting him into the position to succeed, he put him in a position to fail. So of course any sane player would leave the program, why would you stay at a program where they set you up to fail? So now he leaves, which now dents the whole culture narrative, the all Minnesota type angle, confidence in Ben's coaching and what are other locals thinking when they look at Battle's story? Do they want to have coaches that don't know how to put them in positions to succeed?

Yeah fine we have a forward to fill the gap next year, but this is a huge red mark on Ben and the whole story of how Ben will succeed, in reality it debunks what we have been sold.
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Boy, there is a hell of a lot of dreamy speculation there. So, the coach is the reason that Battle was worse this year? How come the coach didn't have that effect last season when Battle had his best year? Battle was terrible when he first came back from the injury and he improved as the year went on but he never really jelled with this year's roster very well. Do you know Battle personally? Maybe the other guys on the team didn't like him.
 

cjbfbp said:
Boy, there is a hell of a lot of dreamy speculation there. So, the coach is the reason that Battle was worse this year? How come the coach didn't have that effect last season when Battle had his best year? Battle was terrible when he first came back from the injury and he improved as the year went on but he never really jelled with this year's roster very well. Do you know Battle personally? Maybe the other guys on the team didn't like him.
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Because he played him at his proper position.
 

Gopher Teeth said:
Put it this way...the story of Jamison Battle was the personification of Ben's strategy. He was an overlooked Minnesota player that Ben brought home. Battle performed relatively well at a smaller school, but Ben "recognizes talent" and gets him to come home. Sneaky good recruiter, can identify talent.

Battle was either the best or a close second best player off of a last place team, but that's ok because he was coming back as a major part of the core of the future and Ben is building something.

Battle was a big believer in Ben. What do good coaches do? They make their players better, through coaching of skills and scheme. Next, Battle is named to the All B1G preseason team, then he's named to the preseason national Julius Erving watchlist for being the best small forward in the country. Ben has a core player who others around the conference and the country see as one of the best in the country.

What happens? He has the worst season in his college career, even his Freshman year was better. It's not Jamison's fault, this is on Ben. Instead of putting him into the position to succeed, he put him in a position to fail. So of course any sane player would leave the program, why would you stay at a program where they set you up to fail? So now he leaves, which now dents the whole culture narrative, the all Minnesota type angle, confidence in Ben's coaching and what are other locals thinking when they look at Battle's story? Do they want to have coaches that don't know how to put them in positions to succeed?

Yeah fine we have a forward to fill the gap next year, but this is a huge red mark on Ben and the whole story of how Ben will succeed, in reality it debunks what we have been sold.
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At the start of the season, Ben put Battle at the 4- where he belongs with Garcia starting at center- where he doesn't belong. As the season went along the development of Payne and the lack of rebounding and post defense by Battle and Garcia force Ben to play the 3 together. Payne had to be a 5, Garcia the 4 and Battle now a 3. The parts didn't fit. For sure, that part of it is on Ben. Battle made his own bed with the shot selection and choices he made. He forced things.

Everyone is going to have their opinion here and when you are 2-17 in conference there is plenty of blame to go around. Not a great job by Ben and not a great job by Battle.

Personally, I think Battle would have been a GREAT 6th man if he accepted the role. I'd have sooner seen Payne, Garcia and JOJ together more towards the end of the year. Battle was not very effective.
 
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golfing18now said:
I don't understand the posters here that are downplaying the departures of starting players on this team. We lose 3 starters off a 2 win team and this is good? He would have still had a couple scholarships to play with to try to recruit over the talent already on the team. To get four/five B1G caliber players in the portal where this team is currently? yikes
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Apologists gonna apologize
 

bga1 said:
Who would you have sat down to get him in his right position? Payne or Garcia?
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So this then proves roster management is not a strong suit.... Ben had to play battle at the 3... He didn't have anyone else who could
 



Off-GridTNgopher said:
So this then proves roster management is not a strong suit.... Ben had to play battle at the 3... He didn't have anyone else who could
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He did not put the roster together well at all. Consider that two more 4s were injured. That's totally on him and he needs to learn from it. Guards are crucial and he didn't have them. They got better when Henley and to a degree Carrington, started playing better.

I think JOJ should have gotten some of Battle's minutes at the 3. Battle has a 25 minute motor.
 


bga1 said:
Who would you have sat down to get him in his right position? Payne or Garcia?
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I wouldn't have built a roster where there were zero minutes for him at the 4. There were definitely enough minutes to split for Payne at the 5, Garcia at the 4/5, and Battle at the 4 (with JOJ grabbing the remaining minutes at the 4).

No one forced him to not recruit wings. Roster construction is part of coaching.
 

bmb5270 said:
Your first sentence is the most truthful statement I’ve read on this site in a long time.
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We have a considerably better track record than the Ben-apologists and Ben on how his team would perform.

The apologist crew was up in arms when we made fun of signing Samuels. They were pretty vocal that we didn't need any more wings because Ben totally would have recruited them if we needed them and the fact that he didn't recruit them proves we didn't need them. Ben also promised we wouldn't finish last in the Big 10.

The peanut gallery got this one right.
 



bga1 said:
At the start of the season, Ben put Battle at the 4- where he belongs with Garcia starting at center- where he doesn't belong. As the season went along the development of Payne and the lack of rebounding and post defense by Battle and Garcia force Ben to play the 3 together. Payne had to be a 5, Garcia the 4 and Battle now a 3. The parts didn't fit. For sure, that part of it is on Ben. Battle made his own bed with the shot selection and choices he made. He forced things.

Everyone is going to have their opinion here and when you are 2-17 in conference there is plenty of blame to go around. Not a great job by Ben and not a great job by Battle.

Personally, I think Battle would have been a GREAT 6th man if he accepted the role. I'd have sooner seen Payne, Garcia and JOJ together more towards the end of the year. Battle was not very effective.
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I disagree that this is how it went down.

When Battle first came back, Thompson was still getting 10 minutes per game at C. Garcia was even playing fewer minutes then we went to the same lineup we used throughout the season (other than when Garcia was hurt) where our rotation was JOJ, Battle, Garcia, and Payne.
 

bga1 said:
Who would you have sat down to get him in his right position? Payne or Garcia?
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Well, since his proper position would be 6th man, I would not have sat Payne or Garcia.
 

Dave H said:
What is your over/under on wins?
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I have no over/under on wins. I don't know who will be on the roster or whether Ihnen and Fox will be at full go as pre injuries.

I suspect we will play better than last year. I also expect Gopher football will be better than last year but not necessarily win more games because of the schedule.

I'm a fan of the actual games. I love Big Ten football and basketball. I am happy every game in which we are competitive with a chance to win. Therefore, I don't waste any emotional energy trying to predict the number of wins months before the season.

I could give you an over/under on whether or not I'll be there as a fan.
 

Dakota2 said:
I have no over/under on wins. I don't know who will be on the roster or whether Ihnen and Fox will be at full go as pre injuries.

I suspect we will play better than last year. I also expect Gopher football will be better than last year but not necessarily win more games because of the schedule.

I'm a fan of the actual games. I love Big Ten football and basketball. I am happy every game in which we are competitive with a chance to win. Therefore, I don't waste any emotional energy trying to predict the number of wins months before the season.

I could give you an over/under on whether or not I'll be there as a fan.
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Bowling Green.
 



Bad Gopher said:
Last off-season he had more to sell a transferring guard than he does now. Will be be able to recruit anyone even as good as Cooper or Samuels? Time will tell, but the uphill grade is steeper this time around.
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As good as Coop or Samuels? My goodness, there's enough room between those two for Brett Bielma to run a football.
 

leib0039 said:
So a few things, yes most have been hit on before....

Johnson will be here next year, I get it. Hes also being paid millions of dollars, he deserves to be criticized.

I think this Battle thing is a huge indictment of Ben. If he just says nope I am out Im going to Europe/China whatever to play pro, sure no problem. The fact that he says ahh maybe I will do that, but maybe I just want to play not there, is a big big red flag. The CBJ homers said ohh he will be great, we will get/keep MN kids at home, hes got great ins with everyone here, and it will be a slow build from the bottom but it will show sure progress.

Lets recap...year 1, lost his entire roster, most sure explainable, I dont hold him to Carr, any kid in that spot is leaving to go to Texas. But he also loses Gabe, the local kid from his high school, that he was supposed to keep. Ok gets no recruits at all year 1, well semi understandable. Now fast forward. His "base" has already lost a player, plus two guys he recuited to come here already said yahh no we have no interest in playing for you and that terrible team. Plus his incoming class of freshmen (which again we were told will be how he out thinks everyone!) has ONE person, a 3* kid who looks fine but isnt moving the needle for a least 1-2 years and then likely leaves.

Again, losing most of those players isnt a death blow for their actual talent, its the optics of it. Now some kid from the cities goes, ahh battle and gabe left? why would they leave too?

To go back to the top, I get it, Johnson is going to be here next year, but if you think that is the right move, you are either blind to the what is going on or unrealistic. Ben is a bad coach, a very average recruiter and a poor excuse for a team builder. Hes going to get fired and its going to cost us another year. Will the next guy guarantee success, heck no, but its 1 year closer to MAYBE getting it, with CBJ at the helm we are just pushing that back further. I hope all you CBJ supporters buy up extra seats next year since you seem to adamant this is going to work, meanwhile the rest of us will keep our money and use it on another product.
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Battle wanted to leave to go pro overseas. You say that would be ok with you and not an indictment of the coach. Battle's desired choice is probably not available now. He had a bad season and there might not be any pro offers right now.

Battle doesn't want to stay in college. But he likely needs to because he has no choice. His only hope of playing for a living is to get with a college team that will use him as he was used here two years ago.

He has to show that level of performance again to have the chance for a pro career. It's not available at Minnesota.
 

Could it be that Big Ten coaches figured out how to defend Battle. He was the focus of the apposing teams game plan, they also lacked consistency outside of Garcia which probably made it harder on Battle.
 

jovs said:
Could it be that Big Ten coaches figured out how to defend Battle. He was the focus of the apposing teams game plan, they also lacked consistency outside of Garcia which probably made it harder on Battle.
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When the other team is concentrating on you, you have to make them pay by finding other guys instead of dribbling around hunting difficult shots.
 

Gopher Teeth said:
Put it this way...the story of Jamison Battle was the personification of Ben's strategy. He was an overlooked Minnesota player that Ben brought home. Battle performed relatively well at a smaller school, but Ben "recognizes talent" and gets him to come home. Sneaky good recruiter, can identify talent.

Battle was either the best or a close second best player off of a last place team, but that's ok because he was coming back as a major part of the core of the future and Ben is building something.

Battle was a big believer in Ben. What do good coaches do? They make their players better, through coaching of skills and scheme. Next, Battle is named to the All B1G preseason team, then he's named to the preseason national Julius Erving watchlist for being the best small forward in the country. Ben has a core player who others around the conference and the country see as one of the best in the country.

What happens? He has the worst season in his college career, even his Freshman year was better. It's not Jamison's fault, this is on Ben. Instead of putting him into the position to succeed, he put him in a position to fail. So of course any sane player would leave the program, why would you stay at a program where they set you up to fail? So now he leaves, which now dents the whole culture narrative, the all Minnesota type angle, confidence in Ben's coaching and what are other locals thinking when they look at Battle's story? Do they want to have coaches that don't know how to put them in positions to succeed?

Yeah fine we have a forward to fill the gap next year, but this is a huge red mark on Ben and the whole story of how Ben will succeed, in reality it debunks what we have been sold.
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So Battle's poor play is the coaches' fault because he refused to bench Garcia to make Battle look good? OK.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I wouldn't have built a roster where there were zero minutes for him at the 4. There were definitely enough minutes to split for Payne at the 5, Garcia at the 4/5, and Battle at the 4 (with JOJ grabbing the remaining minutes at the 4).

No one forced him to not recruit wings. Roster construction is part of coaching.
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So Ben made a mistake accepting Garcia's transfer because it hurt Battle? OK.
 




Dakota2 said:
I have no over/under on wins. I don't know who will be on the roster or whether Ihnen and Fox will be at full go as pre injuries.

I suspect we will play better than last year. I also expect Gopher football will be better than last year but not necessarily win more games because of the schedule.

I'm a fan of the actual games. I love Big Ten football and basketball. I am happy every game in which we are competitive with a chance to win. Therefore, I don't waste any emotional energy trying to predict the number of wins months before the season.

I could give you an over/under on whether or not I'll be there as a fan.
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I mean they were historically bad saying "they will be better" is not much a high bar to leap over...

Hey I will support the team too next year even if they lose every game. That is immaterial to whether that means I think the team will be any good.
 


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