Jim Dutcher figures the current Minnesota program under second-year coach Ben Johnson is “making progress.”

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GopherWeatherGuy said:
The problem with those two wins is they needed a miracle finish from Battle to beat Rutgers, Cooper also 9 points and 11 assists in that game. Then Cooper had 16 and 11 in the Nebraska win, with Battle chipping in 13 points and 8 rebounds.

They're now gone and some people actually believe they will be easily replaced.
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There was a problem with those two wins? You're a real sick specimen.
 

Dakota2 said:
There was a problem with those two wins? You're a real sick specimen.
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A problem with wins? No.

People are pointing to that as signs of progress when once again 3 starters that contributed to those wins won't be on the team again next season.
 

Tell me there is no NIL money laying around.

Holy Family HS....private Catholic school in Victoria...going to "try to resurrect a Holy Family football program with a varsity that hasn’t won a game in 2 1/2 years, one game in three years and two games in four years. The team finished last season with just 20 players." okay....you with me?
"The Holy Family community is building a $6.2 million football stadium that will be ready this fall."
“They’re making a commitment,” O’Brien said.

Where to begin? $6.2 million? HS Football stadium in Minnesota? I know they got land...that's not a part of the price....what is going to cost that much and why? So, they get 30 players to come out and the grandparents, mom & dad and the kids come for homecoming - that's 100-200 people if they beat somebody on the schedule to raise awareness...then 50 students will come if the weather is nice and they get free pizza and in 10,000 years you'll have $1 million in revenue if you get 6 home games each year.

I'm maybe not doing it like that...
 


60's Guy said:
Tell me there is no NIL money laying around.

Holy Family HS....private Catholic school in Victoria...going to "try to resurrect a Holy Family football program with a varsity that hasn’t won a game in 2 1/2 years, one game in three years and two games in four years. The team finished last season with just 20 players." okay....you with me?
"The Holy Family community is building a $6.2 million football stadium that will be ready this fall."
“They’re making a commitment,” O’Brien said.

Where to begin? $6.2 million? HS Football stadium in Minnesota? I know they got land...that's not a part of the price....what is going to cost that much and why? So, they get 30 players to come out and the grandparents, mom & dad and the kids come for homecoming - that's 100-200 people if they beat somebody on the schedule to raise awareness...then 50 students will come if the weather is nice and they get free pizza and in 10,000 years you'll have $1 million in revenue if you get 6 home games each year.

I'm maybe not doing it like that...
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I do think the NIL $ for minor players and at smaller schools is going to go down after a few years as folks realize they're not getting much for their $$. There will always be $$ for the stars as we know.
 

howeda7 said:
I do think the NIL $ for minor players and at smaller schools is going to go down after a few years as folks realize they're not getting much for their $$. There will always be $$ for the stars as we know.
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I would think they all get organized and everybody on the basketball team makes $3,000 a month or $5k or $10k, And then the big dog gets the $100,000 plus from Borton Volvo or the new version of Murrays or somebody.
My point is...the money is out there from people to spend on sports
 

there is no progress whatsoever. No good PG in his right mind is coming here with Ben's seat being hot. with all the upper classmen (five at the moment) in the portal, next year will be another last place finish and the program is hurting for ticket revenue. Made no money the past three seasons. I'm using the tournament to scout out our next head coach in 2024.

1) Eric Musselman of Arkansas
2) Mitch Henderson Princeton
3) Brian Dutcher of SDSU
4) Dusty May of Florida Atlantic University
 

60's Guy said:
I would think they all get organized and everybody on the basketball team makes $3,000 a month or $5k or $10k, And then the big dog gets the $100,000 plus from Borton Volvo or the new version of Murrays or somebody.
My point is...the money is out there from people to spend on sports
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Probably so. I guess my point is that eventually I think this will mostly equalize among Power 6 teams. Pretty much every average basketball/football player get $X no matter where they go, with the exception of the blue bloods. And the "extra" $$ that causes everyone to portal jump will go back to being for the top guys. People will still go in the portal, but it will be more about playing time/hurt feelings than fishing for a few extra $$.
 



SkiUMah'ed said:
there is no progress whatsoever. No good PG in his right mind is coming here with Ben's seat being hot. with all the upper classmen (five at the moment) in the portal, next year will be another last place finish and the program is hurting for ticket revenue. Made no money the past three seasons. I'm using the tournament to scout out our next head coach in 2024.

1) Eric Musselman of Arkansas
2) Mitch Henderson Princeton
3) Brian Dutcher of SDSU
4) Dusty May of Florida Atlantic University
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Battle - Jr
Cooper - Jr
Thompson - So
Henley - Fr

I count 9 with 11 upper classmen. :)
 

SkiUMah'ed said:
there is no progress whatsoever. No good PG in his right mind is coming here with Ben's seat being hot. with all the upper classmen (five at the moment) in the portal, next year will be another last place finish and the program is hurting for ticket revenue. Made no money the past three seasons. I'm using the tournament to scout out our next head coach in 2024.

1) Eric Musselman of Arkansas
2) Mitch Henderson Princeton
3) Brian Dutcher of SDSU
4) Dusty May of Florida Atlantic University
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A lot of the transfers are seniors or grad transfers- it doesn't matter to them if the coach's seat is hot- only if they think its a move up and a chance to play at a higher level and make a difference. We have plenty to offer. But look, if Ben fails badly this year then for sure, we are looking for a new coach next March.
 

bga1 said:
A lot of the transfers are seniors or grad transfers- it doesn't matter to them if the coach's seat is hot- only if they think its a move up and a chance to play at a higher level and make a difference. We have plenty to offer. But look, if Ben fails badly this year then for sure, we are looking for a new coach next March.
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That is really the brutal truth of this situation. Confront reality, but have faith that we will prevail in the end. James Stockdale survived 8 years in a POW camp. Most of the optimists (lost all hope) and pessimists (never had any hope) perished. I think we can survive another 12 months of Gopher basketball, no matter how badly we are tortured by shitshow basketball.
 




DarthGopher said:
Battle - Jr
Cooper - Jr
Thompson - So
Henley - Fr

I count 9 with 11 upper classmen. :)
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Yeah I'm trying to figure out who these 5 upperclassmen in the portal are. His math or counting skills seem a little fuzzy. :)
 

I do not understand the ben johnson positivity at all, the program is dying before our eyes. Kenpom has Minnesota ranked 217 that might be the worst ranking all time for a big ten team.
 

BigGopher69 said:
I do not understand the ben johnson positivity at all, the program is dying before our eyes. Kenpom has Minnesota ranked 217 that might be the worst ranking all time for a big ten team.
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What positivity? Seriously....where are you seeing anyone singing the praises of Ben Johnson?

There are those of us that aren't willing to throw in the towel just yet and are willing to give it another year (or at the very least another off season before giving up).

But I don't see anyone claiming Johnson is doing a great job or anything like that. And another year like the past 2 and I find it hard to believe you will be able to find anyone on this board that feels like Johnson should get a 4th year.
 

MNVCGUY said:
What positivity? Seriously....where are you seeing anyone singing the praises of Ben Johnson?

There are those of us that aren't willing to throw in the towel just yet and are willing to give it another year (or at the very least another off season before giving up).

But I don't see anyone claiming Johnson is doing a great job or anything like that. And another year like the past 2 and I find it hard to believe you will be able to find anyone on this board that feels like Johnson should get a 4th year.
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Straw man arguments are the easiest since no one is really making the argument, and in a way, it is a battle inside your own head.
 

MNVCGUY said:
What positivity? Seriously....where are you seeing anyone singing the praises of Ben Johnson?

There are those of us that aren't willing to throw in the towel just yet and are willing to give it another year (or at the very least another off season before giving up).

But I don't see anyone claiming Johnson is doing a great job or anything like that. And another year like the past 2 and I find it hard to believe you will be able to find anyone on this board that feels like Johnson should get a 4th year.
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The name of the thread and some people on twitter, I think you cut Johnson now next year will not be any better were just wasting time keeping him
 

BigGopher69 said:
The name of the thread and some people on twitter, I think you cut Johnson now next year will not be any better were just wasting time keeping him
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It is entirely possible that those who feel he should be fired now will end up being right, but I'm willing to let the off season play out and see what happens. Best case scenario for the program is still Johnson figuring it out and being successful as opposed to starting over again.
 

Dakota2 said:
Seriously, you have no idea if that is true.
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Two good guards would mot make the team good. Add Eric Harris and Towsend Orr and it’s a 6-7 win team tops.

Now if you added Bobby Jackson and Voshon Lenard then you might have something.
 

MNVCGUY said:
It is entirely possible that those who feel he should be fired now will end up being right, but I'm willing to let the off season play out and see what happens. Best case scenario for the program is still Johnson figuring it out and being successful as opposed to starting over again.
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It appears he's staying. If there's any further defections, his status should be reconsidered immediately. If not, he gets a chance to pull an inside straight out of the portal I guess, even if there's a 2% chance of him succeeding.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Garcia is just chopped liver?

Seems to me that a PG in the portal could do a lot worse than come play for a Big Ten team with a solid front court. Not going to be a ton of Power 5 starting jobs out there where there would be virtually no competition to beat out for playing time at the PG position.

There absolutely is potential to build around what we have and turn this around quickly with the right pieces......whether or not Johnson is capable of finding those pieces is what we will find out this off season and will most likely determine whether or not he is the coach here beyond next season.
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Ben’s done an admirable job at recruiting, and has completely exceeded my expectations, but I fear that the tape has or will soon catch up to him.

Garcia had committed a couple of days prior to Cooper last year, so Payne and JOJ are the difference in the front court this year. Cooper was, by all accounts, supposed to be the difference maker we are all hoping to find next year. Yet, he’s decided to walk away from the opportunity next year after having a decent year statistically (no idea if this was his plan all along).

I agree there is potential on this team, but I think guys would want to transfer to a sure thing over a 2 win team. With 1 year of eligibility remaining, I’d take a back up PG role on a likely tournament team than play on a Ben Johnson team until he’s proven to me he can win.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
The problem with those two wins is they needed a miracle finish from Battle to beat Rutgers, Cooper also 9 points and 11 assists in that game. Then Cooper had 16 and 11 in the Nebraska win, with Battle chipping in 13 points and 8 rebounds.

They're now gone and some people actually believe they will be easily replaced.
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How will we ever get those 2 wins that Cooper and Battle got us?
 

gopherbadgerman said:
Top 4-5 front line in the conference? Who am I missing?
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I don't know what this comment is supposed to mean. Do you think I am rating them too low? Either way, what I am saying is this should be a strength of next year's team.
 


Right coach comes along and I think Coyle makes the move this off season. You give Ben more time and you will only get back more excuses.
 

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