Johnson says Isaiah Ihnen would've likely started at the 2

Donate To GopherHole

Bob_Loblaw said:
Woof. Bad sign.

I really hope this is a bit of hyperbolic coach speak because while Ihnen looks like he's capable of being a skilled 4, he hasn't shown anything to suggest he should be playing the 3 much less the 2.

Ihnen should be considered a 4 who can (hopefully) stretch the defense. He isn't quick enough, he doesn't dribble well enough and he isn't a good enough shooter to log significant minutes at the 2.
Click to expand...
When is the last time you saw him play? Two years ago? Back then he didn't show any of those skills in games because he wasn't asked to do any of those things. For the past two years, he has been asked to do those things more and the people asking seem to think he can do them and do them well enough to play that position.
He looked lost on defense most of the first year and was pretty much a non-factor. Played much better in his second year. Not a stretch to think he couldn't improve his skills enough to play the 2 in a positionless system.
 

Spaulding!No! said:
‘Thorson got on him for being lazy’. Oof.
Click to expand...
You're really grasping at straws if you take this as a negative towards Ihnen or Thorson.
You ever been to a practice - I'm not even talking about a Gopher BB practice? Coaches get on players all the time to finish drills, hustle more, etc.
 

if Ihnen was starting at the 2, it was because of the failure to bring in a higher rated transfer or recruit. I like Carrington as a top 300 player who could push for playing time by his jr year on a good team. But non top 100 fr guards starting in the power 5 isn't the recipe for a great season.
 

march madness said:
if Ihnen was starting at the 2, it was because of the failure to bring in a higher rated transfer or recruit. I like Carrington as a top 300 player who could push for playing time by his jr year on a good team. But non top 100 fr guards starting in the power 5 isn't the recipe for a great season.
Click to expand...
Freshman guards don’t equate to success. Old experienced guards typically do. Ihnen is a former top 100 player and played wing. Whether you count him or Battle as the 2 & 3, they are both essentially interchangeable offensively so it doesn’t matter. Defensively it’d be interesting how they choose to guard.
 




We haven’t seen Ihnen play since almost 2 years. Players improve and he probably has shown ability during competition in practice to be capable of playing the 2. I don’t believe his first 2 years were a good reflection of the player he is now. Hopefully he recovers well.
 

Ihnen playing the 2 was just a dumb comment or a statement about how weak we are at guard. Inhen probably has improved he has gotten stronger and more physical to play his stretch 4 spot. He was the 17th rated PF in that 2019 class. I don't recall the bio saying he would become a nice college 2.
 



Gopherfan84 said:
Freshman guards don’t equate to success. Old experienced guards typically do. Ihnen is a former top 100 player and played wing. Whether you count him or Battle as the 2 & 3, they are both essentially interchangeable offensively so it doesn’t matter. Defensively it’d be interesting how they choose to guard.
Click to expand...

Our last two NCAA tournament teams had freshman starting at the 2 guard, Coffey and Gabe K.
 

GFBfan said:
You're really grasping at straws if you take this as a negative towards Ihnen or Thorson.
You ever been to a practice - I'm not even talking about a Gopher BB practice? Coaches get on players all the time to finish drills, hustle more, etc.
Click to expand...
Calling out a coach……. But let’s assume it was not meant in a negative way. I took it the wrong way - a talking outta class way.
 

I figured he would have been slotted at the 3 with Battle at the 4. Ihnen was quick and could easily defend the guard position. Explains some of the recruiting though.
 

Pretty polarizing player. I understand that he didn't look great in Pitino's system but then again nobody looked good in the ole dribble, dribble, jack a 3 offense. Ben has put our guys into way better positions to succeed. Not sure how anyone can be definitively in or out on him without seeing him play.
 



Amazing to believe that a guy that we haven't seen play for two years would improve......

I mean, he had a surgically repaired knee.....I'm sure he didn't spend his time working on his ball-handling and his shot. Rather, he was dunking and running.

Blows my mind the number of people who think they know what position a guy was going to play, or has the ability to play, after watching him for one season (after he had only played overseas prior to that).

As for me, I'll trust the guys that have watched him develop daily.
 

cheeseheadgophfan said:
Amazing to believe that a guy that we haven't seen play for two years would improve......

I mean, he had a surgically repaired knee.....I'm sure he didn't spend his time working on his ball-handling and his shot. Rather, he was dunking and running.

Blows my mind the number of people who think they know what position a guy was going to play, or has the ability to play, after watching him for one season (after he had only played overseas prior to that).

As for me, I'll trust the guys that have watched him develop daily.
Click to expand...

He's spent most of his time rehabbing off the court. It's hard to improve much when you can't be on the court. He was just cleared for contact 2 months prior to his latest injury.

We've also seen Ihnen for 2 full seasons not 1. He regressed in year 2, and spent plenty of time on the perimeter launching and bricking 3's. The only time he looked somewhat competent is when he played in the post.

But we should totally trust the coaching staff with zero track record of success for planning to start a 6'10" player at the 2 guard coming off of knee surgery when he's looked totally lost on the perimeter for 2 prior seasons.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
He's spent most of his time rehabbing off the court. It's hard to improve much when you can't be on the court. He was just cleared for contact 2 months prior to his latest injury.

We've also seen Ihnen for 2 full seasons not 1. He regressed in year 2, and spent plenty of time on the perimeter launching and bricking 3's. The only time he looked somewhat competent is when he played in the post.

But we should totally trust the coaching staff with zero track record of success for planning to start a 6'10" player at the 2 guard coming off of knee surgery when he's looked totally lost on the perimeter for 2 prior seasons.
Click to expand...
Yup, you da man. Heck, Thorson has proven nothin’ unless you count the handful of state titles he earned vs the handful of times you forecast the weather accurately.
 

worth mentioning - I have seen several references to Johnson moving the Gophers to more of a "positionless" style of ball.

In that sense, what you or I might call the "2" could be very different from how the Gophers envision that spot on the floor and its duties/responsibilities.

"2" is just a number. It's not like every "2" in the world must look the same, have the same skill-set and the exact same responsibilities.

it's like comparing the QB in a wishbone offense to a QB in a run-and-shoot offense. the name may be the same, but you're talking about two very different approaches to the position.
 

60's Guy said:
Yup, you da man. Heck, Thorson has proven nothin’ unless you count the handful of state titles he earned vs the handful of times you forecast the weather accurately.
Click to expand...

Is this high school? Is Dave the head coach? Maybe he should be? He definitely has a better resume than Ben.
 



GopherWeatherGuy said:
Is this high school? Is Dave the head coach? Maybe he should be? He definitely has a better resume than Ben.
Click to expand...
Dave played a large part on Clems staff and recruiting guys who were in the final four team. Very influential for Colorado State too. Credential wise Dave isn’t far off of Ben, but Coyle had his reasons for the choice and we all know it wasn’t all on resume.
 

Gopherfan84 said:
Dave played a large part on Clems staff and recruiting guys who were in the final four team. Very influential for Colorado State too. Credential wise Dave isn’t far off of Ben, but Coyle had his reasons for the choice and we all know it wasn’t all on resume.
Click to expand...
I think you are saying the Thorson guy is the better qualified candidate.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
He's spent most of his time rehabbing off the court. It's hard to improve much when you can't be on the court. He was just cleared for contact 2 months prior to his latest injury.

We've also seen Ihnen for 2 full seasons not 1. He regressed in year 2, and spent plenty of time on the perimeter launching and bricking 3's. The only time he looked somewhat competent is when he played in the post.

But we should totally trust the coaching staff with zero track record of success for planning to start a 6'10" player at the 2 guard coming off of knee surgery when he's looked totally lost on the perimeter for 2 prior seasons.
Click to expand...
Just thought I would point out that being cleared for contact and able to work on non-stress things like shooting (technique/release point, ect.) and ball-handling drills are pretty far apart. Since I haven't seen any practices or drills that the team has done this fall, it's impossible for me to say if he's a better shooter or ball handler or not. I'm sure many of us have seen more than a few scouting reports (based on what I saw last year..) get blown up by a guy who had an entire summer to work on weaknesses.

Just saying that some guys who've had a half year to concentrate on specific skills as prescribed by their coach, have been known to improve. Whether it's enough to get by in the Big Ten, I guess we'll have to wait until next season.
 



GopherWeatherGuy said:
Isn't that the case this year? Cooper and Battle are in their 4th year, Garcia is in his third. Fox/Ihnen are also upperclassmen if they were available.
Click to expand...
Agreed, it’s why I think we can still be fine with Payne and Carrington starting. Cooper<Coffey
Carrington=Kalschuer
Battle>McBrayer
Garcia=Murphy
Payne=Oturo.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Is this high school? Is Dave the head coach? Maybe he should be? He definitely has a better resume than Ben.
Click to expand...
You included Thorson and the other coaches in your original argument with “trust the coaching staff” is why I included him.
 



cheeseheadgophfan said:
You said coaching staff idiot….read your own post……SMH
Click to expand...

So an assistant coach had some success in high school and that’s what we’re hanging our hat on? I’m the idiot for questioning the entire staff when that’s the biggest accomplishment the staff has??
 
Last edited:

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom