Ken Evans Jr. campaign thread!

Welcome to Gopher basketball.
Luckily we have room for one more big wing from the transfer portal.....unless we waste that last scholarship on a worthless non-playing walk-on like Ramberg, Purcell and Reacher.
 



Nobody is saying we will get him. But I certainly hope we are trying to get him or someone of like talent. I would hope that after all of this losing we are going to bring all the talent we can possibly afford here for this coming year.

Keep hope alive. No one would be happier than me if we got Evans. Ok, Sane would be, and maybe you too, but I'd be near the top of the list. :)

That said, while I'm not trying to rain on you guy's parade, the forces of reality compel me to point out that we have a limited budget, and are in no position to make our highest paid player, the 2nd starter at his position. Two starter quality SF's? We couldn't even afford a real PG.
 

But they ended on a significant losing streak.

You say they left for the money, but they didn't have the money before they declared for the portal.
With a couple wins mixed in. Including a nice win at Butler to start the NIT. They knew they'd be a very good team next year if they all returned.

And yes Payne DID have at least some of the money before he declared for the portal. He was seen on campus in a brand new BMW and fur coat.
 


It's all speculation and opinion why players did what they did. In the end it's on the coach to build and retain the roster and it's on the administration to hire and retain the coach that can successfully build and retain the roster.
Yeah but some speculation is right and some speculation is wrong.

My right opinion is that Coach Johnson put together what would have been a very good team. But then the players all got bribed away for big money.

Your (and most fans') wrong opinion is that everything is still always the coach's fault.
 

And hopefully someone with new ideas will be here after another bad season
New ideas LOL.

That's another one to add to the cliché list. Teamwork. Rugged. Defensive mindset. Players who want to be here.

I don't want to be a downer. Hope springs eternal. But I don't like Ben being scapegoated. Next year would have been the year that he made everyone eat their words.
 

Nobody is saying we will get him. But I certainly hope we are trying to get him or someone of like talent. I would hope that after all of this losing we are going to bring all the talent we can possibly afford here for this coming year.
We refused to pay to keep the talent we already had. So it's highly unlikely that we'd pay to bring similar talent in.
 




If he was really as great as you all think he is and was being offered money we can't afford he would have signed already. He certainly wouldn't be rumored headed to FAU.

Sometimes I think you guys are more delusional than the players.
Interesting that neither the FAU nor the Jackson State websites have anything (even rumors) about the rumored transfer.
 

persistent
If he was really as great as you all think he is and was being offered money we can't afford he would have signed already. He certainly wouldn't be rumored headed to FAU.

Sometimes I think you guys are more delusional than the players.
"Reality is merely an illusion"..............Albert Einstein
 

If he was really as great as you all think he is and was being offered money we can't afford he would have signed already. He certainly wouldn't be rumored headed to FAU.

Sometimes I think you guys are more delusional than the players.
If he was good he wouldn't be headed to FAU? FAU has been a pretty good program.
 




We refused to pay to keep the talent we already had. So it's highly unlikely that we'd pay to bring similar talent in.

refused to pay - or did not have the money to pay.

those are two very different things.

refused to pay suggests that the Gophers had NIL money available and chose not to use it. If that is the case, then that would be a mistake in my book.

but if they wanted to keep their talent and got outbid by other schools, that is a completely different situation. it's like two families bidding on a house for sale. if family A offers more than family B, family A is going to get the house.
 

refused to pay - or did not have the money to pay.

those are two very different things.

refused to pay suggests that the Gophers had NIL money available and chose not to use it. If that is the case, then that would be a mistake in my book.

but if they wanted to keep their talent and got outbid by other schools, that is a completely different situation. it's like two families bidding on a house for sale. if family A offers more than family B, family A is going to get the house.
I would suggest maybe saving some of the NIL funds isn’t an awful idea given the roster situation after this season.
 

I would suggest maybe saving some of the NIL funds isn’t an awful idea given the roster situation after this season.
Don't save a dime until we have a competitive roster. If the coach thinks we have an NCAA berth level roster then great- its his career on the line. Otherwise, continue to look for a difference maker.

If we are talking about next year- they had better get going on a war chest, because it looks like they are going to need one for all new players (NIL pool) and a new coach (school pool)
 

Don't save a dime until we have a competitive roster. If the coach thinks we have an NCAA berth level roster then great- its his career on the line. Otherwise, continue to look for a difference maker.

If we are talking about next year- they had better get going on a war chest, because it looks like they are going to need one for all new players (NIL pool) and a new coach (school pool)
Cost next year may be similar to this year.
For every new guy coming in, there is an old guy aging out. $100,000 per scholarship = $1,300,000 per year any way you slice it!
 


Cost next year may be similar to this year.
For every new guy coming in, there is an old guy aging out. $100,000 per scholarship = $1,300,000 per year any way you slice it!
1 million puts a team on the floor. 2 million competes well. 3 million wins
 


refused to pay - or did not have the money to pay.

those are two very different things.

refused to pay suggests that the Gophers had NIL money available and chose not to use it. If that is the case, then that would be a mistake in my book.

but if they wanted to keep their talent and got outbid by other schools, that is a completely different situation. it's like two families bidding on a house for sale. if family A offers more than family B, family A is going to get the house.
The history of our program highly indicates that we refused to pay. Or purposely made sure we didn't have the money 'available'.
 

The history of our program highly indicates that we refused to pay. Or purposely made sure we didn't have the money 'available'.

just to be clear - who is "we?"

Ben Johnson
Mark Coyle
Dinkytown Athletes

who is the person behind the curtain?

(maybe it's Frank Morgan...)
 

I tend to agree to a certain extent. However, if you don't think collectives are impacting things when it comes to players coming and going I don't know what to tell you. And not all collectives are equal, and if you think they are, then once again, I don't know what to tell you.
Sure, I think "collectives" are impacting college bb and unfortunately the gopher's bb team and fans are not seeing similar improvements as WI and NE, 2 of our main rivals.
 

just to be clear - who is "we?"

Ben Johnson
Mark Coyle
Dinkytown Athletes

who is the person behind the curtain?

(maybe it's Frank Morgan...)
You can go all the way back to Ken Keller. There just hasn't been a stomach for competing in sports for many years over there. The athletic department has always been viewed with a little disdain at the U and whenever they had a chance to rule against a coach in a situation or support him- they went against the coach.
 

Sure, I think "collectives" are impacting college bb and unfortunately the gopher's bb team and fans are not seeing similar improvements as WI and NE, 2 of our main rivals.
Well, Wisconsin has been a very good program for a very long time. As for Nebraska, based on this site they've got a little more than $1 million to spend than the Gophers do. Not sure how they break it down there but the site suggests a 66/ 24/ 10 split between football/ basketball/ other sports. Doesn't seem like a huge amount. Nebraska's improvement since Hoiberg took over is definitely trending in the right direction.

 



Well, Wisconsin has been a very good program for a very long time. As for Nebraska, based on this site they've got a little more than $1 million to spend than the Gophers do. Not sure how they break it down there but the site suggests a 66/ 24/ 10 split between football/ basketball/ other sports. Doesn't seem like a huge amount. Nebraska's improvement since Hoiberg took over is definitely trending in the right direction.

Great find! Thanks. That estimate would put MN basketball NIL in the area of 1.6-1.7 million.

Interesting side note in there:

Head Coach P.J. Fleck stated that the Golden Gophers football team will become a "Triple-A ballclub"
if players don't receive more NIL money
 

Don't save a dime until we have a competitive roster. If the coach thinks we have an NCAA berth level roster then great- its his career on the line. Otherwise, continue to look for a difference maker.

If we are talking about next year- they had better get going on a war chest, because it looks like they are going to need one for all new players (NIL pool) and a new coach (school pool)

You make it seem as if CBJ has a stockpile of money that's sitting unused in his account. We just don't have the money. If we did, Hawkins, & Payne would still be here. If we did, we'd have signed a top PG when we lost Hawkins.

imo CBJ will be given another year if the team is as competitive as it was last year. People understand that currently it's not that CBJ isn't coaching well, it's that he isn't coaching on a level playing field. Sadly, the dream of letting CBJ put together a young roster, and coach them to victory as upper-classmen (the Clem Haskins model) is as extinct as the T-Rex, due to NIL.

So how do you win without a local mega-donor, or massive fan base?

The way for Minnesota to be competitive in the NIL game, is to convert the local fortune 500 companies into large NIL contributors, a la Fed Ex with Memphis. If I'm CBJ, I'm trying to put together an experienced, hard working, tough minded, loveable underdog, that sells well to the public. Show Cargil, Honeywell, General Mills, 3M, Target, et al that we're worth supporting.

Or, we accept that this is as good as it gets.
 

You can go all the way back to Ken Keller. There just hasn't been a stomach for competing in sports for many years over there. The athletic department has always been viewed with a little disdain at the U and whenever they had a chance to rule against a coach in a situation or support him- they went against the coach.
Yup.
 




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