***OFFICIAL IOWA AT MINNESOTA IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

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formerlybis said:
Garcia is currently listed as a sophomore. Hard to believe given this is his third team, but he could theoretically be here 2 more years. That means the same issues are going to happen through Payne's 3rd year, unless someone leaves. Too many nail files.
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Why can’t you play Garcia at the 3 sometimes, as he’s effective from 3 and also a good slasher. And simply play zone primarily if the opposition 3 is 2 quick for him in the scenario?

Payne can also get minutes spelling Evans, who may not even start next season.

The odd man out to me is Battle, at this point, for next year, as he’s really a 3.5, not a 3 Or a 4 - in essence, you could use Battle in a similar fashion.

Sometimes you need to be creative😎
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Quite sunny and nice. The reality of this program is very cloudy if you want to be realistic.
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I’m a cockeyed optimist- hard pass for this Tigger🎉
GopherWeatherGuy said:
I find it funny that some posters want one of the two top scorers to leave from a 1 win team that can't score, and think we'll be better next year because of it.
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In my post directly above, I mention ideas on how to possibly make things work - I don’t think it’s such a binary choice.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
Why can’t you play Garcia at the 3 sometimes, as he’s effective from 3 and also a good slasher. And simply play zone primarily if the opposition 3 is 2 quick for him in the scenario?

Payne can also get minutes spelling Evans, who may not even start next season.

The odd man out to me is Battle, at this point, for next year, as he’s really a 3.5, not a 3 Or a 4 - in essence, you could use Battle in a similar fashion.

Sometimes you need to be creative😎
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Even if you think you could put out a front court of Evans/Payne/Garcia, which I think is unlikely, you have both Battle and JOJ's mouths to feed, too. And what about Fox?
 

formerlybis said:
Even if you think you could put out a front court of Evans/Payne/Garcia, which I think is unlikely, you have both Battle and JOJ's mouths to feed, too. And what about Fox?
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If you reread my post I provided some scenarios as to how it may work.

I’m not the coach it’s a creative concept and trying not to approach an issue with an ether/or (binary) answer, but rather and/both (dualistic) solution . In my experience, complex questions aren’t solved with simple solutions.
 

formerlybis said:
Even if you think you could put out a front court of Evans/Payne/Garcia, which I think is unlikely, you have both Battle and JOJ's mouths to feed, too. And what about Fox?
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I think Ben knows that the days of selling the future are going to end next year and he will be forced to put together a balanced roster that works well together. He is going to have to work some of these issues out. My guess is Evans is a 10-15 minute guy next year.
 


Gopher_In_NYC said:
If you reread my post I provided some scenarios as to how it may work.

I’m not the coach it’s a creative concept and trying not to approach an issue with an ether/or (binary) answer, but rather and/both (dualistic) solution . In my experience, complex questions aren’t solved with simple solutions.
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There is a style and a way to make these players work together. Ben Johnson is getting paid a lot of money to figure that out. So far, he has not proven he is capable of being flexible or creative enough with his roster. He usually lands on something he likes and then rides into the ground i.e. Samuels going from bench to starter and back to bench. How many starts did he get before Ben finally realized he should mix it up again. My biggest gripe with Ben so far is that he has no idea how to effectively use the players that he recruited to be on his team.
 

GopherBlood666 said:
There is a style and a way to make these players work together. Ben Johnson is getting paid a lot of money to figure that out. So far, he has not proven he is capable of being flexible or creative enough with his roster. He usually lands on something he likes and then rides into the ground i.e. Samuels going from bench to starter and back to bench. How many starts did he get before Ben finally realized he should mix it up again. My biggest gripe with Ben so far is that he has no idea how to effectively use the players that he recruited to be on his team.
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It’s his job to figure it out and make it work- it’s not like it hasn’t been done at some point before in basketball.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
If you reread my post I provided some scenarios as to how it may work.

I’m not the coach it’s a creative concept and trying not to approach an issue with an ether/or (binary) answer, but rather and/both (dualistic) solution . In my experience, complex questions aren’t solved with simple solutions.
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Yes and no. There are 200 minutes to spread around - that is a hard boundary. If you think Battle and Garcia are going to combine for at least 60 of those minutes and Payne/Evans 40 (at least), and guards having another 80, that doesn't leave much room.
 

GopherBlood666 said:
There is a style and a way to make these players work together. Ben Johnson is getting paid a lot of money to figure that out. So far, he has not proven he is capable of being flexible or creative enough with his roster. He usually lands on something he likes and then rides into the ground i.e. Samuels going from bench to starter and back to bench. How many starts did he get before Ben finally realized he should mix it up again.
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What would have given Ben the idea that things weren't working out??
 



formerlybis said:
Yes and no. There are 200 minutes to spread around - that is a hard boundary. If you think Battle and Garcia are going to combine for at least 60 of those minutes and Payne/Evans 40 (at least), and guards having another 80, that doesn't leave much room.
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I think people need to earn minutes and there will always be injuries and foul troubles.

As uninteresting stat would be, how many minutes do starters average on Top ;5 teams in the last five years and at what juncture in said minutes does their performance trend downward. I’m not sure how much analytics is used in this form now, but I’ll rather gave Garcia @ 90%+ effort for 25 minutes, than ~75% gor an additional 10 minutes.

That would be both an art and science. Pitch counts are useful as a guide, but if Garcia is 5-7 from try and ballin out you run that 🐎 into the ground, his misses will tell you when to pull him.

I believe in possibilities and where there is a Will there is a way. If Ben figures it out next year, using my scheme (paging Pilgrim 😃, ir another, well know we have a coach IMO, if not, we don’t. Ben should do what the football coaches do in the offseason snd go Visit coaches who use a similar system/style to what he wants to run And be a 🧽
 

formerlybis said:
Agree to disagree. I doubt he'll bring a lot of versatility (i.e., being able to guard different positions, shooting mid-range and 3s, dribble-driving, etc.). IMO, that's a very similar list of shortcomings to Payne's game, in particular, at the same position, but with the addition of a plus-shotblocking ability.

It's ok if you disagree. Maybe Payne and Evans can play together and I'm completely wrong.
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Where I disagree is with the notion he needs to be able to guard multiple positions, shoot mid-range jumpers and 3s to be a great (or even good) player for us. A guy who protects the rim, rebounds, and scores down low would be immensely valuable on this team and entirely unlike anyone we have.

We cannot soon forget the sequence in the Iowa game where they got six consecutive offensive rebounds before scoring. I don't expect to see that next year when Evans is on the floor.
 

Dakota2 said:
Where I disagree is with the notion he needs to be able to guard multiple positions, shoot mid-range jumpers and 3s to be a great (or even good) player for us. A guy who protects the rim, rebounds, and scores down low would be immensely valuable on this team and entirely unlike anyone we have.

We cannot soon forget the sequence in the Iowa game where they got six consecutive offensive rebounds before scoring. I don't expect to see that next year when Evans is on the floor.
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Ok, so what does Payne bring that Evans doesn't?
 





formerlybis said:
So you’d say Payne is redundant…..
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No, would you? Payne is completely different than TT, Garcia, Battle, JOJ, Ihnen, Fox, and Evans.

The word redundant is absurd in basketball. Teams have had twin brothers and used them effectively.
 

bga1 said:
True!

I just have a feeling that one of Garcia or Battle moves on after this year. I would be fine with a lineup of Payne/Garcia/Ola Joseph/Henley or Christie and a good PG from the portal and have Evans coming off the bench. Two years out, it is ideal if Payne and Evans play together- assuming Payne's game is ready to stretch to the 4. I believe he will be able to defend at that level...offensively- that one is up to him. If he ever wants to be in the league that's what he has to do.

Battle and Garcia have to know that they don't fit in a lineup together with Payne and Payne is going to play 30 minutes per game next year. Battle is a 4 with only fair rebounding skills and average at best defensive ability. But at the 4 in the right offense he would be a dangerous sniper.
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Problem with Battle as a sniper is that he isn’t a very good shooter. He shoots under 34% on threes in the conference and exactly 34% overall while at Minnesota.
 

Dakota2 said:
No, would you? Payne is completely different than TT, Garcia, Battle, JOJ, Ihnen, Fox, and Evans.

The word redundant is absurd in basketball. Teams have had twin brothers and used them effectively.
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But the twin brothers were guys like the Morris’ or Lopezes (Lopez’s?) and other notable eventual NBA fixtures. I’m missing some of course but give me two future NBA starters and I’ll make it work in college.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
If you're old enough, you remember how the TV show "Nightline" began as a nightly update on the Iran hostage crisis.

I think we need some kind of modern equivalent - a daily or nightly update on "it's been # days with no sign of Gopher AD Mark Coyle."

this is an under-reported story. the men's and women's basketball programs are each having hugely disappointing seasons, and the AD is a bleepin' ghost.

at this point, I really don't care what he says. I just want him - assuming he actually exists - to put his ass in front of a camera and make some kind of public statement.

at this point, I envision Coyle in his bunker with jars of urine and stacks of old newspapers, just like Howard Hughes. How long are his fingernails by now?
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Mark Coyle has guided Minnesota basketball into BIG10 futility. Both programs are tracking to finish dead last in BIG10. 4 wins total for between the two programs. I believe this is the poorest performance in Gopher history. Need to replace the AD, and then the new AD can hire some real coaching staffs.
 

Bunyan said:
Mark Coyle has guided Minnesota basketball into BIG10 futility. Both programs are tracking to finish dead last in BIG10. 4 wins total for between the two programs. I believe this is the poorest performance in Gopher history. Need to replace the AD, and then the new AD can hire some real coaching staffs.
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You want a Lori Lightfoot wannabe as AD? We are better with Coyle sticking around.
 

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