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

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CentralGopher said:
While the knocks on roster construction are true I don’t think it is as critical of an issue as some. I also think BJ said Ihnen was a guard due to lack of depth at that position though.

The way I see it barring any transfers we have 9 F/C players for 3 positions next year. Lots of teams play without a true center so if we have times that we don’t next year that isn’t much of an issue to me especially with the number of guys we have that can step out and hit a long 2 or a 3. 9 is a lot for only 3 positions though so if we see a transfer that will allow BJ to pick up another guard for depth.

Next year we will have 4 guards for 2 positions which most years is adequate but if someone is injured like Carrington this year it forces BJ to play someone that is either not ready or is a big drop off in quality.

That said, we will be ok with no transfers but it would benefit the roster if someone did.
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Are we talking about the Gophers here? Barring a transfer guard, I see minimal hope for anything better than a 6-14 type season next year. Christie would need to be the conference frosh of the year and do it at the PG position as well. That's a huge leap of faith- although I expect him to be really good.

With Payne and Evans on the roster, I just don't see us playing lineups that are without a true center.

Payne, Evans, Thompson 5's
Battle, Garcia, Fox, Ola Joseph 4's
Ihnen, Henley, Betts 3's
Cooper, Carrington, Christie 2's

That's our squad for next year as of the moment. There isn't a natural Big Ten level PG, the most important position on the court, among them.
 

CentralGopher said:
While the knocks on roster construction are true I don’t think it is as critical of an issue as some. I also think BJ said Ihnen was a guard due to lack of depth at that position though.

The way I see it barring any transfers we have 9 F/C players for 3 positions next year. Lots of teams play without a true center so if we have times that we don’t next year that isn’t much of an issue to me especially with the number of guys we have that can step out and hit a long 2 or a 3. 9 is a lot for only 3 positions though so if we see a transfer that will allow BJ to pick up another guard for depth.

Next year we will have 4 guards for 2 positions which most years is adequate but if someone is injured like Carrington this year it forces BJ to play someone that is either not ready or is a big drop off in quality.

That said, we will be ok with no transfers but it would benefit the roster if someone did.
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I can give Ben a pass if he missed on a guard in the portal (it happens to everyone) or if he really was going all-in on giving as many minutes as possible to Carrington/Henley but if he legitimately thinks Ihnen is a SG, we're screwed. It's over.

Also next year, we have (at best) 5 guards for three positions (Christie, Carrington, Battle, Henley, Cooper). That group contains two guys who have been bad this year, an incoming FR, and a player playing out of position (Battle). We will never see the 2021 Battle as long as he is playing SF.
 

bga1 said:
Are we talking about the Gophers here? Barring a transfer guard, I see minimal hope for anything better than a 6-14 type season next year. Christie would need to be the conference frosh of the year and do it at the PG position as well. That's a huge leap of faith- although I expect him to be really good.

With Payne and Evans on the roster, I just don't see us playing lineups that are without a true center.

Payne, Evans, Thompson 5's
Battle, Garcia, Fox, Ola Joseph 4's
Ihnen, Henley, Betts 3's
Cooper, Carrington, Christie 2's

That's our squad for next year as of the moment. There isn't a natural Big Ten level PG, the most important position on the court, among them.
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Personally, today, with that roster I am thinking more like 3-17
 

bga1 said:
Are we talking about the Gophers here? Barring a transfer guard, I see minimal hope for anything better than a 6-14 type season next year. Christie would need to be the conference frosh of the year and do it at the PG position as well. That's a huge leap of faith- although I expect him to be really good.

With Payne and Evans on the roster, I just don't see us playing lineups that are without a true center.

Payne, Evans, Thompson 5's
Battle, Garcia, Fox, Ola Joseph 4's
Ihnen, Henley, Betts 3's
Cooper, Carrington, Christie 2's

That's our squad for next year as of the moment. There isn't a natural Big Ten level PG, the most important position on the court, among them.
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If Betts and Ihnen are playing the 3, it's trouble too. They cannot handle the basketball at the required level to be a perimeter player on a college offense.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Because Henley isn’t a PG either. Just because a guy can bring the ball up the court every once in a while, doesn’t make him a PG.
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lol im not saying he is a PG...its still ok to experiment with how this season is going! our roster make up legit makes it impossible to bring in 2 PG's next year. So finding 1 or 2 of our other guards to handle bringing the ball up the court every once in a while would be a good thing to find out.....
 


Wet_Blanket_Guy said:
Ben also thought carrington could shoot. Maybe he just can’t evaluate
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Everyone who saw Carrington play high school basketball thought Carrington could shoot. The Mr. Basketball committee thought he could shoot. You thought he could shoot. You thought Battle could shoot.

Care to explain your ignorance?
 

Gophs24 said:
lol im not saying he is a PG...its still ok to experiment with how this season is going! our roster make up legit makes it impossible to bring in 2 PG's next year. So finding 1 or 2 of our other guards to handle bringing the ball up the court every once in a while would be a good thing to find out.....
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Finding someone to bring the ball up isn't the issue. We don't have anyone capable of guarding legitimate B1G guards. Somehow Ben is going to have to find room and recruit at least two next season or he may not have a job beyond that.
 

bga1 said:
Are we talking about the Gophers here? Barring a transfer guard, I see minimal hope for anything better than a 6-14 type season next year. Christie would need to be the conference frosh of the year and do it at the PG position as well. That's a huge leap of faith- although I expect him to be really good.

With Payne and Evans on the roster, I just don't see us playing lineups that are without a true center.

Payne, Evans, Thompson 5's
Battle, Garcia, Fox, Ola Joseph 4's
Ihnen, Henley, Betts 3's
Cooper, Carrington, Christie 2's

That's our squad for next year as of the moment. There isn't a natural Big Ten level PG, the most important position on the court, among them.
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can't spin it any other way.....the roster construction if everything stays (which it wont) is horrible. year 3 and we need to push someone off the roster to go fishing into the transfer portal for a big time PG. but other than 40 minutes of PT we have very little to offer a big time PG
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
If Betts and Ihnen are playing the 3, it's trouble too. They cannot handle the basketball at the required level to be a perimeter player on a college offense.
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Is Betts playing weekend pickup games at the Y? Can't think where else you would be watching him to know his ball handling skills.
 



bga1 said:
Are we talking about the Gophers here? Barring a transfer guard, I see minimal hope for anything better than a 6-14 type season next year. Christie would need to be the conference frosh of the year and do it at the PG position as well. That's a huge leap of faith- although I expect him to be really good.

With Payne and Evans on the roster, I just don't see us playing lineups that are without a true center.

Payne, Evans, Thompson 5's
Battle, Garcia, Fox, Ola Joseph 4's
Ihnen, Henley, Betts 3's
Cooper, Carrington, Christie 2's

That's our squad for next year as of the moment. There isn't a natural Big Ten level PG, the most important position on the court, among them.
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I never said we would be good and never said we would be without a true center. We will have 2 true centers on the team so betting we will do that often but I’m not worried about it if we don’t either. Payne and Evans most likely won’t play a full 40 in every game.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I can give Ben a pass if he missed on a guard in the portal (it happens to everyone) or if he really was going all-in on giving as many minutes as possible to Carrington/Henley but if he legitimately thinks Ihnen is a SG, we're screwed. It's over.

Also next year, we have (at best) 5 guards for three positions (Christie, Carrington, Battle, Henley, Cooper). That group contains two guys who have been bad this year, an incoming FR, and a player playing out of position (Battle). We will never see the 2021 Battle as long as he is playing SF.
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Battle is listed as a forward so lumped him in with the 9 forward/centers even though he doesn’t play as a true post player. He isn’t a pg or ag though. I don’t think Ihnen as a ag was legit.

I do think BJ was taking pretty much who he could get due to so many players leaving the team so he gets a pass on current roster construction but needs to work to correct it ASAP.
 

Dakota2 said:
Is Betts playing weekend pickup games at the Y? Can't think where else you would be watching him to know his ball handling skills.
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Did cbj watch Henley prior to bringing him on campus? While he has ben on campus? It doesnt appear he can play a lead guard role.
 

CentralGopher said:
Battle is listed as a forward so lumped him in with the 9 forward/centers even though he doesn’t play as a true post player. He isn’t a pg or ag though. I don’t think Ihnen as a ag was legit.

I do think BJ was taking pretty much who he could get due to so many players leaving the team so he gets a pass on current roster construction but needs to work to correct it ASAP.
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I agree with you on Battle, I just put him at SF to look at our roster in a way that is MOST favorable to Ben. I didn't want to get into semantics of my opinion that Battle is not a wing and just do the whole "ok, let's say Battle is a wing, we're still incredibly thin there. . ."

I have a hard time giving him a pass on roster construction because I think the hole at the guard position was so glaring. I give Ben way more of a pass on our lack of inside players last year because Fox and Ihnen were injured.
 



Crappie said:
Did cbj watch Henley prior to bringing him on campus? While he has ben on campus? It doesnt appear he can play a lead guard role.
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The crazy thing too is that I think it would take away from Henley's best trait. He is a really active wing defender and I think that's where he has shined (when he has shined).

The idea of Henley playing PG is almost as scary as Ihnen playing SG. That would be taking these guys who actually do have some unique skills (or nuggets of potential unique skills) and making them play completely out of their element, thus minimizing those skills and putting a giant spotlight on their weaknesses.
 

Dakota2 said:
Everyone who saw Carrington play high school basketball thought Carrington could shoot. The Mr. Basketball committee thought he could shoot. You thought he could shoot. You thought Battle could shoot.

Care to explain your ignorance?
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I never thought he could shoot. Saw him play against Edina last year. He was the third best player on his team, and did nothing against Edina.

Battle, I thought he could shoot. I still think he can, but he takes stupid / forced shots.

I also think the people who vote on Mr. Basketball don’t know basketball based on this vote. He most likely wasn’t even the best player on his own team, yet the entire state. Is the award best player in the state, or a good player on a state title team?
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
The crazy thing too is that I think it would take away from Henley's best trait. He is a really active wing defender and I think that's where he has shined (when he has shined).

The idea of Henley playing PG is almost as scary as Ihnen playing SG. That would be taking these guys who actually do have some unique skills (or nuggets of potential unique skills) and making them play completely out of their element, thus minimizing those skills and putting a giant spotlight on their weaknesses.
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Kind and f like what Tubby did to Hoffarber.
 

Dakota2 said:
Everyone who saw Carrington play high school basketball thought Carrington could shoot. The Mr. Basketball committee thought he could shoot. You thought he could shoot. You thought Battle could shoot.

Care to explain your ignorance?
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Guess I would look at Carringtons offer list Not sure too many High Majors thought he was a shooter or a legitimate Big Ten guard Mr Basketball? if he isn’t going to Minnesota I am not sure he gets it That said he will get the opportunity to prove me wrong which I hope he does.
 

If there was one thing that scared me watching this game it was watching Garcia limping around in obvious pain. I get that taking him out was conceding the game but WTH? That was a really bad look from a coaching standpoint.
 

Gophs24 said:
Man Carrington goes down and Henley only plays 6 minutes?

the guard spot opposite Cooper got 0 points. 5 boards. 3 assists. 0 steals. 0 blocks.

Samuals obviously has a better handle on the game then Henley. But with 12 games left in a lost season i really do hope BJ lets Henley get 15-20 minutes a game the rest of the way.
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Once again he's failing to develop a bench...I su
CPTMidnight said:
If there was one thing that scared me watching this game it was watching Garcia limping around in obvious pain. I get that taking him out was conceding the game but WTH? That was a really bad look from a coaching standpoint.
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Agree. Not to mention the potential to compound the injury. He should have sat him.
 

CPTMidnight said:
If there was one thing that scared me watching this game it was watching Garcia limping around in obvious pain. I get that taking him out was conceding the game but WTH? That was a really bad look from a coaching standpoint.
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Agree. The way he was moving it looked like his leg needed to be amputated. Why play him.
 


Bob_Loblaw said:
If Betts and Ihnen are playing the 3, it's trouble too. They cannot handle the basketball at the required level to be a perimeter player on a college offense.
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If he came back to his original level of athleticism Ihnen can cover a guard, he is the quickest player the Gophers have on the team, you are applying a standard that might not apply based on height, he surely can cover a three. He might not have that athleticism/quickness anymore though.
 

bottom line - Gophers MUST add a legitimate PG for next year - by any means necessary.

Not a combo guard - a true ball-handling PG who can initiate the offense - AND guard opposing PG's. Must have quickness.

I like a lot of what Cooper does on offense, but his lack of lateral quickness on defense is pretty glaring. he gets driven past more often than an old lady going 50mph on the freeway.

the playing time at the other positions will sort itself out. the best players will play, and the guys who don't play will have to decide whether they are OK with the situation.

but they MUST get a PG. this is where MN could really use an NIL sugar daddy. go out and find the best PG in the portal, and wave a big sack of cash in front of him.
 

jovs said:
If he came back to his original level of athleticism Ihnen can cover a guard, he is the quickest player the Gophers have on the team, you are applying a standard that might not apply based on height, he surely can cover a three. He might not have that athleticism/quickness anymore though.
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I'm not, all of my assumptions are most favorable to the Gophers.

Ihnen at his peak athleticism (assuming no drop off from his ACL injuries) is absolutely not a wing in terms of skill or athleticism. He was not a very good ball handler (absolutely instrumental in being a wing), he was not a good shooter for a wing (decent for a 4), and I have never seen him be remotely effective with the ball in his hands. Put it this way, in his SO season, he averaged 15 minutes per game and .6 assists per game (and almost no free throws), Treyton Thompson averages .7 assists per game in 8 minutes.

Is he quick enough to guard other wings? I highly doubt it but I don't know. Is he skilled enough to play wing? Unless he has completely changed his game, absolutely not.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I'm not, all of my assumptions are most favorable to the Gophers.

Ihnen at his peak athleticism (assuming no drop off from his ACL injuries) is absolutely not a wing in terms of skill or athleticism. He was not a very good ball handler (absolutely instrumental in being a wing), he was not a good shooter for a wing (decent for a 4), and I have never seen him be remotely effective with the ball in his hands. Put it this way, in his SO season, he averaged 15 minutes per game and .6 assists per game (and almost no free throws), Treyton Thompson averages .7 assists per game in 8 minutes.

Is he quick enough to guard other wings? I highly doubt it but I don't know. Is he skilled enough to play wing? Unless he has completely changed his game, absolutely not.
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Ihnen- I agree with a lot of what you say- except, I do think he has the athleticism. He needed to improve his shooting and ball skills. I definitely think he could guard a 2 or a 3, the offensive end is really the question. My assumption was that Ben had seen him employ the dribble drive effectively in the summer and was excited about him. Those changes do happen. I could see him as a three, with those upgrades to his game. I am going to assume that Ben was a little off, but not completely off his rocker when he suggested that Ihnen could be the starting SG. We haven't seem him for 2 years. I am going so guess he lost a little bit of his jumping ability which was substantial before.
 


bga1 said:
Ihnen- I agree with a lot of what you say- except, I do think he has the athleticism. He needed to improve his shooting and ball skills. I definitely think he could guard a 2 or a 3, the offensive end is really the question. My assumption was that Ben had seen him employ the dribble drive effectively in the summer and was excited about him. Those changes do happen. I could see him as a three, with those upgrades to his game. I am going to assume that Ben was a little off, but not completely off his rocker when he suggested that Ihnen could be the starting SG. We haven't seem him for 2 years. I am going so guess he lost a little bit of his jumping ability which was substantial before.
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Ben suggested it purely because of lack of depth at the sg spot imo
 


Gophs24 said:
can't spin it any other way.....the roster construction if everything stays (which it wont) is horrible. year 3 and we need to push someone off the roster to go fishing into the transfer portal for a big time PG. but other than 40 minutes of PT we have very little to offer a big time PG
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Yes, that's one superlative that Ben has established: if you're any good at all, you'll play more minutes a game here than anywhere else. You'll have to beg to be taken out of the game!
 

bga1 said:
Ihnen- I agree with a lot of what you say- except, I do think he has the athleticism. He needed to improve his shooting and ball skills. I definitely think he could guard a 2 or a 3, the offensive end is really the question. My assumption was that Ben had seen him employ the dribble drive effectively in the summer and was excited about him. Those changes do happen. I could see him as a three, with those upgrades to his game. I am going to assume that Ben was a little off, but not completely off his rocker when he suggested that Ihnen could be the starting SG. We haven't seem him for 2 years. I am going so guess he lost a little bit of his jumping ability which was substantial before.
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Ihnen was playing against this same point guardless-Gopher team we are watching now, so of course he looked good in comparison. 🫤
 

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