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

Samuels graduates, Thompson transfers, and Ramberg back to walk-on status.

I'd be shocked if there's not at least one other transfer/early departure. And if none of this happens, I'd expect CBJ to have some tough conversations because this is what the roster needs regardless of the current scholarship status/count.
Samuels and Ramburg's scholarships are already spoken for by Evans and Christie. TT transferring is the only likely one that opens (and that's far from certain, I thought he'd transfer after last year and he didn't.)
 



Now I'm really depressed.
Ben is going to have to make some hard decisions if he wants to succeed at this level. He is not going to be able make everyone happy. He can see that the roster he put together failed with so many 4s and 5s. Next year, with what we have slated to return- it gets more imbalanced. He has to fix that.
 




I agree. It is crazy that he didn't/ couldn't keep Thiam who was a terrific athlete- considering that we left a scholarship unused.
He's done pretty well at High Point this season.
 

Payne and Ola-Joseph are legit. They are freshmen. Bright futures for them. And ththenhe Dennis Evans era begins next season. So the Gophers are set there at post, forward.

Garcia is only a sophomore and mostly looks very good. His junior and senior years are ahead of him.

I think the calculus is that Carrington must pan out next year and provide solid shooting guard play. That one looks iffy. And then Henley as option #2. Henley put in good effort today running around lost and missed both shots. People here say he has the most upside. I think Carrington us the better bet.

I would say a transfer point guard would help the team the most. A good point guard makes everyone better.

Roll the dice on Carrington, get a point guard, and the bigs will win it.
 

Well, at least they didn't get blown out.'

But it's still frustrating to watch. the Gophers come out for the first few minutes of the game showing good ball movement and passing, which results in an early lead.

and then they stop doing the things that got them the lead - and they go into the Dead Zone again.
between the turnovers and some of the dumb plays, that just reinforces my opinion that this team has a really low collective basketball IQ.

and this thought - the Gophers desperately need a true PG. but if they keep losing games, it just gets harder to find a quality PG who is willing to join this program.

bleep.
 



I think without Dickingson and all of his phantom calls, michigan might be worse than Minnesota (besides that thing called "the score"). They are not good. Then of course the argument of "was it because of Minnesota, or just michigan is not good." Minnesota isn't what I would call good right now, but has shown a lot of effort and not given up. Playing better defense and getting closer (other than the Purdue game). Just have to keep pushing.
 

Samuels graduates, Thompson transfers, and Ramberg back to walk-on status.

I'd be shocked if there's not at least one other transfer/early departure. And if none of this happens, I'd expect CBJ to have some tough conversations because this is what the roster needs regardless of the current scholarship status/count.
But we already have Christie and Evans coming in. So only spot available would be on a transfer.
 

I think it’s more important to find a shooter. Cooper is a liability on defense for sure but I think he’s solid running the point if he actually has a guard playing with him that’s a threat to score.
Disagree. Not only is he a liability on defense, he's not quick enough to penetrate and dish or score. I think he's better as an off guard.
 

Ben is going to have to make some hard decisions if he wants to succeed at this level. He is not going to be able make everyone happy. He can see that the roster he put together failed with so many 4s and 5s. Next year, with what we have slated to return- it gets more imbalanced. He has to fix that.
Yep, this roster construction is a disaster. We are somehow too small and too slow.

Unless there is drastic change, we will have more scholarships used on players who should be playing PF (6) (Garcia, Battle, Ihnen, Fox, Betts, Olo-Joseph) then we have for the entire backcourt (4) (Carrington, Cooper, Henley, Christie).

Even if you swap out TT for a guard, it's still out of whack.
Even if you consider Battle a SF and swap out TT for a guard, it's still out of whack.

I'm really hoping this isn't the cause for the insanity discussed in the offseason about Ihnen playing the SG position.
 




Yep, this roster construction is a disaster. We are somehow too small and too slow.

Unless there is drastic change, we will have more scholarships used on players who should be playing PF (6) (Garcia, Battle, Ihnen, Fox, Betts, Olo-Joseph) then we have for the entire backcourt (4) (Carrington, Cooper, Henley, Christie).

Even if you swap out TT for a guard, it's still out of whack.
Even if you consider Battle a SF and swap out TT for a guard, it's still out of whack.

I'm really hoping this isn't the cause for the insanity discussed in the offseason about Ihnen playing the SG position.
In the offseason what we heard from the coach was that Cooper was a PG (he's not) , Henley was a SG- he's a wing and Ihnen was the starting 2G. I think people,( I was one or them) trusted what the coach was saying.
 

Ben Johnson has recruited shooting guard Carrington, wing/whatever/SG Henley, and now SG Christie coming in. Shooting guard is NOT the #1 priority for the transfer portal because of the prospects they have in the pipeline. One of them needs to pan out or Johnson is sc****d. A dynamite point guard would be the one to bring in.
 

Ben Johnson has recruited shooting guard Carrington, wing/whatever/SG Henley, and now SG Christie coming in. Shooting guard is NOT the #1 priority for the transfer portal because of the prospects they have in the pipeline. One of them needs to pan out or Johnson is sc****d. A dynamite point guard would be the one to bring in.
Cooper has done more than Carrington and Henley combined.

If Johnson thinks we're set at wing because we have three guys to play our SG/SF minutes, and those three guys are 2 FR who have been objectively bad and an incoming FR, then he's an absolute disaster.
 

Cooper has done more than Carrington and Henley combined.

If Johnson thinks we're set at wing because we have three guys to play our SG/SF minutes, and those three guys are 2 FR who have been objectively bad and an incoming FR, then he's an absolute disaster.
This
 

So we have Fox and Ihnen and Betts in the rotation next year. How many minutes do these guys see next year?
 


I saw another strong effort. Played hard through the end. The Battle foul was perplexing. Not sure what he was doing but that was terrible. Still, the team played pretty good D today…just don’t have much O especially when Garcia is out.

As a sidenote, this was one of the best-reffed games I have seen in a long time.
 

The only minutes leaving are Samuels
And none of the 5 newcomers play that position. Suppose Thompson transfers and you get a transfer PG - you still only have Thompson’s very limited minutes distributed among the 5 newcomers, or you’re decreasing the minutes of the returners. And that probably won’t sit well with all the returners. In this era, that’s the recipe for portaling.
 

Cooper has done more than Carrington and Henley combined.

If Johnson thinks we're set at wing because we have three guys to play our SG/SF minutes, and those three guys are 2 FR who have been objectively bad and an incoming FR, then he's an absolute disaster.

I will learn up more on Cooper a junior. Lookong at his stats, his assists to turnover ratio is 2.34. Cooper's free-throw shooting is 48%. He has scored double digits in 5 of the last 6 games that I am looking at right now, maybe.more games. So maybe I am mistaken about Cooper not being the glue you want there. I will dig into that.

For freshmen Carrington and Henley, there is a life cycle of prospect development. I think Johnson has placed his bets there and looks iffy but we will find out when they move to season 2.
 

I will learn up more on Cooper a junior. Lookong at his stats, his assists to turnover ratio is 2.34. Cooper's free-throw shooting is 48%. He has scored double digits in 5 of the last 6 games that I am looking at right now, maybe.more games. So maybe I am mistaken about Cooper not being the glue you want there. I will dig into that.

For freshmen Carrington and Henley, there is a life cycle of prospect development. I think Johnson has placed his bets there and looks iffy but we will find out when they move to season 2.
I'm not saying he is the glue or the answer, I am just saying I am more confident in him being a decent Big 10 basketball player next season than either Carrington or Henley.

Part of my criticism with Ben is that I also don't think Ben puts the FR into positions to be effective, especially the wings. Olo-Joseph and Payne have been more effective but they also have much clearer defined roles and play amongst some veteran talent.

With Henley and Carrington, they, largely, have been given unearned minutes and told to figure it out.
 

I'm not saying he is the glue or the answer, I am just saying I am more confident in him being a decent Big 10 basketball player next season than either Carrington or Henley.

Part of my criticism with Ben is that I also don't think Ben puts the FR into positions to be effective, especially the wings. Olo-Joseph and Payne have been more effective but they also have much clearer defined roles and play amongst some veteran talent.

With Henley and Carrington, they, largely, have been given unearned minutes and told to figure it out.


I understand. You know the scheme game better than I do. Maybe that explains the disconnect between the bigger players and the outside shooters.
 

Samuels and Ramburg's scholarships are already spoken for by Evans and Christie. TT transferring is the only likely one that opens (and that's far from certain, I thought he'd transfer after last year and he didn't.)
There's a chance of a medical redshirt - you still get your school paid for but you don't eat up a scholarship slot for the roster. After so many blown out knees, that may be a route that someone takes. Note, I have zero inside info here, just saying, there's a chance...
 

And none of the 5 newcomers play that position. Suppose Thompson transfers and you get a transfer PG - you still only have Thompson’s very limited minutes distributed among the 5 newcomers, or you’re decreasing the minutes of the returners. And that probably won’t sit well with all the returners. In this era, that’s the recipe for portaling.
You guys are hilarious. Nobody on the roster can shoot, Cooper can't play defense, and team basketball IQ is nil, you say, yet you are wringing your hands about where any minutes will come from for five or six additions next year.
 

There's a chance of a medical redshirt - you still get your school paid for but you don't eat up a scholarship slot for the roster. After so many blown out knees, that may be a route that someone takes. Note, I have zero inside info here, just saying, there's a chance...
Who has a knee injury that already has them out next year? Or are you suggesting a Nancy Karrigan sort of thing?
 

Who has a knee injury that already has them out next year? Or are you suggesting a Nancy Karrigan sort of thing?
No, I'm talking about trying to come back from multiple knee injuries. If you're Fox or Ihnen, do you want to give it yet another run, or just go medical and focus on school? Again, no inside info here, but it's at least an option for them to consider. It's gotta be a lot easier being a student when you don't have to play. Maybe it's time to just focus on the student side of life?
 

No, I'm talking about trying to come back from multiple knee injuries. If you're Fox or Ihnen, do you want to give it yet another run, or just go medical and focus on school? Again, no inside info here, but it's at least an option for them to consider. It's gotta be a lot easier being a student when you don't have to play. Maybe it's time to just focus on the student side of life?
Maybe but they've both indicated they want to come back and it would be a very dick move not to let them after all they've been through. It's not like they're not "focused on school" now.
 




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