***OFFICIAL MINNESOTA AT OHIO STATE JAMISON BATTLE REVENGE IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

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fan of Ray Williams said:
I hate to be mean, but is he that effing close minded not to see it?
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With Ihnen instead of Christie it is a team chemistry thing....give the upper classman confidence to start the season...make the freshman earn it. He read about it in a book, I'm guessing.

With Payne...the excuse is he's on limited minutes for an injury protection policy they took out.
The policy started last year....don't know if there is an expiration date.
 

Outsider said:
They have two if not three of the best guards in the conference if you include Middleton. That is a really nice setup to have. And waiting in the wings, Taison Chatman.
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Thornton likely is the best guard in the league and Thornton and Gayle could very well be the best starting one and two guard combo. I did not know Middleton before tonight but he definitely did his job.
 

60's Guy said:
With Payne...the excuse is he's on limited minutes for an injury protection policy they took out.
Started last year....don't know if there is an expiration date.
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Payne didn't start last year either.
 

BTChamp said:
Actually don't know what to think (nothing unusual for me). Didn't quit. Lots of life. Shitty TurnOvers and lazy ball handling.
But, there is potential. I hate saying that, but that's all there is.
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Nobody wants to hear this, and yes, there were way too many lazy passes and stupid wild passes by Hawkins, but some of those turnovers were caused by hustle defense by OSU. You can cause TOs as well as make them.
 


Once we got the back to within 6, I was hoping we would show some sort of full court press to keep Ohio running trying to get them to turn it over...instead we let them drain open 3s to seal the victory.
 



TwistingMyMelon said:
If Garcia leaves, they will not be able to pick up another 4 who is even close in value. They probably should move Ola Joseph to the 4 and try to get the best small forward they can.
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The team is going to have to show some competence outside of Garcia. Otherwise....it should be blown up.
 



skiumah1 said:
The team is better this year and we might get to 4-6 Big Ten wins. Coyle likely gives Ben another year because “we’re young and improving.”

Overall this is still a bad team, poorly coached and I have very little confidence in Ben. He doesn’t have it.

I agree with Leib that I’ve had more than enough of the “moral victories”
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The bar is so low for Ben Johnson just getting to 4 conference wins in year 3 will be considered good enough to earn a fourth year.
 

bga1 said:
Yep- really he is down to 7 now. I think Carrington will come around and JOJ has a lot of Big Ten athlete in him...he just has to be digging the whole time.

Hawkins played his best game as a Gopher tonight- one real bonehead play but he was solid other than the fact that he is a total mismatch against Thornton on defense.

Christie is for real. Payne and Garcia, Hawkins and fill in a 5th. After tonight I would go with JOJ as that guy.
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Hawkins is way too small to play in a league with big and strong guards. He can't stop anyone and he really can't get a shot much. He is so small he does not even get the foul call when he gets clobbered inside.

If Mitchell can be convinced he is not playing at Pepperdine where he needs to shoot early and often, and just settles down and moves the ball, taking a shot once in awhile when he is actually open, he is a better option than Hawkins.
 

Dakota2 said:
Hawkins is way too small to play in a league with big and strong guards. He can't stop anyone and he really can't get a shot much. He is so small he does not even get the foul call when he gets clobbered inside.

If Mitchell can be convinced he is not playing at Pepperdine where he needs to shoot early and often, and just settles down and moves the ball, taking a shot once in awhile when he is actually open, he is a better option than Hawkins.
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Starting 5 needs to be

Mitchell
Christie
Ola-joseph
Garcia
Payne
 





Dakota2 said:
Nobody wants to hear this, and yes, there were way too many lazy passes and stupid wild passes by Hawkins, but some of those turnovers were caused by hustle defense by OSU. You can cause TOs as well as make them.
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Yes that's true. I should have clarified, "at times". There was a lot of good besides the bad. Just need more control.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Defense and turnovers continue to be a problem. Unfortunately, that's fundamental basketball.
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Didn’t see a ton of second half, but defensive consistency seems like an issue. I attribute to a few new peices that are coming along.

F-ing turnovers are another story.
 

007gopherfan said:
Once we got the back to within 6, I was hoping we would show some sort of full court press to keep Ohio running trying to get them to turn it over...instead we let them drain open 3s to seal the victory.
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Garcia was so tired be could barely lift his arms high enough to wipe sweat from his eyes. In no position to press late in the game. If you want to press, run out a fresh five earlier and try to disrupt them.
 

atsgopher said:
Didn’t see a ton of second half, but defensive consistency seems like an issue. I attribute to a few new peices that are coming along.

F-ing turnovers are another story.
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We were not at a disadvantage with respect to turnovers and steals tonight. Each team had the same amount of both. Of course, we couldn't create any advantage either.
 

Is there any buzz on Garcia coming back next year? I kept thinking about what this game would have looked like without him. I mean, for the love of something......
 

Dakota2 said:
Hawkins is way too small to play in a league with big and strong guards. He can't stop anyone and he really can't get a shot much. He is so small he does not even get the foul call when he gets clobbered inside.

If Mitchell can be convinced he is not playing at Pepperdine where he needs to shoot early and often, and just settles down and moves the ball, taking a shot once in awhile when he is actually open, he is a better option than Hawkins.
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It's a problem because Hawkins is the only kid that gives them enough pace to create openings for Garcia, Payne and Christie. They need to play zone defense to mask Hawkins but they won't. They tried it for a couple possessions and gave up an open three on one but got a steal on the other.
 


SplitDecision said:
Third, OSU shot out of their minds esp from 3 tonight.
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they have this one guy who shot 3s at 31% and FTs at 78% last year and he was 4-6 and 7-7 tonight. about 7 points above his shooting average. of course, he does it when he's playing his former team.
 


Battle knew what he was doing to Ben’s career when he left.
 




Obviously Garcia was great tonight. The team played hard and that Ohio State team is decent. I think they finish in the middle of the Big 10.

I’ll give Ben kudos, his lineups in the second half were great. We had much improved spacing with that 3 guard lineup.
 

I will give the Gophers some grudging credit. instead of folding, they at least tried to make a comeback.

the bad start really killed them. they were down by 12 points early and trailed by 18 points with 8:35 left in the first half. with 2:39 left in the half, the margin was 22 points. it was still an 18-point margin with 13 minutes left in the game. Gophers went on a 24-12 run over the next 9 minutes and got back within 6 points, but OSU closed with a 10-4 run in the final minutes.

so the best thing I can say is that they didn't quit. somehow they have to start better, and find a way to avoid the "dead zone" where they go 3-4 minutes without scoring.
 

I think most of us expected a loss. Another wire to wire B1G loss where we clearly weren't competitive is disheartening though. Bleed pointed out Ben is 2-23 in his last 25 conference games, but we also have to have spent an inordinate amount of game time in his tenure down double digits. This game was a 20 point deficit with like 15 minutes to go and that seems normal for a Ben Johnson Big Ten game.

I am sure people in this thread have posted these thoughts, but imagine where Ben would be if Dawson Garcia had more than one power 5 option for immediate eligibility? Also, not only did Kadyn Betts not cause Jamison Battle any problems he doesn't even play for a team that's still projected to finish at the bottom of the B1G. Ben said it was a tough decision to redshirt Betts last year, but he can't get run over the likes of Ihnen and Ola Joseph. I am not saying he will never be good, but this is 2 years he's tied up a scholarship now where he likely won't play.

San Francisco lost wire to wire against Arizona State tonight getting down by as many as 19 in the second half and losing by 11. Just another sign that things might be really ugly all year again.
 

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