***OFFICIAL MINNESOTA AT VIRGINIA TECH BIG TEN/ACC CHALLENGE IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

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fan of Ray Williams said:
Holy S***, what did you take a hit off of right before you typed that out?
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I'm glad I didn't have anything in my mouth when I read this. It would have ended up all over the wall. Thanks for the LOL.

A guy can dream, can't he? Clem lost how many in a row and was a jump shot from the Final Four two years later. I'm going to hold out hope that this can still go somewhere.
 







GoodasGold said:
Garcia played defense like a freshman tonig
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howeda7 said:
Battle is not a freshman. Garcia is not a freshman. Cooper is not a freshman. They're doing nothing. JOJ and Payne are the only ones showing a pulse.
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Cooper is showing a pulse. He fed Payne with three beautiful assist. He scored 13 points and got some rebounds.
 

leib0039 said:
That was one of the worst coached games I have ever witnessed
Ben should be embarrassed. Offense was terrible, shooting terrible, defense terrible, effort terrible. Good some people can ignore the obvious and just hide behind "well freshman and transfers!" Like we are the only team in the country with that situation.
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Agreed they were terrible in all respects. But Ben isn't the one who can't shoot. That would be the guys on the court.
 

This team is bad, they have regressed since last year. Willis was more important than I originally thought, partly based on things I heard on here about our incoming transfer pg. This team will be lucky to match their 4 wins from last year in BIG play.
 



SanDiegoGopherFan said:
This doesnt make sense. How does the staff overachieve with the roster last year (all aspects of the game) to this.
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Valid question. Maybe a roster of mid-major transfers is easier to coach than freshmen, high profile transfers and a returning veteran all waiving their press clippings. Last year's transfers were happy for the opportunity and repaid that on the floor.
 



stocker08 said:
It's been over a year since Ihnen has been on the floor. Are you thinking of someone else? Because Ihnen never looked "soft" to me.
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Ilnen has maybe two good weeks of basketball as a gophers coupled with 1.5 years of hot garbage…stop thinking he will make a difference…plus he is just another big (battle Garcia Payne evans JoJ)- I’d rather have JOJ take his minutes
 



Two main takeaways:
1) Payne is really good and this is an issue: is he is smart he will transfer to a real program that is missing a center (UCLA comes to mind as an example)…I just ask myself why stay with a dumpster fire when he has shown flashes of great play and promise
And most likely a real school would bring in NIL money - a huge area of concern I would think of gophers keep playing so poorly

2) battle is so slow laterally/ lacks quickness - athletic bigs will give him headaches this year…and most really good teams have them (long year for battle)
 



Bad Gopher said:
That argument is the last, lamest resort of defending a coach. Ben assembled this team. Believe it or not, he's a responsible party in this.
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I wasn't defending the coach. Just pointing out he isn't the one going 2 for 30. If the coaching was terrible, what would you call the performance of the players on the floor other than worse than terrible?

Yeah, Ben brought these guys in but if you knew they were this bad six months ago, why didn't you say something?
 

His
Dakota2 said:
I wasn't defending the coach. Just pointing out he isn't the one going 2 for 30. If the coaching was terrible, what would you call the performance of the players on the floor other than worse than terrible?

Yeah, Ben brought these guys in but if you knew they were this bad six months ago, why didn't you say something?
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His offensive scheme doesn’t/hasn’t worked for his personnel. Tonight was yet another example. No set plays to get battle an open shot at his sweet spot.
 


Yea it’s just very strange their primary set is a pick and roll for a pg that has trouble beating people off the dribble. This should not be difficult to recognize. Their offense should cater to wing entry to Garcia/Payne/Battle in the post and play inside outside. Primarily Garcia as that’s the best way to get him involved and we need him to play well. This shouldn’t be that difficult to conclude. This screen and roll w Cooper every time down needs to stop. Just, recognize the obvious at this point. If there’s a reason for optimism, it’s that there are obvious adjustments to be made in terms of rotations and schemes that could make massive differences. It’s about leadership/swallowing pride at this point.
 


We just seem young. Clearly need more from Battle and Garcia as they have been the biggest disappointments in my opinion (Battle still getting healthy).

The young guys honestly seem a little bit better than I expected and it's a nice core. JOJ way more potential/upside than I expected. Carrington will be a solid player. Payne is a monster. Henley just doing freshman things but I still like him too.

This year is not the year clearly. BUT, next year you add Evans, Christie, Betts, and hopefully Ihnen and Fox can recover/contribute. Doesn't look like Garcia or Battle will be heading to the pros at this rate. Should have a a lot of depth and everybody with another year under their belt. Would welcome Cooper back as well as he is the only true PG.

In the transfer portal era, we've got ourselves an old-fashioned rebuild. I've accepted it and I like the start.

*The only guy I don't really see a future for is Thompson and let's go ahead and swing that schollie to a much needed PG.
 

Holf2 said:
Why on earth are TT/Henley still starting? Put. Down. The. Shovel. You’re a good coach. You have great temperament. Guys want to play for you. Just own up to the obviousness of the errors here and play your best players. You recruited them. Why not support them?
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Not to be that guy but Johnson recruited Henley too so maybe give him some chops for sticking with him? Henley looked good the first couple of games but is clearly in his own head. I agree that he may need to come off the bench for a bit until he is right again.
 

skiumah1 said:
We just seem young. Clearly need more from Battle and Garcia as they have been the biggest disappointments in my opinion (Battle still getting healthy).

The young guys honestly seem a little bit better than I expected and it's a nice core. JOJ way more potential/upside than I expected. Carrington will be a solid player. Payne is a monster. Henley just doing freshman things but I still like him too.

This year is not the year clearly. BUT, next year you add Evans, Christie, Betts, and hopefully Ihnen and Fox can recover/contribute. Doesn't look like Garcia or Battle will be heading to the pros at this rate. Should have a a lot of depth and everybody with another year under their belt. Would welcome Cooper back as well as he is the only true PG.

In the transfer portal era, we've got ourselves an old-fashioned rebuild. I've accepted it and I like the start.

*The only guy I don't really see a future for is Thompson and let's go ahead and swing that schollie to a much needed PG.
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We'll know a whole lot more by the end of next season for sure. Maybe we'll be looking back and wondering how we could have doubted the process. But man, right now, I'm doubting the process.
 

ecoperson said:
Not to be that guy but Johnson recruited Henley too so maybe give him some chops for sticking with him? Henley looked good the first couple of games but is clearly in his own head. I agree that he may need to come off the bench for a bit until he is right again.
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I hear you, and trust me, I think Henley does some really nice things and like his upside, just think at this point Carrington is more mature/polished/less of liability. Excited for Henley’s development. He adds 15 lbs and he could be totally different player.
 

All one on one basketball on offense. Let's hope it's just young guys not doing what Ben wants. Other teams get easy shots- we get none. Battle was contested on all but two shots and we did nothing to work for open shots for him. We got the ball to Payne on the pick and roll some but they aren't patient to post him up and work the ball in and then back out.
Garcia just does nothing if he doesn't score.
 


Wet_Blanket_Guy said:
Two main takeaways:
1) Payne is really good and this is an issue: is he is smart he will transfer to a real program that is missing a center (UCLA comes to mind as an example)…I just ask myself why stay with a dumpster fire when he has shown flashes of great play and promise
And most likely a real school would bring in NIL money - a huge area of concern I would think of gophers keep playing so poorly

2) battle is so slow laterally/ lacks quickness - athletic bigs will give him headaches this year…and most really good teams have them (long year for battle)
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That's my fear, that Pharell just takes a look around him and says "You know what? Why am I even here?".
 


ecoperson said:
Not to be that guy but Johnson recruited Henley too so maybe give him some chops for sticking with him? Henley looked good the first couple of games but is clearly in his own head. I agree that he may need to come off the bench for a bit until he is right again.
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Send TT in, tell him to stand in the corner, tell the rest of the team to ignore him while they hoist up contested 3s.
 

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