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

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Day1Fan said:
Does anyone know why Fox didn’t play in the second half? Maybe I missed something… Please explain. We could have used his energy on the court. That and why Jack didn’t play?
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I think the perception is down the stretch you need your best offensive weapons on the court at all times. Johnson went into protect mode and kept as many ballhandlers on the court as he could to prevent turnovers. They were physically abused though, didn't score, and couldn't make a stop with that makeup.
 



As a Mizzou alum and a Gopher fan, I was chearing for a Gopher victory. The wins will come for Mizzou...They may not for Minnesota which is why I was hoping for a Gopher victory.
 


Bad Gopher said:
It's never been guaranteed or ascertained whether he can play at this level. That's another part of this: who even is he basketball-wise? At least we knew that Ihnen can play.
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I like Fox, he is so much better fundamentally than most of the others, he doesn't have a great offensive skillset and is a little undersized at this level but I would hope Johnson will find a way to utilize him.
 

jovs said:
I like Fox, he is so much better fundamentally than most of the others, he doesn't have a great offensive skillset and is a little undersized at this level but I would hope Johnson will find a way to utilize him.
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It's early, but one of my first impressions of him is that he's had two years to practice free throws... :mad:
 





Holy Man said:
Hawkins did something to piss the staff off and paid by riding the pine in crunch time.
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He did turn the ball over a number of times before they sat him down. He was killing them in the second. Got the snowball rolling
 

DLib said:
He did turn the ball over a number of times before they sat him down. He was killing them in the second. Got the snowball rolling
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Hawkins went to the basket and forced it up a couple of times with no chance of scoring, can't fault Ben for pulling him.

With Mitchel, Christie, and Garcia on the court down the stretch, defense isn't going to be your strong point especially against a team that is physical like Missouri is. Carrington held his own and Ihnen was okay but that is not a group that is going to dominate defensively when you need it.

This schedule doesn't do you any favors in tryihg to figure out what combinations work best in certain situations.
 

jovs said:
Hawkins went to the basket and forced it up a couple of times with no chance of scoring, can't fault Ben for pulling him.
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Pull him for a minute. They needed him badly down the stretch. He’s got guts. I’d bet on him to hit a game winner over anyone they have.

jovs said:
With Mitchel, Christie, and Garcia on the court down the stretch, defense isn't going to be your strong point especially against a team that is physical like Missouri is. Carrington held his own and Ihnen was okay but that is not a group that is going to dominate defensively when you need it.
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Then switch it up. Slow down the driving with a zone for a couple minutes.
jovs said:
This schedule doesn't do you any favors in tryihg to figure out what combinations work best in certain situations.
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Huge opportunity lost last night. They can win the rest of their non conference games and no one will care.
 

bga1 said:
Pull him for a minute. They needed him badly down the stretch. He’s got guts. I’d bet on him to hit a game winner over anyone they have.



Then switch it up. Slow down the driving with a zone for a couple minutes.

Huge opportunity lost last night. They can win the rest of their non conference games and no one will care.
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EXACTLY
 




fan of Ray Williams said:
After giving it some thought, would have been best if Johnson would have gotten thrown out at about the time Grill did. Maybe could have made a deal, they get to keep Grill and in exchange send Johnson to the locker room.
(Apologies, not over it yet.)
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Quite understandable. No apologies necessary.
 

I'm pi**ed at the those final 11 minutes but definitely not in the "sky is falling crowd". I actually feel better about the Gophers prospects after last night than I did before entering Williams Arena. I saw a lot of good things before the metldown.

This is not the 2021-22 or 2022-23 Gopher roster. It looks to me like Ben has constrcuted a solid, versatile roster with some good pieces. This roster is not without hope. Now it's time to coach them up. Ben didn't do that last night, but I'm not going scorched earth after only 3 games.

Learn from it, move on, on to the next. Beat USC-Upstate.
 

jovs said:
I think the perception is down the stretch you need your best offensive weapons on the court at all times. Johnson went into protect mode and kept as many ballhandlers on the court as he could to prevent turnovers. They were physically abused though, didn't score, and couldn't make a stop with that makeup.
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Down the stretch yes, but foresight to prevent burnout by playing our bench, using our depth when we are up early in the second half so maybe our offensive weapons can score late in the game, especially when it is a late game.
 


SelectionSunday said:
I'm pi**ed at the those final 11 minutes but definitely not in the "sky is falling crowd". I actually feel better about the Gophers prospects after last night than I did before entering Williams Arena. I saw a lot of good things before the metldown.

This is not the 2021-22 or 2022-23 Gopher roster. It looks to me like Ben has constrcuted a solid, versatile roster with some good pieces. This roster is not without hope. Now it's time to coach them up. Ben didn't do that last night, but I'm not going scorched earth after only 3 games.

Learn from it, move on, on to the next. Beat USC-Upstate.
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Good, rational post.

I was thinking about my trajectory in sales. I certainly was much better after my first few years, after making numerous mistakes in my initially. I learned from, thank goodness, and my trajectory went up from there.

Ben will either learn from it, or he won’t and we’ll probably have a good idea by the middle of the B10 season, if he’s grown or not We’re fortunate that the conference is weak this year and that may aid CBJ this year. I’m a supporter of him till he’s not our coach - I chose to choose to focus my chi thst way.

I realize it may not happen, but I hope it does 🤞
 
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SelectionSunday said:
I'm pi**ed at the those final 11 minutes but definitely not in the "sky is falling crowd". I actually feel better about the Gophers prospects after last night than I did before entering Williams Arena. I saw a lot of good things before the metldown.

This is not the 2021-22 or 2022-23 Gopher roster. It looks to me like Ben has constrcuted a solid, versatile roster with some good pieces. This roster is not without hope. Now it's time to coach them up. Ben didn't do that last night, but I'm not going scorched earth after only 3 games.

Learn from it, move on, on to the next. Beat USC-Upstate.
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I feel good about the talent and depth. Best roster situation easily in Ben's 3 years. But it's the worst I've felt about the coaching in these 3 years and that's really saying something.

Still lots of season left but it's hard not to be pessimistic at this point.
 


Gopher_In_NYC said:
Good, rational post.

I was thinking about my trajectory in sales. I certainly was much better after my first few years m, after making numerous mistakes in my first few years. I learned from, thank goodness, and my trajectory went up from there.

Ben will either learn it he won’t and we’ll probably have a good idea. If he has grown enough by the middle of the B10 season. We’re fortunate that the conference is weak this year and that may aid CBJ this year. I’m a supporter of him till he’s not our coach - I chose to choose to focus my chi thst way.

I realize it may not happen, but hope it does 🤞
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If we are using sales as an analogy, then Ben needs to hear "Closers get coffee".
 
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SelectionSunday said:
I'm pi**ed at the those final 11 minutes but definitely not in the "sky is falling crowd". I actually feel better about the Gophers prospects after last night than I did before entering Williams Arena. I saw a lot of good things before the metldown.

This is not the 2021-22 or 2022-23 Gopher roster. It looks to me like Ben has constrcuted a solid, versatile roster with some good pieces. This roster is not without hope. Now it's time to coach them up. Ben didn't do that last night, but I'm not going scorched earth after only 3 games.

Learn from it, move on, on to the next. Beat USC-Upstate.
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Much too rational for me today.
 


Last night reminded me of what Bob Knight said when Indiana was behind in a game against LSU.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
Much too rational for me today.
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A coach hasn't lived that hasn't had their team melt down and cough up a late lead at some point. That said--and my memory might be failing me--I don't remember ever losing a 20-point lead since we've had season tickets (1990), certainly not anything like last night, in the last eleven minutes of the game. Even though I agree that you have to take a step back and look at a bigger picture, the bigger picture is no prettier than the close-up view. This extraordinary and historic collapse is one of a number of indignities in this coach's tenure, not the least of which is the worst two-plus year stretch of basketball in program history.

I agree with those who say you have to recognize that the roster is improved, and credit to the staff for assembling it. Part of what that tells me, though, is that the narrative about how difficult or impossible it is to recruit to Minnesota is false. Both the men's and women's teams have good talent, not to mention other sports. The U of M is a desirable destination for student athletes. That would/will only improve as either or both staffs demonstrate they can develop players and win games. As for the latter subject (winning games), the Gophers have significantly more talent than Missouri at the moment. The better-coached team won. There's no way the U will interrupt Marcus Fuller's pipeline until you convince players and their parents that you know what you're doing.
 

Bad Gopher said:
A coach hasn't lived that hasn't had their team melt down and cough up a late lead at some point. That said--and my memory might be failing me--I don't remember ever losing a 20-point lead since we've had season tickets (1990), certainly not anything like last night, in the last eleven minutes of the game. Even though I agree that you have to take a step back and look at a bigger picture, the bigger picture is no prettier than the close-up view. This extraordinary and historic collapse is one of a number of indignities in this coach's tenure, not the least of which is the worst two-plus year stretch of basketball in program history.

I agree with those who say you have to recognize that the roster is improved, and credit to the staff for assembling it. Part of what that tells me, though, is that the narrative about how difficult or impossible it is to recruit to Minnesota is false. Both the men's and women's teams have good talent, not to mention other sports. The U of M is a desirable destination for student athletes. That would/will only improve as either or both staffs demonstrate they can develop players and win games. As for the latter subject (winning games), the Gophers have significantly more talent than Missouri at the moment. The better-coached team won. There's no way the U will interrupt Marcus Fuller's pipeline until you convince players and their parents that you know what you're doing.
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I agree that was a demoralizing game. The first 2/3 or so showed some really good things. And the last 1/3 showed poor defense, an inability to effectively attack and stay aggressive when Missouri turned up the intensity on defense, carelessness with the ball, and nobody stepping up and scoring in the last 6 min.

It is incredible that you don't score in the last 6 min when you're in the bonus. And even though they stunk the joint out and played poorly at the end, I think there reasons to be encouraged. Here are things I saw that are progress:
  • I saw Payne without hesitating take and hit an elbow jumper. If he can do that, he's going to be able to put the ball on the floor and create some real headaches for defenders with his quickness. (I also would liked to have seen more of him, although it may be his foot.)
  • I saw Ihnen have another strong game and twice put it on the floor and scored at the rim-that's two more times than he did total his first 2 years. With his length, rebounding, and ability to guard multiple positions, he's going to be part of a very competent front line.
  • The Gophers showed for most of the game until the end that they could play reasonably good team defense-not great, but OK.
  • They now have all except 2 guys (Payne and Fox) that can shoot the 3 pretty well, and I'm including Carrington, who hasn't shot it well but will come around-by the way, I think 13 rebounds?
  • While Hawkins turned it over a few times at the end, he also showed for most of the game that he could play under a bit better control. He's going to be a big part of winning or losing some Big Ten games this year. He can be very good at times-with the shooters that we have, when he gets around people there will be some open three's for people. He can also take over a game with turnovers, lets hope he can rein it in just a bit.
I don't think Missouri is a national champion contender, but for me, I saw enough to believe that it's possible the Gophers may find themselves closer to the middle of the Big Ten than the bottom. And if Johnson isn't able to do that, this might be the last of him here. Of course a lot of things have to happen, but there is enough talent there. Let the barbs fly!
 

bga1 said:
They can win the rest of their non conference games and no one will care.
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Not quite true. We'd care (or at least some of us would). Personally, I'm indifferent to what non-fans think.

You know, much has been written about our lowly nonconference schedule but maybe an opponent like Missouri would have been better delayed for a couple of weeks. If you look at Nebraska, Penn State, and even Indiana to a degree you'll see that they have played no one of stature yet. That's probably a smart move for a team like PSU with a new coach and practically brand new team.

Johnson still seems unsure of his player rotations. Perhaps two or three more games against weaker opponents would have allowed him to see more combinations and allowed Payne further time to heal. Speaking of Payne, I thought he played well against Missouri and I'm not sure why he played only 18 minutes. I'm not sure why Ola Joseph who is one of our most aggressive scorers and currently has a true shooting percentage of 72.8% didn't play more than 22 minutes. It wouldn't hurt to cut a few minutes per game off Garcia's time either since he's currently averaging more minutes per game than he did last season.
 

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