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

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GopherBlood666 said:
If Crowl has half the points we win easy. Wahl and Davis are going to get there's and we did a reasonable job against them. Can't let a first year starter have a career night against us on the road, it was the nail in the coffin of the other reasons.
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As is often the case in these situations, however, Crowl may have gotten his points precisely because we did a reasonable job against Wahl and Davis. The strategy to take away a couple of players and let the supporting cast beat you doesn't work when the supporting cast steps and makes their shots.

Sadly, our supporting cast is not as good as other B1G teams so we haven't been able to get over the hump when teams focus on Battle or Willis and other players aren't able to step up consistently.
 
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Stan said:
The big difference is Clem had a core young group first year he groomed to be stars by third year and legends by 4th. Ben is basically starting over again next year.
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Agreed. There are only a few pieces to groom on this team. I look forward to seeing what the staff can do with the local 3 and Henley this summer and into the future. Let's hope that they Battle, Thompson, Ihnen, and Fox are a core that you can build around.

The coaching staff has demonstrated a talent for bringing players together in short order. If they can develop this core and then fill in with the right couple of pieces every now and again, they could build a successful program.
 

ecoperson said:
Agreed. There are only a few pieces to groom on this team. I look forward to seeing what the staff can do with the local 3 and Henley this summer and into the future. Let's hope that they Battle, Thompson, Ihnen, and Fox are a core that you can build around.

The coaching staff has demonstrated a talent for bringing players together in short order. If they can develop this core and then fill in with the right couple of pieces every now and again, they could build a successful program.
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This year they brought experienced mid major players together quickly. Next year they will be working with a lot of frosh and a few experienced players. The upside will be much better but the process might be slower.
 

ecoperson said:
Agreed. There are only a few pieces to groom on this team. I look forward to seeing what the staff can do with the local 3 and Henley this summer and into the future. Let's hope that they Battle, Thompson, Ihnen, and Fox are a core that you can build around.

The coaching staff has demonstrated a talent for bringing players together in short order. If they can develop this core and then fill in with the right couple of pieces every now and again, they could build a successful program.
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The core coming back is not truly a core because it involves only two freshman guards. We need two experienced guards -- at least as good as Willis and Loewe -- from the portal. I think based on this year's performance and the young talent, Ben has a very good chance to get two very good portal guards.
 

ecoperson said:
I would be willing to bet that his presence would have led to 5 more wins this season. He would have fit in perfectly with what this staff is doing. I was gutted when he transferred!
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Gophers couldn't win any more than they did during non conference, so 5 wins would have to come in conference games. that would put them at 9-11
No, sorry eco, ain't no way Johnson being on the team does that.
 


ElectricGopher said:
Amen brother. I would like our team to be described as tenacious/relentless. We need Vincent Greers, Paul Carters, Damien Johnsons, Trevor Mbakwes, Jordan Murpheys, etc.

With how the game has shifted to stretch forwards and focus on 3 point shots, I think there is a trend toward passivity. Don’t want to sound too Fleckish, but gopher ball needs to change the team culture from past coaches.

Those Badger players aren’t bigger than us, yet they back us down in the post, grind on the glass, work harder. We need more energy from the team (and the crowd). Let’s get this party rockin.’
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I would roll with 4 Damien Johnson’s and 1 Al Nolan.
 



ecoperson said:
As is often the case in these situations, however, Crowl may have gotten his points precisely because we did a reasonable job against Wahl and Davis. The strategy to take away a couple of players and let the supporting cast beat you doesn't work when the supporting cast steps and makes their shots.

Sadly, our supporting cast is not as good as other B1G teams so we haven't been able to get over the hump when teams focus on Battle or Willis and other players aren't able to step up consistently.
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Who covered Crawl most of the game, the match ups looked odd at times though I can't recall how Wisconsin was being guarded.
 



fan of Ray Williams said:
Gophers couldn't win any more than they did during non conference, so 5 wins would have to come in conference games. that would put them at 9-11
No, sorry eco, ain't no way Johnson being on the team does that.
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You can't find 5 wins out of these 9 losses with another high motor big and added depth?
  1. Home vs Mich St 67-75: Would have benefited against a notoriously physical team.
  2. Away at Indiana 60-73: Tied midway through second half despite being dominated inside.
  3. Away at Mich St 69-71: Lost on last second inside basket.
  4. Home vs Iowa 71-81: Severely understaffed with no Curry and little depth. Murray dominates.
  5. Home vs Ohio St 64-75: Stuck close despite being out-muscled in the middle by Lindell.
  6. Away at WI 60-66: Davis dominated glass in second half. Tied with a couple minutes left.
  7. Away at IA 59-71: Murray again dominates. IA throttles us in second half in large part due to fatigue and lack of inside game.
  8. Away at Neb 65-78: Season worth of fatigue and losses likely led to this loss.
  9. Home vs WI 67-68: Horribly out-rebounded throughout the game including key rebounds in closing minutes.
 

ecoperson said:
You can't find 5 wins out of these 9 losses with another high motor big and added depth?
  1. Home vs Mich St 67-75: Would have benefited against a notoriously physical team.
  2. Away at Indiana 60-73: Tied midway through second half despite being dominated inside.
  3. Away at Mich St 69-71: Lost on last second inside basket.
  4. Home vs Iowa 71-81: Severely understaffed with no Curry and little depth. Murray dominates.
  5. Home vs Ohio St 64-75: Stuck close despite being out-muscled in the middle by Lindell.
  6. Away at WI 60-66: Davis dominated glass in second half. Tied with a couple minutes left.
  7. Away at IA 59-71: Murray again dominates. IA throttles us in second half in large part due to fatigue and lack of inside game.
  8. Away at Neb 65-78: Season worth of fatigue and losses likely led to this loss.
  9. Home vs WI 67-68: Horribly out-rebounded throughout the game including key rebounds in closing minutes.
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No, I cannot. I also looked through the scores prior to my message. Brandon Johnson, in my opinion, is not going to add 5 conference wins. Just do not see it.
 


fan of Ray Williams said:
No, I cannot. I also looked through the scores prior to my message. Brandon Johnson, in my opinion, is not going to add 5 conference wins. Just do not see it.
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Maybe a couple. Likewise, the combination of Ihnen and Fox would have added 2-4 wins. Clutch foul shooting alone would have given us a couple more.
 



fan of Ray Williams said:
No, I cannot. I also looked through the scores prior to my message. Brandon Johnson, in my opinion, is not going to add 5 conference wins. Just do not see it.
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The 1 pt, 2pt, and 6 pt losses seem like an obvious 3 wins with Brandon Johnson in the fold. He wouldn't even need to score a point- his rebounding and defensive prowess alone would be enough to have tipped the scales.

I would expect that he would catch fire in at least one game like he did against Iowa last year and lead us to an unexpected victory. That's a total of 4 wins additional already.

I suspect that he would also make the difference to put us over the top in 1 out of the remaining 5 games in the list provided. His mere presence as another viable body in the line-up would have paid dividends over the course of the season by helping reduce average minutes by the starters.

That said, maybe he would have been a cancer in the locker room and we'd have lost half of our non-conference games and all of our conference games. That's the fun thing about the game... you don't know what will happen until you roll the ball out onto the court!
 

scools12 said:
Pitino won the NIT his first year. Wasn’t players he recruited but I would guess the fan base thought the trajectory looked pretty good.
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Seeing where we were in year 8 and other years, and how poor a coach he turned out to be, I could make the argument that they won the NIT in spite of him. I still think what has been seen so far puts Ben ahead of him down the road. It’s still to be seen if it works out that way though. Recruiting locally already appears to be in a better place. Still have to build a team, including players from elsewhere, because I don’t think you can win consistently with just the local recruits.
 

scools12 said:
Pitino won the NIT his first year. Wasn’t players he recruited but I would guess the fan base thought the trajectory looked pretty good.
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Pretty tough to make a comparison between the two coaches. Pitino had a lot more talent left from Tubby than Ben had from Pitino. The free transfer rule has really changed the game.
 

ecoperson said:
The 1 pt, 2pt, and 6 pt losses seem like an obvious 3 wins with Brandon Johnson in the fold. He wouldn't even need to score a point- his rebounding and defensive prowess alone would be enough to have tipped the scales.

I would expect that he would catch fire in at least one game like he did against Iowa last year and lead us to an unexpected victory. That's a total of 4 wins additional already.

I suspect that he would also make the difference to put us over the top in 1 out of the remaining 5 games in the list provided. His mere presence as another viable body in the line-up would have paid dividends over the course of the season by helping reduce average minutes by the starters.

That said, maybe he would have been a cancer in the locker room and we'd have lost half of our non-conference games and all of our conference games. That's the fun thing about the game... you don't know what will happen until you roll the ball out onto the court!
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No, they are just losses. That's what the record will say. 100 years from now. Losses.
 

Lion King said:
Big Ten should be ashamed and embarrassed at tonight's officials. Not about the calls they made,but the way they let Wisconsin players question there every call,good or bad ,and then they would explain to them why they made it, sickens me.
When Davis fouls out they hold a 3 man conference to explain it to him.Why ?
On top of that ,before the game ,Wisconsin coaches an captains get hugs,gophers barely a hand shake.
Why Big Ten is this allowed ?
Disgraceful
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Same thing occurs with Izzo. Before each game Izzo gets hugs, fist-bumps, chit-chat from the refs and then complains vehemently about every call against MSU. But somehow those interactions don't influence the refs...NOT.
 

BarnBurner said:
No, they are just losses. That's what the record will say. 100 years from now. Losses.
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Did you even read the post? He was talking about the hypothetical impact Johnson might have had in some of the close games this year. He wasn't trying to imply those games should be viewed as wins or anything along those lines.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Did you even read the post? He was talking about the hypothetical impact Johnson might have had in some of the close games this year. He wasn't trying to imply those games should be viewed as wins or anything along those lines.
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Yes, I did. I understand what he was talking about. "seem like an obvious 3 wins with Brandon Johnson in the fold."

No, they do not seem like wins. They are losses. MN Gophers lost all those games.

Do you ever get sick of being an a$$hat apologist? So glad you are here to keep everyone in line.

What if RP keeps Mn kids home??? What if?
 
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BarnBurner said:
Yes, I did. I understand what he was talking about. "seem like an obvious 3 wins with Brandon Johnson in the fold."

No, they do not seem like wins. They are losses. MN Gophers lost all those games.

Do you ever get sick of being an a$$hat apologist? So glad you are here to keep everyone in line.

What if RP keeps Mn kids home??? What if?
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lol....wow.....this one is off the rails even by your standards..... :)
 

I predicted 8 total wins this year so I would consider this season better than expected. With this group of guys slapped together at the last minute due to transfers out, they did pretty well.
 


dbmn said:
Same thing occurs with Izzo. Before each game Izzo gets hugs, fist-bumps, chit-chat from the refs and then complains vehemently about every call against MSU. But somehow those interactions don't influence the refs...NOT.
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Your opinion,not mine !
 

BarnBurner said:
Nah, no rails. Facts elude you.
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lol....what facts? Eco gave his OPINION that having Brandon Johnson on the roster would have been enough to flip those close loses into the win column due to what he would have brought to the table. And you replied with your usual wins diatribe which made no sense in the context of what he posted (an opinion).

But I know this explanation is going to fall on deaf ears so not really sure why I even bothered to write it. :)
 

MNVCGUY said:
lol....what facts? Eco gave his OPINION that having Brandon Johnson on the roster would have been enough to flip those close loses into the win column due to what he would have brought to the table. And you replied with your usual wins diatribe which made no sense in the context of what he posted (an opinion).

But I know this explanation is going to fall on deaf ears so not really sure why I even bothered to write it. :)
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No sense? Well, the actual record (those pesky FACTS) of the team be darned! With or without Brandon Johnson. Care to comment on the FACTS?

You appear to prefer suppositions. Good for you!

"What if's" - are you freaking kidding me? You sure love to blow your inflated superiority by following me around. :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
 

Stan said:
The big difference is Clem had a core young group first year he groomed to be stars by third year and legends by 4th. Ben is basically starting over again next year.
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I blame that on a whole bunch of kids bolting in an unprecedented open portal that Clem did not experience.
I like what I see with what Ben is doing on offense and defense. He will get the players to execute his system. That's where we have to be patient.
 

BarnBurner said:
No sense? Well, the actual record (those pesky FACTS) of the team be darned! With or without Brandon Johnson. Care to comment on the FACTS?

You appear to prefer suppositions. Good for you!

"What if's" - are you freaking kidding me? You sure love to blow your inflated superiority by following me around. :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
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He's got a better shot at landing a solid punch on Muhammad Ali in his prime than following you in your Byzantine rambling.
 


1st Rule of Gopher Hole:

Anyone who expresses an opinion I don't agree with is wrong.

2nd Rule of Gopher Hole:

Don't try to change my pre-determined take on a team, coach or season.
 

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