It's really easy to imply Johnson is pretty ignorant in thinking Ihnen "was a guard." Much of how players play in terms of their position is based on brain-type. There are many players who are geared towards being basket-facing players, and do not learn "back to the basket" kinds of skills easily.
As a coach, you can do your best to try to convert players to adopt skills (post up skills) that may better align with their physical make up, but many players are just not able to adapt. This happens to all coaches-it is not necessarily "Johnson's fault" that he couldn't change Ihnen into a player more comfortable close to the basket. (Treyton Thompson is a good example).
I don't think Johnson is the best coach in the country, but you can't transform every player that comes along. And while Ihnen has had his share of struggles, he does have some value as a guy who can defend and rebound in the right situation and can fill in a few minutes off the bench.
There are certainly things you can criticize Johnson for, but this isn't one of them. And if Christie and a few other pieces from the portal decide to join this group (a big "if" for sure), this team has the possibility of being an upper division Big Ten team and an NCAA tourney team next year.
And if that's the case (again, a big "if"), that's continued progress-and he'll look like less of an idiot to some on this board. And if they're worse next year, he'll probably be gone.
As it should be.
