Payne, Carrington, Ola-Joseph and Ihnen...

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Zeppelin Gopher said:
Have we?

Cooper, Hawkins, and Mitchell were all very nice portal additions...
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I'm thinking prior years more than last year. I'm also refraining from the benefit of the doubt on Hawkins that he wasn't the first choice last year, but really ended up being a great fit. I'll give you Mitchell for sure, since he was clearly a high priority for them last year and performed well. Cooper was good on paper, but didn't have enough around him to maximize his skills, so I wouldn't put him all the way in the "nice additions" category, either.
 

Holy Man said:
Cooper was good on paper, but didn't have enough around him to maximize his skills, so I wouldn't put him all the way in the "nice additions" category, either.
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It wasn't Cooper's fault that he was literally the only player who could dribble on our entire roster. He's a really good player and proved it this year at South Carolina
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
It wasn't Cooper's fault that he was literally the only player who could dribble on our entire roster. He's a really good player and proved it this year at South Carolina
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Agreed.Cooper was good but not for us. But the fact that we swung and missed or didn't assertively go after more guards in that cycle provides a data point in my favor in the original statement of lack of success in adding guard play to the roster.
 


Zeppelin Gopher said:
Have we?

Cooper, Hawkins, and Mitchell were all very nice portal additions...
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The guards Johnson brought in during year 1 were also solid players. I think with portal recruiting people tend to fixate on the guys we reach out to but don't end up landing. But they don't always factor in the insanity that is the transfer portal where you have tons of teams all contacting the same players in a really short window of time relative to high school recruiting.

This portal class is going to be vital for Johnson, will be interesting to see if he can find the guys he will need to get it done.
 

MNVCGUY said:
The guards Johnson brought in during year 1 were also solid players. I think with portal recruiting people tend to fixate on the guys we reach out to but don't end up landing. But they don't always factor in the insanity that is the transfer portal where you have tons of teams all contacting the same players in a really short window of time relative to high school recruiting.

This portal class is going to be vital for Johnson, will be interesting to see if he can find the guys he will need to get it done.
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From the looks of things on GH everything that Ben does is vital. Who stays, who goes. Who we get, who we don’t get. Why he doesn’t talk more, or when he does talk why he says the wrong things. Needs a culture, doesn’t need a culture in NIL times. Eats pancakes for breakfast, should be eating eggs for protein!

Sheesh!
 


Gopheritnow said:
From the looks of things on GH everything that Ben does is vital. Who stays, who goes. Who we get, who we don’t get. Why he doesn’t talk more, or when he does talk why he says the wrong things. Needs a culture, doesn’t need a culture in NIL times. Eats pancakes for breakfast, should be eating eggs for protein!

Sheesh!
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He's the head coach for the team that is the subject of this forum, do you expect not to see discussion about him? Coyle has made his NCAA expectations public, so of course every move forward is critical. He will need to achieve something he hasn't is first 3 years or he is gone. I am not sure what to say if you do not understand how important this off season is for Johnson.
 





Gopheritnow said:
From the looks of things on GH everything that Ben does is vital. Who stays, who goes. Who we get, who we don’t get. Why he doesn’t talk more, or when he does talk why he says the wrong things. Needs a culture, doesn’t need a culture in NIL times. Eats pancakes for breakfast, should be eating eggs for protein!

Sheesh!
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I mean he is the head coach and the face of the program. Granted some of the stuff here has gone way over the top during the past few years but natural that on a message board devoted to a particular team the head coach is going to get a ton of attention.
 




WriterGoph said:
Gophers staff has told Carrington it's a no-go at their meeting about bringing him back. Have to imagine the stuff about the locker room this past season plays into this decision
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WriterGoph said:
Never read that anywhere.

Somewhat educated speculation: the three sophomores are discussing how they deserve more playing time and can get better NIL elsewhere as the season winds down. All three enter the portal. Carrington doesn't like the opportunities he has. Reaches out to Ben and staff to talk through options. Ben/staff are more concerned with maintaining integrity with rest of the roster
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If this is true......wow. I mean.....if the motivation was more playing time.....then these two greatly over estimated their value to other power conference teams. If the motivation was NIL.....then Carrington and JOJ did not think this through.

Sucks.....because on one hand.....I would have liked to see both remain on the team (prior to hearing about the locker room problems and entering the portal). On the other hand.....if these guys caused a rift on the team (which seems pretty apparent at this point) and/or had a hand in convincing Payne to enter the portal with them.....I completely understand how they've lost the trust of the Coach Johnson. Hard to burn bridges like this.....and expect to be welcomed back with open arms.
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
It wasn't Cooper's fault that he was literally the only player who could dribble on our entire roster. He's a really good player and proved it this year at South Carolina
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He could dribble but he was an old man dribbler, often backing up while dribbling to protect the ball because he wasn't quick.
 

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