Q&A with Ben Johnson Part 2: Christie potential, Payne growth, Garcia, Carrington, Fox, JOJ and More

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Part 2:

Q: Do you expect recruit Cameron Christie to make an immediate impact in the backcourt?

A: Yeah, and I think he wants that. I think he's a competitive kid and he's gonna want to come here [play]. So, I've had a lot of talk with him about working on your body. I think that's the biggest thing is for him physically to get strong and work on just fundamentals. He adds a talent. He has size and length. He knows how to play, he has high IQ, and I expect him to come in here and compete and push guys.

www.startribune.com

Q&A Part 2: Gophers coach Ben Johnson on Cam Christie's potential, etc.

The U's second-year men's basketball coach also talked more about next steps for his talented freshmen class.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!
 

Love it! Now we are talking.

What about a 3G lineup of Christie, Mitchell and Carrington - coupled with Payne and Garcia? That could work. All three of those kids are plus shooters from range. The knock on that group might be the ability to drive to the hoop in traffic.

I like that Ben talked in segment 1 about Payne posting low EARLY in the offensive set. This was something that I thought that the coaches failed at last year. With three good perimeter shooters....I like it!
 

bga1 said:
Love it! Now we are talking.

What about a 3G lineup of Christie, Mitchell and Carrington - coupled with Payne and Garcia? That could work. All three of those kids are plus shooters from range. The knock on that group might be the ability to drive to the hoop in traffic.

I like that Ben talked in segment 1 about Payne posting low EARLY in the offensive set. This was something that I thought that the coaches failed at last year. With three good perimeter shooters....I like it!
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Don't think they failed. He was hurt at least to mid-point of the season with some low back issues. Didn't make sense to play him low with heavy physical stress.
 

bga1 said:
Love it! Now we are talking.

What about a 3G lineup of Christie, Mitchell and Carrington - coupled with Payne and Garcia? That could work. All three of those kids are plus shooters from range. The knock on that group might be the ability to drive to the hoop in traffic.

I like that Ben talked in segment 1 about Payne posting low EARLY in the offensive set. This was something that I thought that the coaches failed at last year. With three good perimeter shooters....I like it!
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Yep, that would be my preferred starting lineup if the season started today. It's still pretty inexperienced, but you have some ball handling and shooting. I'd love to add a veteran wing who can really push Christie and Carrington to earn those spots. Very few freshman are good right away but they can be good in spots.
 

at one point, Johnson said he does want to add at least one frontcourt player through the portal.

had good things to say about Betts learning and getting stronger. a short comment on Parker Fox coming back from the injuries - said they want Fox to be smart with his rehab and build up strength.
 


Bob_Loblaw said:
Yep, that would be my preferred starting lineup if the season started today. It's still pretty inexperienced, but you have some ball handling and shooting. I'd love to add a veteran wing who can really push Christie and Carrington to earn those spots. Very few freshman are good right away but they can be good in spots.
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Agreed, that group would provide shooting and ball handling, and another wing with some experience would be very helpful. Christie will be shooting tonight in the National 3-pt championships, aired on CBS on Sunday. That will be fun to see. And I would be very surprised if he doesn't have a pretty big impact next year. Yes, he's slight, but you don't get ranked by a bunch of people down there as the #1 prospect in Illinois w/o some real talent. I lived in Chicago for years, and there are a few ball players down there.

The thing that's still missing is someone who can break down defenses and can get to the rim off the dribble. That's where they'll miss Henley, and they badly need a guard who has that skill. Mitchell is a great pickup, but he's not a penetrator. I'm hopeful Johnson is looking hard for that type of player.
 

"Q: Are you also looking to add frontcourt depth for next season in the transfer portal?

A: Yeah, we'll probably go for one in the frontcourt. I think we need that especially for practice purposes. Would definitely look to add one frontcourt guy."
^This doesn't give me confidence that Ben is working hard to get a big. If I'm a 5 in the portal and looking at MN, that statement doesn't entice me to want to come play for Ben. But, I don't put much into these off season interviews. Mostly just coach speak.
 
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Big Dawg said:
"Q: Are you also looking to add frontcourt depth for next season in the transfer portal?

A: Yeah, we'll probably go for one in the frontcourt. I think we need that especially for practice purposes. Would definitely look to add one frontcourt guy."
^This dioesn't give me confidence that Ben is working hard to get a big. If I'm a 5 in the portal and looking at MN, that statement doesn't entice me to want to come play for Ben. But, I don't put much into these off season interviews. Mostly just coach speak.
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I have no issues with this. We have plenty of bigs. We still need about 3 more guards.
 



My two cents....

You have to hit the portal hard with the strategy that you are always trying to upgrade every position (similar to PJ). You build the foundation of the team on high school recruits and you need to give them the opportunity to play and grow, but we have a lot of holes in this roster.
 

alchemy2u said:
My two cents....

You have to hit the portal hard with the strategy that you are always trying to upgrade every position (similar to PJ). You build the foundation of the team on high school recruits and you need to give them the opportunity to play and grow, but we have a lot of holes in this roster.
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Agree but it’s much harder to do in basketball because the limit number of roster spots and you would basically have to be locked in to portal recruiting as a constant way to fill your roster. If we had a stronger NIL program, then I think it would be easier bc we would have something to offer higher profile portal players. If we have 4-6 freshmen/sophomores like we currently have I think we focus more on portal to bring experience and comp.
 

Agree that MN has to hit the portal hard, but that's most teams every year. Problem is that portal players see MN with a coach on the way out and not many players want to go to a team with the coach on the proverbial hot seat.
 

dbmn said:
Agree that MN has to hit the portal hard, but that's most teams every year. Problem is that portal players see MN with a coach on the way out and not many players want to go to a team with the coach on the proverbial hot seat.
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Grad transfers are best bet. One year rentals don’t care about anything beyond the one year.
 



GopherWeatherGuy said:
I have no issues with this. We have plenty of bigs. We still need about 3 more guards.
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I agree. But, even if you would like a bench big to come into the program who can spell Payne for 5-10 min per game I don't think you advertise that as "hey, come be my bench big". Just don't see tha tselling well. Obviously G's have to be the priority.
Holy Man said:
Grad transfers are best bet. One year rentals don’t care about anything beyond the one year.
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I would be very very selective regarding grad transfers. #1. Programs are already losing their normal # of players each year thru graduation. #2. Also losing players via the portal. #3. Guaranteed you now have to go back to the portal or recruiting trail to replace that guy after one year. Thinking I might target portal players with at least 2 years to play. I wouldn't mind maybe one grad transfer per year. Good luck Ben
 

Holy Man said:
Grad transfers are best bet. One year rentals don’t care about anything beyond the one year.
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Would agree, but who were the grad transfer(s) cbj had on this year's roster? Samuels 2022/23. He barely played at the end of the year. 2021/22 - NONE. Would think cbj would need to load-up on the grad transfers. Even though grad-transfers are one-and-done, they still want to win and they're not going to opt for the goph's unless their only opportunity. Yes, there are anomalies that have their own reasons for choosing a losing team, but in-general, a grad-transfer still wants to win. And Battle is a grad-transfer who opted to leave the program.
 


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