Q&A with Ben Johnson: Recruiting, NIL, Coyle's Expectations, Fox/Ihnen Health, Betts Progress and Much More

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We need at least one more quality ball handling guard from the portal, on Mitchell's level or better.

Supplement that with another developmental guard (King etc) and a another portal big guy body...and I'll be cautiously optimistic for next season.

Looking back at the roster construction from last season- it was complete suicide to enter the season with 4 guards on the roster (2 of them being true freshman and one of whom was Taurus Samuels). Ihnen and Betts aren't guards, we need to carry 5 on the roster next season.

Either Ben gets that done in the portal, or we'll have a new coach this time next year. No pressure...
 

Blackhammer said:
Christie will play before Betts.. Asuma isn’t ready to college basketball yet Not even close I mean Class A basketball as a junior to the Big Ten?
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Christie may well, but Betts was brought in a year early for obvious reasons. A redshirt year with the program, nutrition, and strength conditioning will advance him faster than another year in Class A. Like Betts it makes him a year closer to contributing.
 

60's Guy said:
Keep in mind that we lost 3 starters and we won two games. One of those Battle is rated as a top 10 guy in the portal. Cooper was honorable mention All Big Ten. Henley had lots of potential and improved pretty significantly.
So just to get to even we.need those 3 spots.
Mitchell is Cooper. Need somebody with Battles potential or last years value that will occupy the other team’s best defender.
Regarding bigs- we got the walk-on coming.
Relying on him and Christie, Betts, Ihnen and Fox to dramatically make us better seems real foolhardy.
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A team is not a deterministic sum of individual parts. This is not pure math. I don't care what Battle is rated in this dubious ranking you're always citing. He wasn't even that close to average this past season. Except for a relatively small number of good games he had this season, his numbers were due to volume rather than efficiency. If we can assemble 7 or 8 players who can play good minutes and combine to be productive with a higher rate of efficiency than last year's team, we will be better off than relying on a high volume/low efficiency scorer who didn't seem to enjoy playing on this team and seemed indifferent to defense more often than not.

A walk-on big? I can't remember seeing one of those in recent memory.
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
We need at least one more quality ball handling guard from the portal, on Mitchell's level or better.

Supplement that with another developmental guard (King etc) and a another portal big guy body...and I'll be cautiously optimistic for next season.

Looking back at the roster construction from last season- it was complete suicide to enter the season with 4 guards on the roster (2 of them being true freshman and one of whom was Taurus Samuels). Ihnen and Betts aren't guards, we need to carry 5 on the roster next season.

Either Ben gets that done in the portal, or we'll have a new coach this time next year. No pressure...
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And that is not asking him to move mountains. Obtainable.
 

cjbfbp said:
A team is not a deterministic sum of individual parts. This is not pure math. I don't care what Battle is rated in this dubious ranking you're always citing. He wasn't even that close to average this past season. Except for a relatively small number of good games he had this season, his numbers were due to volume rather than efficiency. If we can assemble 7 or 8 players who can play good minutes and combine to be productive with a higher rate of efficiency than last year's team, we will be better off than relying on a high volume/low efficiency scorer who didn't seem to enjoy playing on this team and seemed indifferent to defense more often than not.

A walk-on big? I can't remember seeing one of those in recent memory.
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Think he is referring to that local kid that’s walking on and name escapes me.
 


60's Guy said:
Keep in mind that we lost 3 starters and we won two games. One of those Battle is rated as a top 10 guy in the portal. Cooper was honorable mention All Big Ten. Henley had lots of potential and improved pretty significantly.
So just to get to even we.need those 3 spots.
Mitchell is Cooper. Need somebody with Battles potential or last years value that will occupy the other team’s best defender.
Regarding bigs- we got the walk-on coming.
Relying on him and Christie, Betts, Ihnen and Fox to dramatically make us better seems real foolhardy.
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It isn't just a 1:1 replacement kind of thing. The reality is that as much as some posters will assume they know exactly what we are going to get from Betts, Fox, and Ihnen the truth is that we have no clue (good or bad). Add Mitchell and Christie and we already have 5 new pieces that weren't part of last year's team on the court.

Johnson flat out says in the interview that they need to add more guards from the portal.

Garcia really came into his own later in the season and now will be the unquestioned top dog with Battle gone. Payne, JOJ and Carrington all saw significant action and with another off season should continue to get better.

We are starting from a very different spot this off season. There are 7 guys on the roster that have been in the system for at least 1 full season (8 if you count Ramberg). Going to be interesting to see who else they land over the next few weeks.
 


fan of Ray Williams said:
Think he is referring to that local kid that’s walking on and name escapes me.
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There is some player with center size who is walking on? If that's the case, he must not be very good. There's almost always a place somewhere for someone who is 6'10" or more.
 

WindyCityGopher said:
Neither of whom have played a competitive basketball game in more than 2 years. Some very serious brake pumping needs to be done on these guys.
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Is there a secret basketball forum where there is all kinds of excitement and positivity? Pump the brakes on Ihnen and Fox.....where is this even coming from?

Ihnen and Fox are complete wildcards heading into 23-24. They might be good they might be worthless, and anyone pretending they know exactly what we are going to get out of them is just guessing.
 



cjbfbp said:
There is some player with center size who is walking on? If that's the case, he must not be very good. There's almost always a place somewhere for someone who is 6'10" or more.
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Think I’m incorrect in who he is referring to. He’s slight of built.

Erick Reader is a 6-8, 195-pound forward from Bloomington, Minn., and New Life Academy. As a junior last year, Reader averaged 13.5 points and shot 54.5 from the field. He also averaged 8.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1 block and 1 steal per game

My mistake.

247sports.com

Minnesota Gopher Basketball welcomes three 2023 recruits on National Signing Day

Minnesota Gopher Basketball welcomes three 2023 recruits on National Signing Day
247sports.com 247sports.com
 

MNVCGUY said:
It isn't just a 1:1 replacement kind of thing. The reality is that as much as some posters will assume they know exactly what we are going to get from Betts, Fox, and Ihnen the truth is that we have no clue (good or bad). Add Mitchell and Christie and we already have 5 new pieces that weren't part of last year's team on the court.

Johnson flat out says in the interview that they need to add more guards from the portal.

Garcia really came into his own later in the season and now will be the unquestioned top dog with Battle gone. Payne, JOJ and Carrington all saw significant action and with another off season should continue to get better.

We are starting from a very different spot this off season. There are 7 guys on the roster that have been in the system for at least 1 full season (8 if you count Ramberg). Going to be interesting to see who else they land over the next few weeks.
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And if your wrap up is what we do - you foresee 8-10 conference wins?
You either need an offensive system - no evidence- or offensive talent. Without an all Big Ten offensive addition at minimum (arguably that’s replacing Battle) we won’t score enough points to win. Our defense won’t be what wins games unless we change an assistant coach.
There is nobody you have to game plan for.
If Garcia is our best player- we win 2 games again.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
Think I’m incorrect in who he is referring to. He’s slight of built.

Erick Reader is a 6-8, 195-pound forward from Bloomington, Minn., and New Life Academy. As a junior last year, Reader averaged 13.5 points and shot 54.5 from the field. He also averaged 8.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1 block and 1 steal per game

My mistake.

247sports.com

Minnesota Gopher Basketball welcomes three 2023 recruits on National Signing Day

Minnesota Gopher Basketball welcomes three 2023 recruits on National Signing Day
247sports.com 247sports.com
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Not a center.....not even close. Stretch 4. Think Treyton but shorter. And maybe skinnier.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Is there a secret basketball forum where there is all kinds of excitement and positivity? Pump the brakes on Ihnen and Fox.....where is this even coming from?

Ihnen and Fox are complete wildcards heading into 23-24. They might be good they might be worthless, and anyone pretending they know exactly what we are going to get out of them is just guessing.
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Ben says they are good.
 



MNVCGUY said:
Is there a secret basketball forum where there is all kinds of excitement and positivity? Pump the brakes on Ihnen and Fox.....where is this even coming from?

Ihnen and Fox are complete wildcards heading into 23-24. They might be good they might be worthless, and anyone pretending they know exactly what we are going to get out of them is just guessing.
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If Ihnen and Fox are not surprisingly spectacular how are the incumbents all of of a sudden going to become Big Ten quality standouts. Without new proven guys it’s all hope and optimism.
 





bga1 said:
The interview falls short for me because he doesn't really lay any optimism out there. I want to see him put a stake in the ground: "We are going to be much better, this coming year, this is going to be a very competitive team and I expect us to make a run to be a tournament team". We have one of the best returning front lines in the Big Ten and just need to add some portal guards, in addition to Christie and Carrington. Fans are going to love the product on the floor next year." His line that the goals are the same every year is a tired one for me. What are the realistic and attainable goals for this coming year? Why should I be interested as a fan?
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Put a stake in the ground when a third of the roster is still unknown? That would be dumb.

He is working in the portal now. This interview now is senseless. You do it because it's part of the job. You field a few meaningless questions with non-answers. Then go back to work.
 

cjbfbp said:
If that's the case, then Johnson is really going to piss off a lot of fans (including me and I've been mostly a defender). Way too early to think about settling for filler. There are only 4 Power 6 conference schools who have had two commits so far and I don't see any with three commits. In fact, I see only 5 D1 schools with three or more commits and those are non-majors with large transfer losses for the most part.

Johnson's first transfer commit this season came earlier than any of his prior commits. I see only 110 commits so far out of 1,176 players to enter the portal (less than 10%) and there probably are at least another 300 players to enter the portal. Portal recruiting in this offseason is the most important job that coach Johnson has had in his head coaching career. He better give it 100% and keep the pedal to the floor for as long as it takes to get a good set of transfers. If he gets three good transfers prospects, then maybe he can settle for a marginal fourth.

Remember that Johnson got five decent to very good transfers in his first offseason so I don't see any excuse for not getting at least three this offseason (he already has one).
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And from an obligatory proforma "interview", meaningless in all respects, you can devine that Johnson is now done working the portal?
 


howeda7 said:
That could have been an AI chatbot generated interview and we'd never know.
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He's incredibly uninsinspiring, say what you will but Wacker and Brewster at least had some gusto while losing horribly.
 


Holy Man said:
Of which I bet a decent percentage going to his "advisors."
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What are the typical fees associated with these type of “advisers” and their ilk? These middlemen, like the ones reported to have been still in contact with the FAU players, need to be controlled at some level. Their meddling during seasons need to stop.

The NCAA should keep these types away until after the season, but how to enforce is another issue.
 


cjbfbp said:
If that's the case, then Johnson is really going to piss off a lot of fans (including me and I've been mostly a defender). Way too early to think about settling for filler. There are only 4 Power 6 conference schools who have had two commits so far and I don't see any with three commits. In fact, I see only 5 D1 schools with three or more commits and those are non-majors with large transfer losses for the most part.

Johnson's first transfer commit this season came earlier than any of his prior commits. I see only 110 commits so far out of 1,176 players to enter the portal (less than 10%) and there probably are at least another 300 players to enter the portal. Portal recruiting in this offseason is the most important job that coach Johnson has had in his head coaching career. He better give it 100% and keep the pedal to the floor for as long as it takes to get a good set of transfers. If he gets three good transfers prospects, then maybe he can settle for a marginal fourth.

Remember that Johnson got five decent to very good transfers in his first offseason so I don't see any excuse for not getting at least three this offseason (he already has one).
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Where did he say anything about settling for a filler
 

MNVCGUY said:
Is there a secret basketball forum where there is all kinds of excitement and positivity? Pump the brakes on Ihnen and Fox.....where is this even coming from?

Ihnen and Fox are complete wildcards heading into 23-24. They might be good they might be worthless, and anyone pretending they know exactly what we are going to get out of them is just guessing.
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True for wailin' jennies here. Not true for coaching staff.
 


Dakota2 said:
Put a stake in the ground when a third of the roster is still unknown? That would be dumb.

He is working in the portal now. This interview now is senseless. You do it because it's part of the job. You field a few meaningless questions with non-answers. Then go back to work.
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Here's my outlook- what on earth does he have to lose at this point? If he doesn't have a team this year that at the very least contends for a tourney berth- he should be fired. In fact if he wins 5-7 games and we are averaging 6-7k attendance, I don't think they would have a choice. So why not predict a good year and get the fans a little engaged? If he doesn't think he had any chance to put together a roster that can approach 10 Big Ten wins he should be fired now. I want to see some confidence and a little hype. What is he telling recruits? Whatever it is, he should be telling his paying customers as well. I bet he didn't tell Mitchell that we wouldn't be able to compete for the tourney!
 

Dakota2 said:
True for wailin' jennies here. Not true for coaching staff.
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My point on Ihnen and Fox is this...The coach's job is on the line this year. If he trusts that they are going to help enough that he doesn't need to recruit much more for their slot- then I am going to go with that. I don't know if that is stupid or smart but I can't watch them work out - and as you say, the coaches can. If they are back to pre injury health this year- I think they both could help and maybe a lot. If not- then Ben needs to get more help to cover for that possibility.
 

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