Realistic expectations for 2023-24?

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I agree that an NIT appearance next year would be a tremendous improvement and probably should guarantee Johnson at least a 4th year. But, as some astute observers have noted, it's not that much easier (because of all the automatic qualifiers) to make the NIT tournament than it is to make the NCAA tournament for a Big Ten team. What the author doesn't say is what should happen if the Gophers have a winning record but don't make the NIT tournament.
 


We need a big upswing in scoring. That's the key. Evans is only averaging something like 15 points per game. It seems like that should be way higher.

Damn, how do get more scoring? The freshman will hopefully improve, but I don't see a huge upswing in their ability to score.

We need some scorers in the portal.
 


I strongly disagree with his take that Cooper is a Big Ten caliber point guard. He is not very good defensively and cannot handle pressure defense. He’s just too slow to be a starting Big Ten point guard. Ben really needs to bring in a competent point guard in the portal with some quickness and athleticism.
 




Wow is Liebert laying it on thick with this. Two straight last place finishes? Pfft. Let's start talking about the NIT and NCAA!

How about this: Win more than a couple of freaking conference games, not finish dead last and then move on from there. At this point, there is no evidence anywhere either on the court or off it that this team is anywhere close to challenging for middle of the conference or even an NIT bid. This is now a total, long term rebuild. It's going to be a long haul.
 
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bga1 said:
Probably right. It's the coach's job to fix that before next year.
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Just the 1-2-3 spot.
Only guy who can play is battle and battle can’t defend his listed position.
 





bga1 said:
Get a real good PG and they will be much better. Henley will be solid. Christie as well. Payne will be much improved.
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The question becomes when does it start getting hard for CBJ to recruit to this disaster? Will he be able to get a “real good” PG to roll the dice and come here for likely their last year of college? Will he find somebody to buy into the vision and ignore the 5 wins in 2 years?

Will he also find shooters this offseason? What about guys that can hit FT’s? What about guys that can run the length of the court faster than slower-than-molasses Wisconsin?

Look at fast break points. FT%. Offensive efficiency. 3pt %. The more stats you look at, the more you realize this team is more than just a PG away from being relevant.
 

Probably 4-6 B1G wins next season, I'd guess. And playing in the first round of the B1G Tournament. We will be improved, but improving when we're this bad won't even make us mediocre, unfortunately.
 

forever a gopher said:
The question becomes when does it start getting hard for CBJ to recruit to this disaster? Will he be able to get a “real good” PG to roll the dice and come here for likely their last year of college? Will he find somebody to buy into the vision and ignore the 5 wins in 2 years?

Will he also find shooters this offseason? What about guys that can hit FT’s? What about guys that can run the length of the court faster than slower-than-molasses Wisconsin?

Look at fast break points. FT%. Offensive efficiency. 3pt %. The more stats you look at, the more you realize this team is more than just a PG away from being relevant.
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Get a real good point guard to come here for his last year? Probably not.
Find shooters this off season? Probably not.
 

forever a gopher said:
The question becomes when does it start getting hard for CBJ to recruit to this disaster? Will he be able to get a “real good” PG to roll the dice and come here for likely their last year of college? Will he find somebody to buy into the vision and ignore the 5 wins in 2 years?

Will he also find shooters this offseason? What about guys that can hit FT’s? What about guys that can run the length of the court faster than slower-than-molasses Wisconsin?

Look at fast break points. FT%. Offensive efficiency. 3pt %. The more stats you look at, the more you realize this team is more than just a PG away from being relevant.
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I think the recruiting is going to be difficult after this season. Said the same thing a while ago.
 

forever a gopher said:
The question becomes when does it start getting hard for CBJ to recruit to this disaster? Will he be able to get a “real good” PG to roll the dice and come here for likely their last year of college? Will he find somebody to buy into the vision and ignore the 5 wins in 2 years?

Will he also find shooters this offseason? What about guys that can hit FT’s? What about guys that can run the length of the court faster than slower-than-molasses Wisconsin?

Look at fast break points. FT%. Offensive efficiency. 3pt %. The more stats you look at, the more you realize this team is more than just a PG away from being relevant.
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This was Ben's plan-total rebuild. So he must believe he can continue to add the pieces.

When I look at the roster- part of the issue will be off season player development and part will be adding the right portal pieces- guards.

I assume he keeps the core kids- Payne, Ola Joseph, Henley and Carrington. Add Christie and Evans and you have a pretty good core. 5 of those 6 can get up and down the court. Now let's assume that one or more of Battle/Garcia stay and one of Ihnen/Fox are at least solid. That's plenty to work with IF..... he adds a good PG with speed, get's good summer development and runs a system that the kids are able to shine in. That's coaching. It's time to produce next year. Not the year after. Next year.
 

After watching the non-conference games this year, my pre-conference prediction was 1-19.

My way-to-early prediction for next year is currently at 3-17. That assumes most of the freshmen return.
 


Gopher_In_NYC said:
Where exactly was this predicted?
In any threads?
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Yes I know, from my "slightly" negative posts, that you'd have expected me to have picked zero wins in our pre-conference poll. But I thought that somewhere in their B1G schedule they'd get red hot while an opponent was ice cold.
 

Mikie S said:
Yes I know, from my "slightly" negative posts, that you'd have expected me to have picked zero wins in our pre-conference poll. But I thought that somewhere in their B1G schedule they'd get red hot while an opponent was ice cold.
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I was wondering if you can up with one now or had posted about it previously
 


It's important that we not let two bad years reduce our standards going forward. The bar next year should be "what do we expect out of a coach in his third year?" not "what do we expect out of a coach coming off of two of the worst seasons in school history?"

6-14 or 7-13 B1G would be really bad seasons, the fact that seasons 1 and 2 were even worse doesn't make winning 6 or 7 B1G games any better. My expectation on hiring a new coach would be that they be in an NCAA tournament and have a .500 B1G or better season within their first three seasons. That is still where I am at. I'm not going to be satisfied with lesser performances in year 3 and on just because a coach lowered the bar with a disastrous years 1 and 2.
 

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