Souhan: The problems with the men’s program began with disgraced athletic director Norwood Teague.

[Zeppelin Gopher]

I'm still fine with Pitino getting let go but at the same time, I don't think the program was that far from having good success several times under him. If Mason wasn't hurt in 16-17 tournament

Plus the Akeem Springs achilles injury in the BTT that season.

That team was absolutely loaded and on a complete roll coming into the tournament. MTSU was a really tough draw but we'll never know how things would've gone if we'd had Mason and Springs healthy...

 

[USAF]

Plus the Akeem Springs achilles injury in the BTT that season.

That team was absolutely loaded and on a complete roll coming into the tournament. MTSU was a really tough draw but we'll never know how things would've gone if we'd had Mason and Springs healthy...

Absolutely loaded??

 

[Spaulding!No!]

So many boners over the past 30 years.

 

[Ski-U-Ham]

So many boners over the past 30 years.

 

[TwistingMyMelon]

Ben recruited Jack Wilson.

I've lost track of how many times you've written that. You should put that on your gravestone.

Pitino recruited Gaston, Bakary, and Michael Hurt. Two of them were better than Jack Wilson but they were still not at all good and they all took up roster spaces for 4 years.

 

[TwistingMyMelon]

Such a class-less comment, hidden behind the anonymity of a forum. Disagreeing is one thing, I expected that.

I lived the first half of my life without the internet. One thing I've learned in the second half in large part due to the internet is that sports and politics talk are the lowest and crudest forms of online discussion.

 

[TwistingMyMelon]

you can't deny that the media has been far kinder to Ben despite the results and it's pretty obvious why,

I don't know much about that because I read very little sports media. I rarely listen to, or watch, sports talk either. I only care about watching actual sports.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

Heads up. Melon is having a bad day.

 

[MonikerSchmoniker45]

Heads up. Melon is having a bad day.

No bad days.

 

[Strongazzoffer]

Plus the Akeem Springs achilles injury in the BTT that season.

That team was absolutely loaded and on a complete roll coming into the tournament. MTSU was a really tough draw but we'll never know how things would've gone if we'd had Mason and Springs healthy...

Spriggs out, Mason playing on a bad hip, didn't help that Reggie got himself into foul trouble. Think we came out hot if I remember right then Lynch picked up two tricky tac fouls and came out in the second half and did the same thing. One of those five fouls in 10 minutes type of games

 

[EasyThere Pilgrim]

Per Jim:

The problems with the men’s program began with disgraced athletic director Norwood Teague. Teague thought so highly of his basketball connections that he fired future Hall of Famer Tubby Smith shortly after Smith had won an NCAA tournament game.

Can you imagine the Gophers basketball program firing a future Hall of Fame coach after he won an NCAA tourney game?

Later in column:

For all of the problems with these programs, today there is hope, because the Gophers men are learning to lean on their star, and the Gophers women are learning to play without theirs.

Souhan: There’s hope at Williams Arena as the Gophers basketball teams are playing better, led by a nationally ranked women’s team

The Gopher women could build a national reputation, while the men could save their coach’s job.

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

More lies from Souhan.

Our administration hamstrung Tubby to the point that he was scouring the local community colleges for recruits by the end. We went 2 recruiting cycles with literally NOTHING.

 

[EasyThere Pilgrim]

Exactly what I would expect from Souhan. ... deflect any blame from Ben that he can possibly muster up. That's weak. ... how long has Mega Tongue been gone from the U now?

But he's right about Teague, he's a human turd (just like Souhan).

Although yes, Souhan is lying...at least he has a sliver of common sense...to not heap all the blame on Ben.

It's funny how guys in here smear Teague, smear Clem...and all the coaches...and all the players who get kicked out.

But Coyle and the administration are wonderful.

 

[IceBoxGopher]

I feel like Souhan is leaving out some details regarding the firing of Smith. When looking at the second half of that season, it makes sense.

That was supposed to be one of Tubby's better teams, with the Hollins duo, Mbakwe and Williams out there. However, they had some awful losses. They could have snapped a two-game skid to Indiana and Michigan but ended up losing three in a row when they fell to a 13-19 Northwestern team.

After the later win against Indiana and following up with a victory against Penn State, they lost their last two games to a 15-18 Nebraska team and a 16-18 Purdue squad. They were then bounced in the first round of the Big Ten tournament. Plus, in the tournament, UCLA was missing its best player in Jordan Adams.

Souhan makes it sound like we just dropped an amazing coach for practically no reason since he's a hall of famer. Doesn't really tell the whole story.

 

[gopherlaney]

I’m one of the old guys here. I’ve had tickers since Musselman was a coach and went to games when I was a kid and John Kundla coached Lou Hudson. I’ve said it before on this forum and I get pounced on and laughed at by the Ben haters, but I think it’s a pipe dream that a coach can rescue this program. The team’s current problems result from losing 3 of 5 starters, 1 to the NBA which is by no means a coaching failure. Blaming Ben for Payne and Hawkins being lured away for twice the $$ they were offered here is simply not realistic. It would have happened very likely irregardless of who the coach was.

We are not going to lure a big-name marquee coach to this school who is going to turn it around.

Recruiting problems at the U go way back. Many kids do not want to be on a large urban campus, they want to be in a college town. We are the coldest campus in the B1G. Kids want to play for an established winner with a good likelihood of going to the Dance.

You fire Ben, you start all over again. Right now he’s got one of the top recruiting classes in the country coming in. Asuma is a solid freshman. The kids like playing for Ben. Look how they’ve responded to adversity and handled the last couple games. Let’s see what happens with shared revenue and hopefully a diminished role for NIL Let’s not go through another firing and rebuilding. I won’t live long enough.

The Hawkins and Payne excuse doesn’t hold up for me. Neither guy is averaging double digit points for their current team.

They were solid, but not all-conference talent. Pitino’s problem is he was too arrogant to connect with the local basketball community at a time when the talent level was exceptional. Believe this was the intent with Ben, but with NIL this strategy is ineffective because it’s more about $ than relationships.

Need to change the strategy with the times and bring in a good talent identifier and better coach who can win with significant roster churn almost on an annual basis.

 

[Hates Monikers]

You fire Ben, you start all over again. Right now he’s got one of the top recruiting classes in the country coming in.

The 2025 class is currently ranked #46 on 247. With that, plus only one contributor coming back, there will never be a better time to start over.

 

[USAF]

The 2025 class is currently ranked #46 on 247.

It's that high?

 

[Rocksoldier]

The Hawkins and Payne excuse doesn’t hold up for me. Neither guy is averaging double digit points for their current team.

They were solid, but not all-conference talent. Pitino’s problem is he was too arrogant to connect with the local basketball community at a time when the talent level was exceptional. Believe this was the intent with Ben, but with NIL this strategy is ineffective because it’s more about $ than relationships.

Need to change the strategy with the times and bring in a good talent identifier and better coach who can win with significant roster churn almost on an annual basis.

100% true

 

[nitramnaed]

Such a class-less comment, hidden behind the anonymity of a forum. Disagreeing is one thing, I expected that.

As another “Old Guy” here I might not agree with your original comment, but the response, no matter how much he justifies it, as it refers to Alzheimer's, is probably dirt I wouldn’t walk on.

 

[EG#9]

Souhan is so, so bad. The same group of guys have been around covering Minnesota sports (pro and college) since I've had access to reading them in the 1990's. When Pitino was fired Judd Zulgad had one of the long time Strib guys on to discuss and they both didn't thought Pitino had been to 3 NCAA tournaments. Souhan dropped in last year (I believe after the Vikings season too) to write an awful column excusing Ben Johnson too. I occasionally hear him on a Vikings podcast and it must be nice to just like casually watch a few games and come up with a hot take, do zero research on said take, and get paid to just blast it out to the world.

 

[ShushPush]

Minnesota's remaining Strength of Schedule now ranks 31st. There are many on here that suggest that even winning most of the remaining games would keep them out of tournament play. I don't think they understand how this works. The first half of the season means little compared to the second half in selection criteria. In view of the remaining strength of schedule, do any of you want to revise your answers to our chances of getting in the tourney if we win more than we lose in the remaining games? Curious.

 

[Minnesara]

I’ve always held Souhan and the Strib responsible for the hiring of Johnson. From day one. He’s the last person I’d look to for advice on anything. I like Ben as a person, but it’s not his time.

 

[Strongazzoffer]

More lies from Souhan.

Our administration hamstrung Tubby to the point that he was scouring the local community colleges for recruits by the end. We went 2 recruiting cycles with literally NOTHING.

That's Tubbys fault for being a lazy recruiter

 

[Strongazzoffer]

I feel like Souhan is leaving out some details regarding the firing of Smith. When looking at the second half of that season, it makes sense.

That was supposed to be one of Tubby's better teams, with the Hollins duo, Mbakwe and Williams out there. However, they had some awful losses. They could have snapped a two-game skid to Indiana and Michigan but ended up losing three in a row when they fell to a 13-19 Northwestern team.

After the later win against Indiana and following up with a victory against Penn State, they lost their last two games to a 15-18 Nebraska team and a 16-18 Purdue squad. They were then bounced in the first round of the Big Ten tournament. Plus, in the tournament, UCLA was missing its best player in Jordan Adams.

Souhan makes it sound like we just dropped an amazing coach for practically no reason since he's a hall of famer. Doesn't really tell the whole story.

Three straight February's with a thud. It was time for Tubby to go. He had one okay season at TT, struggled at Memphis although Penny Hardway kinda did him dirty but it's hard to blame him when you want the job and have leverage to hold top recruits hostage

 

[Holy Man]

Minnesota's remaining Strength of Schedule now ranks 31st. There are many on here that suggest that even winning most of the remaining games would keep them out of tournament play. I don't think they understand how this works. The first half of the season means little compared to the second half in selection criteria. In view of the remaining strength of schedule, do any of you want to revise your answers to our chances of getting in the tourney if we win more than we lose in the remaining games? Curious.

No. Ask any of the many posters who follow selection process closely and they will remind you that a win in November is the same as a win in February. The last ten games criterion was officially eliminated and rightfully so with unbalanced schedules and supersized conferences making it nearly irrelevant.

I don’t know nearly as much as most of those guys, but anecdotal observations suggest one of the primary factors in a bubble bursting is weak scheduling, either because the team comes from a weak conference or because a power conference team scheduled poorly. The stronger schedule between now and the end of the season is driven by being a power conference team but doesn’t negate the terrible early season schedule.

Making the tournament would require a 9-2 record the rest of the way, not just winning more than they lose.

 

[USAF]

Minnesota's remaining Strength of Schedule now ranks 31st. There are many on here that suggest that even winning most of the remaining games would keep them out of tournament play. I don't think they understand how this works. The first half of the season means little compared to the second half in selection criteria. In view of the remaining strength of schedule, do any of you want to revise your answers to our chances of getting in the tourney if we win more than we lose in the remaining games? Curious.

Are you dishonest, or just clueless?

Both, perhaps.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Again most gets solved by investing in the program properly. I truly believe that any of our last 3 coaches could have been much more successful with proper support financially. I don't really know what that like but some options. (Admin, Fans, boosters, NIL etc.)

Here is where I start and end.
A. (Sorry) New Arena is a must

1. Entry on 2 sides and those are opposite where most park
2. Upper level on ends isn't accessible. Only way up is multiple flights of steps (heart attack and single file) and the benches are at a height that even 6'5" my knees are lower than my hips. legs fall asleep.
3. Suites aren't suites. They are a dump cramped with no seating and cat walks to access. You have to go to the club to get food or back to common people to get in line. Why would anyone pay for a suite at this venue?
4. Sight lines are obstructed and bad.
5. Concessions lines can have 2 people before it impedes the crowd.
6. Bucket seats and many other seats are too small for anyone tall. (News bulletin many basketball fans are tall)
7. The on-court product with raised floor and the game is the only good thing about the entire arena.

 

[Gopher Ally]

Souhan is trying hard to protect Ben cuz he and the Red Star Tribune hired him. Coyle was handcuffed. I have no idea what the win total to save his job is, Izzo gave us a nice dose of reality tonight after our nice little run

 

[mncharger]

Truth bomb.

The exact moment I knew the Strib was 100% full of (poop) was when in the aftermath of all the George Floyd stuff, the Strib -- including Souhan -- started applying the pressure to the U to hire a black men's basketball coach, which I found quite ironic. While the Strib was ripping the U for its poor record of hiring minority head coaches IN ALL SPORTS (a valid conversation), it completely underplayed the fact the BEST 2 MEN'S BASKETBALL COACHES at the U since the mid-1980s were Clem Haskins & Tubby Smith (black men). ... and the white guys (Monson, Richard) were not even close.

The U's hiring history of black men's head basketball coaches should have been a 100% non-issue after Richard was fired, but turds at the Strib like Souhan made sure it was. They lumped men's basketball into the U's overall (poor) history of hiring black head coaches even though recent evidence (in a specific sport) suggested (last 4 coaches 2 black, 2 white) that was not an issue.

The Strib is a woke liberal rag with zero credibility

 

[Ewert86PC]

The Hawkins and Payne excuse doesn’t hold up for me. Neither guy is averaging double digit points for their current team.

They were solid, but not all-conference talent. Pitino’s problem is he was too arrogant to connect with the local basketball community at a time when the talent level was exceptional. Believe this was the intent with Ben, but with NIL this strategy is ineffective because it’s more about $ than relationships.

Need to change the strategy with the times and bring in a good talent identifier and better coach who can win with significant roster churn almost on an annual basis.

So much this (the last line).

I'll go so far as to say MBB really needs to up the NIL offerings. Getting outbid is not a Minnesota thing for the future. It really makes the school look like low self-esteem children.

 

[howeda7]

Souhan is trying hard to protect Ben

I'd be willing to bet that Ben has won more B1G games in the last 4 years than Gopher games Jim has watched. No one should give a $%%^ what he says about Gopher basketball.