STrib: Ben Johnson wants Gophers to learn from mistakes: 'Youth can't be an excuse'

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Per Marcus:

Before the season, Ben Johnson anticipated struggles for the Gophers men's basketball team during the first couple months unlike last year's 9-1 nonconference record.

Johnson has superior talent compared to his first year as Gophers coach, but the early growing pains have been apparent with a drastically younger roster this season.

The Gophers (4-2), who play Monday at Virginia Tech in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, suffered their second loss this season last week in the SoCal Challenge championship vs. UNLV.


Losses to older foes such as DePaul and UNLV were a reminder their youth is being exploited. Among 363 Division I teams, the Gophers rank 207th in experience compared to last year's 21st nationally and second oldest in the Big Ten, according to KenPom.com.

"I told our guys our inexperience and youth can't be an excuse," Johnson said. "We've got to find a way to solve the puzzle."

m.startribune.com

Star Tribune

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Go Gophers!!
 


I don't think the young players are the problem, they'be been solid. It's the "vets" like Garcia, Cooper, Battle, Thompson, etc. They are the ones not pulling their weight. Also, blame goes to CBJ for not fielding a couple quick guards. Still liking CBJ as our coach for now, he just needs to find some actual quick guards going forward instead of starting tall, unathletic, slow, soft players.
 

tommypoly said:
I don't think the young players are the problem, they'be been solid. It's the "vets" like Garcia, Cooper, Battle, Thompson, etc. They are the ones not pulling their weight. Also, blame goes to CBJ for not fielding a couple quick guards. Still liking CBJ as our coach for now, he just needs to find some actual quick guards going forward instead of starting tall, unathletic, slow, soft players.
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Battle being injured deserves the blame.

And I’d guess he tried to get quicker and better guards. They said no.
 

HitMeAgainIAmStillMoving said:
So it's not an excuse if you mention it and then say it's not an excuse. Why not rule out astrological signs?
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Good grief. Some posters will literally dissect anything that a coach says to spin into something to complain about. It is so childish and counterproductive.
 



tommypoly said:
I don't think the young players are the problem, they'be been solid. It's the "vets" like Garcia, Cooper, Battle, Thompson, etc. They are the ones not pulling their weight. Also, blame goes to CBJ for not fielding a couple quick guards. Still liking CBJ as our coach for now, he just needs to find some actual quick guards going forward instead of starting tall, unathletic, slow, soft players.
Click to expand...
With Battle back along with Fox/Ihnen, I thought we would be much improved. Then boom! Absent Fox/Ihnen once again.

After watching a couple of Cooper and Garcia's last year games, I had concerns especially on D and how they would match up against BIG caliber players. Cooper's lack of quickness and Garcia's lack of strength. I posted several times in the past how Purdue's Williams totally destroyed Garcia in the paint last season. Garcia didn't seem to the be the type of player to form an offense around as he basically floated on the perimeter and didn't have a strong game in the paint. With no legitimate BIG PG, our O will be stagnate. BJ hasn't figured out how to get Battle loose like last year.
 


Youth, size, quickness, roster construction, injuries ..none of it can be an excuse
But the job of the coach is to put the players he has in position to succeed. He needs to have a plan and hold the players accountable.
Failing is how we learn. We ARE young, we ARE inexperienced as a team. The coach can't be frustrated by that. It's reality. Help them. You can demand they give more effort on defense and rebounding. You can demand they improve but you need a plan, you need principles, fundamentals to gauge their progress. They need defined roles. We need to take advantage of what they do best... 10-12 weeks of practice should have revealed that,
Embrace the youth!!! Improving is fun! The journey is fun! But you need a plan and you have to play harder on defense....outworking people can cover up a bunch of deficiencies.
 



60's Guy said:
Youth, size, quickness, roster construction, injuries ..none of it can be an excuse
But the job of the coach is to put the players he has in position to succeed. He needs to have a plan and hold the players accountable.
Failing is how we learn. We ARE young, we ARE inexperienced as a team. The coach can't be frustrated by that. It's reality. Help them. You can demand they give more effort on defense and rebounding. You can demand they improve but you need a plan, you need principles, fundamentals to gauge their progress. They need defined roles. We need to take advantage of what they do best... 10-12 weeks of practice should have revealed that,
Embrace the youth!!! Improving is fun! The journey is fun! But you need a plan and you have to play harder on defense....outworking people can cover up a bunch of deficiencies.
Click to expand...
As a former coach said yo me, “We may lose, even get our behinds kicked, but we’ll never be outworked. There is NO excuse for lack of effort.”
 

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