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Dakota2 said:
Why? They will likely be playing on a better team next year if they stay.
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This team without Payne is super soft. So no, that is incorrect unless we have a big who can pound the boards and force a double team just waiting to sign up to play for free for us.
 

Dave H said:
The previous roster that lost in the first round of the NIT and likely only made it because other teams dropped out?

Yeah you are right we should be excited for the future...
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You're quite the fan to think we lost in the first round of the NIT. Thanks for following so closely and imparting all your knowledge.
 

bga1 said:
This team without Payne is super soft. So no, that is incorrect unless we have a big who can pound the boards and force a double team just waiting to sign up to play for free for us.
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Are there bigs out there who can shoot outside of 4 feet? And don't habitually pick up fouls trying to hedge 20 feet from the basket?
 

Dave H said:
What evidence do you have of that? You are putting a lot of stock in a coach putting a roster together who has had issues putting a roster together. And it isn't like the realistic options scream improvement...they scream "NIT Final Four If Lucky" which I guess is an improvement but still gets Ben canned.

Ben needs some good news...and not "Rando Guy From D2 School Is a Gopher" he needs something to turn the tide or this tanker is going right into the bridge.
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Correct, there is no evidence yet. But step one was to get rid of three guys who can't help a lick. That is Ihnen, Carrington, and JOJ. Step two is to bring in two post players. Step three is to find a strong wing who can shoot and a big/strong guard with two or more years of eligibility.

I don't know if Johnson can do any or all of that. But, it is the biggest opportunity he has ever had as a head coach.
 



Most portal players are looking for money. If we didn’t have it to keep the current players we sure don’t have it for good portal players. Taurus Samuals 2.0 here we come.
 

Dakota2 said:
Correct, there is no evidence yet. But step one was to get rid of three guys who can't help a lick. That is Ihnen, Carrington, and JOJ. Step two is to bring in two post players. Step three is to find a strong wing who can shoot and a big/strong guard with two or more years of eligibility.

I don't know if Johnson can do any or all of that. But, it is the biggest opportunity he has ever had as a head coach.
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I hope I am wrong but I don't think that the next few days are going to improve the situation any.
 

CentralGopher said:
Most portal players are looking for money. If we didn’t have it to keep the current players we sure don’t have it for good portal players. Taurus Samuals 2.0 here we come.
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Good reality check there. Spot on.
 

Dakota2 said:
Correct, there is no evidence yet. But step one was to get rid of three guys who can't help a lick. That is Ihnen, Carrington, and JOJ. Step two is to bring in two post players. Step three is to find a strong wing who can shoot and a big/strong guard with two or more years of eligibility.

I don't know if Johnson can do any or all of that. But, it is the biggest opportunity he has ever had as a head coach.
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So is Ben bad at evaluating talent or bad at developing players? If he has that many players that couldn’t contribute at a high level it has to be one or the other or both.
 



Dakota2 said:
Correct, there is no evidence yet. But step one was to get rid of three guys who can't help a lick. That is Ihnen, Carrington, and JOJ. Step two is to bring in two post players. Step three is to find a strong wing who can shoot and a big/strong guard with two or more years of eligibility.

I don't know if Johnson can do any or all of that. But, it is the biggest opportunity he has ever had as a head coach.
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Hey, maybe by 2030 he'll figure out. Who cares if we stink every season.
 
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Dakota2 said:
Correct, there is no evidence yet. But step one was to get rid of three guys who can't help a lick. That is Ihnen, Carrington, and JOJ. Step two is to bring in two post players. Step three is to find a strong wing who can shoot and a big/strong guard with two or more years of eligibility.

I don't know if Johnson can do any or all of that. But, it is the biggest opportunity he has ever had as a head coach.
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Hasn't he had the same opportunity the last few years in the spring? How is this year the "biggest" opportunity?
 

Holy Man said:
We cooled on Payne.
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Unreal the stupid takes we are hearing to rationalize this. Payne, if he is gone, is a huge loss and a symptom of a bigger problem. The program has been used to make money for the U, but it hasn't embraced winning in a way that makes kids want to stay a part of it. We are little league.
 



CentralGopher said:
Most portal players are looking for money. If we didn’t have it to keep the current players we sure don’t have it for good portal players. Taurus Samuals 2.0 here we come.
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I’ll amend that. Most high end portals are looking for money. I’m struggling to believe that 700 guys are going to get life changing money. And if you look at the early B1G free agents they were all fringe players. Looks more like they are going for opportunities rather than money. If guys like Joj and Carrington think they’re getting a pile of money, they are either delusional or the system has more money and is sicker than I thought.
 

bga1 said:
Unreal the stupid takes we are hearing to rationalize this. Payne, if he is gone, is a huge loss and a symptom of a bigger problem. The program has been used to make money for the U, but it hasn't embraced winning in a way that makes kids want to stay a part of it. We are little league.
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Why do you keep saying "if"?
 

Otis said:
If this ended up happening, would we all be ok?

Bumrush for the portal stops and Garcia, Christie, Mitchell and Hawkins remain.
We sign the Waseca kid and Hadley.

New starting lineup:
Morgan -C
Garcia-PF
Hadley-sf
Christie-sg
Hawkins-pg

Reserves:
Mitchell
Fox
Betts
Keinys
Grove
Asuma
Portal tbd

We’d lose toughness in Payne but Hadley and Christie would upgrade the wing. Would need more back up bigs for sure.
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I think OK is the word there. Does that team go 2-18 in conference no, do they sniff the tournament, also no. Payne was our upside guy. No one on that roster pops having the ability to take us to the next level. So I guess if you are ok with 7-13 in conference sure that team is fine. But it's not good
 



Dakota2 said:
Correct, there is no evidence yet. But step one was to get rid of three guys who can't help a lick. That is Ihnen, Carrington, and JOJ. Step two is to bring in two post players. Step three is to find a strong wing who can shoot and a big/strong guard with two or more years of eligibility.

I don't know if Johnson can do any or all of that. But, it is the biggest opportunity he has ever had as a head coach.
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Dumping on the departed players. Stay classy daka$$.
 

Holy Man said:
We cooled on Payne.
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I'm just saying, let's not act like he is the 2nd coming of Wilt Chamberlain. Last year, we had no guards and the sky was falling at this time. Then we ended up with an All-Big Ten guard, a guy who shot 40% from 3 and a potential 1-and-done NBA kid. Did you predict all that after Cooper left last year?
 

WriterGoph said:
I'm just saying, let's not act like he is the 2nd coming of Wilt Chamberlain. Last year, we had no guards and the sky was falling at this time. Then we ended up with an All-Big Ten guard, a guy who shot 40% from 3 and a potential 1-and-done NBA kid. Did you predict all that after Cooper left last year?
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Nobody on our team is a superstar. Payne is/was a cornerstone, lots of potential upside and a kid that played hard. Payne is not a guy you want to play against. But hey it will be amazing if we can get Morgan in here....
 

While there are several bugs in the portal who can replace Payne’s production, when you start to consider if they will play here the number decreases precipitously.

Hell, Morgan has higher numbers at 94.4 on 247!

It’s not like Mychal Thompson is leaving!
 

WriterGoph said:
I'm just saying, let's not act like he is the 2nd coming of Wilt Chamberlain. Last year, we had no guards and the sky was falling at this time. Then we ended up with an All-Big Ten guard, a guy who shot 40% from 3 and a potential 1-and-done NBA kid. Did you predict all that after Cooper left last year?
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No. But it seems a stretch to downplay the significance of losing a quality mobile big man as well. At some point, Ben needs to assemble a team that can stay together long enough to succeed.

I’m curious to know how significant having an athletic big influenced Hawkins decision. We might find out in the next few days.
 

bga1 said:
I think there is a chance he gives the U a shot at matching his offer.
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Maybe but seems like he already told them his # and they made him an offer.
 

howeda7 said:
Maybe but seems like he already told them his # and they made him an offer.
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And perhaps they are giving the vault to Garcia and Christie and there isn’t enough left for the others?
 

Payne had a ton of upside, yes. It's disingenuous to act like - outside of maybe Morgan - any of us know who we will end up bringing in through the portal.
 



WriterGoph said:
I'm just saying, let's not act like he is the 2nd coming of Wilt Chamberlain. Last year, we had no guards and the sky was falling at this time. Then we ended up with an All-Big Ten guard, a guy who shot 40% from 3 and a potential 1-and-done NBA kid. Did you predict all that after Cooper left last year?
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And yet those additions only got us to a point where we made the NIT because so many other teams backed out.

And then we were still worked by an Indiana St team who has a coach that has been there the same amount of time as Ben has been here, at a level that has significantly more issues with transfers than P6 teams.

So yeah, most of us don't have any confidence Ben will bring in players that will raise the level of play to a NCAA tournament level, which they were still a long ways away from being this season.
 


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