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bga1 said:
Oh the joy.......Morgan and Hadley!

Who do you think you have to pay more to- The players you have built a relationship with over a few years or some guy you are recruiting. A new roster that is better will come with a higher price than the old roster- which we appear not to be able to afford.
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Wait…what…say that again. 🤔
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
There were times that I lived for watching college hoops. I used to refer to the first two days of March Madness as "my Christmas". I knew multiple players on every Top 25 team (and this was long before the Internet). Now, I don't know if I can name 10 players outside the the Big Ten.
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Agreed - there is more continuity in pro sports now than there is in college sports.
 

So far one big loss in Payne and 3 depth loses in Carrington, JOJ and Ihnen.

If Hawkins, Christie, Mitchell and Garcia all come back the roster might be salvagable. Fox playing one more year would be huge as well. If we keep the rest it might be possible to upgrade the roster through the portal, if Garcia and/or Christie leave we may as well just rip the bandaid off now and start over with a new coach and a whole new roster of players.
 



MaxyJR1 said:
Gophers bring in Hadley and no one cares about Carrington being gone.
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Wanna bet?

You realize the team had depth issues before all this right? Now what little depth they have is gone.

While some are going overboard on the drama others are drinking way too much copium.
 

Tucker32 said:
Agreed - there is more continuity in pro sports now than there is in college sports.
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Yeah, there is lots of roster turnover in pro sports but at least you can have a pretty good idea of how long a player is likely to be with your favorite team. Used to be in college athletics you could bank on a guy being around for multiple years as well but those days seem to be long gone.
 

Dave H said:
Wanna bet?

You realize the team had depth issues before all this right? Now what little depth they have is gone.

While some are going overboard on the drama others are drinking way too much copium.
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It's all reactionary until we see all the pieces. Ben might have his committed core he's ready to role with for next year. Wishful, but we don't know until all the pieces move.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
It's all reactionary until we see all the pieces. Ben might have his committed core he's ready to role with for next year. Wishful, but we don't know until all the pieces move.
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You're right - if the other players come back and we add 1 impactful portal and 1-2 more decent players. We have a decent team.

I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop right now, but that's just because I am a MN sports fan.
 



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.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
You're right - if the other players come back and we add 1 impactful portal and 1-2 more decent players. We have a decent team.

I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop right now, but that's just because I am a MN sports fan.
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Hadley, Heise, Morgan and maybe another stretch forward would mask pretty much all of the departures if we don’t lose anymore
 

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’d like to see him being in Heise from UNI as well. More good depth. Then a stretch forward or another 5
 




Sparlimb said:
The issue is none of them earned all that much. Payne was good. The other two are busts. I don't care they are leaving and I wouldn't pay one cent to see them play for Macalester next year. These kids seem to think they deserve the world before they earn anything. Good riddance.
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big egos that they didn't earn, they'll find out as they move on at a much lesser school.
 

So you think there's a chance?
GoldenMAV30266 said:
“Fire Ben” “Go get Mussemlan” “The roster is imploding” blah blah blah.

Transfers leave faster than they come in, and with respect to JOJ and Carrington, the only one that stings a bit so far Payne.

There’s thousands of kids in the portal, Ben just has to find the right ones (again). Leave your overreactions for after the roster is actually set.

Seeing a visit from Morgan today and hearing there’s mutual interest with J’Vonne Hadley is a good start.

I know everyone loves to overreact. But there’s actually a possibility to get a BETTER roster from this.
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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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Yes, I'd be fine with that lineup with, as you say, another C/F.
 

BBJones said:
So you think there's a chance?
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I don't know if you're joking but, if no one else of stature leaves, of course there is a chance. We lost four transfers last season and we were a better team without them this season.
 


MaxyJR1 said:
It's all reactionary until we see all the pieces. Ben might have his committed core he's ready to role with for next year. Wishful, but we don't know until all the pieces move.
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That is true...but we aren't exactly coming from a position of strength here. We were a better team that was still very flawed and missing lots of pieces 24 hours ago. We expected losses like JOJ and Ihen so we can ignore that but Carrington and Payne? (and likely more) This is a different animal...

We now need to hope to get enough just to stay at an NIT level. What was once a team with a solid foundation in need of pieces and depth now is a team that has to replace our only real inside player, one of our better defenders and like half the bench who played. And that is if everyone else returns. If Fox or Garcia decide they are done or if Christie goes into the draft and doesn't return we are going to be signing a lot of castoffs and D2 players to fill roles they aren't ready for. It is one thing to bring in a player from NDSU to play alongside our Big Ten athletes...it is another to expect them to step in and do it themselves.

That is the problem, the losing of some players was fine as long as the core stayed. A big part of the core is already leaving and there appears to be more coming. Ben didn't build his roster to be able to withstand this and now we are all crossing our fingers that players from other schools (many of them in better positions than ours) will want to come here and will gel together. I dont trust Ben to be able to do that...
 

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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That depends...do you want Ben to coach beyond this year? If not then I think that team will do just fine.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

FWIW - saw a post from Ryan James. He says that Carrington, JOJ and Payne have been talking to each other for a while. with Carrington and JOJ, it was about NIL and playing time. with Payne, apparently more NIL, because he was getting the playing time.

but James said for all three, they felt they were not getting "what they had earned."

that to me is the real issue. in today's climate, you cannot keep a roster together because if players don't get what they feel they have earned, they leave.

Unless MN finds Rich Uncle Pennybags to bankroll the program, this isn't going to change.
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Your first line…wow! I will sleep well tonight.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
I don't know if you're joking but, if no one else of stature leaves, of course there is a chance. We lost four transfers last season and we were a better team without them this season.
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Yeah but you can't count on that always being the case. Sooner or later the law of averages catches up with you.
 

GoldenMAV30266 said:
Hadley, Heise, Morgan and maybe another stretch forward would mask pretty much all of the departures if we don’t lose anymore
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No. From what we know of Morgan, he doesn’t replace Payne, especially defensively.

We had so many years of just getting pounded in the middle and finally we get a guy who get the ball, grab a rebound, and block a shot and he bolts. Yuk.
 

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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Possible but you have no inside presence. The kid from Waseca would be OK, but he is half the player Payne is. And no bench again. Also, what are the realistic chances that this is all we are gonna see leave this roster?
 

GoldenMAV30266 said:
“Fire Ben” “Go get Mussemlan” “The roster is imploding” blah blah blah.

Transfers leave faster than they come in, and with respect to JOJ and Carrington, the only one that stings a bit so far Payne.

There’s thousands of kids in the portal, Ben just has to find the right ones (again). Leave your overreactions for after the roster is actually set.

Seeing a visit from Morgan today and hearing there’s mutual interest with J’Vonne Hadley is a good start.

I know everyone loves to overreact. But there’s actually a possibility to get a BETTER roster from this.
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Your last sentence hits it right on the head.

This is the biggest opportunity Johnson has had as a head coach. How he fills these spots will determine if he stays long term as Gopher head coach or not.

Payne's production can be matched from the portal. The JOJ, Carrington, and Ihnen spots should be big upgrades for the roster next year.

Can CBJ do it? We will have a good idea quite soon.
 


Why would Hadley come to us? I'd be ecstatic but seems highly unlikely.

Just made a solid tournament run with Boulder. We aren't giving him big NIL.

Would be great if he wants his family to watch him play or something but I'm not counting on that.
 



Dakota2 said:
Why? They will likely be playing on a better team next year if they stay.
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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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