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Jflat21 said:
I believe that Payne looked more conditioned than last year. Although JOJ did not have a huge impact during practice he is still a for sure starter. I don't think Mitchell is a lock to start, I think as of now Hawkins is the starter, but personally I like Mitchell better. Maybe Ben sees him as the 6th man for this squad getting significant minutes. I think the starters will end up being Hawkins, Carrington, JOJ, Garcia, and Payne.
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So last year’s starting center will now be the starting 3? Yikes.
 

book said:
disappointed with lousy mic Ben used after practice. Couldn’t understand a word he said! Disagree with earlier post about Mitchell getting most minutes…. He will play a lot but Hawkins is by far the best guard out there! Carrington got hot for a time but then missed a lot of shots after his streak. This is not a bottom three or four team…
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No more Weakling Wednesdays
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
So last year’s starting center will now be the starting 3? Yikes.
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Hard to say with Ihnen and Christie being out of practice, for all we know they could start. When they did an inter-squad scrimmage, the teams were broken up as:

Maroon: Hawkins/Ramberg/JOJ/Garcia/Payne

Gold: Mitchell/Carrington/Betts (or Keinys)/Fox/Wilson

Maroon team won 30-21 for whatever that's worth. Very possible Maroon would have had Christie/Ihnen over Ramberg/JOJ if they had been able to participate in practice. Ben thinks Christie is ahead of the curve for a freshman so it's possible he is looking to have him start. JOJ clearly will be playing over Betts/Keinys.
 
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GopherBlood666 said:
Hard to say with Ihnen and Christie being out of practice, for all we know they could start. When they did an inter-squad scrimmage, the teams were broken up as:

Maroon: Hawkins/Ramberg/JOJ/Garcia Payne

Gold: Mitchell/Carrington/Betts (or Keinys)/Fox/Wilson

Maroon team won 30-21 for whatever that's worth. Very possible Maroon would have had Christie/Ihnen over Ramberg/JOJ if they had been able to participate in practice. Ben thinks Christie is ahead of the curve for a freshman so it's possible he is looking to have him start. JOJ clearly will be playing over Betts/Keinys.
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I agree. Personally I think the starters should be Mitchell, Carrington, Christie, Garcia, and Payne. But I could see Ben try to start Ihnen if he's healthy. I think JOJ comes off the bench.
 



GopherWeatherGuy said:
I agree. Personally I think the starters should be Mitchell, Carrington, Christie, Garcia, and Payne. But I could see Ben try to start Ihnen if he's healthy. I think JOJ comes off the bench.
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Mitchell, Christie, Garcia and Payne should be starters. Maybe not Christie immediately but by B1G play. Ihnen/JOJ probably depends on Ihnen's health but they would both play about equal minutes regardless IMO.
 






The Strib has a nice article today on Ihnen. a lot of it is on his background growing up in Germany and how he wound up coming to the US for basketball.

a few highlights:

in Böblingen, a town in southwestern Germany, Ihnen was raised by his mother, Sarah, who is Eritrean. He never knew his father, who is of Senegalese decent.

Isaiah played soccer and loved skateboarding growing up, but his mother pushed him into basketball at age 14. He grew to be 6-8 early in high school.

Seeing his rail-thin frame and perimeter skills, Isaiah's youth coaches chose to play him on the wing instead of the post. He'd spend nights watching highlights of all-star Kevin Durant, his favorite NBA player (he'd wear Durant's No. 35 as a Gophers freshman).

After only two years of playing basketball in his hometown, Isaiah attracted the attention of Germany's International Basketball Academy of Munich. He made the German junior national team, winning a bronze medal at the U20 European Championships in 2019.

"He was 16 when he moved to Munich, which is 150 miles from Böblingen," Sarah Ihnen said. "It was hard for me as his mother to let him go at such a young age. But I supported him because I saw how much Isaiah liked to play basketball."

He already has a degree in Communications and is working on a Masters in Sports Management. Seems like a very sharp guy. the article talked about all the different books he read to cope with his second ACL rehab.
 



short ornery norwegian said:
The Strib has a nice article today on Ihnen. a lot of it is on his background growing up in Germany and how he wound up coming to the US for basketball.

a few highlights:

in Böblingen, a town in southwestern Germany, Ihnen was raised by his mother, Sarah, who is Eritrean. He never knew his father, who is of Senegalese decent.

Isaiah played soccer and loved skateboarding growing up, but his mother pushed him into basketball at age 14. He grew to be 6-8 early in high school.

Seeing his rail-thin frame and perimeter skills, Isaiah's youth coaches chose to play him on the wing instead of the post. He'd spend nights watching highlights of all-star Kevin Durant, his favorite NBA player (he'd wear Durant's No. 35 as a Gophers freshman).

After only two years of playing basketball in his hometown, Isaiah attracted the attention of Germany's International Basketball Academy of Munich. He made the German junior national team, winning a bronze medal at the U20 European Championships in 2019.

"He was 16 when he moved to Munich, which is 150 miles from Böblingen," Sarah Ihnen said. "It was hard for me as his mother to let him go at such a young age. But I supported him because I saw how much Isaiah liked to play basketball."

He already has a degree in Communications and is working on a Masters in Sports Management. Seems like a very sharp guy. the article talked about all the different books he read to cope with his second ACL rehab.
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Easy to root for!

I see a scrappy crew who are going to become fan favorites!
 




Swaggerson said:
I am going as well...although I won't be writing any reports.
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GopherWeatherGuy said:
I agree. Personally I think the starters should be Mitchell, Carrington, Christie, Garcia, and Payne. But I could see Ben try to start Ihnen if he's healthy. I think JOJ comes off the bench.
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Most coaches would have Christie come off the bench early in the season and prove he’s too good not to start. Would predict that’s what we do unless he is already significantly better than JJ and Ihnen. If it’s close he will go with an older guy early and maybe all year.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
The Strib has a nice article today on Ihnen. a lot of it is on his background growing up in Germany and how he wound up coming to the US for basketball.

a few highlights:

in Böblingen, a town in southwestern Germany, Ihnen was raised by his mother, Sarah, who is Eritrean. He never knew his father, who is of Senegalese decent.

Isaiah played soccer and loved skateboarding growing up, but his mother pushed him into basketball at age 14. He grew to be 6-8 early in high school.

Seeing his rail-thin frame and perimeter skills, Isaiah's youth coaches chose to play him on the wing instead of the post. He'd spend nights watching highlights of all-star Kevin Durant, his favorite NBA player (he'd wear Durant's No. 35 as a Gophers freshman).

After only two years of playing basketball in his hometown, Isaiah attracted the attention of Germany's International Basketball Academy of Munich. He made the German junior national team, winning a bronze medal at the U20 European Championships in 2019.

"He was 16 when he moved to Munich, which is 150 miles from Böblingen," Sarah Ihnen said. "It was hard for me as his mother to let him go at such a young age. But I supported him because I saw how much Isaiah liked to play basketball."

He already has a degree in Communications and is working on a Masters in Sports Management. Seems like a very sharp guy. the article talked about all the different books he read to cope with his second ACL rehab.
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I would love to see Sarah Ihnen in Williams Arena. Get that done Gopher fans.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
The Strib has a nice article today on Ihnen. a lot of it is on his background growing up in Germany and how he wound up coming to the US for basketball.

a few highlights:

in Böblingen, a town in southwestern Germany, Ihnen was raised by his mother, Sarah, who is Eritrean. He never knew his father, who is of Senegalese decent.

Isaiah played soccer and loved skateboarding growing up, but his mother pushed him into basketball at age 14. He grew to be 6-8 early in high school.

Seeing his rail-thin frame and perimeter skills, Isaiah's youth coaches chose to play him on the wing instead of the post. He'd spend nights watching highlights of all-star Kevin Durant, his favorite NBA player (he'd wear Durant's No. 35 as a Gophers freshman).

After only two years of playing basketball in his hometown, Isaiah attracted the attention of Germany's International Basketball Academy of Munich. He made the German junior national team, winning a bronze medal at the U20 European Championships in 2019.

"He was 16 when he moved to Munich, which is 150 miles from Böblingen," Sarah Ihnen said. "It was hard for me as his mother to let him go at such a young age. But I supported him because I saw how much Isaiah liked to play basketball."

He already has a degree in Communications and is working on a Masters in Sports Management. Seems like a very sharp guy. the article talked about all the different books he read to cope with his second ACL rehab.
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He might have a PhD by the time his eligibility is up.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
You don’t have a lot of faith, Holy Man - love the irony🙏
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I’m also from Minnesota. We are not allowed, culturally, to have any hopeful expectations, faith or not.

I want to be proven wrong.
 

Holy Man said:
I’m also from Minnesota. We are not allowed, culturally, to have any hopeful expectations, faith or not.

I want to be proven wrong.
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I shock off my repressed heritage when I moved to the large 🍎; mini 🍎be darned!
 


Gopherbbdude said:
I love hearing about all the depth we have.... although very strange to hear from a Gopher Squad.

Go Gophers!
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Had to happen sooner or later I guess. But, I hope the depth isn't illusory. It looked like we had a lot of depth prior to Pitino's final year but injuries and underperformance caused that to collapse. Hopefully Johnson can keep them together and healthy.
 

Holy Man said:
I’m also from Minnesota. We are not allowed, culturally, to have any hopeful expectations, faith or not.

I want to be proven wrong.
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Of course we are allowed to have hope. It is part of what makes it fun to be a fan. Somehow many people feel cynicism is cool. I can withstand disappointment but could not tolerate constantly being cynical. To each his own.
 



Seems like it has shaken out that 9 guys are potential starters...without having played a game.
Payne, Garcia, Hawkins, Mitchell, Carrington, Ola Joseph, Ihnen, Fox, and Christie.
That leaves 6 guys on the roster who don't seem like they'll get playing time if the 9 are healthy.
Question is: Will Ben play a 9 man rotation?
 

60's Guy said:
Seems like it has shaken out that 9 guys are potential starters...without having played a game.
Payne, Garcia, Hawkins, Mitchell, Carrington, Ola Joseph, Ihnen, Fox, and Christie.
That leaves 6 guys on the roster who don't seem like they'll get playing time if the 9 are healthy.
Question is: Will Ben play a 9 man rotation?
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Just throwing this out there…2 of those 9 didn’t participate in the scrimmage. It happens more than we like. I know yesterday was no big deal, but sickness, injuries, disciplinary issues, etc., pop up.
 


60's Guy said:
Seems like it has shaken out that 9 guys are potential starters...without having played a game.
Payne, Garcia, Hawkins, Mitchell, Carrington, Ola Joseph, Ihnen, Fox, and Christie.
That leaves 6 guys on the roster who don't seem like they'll get playing time if the 9 are healthy.
Question is: Will Ben play a 9 man rotation?
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Yep! He has too as long as there is no clear seperation. I think a lot of the PT each game will depend on match ups. Payne and Garcia are the two givens at this point and the rest will battle for minutes. Ben finally has the depth we lacked in year 1 & 2.

9 or even 10 has been my thinking all along. But it seems as if Betts isn't ready yet.
I don't think we can keep Ramberg out of the picture as he does a lot of things well.
 


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