With non-conference season behind us, the Gophers are?…

With non-conference season behind us, the Gophers are?…

  • Better than you expected

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • About what you expected

    Votes: 13 13.7%

  • Worse than you expected

    Votes: 82 86.3%
  • Total voters
    95
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Gophers7633 said:
Hawkins has been brutal this year for Tech. Christie being 1 and done hurt more than losing Payne and Hawkins. You throw them on this team, and were probably a little worse than what we were last season. Maybe a top 100 team. Maybe better than USC and Washington.
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We probably beat North Texas and Wichita to keep the non conference from being embarrassing. We still lose to Florida, MSU and Indiana and are looking at 5-7 B1G wins IMO.
 

howeda7 said:
We probably beat North Texas and Wichita to keep the non conference from being embarrassing. We still lose to Florida, MSU and Indiana and are looking at 5-7 B1G wins IMO.
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Which could be good enough for an extension. Considering changing landscape, stadium and bad breaks.
 

golfing18now said:
I don't think this team is as historically bad as some on here suggest (candidate for going winless or one win). Barring injuries to Garcia/Mitchell, they will still win a handful of games in conference. My fear is they win enough to disguise the fact this regime has been a failure and try to find reasons to run this back again.
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If the team won only a handful of conference games, a decision to retain the coach would be indefensible.
 


After this non con I think the he program is the at its total peak

Kelvin Sampson likely will resign from Houston by the weekend to coach this team starting next week.
 


howeda7 said:
Poor Ben. If only we had more NIL $$ we'd have kept Hawkins and Payne.

Hawkins: 6.9 PPG. 5.4 APG. His replacement Lu'Cye Patterson 9.7 PPG, 3.9 APG.
Payne: 7.3 PPG, 4.7 RPG. His replacement Frank Mitchell 4.7 PPG, 3.8 RPG.

Obviously you'd rather have Hawkins and Payne. But let's stop acting like swapping out these two spots turns 1-19 into an NCAA tournament team. It doesn't.

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Payne & Hawkins are simply cashing checks now too. Just like our administration wants all of our coaches to do. They don't want to be in Texas. Payne was recently at one of our games...and we know Hawkins didn't want to leave.

I saw how our Gopher squad played last year and was improving greatly.
 

Spaulding!No! said:
Which could be good enough for an extension. Considering changing landscape, stadium and bad breaks.
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With all the mud-slinging in here, no one seems to see what's really going on.

They actually DO think it's simply the changing landscape and bad breaks. But that Coyle is right on top of it...doing his research.
 

I still love that one. How Coyle actually said he is researching how the winning programs do it.

Our administration thinks we're idiots LOL. And have to say...they're right. All the blame is heaped onto Ben.
 





EasyThere Pilgrim said:
Payne & Hawkins are simply cashing checks now too. Just like our administration wants all of our coaches to do. They don't want to be in Texas. Payne was recently at one of our games...and we know Hawkins didn't want to leave.

I saw how our Gopher squad played last year and was improving greatly.
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You have some weird romanticized view of the Gophers team last year. We finished 3-7 down the stretch and lost the last 3 all by double digits. Including to a terrible IU team at home. We weren't a good team. Had Payne and Hawkins returned, I mean maybe we finish 11-14 in the B1G. Instead of probably last.
 

Gophers7633 said:
You have some weird romanticized view of the Gophers team last year. We finished 3-7 down the stretch and lost the last 3 all by double digits. Including to a terrible IU team at home. We weren't a good team. Had Payne and Hawkins returned, I mean maybe we finish 11-14 in the B1G. Instead of probably last.
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It took a furious rally at home against Penn State to avoid ending the season with 6 straight losses and an 8-12 record. They were nowhere remotely close to an NCAA bid but somehow they would have been this year with the same team less Christie. It's illogical.

If we swapped Patterson and Frank Mitchell for Hawkins and Payne, we'd be a 6 or 7 win B1G team and probably get the "honor" of playing on Weakling Wednesday instead of missing the B1G altogether like we will now. And then Ben would still be fired.
 
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howeda7 said:
It took a furious rally at home against Penn State to avoid ending the season with 6 straight losses and an 8-12 record. They were nowhere remotely close to an NCAA bid but somehow they would have been this year with the same team less Christie. It's illogical.

If we swapped Patterson and Frank Mitchell for Hawkins and Payne, we'd be a 6 or 7 win B1G team and probably get the "honor" of playing on Weakling Wednesday instead of missing the B1G altogether like we will now. And then Ben would still be fired.
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All of this is true, and we had a ridiculously easy B1G schedule last year only having to play Illinois, Purdue and Wisconsin once, the 3 best teams in the league by far. It's why I kept preaching about the quality of the team, and not win/loss record. Had everyone returned that could have, given the more difficult schedule, I'm not even sure we would have gotten to 6 wins. UCLA and Oregon are both top 20 teams. And teams that finished behind us in the standings like PSU, OSU and MD are a lot better than they were last year. Last year was the year to make the tournament, but we weren't good enough to beat team a team like Missouri, got swept by IU and Iowa, and flamed out down the stretch. If we lose to OSU at home next game, we can all but kiss goodbye any chance at the B1G tournament, not that the odds will be great if we win it.

What a great time to have two months of worthless basketball remaining.
 



howeda7 said:
It took a furious rally at home against Penn State to avoid ending the season with 6 straight losses and an 8-12 record. They were nowhere remotely close to an NCAA bid but somehow they would have been this year with the same team less Christie. It's illogical.

If we swapped Patterson and Frank Mitchell for Hawkins and Payne, we'd be a 6 or 7 win B1G team and probably get the "honor" of playing on Weakling Wednesday instead of missing the B1G altogether like we will now. And then Ben would still be fired.
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Don't think there is much doubt that a team with Hawkins, Payne, JOJ, Carrington M. Mitchell, Garcia, Fox, Asuma, Betts and whatever other pieces they were able to add would have been better than the current collection of players.

How much better is impossible to say....entirely possible that there would have been enough chemistry on that roster to find a way to improve on last year and make the tournament. Or they might have taken a step back and been mired at the bottom of the standings again.

The only thing I feel confident saying is that Ben's chances of saving his job would have been far better with that group than it is with his current collection of players.
 


Gophers7633 said:
You have some weird romanticized view of the Gophers team last year. We finished 3-7 down the stretch and lost the last 3 all by double digits. Including to a terrible IU team at home. We weren't a good team. Had Payne and Hawkins returned, I mean maybe we finish 11-14 in the B1G. Instead of probably last.
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We won at Butler in the NIT...and we had a couple of long winning streaks.

I know how teams improve. We made a HUGE jump last year. If Payne & Hawkins returned, plus we got a decent Christie replacement...we'd be very good.
 

EasyThere Pilgrim said:
We won at Butler in the NIT...and we had a couple of long winning streaks.

I know how teams improve. We made a HUGE jump last year. If Payne & Hawkins returned, plus we got a decent Christie replacement...we'd be very good.
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Propping up a win in a meaningless game in a meaningless tournament? Lol

Oh yeah, that great 7 game win streak that consisted of wins against FGCU, Ball State, IUPUI, Maine, Michigan (last place in the B1G) and MD (tied for 2nd to last in the B1G). So amazing.

I agree we made a big jump, but only because the prior year was the most embarrassing year in Gophers history.
 

howeda7 said:
It took a furious rally at home against Penn State to avoid ending the season with 6 straight losses and an 8-12 record. They were nowhere remotely close to an NCAA bid but somehow they would have been this year with the same team less Christie. It's illogical.

If we swapped Patterson and Frank Mitchell for Hawkins and Payne, we'd be a 6 or 7 win B1G team and probably get the "honor" of playing on Weakling Wednesday instead of missing the B1G altogether like we will now. And then Ben would still be fired.
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You're conveniently forgetting the 2 20-point leads we blew and lost in the last seconds...like when Garcia got hurt. We could have been 11-9. The only reason we weren't a bubble team up until the last week is because of computer SOS non-conference.

You have no idea how college basketball works. We improved from 2-17 to 9-11.
 

Gophers7633 said:
All of this is true, and we had a ridiculously easy B1G schedule last year only having to play Illinois, Purdue and Wisconsin once, the 3 best teams in the league by far. It's why I kept preaching about the quality of the team, and not win/loss record. Had everyone returned that could have, given the more difficult schedule, I'm not even sure we would have gotten to 6 wins. UCLA and Oregon are both top 20 teams. And teams that finished behind us in the standings like PSU, OSU and MD are a lot better than they were last year. Last year was the year to make the tournament, but we weren't good enough to beat team a team like Missouri, got swept by IU and Iowa, and flamed out down the stretch. If we lose to OSU at home next game, we can all but kiss goodbye any chance at the B1G tournament, not that the odds will be great if we win it.

What a great time to have two months of worthless basketball remaining.
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This is absolutely ridiculous. Maybe you're just a teenager or something. But you either haven't followed college basketball, or you're delusional. Or you're listening too much to all the mud-slinging in here.

We'd have been a very good team if everyone returned.
 

Gophers7633 said:
Propping up a win in a meaningless game in a meaningless tournament? Lol

Oh yeah, that great 7 game win streak that consisted of wins against FGCU, Ball State, IUPUI, Maine, Michigan (last place in the B1G) and MD (tied for 2nd to last in the B1G). So amazing.

I agree we made a big jump, but only because the prior year was the most embarrassing year in Gophers history.
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I simply say we were 9-11.

It's you guys who spin our record into being worse than it was...and devolve the conversation into mud-slinging.
 

EasyThere Pilgrim said:
This is absolutely ridiculous. Maybe you're just a teenager or something. But you either haven't followed college basketball, or you're delusional. Or you're listening too much to all the mud-slinging in here.

We'd have been a very good team if everyone returned.
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There are currently 14 teams in the B1G that have a higher NET than what we finished with last year. There are currently 15 teams in the B1G that are rated higher than what we finished at KenPom last year. The B1G is much better than last year. Last year 6 teams made the tournament, it's currently projected to get 10/11.

Last year was the year to break through. Too bad we were just below avg.
 

EasyThere Pilgrim said:
I simply say we were 9-11.

It's you guys who spin our record into being worse than it was...and devolve the conversation into mud-slinging.
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Of course you would because that provides no context. That 9-11 B1G record barely got us in the NIT and even then that took a changing of the format and for half a dozen teams to drop out.
 

Gophers7633 said:
Of course you would because that provides no context. That 9-11 B1G record barely got us in the NIT and even then that took a changing of the format and for half a dozen teams to drop out.
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The context is we improved from 2-17 to 9-11...and we were the ONLY decent Big Ten team scheduled to return everyone.
 


MNVCGUY said:
Don't think there is much doubt that a team with Hawkins, Payne, JOJ, Carrington M. Mitchell, Garcia, Fox, Asuma, Betts and whatever other pieces they were able to add would have been better than the current collection of players.

How much better is impossible to say....entirely possible that there would have been enough chemistry on that roster to find a way to improve on last year and make the tournament. Or they might have taken a step back and been mired at the bottom of the standings again.

The only thing I feel confident saying is that Ben's chances of saving his job would have been far better with that group than it is with his current collection of players.
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Carrington and JOJ left because they were mad about their playing time and mad at Ben. It wasn't just or even primarily NIL. The idea of having 11 players eligible to return and having all 11 return is a fantasy. It would never happen in 2024. Not for any team.

The only players they clearly lost due to NIL are Hawkins and Payne. Sure I'd like to have them. But this would still be a 6-14 or 7-13 B1G team even with them.
 

howeda7 said:
Carrington and JOJ left because they were mad about their playing time and mad at Ben. It wasn't just or even primarily NIL. The idea of having 11 players eligible to return and having all 11 return is a fantasy. It would never happen in 2024. Not for any team.

The only players they clearly lost due to NIL are Hawkins and Payne. Sure I'd like to have them. But this would still be a 6-14 or 7-13 B1G team even with them.
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Hey now. According to MNVC, Ben "deserves" this.
 

USAF said:
Hey now. According to MNVC, Ben "deserves" this.
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Seriously dude what the hell is your problem? I get that you and barn burner see yourselves as the mean girls of gopherhole but it really is pathetic how you keep trying to make a point that isn't true just to be a prick.

Lesson learned, should have just left you on ignore.
 

howeda7 said:
The only players they clearly lost due to NIL are Hawkins and Payne. Sure I'd like to have them. But this would still be a 6-14 or 7-13 B1G team even with them.
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Ok instead of mud-slinging, LET'S TRY LOGIC:

If we won't keep Payne, Hawkins, or Christie (who was in the portal)...what makes you think we will be any better in the future?
 

EasyThere Pilgrim said:
Ok instead of mud-slinging, LET'S TRY LOGIC:

If we won't keep Payne, Hawkins, or Christie (who was in the portal)...what makes you think we will be any better in the future?
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Be any better? Because we can't possibly be worse. 15-47 on the road to 16-63. Ben is the worst coach in the B1G. Possibly the worst coach in the Power 5 and certainly the worst coach in Gopher basketball history.

Will the new coach lead us to conference titles and basketball glory? Maybe but probably not. Will he improve upon being the worst team in the B1G. Yes. It's a virtual certainty.
 

howeda7 said:
Be any better? Because we can't possibly be worse. 15-47 on the road to 16-63. Ben is the worst coach in the B1G. Possibly the worst coach in the Power 5 and certainly the worst coach in Gopher basketball history.

Will the new coach lead us to conference titles and basketball glory? Maybe but probably not. Will he improve upon being the worst team in the B1G. Yes. It's a virtual certainty.
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There you go again...slinging mud.

Answer the question:

If we won't keep Payne, Hawkins, or Christie (who was in the portal)...what makes you think we will get or keep other equal or better players?
 

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