Are we really going to suck next year? I mean, Really??

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Otis said:
First of, Let's establish some starting points.

Let's say Ben Johnson retains Conroy and does a good job of recruiting the players currently on the team. So he has the following to work with:
Kalesheur
Robbins
Ihnen
Williams
Mitchell
Freeman

Pulls rabbit out of his hat and keeps Mashburn.

Then he nabs KyKy and CJ from the portal along with Jamison Battle.

He dumps Pohto but keeps Thompson.

NCAA grants 1 time waiver in euphoria over ticket revenue from pandemic leniency effect. Now you have the following:

PG: Mashburn and Kyky battle for the starting spot and minutes.
SG: Kalesheur starts but 4* CJ and his 6'6" frame is waiting in the wings for the leftovers.
SF: Williams and Battle battle for the starting spot and minutes making each better.
PF: Ihnen assumes the throne and is backed up by the untapped Mitchell and Thompson.
C: Robbins and the five fouls and dunks offered by Sam Freeman.

Insert an offense (any offense with movement and passing) and get these guys to commit to team defense.

Is this really a last place team?

You have a two time National Player of the week and three returning starters being coached by a guy who is replacing a coach who employed a stagnant offense and a horrible defensive strategy and you don't think they will be better than last place?

I suppose you think he will allow them to chuck 25 3s per game too.

I don't see it. If he keeps these guys and gets some more. Changes the CULTURE of the program.

No way they are bottom material. They won't win the conference, but if he can change the CULTURE ala PJ, they sure as hell won't be last.

I gotta think that is what Coyle saw in him to make this hire. A guy with a plan.
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Note: if Robbins and Gabe stay healthy, they are a 4-5 seed. Seriously. Look at the schedule, fricking brutal until the injuries set in. Thx to covid, we get no @nebraska early to build confidence (note hoiberg had them playing by March). Anyway. Pitino is gone. I don’t see how they finish better than 2-14 in conference
 

The team could be competitive next year, but I think that would require Jamison Battle, Parker Fox, Liam Robbins, and most importantly, 1-2 people who can play point being on the roster next year.

I think the first three are absolutely possible, but my biggest worry is who brings the ball up the court next year. I assume that Mash and Carr are gone.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
That is slow by basketball standards. We can be top 10 B1G from the start if a solid roster is maintained and some new talent transfers in. This can be done while building his culture and recruiting. If Robbins and Kauscher are back the team can be close to .500 in conference.
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There is no way to tell if Ben can even coach yet....He will be learning on the job from day 1...The savy veteran coaches in this league will eat his lunch with in-game adjustments the first year....Year 2 will be a better qualifier.
 

matt said:
The team could be competitive next year, but I think that would require Jamison Battle, Parker Fox, Liam Robbins, and most importantly, 1-2 people who can play point being on the roster next year.

I think the first three are absolutely possible, but my biggest worry is who brings the ball up the court next year. I assume that Mash and Carr are gone.
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With the way the portal is looking there will be guys available.

Regardless of our situation we should be able to find someone experienced from a smaller school who would love 30 minutes a game in the Big Ten.
 

Mash is gone. I'm assuming Johnson is gone as well. Not sure about Photo either.

Pipe dream but if you're able to land Parker Fox, Battle, Ish El-Amin, another guard you would be in business honestly. No idea how many available scholarships they have.

Robbins
Fox
Battle
Gabe
El-Amin

That's not terrible. You would need more score of course. I think Gach could be a comeback type player next year as well.
 


Tough question to answer without knowing whos gonna be on the team. With the portal what it is now theres a chance to flip this roster into a solid team pretty quick but who knows.
 

In terms of a roster- this sets up badly for Johnson's first two years unless he can score in the transfer market. I expect year two for Johnson to look like year three did for Pitino WITHOUT the scandal.
That year, Pitino added Dorsey and McBrayer to Mason and Murphy and before the scandal they were starting to put together a team that just lacked a center and it looked like it would compete with the best in the Big Ten for a couple of years. The record was lousy but the look of things was promising...just a bunch of guys who could really go.
Year three is where he should get on the court traction and compete in the upper half of the Big Ten if he is going to succeed.
 

Immediate success would be nice, but what i care about more than wins and losses in year one:

-No more Jekyll & Hyde crap. Team needs to show up every game with intensity and will to win.

-No more giving up 17 point runs to start either half. No more calling timeouts immediately after scoring the first bucket to finally break that run.

-No more careless steals given up while way-too-casually bringing the ball across half court resulting
in 6-8 easy points for the opponent every game.

-No more one-guy-dribbling-around on offense while 4 other guys barely shuffle around just enough only to not get lane violations.

-No more recruiting guys to never give them a sniff of playing time when logical.

-No more fucking games where we allow 5/6 easy alley-oops, for goodness' sake.

-No more Gaston Diedhious (with all due respect to him as a likely fine person)
 

Let’s not forget about Walton. He is still at Marquette but rumors are out there. If Coach can bring him home, Johnson is probably gone
 






WriterGoph said:
Let's remember that they went into the tank the hardest once Liam was out. If Liam stays, I think it completely changes the dynamic and the outlook for the team. Having one of the top 4 bigs in the conference is nothing to sneeze at and you can argue with Kofi (almost certainly gone) and Dickinson (fairly likely gone) out of the picture, Liam has a chance to be the top big in the league.
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I think it also showed Gophs inability to successfully go small and force the opponent to try to adjust.
 



Both, Tre and Gabe are our only guards on the roster right now. That’s a brutal offensive rotation. It sounds like we’re in the mix on a bunch of forward transfers, but we’re not winning without much better guard play and shooting.
 





salzie said:
My expectations are low
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We already know Penn State and Northwestern will be dreadful too. I'm not convinced Nebraska will be that much better right away. For most of this season I felt they were the worst B1G team ever. Admittedly, they did play better at the end.

So there's clearly company at the bottom, whatever consolation that provides.
 

TruthSeeker said:
We'll be bottom 3 in the Big Ten next year.
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Not saying there isn't a very good chance that you will end up being right but really curious how you can sit here right now and say that when we have no clue what our roster or the roster of our opponents is going to look like next year.
 

SnoopDonkeyKong said:
We already know Penn State and Northwestern will be dreadful too. I'm not convinced Nebraska will be that much better right away. For most of this season I felt they were the worst B1G team ever. Admittedly, they did play better at the end.

So there's clearly company at the bottom, whatever consolation that provides.
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2022 Motto: Avoid Weakling Wednesday!
 

I'm sorry but what are the reasons that Race Thompson, Dawson Garcia, and KJ Walton (has he entered the portal even) are playing for us next year? Just because they are from here and are transferring?

We were 13th in the Big Ten last year and just hired a new coach who has never been a head coach before. Garcia especially probably has NBA dreams. He is going somewhere to put that on display. Better chance we see him playing next to Chet next year at Gonzaga than him in maroon and gold.
 

WhoFellDownTheGopherHole? said:
-No more one-guy-dribbling-around on offense while 4 other guys barely shuffle around just enough only to not get lane violations.
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I wish we'd had guys in danger of getting lane violations. I swear, half of a typical possession we had all five guys wandering around outside the arc.
 

Urbandale said:
I wish we'd had guys in danger of getting lane violations. I swear, half of a typical possession we had all five guys wandering around outside the arc.
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"Wandering" assumes they were all moving. Many a possession one or two were simply standing.
 

Nothing is set in stone. Carr is gone. Mashburn and Johnson are *probably* gone. Got to know what holes need to be filled when the dust settles. Hopefully Coach Johnson did in fact hit the ground running and is already getting a strong sense of what the roster looks like at this point in time.
 

tmvander said:
I'm sorry but what are the reasons that Race Thompson, Dawson Garcia, and KJ Walton (has he entered the portal even) are playing for us next year? Just because they are from here and are transferring?

We were 13th in the Big Ten last year and just hired a new coach who has never been a head coach before. Garcia especially probably has NBA dreams. He is going somewhere to put that on display. Better chance we see him playing next to Chet next year at Gonzaga than him in maroon and gold.
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If I'm Garcia, I don't choose to play (and get overshadowed by) the next #1 pick in the draft. I actually think there's more than a decent chance he comes here if he enters the portal since he'd likely be the most talented player on the team and would have a chance to get all-B1G honors (and therefore more attention) if he's the focal point.
 




abrams said:
No idea how many available scholarships they have.
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I think three (more under the temporary rules if they are willing to fund a 14th scholarship for a player, like Johnson, opting for an additional year; they can do that but they are under no obligation to fund additional scholarships; some schools have said already that they would not).

They lose:

Curry
Carr
Mashburn
Mutaff
Omersa.

They gain: the two committed freshman recruits.

So, they could recruit two players and keep Johnson for the third available scholarship or maybe recruit 3 and keep Johnson on an optional scholarship
 

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