Gophers Basketball ROCKED by Injuries in Coach Johnson's Second Season

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At this point, I'm less concerned with the losses and more concerned with the lack of competitiveness. For the record, I think CBJ can be the guy to bring it around, but we need to start seeing some progress and competitive fire. Last year's team was at least usually in the game. I get that there are injuries, but we run the risk of losing out on Asuma and others if we keep getting crushed by 35.
 

cjbfbp said:
I agree with 3 seasons being the justifiable limit under the conditions you describe but I'm not absolutely certain that "they won't have a choice." Nebraska didn't fire Hoiberg after 7-25, 7-20, and 10-22 seasons and right now I'd say this school is comparable to Nebraska in its concern for basketball. If we have the conditions that you describe in Year 3 and the coach isn't fired, then I think that will signal a clear institutional indifference to the success of the sport.
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The bar in year 3 will be low but I do think there will be a bar that Johnson will have to clear in order to get a 4th year.

I am all for being patient with coaches and giving them time but a year like this one in year 3 would be tough to swallow and would make it really hard to justify year 4.
 

go_gophers said:
At this point, I'm less concerned with the losses and more concerned with the lack of competitiveness. For the record, I think CBJ can be the guy to bring it around, but we need to start seeing some progress and competitive fire. Last year's team was at least usually in the game. I get that there are injuries, but we run the risk of losing out on Asuma and others if we keep getting crushed by 35.
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Since the start of January the team had been playing better overall. These last few games have been a complete mess, maybe illness was a factor to go along with the injuries to Carrington and Garcia but hopefully they can use this mini break to reset, get Garcia back, and start playing solid again.

Agree that at this point the final record is secondary to the team at least going out there and competing each night. Going to be on Johnson and the other coaches to figure out how to set the roster up for more success next season.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Since the start of January the team had been playing better overall. These last few games have been a complete mess, maybe illness was a factor to go along with the injuries to Carrington and Garcia but hopefully they can use this mini break to reset, get Garcia back, and start playing solid again.

Agree that at this point the final record is secondary to the team at least going out there and competing each night. Going to be on Johnson and the other coaches to figure out how to set the roster up for more success next season.
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Prior to the last two debacles, we lost 4 out of 6 games, by less than 10 pts - test to me was profess as we were competitive and playing better.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Since the start of January the team had been playing better overall. These last few games have been a complete mess, maybe illness was a factor to go along with the injuries to Carrington and Garcia but hopefully they can use this mini break to reset, get Garcia back, and start playing solid again.

Agree that at this point the final record is secondary to the team at least going out there and competing each night. Going to be on Johnson and the other coaches to figure out how to set the roster up for more success next season.
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It was on the coaching staff to set up the roster this season.
MORE success? How about just a BIT of success.
 


Gopher_In_NYC said:
Prior to the last two debacles, we lost 4 out of 6 games, by less than 10 pts - test to me was profess as we were competitive and playing better.
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Prior to these last couple the team looked much more like last year's squad where they were competing hard but just coming up short in the end most nights.

It is not a lot but it is at least some positivity to hang onto in a season without much of that to go around.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Prior to these last couple the team looked much more like last year's squad where they were competing hard but just coming up short in the end most nights.

It is not a lot but it is at least some positivity to hang onto in a season without much of that to go around.
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For the most part, you must have been watching a different team than I. Most games MN is not even competitive.
 

BarnBurner said:
For the most part, you must have been watching a different team than I. Most games MN is not even competitive.
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Try reading the post (mine below) that he responded to before u respond Barn 🦉
Gopher_In_NYC said:
Prior to the last two debacles, we lost 4 out of 6 games, by less than 10 pts - test to me was profess as we were competitive and playing better.
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MNVCGUY said:
Prior to these last couple the team looked much more like last year's squad where they were competing hard but just coming up short in the end most nights.

It is not a lot but it is at least some positivity to hang onto in a season without much of that to go around.
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Look at the teams they were playing against and where they are in the standings…

Nebraska, ohio State, Wisconsin …not good and we still lost. You say we played better, I say it doesn’t matter we were still either losing or barely beat one of the worst teams in the big ten
 




Wet_Blanket_Guy said:
Look at the teams they were playing against and where they are in the standings…

Nebraska, ohio State, Wisconsin …not good and we still lost. You say we played better, I say it doesn’t matter we were still either losing or barely beat one of the worst teams in the big ten
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No one is going to argue that this has not been a disappointing year overall. But the reality is that Johnson is going to be the coach next season regardless of how the games go this year.

So you can either look for signs of improvement or continue to dwell on the negative.

Some in here still think Johnson will get 4 years no matter what, I would have agreed with that before this season. With as bad as this season has gone I do think there are going to need to be some tangible signs of improvement next year for Johnson to get year 4.
 

Next year----Add Christie, Evans and Betts
Ihnen and Fox back
A chance to right a wrong and bring in a real PG from the portal.

If next year looks like this year and there isn't substantial improvement, I can't see how CBJ survives. The Barn will be empty. Coyle will have to do something.
 





go_gophers said:
At this point, I'm less concerned with the losses and more concerned with the lack of competitiveness. For the record, I think CBJ can be the guy to bring it around, but we need to start seeing some progress and competitive fire. Last year's team was at least usually in the game. I get that there are injuries, but we run the risk of losing out on Asuma and others if we keep getting crushed by 35.
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Today was much better. They competed.
 


Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
It's good to know that the new bar of success is that the team came out and competed hard against arguably the biggest and longest standing rival they've had for well over 120 years.
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He just said it was better. He didn’t say anything else. Its ok to see improvement even if the result was acceptable.
 

Can't be good when your best excuse for losing is because Isaiah Ihnen and Parker Fox are hurt.
 

Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
It's good to know that the new bar of success is that the team came out and competed hard against arguably the biggest and longest standing rival they've had for well over 120 years.
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We've officially reached Stockholm Syndrome. We've come to appreciate our captor and are finding the good in them.

Our gauges have been wiped clean and have been recalibrated. I am guilty of this as well. I was watching the game, and after they came back from that initial deficit kept thinking, "I'm glad we're not getting blown out." This is all it takes at this point - just don't get blown out (although losing by double digits to a rival is OK). We now count these games as victories.
 

WoodburyTim said:
Can't be good when your best excuse for losing is because Isaiah Ihnen and Parker Fox are hurt.
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It’s obviously talent level. Recruit more talent is part of the answer. If your overall talent level is better, you can absorb injuries better.

Last season Illinois had the most missed games in the country by rotation players and won the Big Ten.

Minnesota has some talent but the talent isn’t deep enough. Recruit, recruit, recruit.

What makes it tough is even if you bring in better talent, the other top teams in the league continue to bring in equal or better talent. Michigan State, for example, is bringing in a monster class.

The way to compete is to get talent and get older with that talent like Northwestern. But that takes 3-4 years. So also use the portal like Missouri did this year. Went from bad to really good in one year.
 

Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
It's good to know that the new bar of success is that the team came out and competed hard against arguably the biggest and longest standing rival they've had for well over 120 years.
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I wasn't trying to start an argument. I was making an observation and comparing the Iowa game to the previous couple games. Did you not notice a more competitive effort?
 

WoodburyTim said:
Can't be good when your best excuse for losing is because Isaiah Ihnen and Parker Fox are hurt.
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You might get a wager on whether either one of them every plays a minute more for the Gophers. It seems clear based on observable interactions that Fox is the emotional leader of the team despite never playing (often leading the pregame huddle). But coming off two straight season ending injuries does not bode well for a comeback that can provide difference making floor time.
 

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