***OFFICIAL MINNESOTA VS MICHIGAN STATE BTT IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

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Ewert86PC said:
So the philosophy is that he either can't or won't coach and/or recruit to meet the demands of a successful Power 5 conference school.
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by philosophy - I mean Johnson's coaching philosophy - as in he only wants to play 7 or 8 guys.

that is a choice. and in some cases, a coach can make that choice work - IF he has the right 7 or 8 guys, you can have a winning program.

but - it's a choice that leaves you with very little margin for error.

if you choose to walk on a tightrope, you accept the possibility that you might fall off.
 

007gopherfan said:
It is the fact that Ramberg contributed some gritty minutes last year, but nothing this year in any games. Just practice squad....We seem to have many of these people. No development. Izzo consistently develops. Look at Holloman. Averaged only 8 min Freshman year, now Izzo has him 19 min/game this year and he will be ready for bigger minutes next two years against us. Izzo has 4 fresh this year developing, signed 3 for next season. We got only 2 signed again.
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Developed a top 5 team preseason to a bubble team for sure
 

This game won't help the recruiting unfortunately....hopefully there is someone out there that could be the Caitlin Clark of MN mens hoops and make a name for themselves and this program. Might have a better chance winning the lottery I am afraid.
 

Gophers7633 said:
That was a pretty terrible 2nd half performance defensively. Which has been the case the last 5 weeks or so.
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Do you think it's been a lack of depth or just don't have the horses to get it done? They did appear worn down a bit the last couple weeks.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
by philosophy - I mean Johnson's coaching philosophy - as in he only wants to play 7 or 8 guys.

that is a choice. and in some cases, a coach can make that choice work - IF he has the right 7 or 8 guys, you can have a winning program.

but - it's a choice that leaves you with very little margin for error.

if you choose to walk on a tightrope, you accept the possibility that you might fall off.
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So you're saying "he won't coach and recruit at the level of a successful Power 5 Conference program".
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
Did you notice that there was a big difference between the halves? It's been that way most often in the latter games of the season. MSU didn't look particularly better in the first half. The roster is too thin.
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I think we looked worn down. I do have some issues with how the minutes of the 7 were distributed too.

Garcia, Christie and Hawkins should all play 37+ minutes.

As far as being worse in the 2nd half of our games, I disagree.
  • Against NW, we were down 12 at half (lost by 24)
  • Against Indiana, we were down 5 at half (lost by 12)
  • Against PSU, we were down 12 at half, (won by 5)
 

billytwoshoes said:
Its one thing to say Ben is over his head but another to say we need to give Will Ramberg more minutes. Lets be serious now lmao. Our complaint is that our deep bench walk on D2 transfer isnt getting minutes in the Big Ten tournament against Tyson Walker?
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I think the argument is that Ramberg playing 5 minutes per game isn't going to hurt you as much as forcing Christie to play 38 minutes per game.

A fresher Christie at 33 minutes per game + 5 minutes of Ramberg > Christie till wheels fall off.
 

007gopherfan said:
This game won't help the recruiting unfortunately....hopefully there is someone out there that could be the Caitlin Clark of MN mens hoops and make a name for themselves and this program. Might have a better chance winning the lottery I am afraid.
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So all we need is to bring in the greatest men's college player to ever play. I'm not liking our odds.
 



Bob_Loblaw said:
I think the argument is that Ramberg playing 5 minutes per game isn't going to hurt you as much as forcing Christie to play 38 minutes per game.

A fresher Christie at 33 minutes per game + 5 minutes of Ramberg > Christie till wheels fall off.
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I'm not sure Ramberg has to play for Christie to only play 33 minutes.
 



007gopherfan said:
This brings up the questions on

1) Why Ramburg not used at all this year when last year he showed some grit.
2) Where is the development of Betts?
3) Why was Jack Wilson brought in for scholarship for a year if not going to use at all.
4) Not finding a way to JOJ strengths. Maybe injured down stretch but he is a guy Hawkins should have no issues throwing the alley oops too.
5) Need to have more than 1 or 2 recruits coming in each year.
6) No development of press or fast break in 3 years.....why? We have probably one of the quickest teams but we want to slow it down to get too many 1 on 1 shots.
7) Weak schedule at start might look good for a while and give some hope, but really makes it tough come big ten time.

Going to be interesting to see if we somehow get and NIT bid...if not what happens next. Do they all stay? Does the team get deeper? Really disappointed with the 2nd half effort today.
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So many good points here.
 




TwistingMyMelon said:
Agree with most of this to some degree. The nonconference schedule really hurt our NET ranking. That is clear. I'm not sure there's enough evidence to say it hurt our competitiveness in the Big Ten. We did start out 3-1 in conference play.

The coach simply has to recruit some help from the portal. Let the players who aren't contributing leave. Fleck recruits over existing players all of the time. Do not give any scholarships to walk ons because you always have fewer good players than you think.
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What's your take on Betts? No contrbution in first two years.
 

007gopherfan said:
It is the fact that Ramberg contributed some gritty minutes last year, but nothing this year in any games. Just practice squad....We seem to have many of these people. No development. Izzo consistently develops. Look at Holloman. Averaged only 8 min Freshman year, now Izzo has him 19 min/game this year and he will be ready for bigger minutes next two years against us. Izzo has 4 fresh this year developing, signed 3 for next season. We got only 2 signed again.
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I think you have identified the problem. Would have been much better this year to have three more freshmen on the roster than having Hawkins, Mitchell, and Fox.
 

I don't really know what to say. I just know we're irrelevant. Which is exactly what the rest of the country expects of Gopher basketball.

I'm pissed off and not hopeful of what Ben does with another year. We got outscrapped and outhustled and that's very frustrating to watch.

Our defense isn't very good, and that's controllable. 3 years down, no postseason births.

Come on man, let's be real here. Are our expectations that low?

We made progress this year and we're not even playing in any postseason tournament. Brutal man.
 

Dakota2 said:
I think you have identified the problem. Would have been much better this year to have three more freshmen on the roster than having Hawkins, Mitchell, and Fox.
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We could have had two more frosh and those three. It is obvious that the Wilson signing was a bust and we ended up having one filler scholarship.
 


TwistingMyMelon said:
Clearly we're lacking in depth. MSU played 10 guys today, Indiana played 11, and Illinois played 10 against us.

But, leave it to you to give the least charitable interpretation of any shortcoming.
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We played 7, MSU played 8. Don't count the two guys who played when the game was out of reach. I don't think this was the problem today, at least.

My biggest concern with CBJ is he doesn't seem to make any types of adjustments. No zone, no press, and the offense seems to be let Garcia go one on one or dump it to Payne and see if he can power his way to a bucket. I don't see the offense creating any open shots for perimeter guys. The 3's that we hit today were very contested (other than Garcia's when their big wouldn't get up and challenge him). It still seems like he's in over his head. I hope I'm wrong.
 

007gopherfan said:
When you lack an offense to score it is tough to play D too.
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There is some reluctance here to be completely honest about Hawkins. For all his brilliant assists, he also burdens the offense by keeping the ball in his own hands too much. He is taking the air out of the ball and stalling offensive movement.

We played better a month ago when we were passing the ball and making the defense work. Too many possessions in the last month involved Hawkins dribbling 20 seconds looking for the assist, then giving it to Dawson or Payne away from the basket and them trying to back two or three guys down for the shot.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
by philosophy - I mean Johnson's coaching philosophy - as in he only wants to play 7 or 8 guys.

that is a choice. and in some cases, a coach can make that choice work - IF he has the right 7 or 8 guys, you can have a winning program.

but - it's a choice that leaves you with very little margin for error.

if you choose to walk on a tightrope, you accept the possibility that you might fall off.
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Do you actually believe Johnson made a choice not to get more good players? Yes, in recruiting there is a choice. Good players choose where to play.

You can certainly make the case that a higher profile head coach could get better players than Johnson has. We know that. But it is silly to maintain he just chooses to only have seven guys he trusts to play.
 

007gopherfan said:
If CBJ was building things up he would have 4 freshman like Izzo has with some contributing 5 min/game and some redshirting. Betts and R/S freshman somehow isn't ready to play 5 minutes a game. Not sure its an ego thing or what he tells the other players, but seems like he is just going to hope he can get enough from the transfer portal. Is Kris Keinys ever going to provide anything or is he another decoy used just in practices? Yes this team could all come back but is there anything happening for if they don't or the year after that?
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I watched Keinys warm up during the two games that I attended this season. He looks like he has potential but he is a complete question mark. It sure is concerning that we appear to have been his only D1 offer. Betts confuses me. Thought he was supposed to be a shooter and we surely could've used some additional shooting this season.
 

007gopherfan said:
This brings up the questions on

1) Why Ramburg not used at all this year when last year he showed some grit.
2) Where is the development of Betts?
3) Why was Jack Wilson brought in for scholarship for a year if not going to use at all.
4) Not finding a way to JOJ strengths. Maybe injured down stretch but he is a guy Hawkins should have no issues throwing the alley oops too.
5) Need to have more than 1 or 2 recruits coming in each year.
6) No development of press or fast break in 3 years.....why? We have probably one of the quickest teams but we want to slow it down to get too many 1 on 1 shots.
7) Weak schedule at start might look good for a while and give some hope, but really makes it tough come big ten time.

Going to be interesting to see if we somehow get and NIT bid...if not what happens next. Do they all stay? Does the team get deeper? Really disappointed with the 2nd half effort today.
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The number one issue for me is #4. With the athletic skills of JOJ and he can shoot...to me it is a crime that the coach cannot get that kid to be functional on the floor for at least 2-3 minute bursts.

Behind that- with our non-conference schedule we should have been seen developmental kids like Betts and Keinys playing at least 10 minutes a game until the league started. Sometimes a kid looks not ready in practice, but is a gamer. I am tired of going 7 deep. Need to go 9 or 10 and we had the bodies to do it.
 

GoodasGold said:
Can only imagine it’s a case of exhaustion for the 30+ minute players.
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C'mon......Garcia shot 1-5 including 0-2 early in the game. He's usually money. Parker Fox is a bad free-throw shooter. Exhaustion was not the problem today. Just the facts.....
 

Dakota2 said:
There is some reluctance here to be completely honest about Hawkins. For all his brilliant assists, he also burdens the offense by keeping the ball in his own hands too much. He is taking the air out of the ball and stalling offensive movement.

We played better a month ago when we were passing the ball and making the defense work. Too many possessions in the last month involved Hawkins dribbling 20 seconds looking for the assist, then giving it to Dawson or Payne away from the basket and them trying to back two or three guys down for the shot.
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We are so much better when we can play fast. That starts on defense. Get more stops and there are more opportunities to get out in transition.
 


Johnnyboy18 said:
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That's great news! He knows his team mates and that indicates to me we will not have a lot of turnover. Elijah is a leader. Huge for this team and he will probably get to play closer to 30-32 minutes with Asuma in the rotation.
 


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