Totally agree.
TT, apparently, wasn't ready.ROFLMAO
And, as I have said numerous times already, dont whine next year about very little experience.
Playing time is also given a a result of illness/injury/roster/etc etc. As we have witnessed this season.
TT can't physically hold up, Thiam just isn't good enough to play at this level and will probably transfer out. The biggest difference between Johnson and Pitino is Pitino got eight years and was still doing this. Johnson had to completely rebuild the roster and has since had two guys go out with season ending injuries and had to deal with Covid. He's in year one, if it's still a problem in years three, four and five, I would be concerned. You can't just throw away games and there has to be a standard met for playing time, that's how culture is built. Culture isn't about whose here next year, it's about setting the standard, and the expectations that you need to have for guys to see the floor, names are always going to change, but the side of it can't. Clearly TT is meting that standard and is getting playing time based on his ability. He's too skinny right now to play the five, you don't need to be a basketball savant to notice that vs Iowa and Ohio State and quite frankly he's not taking minutes away from Battle or Ihnen and Fox next year, so he will need to put on the 15-20 pounds needed to play the five with Payne next year. Thiam, just not good enough, the game's too fast for him defensively, he has a weird shot, I have no idea how he made 48% from three in JUCO unless they're playing worse defense than at the local YMCA.
Johnson will decide,not us !!
Game is played on two ends, TT cannot physically hold up at the five defensively, even in a zone and he's not going to cut into Battle's minutes at the fourTotally agree.
TT, apparently, wasn't ready.
And, as I have said numerous times already, dont whine next year about very little experience.
I noticed this the other night as well. Don't blame Purdue at all but officials should stop the clock if a team is doing this. Or how about just making it a rule where the clock stops after a made basket under 1 minute in the 1st half.
Coach Johnson didnt call you for your input? Too bad.....
Yes, it is. And yes he is not physically ready to bang and crash and win some of those battles. Yet. He does improve our rebounding, based on the games he has played in. Good grief he played 40 minutes last week!!!! He is not Cockburn, Edey, Williams, etc etc etc. Yet.
Confidence, once lost is hard to get back ,that could be coach's concern.
By some you mean all of those battles. I'm not saying TT doesn't deserve any run, but the reason he doesn't get as much run as people like you would like is because of the defensive side, he's not ready, he can rebound a missed shot from distance but 1 v1 in the post he's losing to just about everybody and that's why Daniels still gets run over him. TT is getting his one to two rotations a game and that's what he deserves right now. I'm absolutely amazed at how people can ignore one side of the ball, but hey people did that with Buggs too. TT is a big reason why Ohio State had 20 offensive boards against us, probably win that game if Curry's healthy and we cut that number in half.
We have no idea if Thiam is good enough or not. And yes it is Johnsons call but there is no way that he should get zero minutes...that is where Johnson is screwing up...by not getting these guys out there. The game was too fast and is too fast for ALL freshman that come in. The only way to correct that is to get them on the floor and get experience. The experience earned this year by TT and Thiam, even if they are not ready to see the floor (per your opinion), will be all the more valuable next year. And as I have said all along, this year was just a get through year. Do your best, try to win, but more importantly get prepared for next year by playing the young guys at LEAST 10-15 minutes per game. Johnson is not doing that and he keeps putting out guys that will not be here next year. In addition, he is doing what Pitino did by playing the same players who are gassed when crunch time comes.
With all do respect the time Thiam gets, it's pretty obvious he's not good enough, I can see why they might have liked him in a work out, he's twitchy and has gotten some steals, but he doesn't move the ball on offense every time he's came in he jacks up a couple bricks from three and then pouts about it on defense and gets beat. I get your argument, it's just wrong, were not playing for next year, most of the guys who will contribute to this team next year are either hurt, in high school or on other Division one programs. Battle and Thompson are the only one's currently playing who will, unless Curry wants a 7th year which I think he said that this year was it for him. TT and Thiam will get time if they develop next year, and I'm much more confident about it with TT. Carrington and Hedley will jump Thiam and if someone like Mike Jones, Kerwin Walton or Sy Chatman wants to transfer home, they will too. As would just about any starting two or three at a mid major in America. I'm sure Thiam a good kid, I'm sure he works hard, but if there's obvious candidate for a guy to transfer out based on what's already coming in next year, need I say more? The guys that will shape Ben's legacy will be the guys he brings in 2022 and 2023.
First off LOL at your last sentence, you must think PJ Fleck is the dumbest man on the planet by that logic, but glad to see you think highly enough of yourself to think people care what you think, but honestly that's in one ear and out the other. Every coach does the culture in year one, you may not like it, but that's the truth. As for the rest of your post, I understand that point, but the other side of it the young player has to show enough in practice to warrant that trust and clearly Thiam isn't and when he does he usually comes in jacks a couple threes that are out of the flow of the offense, pouts about it and gets beat on the defensive end. I'm not saying he can't get better, but I don't think he's going to get that chance and that's why I think he will move on, he my stick it out another year, and I hope he does because I'd rather see these guys try and compete before moving on.
One point of clarification....I am not arguing for those 2 players to play a ton of minutes. I just think 10-15 minutes over the course of a game to let them develop, gain experience, and to give a breather to our current guys will help them next year and that is what the focus should be. I think the max we have seen Thiam is 2 or 3 minutes a game and there is no way that you can say anything about his ability at this point. Hey...how many other players at he beginning of their careers did not look that good (exhibited some of the same things you say Thiam has) and then developed into good players. He is inexperienced and as you said the game is too fast. For not to agree to give these guys at least that much time during a game is really pretty poor coaching. Daniels, Ogele, etc... just should not be playing unless they have to. And Thiam can give 2-3 minute breaks for the others so the others are more rested when needed. As far as your arguments about who will play or wont play next year...you have no idea. All speculation. And the new guys coming in....that are supposed to be the saviors...the game will be too fast for them, the competition will be unlike anything they have seen, and as Barn Burner has said, all of you will be using the excuses that "We just do not have enough experience".
Just think they both deserve 10-15 minutes per game so they can develop, give a breather to current players. They will be much more prepared for next year and will be able to help the incoming newbies who will also look out of place for some time.
He isn't listening either way. This is an opinion board.
No, I dont mean all the battles. He does get some rebounds and has altered shots from the opponents. So your blanket for the defensive side is incorrect.
Nope, winning is secondary and tertiary to establishing, promoting, and instilling culture this season.
If Thiam isn't good enough to get 5 minutes a game this season, CBJ really missed on him. If not this season, when? After all, I have heard right here on GH recruiting is going to get better and better as the season go by.
Overall it would be poorer coaching to put a guy out there in a position to fail because they're not ready. As Bill Musselman when he was coach of the Wolves said, "You don't build a winning culture chasing ping pong balls, you build a winning culture by trying to win" We owe it to the guys who transferred in to try and win. There isn't enough young talent on the roster anyways to do the yard sale you seem to imply that Ben should be doing. Ogele has played less than Thiam and Thompson this year, he is not good, but he's a body for practice and he came in when Mitchell and Manley who would both be playing a lot opted to go overseas. TT is getting enough minutes. As for Thiam, if you want to die on that hill fine were both on opposite ends of that with our opinions and clearly the coach agrees with mine. I don't think he will ever get to a point where he will contribute at this level I guess you could say I've seen enough where I can confidently write him off and if I'm wrong I truly believe we have guys coming in where that's not going to matter anyways. You're right it's all speculation, and it's all my opinion, I even put that in bold so there's no misunderstandings there. However, I've watched enough basketball in my life to believe in my ability to "speculate" that Hedley and Carrington will be better players than Thiam and that we will find transfers in the portal that are at the very least as good as Willis, Stephens and Loewe. Thiam also not a typical recruit, he went to JUCO for a year because he had no offers, I don't think he had another HM offer or another offer in general that was reported at the time, (if I'm wrong, just let me know) and committed late Spring early Summer. We took a flyer on him, if it doesn't work out that's kind of to be expected in those situations. It's a numbers game most recruits don't work out in some shape or form and that's why there's a thing called the transfer portal, but I get it there's a natural fear of the unknown and you don't know how it's going to play out until the player in the portal is actually here. So from that point I guess understand your urgency to play a guy whose not ready and probably never will be.
He took him in the late Spring/early Summer of the off season before he coached a game I'm sure you noticed that we had ten guys transfer out of the program this past offseason. Ben's recruiting in the class is top 30 in the 247 rankings, (mid 40's in the composite) not bad for his first full recruiting class, lot better than what Pitino brought in for 2014.
Coached a game or coached 500 games doesn't matter. CBJ brought him to MN on scholarship. 10 leaving is an excuse.
So it would appear that you would prefer they scrap playing for the win at all and focus on development by playing the young guys over the older guys.
I think they are supposed to stop it if there is a delay like this. But they don't.
The fact that there aren't a lot of young guys to play tells you exactly how Johnson viewed this year. He purposefully recruited transfers to field a team in what truly is a lost year OTHER than establishing culture. The HS recruits start in earnest this fall.