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skiumah1 said:
If roster stays as is, this is a long shot NCAA tourney team:

Need a starter level guard and depth post minimum.

Guards / Wings
Asuma
Mitchell
Rigsby
(Christie?)

Wing / Post
Betts

Posts
Garcia
Mitchell
Fox
Grove
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He absolutely must get another guard even if Christie returns. He got away with having only 4 last season but it was very dicey in the games Carrington missed. You can't keep playing your top guards this many minutes. We saw how that strategy worked in the latter part of the season.

He also should get another front court player. One injury and we're very thin there.
 




skiumah1 said:
We're in trouble at this point - Christie back would be huge. Starting ball handler would be huge. Depth big would be huge.

Skepticism is sinking in
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Agreed. I wouldn't freak out that "we're in trouble at this point" if I was fully confident that the coach believed "we're in trouble at this point" and was determined to do something about it.
 


TwistingMyMelon said:
He absolutely must get another guard even if Christie returns. He got away with having only 4 last season but it was very dicey in the games Carrington missed. You can't keep playing your top guards this many minutes. We saw how that strategy worked in the latter part of the season.

He also should get another front court player. One injury and we're very thin there.
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Truly, not sure if it sinks into his brain. He seems to refuse accepting it. Will be absolutely shocked If he gets enough guards. And if he does get enough, which he won’t, by the end of the season he will do what he always does, play the starters into the ground.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
Agreed. I wouldn't freak out that "we're in trouble at this point" if I was fully confident that the coach believed "we're in trouble at this point" and was determined to do something about it.
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What can the coach do about it? Other than wait and sign for cheap whatever's left later.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
Truly, not sure if it sinks into his brain. He seems to refuse accepting it. Will be absolutely shocked If he gets enough guards. And if he does get enough, which he won’t, by the end of the season he will do what he always does, play the starters into the ground.
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Ben is refusing to accept that we need guards?? You think he wanted to lose Hawkins & Christie?

You don't think he'd like it if we'd buy him a good guard?

The delusion continues to be strong in here.
 

There's a good chance Ben knew Hawkins was gone this whole time. He was recruiting guards way more aggressively before we had heard any news from Christie, Mitchell, or Hawkins
 



Caleb Williams signing has me looking forward to football.
 

Patterson is all but locked at this point.

Patterson / Asuma
Mitchell / Grigsby
Grigsby / Betts / Williams
Garcia / Betts / Fox
Mitchell / Fox

Definitely need another impact player or two if we're trying for an NCAA squad here. Specifically on the wing.

At the very least, this team will be kinda fun to see what happens. Lotta wild cards.
 

skiumah1 said:
Patterson is all but locked at this point.

Patterson / Asuma
Mitchell / Grigsby
Grigsby / Betts / Williams
Garcia / Betts / Fox
Mitchell / Fox

Definitely need another impact player or two if we're trying for an NCAA squad here. Specifically on the wing.

At the very least, this team will be kinda fun to see what happens. Lotta wild cards.
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Yep. Adding Grove here and my speculative transfers:

Asuma/Williams
Patterson/Mitchell
Grigsby/Evans Jr./Betts
Garcia/Fox/Grove
Mitchell/Edmunds

I think at this juncture- we are going to have PG by committee and I would give the keys to Asuma like we did at SG with Christie.

The need is for a 6-5+ wing and a defensive Big
 

bga1 said:
Yep. Adding Grove here and my speculative transfers:

Asuma/Williams
Patterson/Mitchell
Grigsby/Evans Jr./Betts
Garcia/Fox/Grove
Mitchell/Edmunds

I think at this juncture- we are going to have PG by committee and I would give the keys to Asuma like we did at SG with Christie.

The need is for a 6-5+ wing and a defensive Big
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I do think Ben will pull 1 or 2 more guys at the portal - Yeah I like Asuma's game. Hopefully it comes together for him. He's going to push the pace and move the ball a little bit more I'd like to think.

*Also sounds like we're in a good spot for Femi Okudale according to Ryan James piece. 6'6 wing.
 
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Most complete roster we've had (I'm already assuming Patterson as a lock)

Lacking high end talent a little bit but this is the year we UTILIZE OUR DEPTH. Yes, I said it. Use the bench Ben!
 
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jovs said:
I can't keep track of it anymore, one or two spots open?
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Two. If we get Patterson then it's one.

Here is a possible depth chart with Patterson added:

Asuma/Williams
Patterson/Mitchell
Grigsby/Okudale/Betts
Garcia/Fox/Grove
Mitchell/Edmunds

With Patterson in the fold I think Ben sits at 12 guys and waits to see if there is a miracle Christie return.
 
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skiumah1 said:
Patterson is all but locked at this point.

Patterson / Asuma
Mitchell / Grigsby
Grigsby / Betts / Williams
Garcia / Betts / Fox
Mitchell / Fox

Definitely need another impact player or two if we're trying for an NCAA squad here. Specifically on the wing.

At the very least, this team will be kinda fun to see what happens. Lotta wild cards.
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Odukale?
 

bga1 said:
Two. If we get Patterson then it's one.

Here is a possible depth chart with Patterson added:

Asuma/Williams
Patterson/Mitchell
Grigsby/Evans Jr./Betts
Garcia/Fox/Grove
Mitchell/Edmunds

With Patterson in the fold I think Ben sits at 12 guys and waits to see if there is a miracle Christie return.
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You mean Odukale at the 3 I assume. I feel like Patterson would start at the 1 and Mike Mitchell would be the starting 2. Asuma backing up Patterson and Williams backing up Mitchell. We'd be pretty small at guard.
 


Ski-U-Ham said:
You mean Odukale at the 3 I assume. I feel like Patterson would start at the 1 and Mike Mitchell would be the starting 2. Asuma backing up Patterson and Williams backing up Mitchell. We'd be pretty small at guard.
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Yes, you got it:

Patterson / Asuma / M. Mitchell
M. Mitchell / Grigsby / Williams
Okudale / Grigsby / Betts
Garcia / Fox / Betts
Mitchell / Fox / Edmonds

It'll be competitive to earn minutes. Betts has his work cut out for him.

I don't know who's going to play the most alongside Garcia either. Battle for minutes with Fox, Mitchell and Edmonds.

Mike Mitchell will need to earn his time as well. I'm hoping Grigsby can really push him. If Grigsby takes that job, so be it. It would be great to see Caleb Williams earn a couple minutes here and there too. I hope that for him.

There's reasons for optimism with this team. We're going to compete.

The expectation has to be Dancing. Anything but the tournament will be disappointing.
 
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skiumah1 said:
Yes, you got it:

Patterson / Asuma / M. Mitchell
M. Mitchell / Grigsby / Williams
Okudale / Grigsby / Betts
Garcia / Fox / Betts
Mitchell / Fox / Edmonds

It'll be competitive to earn minutes. Betts has his work cut out for him.

I don't know who's going to play the most alongside Garcia either. Battle for minutes with Fox, Mitchell and Edmonds.

Mike Mitchell will need to earn his time as well. I'm hoping Grigsby can really push him. If Grigsby takes that job, so be it. It would be great to see Caleb Williams earn a couple minutes here and there too. I hope that for him.

There's reasons for optimism with this team. We're going to compete.

The expectation has to be Dancing. Anything but the tournament will be disappointing.
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Good summary here.

Who really knows how good or bad this team will be? At this time of year, most fan bases like the shiny, new pieces that have been added to the team. In general, we talk about finally having more depth and how it seems to fit together. But does production at Canisius, New Mexico State, UTSA, and Macalester really translate to the B1G? I guess we will find out eventually.

At least we are finally past the open portal season. Glad to have that over.
 

bga1 said:
Two. If we get Patterson then it's one.

Here is a possible depth chart with Patterson added:

Asuma/Williams
Patterson/Mitchell
Grigsby/Okudale/Betts
Garcia/Fox/Grove
Mitchell/Edmunds

With Patterson in the fold I think Ben sits at 12 guys and waits to see if there is a miracle Christie return.
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Yeah, assuming Patterson is coming (which seems to be a petty general consensus) it would seem like we would be done adding from the portal unless there was just a slam dunk player who could really move the needle for next year that became a realistic option. Hold a spot for Christie and if he doesn't come back give the scholarship to a walk-on.

Will be interesting to see how all the new pieces fit together when the team takes the court. Lot of new faces that will need to gel but that is becoming a yearly tradition here and at a lot of other places in college basketball with the roster churn teams are dealing with.

Feels like a make or break year for Johnson. Hopefully they found the guys that can build on the improvement from last year and get this team into the tournament.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yeah, assuming Patterson is coming (which seems to be a petty general consensus) it would seem like we would be done adding from the portal unless there was just a slam dunk player who could really move the needle for next year that became a realistic option. Hold a spot for Christie and if he doesn't come back give the scholarship to a walk-on.

Will be interesting to see how all the new pieces fit together when the team takes the court. Lot of new faces that will need to gel but that is becoming a yearly tradition here and at a lot of other places in college basketball with the roster churn teams are dealing with.

Feels like a make or break year for Johnson. Hopefully they found the guys that can build on the improvement from last year and get this team into the tournament.
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I hope this is finally the year where we go to a defensive grinder mentality. That is the ONLY way we can win here under the current rules of play. We are not going to be able to have a team of guys that can just outscore people. That costs too much for our budget.

Last year, we were a finesse team, outside of Payne, that would try to outscore the opposition with good shooting
As I look at the upcoming squad, most of these guys fit that physical, defender mode, especially the portal transfers. Mike Mitchell is a bulldog, Fox is the ultimate hustle guy and I thought Garcia upped his game defensively last year. Asuma, while lacking the sheer speed of Hawkins, does give us a much more physical player, even as a freshman. I feel like only Williams and Grove (because he is a freshman) might not fit that mold this coming year.

Play 9 or 10 guys and just go all out on defense. What the TWolves did with length and effort on defense last night was amazing. I'd like to see us do that at the college level.
 

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