So what exactly is this team?

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mngg11

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I'm a football board guy who enjoys the hoops team but doesn't follow them anywhere near as passionately. I see they've stringed off some solid conference wins and have a guard who puts up loads of assists. I was under the impression that Ben Johnson was struggling, so I haven't paid much attention since his hire. Do those of you who follow these guys closely think we have an NCAA tourney worthy team? Too early to tell yet?
 


This team has potential to make the post season, but due to weak non-conference schedule must secure some more big ten wins. At least 7 more could be the number.
 




Gritty team that plays together. Should help them contend close with the big boys and hopefully be close enough to win against better competition. I predicted 8 B10 conference wins and we're looking good enough for more thus far. They've battled through some poor halves now against Nebraska and Maryland to win. We haven't seen a complete game yet, which gives me hope that they can put it together and win against the top half of the conference.
 


What is this team?

they're definitely more fun to watch this year. Certainly not a perfect team - they can go into some offensive funks and give up runs to the other team, and they've been a streaky shooting team.

but they've also shown the ability to battle back from deficits and hit some big shots down the stretch. and they have some prime dunkers in JOJ, Payne and Fox.

the bottom line, for me - they're never dull. they can drive you nuts with the ups and downs and they turn every game into a nail-biter, but they're not dull.
 





MaxyJR1 said:
I think it’s a team that can get to 10-10 in conference if they stay healthy and continue to improve. Playing 9 guys has become a big positive compared to the past two seasons.

Hold serve on home court is key.
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A friend who sets the lines for several of the larger sports books just told me that the gophs are an unheard of 14-1 against the spread this year. Their Net rating is 87 due to weak schedule.
 

While I don't think we fully know just how good this team is what we do know is that this is easily Johnson's most complete team and it isn't even close.

Where this team goes is going to depend a lot on Hawkins. If he keeps playing at the extremely high level he is playing at right now this team is going to surprise a lot of people. Hawkins is incredibly fast and has shown a real ability to get the ball to guys in a position to score which has led to his insane assist totals. When they play smart and under control they can compete with most teams.

IF (and in this current portal/NIL era that is a big if) Johnson can keep this team in tact heading into next season, 24-25 could be a real breakout year with guys like Payne, JOJ and Carrington entering their Junior years combined with the rest of the roster.
 

I’m exact same boat as OP.

I never played bball, wasn’t skilled enough, so I don’t know it anywhere near as well as football.

But certainly will watch if it’s fun and competitive . 2nd half was that, and got the W. Nice


Seems a huge thing is the play of Hawkins.


And to me this is a beautiful thing about college basketball: you can literally find one. guy. and it can change your team. Can’t do that with football.
 



MplsGopher said:
I’m exact same boat as OP.

I never played bball, wasn’t skilled enough, so I don’t know it anywhere near as well as football.

But certainly will watch if it’s fun and competitive . 2nd half was that, and got the W. Nice


Seems a huge thing is the play of Hawkins.


And to me this is a beautiful thing about college basketball: you can literally find one. guy. and it can change your team. Can’t do that with football.
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You can also miss on one guy in football and have it completely change your team🤣🤣🤣
 

MNVCGUY said:
While I don't think we fully know just how good this team is what we do know is that this is easily Johnson's most complete team and it isn't even close.

Where this team goes is going to depend a lot on Hawkins. If he keeps playing at the extremely high level he is playing at right now this team is going to surprise a lot of people. Hawkins is incredibly fast and has shown a real ability to get the ball to guys in a position to score which has led to his insane assist totals. When they play smart and under control they can compete with most teams.

IF (and in this current portal/NIL era that is a big if) Johnson can keep this team in tact heading into next season, 24-25 could be a real breakout year with guys like Payne, JOJ and Carrington entering their Junior years combined with the rest of the roster.
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This is probably a silly question, but has hoops seen as much of an impact with the portal and NIL as football? Like across the board?
 

mngg11 said:
This is probably a silly question, but has hoops seen as much of an impact with the portal and NIL as football? Like across the board?
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It's a fair question and I really don't know. The portal in college basketball doesn't seem as volatile as it does in football but you are also dealing with a much smaller player pool. In basketball the top guys have been paid top dollar for years so NIL/Pay for Play being more wide open isn't as likely to have a big of an impact.
 

The most impressive part for me about this team is they play hard, never give up, and have many players that can step up and score the ball. Against Maryland our biggest scorer had 12 pts by a freshman, yet the team hung in there, played good D, and found a way to come up with the W. Mitchell who people all were impressed with against Michigan only had 2 pts on 0-2 shooting 3's. Fox stepped up and provided some much needed spark, Carrington stepped up in situations, Hawkins, Garcia, Payne and the rest continue to grind and grind. Long tough big ten season to go, but hopefully we can continue to get some W's.
 

007gopherfan said:
The most impressive part for me about this team is they play hard, never give up, and have many players that can step up and score the ball. Against Maryland our biggest scorer had 12 pts by a freshman, yet the team hung in there, played good D, and found a way to come up with the W. Mitchell who people all were impressed with against Michigan only had 2 pts on 0-2 shooting 3's. Fox stepped up and provided some much needed spark, Carrington stepped up in situations, Hawkins, Garcia, Payne and the rest continue to grind and grind. Long tough big ten season to go, but hopefully we can continue to get some W's.
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So the vibe I'm getting is that even though a number of people don't like Ben Johnson, the kids seem to and play hard under him. That's relevant.
 

This team has a big heart and is growing in so many ways. Let's say Sweet 16, maybe elite 8 if it makes free throws!
 

mngg11 said:
So the vibe I'm getting is that even though a number of people don't like Ben Johnson, the kids seem to and play hard under him. That's relevant.
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Yep...just how he played, hard and gritty.
 

mngg11 said:
This is probably a silly question, but has hoops seen as much of an impact with the portal and NIL as football? Like across the board?
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As it pertains to the Gophers, we probably lost Jamison Battle and Dennis Evans to places that they could get paid more. Dennis Evans seemed to struggle early at Louisville, which probably isn’t super surprising for a freshman big man, and Louisville just stinks, but they also just declared him medically ineligible after he missed time with a shoulder injury. Jamison Battle seems to be doing well at Ohio State though, where he doesn’t need to be the top offensive option.
 

I’ll also add, and I swear I’m not trying to be a wet blanket, the Big Ten is down this year, and we might be able to rack up some additional wins from that. Michigan and Maryland are fairly perennial tournament teams, but neither of them will be making it this year, though we did beat Nebraska, who seems to be on the bubble at the moment. I also don’t think 10-10 in conference gets us into the tournament, unless at least a few of those are against Purdue, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio State, etc. The Big Ten being down means there are fewer opportunities for quality wins.
 

Saw somewhere, I believe on twitter, that this team is somewhere like 14-1 against the spread this year. So even though they played bad competition in some games, they are doing what they are supposed to be doing.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Yep...just how he played, hard and gritty.
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It's also new this year. One of the most frustrating things about the last two years was the propensity of the team to give up, at least in my eyes. That could be related to being gassed with a short bench, but it was frustrating. The effort appears to be much better this year.
 

Holy Man said:
It's also new this year. One of the most frustrating things about the last two years was the propensity of the team to give up, at least in my eyes. That could be related to being gassed with a short bench, but it was frustrating. The effort appears to be much better this year.
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I figured it would take him a little bit to get players with the right mix of attitude, skill and toughness to put in place how he wants the team to play. You can definitely see that on defense.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
What is this team? A scrappy group who doesn't give up with a point guard who knows how to get the ball to the right people at the right time.
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Hawkins plays like his namesake hunts. They circle, slash, and strike with surgical skill. The U.S. military developed killer drones patterned after the basketball feats of one Elijah Hawkins.
 

They're a top 80 team that seems to be improving, and they've helped themselves by winning a couple close conference games. They've already improved their statistical rating precipitously, but the climb gets steeper as you go. To be assured a NCAA berth, you need to be top 40. Top 50 puts you on the bubble. In order to get into that air, they're going to have to upset some Big Ten teams. NIT, however, is now a strong possibility.
 

MplsGopher said:
I’m exact same boat as OP.

I never played bball, wasn’t skilled enough, so I don’t know it anywhere near as well as football.

But certainly will watch if it’s fun and competitive . 2nd half was that, and got the W. Nice


Seems a huge thing is the play of Hawkins.


And to me this is a beautiful thing about college basketball: you can literally find one. guy. and it can change your team. Can’t do that with football.
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Scale that back a little. Johnson has built a beautiful team culture here. It is not now nor will be one guy being the difference. That takes nothing away from one of the best point guards in the country.
 


MaxyJR1 said:
Saw somewhere, I believe on twitter, that this team is somewhere like 14-1 against the spread this year. So even though they played bad competition in some games, they are doing what they are supposed to be doing.
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Yes, I posted that last night on the game thread. I saw a couple of days earlier that they were 13-1 and they inched over the line last night.

14-1 is remarkable but it's also indicative of a team being consistently underestimated by the betting markets. If you had more faith in the Gophers than the general betting public and wagered accordingly, you definitely made some money this season. That could change in the future as I expect they will be getting more difficult lines to beat.
 

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