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Ben Johnson seems like heās got the goods tbh. Iām really surprised he hasnāt turned out be an absolute tire fire considering how nobody knew who he was before he was hired.
Dunno anything about him but his offer list isnāt very impressive for a 5*
Something smells funny when a top-15 recruit is considering MN and TCU as his top choices. Could be that there is a strong pro-lean there? Could be a grades or eligibility concern? Could be a health risk? Strangeā¦
Yeah Iām wondering what the whole story is here too. Things donāt seem to be adding up. Maybe this is Ben Johnson version of Isaiah Todd?
First, he some sites say he has a Kentucky offer, which could change perception.
Iām also seeing his first organized basketball was his freshman year of HS, so heās likely a ālate riserā.
From what I can tell heās very raw, which would explain why schools that regularly dip their toes in the OAD realm donāt care to recruit him. They need their OAD to be high level players immediately. Minnesota and TCU take a 5* no matter what.
If he comes in for one year and then leaves, he likely doesnāt give Minnesota much more than flashes of strong play. If they get more than 1 year, then they are feeling good
I live in Minnesota (although Iām not native to Minnesota), and although I wasnāt really familiar with Ben Johnson when they hired him, the hire did not at all surprise me when I learned more about him.
In the aftermath of the Tubby Smith era, there was a real intention to hire a young, up and coming coach, that could connect with the young players, could recruit the Minnesota athletes, and would be here long enough to really establish his own program.
There was a lot of talk about Shaka Smart (VCU version) being the model for the kind of up and coming young coach they wanted, even though the Shaka Smart of that time was probably out of Minnesotaās league. It felt to me that they got bedazzled by a young Pitino and the name. We all saw how that turned out.
When Minnesota hired Ben Johnson, it felt to me like he was the kind of coach they wanted to hire when they actually hired Richard Pitino. Locally, Ben Johnson feels like a much better fit than Richard Pitino, as he is much more connected to Minnesota. I hope he ends up working out here. Even as a Michigan fan, Iām rooting for him!
Very interesting perspective. Thanks for sharing. As an outsider, my perception would line up with yours. Pitino was a name, not much of a coach and didnāt seem to make the connections with the Minnesota market. Johnson has a hole to dig out of, but it seems like he is putting in the infrastructure where he can be competitive if given the time.
Didnāt see you type this. IMO, I think the wheels have a good chance of coming off this year for MSU. Their noncon is brutal, and they have a real chance to come out of November 1-5. Not a huge fan of their roster construction. Even if they decide to just play small ball, which I donāt think anyone believes Izzo will actually do, they have to figure out how to somehow slow down offenses in the paint. I might prefer a barn door to Hauser on the block on defense. I love Hall, but do we think he can be as good as Henry and carry the load like him in 20-21? That MSU team ended 9th in the B1G. But maybe Iām giving the rest of the teams in the B1G too much credit lol
Knowing how far off Iāve been in the past, you can probably lock MSU into the top 4 of the conference and at least a 4 seed in the tourneyā¦.
At least know one hereās degrees got devalued by taking TSJ!
Hypothetical Iād like to gauge the forums on for anyone willing to participate.
Rank these trios from best to worst when building a winning college basketball team around them:
(Iām putting them in my order already):
Perkins, McCaffery (the good one), Murray
Shannon, Mayer, Hawkins
Mulcahy, McConnell, Omoruyi
Llewellyn, Howard, Dickinson
X. Johnson, Thompson, TJD
Hepburn, Wahl, Crowl
Hoggard, Walker, Hall
Newman, Furst, Edey
Will be really interesting to track the conference challenges moving forward with ESPN out of the picture for Big Ten rights. Not sure what that means for B10/ACC and Gavitt contract is also up.
What if you would choose a different trio from a team? E.g., i would take Morton over Newman for Purdue. Am i constrained to these specific trios?
Nope you can tweak! Also considered doing that with MSU
What does a dominant version of Tyler Wahl look like?
A wonderful question, ask me again at Thanksgiving 
Iām assuming a lot of deliberate backdown post-ups followed by a half hook.
I would put Mās ahead of Rutgers for sure. That 3 in general has no offensive juice, and assuming they are the 3 best players on the team that probably caps your team at like a 8 seed at best. So theyād be near the bottom. Iād put Purdueās much higher. MSU over Wisconsin.
I would swap Thompson out of the IU group and maybe put JHS. Do not want to be stuck with that frontcourt pairing, puts a ceiling on them