Why was Oso comforting Gold after the game.

[Stretchdeltsig]

Ben Gold has shown repeatedly that he's a good player who helps this team win. He has shown more than Oso as a freshman. Gold will grow with weight training and game experience to be a great Warrior. We are lucky to have him.

[panda]

Ben has been mostly solid in limited time. He's a freshman big. What were peoples actual expectations of him this year?

[Uncle Rico]

Ben has been mostly solid in limited time. He's a freshman big. What were peoples actual expectations of him this year?

To play like New Zealand Larry Bird

[MuMark]

" Hey Ben.....I know you're going through a tough patch right now.......I've been there.....but keep your chin up.....I didn't play as a freshman either and 2 years later ......here I am number 15 in TRanks player of the year rankings! "

https://barttorvik.com/poy.php

[mileskishnish72]

15??? WTH?

[panda]

To play like New Zealand Larry Bird

He reminds me more of a dash of Harry froling blended with equal parts of Henry and Wally ellenson

[Daniel]

Hope Ben stays and gets comfortable here - he will be a solid player

[avid1010]

He's a freshmen big...getting meaningful minutes...on a top 20 team.  Future is bright.

[GoFastAndWin]

IMHO Ben Gold needs to start playing like he is 6-11".
Currently he is playing like he is 6'-0".
Dude, you are the tallest player on the court.  Play like it!

As noted on Scoop: Shaka only uses "Dude" if you're playing like a future star, aka Chase. So if he says this in upcoming years, it means our 6'11" stud is having an off night in a monster season! I'll take that.

[Elonsmusk]

This was posted by Silver Warrior on Dodds board and I think he hits the nail on the head:

For the record, Ben has made 5 of 10 treys in BE games. Can't do much better than that. He's only 2 of 6 on two-pointers, but one of his misses was a bunny. Had he put that one down, he'd also be shooting 50% on two-pointers. His efg% is 59.4% in our 10 BE games, and his Offensive Rating is a respectable 108.1. He's played a total of 63 minutes in our 10 BE games, and he has 3 turnovers, but his Turnover Rate in those games is high - 18.6%. Still, it seems every time has commits a turnover (again, only 3 in 10 games) he's yanked at the next stoppage in play and might not even get back in the game.

By the way, Ben has 9 blocks in 10 games (only 63 minutes total). That's pretty damn good. He's not a very good rebounder at this point, but he's a tough kid. He doesn't back down from any of the 5s he's faced despite giving up anywhere from 25-50 pounds against most of the 5s he's matched up with.

In our last four games Ben has played a total of 14 minutes (3.5 mpg). Against Xavier, he played 3 minutes. In those 3 minutes he had 2 rebounds and 2 blocks, but he didn't get back in the game.

Ben hasn't hit a wall. If anything, he's playing better than he did in the non-con games. But he's behind Oso and OMax and Joplin. There are times, quite a few times actually, when I wish Joplin would take a seat on the bench and let Ben get a few more minutes.

In our 10 BE games, Joplin's Offensive Rating is a sub-par 96.1, and his efg is a paltry 44.8%. He's shooting only 28.9% on threes. Still, he ranks 3rd in the entire conference in per cent of shots taken while he's in the game - 29.7%. Defensively, he still gets beat off the dribble way too often, and he's a slightly below-average rebounder as his Defensive Rebounding Percentage is a mediocre 13.7% in conference games.

I hope Ben has the patience and perseverance to stick it out at MU. If everyone comes back, he'll still get limited mpg again next season but hopefully more than he's gotten this year.

I can see Ben getting 30 mpg as a junior and being one of MU's best players, probably its best front-court player. It would be nice to see Ben play the 4 down the road, which is almost certainly his best position, and even get some minutes at the 3, probably his second-best position given his ball handling and passing skills.

There are still 10 games left in the regular season. I'd love to see Ben get more minutes than he's been getting because we might very well need him for extended minutes in post-season play.

[Daniel]

Silver Warrior has good points.  I would like to see Ben play more as well.  He is awfully far from home to be playing the minutes he plays.  Makes me worry about him sticking. Hope he does

[Galway Eagle]

Imagine having the offensive efficient ranking we do and thinking "I know what we should change! Play a freshman more!" If we have a couple busts I'm all for it but why fix what ain't broke?

[Elonsmusk]

Silver Warrior has good points.  I would like to see Ben play more as well.  He is awfully far from home to be playing the minutes he plays.  Makes me worry about him sticking. Hope he does

Yea...and his data supports the eyeball test - That Jop has struggled in Big East play.

[Elonsmusk]

Imagine having the offensive efficient ranking we do and thinking "I know what we should change! Play a freshman more!" If we have a couple busts I'm all for it but why fix what ain't broke?

Because we are doing it in spite of this:  In our 10 BE games, Joplin's Offensive Rating is a sub-par 96.1, and his efg is a paltry 44.8%. He's shooting only 28.9% on threes. Still, he ranks 3rd in the entire conference in per cent of shots taken while he's in the game - 29.7%.

[Stretchdeltsig]

This was posted by Silver Warrior on Dodds board and I think he hits the nail on the head:

For the record, Ben has made 5 of 10 treys in BE games. Can't do much better than that. He's only 2 of 6 on two-pointers, but one of his misses was a bunny. Had he put that one down, he'd also be shooting 50% on two-pointers. His efg% is 59.4% in our 10 BE games, and his Offensive Rating is a respectable 108.1. He's played a total of 63 minutes in our 10 BE games, and he has 3 turnovers, but his Turnover Rate in those games is high - 18.6%. Still, it seems every time has commits a turnover (again, only 3 in 10 games) he's yanked at the next stoppage in play and might not even get back in the game.

By the way, Ben has 9 blocks in 10 games (only 63 minutes total). That's pretty damn good. He's not a very good rebounder at this point, but he's a tough kid. He doesn't back down from any of the 5s he's faced despite giving up anywhere from 25-50 pounds against most of the 5s he's matched up with.

In our last four games Ben has played a total of 14 minutes (3.5 mpg). Against Xavier, he played 3 minutes. In those 3 minutes he had 2 rebounds and 2 blocks, but he didn't get back in the game.

Ben hasn't hit a wall. If anything, he's playing better than he did in the non-con games. But he's behind Oso and OMax and Joplin. There are times, quite a few times actually, when I wish Joplin would take a seat on the bench and let Ben get a few more minutes.

In our 10 BE games, Joplin's Offensive Rating is a sub-par 96.1, and his efg is a paltry 44.8%. He's shooting only 28.9% on threes. Still, he ranks 3rd in the entire conference in per cent of shots taken while he's in the game - 29.7%. Defensively, he still gets beat off the dribble way too often, and he's a slightly below-average rebounder as his Defensive Rebounding Percentage is a mediocre 13.7% in conference games.

I hope Ben has the patience and perseverance to stick it out at MU. If everyone comes back, he'll still get limited mpg again next season but hopefully more than he's gotten this year.

I can see Ben getting 30 mpg as a junior and being one of MU's best players, probably its best front-court player. It would be nice to see Ben play the 4 down the road, which is almost certainly his best position, and even get some minutes at the 3, probably his second-best position given his ball handling and passing skills.

There are still 10 games left in the regular season. I'd love to see Ben get more minutes than he's been getting because we might very well need him for extended minutes in post-season play.

I agree with you. Ben has shown more than Oso did as a freshman. I like Ben's game and expect to trend upward each year.

[Galway Eagle]

Because we are doing it in spite of this:  In our 10 BE games, Joplin's Offensive Rating is a sub-par 96.1, and his efg is a paltry 44.8%. He's shooting only 28.9% on threes. Still, he ranks 3rd in the entire conference in per cent of shots taken while he's in the game - 29.7%.

Or is Joplin drawing defense away. I don't disagree his numbers aren't eye popping but if people aren't paying much attention to gold and can play better help D with him on the court then that's a problem. I like gold and think he's got a bright future, hopefully here, but still no 1 AdjO doesn't seem like the time to armchair quarterback things.

[rocky_warrior]

Imagine having the offensive efficient ranking we do and thinking "I know what we should change! Play a freshman more!" If we have a couple busts I'm all for it but why fix what ain't broke?

Apparently you're not aware that Ners knows more than every NCAA coach combined!

Oh, and he dunked once.

[tower912]

I hope Ben plays more down the stretch.    I hope this week between games helps him clear his mind and work on the details that will earn him more time.   

[Jockey]

He played 3 minutes yesterday and had a block.  He's a pretty strong paint presence defensively but Oso is just so good.  Might see Gold get more playing time with Oso if he's going to get minutes.

I'm pretty sure he will see more minutes. We've been playing the top teams in the conference and the rotation has been shorter. I expect he might play 8-10 minutes a game over the next 6.

[Shooter McGavin]

I'm pretty sure he will see more minutes. We've been playing the top teams in the conference and the rotation has been shorter. I expect he might play 8-10 minutes a game over the next 6.

Yep. And it would be smart to do so.  We have been very fortunate with no real injuries.  Ben needs to stay as sharp as he can in his role.

[Uncle Rico]

No offense to Silver Eagle, but Ben's numbers cannot be extrapolated to more minutes.

[Jay Bee]

Now talk about his dr%

[Jockey]

Now talk about his dr%

Sample size.

[Elonsmusk]

Now talk about his dr%

Not good.  Now talk about his Block%.

[wadesworld]

So the positives = Ben needs to play more.  But the negatives = too small of a sample size to take anything away from it.

I think Shaka's playing the right players.  The results speak for themselves.

Ben should be a solid player for us down the road.  He's also a freshman getting not many minutes.  He isn't the first.  He won't be the last.  He's far away from home.  But he'll be far away from home anywhere he goes in the USA.  If he isn't happy, he should move on.  Yes it would stink for MU.  But the transition was never going to be easy, and if he'd be more happy elsewhere then he should be happy.