Nate Mason will probably be the de facto team leader next season.
Well, we’re halfway there. How’s everyone feeling?
I was talking to a friend of mine at a holiday party last week and Gopher basketball came up. He told me that he doesn’t really start paying attention to the season until conference play starts. I gave him a rundown as best I could, and I realized that my Clift Notes version of the non-conference season was pretty morbid. We discussed the lack of any inside game, the inability to score or even shoot effectively, and the terrible mental lapses on defense. But I was also surprised at how often I said, “he’s gonna be good, you can already see it” for several of the young guys on the team. And I kept hanging on to my thesis of “don’t worry about wins and losses this year; we need to focus on the development of the underclassmen.” 12 games into the season, that hasn’t changed much.
If it already feels like a failure of a season, it’s because we’re so used to having the resources to defeat the Big South year in and year out and go 11-1 in the non-conference season, regardless of how good the team actually is. We had the veteran presence to cruise through the mid-majors unscathed. But this is a unique season. Many of the players on the team are experiencing most of this for the first time and it’s truly sink or swim. Sometimes they can handle it, and sometimes they can’t. But instead of worrying about if we did or didn’t beat Oklahoma State in a neutral site game, I’m much more interested in seeing Jordan Murphy already pulling down double-doubles every night and watching Dupree McBrayer play his way into the starting lineup. These are the guys who will be here for a few years, and are developments to applaud. Help is on the way, but underclassmen development in the interim is essential. Wins in the non-conference season in a season of low expectations are not.
GOOD: The future’s, uh, bright?
I’ll be honest. There isn’t a whole lot of good to write about that isn’t praising Jordan Murphy. And I covered him extensively in a previous column. But for as much losing as the Gophers have done in December, it’s actually been reassuring to see the younger guys rise to the occasion, as best they can, and start to deliver. Murphy is already a double-double machine, Kevin Dorsey is starting to play within his limits and make better decisions, and Dupree McBrayer is pushing for extensive time at point guard. And that’s not to mention the resurgence of Nate Mason, who will probably be the de facto team leader next season. These are good things.
Now, it’s not like Minnesota is busting down doors with their freshmen talent. And unless you’re Kentucky, a team of freshmen isn’t going to win a whole lot of ballgames. But in a season where the Gophers weren’t going to win a many games to begin with, seeing freshmen development is high up on the priority list. And when Minnesota has been playing its best, the young guys have been contributing. For what it’s worth, the Gophers rank pretty high in the conference in turnover margin, which is a sign of maturity. Now, it’s a matter of getting the ball in the hoop. Shooting and rebounding need a ton of work, but at least they’re not turning the ball over.
BAD: The Gophers just can’t score
The Gophers just can’t seem to get a bucket when it counts. And most possessions look like a struggle in trying to convert on anything that’s not a jump shot.
Anyone who’s watched a game this year can definitely see there is some inconsistency on offense and a clear lack of cohesiveness. Whether that’s from a lack of tools or an absence of chemistry, the point is the Gophers have trouble putting the ball in the hoop when they need to. This is concerning on a number of levels, but when it comes down to it the team just doesn’t have a guy they can turn to and say, “uh, here you go do it.” There’s no Dre Hollins or Lawrence Westbrook or Trevor Mbakwe who you trust with the ball when a bucket needs to be made. To make up for it, Minnesota has turned to launching threes, taking ill-advised jumpers and avoiding the inside game altogether. And when the shots aren’t falling, things get really, really ugly.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be a simple remedy. Bakary Konate is not ready to be the inside catalyst, and the team simply doesn’t have the personnel to rely on a total air attack. The team will get better at converting when they attack the basket, but in terms of help immediately this season, it’s not pretty. When the shots are falling, you see outbursts like the win over Clemson. But when they’re not, it looks more like the game against Texas Tech or Oklahoma State.
INTERESTING: The Gophers really only have one bad loss
I’m starting to sound apologetic in this one, but let’s operate under one assumption. The Gophers just aren’t good. And they never had an expectation of being good. So as much as losing to Wisconsin-Milwaukee and South Dakota State sucks, I’m not so sure the Gophers should have ever been expected to win those in the first place. So far this season, they’ve pretty much beaten who they should, and lost to who they should. South Dakota is the lone exception. That’s just a bad loss any way you slice it.
But take a look at the KenPom rankings. Minnesota checks in at 151. Their losses include Temple (113), Texas Tech (45), Oklahoma State (92), South Dakota (208), SDSU (61) and Milwaukee (118). Really, only one team there stands out as a “should have won.”
Now, should the Gophers be expected to win against a Milwaukee at home? Probably. But this is a team that also knocked off Wisconsin at the Kohl Center. Texas Tech seemed like a bad loss at the time, but they’re now 9-1. SDSU is the Summit League favorite. It’d be one thing if Minnesota was losing to Chicago State and getting killed by the Clemsons of the world. But they’re not. They’re a young team looking for an identity and learning on the fly. You’d expect a few bumps and bruises on the schedule along the way.
Let’s just not expect a whole lot of wins in the conference.