Post-Game Thread

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EG#9 said:
Talked about Walker, Eliason, and Hollins in the game thread so won't repeat what I said there, but happy that all 3 had big moments for us tonight.

One thing I will repeat here since it really bothers me is that call on Hollins late in the game. The Gophers appeared to have corralled or at least were in the process of corralling a rebound in the lane and it certainly looked like a run out for a transition bucket was likely. A late whistle by the ref and an off the ball foul was called on Hollins. I was surprised the announcers didn't make more of this because it was a HUGE call and a very bizarre one especially considering time and score.
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I rewound the pvr to watch again. Clear shove by Hollins and that is why he got the ball. Didn't see it the first time but clear on the replay.
 

Good/great win. Iowa is a solid team. Sounded like the Hawkeyes had trouble with the Gophers defense. I had the Iowa-feed through my computer (don't ask) and it seemed like the announcers just kept expecting Minnesota to fall back and just give the game away at some point, especially early.
 

cjbfbp said:
The referees were balanced. We went to the line more than they did.
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Not really. That's a function of them fouling at the end. At one point in the 2nd half it was like 7-1 on fouls. It wasn't much worse than any other B1G road game, I will say that. But it was worth the usual +6 to the home team...
 

Really hope Buggs joining the starting lineup and playing big minutes is a permanent development. His length on defense causes a lot of problems at the 3 and Morris has been struggling pretty badly on both ends lately.
 

- Andre Hollins. What else can be said? He's been awesome lately and I'm really happy for him.

- Nate Mason seems to play his best with the game on the line. That's a really good sign for a freshman. Now he just needs to be more consistent throughout the game. He should start seeing more minutes with Mathieu struggling, as well as.....

-Charles Buggs. He made a few boneheaded plays at the end of the game, but you have to expect some of that with a player as inexperienced as Buggs is. The more he plays the more he should calm down. He's long, active, and actually has some scoring ability from 3 and around the rim. He should see more minutes over Morris. Carlos is a mess on defense and is hit or miss at best on offense.

- EE's minutes were important and probably overlooked by most fans. He brought physicality that was needed. He grabbed a few big rebounds, had a nice block, and actually made both of his free throw attempts....Pitino was right to call that a miracle. I think EE took Konate playing over him to heart, and while he's limited in skills an athleticism, he didn't want his senior year to end like that.

Bring on the Hoosiers.
 


Great win but can Little Dre please put some arc on any of his shots!!!
 

Quality win. I admit I didn't think they had it in them. The thing I'm most impressed with is Pitino's leadership. He managed to keep this team from throwing in the towel for the year back when things looked really ugly.
 

BigGopherFan said:
Good/great win. Iowa is a solid team. Sounded like the Hawkeyes had trouble with the Gophers defense. I had the Iowa-feed through my computer (don't ask) and it seemed like the announcers just kept expecting Minnesota to fall back and just give the game away at some point, especially early.
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I did too. Aint gonna lie.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
Quality win. I admit I didn't think they had it in them. The thing I'm most impressed with is Pitino's leadership. He managed to keep this team from throwing in the towel for the year back when things looked really ugly.
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I too was skeptical considering their road slump. That said, if they play like they did tonight defensively and find a way to become more consistent on the offensive end of the court, a win on Sunday @IU and this site is going to explode. With NW looming on the horizon at home and a shot of seeing a .500 in conference record...well, that would shock most people. Let their be HOPE!!!!
 



EG#9 said:
One thing I will repeat here since it really bothers me is that call on Hollins late in the game. The Gophers appeared to have corralled or at least were in the process of corralling a rebound in the lane and it certainly looked like a run out for a transition bucket was likely. A late whistle by the ref and an off the ball foul was called on Hollins. I was surprised the announcers didn't make more of this because it was a HUGE call and a very bizarre one especially considering time and score.
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Jok drew the whistle there -- as the rebound went up he got slight contact (perhaps very slight) from Hollins and went flying through the lane. Ref was fooled, I believe, but it's the kind of foul that smart players can often draw in the scrum underneath.
 

That's the best defense they've played since Pitino has been here, especially in the 2nd half. Besides the steals, I was also impressed with how quick rotations are.

Buggs is the man. Glad he started.Yes he makes mistakes, but he's only a sophomore. He just needs the playing time. He seemed to be Rich's whipping boy for awhile, and he does need to get told where to go too much, but good things seem to happen when hes out there. I think Rich finally realized that most of the roster does as much boneheaded stuff as Buggs.

Andre Hollins wasn't assertive in those bad games he had. I think its because hes never wide open in the offense and he didnt want to be accused of taking bad shots (ahem, MORRIS!). I think once he realized the season wasn't going anywhere, he said forget it, I'm shooting it no matter how closely guarded I am. And I think he is showing his talent, because he scores even when he's well defended. Having a hand in his face does not bother him.
 

BigGopherFan said:
Good/great win. Iowa is a solid team. Sounded like the Hawkeyes had trouble with the Gophers defense. I had the Iowa-feed through my computer (don't ask) and it seemed like the announcers just kept expecting Minnesota to fall back and just give the game away at some point, especially early.
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Gophers have played a lot of zone recently and it looked like the Hawkeyes were not prepared for the almost exclusive man to man they played. I thought they were toast after not having a bigger lead at half considering how well they played.

Kudos (along with others) to Pitino for keeping these guys engaged after the miserable start. It says a lot to keep them going when a senior dominated team not meeting expectations could have easily mailed it in for the rest of the season.

Put me in the (very) doubtful camp about the NCAA, but still hopeful about the longer term future with Pitino keeping them motivated and recovering from early season mistakes.
 

EG#9 said:
Didn't mention this in the game thread, but wow was Nate Mason good against the Iowa pressure/trap defense down the stretch. I think some of us (myself being one of them) don't make a big enough deal about how poised he has been handling the ball down the stretch in games. There are other Gophers who have played a lot more B1G basketball that clearly don't feel comfortable handling the ball in those situations. Mason's little runner off the glass after taking the shot clock down to 10 was nice too.
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Mason really calmed things down out there from a ball handling perspective. The Hawkeyes would pressure both Dre's relentlessly, but when they ball got to Mason they backed off, presumably because they knew there was no dice in harassing him.
 



Pitino can sell this season on the recruiting trail, that's very important. It didn't look like he could do that the way it started out, especially after the loss at Penn State.

Looking at the box score I'm surprised the Uthoff ended with 17 and 7. 6 of those came during the Buggs meltdown (not witchhunting!) so it's worth saying that the switch to Buggs defending him for a lot of the game, and Andre had some defense on him as well, worked and he didn't kill us like he did at Williams.

Joey King did well against White I thought. White should be a nightmare on the court, but he is sooo much like Dekker in that he's just so passive at times. If I saw Joey King across from me and I was White's size, man that should be a mismatch made in heaven.

Especially after this game, I'm in the camp that Fran doesn't know what he has in that team and squandered some defensive matchups to exploit.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Pitino can sell this season on the recruiting trail, that's very important. It didn't look like he could do that the way it started out, especially after the loss at Penn State.

Looking at the box score I'm surprised the Uthoff ended with 17 and 7. 6 of those came during the Buggs meltdown (not witchhunting!) so it's worth saying that the switch to Buggs defending him for a lot of the game, and Andre had some defense on him as well, worked and he didn't kill us like he did at Williams.

Joey King did well against White I thought. White should be a nightmare on the court, but he is sooo much like Dekker in that he's just so passive at times. If I saw Joey King across from me and I was White's size, man that should be a mismatch made in heaven.

Especially after this game, I'm in the camp that Fran doesn't know what he has in that team and squandered some defensive matchups to exploit.
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+1 to the recruiting ramifications. That is what has me most excited about this up tick and the possibility of ending the season on a high note (even if it's not an NCAA birth). That up tick, combined with a top 25-30 class next year and already a top 100, 4-star commit in 2016 and things are looking better than they were a few months ago. Regarding Fran, I think he is a pretty good recruiter and a really overrated coach. He actually kind of reminds me of Crean.
 

book said:
Great win but can Little Dre please put some arc on any of his shots!!!
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I've noticed that too. On free throws it just takes bending the legs a little more and he'll have a softer shot with a bit more arch. Right now his trajectory is more like a bullet coming out of a rifle.

What I was really pleased with in this game was how the team valued possessions. Despite Buggs breakdown near the end, this team only had 6 turnovers for the game. That is fantastic. Combine that with the 16 turnovers they created and you have a winning combination.

Interesting that lil Dre led the team in rebounding. Good for him, but I'm not sure that's a good thing when he's the point guard and only 5'9". Perhaps it speaks to the bigs blocking out and lil dre getting to the ball.
 

tinyarch said:
I've noticed that too. On free throws it just takes bending the legs a little more and he'll have a softer shot with a bit more arch. Right now his trajectory is more like a bullet coming out of a rifle.

What I was really pleased with in this game was how the team valued possessions. Despite Buggs breakdown near the end, this team only had 6 turnovers for the game. That is fantastic. Combine that with the 16 turnovers they created and you have a winning combination.

Interesting that lil Dre led the team in rebounding. Good for him, but I'm not sure that's a good thing when he's the point guard and only 5'9". Perhaps it speaks to the bigs blocking out and lil dre getting to the ball.
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Deandre's getting rebounds because our rebounders are not. In at least one case, he grabbed a board that Elliott should have had. I still can't get over Eliason's inability to rebound.
 

tinyarch said:
I've noticed that too. On free throws it just takes bending the legs a little more and he'll have a softer shot with a bit more arch. Right now his trajectory is more like a bullet coming out of a rifle.

What I was really pleased with in this game was how the team valued possessions. Despite Buggs breakdown near the end, this team only had 6 turnovers for the game. That is fantastic. Combine that with the 16 turnovers they created and you have a winning combination.

Interesting that lil Dre led the team in rebounding. Good for him, but I'm not sure that's a good thing when he's the point guard and only 5'9". Perhaps it speaks to the bigs blocking out and lil dre getting to the ball.
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If Squirrel's unrealized shots were counted as turnovers, that differential would look a lot different.
 

I got to watch the first half live and then caught up on the second half late last night via my DVR. I think the game had some ugly aspects to it, but if I were to think about Pitino's approach I felt a sense of confidence that this system can work when operated correctly.

1) Our turnover percentage was only 7.1 while forcing Iowa to a 21.1%. That aligns with the identity that they set out for after the Louisville game.
2) A solid FG% with a slightly lower posession rate then what the team is used to. Demonstrates we were pretty damn efficient with our scoring in this game. (Pace: 62.8 eFG%: .456)
3) Our Freethrows made up only 21% of our total possible points. We really got it done from taking care of the ball overall and taking good shots.

If we didn't have some of those blips of fast break turn overs where we didn't score our stat line would have been stellar.

An interesting concern is that we had less assists then we had steals (7 AST / 9 STL). The extra low assists is not characteristic to the team and I am a little worried that we're going to turn into a dribble/drive team and become a bit one dimensional. We can't afford to do that against the Big ten Centers/Power Forwards.


All in all I am really impressed with this performance. Keep it up Gophs!
 

We need to give some credit to Pitino's coaching. He realized the old routine was working and he took the chance by trusting Buggs and Gaston. The defense was outstanding in many parts of the game. And he just flat out coached Iowa.


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alchemy2u said:
We need to give some credit to Pitino's coaching. He realized the old routine was working and he took the chance by trusting Buggs and Gaston. The defense was outstanding in many parts of the game. And he just flat out coached Iowa.


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In a larger sense, the ship is in the process of being righted, and credit to Rich and his staff. They're still not playing as well as we'd originally hoped, but they seem to be getting there.
 

woozee said:
I got to watch the first half live and then caught up on the second half late last night via my DVR. I think the game had some ugly aspects to it, but if I were to think about Pitino's approach I felt a sense of confidence that this system can work when operated correctly.

1) Our turnover percentage was only 7.1 while forcing Iowa to a 21.1%. That aligns with the identity that they set out for after the Louisville game.
2) A solid FG% with a slightly lower posession rate then what the team is used to. Demonstrates we were pretty damn efficient with our scoring in this game. (Pace: 62.8 eFG%: .456)
3) Our Freethrows made up only 21% of our total possible points. We really got it done from taking care of the ball overall and taking good shots.

If we didn't have some of those blips of fast break turn overs where we didn't score our stat line would have been stellar.

An interesting concern is that we had less assists then we had steals (7 AST / 9 STL). The extra low assists is not characteristic to the team and I am a little worried that we're going to turn into a dribble/drive team and become a bit one dimensional. We can't afford to do that against the Big ten Centers/Power Forwards.

All in all I am really impressed with this performance. Keep it up Gophs!
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Good grief, if you're calculating these yourself please tell me how in the hell you're coming up with the figures... but you're probably grabbing from a broken site like basketball-ref..

1) Turnover % was closer to 9.8% to 26.2%. Must be doing something bizarro with offensive rebounds.
2) Possessions of 62.8... don't know how you get that high. 60 for MN, 61 on an averaged basis is reasonable. (.44 vs. .475 may be part of the culprit... which is fine.. but there looks to be something more)
3) No, Minnesota's shooting wasn't good. Why the "only" 21%? That's the D-I avg and Minnesota only averages 18%. They did better than usual scoring from the line, but their field-goal shooting was bad compared to normal.

Appreciate what you're trying to look at, but you've got some studying up to do.
 

Gopher Warrior said:
Good grief, if you're calculating these yourself please tell me how in the hell you're coming up with the figures... but you're probably grabbing from a broken site like basketball-ref..

1) Turnover % was closer to 9.8% to 26.2%. Must be doing something bizarro with offensive rebounds.
2) Possessions of 62.8... don't know how you get that high. 60 for MN, 61 on an averaged basis is reasonable. (.44 vs. .475 may be part of the culprit... which is fine.. but there looks to be something more)
3) No, Minnesota's shooting wasn't good. Why the "only" 21%? That's the D-I avg and Minnesota only averages 18%. They did better than usual scoring from the line, but their field-goal shooting was bad compared to normal.

Appreciate what you're trying to look at, but you've got some studying up to do.
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Yea grabbing them from sports-reference. Where are you getting your stats from?


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woozee said:
Yea grabbing them from sports-reference. Where are you getting your stats from?

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Calculating them myself. My calcs are consistent with KenPom and most others with the exception that depending on the calcs (season to date vs. single game, for example) I will use team-specific possessions rather than averaging them and using one possession for both teams in each game.
 


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