Seth Davis: Meanwhile heck of a road win for Minnesota. This team is Final Four good.

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I did post this in some post game notes, but thought it would be fun to start a thread on the national attention the Gophers are getting, so please, chime in!

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Kool-aid is mighty tasty right now... looks like the punch line is getting long


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I'm having a hard time with these feelings of optimism. It's so un-Minnesotan.
 

howeda7 said:
I'm having a hard time with these feelings of optimism. It's so un-Minnesotan.
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Most impressive was the second half 50. Not a lot of teams can do this on the road and not even appear tired. The team has so many weapons. My takeaway is don’t worry about a first half with this team. Unless Lynch has 4 fouls.
 


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Perhaps there is no more low motor Murph. He's been unbelievable. I'm fully giving myself permission to celebrate this win.

McBrayer made a critical steal. While people will sing IW's praises, we needed DM tonight.
 

This team is well rounded enough to win a lot of second halves.

Foul trouble on the bigs will be the biggest concern of course.
 





On a somewhat related, non-related note, (and despite my fear of side-tracking this quality thread)...


This is an ideal time for Richard Pitino to make a name for himself nationally to gain national respect.

If he has a quality run this year, people will see Pitino as a legit coach on his own, and that's exactly what he needs at this point.
Pitino at Minnesota being well respected would be a major boost for this program and recruiting in the future nationwide.
 


Moonlight said:
Feelings?
Fouls?
Facts?
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It reminds me of the collective cringing after the Gophs destroyed St. John's in a non-conference game early in the 96-97 campaign. That's the way they put it in the paper: nobody wanted to say the F-words, but they had to admit that the Gophers were a Final Four sleeper.

Comparing this team to that one, this team is no Jack Kennedy...or so it seems. But man, do we have a power forward.
 

Bad Gopher said:
It reminds me of the collective cringing after the Gophs destroyed St. John's in a non-conference game early in the 96-97 campaign. That's the way they put it in the paper: nobody wanted to say the F-words, but they had to admit that the Gophers were a Final Four sleeper.

Comparing this team to that one, this team is no Jack Kennedy...or so it seems. But man, do we have a power forward.
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You may have no idea how many people at the games (already) are comparing (in hushed tones) Washington to Jackson.

And they're not thinking presidents.
 

There are going to be times where they are really going to miss Curry, but they certainly are talented enough to overcome losing him.
 

If these first two games are any indication Murphy could be in line for an awesome season. He has shown flashes of the kind of player he can be but in spite of the small sample size he is showing that he may have taken a definite step up in his development. If Murph can average a double double and maybe even flirt with 20 points many nights this team is going to be a nightmare to stop.

With Lynch roaming around the middle and the guards slashing and causing problems this team can definitely live up to the pre-season hype. The only downside to the first two games has been the inconsistent shooting from 3 but the ones that Coffey drilled came at the perfect time to put the game out of reach.

As long as players stay healthy there is no reason this team can't be a serious contender this season. So much fun....
 

Moonlight said:
Perhaps there is no more low motor Murph. He's been unbelievable. I'm fully giving myself permission to celebrate this win.

McBrayer made a critical steal. While people will sing IW's praises, we needed DM tonight.
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When he brings this for an 11 AM road game at Rutgers or Penn State, we'll know for sure.
 

MNVCGUY said:
If these first two games are any indication Murphy could be in line for an awesome season. He has shown flashes of the kind of player he can be but in spite of the small sample size he is showing that he may have taken a definite step up in his development. If Murph can average a double double and maybe even flirt with 20 points many nights this team is going to be a nightmare to stop.

With Lynch roaming around the middle and the guards slashing and causing problems this team can definitely live up to the pre-season hype. The only downside to the first two games has been the inconsistent shooting from 3 but the ones that Coffey drilled came at the perfect time to put the game out of reach.

As long as players stay healthy there is no reason this team can't be a serious contender this season. So much fun....
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. I almost added a post after Friday’s game that he had a good nite but could we expect that kind of night in a Big a Ten Game? Tonight says yes.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
There are going to be times where they are really going to miss Curry, but they certainly are talented enough to overcome losing him.
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We'll miss Curry for sure. Konate is what he is and that's not a good thing. We can overcome it to a point. But no matter where we finish, I think it'll be one round sooner that it would have been with Curry. Unless of course...
 

I'll be a Friar fan the rest of the year. This has a chance at being a really good resume win.
 

There are some things they need to improve, IMO. Mainly, make a higher percentage of threes and allow fewer.

That said, this is a very good team. They'll continue to get better as the season progresses and guys like Washington and Hurt settle into minutes and Coffey gains experience. They should hang around the top 10 (ranking-wise) all year.
 

Curry injury sucks. It will hang over this squad and message board all year.

IW was exactly what we needed this year.

Murphy looks so much better than early last year. What if...now hear me out...he improves as much towards the end of this year as he did from the beginning to the end of last year? He’d average 50pts and 40 rebounds.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Curry injury sucks. It will hang over this squad and message board all year.

IW was exactly what we needed this year.

Murphy looks so much better than early last year. What if...now hear me out...he improves as much towards the end of this year as he did from the beginning to the end of last year? He’d average 50pts and 40 rebounds.
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That would be awesome but will settle for this current version of Murph even if he doesn't improve much from here over the course of the season. He flashed this ability last season and it is pretty reasonable to think that with an off season of really working on his game he could be in line for a great season.

Curry injury will hurt against physical teams when our bigs get in foul trouble but this teams has so many weapons that even in those tough games we might be alright. I love that we have guards that can slash and drive the hoop in order to get big men in foul trouble when they come over to help.
 

Regarding Murphy tonight: Interesting game. In the first half, he rarely took drives to the basket. At some point in the second half, it was like someone flipped a switch. He decided to start taking it to the hole. They couldn’t stop him. Rarely did he score as the result of a nifty play or pass inside. Mostly, he just willed his way inside. Wow. Several times, I was sure he would get blocked by their taller forwards. Nope. He has an uncanny nose for the basket. Someone please flip that switch earlier in the game. He could score 40.


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MNVCGUY said:
That would be awesome but will settle for this current version of Murph even if he doesn't improve much from here over the course of the season. He flashed this ability last season and it is pretty reasonable to think that with an off season of really working on his game he could be in line for a great season.

Curry injury will hurt against physical teams when our bigs get in foul trouble but this teams has so many weapons that even in those tough games we might be alright. I love that we have guards that can slash and drive the hoop in order to get big men in foul trouble when they come over to help.
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And compared to last year when Springs went down, this teams is sufficiently deep at the guard position...whoever the 6th man is (McBrayer or IW) is going to bring something special into the game with no necessary team drop-off.

Hurt also is suggesting that he is fundamentally sound and ready to contribute in a more meaningful way. That slash drive he had tonight was complete authority. I expect we'll see much more aggression from him this year. Hurt also gives flexibility in the subbing patterns that some of the smaller guys don't provide.
 

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