Observations from last night's loss to Miami

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Otis

Otis

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The raised floor looked fantastic on TV last night! I hope some HS players enjoyed seeing a full Barn and the atmosphere!

Off the top of my head:

Murphy and Coffey are the best players on the team. I see almost no weakness in these two. They pick their spots and score and rebound well. Great hustle in the first half by Murphy on defense.

Mason and Lynch are beasts when they get in their wheelhouse. Reggie is way more athletic looking than when I saw him last. And only one foul last night! Mason made some big shots but I would like to see him a little more consistent on offense and look to distribute a bit more.

No Dupree REALLY hurts our defense! His length on the wing was really missing in defending their outside shooting. Shooting over Mason and Washington is way too easy.

Washington took 17 freaking shots? He made 6 and had a couple late to bring us close but his shot selection kinda sucks. He can get where he wants with his handle but frequently used it to get to a circus shot against a big. He frequently had one speed last night and made it easy to know where and when the defense needed to be to contest his prayers. Better shot selection and some speed changes would improve his contribution greatly and make him a more efficient scorer.

Hurt played 19 minutes and took NO SHOTS? Talk about the inverse of Washington. I liked his effort on defense but NO SHOTS in 19 minutes doesn't exactly stretch the defense. Yeah he was being guarded by a guard and got the ball out on the perimeter. But NO SHOTS? Pitino could have posted him a couple times and tried to get him in the game offensively.

Bench play had 1 shot! I guess it was a good thing Washington had the cajones to take shots cause the bench apparently cannot shoot. Harris is the only one who hoisted a shot and it was a rushed three early in the shot clock. Very sad!

Crowd: there didn't seem to be the usual "Barn" swell in noise when Coffey tied the game up and helped us build the 6 point lead. Maybe it didn't translate to TV, but we really needed to try and unravel them at that point. Washington hoisting some ill advised shots helped Miami close the gap too quickly as well.

Oh well, good game, good experience, early in the season. Watch the tape Gophers and learn from your mistakes. McBrayer, get healthy buddy!
 

Otis said:
The raised floor looked fantastic on TV last night! I hope some HS players enjoyed seeing a full Barn and the atmosphere!

Off the top of my head:

Murphy and Coffey are the best players on the team. I see almost no weakness in these two. They pick their spots and score and rebound well. Great hustle in the first half by Murphy on defense.

Mason and Lynch are beasts when they get in their wheelhouse. Reggie is way more athletic looking than when I saw him last. And only one foul last night! Mason made some big shots but I would like to see him a little more consistent on offense and look to distribute a bit more.

No Dupree REALLY hurts our defense! His length on the wing was really missing in defending their outside shooting. Shooting over Mason and Washington is way too easy.

Washington took 17 freaking shots? He made 6 and had a couple late to bring us close but his shot selection kinda sucks. He can get where he wants with his handle but frequently used it to get to a circus shot against a big. He frequently had one speed last night and made it easy to know where and when the defense needed to be to contest his prayers. Better shot selection and some speed changes would improve his contribution greatly and make him a more efficient scorer.

Hurt played 19 minutes and took NO SHOTS? Talk about the inverse of Washington. I liked his effort on defense but NO SHOTS in 19 minutes doesn't exactly stretch the defense. Yeah he was being guarded by a guard and got the ball out on the perimeter. But NO SHOTS? Pitino could have posted him a couple times and tried to get him in the game offensively.

Bench play had 1 shot! I guess it was a good thing Washington had the cajones to take shots cause the bench apparently cannot shoot. Harris is the only one who hoisted a shot and it was a rushed three early in the shot clock. Very sad!

Crowd: there didn't seem to be the usual "Barn" swell in noise when Coffey tied the game up and helped us build the 6 point lead. Maybe it didn't translate to TV, but we really needed to try and unravel them at that point. Washington hoisting some ill advised shots helped Miami close the gap too quickly as well.

Oh well, good game, good experience, early in the season. Watch the tape Gophers and learn from your mistakes. McBrayer, get healthy buddy!
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You pretty much nailed it Otis.




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Pretty much spot on. No shame in losing to #10 team missing our 2 guard

Frustrating we struggled with pick and roll and not being able to stop their drives to the paint. Big picture we'll be fine
 

I was waiting for RP to throw a zone at the Canes just to see what happened and a change up. But nada.

No doubt not having Dupree hurt especially with no offense from Hurt and having IW on the floor much more than necessary.

Miami will win a lot of games. They played lights out for the most part and had to have been their best performance.

We need to get ready to get our first BIG win against Rutgers.
 

Otis said:
Hurt played 19 minutes and took NO SHOTS? Talk about the inverse of Washington. I liked his effort on defense but NO SHOTS in 19 minutes doesn't exactly stretch the defense. Yeah he was being guarded by a guard and got the ball out on the perimeter. But NO SHOTS? Pitino could have posted him a couple times and tried to get him in the game offensively.
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Yeah...in general I would like to see this team pound it inside more and take more post shots. We may have the best 4/5 combo in the B1G if not the nation and the Gophers should lean on that more. Hurt looks decent when he tries to be aggressive on offense. Anyone who got a Big Ten scholarship, goes to practice every day, and gets in the games for reasons other than being 7 feet tall should be able to take some shots. If he's not a scorer then he needs to be a hustle guy, and he didn't get any rebounds, blocks, steals, assists, or even fouls in a long stretch on the court. That's a bad sign.
 


Great observations, my only disagreement is when it comes to crowd noise. The crowd was insane the entire time, especially when we started to pull ahead. The shot #2 made for them quieted everyone down for a second and it changed the momentum.

I loved seeing the players smiling in awe of the crowd when they first came out. Curry smiled, looked around, and visibly said "Oh Sh*t". Student section was completely packed 45 minutes before game time. Couldn't think of a better game to have recruits at. Proud of Gopher fans.
 

Washington having such a high usage was inexcusable.

Just because Mason can credibly play off the ball doesn't mean it's a good idea to have him do so.
 

IronRangeGopher said:
I loved seeing the players smiling in awe of the crowd when they first came out. Curry smiled, looked around, and visibly said "Oh Sh*t". Student section was completely packed 45 minutes before game time. Couldn't think of a better game to have recruits at. Proud of Gopher fans.
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^^^^THIS^^^^^
 

IronRangeGopher said:
Great observations, my only disagreement is when it comes to crowd noise. The crowd was insane the entire time, especially when we started to pull ahead. The shot #2 made for them quieted everyone down for a second and it changed the momentum.

I loved seeing the players smiling in awe of the crowd when they first came out. Curry smiled, looked around, and visibly said "Oh Sh*t". Student section was completely packed 45 minutes before game time. Couldn't think of a better game to have recruits at. Proud of Gopher fans.
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I figured it was loud the whole time. Which is great but it is almost better to have a subdued crowd that knows when to get loud. Just like a player can create opportunities by using different speeds having a crowd reach a mind-blowing crescendo at a critical time can really throw a visiting team off and energize the home team. Just being loud for loudness sake just creates an environment one can adapt to!

Would help to have players encouraging the crowd after we extend a lead, players can feel when the Mo is changing and use crowd to power it.
 



Zeppelin Gopher said:
Washington having such a high usage was inexcusable.

Just because Mason can credibly play off the ball doesn't mean it's a good idea to have him do so.
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You know Dupree was injured right? Just checking because that is main reason Washington played so much which pretty much everyone else seems to understand. On top of that Mason had 2 fouls in the first half and had to sit for a decent portion of it to avoid getting number 3.
 

Otis said:
The raised floor looked fantastic on TV last night! I hope some HS players enjoyed seeing a full Barn and the atmosphere!

Murphy and Coffey are the best players on the team. I see almost no weakness in these two. They pick their spots and score and rebound well. Great hustle in the first half by Murphy on defense.

Washington took 17 freaking shots? He made 6 and had a couple late to bring us close but his shot selection kinda sucks. He can get where he wants with his handle but frequently used it to get to a circus shot against a big. He frequently had one speed last night and made it easy to know where and when the defense needed to be to contest his prayers. Better shot selection and some speed changes would improve his contribution greatly and make him a more efficient scorer.

Crowd: there didn't seem to be the usual "Barn" swell in noise when Coffey tied the game up and helped us build the 6 point lead. Maybe it didn't translate to TV,
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they did a good job of double team on Murphy. He needs to do a better job of recognizing and passing out of it. He has a tendency to be a ball stopper and thinks he has to go to the hoop when he gets his hands on the ball. Whole team was poor on ball movement.

Pitino has to run Washington thru the 3 pt test. He shouldn't be shooting from deep. He is a lousy shot. Washington was absolutely terrible on ball handling last night. He turned the ball over on multible easy close handoffs. If he plays less, we win last night just by cutting down on his mistakes. Late, after his carelessness was obvious, he seemed to work a bit harder, with mixed results. While talented, his skill set is not honed to deal with this level of players as yet. His play was better in last minutes of the game, but he has been a lazy player up to that point. The coaches are high on this kid, and Pitino teams, every year Pitino has been here, improve till the end of the season (this has not been true with the past couple coaches). It will be fun to see the improvement on this kid. I am an emphatic supporter of these coaches we have.

The crowd was really good last night, very loud. Competitive Gopher Basketball, in the barn, is most entertaining venue in the State of Minnesota.
 

Otis said:
Crowd: there didn't seem to be the usual "Barn" swell in noise when Coffey tied the game up and helped us build the 6 point lead. Maybe it didn't translate to TV
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No, it didn't
 

I agree with the comment about trying out a zone.

Losing always sucks but this team battled the whole game and cut that 12 point lead back down to 2. We're not deep and last night showed that issue. We're going to need everyone to stay healthy and out of foul trouble if we want to make a deep March run because our bench only eats minutes but doesn't produce much.
 



MNVCGUY said:
You know Dupree was injured right? Just checking because that is main reason Washington played so much which pretty much everyone else seems to understand. On top of that Mason had 2 fouls in the first half and had to sit for a decent portion of it to avoid getting number 3.
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I was at the game, well aware that we didn't have Dupree but thanks for pointing that out.

Didn't mention anything about playing time, I mentioned usage, big difference. If you thought it was a good idea for IW have the ball in his hands down the stretch instead of Mason or Coffey, and take the most shots on the team by far, than I don't really know what to tell you.
 

Washington looked great late but struggled most of the game. I don't think it's shot selection (most of his shots were layups) he just needs to make more of the layups and then he can get a pass when he misses a 3 here and there. He did have multiple bad turnovers, got so intent on breaking a guys ankles before he even crossed half court that his eventual pass got picked off because it was late and lazy.

Definitely showed signs down the stretch of why we wanted him, just need more of the last 5 min IW and less of the other.

Miami got really hot in the middle of second half and couldn't miss a shot, that made it hard to come back and we could have but cold shooting and really poor free throw shooting sank our momentum.

Best pre-B1G crowd I've seen in forever. I got some video of student section just before tip off and they were packed and rocking.

https://twitter.com/ChrisHowells/status/936115055741014021
 

Reggie is getting to the point where he gets the ball, decides to score and closes. He had a few drives from 10-15 feet out that finished with dunks. That's saying something against that Miami team. I want more.

If Murphy never takes another 3, I'll be happy. On the other hand, I feel like Murphy could almost score every single time he gets the ball within 10 feet of the basket. And did you see some of those rebounds. What a frickin' beast. Easily in my top 5 Gophers all time now.

Honestly, what killed us last night was a lack of finishing.
Exhibit A: I love Coffey's slashing and scoring. I hate Coffey slashing, losing the ball and tossing up a prayer that doesn't even catch rim.
Exhibit B: I didn't watch a lot of Washington video from before his Gopher career, but he must be used to throwing up any kind of layup and it somehow going in. How many shots did he leave on the rim last night?? Arg. Taking a look at Washington's missed shots: Missed 3 3's, 3 mid-range jumpers and 5 layups.

Hurt passed up a few open shots. I was starting to think he might be more than just a pass-through player. Did little Ricky put the screws on him? Frustrating. They were playing well off of him.

Wish there had been more Fitzgerald.

I was really happy how we weathered Mason being out in the first half.

I detest the "I just made 2 or 3 3's in a row, so I'm shooting from here cuz I'm magic" attitude. Harris did that a few games ago...made 3 and then tossed up a terrible choice. Mason made his 2 in a row and then tossed up that one from the reporter's table. I understand being hot, but you still need good shot selection.

Incredible job on the foul situation last night. I really thought that we were in the double bonus so early was going to pull us through. The guy behind me was going on and on about how terrible we were at free throws. I could be mistaken, but I think I'd take 20-26 for free throws on most nights.
 

Washington played out of control for stretches but after the benching he seemed to calm down.

The loss can be pinned on the defense. A pretty bad defensive performance.
 


gall0249 said:
It takes a lot of work to be #322 in defensive 3-pt percentage.
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What that tells me if the team is doing a poor job of rotating. They need to understand who needs to sink into the lane and who needs to stay out on the perimeter. Right now, when a drive is made, everybody sinks to the lane, leaving plenty of shooters wide open
 

IMO the loss came down to 4 things
poor pick and Roll D which is a combo of Miami just having a ton of guys to use in those rolls and us doing a poor job not only on the pick but on backside help D

Lack of flow offensively due to Dupree being out and Washington still being raw

Miami hitting just a ton of contested, timely shots

Miami really played a kind of perfect game. They shot lights out, they made the right play consistently in the P&R, and they didn't shoot themselves in the foot with bad TOs like we did

Overall they played probably an A game, MN played a C game. I think we win if Pree is there not only because of what he brings to the table but because I think everyone is much more confident and playing their normal game. Our guard depth is definitely just as bad as it was last year though. We have 4 scholarship guards and only 1 true SF type in Coffey. It is what it is though, just gotta stay healthy
 

I agree that our defense cost us big time last night. Miami used the pick and roll every time down the court. It forced Lynch out from under the basket. If we stopped it they kicked it out and hit the 3. I would like to see us switch defenses to make the other team adjust. Maybe switching with odd man front and even man front would have messed them up a little. Miami was very athletic...more athletic that us. Why not try some zone? Just because you play a zone does not mean the other team has open 3 point shots. An active zone can disrupt things for the other team. I just think Miami was way too comfortable all night to run the same plays. Their confidence grew and we did not adjust or make them uncomfortable.
I'm hoping that this loss will help us refocus for conference play. I am a big fan of our coaching staff and our players. It's gonna be a really good year.
 

RE: Crowd noise

If you weren't in the building, pretty much impossible to know how loud it was. Its the loudest I've ever heard The Barn. Sustained noise, bursts of noise, noise when on a run, noise when needing a stop, noise when the call went for us, noise when the call went against us. I sat down at 7:34 and felt like I was late. The entire student section was packed when I got there.

People were freaking fired up for the game. I got to Sally's around 5 and couldn't get a table (ended up at the bar) and by the time I left, had trouble getting out of the place because it was so full.
 


Otis said:
The raised floor looked fantastic on TV last night! I hope some HS players enjoyed seeing a full Barn and the atmosphere!

Off the top of my head:

Murphy and Coffey are the best players on the team. I see almost no weakness in these two. They pick their spots and score and rebound well. Great hustle in the first half by Murphy on defense.

Mason and Lynch are beasts when they get in their wheelhouse. Reggie is way more athletic looking than when I saw him last. And only one foul last night! Mason made some big shots but I would like to see him a little more consistent on offense and look to distribute a bit more.

No Dupree REALLY hurts our defense! His length on the wing was really missing in defending their outside shooting. Shooting over Mason and Washington is way too easy.

Washington took 17 freaking shots? He made 6 and had a couple late to bring us close but his shot selection kinda sucks. He can get where he wants with his handle but frequently used it to get to a circus shot against a big. He frequently had one speed last night and made it easy to know where and when the defense needed to be to contest his prayers. Better shot selection and some speed changes would improve his contribution greatly and make him a more efficient scorer.

Hurt played 19 minutes and took NO SHOTS? Talk about the inverse of Washington. I liked his effort on defense but NO SHOTS in 19 minutes doesn't exactly stretch the defense. Yeah he was being guarded by a guard and got the ball out on the perimeter. But NO SHOTS? Pitino could have posted him a couple times and tried to get him in the game offensively.

Bench play had 1 shot! I guess it was a good thing Washington had the cajones to take shots cause the bench apparently cannot shoot. Harris is the only one who hoisted a shot and it was a rushed three early in the shot clock. Very sad!

Crowd: there didn't seem to be the usual "Barn" swell in noise when Coffey tied the game up and helped us build the 6 point lead. Maybe it didn't translate to TV, but we really needed to try and unravel them at that point. Washington hoisting some ill advised shots helped Miami close the gap too quickly as well.

Oh well, good game, good experience, early in the season. Watch the tape Gophers and learn from your mistakes. McBrayer, get healthy buddy!
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I was there, and I would say the problem we had with keeping the noise up at a frenzied level was Miami CONTINUALLY shooting a dagger three-ball almost every time we started to get on a little roll offensively. It was uncanny. I’m not a great defensive mind, so I’ll let you guys break down why they had so many open threes. However, you still have to make the open shot, and they sure did. You have to tip your hat to them. It just sucks that they picked last night to be lights-out shooting.

Back to the crowd noise: When the opponent so effectively, suddenly, and continually counter-punches you, it is really hard to keep screaming. I know, because I was one of the screamers. My voice is horse today as a result. It was just one of those games where the crowd so badly wanted to go nuts, but we never got any extended chance to do so. I sense that our fans really love this team and want to support them. Does anyone know what was our best run point-wise last night? Couldn’t have been very a very big run anywhere. Miami was flat out good last night. We were, too, just not quite as good.


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Trying to be objective here: Every 50/50 ball went to Miami, and it wasnt due to a lack of hustle

Pitino needed to reign in IW more.

Coach needed to change defense schemes frequently. Confuse Miami. Man to man was not working in that second half. At some point you need to make adjustments.

Dupree being out hurt. We're just too thin with Curry being out. Less Dupress means more IW. Not a good trade off at this point. Plus, Mason needs to run PG at all times he is out there. Ideally, Mason should play the 2 with IW in there. But at this point, IW can't be trusted to be main ball handler

Pitino and staff messed up not getting a true wing player. I like Harris, but he's a wing player stuck in a point guards body. Hurt and Fitz are 4's. So the roster is currently has 3 PG's, 2 SG/SF's, AND 7 big men. That is horrible roster balance. I think Fitz was considered a 3 when he transferred here. Either that was not true, or his knee injuries have turned him into a 4
 

What was the answer?

1. Miami had exactly 2 players shooting more than 35% from 3 coming into this game. Lykes and Lawrence. Lykes is 5-7 so not easy to get his 3pt shot off.
2. How do you slow down a super athletic team who can penetrate the lane?
3. What do you do if you cannot stop a pick and roll all night?

I agree the ANSWER you at least try a Zone. This isn't a lights out shooting team. They had a lot of open looks against our man defense.

Did Fitz play that bad in his 4 minutes?
Seemed like we had some bad turnovers yet our total was just 12; 5 of those from Washington! I have never seen a "PG" shoot so much and miss! Mason should have been the PG bringing the ball up.

We are going to keep seeing this offense with 3 guards a stretch 4 and one post player. We will have to take our knocks with Murhpy guarding a SF really. Thought he did ok.

If McBrayer plays those 27 minutes Washington has, he would probably give you 10 pts, 3-4 ass, just 1 turnover, and makes 1 or 2 of his 3 or 4-- 3's. Washington would bring his erratic play off the bench, where he can get sent right back to with his playground antics. He has a lot to learn thus the high ranking but not the numerous big offers.


Gopher73 said:
I agree that our defense cost us big time last night. Miami used the pick and roll every time down the court. It forced Lynch out from under the basket. If we stopped it they kicked it out and hit the 3. I would like to see us switch defenses to make the other team adjust. Maybe switching with odd man front and even man front would have messed them up a little. Miami was very athletic...more athletic that us. Why not try some zone? Just because you play a zone does not mean the other team has open 3 point shots. An active zone can disrupt things for the other team. I just think Miami was way too comfortable all night to run the same plays. Their confidence grew and we did not adjust or make them uncomfortable.
I'm hoping that this loss will help us refocus for conference play. I am a big fan of our coaching staff and our players. It's gonna be a really good year.
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Bordergopher said:
I was there, and I would say the problem we had with keeping the noise up at a frenzied level was Miami CONTINUALLY shooting a dagger three-ball almost every time we started to get on a little roll offensively. It was uncanny. I’m not a great defensive mind, so I’ll let you guys break down why they had so many open threes. However, you still have to make the open shot, and they sure did. You have to tip your hat to them. It just sucks that they picked last night to be lights-out shooting.

Back to the crowd noise: When the opponent so effectively, suddenly, and continually counter-punches you, it is really hard to keep screaming. I know, because I was one of the screamers. My voice is horse today as a result. It was just one of those games where the crowd so badly wanted to go nuts, but we never got any extended chance to do so. I sense that our fans really love this team and want to support them. Does anyone know what was our best run point-wise last night? Couldn’t have been very a very big run anywhere. Miami was flat out good last night. We were, too, just not quite as good.


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Gophers went on a 9-0 run late in the first half to build a 6 point lead. Mason sitting on the bench put a damper on what could have been a terrific finish to the half. Objectively, Mason's 2nd foul was one of the worst calls I've seen all season.

Overall, I loved the energy level from both the Gophers' players and fans. This team has no quit, and will continue to fight no matter who they're facing, that is a tremendous sign. Not sure that we win with McBrayer, but I promise you that we would have turned it over less, and we would have defended the 3 better. Our starting 5 is one of the most fundamentally sound units that I've ever seen as a Gophers fan. Mason is the perfect point guard for this team, and it hurt our chances last night that he played so frequently off ball. I'm sure that Washington will improve, part of that improvement is realizing that you're not as good as you may think. I think he's going to have a better understanding of what he's good at, and where to pick his spots more effectively. Obviously, our front court is out of this world. If/when Dupree comes back healthy, we can beat anybody, yes anybody... if they stay out of foul trouble like they did last night. I was super impressed by Lynch giving up two baskets where he was out of position. In all likelihood they still would have scored both baskets and he would have picked up two additional fouls, good job Reggie.

I'm very encouraged by last night's performance, but yes we need Dupree back ASAP.
 

JimmyJamesMD said:
Trying to be objective here: Every 50/50 ball went to Miami, and it wasnt due to a lack of hustle

Pitino needed to reign in IW more.

Coach needed to change defense schemes frequently. Confuse Miami. Man to man was not working in that second half. At some point you need to make adjustments.

Dupree being out hurt. We're just too thin with Curry being out. Less Dupress means more IW. Not a good trade off at this point. Plus, Mason needs to run PG at all times he is out there. Ideally, Mason should play the 2 with IW in there. But at this point, IW can't be trusted to be main ball handler

Pitino and staff messed up not getting a true wing player. I like Harris, but he's a wing player stuck in a point guards body. Hurt and Fitz are 4's. So the roster is currently has 3 PG's, 2 SG/SF's, AND 7 big men. That is horrible roster balance. I think Fitz was considered a 3 when he transferred here. Either that was not true, or his knee injuries have turned him into a 4
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I never thought about this until last night, but you are right. Our only true wing with size is Coffee. Miami seemed to have multiple guys in that 6’5” to 6’8” range that are Uber-athletic, can shoot and handle the ball. This problem doesn’t go away next year, either. However, I’m happy to live with that problem as we are still a very good team. I guess if we had everything we wanted, we would be Duke. I hate Duke, so I guess I’m glad that’s not the case. How’s that for some flawed reasoning?


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Good thread. Some thoughts.

1. Miami has 3 and possibly 4 NBA players on their team. Brown, Huell, #4 (can't remember his name). Athletic freaks.

2. Larranaga is a GREAT coach and had his scheme ready and they executed perfectly. What he tells his team; "you worry about playing, I'll figure out what the other team's weakness is." He figured out that pulling Lynch away from the basket, pick and roll all day, combined with a short bench for the home team, winning combo. Pick and roll is an NBA offense, we don't have 3-4 NBA guys and it showed.

3. Miami got baskets and significant contributions from their fringe players. The Australian guy made a few 3s even though he looks like a YMCA legend and doesn't belong. The little guy (Lykes) was freaking amazing; all over the court, pressure, 3s, wreaked havoc all game. I was super impressed with him.

4. Gophs were lazy with the ball on many occasions. I like the offensive movement but the handoffs were sloppy and led to turnovers. Gophs zero points off turnovers first half, Miami double digits.

5. Washington - I believe he has the fundamentals to be a good shooter. He's just not the answer right now. The 3 that was halfway down would have tied the game I believe or cut it to 1; that goes down it's a different conversation about him. Having him off the bench providing a spark is what his role is this year; next year he's the man. He will learn. Gotta take the good and the bad right now. He will get better.

6. Coffey is super solid; he forced a couple but he's the best 2 way player we have on the wing. Thread above mentions wing depth being an issue; totally agree with this. Lack of length and athleticism on the wing outside of Coffey showed against a team like this. There's a role next year for a grad transfer/other who can line up and play the wing.

7. Agree with other comments regarding switching it up and playing zone, however Miami starters were 7-13 from 3 so maybe hesitant to switch it up.
 

My son plays on a 5/6 grade school team. He's in 5th grade and I tell him all the time that his job as a first year player is to play defense and make other players better. Washington helped support that notion. The ball died in his hands and flow disappeared. However, Miami really played well on defense. Our guys were not comfortable all night. Learn from a November loss and change your best.
 

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