***OFFICIAL ORAL ROBERTS AT MINNESOTA IN-GAME THREAD!!!!***

Donate To GopherHole
Can someone explain to me what's wrong with this team? I'm just a casual bball fan, but I was really looking forward to this season. The early season games had me pretty excited, but clearly something has gone very, very wrong. Can somebody break down the personnel and/or X's and O's issues? I mean, consecutive a$$ kickings, then a 1 point win over Drake at home (who got throttled by Iowa a few days later), and now a pitiful first half against a 4-10 Oral Roberts team that has already lost 3 games this season by nearly 40 points. I'm seriously perplexed...
 

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Purdue and Michigan State throttle their non-conference opponents tonight.
 

Pitino flippantly mocked the notion that everything went to pot right after the near fracas in Brooklyn.
But somewhere, somehow along the way, something has definitely gone amiss with this team.
 

Rally when lynch went out -(he has not looked good) konate finally in and d picked up
 



MGGopher said:
Can someone explain to me what's wrong with this team? I'm just a casual bball fan, but I was really looking forward to this season. The early season games had me pretty excited, but clearly something has gone very, very wrong. Can somebody break down the personnel and/or X's and O's issues? I mean, consecutive a$$ kickings, then a 1 point win over Drake at home (who got throttled by Iowa a few days later), and now a pitiful first half against a 4-10 Oral Roberts team that has already lost 3 games this season by nearly 40 points. I'm seriously perplexed...
Click to expand...

Teams go through slumps within a season. Kansas, Florida and Arizona have floundered. All three coaches blamed it on poor defense. Most college age kids think you turn it around by making a few shots. That may get that one player out of a shooting slump but defense is a team activity and never has to have a night off. This team will get that.
 

Gophers first half shooting and rebounding was not Good. I’m blaming adjustments to the new lighting.
 


Y'all are debby downers. Has it been perfect? No. But we had the lead up to 20. Can't play perfect ball every game. A few years ago, we would have been clamoring for a 9-3 (10-3) start. We will get this thing sorted out, it is a LONG season.
 



Breakin' The Plane said:
Pitino flippantly mocked the notion that everything went to pot right after the near fracas in Brooklyn.
But somewhere, somehow along the way, something has definitely gone amiss with this team.
Click to expand...

They're up by 20. Be sure to offer Richard your condolences next time you see him.
 

Was that Hurt making a 3 pointer? Perhaps the tide has turned!
 

Game changed when konate came in and the rest of the team picked up the defense - where has konate been? His not playing has coincided with the slide .
 

ForecastingAWin said:
Y'all are debby downers. Has it been perfect? No. But we had the lead up to 20. Can't play perfect ball every game. A few years ago, we would have been clamoring for a 9-3 (10-3) start. We will get this thing sorted out, it is a LONG season.
Click to expand...

Right!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 



Ugly last few minutes. Glad we are officially done with BTN Plus. The 57 viruses I probably got watching for free were worth keep my $14.95 from the rip-off artists.
 

The way Richard Pitino plays his players, allowing them to make mistakes and still having faith in them...This is a National Championship coach.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
Pitino flippantly mocked the notion that everything went to pot right after the near fracas in Brooklyn.
But somewhere, somehow along the way, something has definitely gone amiss with this team.
Click to expand...

They have not been the same since. They lost some of their swagger for the moment. They did play better in the second half. Something is off about Lynch though, he has looked like he is in a funk for several games now, his effort and timing is not there. I still think this team will be fine.
 

jrock said:
The way Richard Pitino plays his players, allowing them to make mistakes and still having faith in them...This is a National Championship coach.
Click to expand...

Finally, someone is watching the game. Thank god Pitino is the coach and not most of the folks on this board. It seems that the only thing this forum can understand is the score. Pitino is a gutsy coach. He turned the bench loose at the end, knowing they have to try things that don't have the same meaning in practice. Pitino teams improve to the end of the season. He even tells you what the issues are with some players. Joey King, the pump fake, low motor Murph. Washington's play is better. He lets them go. He is preparing them for the the season. I don't think he gives a crap if he beats OR by 40 points.
 

JCK said:
Finally, someone is watching the game. Thank god Pitino is the coach and not most of the folks on this board. It seems that the only thing this forum can understand is the score. Pitino is a gutsy coach. He turned the bench loose at the end, knowing they have to try things that don't have the same meaning in practice. Pitino teams improve to the end of the season. He even tells you what the issues are with some players. Joey King, the pump fake, low motor Murph. Washington's play is better. He lets them go. He is preparing them for the the season. I don't think he gives a crap if he beats OR by 40 points.
Click to expand...

Yep. I envision some of these people rubbing their hands together and screaming at the television and posting. Haha
 

howeda7 said:
Ugly last few minutes. Glad we are officially done with BTN Plus. The 57 viruses I probably got watching for free were worth keep my $14.95 from the rip-off artists.
Click to expand...

Why did you pay $14.95, when you can get a single school subscription for $9.95.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Ski U Mah Gopher said:
Why did you pay $14.95, when you can get a single school subscription for $9.95.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I always pay $14.95 for November. Why not pay $5 more to see any of the other conference teams for a month? I cancel it after November, though, because there are few games after that.
 

cjbfbp said:
I always pay $14.95 for November. Why not pay $5 more to see any of the other conference teams for a month? I cancel it after November, though, because there are few games after that.
Click to expand...

Mine auto canceled. I think...
 

Ski U Mah Gopher said:
Why did you pay $14.95, when you can get a single school subscription for $9.95.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Good question. Must have subscribed to the wrong one trying to do it on my phone. Either way, cancelled and got a refund. At least they had the whole game tonight, even if there were no graphics for the last 10 minutes.
 

I am becoming more and more concerned about this team with each passing game. One of the more alarming aspects of this "funk" is that we are not even seeing long stretches of an NCAA tournament caliber team much less a team that would contend with Michigan State for the B1G title. This is now a minimum of 8 poor half's from this team in a row. Yes they played better in the second half of games against Drake and Oral Roberts, but in both second halves they had stretches where they were outplayed against that inferior competition. If you weren't overly impressed with the game against Rutgers (and I wasn't), you have to go all the way back to the first half of the game against Alabama on 11/25(!) to point to a time where this team looked like it was deserving of its ranking/press clippings/etc.

I honestly don't know what the answer is with this team. Pitino talked about identity in his post game press conference and this certainly isn't the team that displayed a lot of grit, effort and defensive intensity of last season. The team is currently number 60 in adjusted defensive efficiency according to Ken Pom. Why are we seeing less of that intensity and effort from a lot of the same group of players than we saw last season? I could venture guesses, but they would be just that. Offensively, Ken Pom has us at 37 in adjusted offensive efficiency but IMHO the eye test shows something different. The ball movement that resulted in so many good shots last year (especially in the closing B1G stretch) is nowhere to be found ( losing Curry as our best passing big obviously hurts here) and it's a complete mystery to me why a group of guys that all played together last year can't seem to get on the same page and execute...this group should have an advantage over teams that have had more new/moving pieces yet they look disjointed at best in the half court. So much of our offensive success has been due to getting teams in the bonus and getting up a lot of foul shots...not a great recipe to win on the road in the B1G where the whistles are not going to be kind (as we saw vs Nebraska).
 

In a game like tonight we are missing Mcbrayer, springs, and curry from last year’s team and replacing them with Washington, Fitzgerald, and Harris.


We have an upgraded version of Konate and hurt I suppose, but this team to me simply isn’t as talented as last years. 8 man teams are better than 6-7 man teams.
 

I'm actually relatively encouraged by last night. Considering where the defense has been so far holding Oral Roberts to 38 percent from the field and 18 perfect from 3 is encouraging regardless of competition. Isaiah playing more of a composed game and Hurt having a solid night is positive for the future. Konate gave us a boost on defense for a stretch there too. The margin of victory is irrelevant in these next few non-conference games with development being far more important. Hopefully they come out of this stretch here a better defensive team and the guys off the bench find some consistency. We know what we have in the starters so the emphasis is where it should be.
 


EG#9 said:
The team is currently number 60 in adjusted defensive efficiency according to Ken Pom. Why are we seeing less of that intensity and effort from a lot of the same group of players than we saw last season? I could venture guesses, but they would be just that.
Click to expand...

I would say a lot of that has to do with personnel differences. Hurt and Fitzgerald are not nearly as fast, athletic, and intense as Curry. For the first part of the season last year, we had a fifth year senior who was mature, confident, and strong as a bull coming off the bench at guard. He's been replaced by two freshmen and freshmen usually have a lot to learn about defense. As to the returners, I don't know what's going on with Lynch recently. He looks like a completely different player (in a bad way).
 

jrock said:
The way Richard Pitino plays his players, allowing them to make mistakes and still having faith in them...This is a National Championship coach.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure of the spirit of this comment, but I'll respond anyway. Allowing his players to make mistakes was not his modus operandi in the past. As you may recall, he was pretty quick to bench players for making mistakes in previous seasons. I suspect his new found patience is dictated by the significant problems with the depth/bench this season. He probably realizes that he has to allow some of these players to develop more confidence and assertiveness or this team is a dead duck.
 

cjbfbp said:
I don't know what's going on with Lynch recently. He looks like a completely different player (in a bad way).
Click to expand...

Lynch is third in the country in blocks per game, averaging 7.9 boards, shooting over 56% from the floor and generally staying out of foul trouble. This team is not where it needs to be yet, but Reggie is not what I'm worrying about. Playing better team D and getting Dupree healthy are at the top of my wish list.
 

cjbfbp said:
Really? I seem to recall not cancelling a few years ago and getting charged for December. Maybe they've changed their ways.
Click to expand...

I’m pretty sure, I think the monthly subscription cancels it. And I remembered you saying you got billed so I tried watching a game in December and it said I wasn’t subscribed.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom