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cheeseheadgophfan

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They are undersized. They are ridiculously short-handed. They lack a ton of talent...but

They play so hard. They play within the system. They share the ball. They seem to have great chemistry. They all know their roles and play it to the best of what they have.

I watched the San Fran and Santa Clara and was never so disgusted watching Gopher basketball. I predicted they would go winless in B10 and I was dead serious. They have surpassed my expectations 100 times over. I didn't think Langston Reynolds was worthy of playing at the YMCA and he is now one of my favorite players to watch. He's down low on FT's boxing out against 7 footers and playing his ass off.

How many really good Gopher teams have we seen go into Illinois and get blown off the court? A lot. And they got ZERO help from the refs today.

We have a coach. He has a system that I think would think would be very attractive to play in. If we can at least be competitive in terms of NIL, we are about to return to some good times for Gopher basketball. I've forgotten what March Madness is like. We will be there soon.
 



Six guys that battle their asses off, what could have been without the injuries
 

cheeseheadgophfan said:
They are undersized. They are ridiculously short-handed. They lack a ton of talent...but

They play so hard. They play within the system. They share the ball. They seem to have great chemistry. They all know their roles and play it to the best of what they have.

I watched the San Fran and Santa Clara and was never so disgusted watching Gopher basketball. I predicted they would go winless in B10 and I was dead serious. They have surpassed my expectations 100 times over. I didn't think Langston Reynolds was worthy of playing at the YMCA and he is now one of my favorite players to watch. He's down low on FT's boxing out against 7 footers and playing his ass off.

How many really good Gopher teams have we seen go into Illinois and get blown off the court? A lot. And they got ZERO help from the refs today.

We have a coach. He has a system that I think would think would be very attractive to play in. If we can at least be competitive in terms of NIL, we are about to return to some good times for Gopher basketball. I've forgotten what March Madness is like. We will be there soon.
Click to expand...
100%
 




Agree with everything in the op. They play so hard and play as a team! Extremely well coached and the effort is always there. Of course I wish the USC and Wisconsin games turned out differently, but the foundation is really being set by this squad for the future.
 

We could easily have 2,3 more wins in conference. Lost by a total 14 points in the last 3 games. This team is fun to root for. It really is Team Together.
Out west, I was so frustrated that I shut the Santa Clara game when it was a 30+ point deficit. I know i don't speak for myself either.
But they turned a corner, developed some real great chemistry, they share the ball and they get the most out of the talent they got. Do I wish they would have a slightly bigger rotation with Turner clogging up the paint or just providing some size? Absolutely. But I trust Niko. If we can get to some post season tournament, I'd say that's a massive overachievment. The style plus the NIL should be able to attract some real nice talent and bigger crowds. Fans like us appreciate hustle and playing the game the right way.
 



We’ve played somewhere between competitively and well for 13 of the 14 Big Ten halves so far this season. More wins to come if we continue to play at this level.
 

What seems to clear to me is guys get better during the season under Niko and during his previous stops guys got better year to year. You look at Roddy, Clifford, Stephens and Tonje, none of them were obvious NBA guys or the top contributer on the team when they got to CSU. JCJ may be challenging Tyson for best player on the team now, I would expect him and Asuma to take steps as leaders next year with Durkin, Shainholster and Grove being solid role players. I did think Willis provided good energy at the start of the year and Vailola he had a six sense for the ball when it came to rebounding, and was a good passer with good hands to run the offense through. It'll depend how well they both bounce back from their injuries. Omot a complete wild card, I doubt he's the same guy he was at UND after two years of injuries. I think Anderson will be the most ready of freshman to contribute. The big man is raw and will need a year but very athletic and great potential, will bring more to the table than Turner but not enough for major minutes. Tomes has an abily to fill it up that none of our guards currently possess. As Clem would always say you can run all the offense you want but against good teams you need a guy who can bail you out when the offense breaks down. We don't have a shooter like that right now and Tomes won't be that next year, but if he can adjust to the level of play and play good defense, he's small and that's inevitably going to hurt him at times, but if he's in the right spots, I think he can be a really good player as an upperclassmen. Still think 7-13 with how depleted our roster is but if Niko can continue to develop guys like he did at CSU and factoring in how Tyson has done, that will be a good selling point in the portal, I think he can increase the talent level here. Thorson knows defense, Niko knows offense, we are in good hands.
 


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