***OFFICIAL MINNESOTA AT PENN STATE IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

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gregbrady said:
Been to Happy Valley once, beautiful place but hard to get to, especially on a weeknight. 2.5 hours from Pittsburgh & 3 hours from Philly. Can see why they would want to play a few games in their old, smaller gym each year.
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They should admit defeat and play every game in their old rec hall.

Bryce Jordan Center sucks, isn't a draw, and is wayyyy to big for them.
 

How do you convince "kids today" that they need to play defense to win? As other have said, when this team plays defense, they can be very good to excellent.
 


MNVCGUY said:
Didn't get the chance to watch live but watched a recording of the game. Rigsby was massive last night. Feel good for the kid to have a great game like that in what I am sure has been a really frustrating season for him.

Bummer Dawson couldn't sink that final free throw to keep the 20 point streak alive.

Solid road win over a team that we can match up well against. Especially when they are missing their center. If we can sweep PSU it will definitely increase our odds of qualifying for the BTT.
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I’ll put Penn State into the Washington category. We should have beaten them but lost at home. Nits in same category unless they start mailing it in. The bottom of the league battle begs the question if teams give up or go into high gear to avoid the basement. In the past, they could mail it in and still get the trip to post season. Not anymore and I’m curious how that affects teams. State is a classic example of a high risk of quitting in the past losing so many close games and losing good players.
 

Ewert86PC said:
How do you convince "kids today" that they need to play defense to win? As other have said, when this team plays defense, they can be very good to excellent.
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If that's a serious question, the serious answer is ask the players whether they want to win. And, of course, make sure they're on board with it when you're recruiting them.
 


Ewert86PC said:
How do you convince "kids today" that they need to play defense to win? As other have said, when this team plays defense, they can be very good to excellent.
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Think it is less about convincing them to play defense and more about figuring out how to get a consistent effort out of them.

In the end, the only real way to convince guys to do things is with a legit threat of losing playing time if they don't do what is asked.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Little late. He's a senior. (First year was JUCO, so he might be able to come back next year)

Crazy is that he played 36 games last year and 21 the year prior. He can't get off the bench lately but has a perfect shooting night when he plays.
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Next season we will see almost all new players besides 4 or 5. Eligibility is up for most. It will be a very interesting off season to see if we can recruit better players with the assumed larger pot of NIL funds.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Think it is less about convincing them to play defense and more about figuring out how to get a consistent effort out of them.

In the end, the only real way to convince guys to do things is with a legit threat of losing playing time if they don't do what is asked.
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Since these players are now treated as employees...

"You're fired!"
 

ShushPush said:
Next season we will see almost all new players besides 4 or 5. Eligibility is up for most. It will be a very interesting off season to see if we can recruit better players with the assumed larger pot of NIL funds.
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Ben I hear you callin…..
 



BarnBurner said:
If Mn wants to win, turn those thoughts up.
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The problem with that is that MN will not out pay the likes of some of the bigger players that will be bidding for his services. Unfortunately that is the case.
 


RockChalk said:
The problem with that is that MN will not out pay the likes of some of the bigger players that will be bidding for his services. Unfortunately that is the case.
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Perhaps. That tells me Mn administration isn't ready to compete.
 




UpAndUnder43 said:
Bet on the gophers winning and Garcia scoring a lot of points. Seems like the only logical way for them to win is Garcia scoring a lot.
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They made a good point on the broadcast the other night, Garcia will be Garcia, but we need somebody else to step up each game. This time it was Brennan!
 


Gophers7633 said:
Awesome win. Nice to see Rigsby come off the bench and play well. Take care of the other game against PSU and beat NW, and that's probably enough to make the B1G tournament, even if we lost every other game due to having the head to head.
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He was very helpful when it came to breaking the press by presenting himself as a target and preventing a turnover. Was very refreshing to see.
ShushPush said:
Next season we will see almost all new players besides 4 or 5. Eligibility is up for most. It will be a very interesting off season to see if we can recruit better players with the assumed larger pot of NIL funds.
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Have to assume that we'll get a few better players than this past off-season. Can probably Asuma Isaac is staying. 3 incoming freshman with 1 looking like he can contribute. Frank has 1 season left, Betts is 50/50, Grove will be a sophomore, Cochran is 50/50 I think ( I hope so. He could probably be a starter.) Whether Ben is back or not, next year's team should be better.
 


JZABR said:
He was very helpful when it came to breaking the press by presenting himself as a target and preventing a turnover. Was very refreshing to see.

Have to assume that we'll get a few better players than this past off-season. Can probably Asuma Isaac is staying. 3 incoming freshman with 1 looking like he can contribute. Frank has 1 season left, Betts is 50/50, Grove will be a sophomore, Cochran is 50/50 I think ( I hope so. He could probably be a starter.) Whether Ben is back or not, next year's team should be better.
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Johnson being fired will leave the team player less with the exception of maybe Asuma and Groves. I would think with the portal everyone else will leave. If the team is better next year it will be with a new coach. Bring back the same coach and it will be same old same old. SHEEETY
 

JZABR said:
He was very helpful when it came to breaking the press by presenting himself as a target and preventing a turnover. Was very refreshing to see.

Have to assume that we'll get a few better players than this past off-season. Can probably Asuma Isaac is staying. 3 incoming freshman with 1 looking like he can contribute. Frank has 1 season left, Betts is 50/50, Grove will be a sophomore, Cochran is 50/50 I think ( I hope so. He could probably be a starter.) Whether Ben is back or not, next year's team should be better.
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I see no reason to think next year’s team will be better. They will be very young. Grove hasn’t played at all. Betts plays sparingly in his third year, though he is only two years from leaving high school. They will need to bring in at least four significant transfers to complete, and hope the freshmen can help. As always, we hope that a couple of good Minnesota players will transfer back.
 

JZABR said:
He was very helpful when it came to breaking the press by presenting himself as a target and preventing a turnover. Was very refreshing to see.

Have to assume that we'll get a few better players than this past off-season. Can probably Asuma Isaac is staying. 3 incoming freshman with 1 looking like he can contribute. Frank has 1 season left, Betts is 50/50, Grove will be a sophomore, Cochran is 50/50 I think ( I hope so. He could probably be a starter.) Whether Ben is back or not, next year's team should be better.
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Asuma is the only meaningful returning player and the odds of Ben getting anyone in the portal as good as Garcia are remote. They would likely be worse. And they're already dead last in the B1G in net ranking now.
 

JZABR said:
He was very helpful when it came to breaking the press by presenting himself as a target and preventing a turnover. Was very refreshing to see.

Have to assume that we'll get a few better players than this past off-season. Can probably Asuma Isaac is staying. 3 incoming freshman with 1 looking like he can contribute. Frank has 1 season left, Betts is 50/50, Grove will be a sophomore, Cochran is 50/50 I think ( I hope so. He could probably be a starter.) Whether Ben is back or not, next year's team should be better.
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Next year is a major rebuild. How you can assert that the team should be better, I don't know how that could be unless we end up with an incoming class like Michigan had with the Fab Five. I don't think that is going to happen.
 

ShushPush said:
Next year is a major rebuild. How you can assert that the team should be better, I don't know how that could be unless we end up with an incoming class like Michigan had with the Fab Five. I don't think that is going to happen.
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Kris Keinys. It really has been hodge podge.
 


Bad Gopher said:
If that's a serious question, the serious answer is ask the players whether they want to win. And, of course, make sure they're on board with it when you're recruiting them.
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Yes, winning! Most kids are recruited based on offensive skills and being a selfless teammate. Offensive skills are more valued/rare, while defending is more about effort and willingness to learn. Thus, a defender can be “made” but its harder to develop offensive ability/shooting. Agree?
 

SplitDecision said:
Yes, winning! Most kids are recruited based on offensive skills and being a selfless teammate. Offensive skills are more valued/rare, while defending is more about effort and willingness to learn. Thus, a defender can be “made” but its harder to develop offensive ability/shooting. Agree?
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If that is the case, the only players I would recruit are the kids that know defense. It would be self-evident that they already developed their offensive skills.
 

ShushPush said:
If that is the case, the only players I would recruit are the kids that know defense. It would be self-evident that they already developed their offensive skills.
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In my experience it's been WAY easier to teach a good offensive player to be good defensively than than it's been to teach a good defensive player to be good offensively. A lot of defense is just hard work and positioning, a lot of offensive is more skill based
 

Ski-U-Ham said:
In my experience it's been WAY easier to teach a good offensive player to be good defensively than than it's been to teach a good defensive player to be good offensively. A lot of defense is just hard work and positioning, a lot of offensive is more skill based
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Out of all of these ideas, it still boils down to this. If you have to teach a player how to play either offensively or defensively very much, that player is not D1 ready. That player is a waste of time and money. Coaching is like prepping a player's mind to anticipate memories already deeply ingrained in their minds to be recalled and executed a microsecond faster than if the mind had to strategize and recall it on its own. The greatest players are gym rats with dynamic lives.
 

JZABR said:
He was very helpful when it came to breaking the press by presenting himself as a target and preventing a turnover. Was very refreshing to see.

Have to assume that we'll get a few better players than this past off-season. Can probably Asuma Isaac is staying. 3 incoming freshman with 1 looking like he can contribute. Frank has 1 season left, Betts is 50/50, Grove will be a sophomore, Cochran is 50/50 I think ( I hope so. He could probably be a starter.) Whether Ben is back or not, next year's team should be better.
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I’m doubtful they get better under this scenario. I’m also doubtful that any of the players with remaining eligibility would stay with the program in a coaching transition. It’s fair to stay in the pay for play era that there is no rebuilding as most of us understand it. Most programs will be in perpetual rebuild. The right coach then makes it possible to get better quickly.
 

Bobek said:
I see no reason to think next year’s team will be better. They will be very young. Grove hasn’t played at all. Betts plays sparingly in his third year, though he is only two years from leaving high school. They will need to bring in at least four significant transfers to complete, and hope the freshmen can help. As always, we hope that a couple of good Minnesota players will transfer back.
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That's what I'm implying, whether it'll be Minnesota players or just better players in general. Jefferson is a 4 star recruit who's killing it this year and gives me reason to believe he'll be given as much playing time to grow as Asuma. Evans is super athletic and Shinholster is athletic defensive wing but I don't think they'd get the run that Jefferson will if we bring in transfers. That's likely hinging on the coach too in the likelihood that it's not CBJ
 

JZABR said:
Have to assume that we'll get a few better players than this past off-season. Can probably Asuma Isaac is staying. 3 incoming freshman with 1 looking like he can contribute. Frank has 1 season left, Betts is 50/50, Grove will be a sophomore, Cochran is 50/50 I think ( I hope so. He could probably be a starter.) Whether Ben is back or not, next year's team should be better.
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All for being optimistic but think it is a pretty big stretch to think next year's team should be better (at least as things stand right now).

Get the right coach who can bring a player or two with him and get some impact transfers and the opportunity is there to improve. But whoever the next coach is, he is not going to be inheriting much of anything from the current roster outside of Asuma (assuming he sticks around).
 

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