A couple points after reading the game threads

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rrjackIII

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Nolen - when he drives the lane he should be thinking pass FIRST otherwise get the ball to the bigs before he drives.

Westbrook - I am ok with setting up our offense with him as our primary option scorer. When he drives the lane he can think SHOOT first. (Maybe he can avg 40 like in HS. :)

Get the ball to the BIGS down low.

Yesterday before the game I thought Tubby was going to cut the rotation. We nearly had 11 players with dbl digit minutes (2 players with 8). Not that I want to tell Tubby what to do but I am about ready for an 8 or 9 man rotation and I think it should involve our JC Transfers.

Like Bob Knight says we could use more PATIENCE in our offense.

And finally, how many of us would have been upset with a 4th place position in the B10 standings more than 1/3 of the way through the season. IIRC Board consensus was Mich St & Purdue were 1 & 2. Then there was a bunch of teams and Gophers were likely toward the bottom end of that 2nd tier bunch. We have 5 new players this year and a couple of former walk-ons on the roster.

PATIENCE.

B10 Standings after 6 or 7 games.

Mich St
Illinois
Purdue
Minnesota
 

Excellent point RRJ

Disappointing outcome last night, for sure. With the tough schedule we have left Gophers can't afford to lose many more home games (if any) if we want the desired outcome (NCAA).

Bottom line is we're 4-3 and tied for fourth with Penn State. Hardly reason to throw in the towel. No doubt, these next two games are crucial as far as setting us up for the second half of the Big 10 season.

If Gophers get to 6-3 -- which won't be easy with nemesis Illinois on the horizon -- Gophs will be in pretty good shape. Main goal for the Gophers remains being in the top 5 so that we don't have to play on Thursday at the BTT. That would be huge. But if we're 5-4 after these next two I'm afraid the sledding to a first-day bye will be a major chore, especially if we continue to struggle holding serve at The Barn.

Let's beat the Hoosiers and take it from there.
 

"And finally, how many of us would have been upset with a 4th place position in the B10 standings more than 1/3 of the way through the season."

In addition, based on the last RPI rankings I saw, the Gophers are 3-3 against the top 50, with no losses outside of the top 50. For a team this young, that's not a bad way to go. Winning @Northwestern or tonight against Purdue would have been great, but if you had told me before the season we'd have a win over Louisville and a win in Madison at this point, and that we hadn't pulled any complete choke jobs against teams outside the top 100 (let alone top 50) I would have been pretty happy with that.

Next year is the year a lot of people were looking to for a big jump by this team. Anything that happens this year is cream.
 

Who am I to argue with Tubby and or coach Knight, but as it is a young team, I think the areas for coaching (especially for this young team) center around understanding the difference between rushing plays and being quick in your play-making. IMHO the team not only needs to be more patient as the coaches note, but also to run lots and lots of quickness drills. Still proud of the team and optimistic for the season. I also realize that Purdue is a very quick team. My two cents . . . . .
 

We still don't have a single shooter who demands a double team. Until that happens, we'll be fairly easy for quick, athletic, well-coached teams to defend.
 


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