A Quick Assessment

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jamiche

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I was at Williams for about two thirds of the game and I think that it will be an interesting though uneven team this year. First the good. Sampson and Mbakwe will be formidable. It's that simple. I'm not sure how well they work together but individually they should be dominant. The new players will be very fun to watch. Hollins and Coleman are two of the most athletic players that I've seen in a long time and more polished than I anticipated. Now the bad. Big drop off after the starting five. Eliason has size but he doesn't look like he's ready to contribute. I think that the best case scenario for him is Jeff Hagen four years from now (which isn't bad). If Mo Walker can't play then the gophers will have to petition the NCAA to get six fouls for Sampson and Mbakwe. The free throw and three point shooting looked the same as last year. It's an exhibition game which means that it's fun to see the new players and do a little projecting.
 

It looked pretty bad from following the gamecast. One made three is a terrible sign as was the free throw shooting (2-8 at one point in the second half). The Gophers were dominating the boards, yet were only up by like 9 points with 4 minutes to play. It was clear the starters were way more effective than the bench as well. I will be interested to actually watch this game tomorrow night to see guys like Elliott and Oto play. I think most everyone expected the Gophers to roll by 25 plus and that didn't happen.
 

EG#9 said:
It looked pretty bad from following the gamecast. One made three is a terrible sign as was the free throw shooting (2-8 at one point in the second half). The Gophers were dominating the boards, yet were only up by like 9 points with 4 minutes to play. It was clear the starters were way more effective than the bench as well. I will be interested to actually watch this game tomorrow night to see guys like Elliott and Oto play. I think most everyone expected the Gophers to roll by 25 plus and that didn't happen.
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Don't watch the game if you're looking for Oto and Elliot highlights. Elliot looked really out of sync tonight.
 

Sampson looked great. Jump hook was dropping, jumper looked good. Tried to do too much at times, but we'll rely on him. Rebounding was better too. Lost his man a few times and allowed open threes. Mbakwe was a beast. Not much more needs to be said there. Rodney impressed me. Hit his free throws, was a bit more aggressive, rebounded, worked hard on D, and tried to go the hoop a few times. I'm not sure why all the love for Coleman. He works hard, and he looks for his shot, and he had a few nice finishes at the rim, but his turnaround J is not good, he loses his man on D off the ball too often (though his on-ball D was good). I think he'll contribute, but he's not going to be a major force this year. Austin's got something wrong in his head. His first jumper was nice, but his second was an ugly airball. His D is good, he works hard, but his offensive game is either out of control, or off. Andre was very impressive athletically. His shot wasn't falling, but his passing was pretty good. He doesn't see the floor all that well yet. I hope he'll begin to look for his shot more. Chip shot way too much, and was not good on either end of the floor. Mav was totally invisible. He brings nothing to the table. I got a little excited based on the last scrimmage, but I forgot that our defense is the only one in the country that gives up as many open threes as we do. Ingram, I'm sorry, is hopefully injured, because he is not all that athletic, and not coordinated. I was very disappointed not to see Halverson tonight, because from what I've seen, he is head and shoulders above Ingram. Ingram missed a layup, didn't look all that coordinated, didn't rebound, and is not all that athletic. A replacement for Trevor he ain't, and never will be. Elliot looked how I thought he'd look, which is to say, eager, and entirely uncoordinated. He shot too often, and if he doesn't shoot again this year, it'll be too soon. Ugly shot, no balance, no athleticism. I must say, he works hard, and seems to have a good attitude, so hopefully he'll improve, and at least he can give fouls. We need Mo back. Oto didn't touch the ball much (mostly because Chip and Joe were taking turns jacking shots up), but he missed a 3. Still wasn't bad. Played hard-nosed D, rebounded reasonably well, and made some good passes. I hope he plays more next game.

All in all, not at all an impressive night. Our starting five looked good, but our second five was horrible. I wouldn't be shocked if the second 5 lost to Bemidji tonight. We really need our frontcourt to stay healthy. For all the talk about running, there wasn't much of it tonight. Our three point defense is still awful, and our half-court offense is still non-existent. Our press didn't cause any turnovers. However, it's a first game with a ton of new guys. Hopefully we'll improve every game this year.
 

jamiche said:
I was at Williams for about two thirds of the game and I think that it will be an interesting though uneven team this year. First the good. Sampson and Mbakwe will be formidable. It's that simple. I'm not sure how well they work together but individually they should be dominant. The new players will be very fun to watch. Hollins and Coleman are two of the most athletic players that I've seen in a long time and more polished than I anticipated. Now the bad. Big drop off after the starting five. Eliason has size but he doesn't look like he's ready to contribute. I think that the best case scenario for him is Jeff Hagen four years from now (which isn't bad). If Mo Walker can't play then the gophers will have to petition the NCAA to get six fouls for Sampson and Mbakwe. The free throw and three point shooting looked the same as last year. It's an exhibition game which means that it's fun to see the new players and do a little projecting.
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That's about what I saw. Offensively, it wasn't that bad they played with decent pace - they just did not drain the open shots. This is not a big worry-YET. What did bother me was that they had trouble rattling Bemidji State on the defensive end and gave up a ton of open threes. But it's early and there is plenty of ability there. Getting Welch back will help and Ingram looks like adequate depth.
 


Was at the scrimmage tonight. Ralph looked good, his hook shot looked smooth and unstoppable. Dre Hollins (name he had on his jersey) is a real player and looked very good at point guard. He is smooth and makes the right decisions. It was nice to see the team feed Trevor under the hoop.

Don't fret on the score, they could have pulled away at any time. Tubby was giving the second team a lot of playing time.
 

The good to an untrained eye:

I think we'll like Andre as a point guard. He had a tough shooting night, but he looked confident and in control. Oto didn't do much but there were a couple of flashes. He went nicely to the basket once and he posted up inside strong once. Trevor and Ralph dominated as well they should have. Tubby had them applying full court pressure a lot more. They didn't generate that many turnovers, but you can see the potential. I also thought Austin had a decent game and made a couple of outside shots. The margin isn't that worrisome to me as they were in total control even when it got down to 9 points.

The worrisome to an untrained eye:
Midway through the second half, we were !7% free throw shooting and 14% three point shooting or it was the other way around. Joe and Chip are quick and aggressive and there might be a lot of turnovers when they're out there. If Tubby plays the same bunch as a second unit, it seems like Elliott is going to clutter up the middle for Chip and Joe. Rodney got some points but he still seemed to drift at times. Hope Ralph or Trevor stay healthy. Elliott right now is an early version of Jeff Hagen, Trevor Winter, or Bob Martin. He'll eventually help but still needs to get stronger and had trouble catching the ball tonight. As a unit, the second bunch lost their man on defense way too often. Again, the only way the Beaves could score was by the 3-point shot and it seemed like again we were giving their main threats open looks. We've seen it before. Also, Welch had a limp.
 

Trevor was incredible. Ralph played fairly well although his slow post moves won't be as effective against top notch competition. It was good to see Rodney shoot free throws well, however he was not very effective in the half court offense. Andre Hollins did not shoot a high percentage from the floor, but it is very clear that he is very talented. Austin Hollins had some very positive moments. My biggest disappointments were Eliott and the extremely poor defense against the three point shot. There were three point shooters wide open all night long.
 

I wouldn't wite off Eliason yet. One game isn't even close to enough of a sample size to fully judge from, especially since he hasn't played a game since 2010. Give him a chance to work off some rust and get back into the flow of a real game.
 



CDH27 said:
Trevor was incredible. Ralph played fairly well although his slow post moves won't be as effective against top notch competition. It was good to see Rodney shoot free throws well, however he was not very effective in the half court offense. Andre Hollins did not shoot a high percentage from the floor, but it is very clear that he is very talented. Austin Hollins had some very positive moments. My biggest disappointments were Eliott and the extremely poor defense against the three point shot. There were three point shooters wide open all night long.
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On Andre- every shot he missed had a decent chance of going in the bucket-no bricks. I am confident he will be a solid shooter. If that happens and if Welch also is a threat - then that really helps the inside guys. The other thing about Hollins was that he did not get burned on defense - he gave up one open three where he was late, but other than that looked good. I would like to see him bring a little more heat on the opposing PG but the kid is going to be real good.

This is a good incoming class, but Tubby is not going to be able to hockey line substitute with these guys. I think there are a lot of guys that will be fine when spotted in with the starters.
 


Piggybacking a little bit on some of what Jamiche said. ...

I don't read too much into the initial exhibition game. What I took from it is we have a couple formidable bigs (we knew that), but we lack depth after those two. EE is pretty raw at this point, not a surprise. If Mo can't play this year, it appears that will be a significant loss. Trevor and Ralph need to -- and should -- play a TON of minutes.

Looking forward to seeing Welch. Ideally, Welch & Hollins x 2 will be a solid rotation at the 1/2 positions.
 

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