Al Nolen on Dre Mathieu: "He's definitely packing a lot of muscle"

[BleedGopher]

per the STrib:

"I've got really high, high praise for DeAndre Mathieu," Nolen said in a phone interview on Monday. "I think he's an excellent player, and person. I've talked to him a little bit and he's really a good guy, he's really a hard worker. Watching him out there, he's a great leader on the floor, a lot of teammates look up to him. He's great with ball handling. He can get down there with the bigger players and score down low. I think he's really going to be key for Minnesota next year."

Now, Nolen sees a guard working hungrily to take the next steps. Mathieu -- who made his reputation by fearlessly driving into the paint and taking on guys who towered, head a shoulders, over him -- has already added in excess of ten pounds to his compact 5-foot-9 frame, according to strength and conditioning coach Shaun Brown.

"He's definitely packing a lot of muscle," Nolen said of the guard that averaged 12 points and 4.2 assists in his first Big Ten season after transferring from Central Arizona College. "When I've seen him this summer, he looked a lot stronger, quicker, his jump shot looked great. He looked like he's really been focused and really been working hard."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/g...lvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#mM8lpjkfuK1yk0SS.97

Go Gophers!!

 

[bga1]

per the STrib:

"I've got really high, high praise for DeAndre Mathieu," Nolen said in a phone interview on Monday. "I think he's an excellent player, and person. I've talked to him a little bit and he's really a good guy, he's really a hard worker. Watching him out there, he's a great leader on the floor, a lot of teammates look up to him. He's great with ball handling. He can get down there with the bigger players and score down low. I think he's really going to be key for Minnesota next year."

Now, Nolen sees a guard working hungrily to take the next steps. Mathieu -- who made his reputation by fearlessly driving into the paint and taking on guys who towered, head a shoulders, over him -- has already added in excess of ten pounds to his compact 5-foot-9 frame, according to strength and conditioning coach Shaun Brown.

"He's definitely packing a lot of muscle," Nolen said of the guard that averaged 12 points and 4.2 assists in his first Big Ten season after transferring from Central Arizona College. "When I've seen him this summer, he looked a lot stronger, quicker, his jump shot looked great. He looked like he's really been focused and really been working hard."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/g...lvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#mM8lpjkfuK1yk0SS.97

Go Gophers!!

How is it even possible that Matthieu gets quicker? Great to hear about the added strength and jumper. If he improves and Andre returns to the Andre of old we have a great backcourt.

 

[GoodasGold]

per the STrib:

"I've got really high, high praise for DeAndre Mathieu," Nolen said in a phone interview on Monday. "I think he's an excellent player, and person. I've talked to him a little bit and he's really a good guy, he's really a hard worker. Watching him out there, he's a great leader on the floor, a lot of teammates look up to him. He's great with ball handling. He can get down there with the bigger players and score down low. I think he's really going to be key for Minnesota next year."

Now, Nolen sees a guard working hungrily to take the next steps. Mathieu -- who made his reputation by fearlessly driving into the paint and taking on guys who towered, head a shoulders, over him -- has already added in excess of ten pounds to his compact 5-foot-9 frame, according to strength and conditioning coach Shaun Brown.

"He's definitely packing a lot of muscle," Nolen said of the guard that averaged 12 points and 4.2 assists in his first Big Ten season after transferring from Central Arizona College. "When I've seen him this summer, he looked a lot stronger, quicker, his jump shot looked great. He looked like he's really been focused and really been working hard."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/g...lvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#mM8lpjkfuK1yk0SS.97

Go Gophers!!

I'm not sure that is even possible. Let's discuss!

 

[98VQueens]

I'm not sure that is even possible. Let's discuss!

It can't be muscle, but I'd have to check with the local expert A-Furry on that one. These guys are getting fat! Mo must be back at 320 by now.

 

[bga1]

I'm not sure that is even possible. Let's discuss!

He ate all peanuts- so he's good to go. Matthieu will not be a fatty this fall...

 

[underground629]

For a guy who shot ridiculous percentages last year, his shooting ability has really been brought up a lot. Obviously the sample size for jumpshots wasn't huge, but still. At least since joining the team, I don't see why his shooting ability has ever been questioned. If you can get to the rim and finish as easily as he does, I don't see a reason to settle for too many jumpshots.

Can't imagine him being more muscular; he was already a beast. It's too bad we only get two years of him. After just one year, he's already one of my favorite Gophers ever (which doesn't mean much since I'm not nearly as old as the average Gopher fan).

 

[bga1]

For a guy who shot ridiculous percentages last year, his shooting ability has really been brought up a lot. Obviously the sample size for jumpshots wasn't huge, but still. At least since joining the team, I don't see why his shooting ability has ever been questioned. If you can get to the rim and finish as easily as he does, I don't see a reason to settle for too many jumpshots.

Can't imagine him being more muscular; he was already a beast. It's too bad we only get two years of him. After just one year, he's already one of my favorite Gophers ever (which doesn't mean much since I'm not nearly as old as the average Gopher fan).

His shot selection from three point range last year was amazingly restrained for a guy who has such an aggressive mentality (and will shoot in big traffic in the lane). He shot exclusively wide open looks and even passed up a bunch of wide open ones. That had to help his shooting percentage. If his shot is even better- then perhaps he will pull the trigger a little more often. If successful that's devastating to opponents who are forced to play off of him because of his off the charts quickness. Agree - he is a favorite.

 

[BarnBoy]

Lil'Dre shot 45 three pointers last year. Here's the breakdown:

Non-Conference: 8-14, 57.1%
First 8 B1G Games: 4-10, 40%
Last 8 B1G Games: 3-9, 33.3%
B1G Tourney & NIT: 7-12, 58.3%

Good to see him end the year on the upswing...

 

[underground629]

A bit overstated, no? I agree with the rest of what you said, but he took a lot more contested shots than you're giving him credit for. In the beginning of the year, yes, he mostly got to the rim or took open shots. However, not that far into the BT season, he started taking a lot more contested looks.

He had the ball in his hands so often that he was often stuck with it as the clock was winding down. Those are basically never uncontested shots. People started respecting his game more as well, so he wasn't left open as much. Plus, he started to take a lot of midrange jumpers as the year went on, which I thought he did quite well on. Don't you remember all those shots he started taking near the ft line? He certainly was not taking exclusively wide open shots at the end of BT season and the NIT.

I definitely think his percentages will drop some this year, but that's also because I expect his scoring to go up a significant amount.

He shot exclusively wide open looks and even passed up a bunch of wide open ones.

 

[bga1]

A bit overstated, no? I agree with the rest of what you said, but he took a lot more contested shots than you're giving him credit for. In the beginning of the year, yes, he mostly got to the rim or took open shots. However, not that far into the BT season, he started taking a lot more contested looks.

He had the ball in his hands so often that he was often stuck with it as the clock was winding down. Those are basically never uncontested shots. People started respecting his game more as well, so he wasn't left open as much. Plus, he started to take a lot of midrange jumpers as the year went on, which I thought he did quite well on. Don't you remember all those shots he started taking near the ft line? He certainly was not taking exclusively wide open shots at the end of BT season and the NIT.

I definitely think his percentages will drop some this year, but that's also because I expect his scoring to go up a significant amount.

I'm talking strictly 3 pointers- so no, not overstated. He shot 45 3pt shots all year Andre, Malik and Austin all shot 170 plus 3 point shots.

 

[underground629]

My original post was about his shooting ability, not his 3 point shooting ability. I didn't realize you were talking exclusively about his 3 point shot until I just reread your post. Again, my point was that based on what we've seen, there hasn't been a good reason to question his shooting ability.

I'm not sure what those players 3 point fg attempts have to do with anything.

There's no reason for Mathieu to take uncontested threes. He doesn't have a ton of elevation on his 3 point shot like Dre Hollins, and he's tiny. I also really don't think him jacking up contested jumpshots would open up the rest of his game that much. He can already blow by guys with ease. I don't think guys are going to get super close to him on 3 point attempts when they know he will embarrass them even more when he flies right by.

I'm talking strictly 3 pointers- so no, not overstated. He shot 45 3pt shots all year Andre, Malik and Austin all shot 170 plus 3 point shots.

 

[WanderingGopher]

With the extra muscle I think we'll see him excel in ball screens even moreso (games like Nebraska last year showed some weakness) and finishing in traffic (I thought he did that pretty well last year as it was). I'll bet the coaches have him working a lot on his left hand this summer as well. That was a weakness last year.

I'm psyched to watch him next year, anticipating the possibility of a Dee Brown type year.