Amelia Rayno blog: Tubby: Sometimes you have to recruit toughness

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I remember last year, it was a game that we had lost for sure so the other team was doing end-of-the-game FTs. The other team missed the FT and Trevor was going after it but Ralph was on his way. He pushed Ralph and at the end the other team got the rebound. Trevor was screaming at Ralph to be agressive. I hope that he will do it this year. I am one of Ralph's biggest fans.

Go Gophers
 

So arguably 4 of our toughest players in Tubby's tenure (Westbrook with the busted hand, Nolen playing injured almost 24/7, Mbakwe obviously all the time, Hoff playing through sports hernias) were not Tubby recruits; yet Joseph, Sampson, Williams, Bostick, etc. were all Tubby's "tough" recruits?

Please. Those guys are among the most fragile Gophers I've ever seen (physically AND mentally).

The more I read Tubby's preseason schtick, the less impressed I get with him. It's one thing to be hopeful, even confident, but if we actually wrote down some of the stuff he's said before each year it'd be downright laughable. In that respect, I wish he was a little bit more cautiously optimistic than Brewster-esque, especially since most of the "issues" or "problems" he has cited were of his own doing.
 

ShowinGoldyLove said:
So arguably 3 of our toughest players in Tubby's tenure (Westbrook, Nolen, and Mbakwe) were not Tubby recruits; yet Joseph, Sampson, Williams, Bostick, etc. were all Tubby's "tough" recruits?

Please. Those guys are among the most fragile Gophers I've ever seen (physically AND mentally).

The more I read Tubby's preseason schtick, the less impressed I get with him. It's one thing to be hopeful, even confident, but if we actually wrote down some of the stuff he's said before each year it'd be downright laughable. In that respect, I wish he was a little bit more cautiously optimistic than Brewster-esque, especially since most of the "issues" or "problems" he has cited were of his own doing.
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Maybe I didn't read thoroughly enough, but where did he say Joseph, Ralph, Bostick, or Williams were his "tough" recruits? I don't think he said that he only recruits tough players. I thought he was specifically talking about the newest recruiting class in combination with some of the current players and commenting on how they bring extra toughness to the team this year. I think you might be reading too much into it....unless I simply didn't read it correctly.
 

GophersOnTheRise said:
Maybe I didn't read thoroughly enough, but where did he say Joseph, Ralph, Bostick, or Williams were his "tough" recruits? I don't think he said that he only recruits tough players. I thought he was specifically talking about the newest recruiting class in combination with some of the current players and commenting on how they bring extra toughness to the team this year. I think you might be reading too much into it....unless I simply didn't read it correctly.
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I read it the same way. SGL is stretching. He was simply saying last years team wasn't tough enough.

That and he ignores guys like Iverson, Mbakwe, Cobbs and Walker to make his point.
 


Difference of opinion; I read it to be that Tubby now feels he needs to start recruiting toughness, like it wasn't something he was focused on previously.

Perhaps I read too much into it, but that quote, coupled with him throwing Williams under the bus, I just haven't been too impressed with his preseason chatter.

I hope we have a great year, don't get me wrong, I just think he could keep a lid on certain things that don't need to be said, especially if they will hurt an already fragile player's confidence (Rodney). What does saying "Rodney will never be a shooter" accomplish? It's a self-fulfilling prophecy; you get upset with him when he doesn't hit outside shots, but then say comments like that that will turn him into more of a head case than he already is and you wonder why he's lacking confidence.

When your head coach basically says you can't shoot from outside, how will that make you feel every time you line up for a 3 point shot? Maybe it's just me, but I don't see what that accomplishes.
 

Gold Vision said:
I read it the same way. SGL is stretching. How is Mbakwe not a Tubby recruit?
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Mbakwe is definitely a Tubby recruit. Im not a Tubby apologist, but I think SGL might be trying a little too hard to rip on Tubby. I don't see anything to complain about in that article. I don't see anything wrong with trying to boost your players confidence. Players play better when they are more confident, no?
 

ShowinGoldyLove said:
Difference of opinion; I read it to be that Tubby now feels he needs to start recruiting toughness, like it wasn't something he was focused on previously.

Perhaps I read too much into it, but that quote, coupled with him throwing Williams under the bus, I just haven't been too impressed with his preseason chatter.

I hope we have a great year, don't get me wrong, I just think he could keep a lid on certain things that don't need to be said, especially if they will hurt an already fragile player's confidence (Rodney). What does saying "Rodney will never be a shooter" accomplish? It's a self-fulfilling prophecy; you get upset with him when he doesn't hit outside shots, but then say comments like that that will turn him into more of a head case than he already is and you wonder why he's lacking confidence.

When your head coach basically says you can't shoot from outside, how will that make you feel every time you line up for a 3 point shot? Maybe it's just me, but I don't see what that accomplishes.
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I agree with your comment in regards to Rodney. Could have gone without that part. Shouldn't throw players under the bus, even if that wasn't his intention.
 

This is hilarious. clearly the en-vogue thing is to rip Tubby. Tubby absolutely recruited and signed Trevor, it's weird that you think Monson or Molinari did.

So thus, Tubby recruited a kid that is tough "obviously all the time." What's next, Tubby won't get credit for Trevor's player development but will get ripped on for Rodney's lack of player development?

Tubby isn't John Wooden but the picking and choosing when to give credit and when to rip has gotten out of control with Tubby as SWG shows in this thread.
 



Stan said:
This is hilarious. clearly the en-vogue thing is to rip Tubby. Tubby absolutely recruited and signed Trevor, it's weird that you think Monson or Molinari did.
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Are you sure that he's implying that Monson or Molinari recruited him? Maybe he's implying that if Crean had never left Marquette that Trevor would still be there. That, more or less, Trevor kind of fell into Tubby's lap.
 

gall0249 said:
Are you sure that he's implying that Monson or Molinari recruited him? Maybe he's implying that if Crean had never left Marquette that Trevor would still be there. That, more or less, Trevor kind of fell into Tubby's lap.
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YES!!! Now let's not give Tubby any credit for signing Trevor!!!! Yea!!!! This will be fun. So since we're playing the what-if game then we have to play the what-if game and note that Cole Aldrich said he probably would have signed with Minnesota if Tubby were here when he committed.

This game will be fun. Sheesh. I am not a Tubby apologist but this is insane.
 

I think Tubby's tried all he can with motivating Rodney and now maybe it's time for some bus action while there's still time. At least Rodney will know why his PT starts down. It's about a team not an individual. Everyone needs to be a part and sometimes the hometown favorites aren't particularly coachable. Fans brought Rodney in more than Tubby.
 

I didn't think we lost those games down the stretch due to a lack of toughness, but a lack of both execution and coaching. In many of those game, we had the lead down the stretch and failed to hold it because our half court offense was inept and none of our designed plays out of timeouts ever worked.

As for tough players, Tubby needs to stop recruiting 7 footers and focus on the Mbakwe types if he wants toughness. It is very, very rare, that you would describe a 7 footer in college as a tough player. For whatever reason those who are really, really tall rarely show the type of aggressiveness or grit that a 6'6-6'9 player does. Strangely, I thought Colton showed more toughness as a freshman/sophomore than he did as a junior but that could have been due to the consistent foul calls against him. The other thing is that it is rare for a player to be an exceptionally skilled offensive player and a notoriously tough player and Tubby certainly needs to add more offensive skill to his team, so there has to be some sort of balance.
 



Where is Rodney thrown under the bus? The only mention of Rodney was in the notes where Rodney said its a lot more competitive this year...
 

EG#9 said:
I didn't think we lost those games down the stretch due to a lack of toughness, but a lack of both execution and coaching. In many of those game, we had the lead down the stretch and failed to hold it because our half court offense was inept and none of our designed plays out of timeouts ever worked.

As for tough players, Tubby needs to stop recruiting 7 footers and focus on the Mbakwe types if he wants toughness. It is very, very rare, that you would describe a 7 footer in college as a tough player. For whatever reason those who are really, really tall rarely show the type of aggressiveness or grit that a 6'6-6'9 player does. Strangely, I thought Colton showed more toughness as a freshman/sophomore than he did as a junior but that could have been due to the consistent foul calls against him. The other thing is that it is rare for a player to be an exceptionally skilled offensive player and a notoriously tough player and Tubby certainly needs to add more offensive skill to his team, so there has to be some sort of balance.
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Completely agree, very insightful analysis. There are very, very few guys over 6'8" in college basketball (or the NBA for that matter) that anyone would describe as "tough". Although replicas of Mbakwe are hard to find, I agree that every team needs a guy or two like him who consistently give effort, and athletically can do some things to help out.
 

I'm not so sure what is really meant by toughness in the article, he talks about competiveness, and finishing games. The team without Joseph and Nolen did not play well down the stretch last year. I think it is about individual skills as it is about competiveness and toughness. Nolen before he got hurt took over games at the end and was a big part of beating West Virginia and North Carolina. Joseph did it the year before in the Big Ten tournement. Without those players they just didn't have that last year.

Players no longer on the team from last year:

Joseph
Nolen
Iverson
Hoffarber

Replaced by:

An Hollins
Coleman
Osenieks
Ingram
Eliason
 

Juicer said:
Completely agree, very insightful analysis. There are very, very few guys over 6'8" in college basketball (or the NBA for that matter) that anyone would describe as "tough". Although replicas of Mbakwe are hard to find, I agree that every team needs a guy or two like him who consistently give effort, and athletically can do some things to help out.
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Two of the most insightful posts. I forwarded them to Roy Williams so he won't be recruiting players like Zeller and Hensen. They are just waste os talent.

Go Gophers
 

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