Andre's lack of explosion

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What happened!? Came across this highschool clip, but i think I've only seen him dunk one time in a game. He looks quick with a huge verticle.

 

PTalberg said:
What happened!? Came across this highschool clip, but i think I've only seen him dunk one time in a game. He looks quick with a huge verticle.http://youtu.be/Fds26owY29w
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I thought he looked better and had more elevation against SMU than he has since his injury, it takes time and might not ever be back to what it was.
 

I noticed too, I just had no idea he could throw down like that!
 


Great post, I was thinking finding this video and starting a similar thread a couple weeks ago. It amazes me how easily he was able to "East Bay" (between the legs dunk) and he certainly hasn't shown that level of athleticism as a Gopher. Nothing to do with his ankle injury, he's just never shown that type of vertical explosion. I remember when he dunked in the non-conference this season as it has happened so rarely. He still gets good lift on his jumper and is very physically strong for his size.
 


jovs said:
I thought he looked better and had more elevation against SMU than he has since his injury, it takes time and might not ever be back to what it was.
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yep.
 

Whatever he needs to do to get it back, he needs to do it. If Mo can lose 60 lbs last off season, Dre can work on his physical capability, handle and quickness. If everybody on the team improves, with the pieces coming in next year, it could be a very fun year.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Whatever he needs to do to get it back, he needs to do it. If Mo can lose 60 lbs last off season, Dre can work on his physical capability, handle and quickness. If everybody on the team improves, with the pieces coming in next year, it could be a very fun year.
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If that video doesn't show people how serious his ankle injury is/was, nothing will. Folks, take a look at the picture that was posted of his foot after he rolled it...he definitely tore some ligaments. I've broken my left foot and also had a high ankle sprain on my right foot....the recovery from the broken bone was much quicker and easier....NO DOUBT. A lot of people have taken shots at him for his performance after the injury.....we should be thanking him for gutting it out.
 

Andre had a pretty nasty injury at the beginning of his freshman year which slowed him down quite a bit. It may not have been as bad as this one. He may never have gotten back what we saw in the video after that injury. Andre has never struck me as particularly athletic. Even before his injury this year, quickness was never one of his strengths. A 100% healthy Andre is still not going to wow us with athleticism. I am very confident he will be ready to be his best next year. His best will be a great three point shooter and being able to take a guy off the dribble once in a while, not frequently. I also hope it includes solid defense that in most cases will require him to give his man a step, because he can't keep up with a lot of them. It caused a lot of fouls this year.
 



cheeseheadgophfan said:
If that video doesn't show people how serious his ankle injury is/was, nothing will. Folks, take a look at the picture that was posted of his foot after he rolled it...he definitely tore some ligaments. I've broken my left foot and also had a high ankle sprain on my right foot....the recovery from the broken bone was much quicker and easier....NO DOUBT. A lot of people have taken shots at him for his performance after the injury.....we should be thanking him for gutting it out.
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I had a bad ankle sprain as a kid, it never came back, it became a life long condition you learn to live with, there really isn't anything you can do to make it stronger.
 

You can build up the muscle around the ligament, but you cannot make the ligament stronger.
 


cheeseheadgophfan said:
If that video doesn't show people how serious his ankle injury is/was, nothing will. Folks, take a look at the picture that was posted of his foot after he rolled it...he definitely tore some ligaments. I've broken my left foot and also had a high ankle sprain on my right foot....the recovery from the broken bone was much quicker and easier....NO DOUBT. A lot of people have taken shots at him for his performance after the injury.....we should be thanking him for gutting it out.
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Great post. The shots taken at Andre since his injury have been ridiculous. He should not have come back that quickly. We don't win the NIT without him even though he clearly wasn't the same.
 



I agree with the comment he looked better last night when he did go to the basket. I thought SMU struggled to contain him when he was aggressively going to the basket. To bad he spent most of the second half taking three point jumpers. He was doing a great job drivind and pulling up in the first half. The injuy to Hollin's really hurt this team ad probably kept us out of the Big Dance but all in all it ended up to be a good year with the oppertunity for many players to grow and develope.
 

I could be wrong, but I think the OP was just saying that we have never seen that level of athleticism and explosiveness since Andre has been on campus. From my perspective, athletically he gets a pass for the latter part of this year, but the truth is I thought he looked slow and heavy-footed this year before the injury. I don't know what the deal is, but a guy shouldn't go from going between his legs with ease at 17, to barely being able to dunk on a breakaway at 21. He should be MORE explosive at this point in his life, unless there is something we don't know.
 

Wonder if we will learn shortly that he will be having surgery?
 

I think he needs to lose a little weight. He has always been a little thick since being on campus but if he was able to shed a few I think he will be able to regain some of that quickness and jumping ability from the video
 

Uncle Rico said:
I could be wrong, but I think the OP was just saying that we have never seen that level of athleticism and explosiveness since Andre has been on campus. From my perspective, athletically he gets a pass for the latter part of this year, but the truth is I thought he looked slow and heavy-footed this year before the injury. I don't know what the deal is, but a guy shouldn't go from going between his legs with ease at 17, to barely being able to dunk on a breakaway at 21. He should be MORE explosive at this point in his life, unless there is something we don't know.
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tonestang said:
I think he needs to lose a little weight. He has always been a little thick since being on campus but if he was able to shed a few I think he will be able to regain some of that quickness and jumping ability from the video
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Agreed, and agreed. That's what jumped out at me when I watched his HS video. And even if some of it is muscle, there's such thing as having too much muscle as a guard...especially if you shy away from contact on the drive like he does.

Considering Pitino's eye for detail and his emphasis on off season improvement, I would be surprised if Andre isn't an emphasis for him. Cue the off season workout montage.
 

tonestang said:
I think he needs to lose a little weight. He has always been a little thick since being on campus but if he was able to shed a few I think he will be able to regain some of that quickness and jumping ability from the video
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I agree 100%. He usually seems to be the one on the court who looks winded during dead balls too, IMO.
 

jovs said:
I thought he looked better and had more elevation against SMU than he has since his injury, it takes time and might not ever be back to what it was.
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I was too busy shaking my head at his awful play to notice that we had more elevation.
 

I thought he played very well the last couple games. He was aggressive and was making plays during both of last couple games.
 

Kudos to Andre for gutting it out and getting on the court at all this season after that low-life Badger backed into him after his jumper at Williams earlier this season. I expect him to follow in Austin's footsteps as a real leader next season.
 

I've thought about that video for years. I was amazed by his style of play when he came. I remember thinking, wow, I thought he was super athletic in high school. Even freshmen yr he looked super quick at times. Now he gets his shot blocked all the time, has terrible lateral quickness, and seems to never jump very high. I love Andre, but for as smart of a kid he is, he sure plays like an idiot when it comes to shot selection and timing (not all the time, obviously). I'll give the ball to Mathieu at the end of the game over Andre any time. He needs to pick his times and stick to what he does best: shoot open shots, shoot after going around screens, taking mid-range shots, drive at times but not force it, etc.
 

Andre is definitely not as athletic as he was in high school. He was more athletic in high school than he was as a freshman, which means he got too big or he's declining athletically for whatever reason.

For Andre to be better for us next year, he needs to lose 5 or 10 pounds, work extremely hard on his dribbling, and work on his quickness and explosion. Improving his dribbling will give him and the team the biggest possible return on investment of all the possible areas he can improve.
 

Andre's shot has regressed lately too which may have to do with the ankle. He shot 33% from the floor vs. SMU and only 1 for 7 from behind the three point line.
 

XMan said:
Andre's shot has regressed lately too which may have to do with the ankle. He shot 33% from the floor vs. SMU and only 1 for 7 from behind the three point line.
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He was inefficient before the ankle injury too. There was a 10 page thread about it. Which makes me hesitant to give him a pass due to the injury. I think it's something more.
 


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Just got done talking w/ Pitino. Said Andre Hollins will get hips checked. More than his ankle was bothering him. Never was 100%. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23gophers&src=hash">#gophers</a></p>— Darren Wolfson (@DarrenWolfson) <a href="https://twitter.com/DarrenWolfson/statuses/453930348879966208">April 9, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Pitino confirming that Andre had ankle and hip problems and never was really 100%. I think he'll get back to his old self as he rehabs and have a great senior year.
 

Myke said:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Just got done talking w/ Pitino. Said Andre Hollins will get hips checked. More than his ankle was bothering him. Never was 100%. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23gophers&src=hash">#gophers</a></p>— Darren Wolfson (@DarrenWolfson) <a href="https://twitter.com/DarrenWolfson/statuses/453930348879966208">April 9, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Pitino confirming that Andre had ankle and hip problems and never was really 100%. I think he'll get back to his old self as he rehabs and have a great senior year.
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Hope so. His hip has bothered him his entire career.
 

Myke said:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Just got done talking w/ Pitino. Said Andre Hollins will get hips checked. More than his ankle was bothering him. Never was 100%. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23gophers&src=hash">#gophers</a></p>— Darren Wolfson (@DarrenWolfson) <a href="https://twitter.com/DarrenWolfson/statuses/453930348879966208">April 9, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Pitino confirming that Andre had ankle and hip problems and never was really 100%. I think he'll get back to his old self as he rehabs and have a great senior year.
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Hip issues can be worrisome, hopefully it's something that can get fixed in the offseason and he's 100% come next season.
 

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