Arkansas thoughts

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This one stings in so many ways. I checked the score at halftime and was excited with what I saw. I went back to work and tuned into KFAN to hear jackass Dan Cole say the Gophers were losing. I thought this was one of his bits, but he was serious. I listed to much of the second half and watched the final three minutes. I didn't get mad, rather, I swallowed this one like a man.
Minnesota was woefully inept for a huge stretch in the second half from what I understand. After playing so well against No. 8 Syracuse, it was profoundly disappointing to see them get so thoroughly dominated in the final 20 minutes against an Arkansas team that isn't even projected to finish in the top four of the S.E.C.
I like the Pitino hire, but I think this game reminded us of just how long it's going to take to re-build this program. With losses like this, you start to look at the big picture and recruiting misses become magnified.
Finally, playing Chaminade tomorrow does this team no good. In fact, it could get downright scary. Chaminade is a very good DII team and it would only be human for the Gophers to come out flat. This is going to be a close game, and winning would prove absolutely nothing. This is a lose-lose situation. I would almost rather have the guys pack their bags, fly back home and get ready for the rest of the non-league schedule.
Yuck...
 

Recruiting misses only become magnified if Pitino and this staff keep missing. This 1st class they have only been here 7 months or so and were starting from behind in that regards.

The current make up of the team doesn't allow for Pitino's system to be ran properly without the athletes available to execute it. Need to take this season for what it is and that is a new system being brought in and some nights will go like this game and some other nights will be a surprise.
 

I would say the gophs phoned this one in, very hard to watch
 

Stuck at work, I didn't see a single minute of the game but I'm going to speculate;

Going full tilt last night in a game down to the wire with 7 guys might have had SOMETHING to do with running out of gas in the 2nd half of todays game? Before today's game, I saw from their team stats that Arkansas has been running 10+ guys for LOTS of minutes the entire season (10 guys averaging at least 12.5 minutes) and today's box score suggests more of the same. Safe to say that Arkansas was a LITTLE more prepared to play games on consecutive days.

I may or may not watch the DVR of todays game when I get home but I'd be shocked if the Gophers didn't just plain run out of gas.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Stuck at work, I didn't see a single minute of the game but I'm going to speculate;

Going full tilt last night in a game down to the wire with 7 guys might have had SOMETHING to do with running out of gas in the 2nd half of todays game? Before today's game, I saw from their team stats that Arkansas has been running 10+ guys for LOTS of minutes the entire season (10 guys averaging at least 12.5 minutes) and today's box score suggests more of the same. Safe to say that Arkansas was a LITTLE more prepared to play games on consecutive days.

I may or may not watch the DVR of todays game when I get home but I'd be shocked if the Gophers didn't just plain run out of gas.
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There's no way this isn't part of it. They had to know they were blowing their wad by playing a short bench in the first game of a three-day tournament, and that had to have been a strategic decision, the idea being that if you take down the giant, you get to put the feather in your cap. And then you worry about the next day the next day.

Long term, though, they can't continue to play an 8-man rotation and run the type of defense and offense they're running.

Still strange we haven't seen Mav. Even if he'd played, we'd still be 0-2 this week. I wonder if he's in the doghouse or something.
 


I'm going to stay optimistic and hope Pitino has this team peaking during big ten play instead of during their non-conference tournament.
 

Lack of front court talent is a huge issue, IMO. EE is a decent player, but not a Big Time one...Losing Williams and TM really hurt the team up front, and Tubs did not recrit anyone of real value to fill their shoes. I also think that frontcourt transfer not being allowed to play really hurt, I would guess Pitino was counting on him to help out.
 

gopherbadgerman said:
Lack of front court talent is a huge issue, IMO. EE is a decent player, but not a Big Time one...Losing Williams and TM really hurt the team up front, and Tubs did not recrit anyone of real value to fill their shoes. I also think that frontcourt transfer not being allowed to play really hurt, I would guess Pitino was counting on him to help out.
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Tubby did recruit a couple of guy last year, but Ellis headed to Michigan State and Foster to Texas Tech when Tubby got canned.
 

I understand why Pitino is playing a 2-3 zone (we are under sized and vulnerable), however the 2-3 leaves us out of position for weak-side rebounding. What we ran into today is an Arkansas team that is better than we are at the same style, which Pitino wants to play. Clearly Mo was rusty after missing 6 games. But...mostly...the same problem that afflicted last years team is still afflicting them this year. We have kids who really struggle to secure the ball and value possessions. Far too many turnovers leads to a number of better possessions for the opponents. We have to reduce our turnovers...period!
 



goldy93 said:
Tubby did recruit a couple of guy last year, but Ellis headed to Michigan State and Foster to Texas Tech when Tubby got canned.
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Based upon Tubby's M.O. Ellis and Foster would have played their best ball as freshmen and then digressed from there...
 

goldy93 said:
Tubby did recruit a couple of guy last year, but Ellis headed to Michigan State and Foster to Texas Tech when Tubby got canned.
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Ellis was a wing and Foster is averaging 7 minutes a game for a bad Texas Tech team. They wouldn't be an answer to the lack of frontcourt depth.
 

jaymil said:
Ellis was a wing and Foster is averaging 7 minutes a game for a bad Texas Tech team. They wouldn't be an answer to the lack of frontcourt depth.
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Very true, we would still be hurting.
 




gopherbadgerman said:
Lack of front court talent is a huge issue, IMO. EE is a decent player, but not a Big Time one...Losing Williams and TM really hurt the team up front, and Tubs did not recrit anyone of real value to fill their shoes. I also think that frontcourt transfer not being allowed to play really hurt, I would guess Pitino was counting on him to help out.
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He's not a big time scorer, but he is a big time player.
 



The thing that worries me is that the press wasn't working, the 1-1 offense wasn't working, and our zone defense wasn't working and there were no adjustments made. I get that there is a system Pitino and the staff want to stick to and it will definately work against some teams. However, if it isn't working against a team you can't just go down with the ship. You have to fix what is broken at points and the game or try something else.
 

Have to win the rest of the non-conference games and go about .500 in the B10 to make the dance now. Not going to be easy. I think an NIT run is doable and hopefully Pitino can recruit some talent to play his system in the upcoming years.
 

scools12 said:
The current make up of the team doesn't allow for Pitino's system to be ran properly without the athletes available to execute it. Need to take this season for what it is and that is a new system being brought in and some nights will go like this game and some other nights will be a surprise.
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Laphonso Ellis said "Arkansas' length, athleticism, and depth were too much for Minnesota down the stretch." I agree with you and him. We are undermanned athletically and will be against the majority of Big Ten teams.

Our press is relatively easy for tall guards to break, they just pass it over our heads and get breakaways the other way. In the paint, our guys work hard but cannot compete at the rim with teams like Arkansas and Syracuse. We've been dunked on about 15 times in the last two games. That gets embarrassing after a while, and I was hoping we'd knock a guy on his ass at some point to at least make him think twice. Teams are gonna be throwing lobs against our undersized forwards all year.

All of that said, this is Pitino's first year, and I trust him to do his best with what he's got in front of him. I also trust that he will do his best to reinforce the roster going forward.
 

Wow that was one ugly second half. You could easily see which team had the athletes.

I am disappointed with Hollins x 2 play. Andre looks sluggish, slow and lacks explosion. Austin looks tentative and lacks strength. We need these two to step up and play like seasoned veterans.
 

It'll be interesting to hear what Coach P. says in his postgame remarks. He's always been candid, so I expect we'll get some straight talk. As long as he's been here, he's always reinforced what I thought I saw out there, plus he adds insights and wrinkles I would not have noticed or thought of. I think he'll say we got physically handled to a degree but that we didn't bring the effort or determination from last night, which is pretty obvious. What will be interesting is what he feels this means going forward and whether or not we can compete at a high level with athletic and physical teams. Looking for some answers and insights here!
 

That second half was ugly but not upset about it. The difference in front court talent was pretty striking. Outside of Elliot, who from our front court guys would see the floor if they were on the Syracuse or Arkansas teams? I think some of the second half can be chalked up to fatigue. As for continuing to press, the coach is putting in his system, seeing how it works, still getting to know his team, and I also am trusting him to do his best going forward. Again, Andre is going to be the main point of emphasis for everyone we play. Stop him and the Gophers are going to have a really hard time winning. Only player I've been disappointed with in these two games has been Austin. He does a lot of good things but some of his turnovers are absolutely awful for a senior and the team leader.
 

Against Syracuse they nailed so many long jumpers and 1-on-1 shots and didn't create as much offense on screens and cuts. Though I LOVE the fact that essentially all the guards have the green light, it's dangerous to rely on hot-shooting to win consistently. But, you can't revert back to boring, stagnant Tubby ball that consists of weaving, passing, weaving, passing, weaving, passing, 15 foot jumper. There is a fine-line, and I think the goofy Gophers straddled the wrong end of it against Arkansas.
 

2nd half=absolutely exhausted. Can't play that system with a short roster on back to back nights while traveling to Hawaii. We have plenty of other problems, but the countless short shots, low passes and lazy mental mistakes in the second half were heavily influenced by being completely out of gas.
 

I think it's going to take some time for Pitino to get his players in the system (obviously). He needs athletic guys with long arms and defensive speed to succeed and right now he has about one guy that fits that mold (Austin Hollins). I don't buy the built-in "too tired" excuse because these guys had 24+ hours to recover and they are 18-22 years old.
 


howieramone said:
He's not a big time scorer, but he is a big time player.
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he is better than I ever thought he would be. But if EE is by far your best option up front you are not in great shape. Should have phrased my comment slightly different. ..big time athletic guy that can play a bit. But I understand those guys are not easy to come by.
 

tinyarch said:
Based upon Tubby's M.O. Ellis and Foster would have played their best ball as freshmen and then digressed from there...
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Why would they ramble on and digress? I would say they would have regressed before they digressed. But I digress.
 

Not gonna lie, I am hoping that pitino succeeds, but I am just not a fan of teams that rely to heavily on guards, especially in the B1G. Reminds me too much of last years Illinois team.You will have your moments when your shots are falling but you will also be very inconsistent. Everyone will have a bad shooting night, no matter how good you are, which leads to a lot of problems, especially during tourney time. You need bigs down low that you can rely on when your team is having a bad shooting day. Not a fan of seeing players just chucking up shots (ahem malik). I know this is only his 1st year not his players and what not, but he hasn't exactly picked up a big for the 2014 class, besides martin, and he reminds me a lot of buggs, more a 3 than a 4, and that is the position he wants to play. 2015 is loaded of good bigs that we can potentially get, but it just worries me that those recruits will be put off if the W's don't come from pitino. He will only be "hip" for so long before his resume will actually matter.

Also, the FIU recruit he brought over here with him was a joke. He is not a B1G talent and serves no purpose on this team. I have talked to a lot of people from AAU scene and they are all puzzled that he brought him with. One guy told me he expects pitino to "encourage him" to transfer after the season.

Sorry for being so negative, but I have been very excited with this program for a long time, and with the recent losses and the recruiting news we have had in past few months, it has completely killed my excitement.
 

Dr.Don said:
Why would they ramble on and digress? I would say they would have regressed before they digressed. But I digress.
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Don, you may digress, but at least you don't regress!
 

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