As fans - how excited are you for this basketball season?

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GopherLady

GopherLady

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I was out of town for Tubby's Tipoff/Midnight Madness/Whatever they call it - and was so excited to get back to my computer and check threads and details on the evening, and there were only a few posts.

I got to thinking - I feel like there's been a lot less discussion all around for this season, and I'm starting to feel not as excited as I have in past years...and was wondering if this was something others were feeling too?

Usually after Midnight Madness, there's lots of discussion, who impressed, who didn't, pictures, posts from phones during the event, speculation on starting line-ups, etc...and I just haven't seen a lot of that.
 

I am apprehensive about this season. I feel like we are at a crossroads of the Tubby Smith Era and things are going to break one of two ways- either we start winning, the Barn gets loud, and the practice facility becomes a reality, or the luster completely comes off the Tubby Smith hire and we are left with something resembling Bobby Knight at Texas Tech. We have so many unknowns that it is impossible to judge just where we are this year and the early training camp injuries that are sidelining Walker, Eliason, and Ingram certainly doesn't help our ability to judge exactly what we have.
 

EG#9 said:
I am apprehensive about this season. I feel like we are at a crossroads of the Tubby Smith Era and things are going to break one of two ways- either we start winning, the Barn gets loud, and the practice facility becomes a reality, or the luster completely comes off the Tubby Smith hire and we are left with something resembling Bobby Knight at Texas Tech. We have so many unknowns that it is impossible to judge just where we are this year and the early training camp injuries that are sidelining Walker, Eliason, and Ingram certainly doesn't help our ability to judge exactly what we have.
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Couldn't agree more.
 

I'm pumped. Checking here and twitter constantly for updates. Like always, I don't really have anything interesting to contribute outside of enthusiasm.
 

Always look forward to it. I don't let the amount and/or tone of discussion (or lack of it) about the Gophers/college basketball season influence whether or not I'm looking forward to it. Every season is a unique animal. I would prefer this one hold less (off-court) drama for the Gophers, but if it doesn't "it is what it is" and I'll enjoy the season nonetheless.
 


Gold Vision said:
I'm pumped. Checking here and twitter constantly for updates. Like always, I don't really have anything interesting to contribute outside of enthusiasm.
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Exactly!

I go into every season hopeful and excited for a big 10 championship. This season first year of all tubby recruits and hopefully more run and gun. Going to be great!
 

I'm hesitantly nervous. After Tubby's first year when he turned the team around considerably I felt like anything was possible. His second year he did not disappoint. As we've gotten further along the recruits are a little less exciting (though not bad) and the possibility of real disappointment seems more plausible.

I'm excited, but I have a harder time pouring my heart into it.
 

I am very excited and have very little to say other than my enthusiasm also. I just have a few concerns about the MM and its organizers. They really do a poor job of getting the fans fired up for this event. I can't believe that out of all the students on this campus, only 200 would show up for such an important event in sports.

Too much of sitting down got the players cold so they did not play very well during the pickup game. They should have done that 1st and then entertained people with NBA players.

Go Gophers
 

EG#9 said:
I am apprehensive about this season. I feel like we are at a crossroads of the Tubby Smith Era and things are going to break one of two ways- either we start winning, the Barn gets loud, and the practice facility becomes a reality, or the luster completely comes off the Tubby Smith hire and we are left with something resembling Bobby Knight at Texas Tech. We have so many unknowns that it is impossible to judge just where we are this year and the early training camp injuries that are sidelining Walker, Eliason, and Ingram certainly doesn't help our ability to judge exactly what we have.
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This is all true.

For me it's wait and see pending:

Off court issues- need to have zero of these.
Andre Hollins having a good year at the point.
Do we go more uptempo? We need to.
Is there enough outside shooting?

There is plenty of talent to succeed here.
 





Always look forward to the season, but it would be easier to get pumped if I knew we had a shooter and a go to guy for points in the clutch. I was much more confident last season, but as a Minnesotan I thrive on pessimism and then exceeding expectations. Go Gophers. Surprise us!
 

GL probably can't relate as a Packer fan, but I think the complete suckage of every other MN sports team (non-Lynx) in the last year has everyone pessimisitic in general. Also, the more casual fans view the collapse last year skeptically and it won't matter if we start 12-0, they won't buy-in until we win some B1G games.

Anyway, I am looking forward to it, as I think this is at least an NCAA team, but the constant threat of more off-court drama is exhausting.
 



I was at “Tipoff/Midnight Madness/Whatever they call it” I hoped to see Ingram, Elliot, and Mo in the scrimmage. Mo and Elliot are critical if we are going to live up to my hopes of finishing near the top in the Big Ten. The other obvious big deal is who is going to step up at pg.
As I watched some of the gopher Alumni who had NBA careers and think about our current players and I don’t see the star power yet. We seem to have so many options at many positions. It is almost like Tubby could only play checkers last year with the players he had but this year is it three dimensional chess (if that exists). Joe, Andre Hollins, Austin, Mbakwe, Williams, Oto all looked great at the event. Welch kind of went unnoticed in the scrimmage and Andre Hollins seemed to want to pass first instead of shoot but that might be just fine. Nolen never did more on the offensive end than run things right. I could not tell if any of our guards are Defensive stars like Nolen. In regards to Austin I kind of wonder if his growth spurt as a senior in high school affected his shot, he seemed to miss some bunnies and maybe he should try to drunk more. Last year I think he had a dunk off against Mbakwe when Trevor jumped over the motor cycle to then win it.

Signed Blindly optimistic
 

It's funny cause Tubby seems more fired up about this team than I've seen him in a while. And I can't lie, that does get me a little excited too. I tihnk last year's slide just left a bad taste in people's mouths, hence the hesitant excitement from many.

Give us an 12-0 non-conference and people will be back, watch. I for one am going to assume we're going 37-0 until proven otherwise and will be disappointed if we don't. :)
 

SS, somehow, I knew someone was going to post this. You are right. It seems like people in East Lansing and Lexington have nothing else going in their lives when they attend the madness.

Go Gophers
 

Monty519 said:
It's funny cause Tubby seems more fired up about this team than I've seen him in a while. And I can't lie, that does get me a little excited too. I tihnk last year's slide just left a bad taste in people's mouths, hence the hesitant excitement from many.

Give us an 11-1 non-conference and people will be back, watch. I for one am going to assume we're going 37-0 until proven otherwise and will be disappointed if we don't. :)
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+1,000,000
 

I'm incredibly fired up for this season. We are going to shock a lot of people.
 

I will say this for the 3rd year in a row, if no one screws anything up (transfer, ineligibility) this team could win a couple games in the tournament.

- We have a stacked front court. Mbakwe is a force and Sampson, if he plays even a little tougher, is the perfect compliment for Mbakwe. Walker off the bench when healthy is just unfair.

- Rodney has been disappointing, but is still good defensively and is an athletic freak.

- And our back court is unproven, but could be very deep. Austin Hollins was solid last year and Welch will be a nice addition. Not a flashy point guard, but a nice steady one. Mav provides good depth at the the point , and Chip is a good scoring option off the bench.

- Oh, did I forget to mention that our two big time recruits are ready to contribute right away. This team is fairly deep when you look at it.

Welch/Andre Hollins/ Mav
Austin Hollins/Coleman/ Chip/ Andre
Rodney/Oto/ Coleman/ Ingram
Mbakwe/ Ingram/ Sampson
Sampson/Walker/ Eliason

The lineup could shift a lot and I would be fine with it. I think some people will be surprised with this team.
 

I'm very excited about this team, and despite GW's wet blanket, I still am looking forward to this season far more than any other Minnesota sports season on the horizon. We have a ton of young athletes who are aggressive, and I think we're going to run, and dunk, and play an exciting brand of basketball. I like the assertiveness of some of our players. We've had too many guys on our team who are passive. I like that some of our guys seem fiery. Plus, Mav looked good, which should help us early in the year while Welch and An. Hollins are still learning. I'm very optimistic for this year. I think we'll be top-five and have a chance to make a little noise in the tourney.
 

I'm always happy to start watching Gopher basketball . There is plenty of time to get the injured players healthy for the first game. The starting line-up is intact and the new players should help.
The only sour note for me is the realization that Tubby is having no more luck recruiting top national talent to Minnesota than anyone else did. Hard to watch player after player choose other schools. This is why we have to land the best in-state talent.
 

GL asked:

'As fans - how excited are you for this basketball season?"

I will honestly answer this way...I am so excited that I am now changing and replacing my Depends at least one or two extra times a day.
 

I'm excited for the season to begin but worried about another meltdown type of year. I think Welch will be the X factor type of player. We need him to be a major minutes guy imo to get back to the dance.
 

figi said:
I'm always happy to start watching Gopher basketball . There is plenty of time to get the injured players healthy for the first game. The starting line-up is intact and the new players should help.
The only sour note for me is the realization that Tubby is having no more luck recruiting top national talent to Minnesota than anyone else did. Hard to watch player after player choose other schools. This is why we have to land the best in-state talent.
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I'd like to see more from Tubby in recruiting as well. However, I think you will like Andre Hollins a lot and he's not from Minny. We need the best from the state but that still won't get 'er done.
 


exicted for the season and college basketball in general but the reality for me is the team will finish in the bottom half of the B1G and a NIT participant.

too many questions surrounding the backcourt.

3 pt shooting is a question also. unlike some others I don't see Oto being any type of significant contributor once conference play begins.
 

scools12 said:
exicted for the season and college basketball in general but the reality for me is the team will finish in the bottom half of the B1G and a NIT participant.

too many questions surrounding the backcourt.

3 pt shooting is a question also. unlike some others I don't see Oto being any type of significant contributor once conference play begins.
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Luckily questions don't determine your standing. Whatever the answers are does.

And personally, I am excited for what we will see!
 

figi said:
I'm always happy to start watching Gopher basketball . There is plenty of time to get the injured players healthy for the first game. The starting line-up is intact and the new players should help.
The only sour note for me is the realization that Tubby is having no more luck recruiting top national talent to Minnesota than anyone else did. Hard to watch player after player choose other schools. This is why we have to land the best in-state talent.
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Part of that is cause while he is Tubby Smith, he's still recruiting to Minnesota, and since he hasn't had major tourney success, it's still gonna be hard for him to just lure players here like we all kinda hoped he would.

Regarding missing player after players, well that's a function of this new quick hit media world, where we know virtually EVERY player Minnesota has contacted so each time one chooses another school, it's like "well there goes another one". There's only two scholarships right now I believe, but they've talked to and offered many more players than that, so yes, it's gonna feel like a lot of kids are passing us up, and yes, there have been plenty of misses, but just saying, it probably seems even worse than usual cause we hear about so many kids linked to the U.
 

Tough to get excited after the way the team collapsed last year. What has Tubby done in his tenure here to convince anyone that our offensive execution will improve? He never makes adjustments and when things don't go right he throws players under the bus. I'm excited to watch basketball again but I have really low expectations for the Gophers.
 

Trust me, I was as disappointed as anybody with how last season went down, but I think it'll be tough to replicate the almost incomprehensibly bad luck we had last year. I'm excited, personally, but despite being a Minnesotan, I tend to get optimistic before being kicked in the teeth.
 

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