B1G Game 6: Gophers Host Rutgers (1-12-23)



This was a horrible loss, they need a point guard and one that values each possession. I can’t believe this coaching staff cannot create plays to get Braun more involve. Free throws were atrocious.
teams are being really physical with Braun and shes struggling with that. Shes gonna be really good but she has to get stronger
 

Coquese Washington took the Nittany Lions to several NCAA births about ten years ago. With a Rutgers roster of 8 she defeats us. Not a good look.
 



no clue why Battle got bench in the 4th.. yes she wasn't having a great game.. but I MUCH rather have her out there in the 4th then Katie.. who either takes a dumb shot.. or turn it over.. once again that was her offense tonight... I believe in the 3rd had 3-4 straight TOs that lead to easy baskets by Rutgers..

Rose scored tonight but once again silly decisions by her once again late in the game.. gets the ball at the top of the key.. Mal was wide open didn't even look.. and drove to the basket and luckily got bailed out..

HOW OR WHY Katie was guarding Smikle is BEYOND ME.. like it wasn't like she got switched on her she was guarding her.. but did get switched...

Mara makes TWO early 3's in the 3rd and then we stop going to her? odd choice..
 

This was a horrible loss, they need a point guard and one that values each possession. I can’t believe this coaching staff cannot create plays to get Braun more involve. Free throws were atrocious.
I think Braun is getting the ball but she doesn't like to shoot with someone in her face and she is reluctant to take the ball to the basket. In the first half of the season, she was shooting almost 90% on free throws. She is capable of getting double digits on free throws alone. Not only has her outside shooting gone south, but she is now missing free throws.
 

Why is Katie B defending Schmikle? Really bad game management tonight
Rutgers seemed to see no reason for taking shots from the floor; the whole 2nd half they just dribbled in and shot uncontested layups. Can MN not change its defensive approach?
 

Disgusting loss. However, Heyer had a great game (18 pt, 7 rb, 3 ast). She seems to be the most consistent player this season. Rose had a good game too (17 pt, 10 rb). She does a lot of physical work for the team. The rest of the players didn't show up or play well for a whole game.
 



About the only thing I understood about tonight's game was Whalen skipping the radio post game interview. Gardsy kept promising it on the drive home; but finally gave up.

Rutgers had some drama of its own. Smikle got on Coquese Washington's bad side early and got pulled a couple of time. In fact, Washington had more bad sides than an octagon and she called an early time out to lay into the Scarlet Knight's play. The play improved (as measured on the Gopher scale) and Smikle took over.

Washington even pushed to the edge of a technical when Smikle fouled out and then, when Brown fouled out, Washington took a lap around the bench. She ran to the corner of the court, down the steps, behind the bench and then up the step by the scorers table. Sometimes you just gotta relieve the stress. It was funny. Unfortunately, for Minnesota, the stress of back to back losses to Wisconsin and Rutgers can't be relieved by a hot lap or skipping the post game interview.
 



Some quotes:

“The coaches gave us a blueprint, and we just didn’t execute the plan,” Micheaux said.

“I think they were just taking it more at us and getting buckets in the paint, and that was one of the things on the scout, ‘Don’t let them get their feet in the paint, don’t let them get buckets in the paint,’ ” Heyer said. “And clearly we didn’t execute that, so clearly we have to work on that moving forward.”

“We had some tough times of throwing (the ball) away and trying to thread the needle when it’s just not there,” Whalen said. “There were some unfortunate moments there.”

“We just need to hold ourselves accountable for our mistakes, and we need to learn from them and we need to get better until we don’t make those mistakes,” Heyer said. “Because we’re making the same mistakes. It’s about learning from those and moving forward.”
 


And another quote:

"Obviously our front line was good,'' Whalen said. "We have to see where we can help get [other players] good looks, get confidence going on some things. I've liked the balance we've had throughout the year. Tonight it wasn't there.'
 




Some quotes:
“The coaches gave us a blueprint, and we just didn’t execute the plan,” Micheaux said.

“I think they were just taking it more at us and getting buckets in the paint, and that was one of the things on the scout, ‘Don’t let them get their feet in the paint, don’t let them get buckets in the paint,’ ” Heyer said. “And clearly we didn’t execute that, so clearly we have to work on that moving forward.”


I'm going to say what others may be thinking.

What is going on in the organization of the defense practices where they cannot execute the defense plan?

A tennis coach can say, "I want you to serve close to the line but I don't have practices organized to be good at that. Let's work on side steps instead and disco moves for fun."

That above paragraph may be hyperbole humor and maybe not. It's fair to wonder.

On the one hand, Whalen has been coached by some good coaches over the years and was one of the greats, so it's not like she's a newbie like some people make her out to be.

But it's fair to wonder what is going on to prep these players.

Coach Bill Walsh in his book I read talked about how you organize and execute practices is how you perform in games. Max effort in practice incremental improvements.

Another example is tournament karate where if you practice pulling your punches you will pull your punches in matches.

I'm not saying that, because how would I know, I bet fans are wondering what is going on with the way this team is organized, especially on defense.

Teams cutting inside easily. Teams making layups easy.

It is odd that this team is last in defense this season and has been towards the bottom for years.

My understanding is that good defense, more than offense, can be less dependent on talent.

I will say that Borowicz guarding a forward tells us the defense scheming is either in disarray or the player(s) assigned to that simply are bad and not going to get any better any time soon so the Gophers put Borowicz on it since the regular was was a lost cause.

Rose keeps coming up in dialogue. I haven't looked at this game on video.

It's looking more and more like getting Sophie Hart was a stroke of luck. At the game she looked much taller than the rest and athletic looking.

My impulse is to rip the defense coordinator but how do I know.

The fact Scalia and Powell did well at Minnesota and declined after leaving tells me it would be unethical for me to blanket blame coaching.

If others have insights into WHY the execution is not happening, then share that. I don't know.

At the game several people in my section said the game made no sense.

I will say the program is playing with fire here.

And as someone mentioned, is it possible to scheme to get the rock star Mara Braun open, screens, picks... Her electric scoring can keep season ticket holders patient but she's hardly open to shoot.

I don't know.

I liked all the comments people posted -- like how Rutgers just went to the basket and scored and scored.

I do not feel like watching any video for insights of this garbage game.

Maybe it's freshmen/sophomore youth, maybe a player(s) who simply are not able to execute period, and then a drop off in talent.

Or/and maybe it's the prepping of players especially on defense. Or something else. I'm just writing what people are probably thinking.
 
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To summerize (there were multiple turnovers just like this one leading to Coquese Washington's 100th B1G win):


 

I'm going to say what others may be thinking.

What is going on in the organization of the defense practices where they cannot execute the defense plan?

A tennis coach can say, "I want you to serve close to the line but I don't have practices organized to be good at that. Let's work on side steps instead and disco moves for fun."

That above paragraph may be hyperbole humor and maybe not. It's fair to wonder.

On the one hand, Whalen has been coached by some good coaches over the years and was one of the greats, so it's not like she's a newbie like some people make her out to be.

But it's fair to wonder what is going on to prep these players.

Coach Bill Walsh in his book I read talked about how you organize and execute practices is how you perform in games. Max effort in practice incremental improvements.

Another example is tournament karate where if you practice pulling your punches you will pull your punches in matches.

I'm not saying that, because how would I know, I bet fans are wondering what is going on with the way this team is organized, especially on defense.

Teams cutting inside easily. Teams making layups easy.

It is odd that this team is last in defense this season and has been towards the bottom for years.

My understanding is that good defense, more than offense, can be less dependent on talent.

I will say that Borowicz guarding a forward tells us the defense scheming is either in disarray or the player(s) assigned to that simply are bad and not going to get any better any time soon so the Gophers put Borowicz on it since the regular was was a lost cause.

Rose keeps coming up in dialogue. I haven't looked at this game on video.

It's looking more and more like getting Sophie Hart was a stroke of luck. At the game she looked much taller than the rest and athletic looking.

My impulse is to rip the defense coordinator but how do I know.

The fact Scalia and Powell did well at Minnesota and declined after leaving tells me it would be unethical for me to blanket blame coaching.

If others have insights into WHY the execution is not happening, then share that. I don't know.

At the game several people in my section said the game made no sense.

I will say the program is playing with fire here.

And as someone mentioned, is it possible to scheme to get the rock star Mara Braun open, screens, picks... Her electric scoring can keep season ticket holders patient but she's hardly open to shoot.

I don't know.

I liked all the comments people posted -- like how Rutgers just went to the basket and scored and scored.

I do not feel like watching any video for insights of this garbage game.

Maybe it's freshmen/sophomore youth, maybe a player(s) who simply are not able to execute period, and then a drop off in talent.

Or/and maybe it's the prepping of players especially on defense. Or something else. I'm just writing what people are probably thinking.
If you've been around sports, you've likely seen poorly executed game plans quite often. It's something that coaches talk about a lot. More common with young teams, than experienced clubs that have played together for a few years. Brad Underwood of the Illinois men's team famously commented on it recently. Rose and Heyer of the Gophers were pretty honest about it in the post-game, when they basically admitted "we had a good game plan and did not execute it.".

Guarantee if any coach in any sport had the secret to getting their team to always fully execute the game plan, they'd get rich with that information. I'm currently working around a coach with a pretty young team and he keeps telling me, "I had this great group of seniors last season and they picked up on stuff quickly and instinctively knew how to fix problems and what needed to be done in most situations. I keep forgetting that this new group has never been through this and never really faced the level & variety of challenges that they're dealing with now. I have to teach from the ground up and repeat myself a lot more than I did with the experienced group and the level of understanding varies from day to day and player to player.". Sometimes the dog has to get kicked by the horse 5-6 times before it figures out not to mess with the horse.

There's an old boxers saying; " You can have a great game plan to win the fight, but if the guy breaks my nose with the first punch, the game plan can go out the window pretty fast.". It's frustrating to watch it in real time, they will eventually catch on. They are a talented team and still figuring out what they can and can't do. Some get it quicker than others and like everything else in life, improvement is not always linear.
 

I'm going to say what others may be thinking.

What is going on in the organization of the defense practices where they cannot execute the defense plan?

A tennis coach can say, "I want you to serve close to the line but I don't have practices organized to be good at that. Let's work on side steps instead and disco moves for fun."

That above paragraph may be hyperbole humor and maybe not. It's fair to wonder.

On the one hand, Whalen has been coached by some good coaches over the years and was one of the greats, so it's not like she's a newbie like some people make her out to be.

But it's fair to wonder what is going on to prep these players.

Coach Bill Walsh in his book I read talked about how you organize and execute practices is how you perform in games. Max effort in practice incremental improvements.

Another example is tournament karate where if you practice pulling your punches you will pull your punches in matches.

I'm not saying that, because how would I know, I bet fans are wondering what is going on with the way this team is organized, especially on defense.

Teams cutting inside easily. Teams making layups easy.

It is odd that this team is last in defense this season and has been towards the bottom for years.

My understanding is that good defense, more than offense, can be less dependent on talent.

I will say that Borowicz guarding a forward tells us the defense scheming is either in disarray or the player(s) assigned to that simply are bad and not going to get any better any time soon so the Gophers put Borowicz on it since the regular was was a lost cause.

Rose keeps coming up in dialogue. I haven't looked at this game on video.

It's looking more and more like getting Sophie Hart was a stroke of luck. At the game she looked much taller than the rest and athletic looking.

My impulse is to rip the defense coordinator but how do I know.

The fact Scalia and Powell did well at Minnesota and declined after leaving tells me it would be unethical for me to blanket blame coaching.

If others have insights into WHY the execution is not happening, then share that. I don't know.

At the game several people in my section said the game made no sense.

I will say the program is playing with fire here.

And as someone mentioned, is it possible to scheme to get the rock star Mara Braun open, screens, picks... Her electric scoring can keep season ticket holders patient but she's hardly open to shoot.

I don't know.

I liked all the comments people posted -- like how Rutgers just went to the basket and scored and scored.

I do not feel like watching any video for insights of this garbage game.

Maybe it's freshmen/sophomore youth, maybe a player(s) who simply are not able to execute period, and then a drop off in talent.

Or/and maybe it's the prepping of players especially on defense. Or something else. I'm just writing what people are probably thinking.
It is one thing to have great coaches thru out your playing days but another to be a coach. What about the assistant coaches? Is there a disconnect in practices? Communication?

Your post does raise very good questions/issues. How did they coach the players to an excellent game vs. Ohio State. Players after the game were frustrated they lost and said they'll learn from it but have then gone backwards vs WI & Rutgers. Wash, rinse, repeat.
 

It might be time to bring Katie B. off the bench. (I would start Maggie instead.) As the starting point guard, she's committing too many unforced turnovers and taking too many poor shots. She apparently sees herself as the teams first option, when she's actually the 4th or 5th. I think she could do well as a spark plug off the bench, however. And I don't get having her guard Smikle. Washington had to love that mismatch.

 

Now I am just going off the stats from the ESPN box score… the 3 main guards were off the court for 29 minutes so that is 29 minutes of reserve guard play…In those 29 minutes no turnovers for the bench guards actually no turnovers for any reserves in 47 minutes… take care of the ball or you sit… accountability it’s not hard..
 


It might be time to bring Katie B. off the bench. (I would start Maggie instead.) As the starting point guard, she's committing too many unforced turnovers and taking too many poor shots. She apparently sees herself as the teams first option, when she's actually the 4th or 5th. I think she could do well as a spark plug off the bench, however. And I don't get having her guard Smikle. Washington had to love that mismatch.

amen!

I was more frustrated from this game than any game so far. I fault Whalen in playing Katie so much when the rate of her turnovers and poor shot selection has not changed. She needs to demonstrate a change before getting the privilege of so much playing time and starting. Rose had assist yesterday but she passed up other opportunities to kick it out vs. turn it over. Whalen may be too easy on these players and as a result the improvement is stalled/backslid.
 

None of us know what is going on. Hopefully internal quality control knows.

If practices allow pickup basketball trash like Katie B's trash, then that trash is how they will play.

What are they doing for defense practice with effort since reps and reps and reps at full effort is what will occur in games. If they are practicing trash then they will play as they practice.

None of us know.

Maybe It's like practicing any athletic sport where lots of practice only yields slight improvement. Go and try to practice bowling a perfect game or a perfect tennis serve.

Ok, I am calling out the bad defense as suspect practicing and coaching.

They lost to Rutgers after losing to Wisconsin.
 

It's games like these why Gophers can't retain top talent. If things don't change, I believe at least two of the core Minnesota-born players (Battle, Braun, Heyer and Katie B) are transferring by the end of their 2nd year.
 

It's games like these why Gophers can't retain top talent. If things don't change, I believe at least two of the core Minnesota-born players (Battle, Braun, Heyer and Katie B) are transferring by the end of their 2nd year.
If we're not playing better by the end of next year, I'll probably transfer myself.
 

It's games like these why Gophers can't retain top talent. If things don't change, I believe at least two of the core Minnesota-born players (Battle, Braun, Heyer and Katie B) are transferring by the end of their 2nd year.
Katie I could see. The other three are locked in for next season. They wanna play with Sophie and Nia.

In terms of people saying Katie to the bench... it's been WAYYY PAST time for her to come off the bench. here is the updated numbers of assist/turnovers for each player.

Mara: 48 assists/49 turnovers
Amaya: 73 assits/55 turnovers
Isabelle Gradwell: 16 assists/12 turnovers
Mi'Cole Cayton: 16 assists/11 turnovers
Heyer: 20 assists/24 turnovers
Rose: 8 assists/47 turnovers
Katie: 55 assists/66 turnovers
Oberg: 17 assists/14 turnovers

VERY CLEAR AMAYA AND MARA SHOULD BE HANDLING THE BALL.
 

I would probably start Gradwell over Katie B for the time being since she plays under control and hope Katie can start playing better and bring a spark off the bench which they they really need. At this point the staff is gonna need to figure out if they should take a transfer guard or not (I would). The 3rd guard spot and depth must be upgraded in a big way for next year. I feel good about the 4 and 5 spots with Heyer and Rose and Holloway and Hart coming next year but guard depth likely needs to be addressed unless they are really high on some of the freshman coming in.
 

Ok is it considered abuse if the coaches make the players take a basketball and have to retain it for 24 hours? Go to class with it, shower with it eat with it etc…Value the basketball it will make winning so much easier!
I, toO lean with starting Gradwell or Maggie over Katie B right now. Maggie gets to the FT line quite often, doesn’t always make’em but it’s certainly better than a TO.
 

I would probably start Gradwell over Katie B for the time being since she plays under control and hope Katie can start playing better and bring a spark off the bench which they they really need. At this point the staff is gonna need to figure out if they should take a transfer guard or not (I would). The 3rd guard spot and depth must be upgraded in a big way for next year. I feel good about the 4 and 5 spots with Heyer and Rose and Holloway and Hart coming next year but guard depth likely needs to be addressed unless they are really high on some of the freshman coming in.
Cayton would be a good option too. Cayton has a similar defensive presence but lacks the outside scoring threat but generally makes better decisions. She has had her moments where she has forced shots but is generally better. Another problem with Katie is some of her shots are so rushed and attempted amongst the "trees," these are effectively turnovers too.
 

Now I am just going off the stats from the ESPN box score… the 3 main guards were off the court for 29 minutes so that is 29 minutes of reserve guard play…In those 29 minutes no turnovers for the bench guards actually no turnovers for any reserves in 47 minutes… take care of the ball or you sit… accountability it’s not hard..
yes how many points did the bench score...
 





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