B1G Game 8: Gophers Visit Penn State (1-18-23)

Maybe the freshmen will eventually figure it out like Rose seems to have done.
As someone who spent many years advising and teaching college students, most college students grow (maturity and intellectually) more in the summer after their freshman year than any other time in college. They do some reflecting and soul searching after the difficult freshman year. I think Rose has done that. It will be exciting to see how our freshmen develop by next season. Go Gophers.
 

As someone who spent many years advising and teaching college students, most college students grow (maturity and intellectually) more in the summer after their freshman year than any other time in college. They do some reflecting and soul searching after the difficult freshman year. I think Rose has done that. It will be exciting to see how our freshmen develop by next season. Go Gophers.
also feel like it's true there a FRESHMAN wall.. and it kind of feels like they are all hitting it at the same time.. hopefully after the Purdue game.. they will have a week between games..
 

also feel like it's true there a FRESHMAN wall.. and it kind of feels like they are all hitting it at the same time.. hopefully after the Purdue game.. they will have a week between games..
Yes, I think there is a freshmen wall. Academically, many freshmen college students were in the top 10% or 25% of their high school class. Of course, a huge percentage of their high school class didn't care or were not gifted. When they come to college, they discover that many college students were in the upper 10-25% of their class. Now, these students have to learn how to study and compete. The freshman year can be discouraging or disastrous.

I think there is a parallel with college athletics. Our freshmen are discovering that there are a lot of players with the same or more ability than they have. Plus, these other players are as big or bigger and the older players are stronger. Now, they have to learn how to compete at a higher level. Our freshmen will probably improve mentally over the summer and become physically stronger.
 

Penn State will be dropping in the Net rankings most likely but for now thats a quad 1 win.
 
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Yes, I think there is a freshmen wall. Academically, many freshmen college students were in the top 10% or 25% of their high school class. Of course, a huge percentage of their high school class didn't care or were not gifted. When they come to college, they discover that many college students were in the upper 10-25% of their class. Now, these students have to learn how to study and compete. The freshman year can be discouraging or disastrous.

I think there is a parallel with college athletics. Our freshmen are discovering that there are a lot of players with the same or more ability than they have. Plus, these other players are as big or bigger and the older players are stronger. Now, they have to learn how to compete at a higher level. Our freshmen will probably improve mentally over the summer and become physically stronger.
yeah I just meant I just feel like maybe the 3 Freshman are hitting that wall basketball wise.. Rose hit it last year around this time to if I remember.. hopefully that week between games will help.. Mara looks a bit better tonight.. good to see her 6-6 FT in the 4th.
 



In the midst of all this sloppiness Czinano had a really solid game. Along with the points and rebounds she did a nice job keeping her player in front of her on d and got ball in bounds where it needed to be against the press in crunch time.
Cziano has been stepping up her game the last 3 games. Really nice to see her energy and determination on defense and the boards. Glad to see the Gophers get a much needed win.
 

Cziano has been stepping up her game the last 3 games. Really nice to see her energy and determination on defense and the boards. Glad to see the Gophers get a much needed win.
She is a classic example of what some people seem to think can never happen. I hate it when I see fans claiming that a player is this or that and should or shouldn't do this or that because it's not part of their game. Unless we're at each practice or meeting, we can't possibly know that. As was mentioned before, players do develop and improve during the off-season, but they also can improve their games during the season. I see it all the time as players put in extra time before and after practice, working on individual skills/problem areas. Sometimes the growth happens quickly, sometimes the growth is really slow and uneven. The idea that a player is always going to be the player they are as a freshmen or in early December and always carry that label is kinda unfair. Kinda like judging me based on my first month on the brand new job. Yes, it can happen that a player doesn't improve, but we also see plenty of examples of players growing and improving as their career goes on.

I remember just a couple of weeks ago, somebody was upset about Rose trying to take the ball off the dribble from the free throw line to the basket because she was having trouble finishing. My reaction was that I'll take my big post getting her shoulder in front and going downhill to the rim against a single defender every time. She did that successfully 3-4 times (maybe more) last night. I'm guessing that she'd been successfully making that move and scoring in practice for quite some time, which is why she was making the move in a game. The complaint seemed to be "Don't make that move in a game until you prove you can do it in a game.". And how do you prove you can do it in a game? Right!

Anyway, sorry about the little rant. A nice road win for the Gophers with ( in addition to Rose's huge game) really nice contributions from some of the players who haven't been featured as much this season. Probably not a tournament team this season, but as long as they continue to show growth and improvement, and can occasionally pull out a road win when a couple of their best players struggle, I'm very encouraged.
 




Hope we can go 5-4 down the stretch and improve. finish .500 overall would be nice at this point. 4 straight ranked opponents coming up after Purdue.
 


Hope we can go 5-4 down the stretch and improve. finish .500 overall would be nice at this point. 4 straight ranked opponents coming up after Purdue.
that would be outstanding!!! I doubt it will happen, but I hope to be wrong. Below are the B1G standings and below that is our remaining schedule and my prediction for how we finish. I still think I am optimistic with a 5-5 record down the stretch but if we can squeeze out 6-4 that would be an amazing finish to the season!

SCHOOLCONF.PCT.HOMEAWAYSTREAKOVERALLPCT.HOMEAWAYNEUTRALLAST 10STREAK
Ohio State7-01.0003-04-0W718-01.0009-07-02-010-0W18
Indiana7-1.8754-03-1W517-1.94411-04-12-09-1W5
Iowa7-1.8754-03-1W415-4.78910-14-21-19-1W4
Michigan5-2.7143-12-1W215-3.8337-24-14-07-3W2
Maryland5-2.7143-12-1W114-4.7786-26-12-18-2W1
Illinois5-3.6253-12-2L115-4.7899-15-21-18-2L1
Nebraska4-4.5002-22-2W112-7.6328-22-52-06-4W1
Purdue3-5.3751-32-2L112-6.6677-33-22-15-5L1
Rutgers2-5.2861-21-3L18-11.4217-41-40-34-6L1
Wisconsin2-5.2861-21-3L16-12.3334-32-50-43-7L1
Penn State2-6.2502-20-4L311-8.5799-30-52-04-6L3
Michigan State2-6.2501-31-3L410-9.5268-42-30-24-6L4
Minnesota2-6.2501-31-3W19-10.4747-51-51-04-6W1
Northwestern0-7.0000-40-3L76-11.3535-61-50-02-8L6


DATEOPPONENTTIMEWIN or LOSS
Sat, Jan 21@PurduePurdue1:00 PML
Sun, Jan 29vsMichigan14 Michigan2:00 PML
Wed, Feb 1vsIndiana6 Indiana7:00 PML
Sun, Feb 5@Illinois21 Illinois2:00 PML
Wed, Feb 8@Ohio State2 Ohio State6:00 PML
Sat, Feb 11vsWisconsinWisconsin3:00 PMW
Wed, Feb 15vsNebraskaNebraska7:00 PMW
Sat, Feb 18@NorthwesternNorthwestern2:00 PMW
Wed, Feb 22@Michigan StateMichigan State6:00 PMW
Sun, Feb 26vsPurduePurdue2:00 PMW
 


Quotes from Penn State

“We gotta get tougher. We gotta get more discipline. Comes down to those two things,” Kieger said. “So I don’t really have much to say other than those two things.”

“I don’t think we made enough defensive adjustments, and that’s not to Coach Kiegs, but to us as a team and following the game plan,” senior guard Makenna Marisa said. “We got to be better with that and we just got to lock down in our man defense, we got to be tougher.”

“You got to have heart. You got to have grit and we didn’t have enough of that today,” Marisa said. “That’s something we’re going to have to push for in practice, and like I said, that goes back to the mentality of being tough, wanting it.”

“Toughness is a choice right? You can dive on the floor for a 50/50 ball or you can let them go get it first. You can box a girl out or you can let her pursue the ball faster than you,” Kieger said “You can be tough by listening to details on play calls and you can be tough by being in the right spot. I believe those are all choices, and we got to choose the hardest thing.”

“We’re going to need our post players to step up and produce for us,” Kieger said. “It’s going to be by committee.”

“Defensively, we look to turn teams over as much as we can [to] create turnovers that create offense,” Marisa said. “So definitely that’s what we’re looking to do in the future.”
 




Hope we can go 5-4 down the stretch and improve.
8th or 9th place is there for the taking. So far we have a clear top half of the conference (top 7), and a clear bottom half. Would be nice to put the bottom 5 or so in the rear view mirror.
 

have to wonder if Kieger's chair is getting a little warm over there.. she really hasn't got a HUGE recruiting class or a good class yet honestly.. Ciezki might be her best recruit..
I always thought Kieger was the next big coach, her strength was in recruiting, but no big recruits have followed her. Her game coaching strategy can be strange, with that soft press she runs, MN killed that press over the years, I think MN has owned PN State over the last 5 years.
 

I always thought Kieger was the next big coach, her strength was in recruiting, but no big recruits have followed her. Her game coaching strategy can be strange, with that soft press she runs, MN killed that press over the years, I think MN has owned PN State over the last 5 years.
The last five years/Whalen's record vs Penn State is 7-1. It's 6-1 with Kieger there as she came the year after Whalen came to MN. The only loss was at the barn 60-69 during the Covid year 20-21 season.
 




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