B1G Tourney Game 2: Gophers Versus Michigan (2-7-24)

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Golden Gophers Shine Bright: Making History in the Big Ten Women's Tournament - GopherHole.com

Excitement buzzes through the streets of downtown Minneapolis as the sound of drums fills the air. Fans in maroon and gold rush towards the Target Center, anticipation dancing in their eyes. It’s a historic night for the Big Ten Women’s Tournament, with tickets sold out for the first time ever...
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There is a quote about Coach P's thoughts on playing Michigan tonight!
 





Simply just don't have confident shooters right now. Been few times where had some wide open 3s and Sanders won't take. Seems like GG is baffled from missing a couple and they need her to keep shooting.
 



Battle trying her damn best to will this team, but when your second best scorer has zero points that's gonna be a damn near impossible task. I really hope that these players stick around tough it out together, but I doubt that will happen. See ya next season.✌️
 



Been a tough stretch the 2nd half. Still young and growing. Need to find more shooters!
 


WayOfTheGopher said:
Battle trying her damn best to will this team, but when your second best scorer has zero points that's gonna be a damn near impossible task. I really hope that these players stick around tough it out together, but I doubt that will happen. See ya next season.✌️
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She has had a great tournament...could use a little more help.
 







That last sequence from Sanders says it all. Drive to get blocked then shoots an air ball. Glad that experiment is over. On to getting healthy and building for next year.
 

Signs of promise tonight from Johnson and Madol. Both are pieces that can help. But so much depends on Braun and finding a portal piece that can pressure defenses. Without players who can breakdown a defense, Heyer and GG become near liabilities on offense. Neither did much tonight, and Heyer had a disastrous shooting end (3 for 27 the last 4 games) to the season, while still battling hard for rebounds.
 



BigTenGuy said:
Signs of promise tonight from Johnson and Madol. Both are pieces that can help. But so much depends on Braun and finding a portal piece that can pressure defenses. Without players who can breakdown a defense, Heyer and GG become near liabilities on offense. Neither did much tonight, and Heyer had a disastrous shooting end (3 for 27 the last 4 games) to the season, while still battling hard for rebounds.
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Battle had a great tournament showing she can be a threat along with Mara
 

I didn't get to watch tonight. From the boxscore and your views, I'm happy that our team played hard. I've always been a supportersl of Johnson. I've very happy that you got to see Madol play.
Battle has grown in front of our eyes! Congratulations to her.
G$$ is a freshman and that's what sometimes happens.
HEYER CLEANED THE BOARDS!!

Perhaps we can get a post season call.
The future is bright!

SKI-U-MAH
 

There are some bright spots, Johnson being the most obvious…. She can play a little in the middle, and has surprised with her shooting. She could be an extremely value piece next year! Madol was a surprise, but she would have to do it more often. Senden is a useable part.

Battle was very good in these two games. The question is where do you play her on a full roster? While she did a miraculous job virtually eliminating her turnovers, she isn’t a point guard by any stretch of the imagination. Point guards who look for their shots first simply destroy any flow to an offense. There is no sense for anyone top pick, roll, cut when the ball is never coming your way. Her constant over dribbling gets hard to watch. Yes, she can shoot the midrange, and hopefully that will turn into more range in the future, making her a nice combo guard. But never a point guard.
 

Hopefully MN gets a ABT or WNIT bid. Would like to see Gophers play more basketball this year.
 
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BigTenGuy said:
Signs of promise tonight from Johnson and Madol. Both are pieces that can help. But so much depends on Braun and finding a portal piece that can pressure defenses. Without players who can breakdown a defense, Heyer and GG become near liabilities on offense. Neither did much tonight, and Heyer had a disastrous shooting end (3 for 27 the last 4 games) to the season, while still battling hard for rebounds.
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I agree with you. I have always thought Johnson has a future.
I am really surprised Senden and Madol didn't get many more minutes since Braun was injured.
I think both could be contributors. Unfortunately, we do have a roster full of a lot of players who are poor defenders individually.
I have not agreed with the Battle bashing...to me she is clearly our second best player behind Braun.
 

60's Guy said:
I agree with you. I have always thought Johnson has a future.
I am really surprised Senden and Madol didn't get many more minutes since Braun was injured.
I think both could be contributors. Unfortunately, we do have a roster full of a lot of players who are poor defenders individually.
I have not agreed with the Battle bashing...to me she is clearly our second best player behind Braun.
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She probably is our second best player, but (and that's a big but) she is not an efficient point guard. She spends too much time dribbling to set up her own shot, and wastes too much of the shot clock before passing the ball. In most games, if you count the passes per possession, the opponent moves the ball much better than the Gophers.
 

BBJones said:
She probably is our second best player, but (and that's a big but) she is not an efficient point guard. She spends too much time dribbling to set up her own shot, and wastes too much of the shot clock before passing the ball. In most games, if you count the passes per possession, the opponent moves the ball much better than the Gophers.
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Like a lot of complaints I too have with how we do things…that is 100% a lack of coaching-lack of offense-lack of an offensive structure, than it is Battle.
 

Gopheritnow said:
There are some bright spots, Johnson being the most obvious…. She can play a little in the middle, and has surprised with her shooting. She could be an extremely value piece next year! Madol was a surprise, but she would have to do it more often. Senden is a useable part.

Battle was very good in these two games. The question is where do you play her on a full roster? While she did a miraculous job virtually eliminating her turnovers, she isn’t a point guard by any stretch of the imagination. Point guards who look for their shots first simply destroy any flow to an offense. There is no sense for anyone top pick, roll, cut when the ball is never coming your way. Her constant over dribbling gets hard to watch. Yes, she can shoot the midrange, and hopefully that will turn into more range in the future, making her a nice combo guard. But never a point guard.
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I have been critical of Battle late in the year for the increase in turnovers prior to the tournament. However, I think she is an outstanding point guard and will be first or second team by the time she finishes which isn't much of a stretch given she was honorable mention this year. Yes she dribbles a lot but that right now is by design because they don't have seasoned inside presence with Hart out so they are trying to get her shots and it is hard to argue with that given her efficiency in the tournament. We don't have the inside presence or enough 3 point shooters so it is a whole lot easier to defend us because of that. This is why Battle was often the first scoring option before moving the ball around more to find a shooter or back to Battle again.

Which makes it that much more puzzling that Madol or Senden didn't get more run given their coache's apparent confidence in their shooting ability (according to commentators). They are both good defenders and we needed that on the back end of the schedule when our defense was often flat.

Sanders is not a point guard in that she doesn't share the ball at all. Battle had a lot of assists all season not true for Sanders. Sanders would be a good shooting guard if she was dangerous from outside but she was anything but.
 

BBJones said:
She probably is our second best player, but (and that's a big but) she is not an efficient point guard. She spends too much time dribbling to set up her own shot, and wastes too much of the shot clock before passing the ball. In most games, if you count the passes per possession, the opponent moves the ball much better than the Gophers.
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You ever think some of this is using up the time of possession and trying to limit transition runs by opponent on offense. I'm pretty sure Amaya Battle runs what the coaches ask her to do. Gophers do not have a lot of experienced options to shoot the ball. Next year will be different with more depth and more experience with coach P's system.
 


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