cncmin
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...The Gophers did an incredible job of breaking the Louisville press today! I didn't know what to expect - I can't recall a Tubby-coached Gopher team being full-court pressed like Louisville did today. But the Gophers not only did fine against the press, they beat it consistently, fluently, and calmly. The only times they ran into any trouble were when L was especially aggressive near the end, including when Westbrook barely stepped out those two times at the end. There were a few other times when a pass floated a bit or when the dribbling wasn't perfectly fluent, but that was a well-coached, smart basketball team out there today, fellas! I was actually surprised as much by how few problems we had (including the solid play of freshmen Joseph and Sampson breaking the press) as I was by the fact that Tubby didn't try to return the favor to Louisville at all. I guess the game was never quite close enough to resort to that tactic. The Gophers were well-prepared for the press, even with little game experience with it.
Other observations:
- Nolen is coming into his own this season on the offensive end. He'd not a perfect shooter nor do I ever expect him to be, but at this point I think I can safely say that he's better right now than Eric Harris was...if you recall, a healthy Eric Harris against Kentucky in '97 may have taken the Gophers to a championship game with Arizona that wouldn't have counted.
- Damien Johnson is a defensive stud. His offense is just fine too, but really, he is an excellent, excellent defender. When he stole that inbounds pass for an easy dunk in the first half, that play set the tone for the rest of the game defensively.
- Travis Busch - what can you say? He played a great game all around, even with some unexpected errors (such as the two missed FTs near the end and stepping over the 3-pt. line by an inch on a long 2)...yet I've become a bigger and bigger fan of Travis every time I see him play. Last year he was understandably rusty, and there were times I didn't trust him to make the right play. This year, he is vastly improved (much of which is likely due to being fully healthy again).
- Hoff - I haven't seen anything from anyone about how good Blake looked today after his injury just two weeks ago. He looked almost fully healed, and his series of shots in the second half really opened up the game. Louisville had cut the lead down a bit and the Gophers were looking stale. So my wife, who has now watched enough Gopher basketball to start referring to them as "we," said, "they need to have Hoffarber hit a shot." Next time down the court, Hoff hit a 3. Those 3s were really raining today too, it seemed like they were in the air forever, like silent, slow-motion arcs of beauty.
- The rest of the team: Iverson had his first "frosh" game. He got outrebounded by some Louisville guys that out-jumped him, and failed to finish well on several relatively easy looks. Still, I'm very comfortable seeing Colton in the game, and I didn't expect this before the season started. Westbrook had an off day. I think his late-game mistakes were a result of being cooled on the bench too long. It's too bad because I wanted to see him do well in front of AR friends and family. RSIII was pretty steady today all things considered. His play in breaking the press was senior-like, not freshman-like. JAS tried to force things inside too much, and I think Tubby sat him a lot because of it. His passes weren't bad physically, but mentally they seemed unecessary. JWill had a decent game, played very hard - still looks a bit rusty but obviously played an important role today. Joseph handled the ball and the press very well. If he'd have made that open 3 near the end the Gophers would have iced the game a lot earlier than they eventually did. Devoe makes things happen - some good like his steady ball handling - some bad like a couple of poor decisions on forced balls on his drives. He looks like a playmaker and a star in the making, though. Bostick didn't play much today, but he's still very vocal on the bench. That's a great sign that his heart is still in it, though I'm sure he'd rather be playing much more at this point. He'll continue to get more chances.
- Intangibles: Did anyone else think that it was great that both teams were supported by the environment there? I mean Louisville had their logo and colors all over the stadium (Arizona Cardinals), but the Gophers had a bunch of maroon-and-gold clad Arizona State fans there supporting them. It almost seemed like the organizers planned it that way. Maybe next year USC can play Stanford there for the same effect
. It was very hard to distinguish between Gopher fans and ASU fans, even on the HD screen. There were certainly a lot more people there cheering on the Gophers than the Cardinals; though certainly there weren't many people there overall (1000, maybe, at tipoff?). From what it sounds like in another post, the prices were absurdly high (up to $200? ouch). I think the event could be well-attended in the future with better timing and more reasonable ticket prices. By the way, where were the Louisville fans today? I would have thought they'd have a better following...
- The Big Ten is starting to make a case that they are right up there on top with the ACC and Big East this year in terms of conference strength. Their OOC wins over highly-ranked teams will not be overlooked by the selection committee this year. I'd expect no less than 6 Big Ten teams to make the tourney this year. Hopefully we'll be one of those 6, but it won't be an easy road.
Other observations:
- Nolen is coming into his own this season on the offensive end. He'd not a perfect shooter nor do I ever expect him to be, but at this point I think I can safely say that he's better right now than Eric Harris was...if you recall, a healthy Eric Harris against Kentucky in '97 may have taken the Gophers to a championship game with Arizona that wouldn't have counted.
- Damien Johnson is a defensive stud. His offense is just fine too, but really, he is an excellent, excellent defender. When he stole that inbounds pass for an easy dunk in the first half, that play set the tone for the rest of the game defensively.
- Travis Busch - what can you say? He played a great game all around, even with some unexpected errors (such as the two missed FTs near the end and stepping over the 3-pt. line by an inch on a long 2)...yet I've become a bigger and bigger fan of Travis every time I see him play. Last year he was understandably rusty, and there were times I didn't trust him to make the right play. This year, he is vastly improved (much of which is likely due to being fully healthy again).
- Hoff - I haven't seen anything from anyone about how good Blake looked today after his injury just two weeks ago. He looked almost fully healed, and his series of shots in the second half really opened up the game. Louisville had cut the lead down a bit and the Gophers were looking stale. So my wife, who has now watched enough Gopher basketball to start referring to them as "we," said, "they need to have Hoffarber hit a shot." Next time down the court, Hoff hit a 3. Those 3s were really raining today too, it seemed like they were in the air forever, like silent, slow-motion arcs of beauty.
- The rest of the team: Iverson had his first "frosh" game. He got outrebounded by some Louisville guys that out-jumped him, and failed to finish well on several relatively easy looks. Still, I'm very comfortable seeing Colton in the game, and I didn't expect this before the season started. Westbrook had an off day. I think his late-game mistakes were a result of being cooled on the bench too long. It's too bad because I wanted to see him do well in front of AR friends and family. RSIII was pretty steady today all things considered. His play in breaking the press was senior-like, not freshman-like. JAS tried to force things inside too much, and I think Tubby sat him a lot because of it. His passes weren't bad physically, but mentally they seemed unecessary. JWill had a decent game, played very hard - still looks a bit rusty but obviously played an important role today. Joseph handled the ball and the press very well. If he'd have made that open 3 near the end the Gophers would have iced the game a lot earlier than they eventually did. Devoe makes things happen - some good like his steady ball handling - some bad like a couple of poor decisions on forced balls on his drives. He looks like a playmaker and a star in the making, though. Bostick didn't play much today, but he's still very vocal on the bench. That's a great sign that his heart is still in it, though I'm sure he'd rather be playing much more at this point. He'll continue to get more chances.
- Intangibles: Did anyone else think that it was great that both teams were supported by the environment there? I mean Louisville had their logo and colors all over the stadium (Arizona Cardinals), but the Gophers had a bunch of maroon-and-gold clad Arizona State fans there supporting them. It almost seemed like the organizers planned it that way. Maybe next year USC can play Stanford there for the same effect
. It was very hard to distinguish between Gopher fans and ASU fans, even on the HD screen. There were certainly a lot more people there cheering on the Gophers than the Cardinals; though certainly there weren't many people there overall (1000, maybe, at tipoff?). From what it sounds like in another post, the prices were absurdly high (up to $200? ouch). I think the event could be well-attended in the future with better timing and more reasonable ticket prices. By the way, where were the Louisville fans today? I would have thought they'd have a better following...- The Big Ten is starting to make a case that they are right up there on top with the ACC and Big East this year in terms of conference strength. Their OOC wins over highly-ranked teams will not be overlooked by the selection committee this year. I'd expect no less than 6 Big Ten teams to make the tourney this year. Hopefully we'll be one of those 6, but it won't be an easy road.