Evan Daniels: Bakary Konate Commits to the U!

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This idea that you cannot play two big men at the same time kind of irks me. You can definitely play with two big men - IF you have the right players in the right system.

Being a little older, I remember Jacksonville State in 1970 making it to the NCAA title game starting 7'2" Artis Gilmore and 7'0" Pembrook Burrows at C and PF. (of course, they didn't call it PF in those days, and they didn't refer to players by numbers - "he's a 4." And, tall people were tall then - not "long."
 

short ornery norwegian said:
This idea that you cannot play two big men at the same time kind of irks me. You can definitely play with two big men - IF you have the right players in the right system.

Being a little older, I remember Jacksonville State in 1970 making it to the NCAA title game starting 7'2" Artis Gilmore and 7'0" Pembrook Burrows at C and PF. (of course, they didn't call it PF in those days, and they didn't refer to players by numbers - "he's a 4." And, tall people were tall then - not "long."
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Bowie and Turpin. (not to imply EE and Mo = the twin towers)
 

short ornery norwegian said:
This idea that you cannot play two big men at the same time kind of irks me. You can definitely play with two big men - IF you have the right players in the right system.
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Has anyone said anything different? I know I haven't (guessing you're mistakenly referring to me though). I'm not saying playing two big men together can't work in any system, I'm saying it won't happen in THIS system. Pitino has made that perfectly clear. Do people forget when he jokingly said he might put Mo and EE in together sometime just to show people that it wouldn't work? People who think we will play two centers together simply aren't paying attention.
 




cjbfbp said:
Pretty close. I read an interview with his coach sometime ago where he pronounced it and it was spelled phonetically. I believe the ending of the last name was pronounced more like "tea" than "tay" and I believe the first part of the first name was more like "back" than "bock."
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What’s the proper way to pronounce Bakary Konate’s name?

Baah-kahr-ay Cone-ah-tay

This according to TGR http://go4report.com/getting-to-know-bakary-konate
 


GophersOnTheRise said:
You probably aren't quoting me here, but to be clear, I never said either of these things
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Never tried to quote you or single you out on typical things GH posters get unnecessarily obsessed about.. All those things I've heard on GH about how this guy plays isn't a real 4 man he's more of a 3 (for example) or players x-y&z cannot play on the court at the same time is typically nothing more than idiot chatter.

GophersOnTheRise said:
Oto and King played together
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I clearly understand what you said. Apparently you don't get it. You can play multiple combinations of guys and players with overlap in position... Oto and King and many other examples throughout the season prove that. It's not that complicated.

Along the same line, starting combinations are overrated. Can they and will they play together? Yes... Doesn't mater if we are talking start, middle or end of the game you get all sorts of non standard positional PG through center combos on the court at the same time.
 

GophersOnTheRise said:
People who think we will play two centers together simply aren't paying attention.
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To big men can play together for Pitino if they are athletic and can run the floor. EE and Mo are rather slow and would not be ideal to play together very often, but with another back up center next year, it will probably happen sometimes, but very rarely.

Hard to say if Konate will red-shirt or get many minutes, but he could probably see some limited time on the floor with Mo, maybe clumsy E too.

GophersOnTheRise said:
(guessing you're mistakenly referring to me though)
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I don't know if that poster was talking about you, but you seem awfully sensitive.
 




I am salivating at all the puns and word plays announcers can use:

"Wow! Bakary just glazed Oglesby!"

"A difficult post entry pass, but Bakary fritters away another one."

"Bakary is a strong free throw shooter. These should be cupcakes for him."

"Bakary was suspended for conduct detrimental to the team. Must have been loafing off at practice"

"What a night for Bakary! Kaminsky has a donut in the rebound column."
 

Konate is not taking the ACT in May, it is not offered in May...
 






You can play two bigs in this system, or any system, as long as they have the skills on the offensive end, and more importantly, the ability to guard on the defensive end. Ultimately, as a coach, you make a decision on combinations you put on the floor based on who people can guard. The issue Pitino had with Mo and Elliot was that he couldn't play two big guys who can't guard someone on the perimeter. He has never said he wouldn't play two big guys. He said he wouldn't play Mo and Elliot together. That makes sense. Neither one of them can guard anyone away from the basket. His mentors at Louisville and Florida have often played two big guys together, but one of them could always guard away from the basket.

People focus on offensive positions way too much. Mo can play the 4 on the offensive end, but can't guard anyone on the perimeter on defense. For example, you often see coaches play a small guard off the ball on offense, but they then have someone who can guard a big 2 on defense.
 

Ozzy&Ray said:
You can play two bigs in this system, or any system, as long as they have the skills on the offensive end, and more importantly, the ability to guard on the defensive end. Ultimately, as a coach, you make a decision on combinations you put on the floor based on who people can guard. The issue Pitino had with Mo and Elliot was that he couldn't play two big guys who can't guard someone on the perimeter. He has never said he wouldn't play two big guys. He said he wouldn't play Mo and Elliot together. That makes sense. Neither one of them can guard anyone away from the basket. His mentors at Louisville and Florida have often played two big guys together, but one of them could always guard away from the basket.

People focus on offensive positions way too much. Mo can play the 4 on the offensive end, but can't guard anyone on the perimeter on defense. For example, you often see coaches play a small guard off the ball on offense, but they then have someone who can guard a big 2 on defense.
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It doesn't have anything to do with size. If a guy is big, but can play effectively from the perimeter both offensively and defensively, then he is a power forward to me, not a center (although he may be able to play center too). When I think of a center, I think of a guy who plays in the paint and can't play from the perimeter. So by those definitions, two centers shouldn't play together in this system and there is no way Pitino will do that by choice. I guess it depends on how you define what a center is.
 


eker0016 said:
I am salivating at all the puns and word plays announcers can use:

"Wow! Bakary just glazed Oglesby!"

"A difficult post entry pass, but Bakary fritters away another one."

"Bakary is a strong free throw shooter. These should be cupcakes for him."

"Bakary was suspended for conduct detrimental to the team. Must have been loafing off at practice"

"What a night for Bakary! Kaminsky has a donut in the rebound column."
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"Konate now has a baker's dozen"
 

PP blog on Konate updated 4-23...

“He was thinking about doing visits, but he just said he wasn’t going to do it because he was too excited about Minnesota,” Barnwell said Wednesday. “We wanted him to keep his options open and try to see something else. He was getting ready to start doing that, and was like ‘I really don’t want to anymore. That’s where I want to go’"

http://blogs.twincities.com/gophers...ifth-commitment-with-6-11-post-bakary-konate/
 

Jon said:
“He was thinking about doing visits, but he just said he wasn’t going to do it because he was too excited about Minnesota,” Barnwell said Wednesday. “We wanted him to keep his options open and try to see something else. He was getting ready to start doing that, and was like ‘I really don’t want to anymore. That’s where I want to go’"

http://blogs.twincities.com/gophers...ifth-commitment-with-6-11-post-bakary-konate/
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Money quote. I like the kid already purely on the fact that he likes us.
 



Two Bigs

Yes you can but it is rare in today's game. Tubby tried it out of necessity with Colt and Sampson and we usually had to play a 2-3 zone and we were even slow for that on defense. The game really has gone the way of quickness and athleticsm over size in the last 4 decades.


short ornery norwegian said:
This idea that you cannot play two big men at the same time kind of irks me. You can definitely play with two big men - IF you have the right players in the right system.

Being a little older, I remember Jacksonville State in 1970 making it to the NCAA title game starting 7'2" Artis Gilmore and 7'0" Pembrook Burrows at C and PF. (of course, they didn't call it PF in those days, and they didn't refer to players by numbers - "he's a 4." And, tall people were tall then - not "long."
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I think the common thread on this board was that our 2 bigs from last year could never play together. If our new B1Gs possess quickness, the ability to pass can knockdown an outside shot and can play a wing position in a 2-3 there is no reason he wouldn't put 2 "bigs" on the court at one time.

My guess is Pitino, to the best of his ability, will try to recruit 2 positions. Guard and Forward. All guards will handle, shoot, slash and play defense, all Forwards will run, shoot, dunk, rebound and play defense. The rest is just mindless internet talk. The reason this is a conversation is because we are inbetween two roster makeups, we've got some leftovers from the prior regime as well as some stop gap recruits that have been brought in that leave the roster a bit out of whack.

I watch Florida and see soooo much similar in Pitino's Gophers offense to the Florida offense. The difference is the players. If he follows Billy D's style, which he has been quoted as saying he mirrors much closer than his dad, than he will recruit the way I just said. There is also the Louisville flavor of having some large athletic Bigs in there that have shown up in Konate and the pursuit of Anas.

Bottom line, athletes that can ball. Put 5 of them on the court and lets go.
 

march madness said:
Yes you can but it is rare in today's game. Tubby tried it out of necessity with Colt and Sampson and we usually had to play a 2-3 zone and we were even slow for that on defense. The game really has gone the way of quickness and athleticsm over size in the last 4 decades.
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The differance in this situation is that as of right now the manchild from Senegal is quite an unknown for the most part. He may be able to do everything a Pitno 4 needs to, except hit the 3( not many 4's can do that anyways out there in the first place). Konate on the other hand is a clear 5, so the combination of these 2 in the future seems very likely to take place. Mo and EE together though, is a definate no-no.
 

victor04 said:
The differance in this situation is that as of right now the manchild from Senegal is quite an unknown for the most part. He may be able to do everything a Pitno 4 needs to, except hit the 3( not many 4's can do that anyways out there in the first place). Konate on the other hand is a clear 5, so the combination of these 2 in the future seems very likely to take place. Mo and EE together though, is a definate no-no.
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Basketball is all about spacing these days and spreading the floor (football too in a lot of ways actually) the problem with playing two bigs who have to sit in the paint is it clogs everything up. It was the problem with the Gophers last year. Mbakwe? Paint. Rodney? Paint. Coleman? Paint. That's three guys all who only need to be guarded in the paint. Makes you a very easy team to defend. Especially in college where zone is allowed.

As many have said to play two bigs, one of them has to have at least a respectable jump shot and/or be a good passer out of the high post.

With Mo/EE together there's be absolutely no where for DeAndre to drive in the lane and no driving and kicking to shooters. Completely breaks down the Pitino/Florida system. They'd be forced to run post ups every possession and it just wouldn't work since the others defender could just double the ball and still be able to get back to his man since they'd always be roughly a foot apart from each other. Even if one steps outside of the paint, the defender doesn't have to respect that at all.
 

scher215 said:
Basketball is all about spacing these days and spreading the floor (football too in a lot of ways actually) the problem with playing two bigs who have to sit in the paint is it clogs everything up. It was the problem with the Gophers last year. Mbakwe? Paint. Rodney? Paint. Coleman? Paint. That's three guys all who only need to be guarded in the paint. Makes you a very easy team to defend. Especially in college where zone is allowed.

As many have said to play two bigs, one of them has to have at least a respectable jump shot and/or be a good passer out of the high post.

With Mo/EE together there's be absolutely no where for DeAndre to drive in the lane and no driving and kicking to shooters. Completely breaks down the Pitino/Florida system. They'd be forced to run post ups every possession and it just wouldn't work since the others defender could just double the ball and still be able to get back to his man since they'd always be roughly a foot apart from each other. Even if one steps outside of the paint, the defender doesn't have to respect that at all.
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OK. You convinced me. I don't know what you convinced me of, but you have convinced me. :)
 

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