Four takeaways from Gophers hoops' nonconference season

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Marcus:

Here are four takeaways from nonconference play:

Free-throw frequency

There seems to be no stopping the Gophers from getting to the free-throw line this season. They're attacking the basket, drawing contact, and making it count at the line at an astonishing rate. Pitino's team currently ranks No. 1 nationally in free throws made per game (23.4) this year, which includes twice hitting 34 free throws in a game, third most in Division I this season. The Gophers were 34-for-41 in Sunday's win against St. Louis, including 27-for-33 in the second half — much of that Carr's doing on 14-for-18 shooting in the second half.

Carr's crusade

Is there any guard playing better than Carr in college basketball right now? You could make a strong case that possibly only Illinois' Ayo Dosunmu is having a better season. Coming off being named to the All-Big Ten preseason team, the junior from Toronto burst out of the gates by tying his career-high with 35 points against Wisconsin-Green Bay. And he hasn't looked back.

Ball movement

The Gophers had "for sure" their best ball movement of the season Sunday against St. Louis with 16 assists on 23 field goals, Pitino said. Many offensive issues that have occurred during the Pitino Era are the result of a lack of ball movement. Having one ball-dominant guard take shots without passing to his teammates is a formula that rarely works long term.

Newcomer impact

Utah transfer Both Gach and Robbins have been two of the best newcomers in the Big Ten so far. Gach's one-point effort in the 27-point road loss at Illinois was not indicative of the impact he's had on the backcourt next to Carr. The 6-foot-6 Austin native averaged 14.7 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists in seven home games. Robbins' inside presence also is a game-changer for the Gophers when he's not in foul trouble. The 7-foot Drake transfer had at least four fouls in five games, and fouled out in two of those. But Robbins is averaging 11.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks, highlighted by his 27-point, five-block effort vs. UMKC. He's already one of the league's top centers.

www.startribune.com

Four takeaways from Gophers hoops' nonconference season

The Gophers men's basketball team finished undefeated through seven nonconference games this year after Sunday's 90-82 win vs. St. Louis. Foul shooting prowess, Marcus Carr's hot start and impact newcomers were among four takeaways from the U's non-league schedule this season.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!
 



Where does Robbins really rank in the pantheon of B1G centers?
He is obviously behind Cockburn and Garza.
He will matchup well against Reuvers.

Haven't watched many other centers this year. I think he'll look bad against Cockburn and Garza but may be good against many others.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Where does Robbins really rank in the pantheon of B1G centers?
He is obviously behind Cockburn and Garza.
He will matchup well against Reuvers.

Haven't watched many other centers this year. I think he'll look bad against Cockburn and Garza but may be good against many others.
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He's behind Trayce Jackson-Davis from Indiana and Reuvers imo. He'll also have his handful with Rutgers two headed monster of Johnson and Omuryi. B1G is always so loaded with bigs.
 


manderson1984 said:
He's behind Trayce Jackson-Davis from Indiana and Reuvers imo. He'll also have his handful with Rutgers two headed monster of Johnson and Omuryi. B1G is always so loaded with bigs.
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Forgot about Jackson-Davis. That will be interesting.Robbins isn’t as athletic but both are slight and Robbins has 4” on him.
 

manderson1984 said:
He's behind Trayce Jackson-Davis from Indiana and Reuvers imo. He'll also have his handful with Rutgers two headed monster of Johnson and Omuryi. B1G is always so loaded with bigs.
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Hunter Dickinson at Michigan will be tough too. So, probably middle of the pack in the Big Ten?
 

manderson1984 said:
He's behind Trayce Jackson-Davis from Indiana and Reuvers imo. He'll also have his handful with Rutgers two headed monster of Johnson and Omuryi. B1G is always so loaded with bigs.
Click to expand...

Yes, the Rutgers big men are brutes.
 




I agree with some of the posters above, probably middle of the pack. I think the huge positive here though is that his ceiling for improvement during the season is much higher than the other bigs because he's still adjusting to the level of competition whereas most of the other bigs are relatively known commodities.
 

builtbadgers said:
We are far better prepared for it after Illinois. The physicality was a huge factor.
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It is a little late to "prepare" for physicality.
That should have taken place in the weight room before the season and during pre season practices.
That said we will see how the newbies fare against a strong offensive but indifferent to defense team like IA.
Robbins may find Garza more then he can handle.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
Woo Hoo.

I'll take this going into the B10.

I'm ready to chow on some Hawkeye for my desert during my Christmas repast.

Thanks Santy Claus.
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It's hard to turn down a win against a rival.

My fear is that Pitino will end up having a year where it's borderline that he should be fired, but he'll be able to point to a "win over a top 5 program" as a negotiating chip to get another season. That type of thing.

I don't know what to do, to be honest. Not that what I think matters in the slightest. The players will play hard, and what was going to happen will happen anyway.
 

MplsGopher said:
It's hard to turn down a win against a rival.

My fear is that Pitino will end up having a year where it's borderline that he should be fired, but he'll be able to point to a "win over a top 5 program" as a negotiating chip to get another season. That type of thing.

I don't know what to do, to be honest. Not that what I think matters in the slightest. The players will play hard, and what was going to happen will happen anyway.
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In Marcus we Trust!!
 



MplsGopher said:
It's hard to turn down a win against a rival.

My fear is that Pitino will end up having a year where it's borderline that he should be fired, but he'll be able to point to a "win over a top 5 program" as a negotiating chip to get another season. That type of thing.

I don't know what to do, to be honest. Not that what I think matters in the slightest. The players will play hard, and what was going to happen will happen anyway.
Click to expand...

There was the scandal but Coyle did fire Claeys after a 9-4 season. I don’t think he’d be hesitant to pull the trigger if things were still headed in the wrong direction but with COVID who knows. Unless Coyle gets the feeling he can pull one of the better up and comers out there, we probably hang onto RP which I guess makes sense.
 

Plato said:
It is a little late to "prepare" for physicality.
That should have taken place in the weight room before the season and during pre season practices.
That said we will see how the newbies fare against a strong offensive but indifferent to defense team like IA.
Robbins may find Garza more then he can handle.
Click to expand...
I am talking about the adjustment to it emotionally, to not back down or shy away from it.
 

If you just read these takeaways, you'd think the Gophers were ranked in the top 10.

Here's mine

1. No team strength: Through 7 non-conference games, it's not clear what this Gophers team will hang it's hat on. They are currently ranked in the 50's in both offense and defense per Ken Pom. For the most part, solid tournament teams are in the top 30 in either offense or defense with their weaker area still being in the 50's or better. The exception is the extremes where a few teams are in the top 10 in one category and outside the top 60 in the other.

2. Emergence of Isaiah Ihnen: Ihnen's minutes have been on the rise and with it has been a notable increase in his productivity. The German forward's best game of his career came in their last game against Saint Louis. His length creates problems on defense and he's started to expand his offensive game beyond just launching spot up 3's. The Gophers will need to Ihnen continue to improve if they hope to contend for anything more than a spot on the bubble come tournament time.

3. Physicality on the interior: To put it bluntly, this team hasn't been physical enough on the interior. The posts are often bumped back under the hoop by opposing bigs as we saw with French early in the Saint Louis game (and in the one conference game played against Illinois). To compound the problem, Liam Robbins has had difficulty staying on the floor so he's got to find a way to be more physical AND foul less once conference play begins, not and easy task. A team that doesn't shoot well cannot be giving up additional opportunities to their opponents in the form of offensive rebounds especially when they don't get 2nd chances themselves.

4. Marcus Carr has been great, but: Marcus Carr is making an early case for All American consideration (not saying first team) and he's already got a game winner to his name. That said, the ball tends to stick in his hands and there are too many possessions that end with a contested Carr jumper without a single pass. When the ball moves, the Gopher offense is better. We saw some encouraging signs in the Saint Louis game when it came to ball movement and the Gophers will need to continue to make strides in that regard.
 


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