Game thoughts…

[Costa Rican Gopher]

• I’ve been blasted a couple times already for saying it but we finally have the players in place to maintain this level of basketball. Even after we lose Trevor/Rodney/Ingram we’re still going to be very good the next couple years. Dre (Jr), Austin (Sr), Joe (Jr), EE (Jr), Oto (Jr), Mo (Jr), Mav (Sr), Wally (So)…maybe not quite as good next year, but we’ll still be a damn good team. The year after even more-so.

• Recruits….I loved reading that Tyus & his family sat behind the Gopher bench, that his Mom & Tubby’s wife chatted extensively & that the Jones family got out of their seats & walked over to High-5 the Gopher players as they took the court. As I’ve said since last year the odds are against us with Jones & the only things we can actually control are A) Winning & B) Showcasing Dre Hollins as an example of how much freedom, support & exposure a star PG can have on a Tubby Smith team. The rest will be nature taking it's course. Vaughn also had to see this game & think “I’d love to be out there right now.”? I’ve heard Vaughn & Rodney Williams are cousins (I know they’re both Cooper guys & chat on Twitter)? I’d love for someone to either confirm or debunk this. If that’s true, what an advantage for the Gophs. Travis is another one who we have a real shot with. He's a Gopher fan through & through, with only Stanford being a possible threat. They've offered him now & there's no doubt he'll love his visit when that time comes. Again though, all we can do is control what we do. We beat Stanford less than 6 months after getting our azzes handed to us by them in the NIT & high profile wins like today must help right? Sign these guys & keep winning, then guys like Illkanan (I know I butchered), Coffee, Russo, Bertrand et al will follow suit.

• We’re blessed to have a player of Dre’s caliber. I think it’s safe to say now that he’s the best guard we’ve had since Bobby J. He can penetrate, shoot the 3, stop-n-pop, hit free throws & plays very good defense. He's not a 'one & done' guy so you have to let him develop & right now he's just scratching the surface. He will be the most feared player in the B1G as an upperclassman.
• Austin just does what he does. Quietly plays at a high level in all phases of the game (well his 3 ball is a little off right now, but that’s temporary).
• Mav had a bad game. Maybe the only player on the team who did? Ryan James commented in his in-game thread that Trevor was yelling at Mav after not getting a pass in the post & was the 3rd Gopher in the game to do so. Mav doesn’t have the quicks to beat guys like Appling so he’s GOT to find the open post players.
• Welch…it felt like old times. He was the playmaker when he was on the floor, not Mav. He was weaving through the lane, staying active & playing the way we need him to play. I sometimes have to remind myself that coming into the year I thought we’d have a strong 3-guard rotation of Dre, Austin & Welch. Maybe that will still materialize?
• Trevor…The brace is gone, he's the Mbeast again. He was the toughest, roughest, strongest, most aggressive man on the court today & Michigan St wasn’t used it not being one of theirs. There were spurts where he just absolutely controlled the game & it reminded me how much we missed him last year.
• Rodney…Looked like underclassman Rodney for parts of the game, just cruising around, not making anything happen. Still he hustled, scrapped & had the type of solid game we need from him every night.
• Elliot…Played very well today. I remember BadGopher talking about (in his usual intelligent manner) saying that he feared how EE & the Gophs would hold up against a behemoth with skill guy like Nix. Well, EE basically took Nix out of the game in his 10 minutes. I got the feeling that Nix (like a schoolyard bully who gets popped in the nose) didn’t quite know how to react to not being the toughest guy on the court? He is to be commended on his play today.
• Oto…No one really mentioned how well he played against Lafayette, I suspect because it was only against Lafayette? Well today he followed it up with a great game against top competition. 4pts, 3rebs, 1ast in 7 minutes against MSU. 10pts, 4rebs & 2blks in 20 minutes against Lafayette. I know it's not apples to apples but if the reborn Oto could give us 14pts, 7rebs, 3asts in 27 minutes a game next year we'll be top 1/2 of the B1G again.
• Ingram…Played his role well again today. Don’t ask him to do too much & you won’t be disappointed. He brings a physicality & energy to the second unit that is infectious. With a small talent pool to recruit from, Ingram was a great, last minute Juco signing by Tubby.
• Mo...Still rounding into shape. I was excited to see Mo come into the game because Nix wouldn’t leave the paint to guard EE on the high post. I thought “Mo could knock down a jumper or two here & force Nix to come out & defend, which opens up the lane for everyone else".…but it didn’t happen. Mo needs to get minutes in every game to be ready for next year, but right now he’s the weakest of the 10 man rotation.

 

[Miles Tarver]

read the whole thing. Nice Post. I just really hope, Vaughn, Tyus, Travis realize what could be if they all stay here. That lineup would be a serious national contender

 

[Addicted2Gophers]

read the whole thing. Nice Post. I just really hope, Vaughn, Tyus, Travis realize what could be if they all stay here. That lineup would be a serious national contender

No doubt about that! If only they thought like that......

 

[SelectionSunday]

Oto played great in his limited minutes. Nice to see.

 

[stocker08]

read the whole thing. Nice Post. I just really hope, Vaughn, Tyus, Travis realize what could be if they all stay here. That lineup would be a serious national contender

Anyone who says that Minnesota has no shot at sustaining a high level of success is lying to themselves. We seem to develop a whole lot of talent, Tubby doesn't seem to be 'over the hump', and the Barn is a unique/neat venue (one of the cooler ones in the nation). Seeing the team with a top ten ranking doesn't hurt either. This one season could completely flip our future outlook.

 

[Addicted2Gophers]

Anyone who says that Minnesota has no shot at sustaining a high level of success is lying to themselves. We seem to develop a whole lot of talent, Tubby doesn't seem to be 'over the hump', and the Barn is a unique/neat venue (one of the cooler ones in the nation). Seeing the team with a top ten ranking doesn't hurt either. This one season could completely flip our future outlook.

I do agree the barn is neat but Let's face it now a days kids like big shiny new things it's just the way it is....

 

[stocker08]

I do agree the barn is neat but Let's face it now a days kids like big shiny new things it's just the way it is....

Some kids. Not every prospect will be drawn to the generic venues. I think it is the other way around.

 

[Addicted2Gophers]

Some kids. Not every prospect will be drawn to the generic venues. I think it is the other way around.

Your right it's all based on player but I do think somewhat of a remodel is needed. Practice facility is much needed.

 

[GopherJake]

CRG, you didn't mention Joe Coleman and I thought his contributions were big too. He played with confidence and poise. If that keeps up, he will become a very, very good player.

Addicted, start your own thread on the Barn (it's been done ad nauseum). Please don't hijack this one.

 

[stocker08]

Your right it's all based on player but I do think somewhat of a remodel is needed. Practice facility is much needed.

Agreed.

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

I liked how Eliason, Oto, Welch, etc. came in and didn't seem to have any "deer in the headlights" type look. Their body language looked like they believed they belonged on that court.

They threw up a graphic on the screen, stating what Mbakwe's presence in the game meant. I think while he was in, at the time, Gophers were +14 and while out -10. Wish he had a 7th year. Gophers are going to miss him on the court.

I just wanted to mention the one fast break where the ball never touched the floor. I think Austin finished it off. Speaking of Austin, it was cool to see him get pumped at one point and show some emotion and also 2-5 from 3.

11 rebounds in 24 minutes from Oto, Eliason and Ingram. Also Welch 2-3. (If the ESPN box score is correct.)

Happy New Year to everyone. Hope you have health and peace in your lives.

 

[alchemy2u]

It is really nice to see the depth on this team. Everyone makes a strong contribution on the floor and there isn't a player that is just out there to take up minutes and who you hope doesn't screw up. As long they play very aggressive and don't backdown, the sky is the limit. They do need to clean up some of the lazy passes that accounted for at least 8 turnovers!

 

[BJack4Life]

Joe's passing in the last couple of minutes was a thing of beauty. You could really tell the whole team was feeding off the intensity of the crowd that last 3-4 minutes.

 

[Mulligan]

I liked how Eliason, Oto, Welch, etc. came in and didn't seem to have any "deer in the headlights" type look. Their body language looked like they believed they belonged on that court.

That observation is the reason Tubby gives all those minutes to the second group. Gotta keep telling myself that when, like a lot of people, I get frustrated with Tubby's substitutions sometimes. Those subs are still going to struggle at times because they have their limitations, but this really is about as deep a team through the whole roster as I can remember. Mo will still help win a game or two and I can see Maverick also doing it. (Hitting a couple of 3's when we need them, not necessarily as a defender or a point guard.)

Also, all the bitching about the dead atmosphere in The Barn? Pretty evident yesterday what the solution to that is.

 

[station19]

Oto played great in his limited minutes. Nice to see.

+19

Oto was my pick for break-out player of the year. Started pretty slow but looks to be gaining confidence. Will be interesting to see how much he advances. Could play a big role down the road. Probably the most versatile of the bench players.

 

[tikited]

You've been banging the Oto drum all year and the last two games showed what he can contribute to the team this year. He won't play much, but now we have actually seen him hit shots-rebound-hustle in a meaningful game. He will surely play more than Mo the rest of the year.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

When Oto hit that shot as the shot clock was expiring my jaw dropped. That was sweet.

 

[Dr.Don]

When Oto hit that shot as the shot clock was expiring my jaw dropped. That was sweet.

If I saw that correctly, that shot came from his set shot not a true jumper. Am I right or wrong? Either way, it was BIG!

 

[Bad Gopher]

Nice rundown, Costa. You could make a case that Elliott's quality minutes were one of the keys to the game. The one sequence where he stepped back after the MSU offensive rebound, ceded primary defense to two other players and lined up the monster block was a thinking man's play.

Although we have too many bench players in at one time, playing the deeper rotation has been a key to a few wins this year. Even though we went through that slump in the second half, it wasn't due to fatigue. The team was fresh for the final push thanks to the starters not having played excessive minutes up to that point.

I thought another key to the game was where Tubby had to put Andre back into the game with 3 fouls before he wanted to due to Mav's tough time out there. He wanted to wait 'til the 12:00 timeout but had to pull the trigger, if I recall, at 14-something. When Dre got back in and avoided that 4th foul, it was huge.

One observation about Joe. He's aware of his turnover problem and on a couple occasions he declined to throw passes into the paint that could have been easy scoring plays. But there toward the end, he did pull the trigger on the bounce pass to Trevor. I was glad he recovered from his gun-shy-ness just in time for that.

This is a very potent team but not a perfect team. They have to play with a lot of effort and intensity in order to win. So far so good on that account.

 

[jamiche]

You've been banging the Oto drum all year and the last two games showed what he can contribute to the team this year. He won't play much, but now we have actually seen him hit shots-rebound-hustle in a meaningful game. He will surely play more than Mo the rest of the year.

Oto and Trevor had a nice little thing going for a two or three play sequence in the first half and then they were never on the court together again. I thought when things went dead for about nine minutes in the second half that Tubby would go back to that combo but he didn't.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

I really liked that we kept our foot on the gas at the end. We stay aggressive, we extend the lead to double digits and the last seconds are not dramatic. I feel like last year, we would have gone into our prevent offense, playing "not to lose" rather than to win, and would have let is slip away.

Great game, there were some rough spots, and I am worried that our half court offense won't do the trick against some of the higher conference competition. We went threw a stretch where it seemed like whatever point guard was dribbling for thirty seconds on top of the key (maybe with a few 5 foot passes to another guard with no one else moving), and then the team collectively said "oh crap, we've got 5 seconds left, someone needs to put this thing up".

I know the announcers said during the rough patch that it looked like we were sliding back into trying to hang with MSU rather than to beat them. I really didn't feel like that was how we looked for the bulk of the game. I think we played like we were in our house and were going to make anyone who wanted a win in the Barn com here and earn it, and I loved that. This year, I think we have a team that is good enough that they can take the attitude that they should win every game on their home court. (obviously, I am not saying I expect 9-0 at home, I just expect that we should protect the home court well enough that if and when we lose 1-2 on it, we are saying "damn, we let one get away in our house" not "eh, they were a pretty good team")

 

[sal]

Depth was a factor...

and also a recently shortened MSU bench.
This...

Appling played the entire second half and led MSU with 15 points. Izzo went with a seven-man rotation, less than a week after reserve guard Brandan Kearney – averaging 17 minutes a game – decided to transfer.

Mid season defections can be a bitch.

And this...

MSU wasn’t good in any area late. Asked why, Appling’s immediate response was: “Fatigue.”
Other than that top seven, Alex Gauna played three minutes and Russell Byrd played one. The Gophers repeatedly beat the Spartans down the floor in transition and won 39-32 on the boards – the first time MSU has come up short in that statistic this season.

From the Detroit Freep.

 

[march madness]

Positives: Trevor the beast, Andre the assasin. The bench contributing in ways beyond scoring. The effort-- outrebounding m st 38-24! 8 blocks, many by guards.

Negatives: turnovers on inbounds plays! 59% on free throws.

Great game.

 

[SelectionSunday]

Jimmy Dykes was spot on

After being at the game I watched the replay yesterday and Jimmy Dykes was excellent with his analysis. He said several times (paraphrasing) that the Gophers needed to prove they could "out-tough" Michigan State, especially considering how we've blown late leads vs. Sparty recently @ Williams Arena. The Gophers then proceeded to do exactly just that, especially after the final TV timeout (12-rip Gophers in the final 3-4 minutes).

It's a real good sign the Gophers blitzed Sparty down the stretch. ... a nail-biter vs. a quality opponent (and one they pull out) is exactly what they needed. We've seen the exact opposite far too often the last couple seasons.

On another note, someone needs to tell the play-by-play guy that the 82 Gophers championship team was the one of Trent Tucker and Randy Breuer, not Trent Tucker and "Jim Brewer" (as he referred to them).

 

[brucekaupa]

I was happy to see that we came right out with a press after the first basket. Didn't like how much time Sparty got to set up their inbounds plays a few times, though.

 

[station19]

After being at the game I watched the replay yesterday and Jimmy Dykes was excellent with his analysis. He said several times (paraphrasing) that the Gophers needed to prove they could "out-tough" Michigan State, especially considering how we've blown late leads vs. Sparty recently @ Williams Arena. The Gophers then proceeded to do exactly just that, especially after the final TV timeout (12-rip Gophers in the final 3-4 minutes).

It's a real good sign the Gophers blitzed Sparty down the stretch. ... a nail-biter vs. a quality opponent (and one they pull out) is exactly what they needed. We've seen the exact opposite far too often the last couple seasons.

On another note, someone needs to tell the play-by-play guy that the 82 Gophers championship team was the one of Trent Tucker and Randy Breuer, not Trent Tucker and "Jim Brewer" (as he referred to them).

Caught that myself.

I was impressed the Gophs were able to close out the victory, not only for the win, but to do it handily. This was a game we had to win to be taken seriously in the Big Teen race. MSU is always a tough game, but at this point they are not considered one of the top two or three teams in the conference and we had them at the Barn.

Every team has deficiencies and I have no problem with people/posters pointing them out. Though improving, we need to continue to cut down on turnovers. Many turnovers are ill-advised or just plain lazy passes.

 

[tikited]

Oto and Trevor had a nice little thing going for a two or three play sequence in the first half and then they were never on the court together again. I thought when things went dead for about nine minutes in the second half that Tubby would go back to that combo but he didn't.

I wanted Oto back in there when things got stale/Coleman out and Oto in, but it worked out alright..

 

[howieramone]

I agree with Sal, Tubby wore them down. If that game had gone another 5 minutes we would have won by 25.

 

[freshtrout]

Yeah, the D intensity wore down Sparty. No doubt about that. That has been this teams strength so far this year. However, the fast break between Austin and Trevor seemed to me as the deal-breaker for Sparty. One of the best plays in years ...

 

[stocker08]

Yeah, the D intensity wore down Sparty. No doubt about that. That has been this teams strength so far this year. However, the fast break between Austin and Trevor seemed to me as the deal-breaker for Sparty. One of the best plays in years ...

We have multiple players capable of taking the ball the length of the court. The up-tempo style we have been playing is one of the main things that I have noticed compared to previous teams. Don't know how many times in previous years I've been horribly disappointed with our half court offense. We just seem to be faster than most teams and use a deep enough bench to keep our starters fresh.