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EG#9

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I just finished watching the game which I recorded, and I already can't take much more of this team. I had a bad feeling from the start when in the first 5 minutes of the game, the Gophers had a chance to be up big, but kept missing layups and free throws. I thought our missed free throws were the story of the game and was shocked when I looked at the boxscore and saw that they shot 66.7% at the line. Sure that's not good, but it seemed like it was much worse. The second thing that killed the Gophers was the missed layups/shots within 5 feet of the basket. There were so many "bunnies" missed by the Gophers in that game.

I am somewhat confused as to why Ralph Sampson continues to get the longest leash on the team. He allowed key offensive rebounds on missed free throws several times, took several ill-advised shots late in the game, and wasn't adding much positive on either end of the court. I am sure there has been a lot of praise for Colton, but he was the main culprit at missing EASY shots against A&M. I am pleased with his progress, but just making a couple of those shots would have made a huge difference.

The refs hurt the Gophers most of the 2nd half and especially late in the game. It's hard to be upset about it when the Gophers could have won anyway.

I hope the results of this tournament don't come back to hurt the Gophers as there was really no excuse for them to go 1-2 here. I have a feeling we will look back at this tournament when seedings for the tournament are announced and, for example, we end up as a 7 seed with a potential second round matchup against an elite team instead of getting that 5 or 6 seed and a better chance to make some noise.

The last play of the game. Devoe had the ball, why not an iso for him? We get a contested jumper by Paul Carter? Really? I will say that Carter was "fouled" on that play if it was on the other end of the court.
 

Both Colton and Sampson have a problem with scoring and both are just learning how to protect the lane. Neither of them seem to have a "go to" move they can count on when they get the ball down low. Both are young and both will develop. A little patience, please.
 

EG#9 said:
I just finished watching the game which I recorded, and I already can't take much more of this team. I had a bad feeling from the start when in the first 5 minutes of the game, the Gophers had a chance to be up big, but kept missing layups and free throws. I thought our missed free throws were the story of the game and was shocked when I looked at the boxscore and saw that they shot 66.7% at the line. Sure that's not good, but it seemed like it was much worse. The second thing that killed the Gophers was the missed layups/shots within 5 feet of the basket. There were so many "bunnies" missed by the Gophers in that game.

I am somewhat confused as to why Ralph Sampson continues to get the longest leash on the team. He allowed key offensive rebounds on missed free throws several times, took several ill-advised shots late in the game, and wasn't adding much positive on either end of the court. I am sure there has been a lot of praise for Colton, but he was the main culprit at missing EASY shots against A&M. I am pleased with his progress, but just making a couple of those shots would have made a huge difference.

The refs hurt the Gophers most of the 2nd half and especially late in the game. It's hard to be upset about it when the Gophers could have won anyway.

I hope the results of this tournament don't come back to hurt the Gophers as there was really no excuse for them to go 1-2 here. I have a feeling we will look back at this tournament when seedings for the tournament are announced and, for example, we end up as a 7 seed with a potential second round matchup against an elite team instead of getting that 5 or 6 seed and a better chance to make some noise.

The last play of the game. Devoe had the ball, why not an iso for him? We get a contested jumper by Paul Carter? Really? I will say that Carter was "fouled" on that play if it was on the other end of the court.
Click to expand...

Why no timeout?????
 

A lot of coaches let their teams play it out in that situation, the other team doesn't get a chance to set up their defense and you don't have to get the ball inbounds. Bottom line, time out or not, you get to second guess the choice. I prefer to see a team go without a time out and get the defense scrambling and then drive to the basket. Good things (usually) happen when you drive to the hole. I thought Carter got bumped. Sometimes things don't work out.
 

sal said:
A lot of coaches let their teams play it out in that situation, the other team doesn't get a chance to set up their defense and you don't have to get the ball inbounds. Bottom line, time out or not, you get to second guess the choice. I prefer to see a team go without a time out and get the defense scrambling and then drive to the basket. Good things (usually) happen when you drive to the hole. I thought Carter got bumped. Sometimes things don't work out.
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I would normally agree, but with no go-to player on this team, I thought it would have been better to draw up something creative to get someone open. The guys simply looked lost out there. There was so much hesitation in the final 16 seconds. Carter threw up that shot with no intention to make it. He was hoping to get fouled and go to the stripe.
 


"time out or not, you get to second guess the choice"

And so you did.
 

EG#9 said:
I am somewhat confused as to why Ralph Sampson continues to get the longest leash on the team. He allowed key offensive rebounds on missed free throws several times, took several ill-advised shots late in the game, and wasn't adding much positive on either end of the court. I am sure there has been a lot of praise for Colton, but he was the main culprit at missing EASY shots against A&M. I am pleased with his progress, but just making a couple of those shots would have made a huge difference.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Sampson is the type of player that just seems to drive me nuts. As of now, he appears to be the second coming of Dan Coleman. I do like the shyhook and hope it develops, but outside of that, the guy just doesn't seem to have improved and gets lost out there so easily.

As for Iverson, I love what I saw out of him this weekend. He appears to be so much more aggressive. His hands and coordination seem to be improved as well. It was nice to see him do it a second time yesterday against a good team. That said, he DID miss too many shots early. He could have had 30. But in his case, it is easier to take because I can see the improvement and hope those shots will fall more and more as he develops. My hopes for him have shot up dramatically.

There's stuff to build on here, but unless Joseph and Hoffarber can start to consistently make outside shots, this season could be a major disappointment. That's my main concern.

I also feel Damian Johnson needs to be a focal point late in games. He is our best player. He can create, and he actually is one our most consistent shooters. I really get annoyed that they don't run more through him in the important moments. He isn't a superstar, but he is our best bet, IMO. Yesterday would have been a perfect situation for him to be the man considering we were only down one point.
 

Sampson is the golden child thats why he has such a long leash.

Colton should play 30 min. a game. He does miss some bunnies but thats because he is under the basket getting after it.
 

WilliamsArenaGuy said:
Agreed. Sampson is the type of player that just seems to drive me nuts. As of now, he appears to be the second coming of Dan Coleman. I do like the shyhook and hope it develops, but outside of that, the guy just doesn't seem to have improved and gets lost out there so easily.

As for Iverson, I love what I saw out of him this weekend. He appears to be so much more aggressive. His hands and coordination seem to be improved as well. It was nice to see him do it a second time yesterday against a good team. That said, he DID miss too many shots early. He could have had 30. But in his case, it is easier to take because I can see the improvement and hope those shots will fall more and more as he develops. My hopes for him have shot up dramatically.

There's stuff to build on here, but unless Joseph and Hoffarber can start to consistently make outside shots, this season could be a major disappointment. That's my main concern.

I also feel Damian Johnson needs to be a focal point late in games. He is our best player. He can create, and he actually is one our most consistent shooters. I really get annoyed that they don't run more through him in the important moments. He isn't a superstar, but he is our best bet, IMO. Yesterday would have been a perfect situation for him to be the man considering we were only down one point.
Click to expand...

The wierd thing ,offensively, was that Sampson was faily smooth but had trouble getting the job done, while Iverson lacked grace but, was a positive part of all 3 games.
 



Normally I would say no timeout. But without Nolen in the game, I think I would call timeout. I'm certainly not outraged by the decision just saying I think a timeout would help. Unless of course Carter makes the shot and I say that no timeout was the right decision ;)

How does a player foul out when not even playing in the first half? Box score says Nolen played 15 minutes. One foul every 3 minutes??? I know we were fouling down the stretch, but sheesh. Would have been nice to have him in the game at the end.
 


It seems that both are streaky. I barely noticed Iverson before this tournament (this year), and I felt Ralph was doing well. This tournament was the opposite- Iverson definitely outplayed Sampson.

I just hope one of them becomes a bit more consistent for us because I truly believe that the thing this team is missing the most is the ability to throw it in to the post and score. I feel like that would do wonders for opening up the outside shots, which I believe would be add 5-10% on our shooters percentages. Obviously that is a pure estimate, but I do think there is something to be said for how the majority of our threes are at least partially contested. Right now, there is no need to double our post players unless you're trying to force a turnover, and so our shooters always have a man on them.
 

If you look at this team's history over the last 2-3 years, you should know that we almost never score out of TO's. I'm all for pushing it rather than calling the TO, just wish it weren't Carter who had the ball.

Set plays out of TO's, like most aspects of an offense, run much better when you have people on the floor capable of knocking down shots if the defense sags off.
 



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