Gopher Scrimmage Friday Oct 18

Sounds like Matheiu and Oto were the stars of the scrimmage which makes me more optimistic about our chances this year.
 



Sounds like Matheiu and Oto were the stars of the scrimmage which makes me more optimistic about our chances this year.

I was really impressed by Austin Hollins. Mav has improved immensely. Thought Mathieu over dribble a little bit at times, but was otherwise fantastic. Fun player to watch. Oto was impressive as well. I liked the way Mo played and thought the rebounding was pretty solid as well.

The guys overall look more confident, the offense flows better and so much more ball and player movement. Thought guys shot pretty well too, was nice to see.
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>In losing effort Dre Mathieu shot 8-12fg, 8-10ft, 26pts overall. Mo Walker 9pts/7rbs, Malik Smith 9pts</p>— Ryan James (@RyanJamesMN) <a href="https://twitter.com/RyanJamesMN/statuses/391376240986185728">October 19, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Mathieu has 21 so far. He's going to play a lot this year, maybe he'll end up starting at PG.

And have Mav at backup PG? Mav is better suited playing off of the ball. I like Deandre coming of of the bench as a backup pg and also getting some minutes playing alongside Dre and Austin. He'll be getting plenty of minutes regardless if he starts or not if he keeps playing the way he's playing.
 

And have Mav at backup PG? Mav is better suited playing off of the ball. I like Deandre coming of of the bench as a backup pg and also getting some minutes playing alongside Dre and Austin. He'll be getting plenty of minutes regardless if he starts or not if he keeps playing the way he's playing.

Start Mathieu, Hollins, Hollins, PF, and EE. Bring in Malik for Matheiu, Dre Hollins slides to PG and then Matheiu relieves Hollins when he needs a breather. You can start both Dre's and still not have to use Mav at PG.
 

And have Mav at backup PG? Mav is better suited playing off of the ball. I like Deandre coming of of the bench as a backup pg and also getting some minutes playing alongside Dre and Austin. He'll be getting plenty of minutes regardless if he starts or not if he keeps playing the way he's playing.

Mav could sub in for Mathieu and Andre can play PG. Either way, Mathieu and Dre Hollins will probably handle the ball the majority of the time. Pitino said the guards are pretty interchangeable so we'll see what he means by that when the games start.
 

1. Mathieu looked incredibly quick, pushing the ball up the floor and changing directions extremely fast.

2. LOTS and LOTS of player movement. PG received some sort of pick, if he hadn't passed within 2 seconds of dribbling outside the arc.

3. The three man weave appeared about twice.

4. I saw the point guard dribbling outside the arc with everyone else standing around doing nothing for 30 seconds exactly twice - both in last shot situations, not every trip up the floor.

5. A little wild trying to finish drives, throwing up prayers every once in a while.

6. A. Hollins was quiet, but A. Hollins was terrific and, um, did he grow an inch or two?

7. J. King needs work, but seems big.

8. Not a lot of beef inside, now that Mo weighs about 150.

9. Had the immense honor of shaking Bobby Jackson's hand and I discussed the Clemson game with him briefly. I asked him about a situation I remember late in the game. According to Bobby, after he got his 4th foul, Clem told him "You aren't going to lose this fuc&ing game for me." (And Bobby said he cleaned up what Clem actually said.) He stood there and talked and took pics with people and seemed very content. Nice.
 



1. Mathieu looked incredibly quick, pushing the ball up the floor and changing directions extremely fast.

2. LOTS and LOTS of player movement. PG received some sort of pick, if he hadn't passed within 2 seconds of dribbling outside the arc.

3. The three man weave appeared about twice.

4. I saw the point guard dribbling outside the arc with everyone else standing around doing nothing for 30 seconds exactly twice - both in last shot situations, not every trip up the floor.

5. A little wild trying to finish drives, throwing up prayers every once in a while.

6. A. Hollins was quiet, but A. Hollins was terrific and, um, did he grow an inch or two?

7. J. King needs work, but seems big.

8. Not a lot of beef inside, now that Mo weighs about 150.

9. Had the immense honor of shaking Bobby Jackson's hand and I discussed the Clemson game with him briefly. I asked him about a situation I remember late in the game. According to Bobby, after he got his 4th foul, Clem told him "You aren't going to lose this fuc&ing game for me." (And Bobby said he cleaned up what Clem actually said.) He stood there and talked and took pics with people and seemed very content. Nice.

Are you talking about two different people? Ha. Assuming the first was Andre and the second was Austin.
 


Start Mathieu, Hollins, Hollins, PF, and EE. Bring in Malik for Matheiu, Dre Hollins slides to PG and then Matheiu relieves Hollins when he needs a breather. You can start both Dre's and still not have to use Mav at PG.

Am I crazy to think/want Mo starting at C?

Oto looked really good tonight too. I was shocked.
 

Oto looked really good tonight too. I was shocked.

Oto looked comfortable in the high pace of the game. Robotic play maybe doesn't suit him? He is really long and has some quickness. If he can be an asset defensively, he will play.
 



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>If tonight's scrimmage is any indication, Dre Mathieu is going to get a lot of PT for the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> this year.</p>— GopherHole.com (@GopherHole) <a href="https://twitter.com/GopherHole/statuses/391374814298247168">October 19, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>The two biggest surprises tonight in the scrimmage were the big offensive contributions from <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> Dre Mathieu and Oto Osenieks.</p>— GopherHole.com (@GopherHole) <a href="https://twitter.com/GopherHole/statuses/391376259932258304">October 19, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>It was great to see <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> legend <a href="https://twitter.com/TheBobbyJackson">@TheBobbyJackson</a> back at The Barn tonight!!</p>— GopherHole.com (@GopherHole) <a href="https://twitter.com/GopherHole/statuses/391377121446469632">October 19, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Go Gophers!!
 

Didn't even see the scrimmage, but I feel like we are looking at a depth chart like this:

PG: Dre M / Mav
SG: Dre H / Malik / McNeil
SF: Austin / Wally
PF: Oto / King / Buggs
C: EE / Mo
 

Oto looked comfortable in the high pace of the game. Robotic play maybe doesn't suit him? He is really long and has some quickness. If he can be an asset defensively, he will play.

I can't speak for tonight, but it seemed from my point of view that many times in the past Oto played/shot scared. Maybe with the higher tempo he won't have time to think about being scared.
 

I know the assistant coaches just drew up these offenses for this game a week ago but Buggs didn't know where to go in the half court. He looks like he'll be disruptive on D though.

Wally is like Rodney with a jump shot. Has a nose for the ball around the rim but didn't finish tonight on a few put backs.

One of the first plays of the scrimmage Oto was running the break out of control and drew a block when it should have been a charge of a P/C foul. Anyway it seemed to boost his confidence and played well

I like what Mo is able to do now. I think he will improve the most over the course of this year.

Mathieu has a great up and under finger roll and quick.

As a team I can't tell if it's a good press or not til they play somebody else. Hopefully Austin can be a some sort of super hybrid of Damion Johnson and Al Nolan
 




GopherSports: Maroon Defeats Gold, 61-53
Austin Hollins leads Maroon with 21 in

Coach Pitino took a seat across the court from the benches, and was mic'd up, so he took time between quarters to speak with the crowd and talk about some of the things he was looking for from his 14-player roster. A crowd estimated at about 3,600 was on hand to cheer on the Gophers.

Pitino said after the game that he'd like to see fewer turnovers -- the Gold team turned the ball over 17 times (5 assists), while the Maroon had 18 turnovers and 15 assists.

http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/101813aak.html

Go Gophers!!
 

My guess at the starting 5 after watching the scrimmage tonight....

PG: Dre Hollins
SG: Smith
SF: Aus Hollins
PF: Oto
C: EE

I think Mathieu will be a spark plug off the bench and will replace Malik in certain situations. This team will be a lot of fun to watch this year...I'm really looking forward to seeing how Pitino's style works in the B1G.
 




Not much mention of Malik. How did he look?

Off night. Don't have the box score in front of me but something like 1-10 from the field. The book on Smith is that when he's on he's an incredible scorer & when he's cold he won't stop shooting which is what seems to have happened tonight.
 

Malik Smith: 1/15 shooting (1/10 from 3), with 0 assists and 8 turnovers. Ouch.
 

Thanks guys.

I think a lot of us expected Malik to be a starter. Any chance we go with Dre, Dre and Austin at the guards with Malik coming off the bench?
 

Malik Smith: 1/15 shooting (1/10 from 3), with 0 assists and 8 turnovers. Ouch.

Yeah, that's a very concerning stat line. I don't care if the game doesn't count, that's still a red flag.
 





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