Gophers Maroon and Gold Scrimmage Recap and Analysis

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Moonlight said:
Just reminding people that Lynch and Fitzgerald are not elible this year.

At one point Mason and Buggs moved to try to trap Dorsey but he just blew through. Great poise & speed, made a nice pulled up jumper and a 3. Dupree will be fun, has great speed.
Morris made several passes and you can see had some assists, which is hopeful.
Buggs had one nice shot and then, well, was himself. I was not encouraged. But, remember, he is just a junior with 2 more full years here to fulfill his promise.

Neither Bakary or Gas played, so no real chance to see how the team will work since, as I said, lynch & Fitz are transfers.

There is some great hair on this team. Lynch sports a great 'fro, and Mason and Dorsey have similar looks with the shorn sides and tall top. Dorsey wins the facial hair battle for a total look that says, "Don't be thinking I'm just a freshman." Murphy is stylish with a look more trimmed than M& D. Buggs' hair somehow comes to a point on the top of his head which doesn't make it for me, and Joey continues with what might seem a modified neo-supremacist look on someone else, but on him, like very tall 1st grader.
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One of my favorite posts ever!
 

Moonlight said:
I agree with Pitino that Dorsey is faster than little dre. I'm very, very excited about seeing him this year.
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I don't see how Pitino thinks Dorsey makes Dre look slow. Dre could really fly, both vertically and horizontally. I agree with your second comment though.

Was most impressed by Mcbrayer and the fact that he can really play the 1-3. I thought that was Richard embellishing slightly.

Jordan Murphy kind of has that Andre slightly hunched over look, but he he jumps, wow he gets up. That put back dunk was impressive.
 

I am very surprised that you would say that you were not impressed with McBrayer. Offensively he looked fantastic. I think he stood out as much as Dorsey. I am very excited for both of these Freshman. Murphy looked very good also, but not interested the entire scrimmage. Very nice Freshman group.
 


Liked the ft shooting - good outside shooting (we will win some games when the guys are hot from the outside) Until the end it seemed they too good care of the ball - Morris was outstanding (no bad shots!)
 

I heard that Pitino wants to 'go big' this year. I hope he gives the small lineups a chance too - especially pre-B1G.

Dorsey Mason Morris McBrayer at various combinations of 1-2-3.

Next year looks like a better year to concentrate on going Big.
 

rrjackIII said:
I heard that Pitino wants to 'go big' this year. I hope he gives the small lineups a chance too - especially pre-B1G.

Dorsey Mason Morris McBrayer at various combinations of 1-2-3.

Next year looks like a better year to concentrate on going Big.
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Which Pitino said that?

There will be no going big this year, IMO.

I look forward to a full year of arguing who is/was faster Mathieu or Dorsey.
All I can say is that Dorsey's capacity, as a freshman, to fly down the court at full speed under control against Mason surpassed what I felt Mathieu could do. The hype on this kid is legit, and that is exciting!

Murphy was out of position playing center, so if we think he looked good at all, thats a plus.
 




highlights from the scrimmage for those who haven't seen them

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SPkYR8uyC4o" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 

Yeah, he's said the lineup several times has been Mason, Morris, Buggs, Joey, Konate. I hope that Murphy is good enough at the 3 to get a lot of PT there. Sounds like he's more of a 4.

rrjackIII said:
I believe I heard/read that Richard wants to play Morris at the 2 this year and play a bigger lineup. Not sure where I read it tho.

BTW I like the Yeats bonus diversion. http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/04/07/no-slouch/
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Gold shoes.............not sure about next game though.:cheer:
 

underground629 said:
Yeah, he's said the lineup several times has been Mason, Morris, Buggs, Joey, Konate. I hope that Murphy is good enough at the 3 to get a lot of PT there. Sounds like he's more of a 4.
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Me too, I like Buggs size, but hoping McBrayer or Murphy can bump him back to the bench.
 




If we had more depth at guard both Morris and Mcbrayer I think would both play a lot of the three.
 


Blackhammer said:
If we had more depth at guard both Morris and Mcbrayer I think would both play a lot of the three.
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I'm guessing that Pitino has changed his recruiting, it seems to me he added Gilbert and Fitzpatrick to play the three with Murphy as another option.

Next years class has both Coffey and Hurt.

All of these guys are in the 6'6" to 6'"8 range. The recruiting will make it hard to play small anymore.
 

jovs said:
I'm guessing that Pitino has changed his recruiting, it seems to me he added Gilbert and Fitzpatrick to play the three with Murphy as another option.

Next years class has both Coffey and Hurt.

All of these guys are in the 6'6" to 6'"8 range. The recruiting will make it hard to play small anymore.
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Guys with guard skills no matter the size. Not 6-8 stiffs who can't handle, drive or shoot those type of threes are out.
 

I admit I may be reaching for a little unfounded optimism post scrimmage.

But, last year the Gophers lost 7 B1G games by 6 points or less. That’s ONLY 2 made 3’s. Last year, as a team the Gophers quite often counted on Andre Hollins to take and make the BIG 3 point shot. And for some reason in many games Andre struggled. Maybe he never fully connected with the Pitino system or, maybe he missed his brother Austin :). Also, Mathieu regressed from his Junior year. Again, the reason for that was hard to determine

This year I look forward to more evenly distributed 3 point shooting. Pitino recruits Mason, Morris, King, Dorsey and McBrayer, and Tubby holdover Buggs all made 3’s in the scrimmage. Maybe Gilbert and Murphy can make a few 3’s during the season. Those 7 games we lost last year by 6 or less now look a little closer this year.

The Gophers were 6-12 in the B1G last year. 4 of those losses were by 4 points or less. Win 4 additional games this year and we are 10-8 in the B1G this year.

I know its the old 'we only lost by a few points' in many games last year syndrome. But I thought I would bring it up again before the games begin. Exaggeration intended! :cool02:
 

rrjackIII said:
I admit I may be reaching for a little unfounded optimism post scrimmage.

But, last year the Gophers lost 7 B1G games by 6 points or less. That’s ONLY 2 made 3’s. Last year, as a team the Gophers quite often counted on Andre Hollins to take and make the BIG 3 point shot. And for some reason in many games Andre struggled. Maybe he never fully connected with the Pitino system or, maybe he missed his brother Austin :). Also, Mathieu regressed from his Junior year. Again, the reason for that was hard to determine

This year I look forward to more evenly distributed 3 point shooting. Pitino recruits Mason, Morris, King, Dorsey and McBrayer, and Tubby holdover Buggs all made 3’s in the scrimmage. Maybe Gilbert and Murphy can make a few 3’s during the season. Those 7 games we lost last year by 6 or less now look a little closer this year.

The Gophers were 6-12 in the B1G last year. 4 of those losses were by 4 points or less. Win 4 additional games this year and we are 10-8 in the B1G this year.

I know its the old 'we only lost by a few points' in many games last year syndrome. But I thought I would bring it up again before the games begin. Exaggeration intended! :cool02:
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I'm feeling a little bullish myself, and when I say bullish, we're talking 7-11 lol. I think the real critical loss was Mo from last year whose numbers will be hard to replace. I love Andre, but he almost single handedly lost us those first 5 in B10 last year- his +\- numbers must have been horrendous (feel free someone to confirm or deny- I feel comfortable with conjecture in this case). The point being I think based on what we saw in that scrimmage there is more than enough to offset he and Mathiew.

I think what you hope happens with this team is they steal some games and start to believe in themselves despite predictions and some of those 6 point games start going our way. Young and cocky can be really good and rally bad, hopefully in this case it's the former. Go Gophs
 

Blackhammer said:
Guys with guard skills no matter the size. Not 6-8 stiffs who can't handle, drive or shoot those type of threes are out.
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Outside of Coffey who fits that role, not Gilbert, not Fitzpatrick, I doubt Hurt, my guess is that Coffey plays the 2 anyway.
 

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