Gophers outperforming at 7-11??? Prove it!

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WinMinGophers!

WinMinGophers!

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I have a Badger friend who doesn't believe me when I say this team is doing great. He said, "You mean the team down the rankings?"

So help me to prove it. I'll start.

1. Gopher #352 out of 364 for KenPom "luck" metric. This means they have played way better than their record suggests. The record is not an accurate reflection of how good they are.

2. Catastrophic injuries, down to 5.5 players, was 6.5 -- and yet not losing by 20 points. WAY outperforming what should be expected. As many of us saw, they gasses down the stretch games they could have won. Iron Man rotation!

3. Seven games lost by 5 points or less.

DateOpponentFinal ScoreMarginContext
Jan 9USCL 69–70 (OT)-1Lost in overtime at home. HORRIFIC refs theft! Lost on FTs with 10 seconds left.
Feb 1@ Penn StateL 75–77-2Road heartbreaker. Lost on a layup with 1 second left.
Jan 13WisconsinL 75–78-3Bad calls but Blackwell buzzer-beater and insane Carrington 3's gets respect
Jan 28@ WisconsinL 63–67-4Blackwell down the stretch
Nov 27StanfordL 68–72-4Early-season neutral-site battle.
Feb 8MarylandL 62–67-5Choke I saw from exact center great seat and sucked, 11-2 run to choke it
Feb 24@ MichiganL 67–77-10HONORABLE MENTION. Not within 5 but good play by iron man rotation against #3 in country



4. Beat #10 Michigan State and UCLA at a projected 9 seed in bracketology.


5. Coach Niko Medved master at developing players from "hidden gems" into even NBA players.

-Grayson Grove from deep reserve to 12 points and 8 rebounds per game.

-Langston Reynolds. Transferred from a mid-major to the Big Ten. Just put up a master class against UCLA with 21 points and 5 assists. Shooting 58% from the field in the big leagues plus 2.5 assists per game, helping his teammates significantly and unselfish.

-Bobby Durkin was not a Big Ten starter until COACH unlocked his potential. Just put up 7-11 in 3-point shooting against UCLA.

6. A team with Gophers losing record should have a much lower KenPom rating. Top 80 -- WAIT IS IT NOW 70? - shows they are better than record -- and with an Iron Man rotation.

7. 4th best for points allowed in the Big Ten. # 50 for KenPom defense efficiency. Not physically dominant. Forced to use 2-3 zone because of too few bodies for man-to-man. Lower fouls a good stat -- yet truth be told forced into it due to no bodies available if they foul out.

Watch defensive stops here:



So what am I missing? How can they be good despite the record?


Finally, use anything I write for clarity as you like. Take what is useful, discard what is not.

Then you run with the ball and I'll like what I read from you. It's all just talk.

Others here know way more than I do about basketball -- and with different styles of expressing that. As a professional analyst, I've done pretty well being who I am and not about to change.

Put me on ignore if you do not want to see what I write. The world does not revolve around you and neither do I.

---> Click Ignore WinMinGophers! <---
 


I wouldn’t call us good, but I certainly wouldn’t call us bad either. All I know is this team is much better than the sum of its parts individually would indicate they are. This coach appears to have the ability to create a TEAM. I love watching the way they play, cohesive in every aspect. If we can find a way to get average Big Ten talent here instead of bottom half I will be VERY excited about our future.
 


Jaycoo said:
I wouldn’t call us good, but I certainly wouldn’t call us bad either. All I know is this team is much better than the sum of its parts individually would indicate they are. This coach appears to have the ability to create a TEAM. I love watching the way they play, cohesive in every aspect. If we can find a way to get average Big Ten talent here instead of bottom half I will be VERY excited about our future.
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So what.you are saying is intangibles. How they play as a team from someone enjoying the game. Basketball heads know what they see.

With better talent than the iron man roster, this team could be super exciting.

What I love is how thrilled they seem to be, like, wow, I love that I am.playing so good. Durkin 's face today...
 




This team is much more enjoyable to watch than any of CBJ's. Hopefully we get more guys next year and/or stay healthy so they can win more. Was at the game today, the crowd/atmosphere was great.
 

I don't care who you play....a team with 5.5 playable guys should not be able to go 4-3 over their past 7 games.

The record doesn't look great, they aren't going to make the NCAA tournament (this year).....but this squad is absolutely playing some great team basketball. And I would not want to get matched up against them in the Big Ten tournament.
 



MNVCGUY said:
I don't care who you play....a team with 5.5 playable guys should not be able to go 4-3 over their past 7 games.

The record doesn't look great, they aren't going to make the NCAA tournament (this year).....but this squad is absolutely playing some great team basketball. And I would not want to get matched up against them in the Big Ten tournament.
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I love that you say 5.5 playable guys. From what I have seen from Niko and the guys he coaches, Shinholster will develop by next year if he stays the course. Excited to see his growth. Excited for Niko and to see him be successful here!
 

Beerculees said:
I love that you say 5.5 playable guys. From what I have seen from Niko and the guys he coaches, Shinholster will develop by next year if he stays the course. Excited to see his growth. Excited for Niko and to see him be successful here!
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Shinholster definitely has potential but he's just really limited right now as a true freshman being forced to play more then he was almost certainly ready for. I hope he is part of the roster moving forward and hopefully his time this year puts him in a position to be a bigger part of the rotation in the future.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Shinholster definitely has potential but he's just really limited right now as a true freshman being forced to play more then he was almost certainly ready for. I hope he is part of the roster moving forward and hopefully his time this year puts him in a position to be a bigger part of the rotation in the future.
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He is just a freshman. Thank you for the reminder. Good context for what he does not have to offer (yet).

He potentially is a transition game scoring threat. He has speed and uses both hands well. That helps to get fast points off turnovers and after getting the rebound attack fast before the other team defense can set.

He is tall enough to cover several positions, a seamless system.

He is not real good now. His shooting probably should be better, closer to what Cam Christie did.

We can see the style.of play Niko.wqnts to play. Spacing, cutting, flow, opportunistic and versatile players to do it. Versatility is IT for Coach Niko.
 
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Ski-U-Ham said:
Cam Christie shot 39% on 170 3 pointers attempted as a freshman. Not many freshmen are going to do that. Seems like an odd comparison to make for Kai.
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Good point, fair enough. I said closer to that which technically can be 1% closer :eek: drum roll.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Shinholster definitely has potential but he's just really limited right now as a true freshman being forced to play more then he was almost certainly ready for. I hope he is part of the roster moving forward and hopefully his time this year puts him in a position to be a bigger part of the rotation in the future.
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He seems to have decent form on his shot. I think once he gets stronger he’s got a chance to be a decent three point shooter.
 


Shinholster looks to have fine potential, but when you see 6-5 followed by 175 lbs, you don't have to be a genius to know, minus injuries, he was mostly going to play spot minutes and really try and put some muscle on in season 1. With our injuries, I am glad to have him!

Rated the #310 player in the class of 2025, 34th best combo guard. The next best offer after MN was St. Louis. No power 5 conference school would feel it ideal for someone rated as such to get major minutes, especially if they are desperate need of muscle, and to be the only sub! I hope we are someday so successful, that a similar player would have to walk on to make the team.

I am not aware of a similar middle of the pack power 5 team to have lost 3 for sure starters when they got injured, in one season! Now a blue blood could just turn to their bench of 4 and 5-star players. 7-11 in Conference, 7-13 last year. If we split the last two, 8-11! It's a tough argument to make to someone who doesn't follow the team, that we are better. You have to watch the product to see how we are maximizing a ridiculously unlucky roster.

I am thinking Niko is going to really look at team depth going forward. We only lost Willis at guard; we were thin to start there. A team should never be so thin at guard. You can play small ball, but big ball without enough guards isn't successful.
 

march madness said:
Shinholster looks to have fine potential, but when you see 6-5 followed by 175 lbs, you don't have to be a genius to know, minus injuries, he was mostly going to play spot minutes and really try and put some muscle on in season 1. With our injuries, I am glad to have him!

Rated the #310 player in the class of 2025, 34th best combo guard. The next best offer after MN was St. Louis. No power 5 conference school would feel it ideal for someone rated as such to get major minutes, especially if they are desperate need of muscle, and to be the only sub! I hope we are someday so successful, that a similar player would have to walk on to make the team.

I am not aware of a similar middle of the pack power 5 team to have lost 3 for sure starters when they got injured, in one season! Now a blue blood could just turn to their bench of 4 and 5-star players. 7-11 in Conference, 7-13 last year. If we split the last two, 8-11! It's a tough argument to make to someone who doesn't follow the team, that we are better. You have to watch the product to see how we are maximizing a ridiculously unlucky roster.

I am thinking Niko is going to really look at team depth going forward. We only lost Willis at guard; we were thin to start there. A team should never be so thin at guard. You can play small ball, but big ball without enough guards isn't successful.
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To be fair St. Louis is a top 25 team this year but I do agree that there is plenty of upside on Kai, similar to McBreyer he needs to add 15-20 pounds of muscle in the off season but I would say going off his film and really liked the versatility to his scoring. Where as Ross was more of a power forward in a guards body, curious about Jefferson as I thought he had a nice outside shot but maybe Milo didn't feel he was athletic enough to play in the big ten, hard to say on that one, but Kai to me was the one guy who I wanted to keep and hopefully he gives it another go next year
 

It’ll be interesting to see if Medved gets a raise. The last coach got a raise for a last place finish.
 


The Deliberate Stranger said:
To be fair St. Louis is a top 25 team this year but I do agree that there is plenty of upside on Kai, similar to McBreyer he needs to add 15-20 pounds of muscle in the off season but I would say going off his film and really liked the versatility to his scoring. Where as Ross was more of a power forward in a guards body, curious about Jefferson as I thought he had a nice outside shot but maybe Milo didn't feel he was athletic enough to play in the big ten, hard to say on that one, but Kai to me was the one guy who I wanted to keep and hopefully he gives it another go next year
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Ross (#203 in the nation) joined his brother at Uconn. So, he must have some potential. Jefferson (#238) is at Gonzaga. I doubt it's an athletic issue, maybe Jefferson didn't want to come to Minnesota after all? He is listed at 6-9 240 at Gonzaga, we could have used that size with our injuries. Kai was the highest rated but not by much at (#199).

Ross listed as a SF at 6-5 195, probably is more athletic, but maybe not a shooter, or he'd be ranked higher. I agree of the 3, Kai as a long 6-5 prospect with guard skills is the most intriguing.
 

march madness said:
Ross (#203 in the nation) joined his brother at Uconn. So, he must have some potential. Jefferson (#238) is at Gonzaga. I doubt it's an athletic issue, maybe Jefferson didn't want to come to Minnesota after all? He is listed at 6-9 240 at Gonzaga, we could have used that size with our injuries. Kai was the highest rated but not by much at (#199).

Ross listed as a SF at 6-5 195, probably is more athletic, but maybe not a shooter, or he'd be ranked higher. I agree of the 3, Kai as a long 6-5 prospect with guard skills is the most intriguing.
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Ross entire offensive game is put backs and hustle plays, he can't shoot, then watch Kai and just count all the ways he scores how he uses both hands, it's not close. Ross will be portalling out of UCONN to a smaller school, guessing Jefferson since he's redshirting will be over recruited or have an older player portal in to the Zags and he will be gone as well
 

I think that outperforming and good are two different things.

Gophers have a couple nice wins. To say they are a "good team" is a bit of a stretch in my opinion. To say they have outperformed where they should be absoutley true. Based on their talent level and depth/injuries this should probably be a 3-4 win big ten team.

I think if BJ was still coaching they would be no where near 7 conference wins.
 

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