Gopher Warrior
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Note: Just some... stream of conciousness blabber. I am generally a pessimist and have worries about most opponents.. and I like what Cornell has done in recent years.. but, even after Monday's game I feel great about this one. Let's get it on.
Twitter: bigjaybee
#15/#13 Minnesota (6-1) takes on the Cornell Big Red (2-5) at Williams Arena this Saturday, December 4th at 7pm CT [TV: BTN]. The Gophers are coming off a gutless Monday performance against a lowly Virginia team and this game sets up well to get Tubby’s squad back on track quickly. Let’s take a look at our Ivy League opponent.
Cornell has enjoyed a few straight years of stellar performances (relatively speaking and thanks in large part to Minnesota’s Ryan Wittman), but with four starters and a total of eight seniors having departed from last year’s tough team, this is an inexperienced group that will struggle mightily at times. In addition, former coach Steve Donahue is now at Boston College and his replacement Bill Courtney, who has never been a head coach, adds to inexperience factor. With the exception of Eastern Kentucky, Cornell looks like the easiest competition the Gophers will face the remainder of the 2010-11 campaign.
Cornell wins: at Albany; Delaware.
Cornell losses: at Seton Hall; St. Bonaventure (including former Marquette summer schooler Brett Roseboro); at Lehigh; at Boston U (including former Marquette cager Pat Hazel); at Syracuse.
Despite having no one on athletic scholarship, Cornell has about 50 guys on their basketball roster. Expect to see somewhere between 12 and 15 players making an appearance Saturday night, however there are only a handful of smarty-pants ballers to keep an eye on.
This is not a big team and they are severely lacking physicality inside. Cornell is a very poor rebounding team. Mr. Mbakwe tallying another double-double won’t surprise anyone, but this is a game that he should certainly be expected to do so. Minnesota by 18. The only prayer Cornell has is to shoot lights out from distance… sound familiar? They do shoot the trey a lot (45% of their attempts this year are from beyond the arc), but I am at complete ease and have great confidence heading into this affair.
#4 Aaron Osgood 6’9” Sr.
Osgood had minimal floor experience during his first three years, but started the first five contests this year and was looking good (9.2 pts, 4.6 reb). Unfortunately, the young man is injured and will likely be out of the lineup for another few weeks.
#3 Chris Wroblewski 6’0” Jr.
Wroblewski, a small kid out of Illinois, is a solid lead guard and capable of putting up nice numbers on any given night (13.8 pts, 5.6 ast, 3.4 reb… but shooting just 34.0% from the field and averaging 4.6 TO per contest). A preseason first-team All-Ivy selection, he was injured and didn’t play in the first two games of this season. We cannot let him get hot.
#11 Max Groebe 6’4” Sr.
Groebe isn’t shy about taking a shot. He has had very good nights, and awful nights this year (3 games with 5 or more FGs made, but also 3 games with 0-fors (combined 0-16 in those 3). Played one year at UMASS (2007-08). (7.6 pts…34.6% FG)
#15 Drew Ferry 6’2” Jr.
Ferry _really_ is not shy about taking a shot. He’ll fire it up often and usually from three-point land. He’s averaging 10.0 points per game (38.8% shooting, including 17/50 34.0% 3FG) and is another one we don’t want heating up. Prepped in Milwaukee (Milwaukee Lutheran) and spent a year at Valpo (2008-09) and last year at a JuCO where he shot 46% 3FG. He may have gotten slightly demoralized Tuesday evening when Mo Walker’s teammate at Brewster, C.J. Fair, dunked on his head during Cornell’s annual matchup with Syracuse.
#5 Errick Peck 6’6” So.
Normally you don’t look for Cornell to have many wow-moments on the court, but Peck can impress. He is their most intriguing player, but is young and has struggled with his shots and inconsistent play (averaging 5.6 pts … 29.2% FG… turning it over and fouling a lot). This Indiana product (I believe he ran with Spiece AAU for awhile) could turn out having a couple of nice seasons as an upper classman. He’s not where they need him to be yet, but he may provide some impressive flashes against the Gophers. For athletic entertainment, this is the man to watch. He is in Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration. At first I found it strange that ‘Hotel Administration’ would be one of Cornell’s programs… but I think I get it now. I have now been Cornell-educated.
#24 Adam Wire 6’5” Sr.
He’s not a tall guy, but he’s got good size (235 pounds) and is a physical worker. Despite our height advantage, Wire won’t be denied some rebounds. He’ll work his tail off.. It’s hard not to like this kid. For a period of time was playing high school ball in Wisconsin. Averaging 4.9 pts, 7.0 reb (more than half of those offensive). We should be committed to keeping him off the offensive boards. After him and with Osgood out, they don’t have any strong rebounders.
#42 Mark Coury 6’9” Sr.
Coury should get the start with Osgood out. In 15.0 mpg, he’s averaging 3.9 pts and 2.9 reb. He’s a fairly big boy, but is slow and not especially skilled. A Michigan highschooler, he started off in 2006-07 as a walk-on at Kentucky. In 2007-08, he started for them (they were just a so-so team that year), but played only 11 mpg game and did next to nothing.
# 34 Josh Figini 6’9” So.
Averaging 3.8 pts and 1.5 reb per game, I only mention Josh because he’s a Minnesota kid (Chisago Lakes HS… little (6’7”) brother Ben is a senior in HS this year). He is very slim and is not going to enjoy our front line being his welcoming committee back to his home state.
There are a number of other players that will likely make an appearance… including Miles Asafo-Adjei, Dwight Tarwater, Anthony Gatlin, Johnathan Gray… one of them might do a little something.. but, at the end of the day the relevant fact is that Cornell is going to get beat up on.
Twitter: bigjaybee
#15/#13 Minnesota (6-1) takes on the Cornell Big Red (2-5) at Williams Arena this Saturday, December 4th at 7pm CT [TV: BTN]. The Gophers are coming off a gutless Monday performance against a lowly Virginia team and this game sets up well to get Tubby’s squad back on track quickly. Let’s take a look at our Ivy League opponent.
Cornell has enjoyed a few straight years of stellar performances (relatively speaking and thanks in large part to Minnesota’s Ryan Wittman), but with four starters and a total of eight seniors having departed from last year’s tough team, this is an inexperienced group that will struggle mightily at times. In addition, former coach Steve Donahue is now at Boston College and his replacement Bill Courtney, who has never been a head coach, adds to inexperience factor. With the exception of Eastern Kentucky, Cornell looks like the easiest competition the Gophers will face the remainder of the 2010-11 campaign.
Cornell wins: at Albany; Delaware.
Cornell losses: at Seton Hall; St. Bonaventure (including former Marquette summer schooler Brett Roseboro); at Lehigh; at Boston U (including former Marquette cager Pat Hazel); at Syracuse.
Despite having no one on athletic scholarship, Cornell has about 50 guys on their basketball roster. Expect to see somewhere between 12 and 15 players making an appearance Saturday night, however there are only a handful of smarty-pants ballers to keep an eye on.
This is not a big team and they are severely lacking physicality inside. Cornell is a very poor rebounding team. Mr. Mbakwe tallying another double-double won’t surprise anyone, but this is a game that he should certainly be expected to do so. Minnesota by 18. The only prayer Cornell has is to shoot lights out from distance… sound familiar? They do shoot the trey a lot (45% of their attempts this year are from beyond the arc), but I am at complete ease and have great confidence heading into this affair.
#4 Aaron Osgood 6’9” Sr.
Osgood had minimal floor experience during his first three years, but started the first five contests this year and was looking good (9.2 pts, 4.6 reb). Unfortunately, the young man is injured and will likely be out of the lineup for another few weeks.
#3 Chris Wroblewski 6’0” Jr.
Wroblewski, a small kid out of Illinois, is a solid lead guard and capable of putting up nice numbers on any given night (13.8 pts, 5.6 ast, 3.4 reb… but shooting just 34.0% from the field and averaging 4.6 TO per contest). A preseason first-team All-Ivy selection, he was injured and didn’t play in the first two games of this season. We cannot let him get hot.
#11 Max Groebe 6’4” Sr.
Groebe isn’t shy about taking a shot. He has had very good nights, and awful nights this year (3 games with 5 or more FGs made, but also 3 games with 0-fors (combined 0-16 in those 3). Played one year at UMASS (2007-08). (7.6 pts…34.6% FG)
#15 Drew Ferry 6’2” Jr.
Ferry _really_ is not shy about taking a shot. He’ll fire it up often and usually from three-point land. He’s averaging 10.0 points per game (38.8% shooting, including 17/50 34.0% 3FG) and is another one we don’t want heating up. Prepped in Milwaukee (Milwaukee Lutheran) and spent a year at Valpo (2008-09) and last year at a JuCO where he shot 46% 3FG. He may have gotten slightly demoralized Tuesday evening when Mo Walker’s teammate at Brewster, C.J. Fair, dunked on his head during Cornell’s annual matchup with Syracuse.
#5 Errick Peck 6’6” So.
Normally you don’t look for Cornell to have many wow-moments on the court, but Peck can impress. He is their most intriguing player, but is young and has struggled with his shots and inconsistent play (averaging 5.6 pts … 29.2% FG… turning it over and fouling a lot). This Indiana product (I believe he ran with Spiece AAU for awhile) could turn out having a couple of nice seasons as an upper classman. He’s not where they need him to be yet, but he may provide some impressive flashes against the Gophers. For athletic entertainment, this is the man to watch. He is in Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration. At first I found it strange that ‘Hotel Administration’ would be one of Cornell’s programs… but I think I get it now. I have now been Cornell-educated.
#24 Adam Wire 6’5” Sr.
He’s not a tall guy, but he’s got good size (235 pounds) and is a physical worker. Despite our height advantage, Wire won’t be denied some rebounds. He’ll work his tail off.. It’s hard not to like this kid. For a period of time was playing high school ball in Wisconsin. Averaging 4.9 pts, 7.0 reb (more than half of those offensive). We should be committed to keeping him off the offensive boards. After him and with Osgood out, they don’t have any strong rebounders.
#42 Mark Coury 6’9” Sr.
Coury should get the start with Osgood out. In 15.0 mpg, he’s averaging 3.9 pts and 2.9 reb. He’s a fairly big boy, but is slow and not especially skilled. A Michigan highschooler, he started off in 2006-07 as a walk-on at Kentucky. In 2007-08, he started for them (they were just a so-so team that year), but played only 11 mpg game and did next to nothing.
# 34 Josh Figini 6’9” So.
Averaging 3.8 pts and 1.5 reb per game, I only mention Josh because he’s a Minnesota kid (Chisago Lakes HS… little (6’7”) brother Ben is a senior in HS this year). He is very slim and is not going to enjoy our front line being his welcoming committee back to his home state.
There are a number of other players that will likely make an appearance… including Miles Asafo-Adjei, Dwight Tarwater, Anthony Gatlin, Johnathan Gray… one of them might do a little something.. but, at the end of the day the relevant fact is that Cornell is going to get beat up on.
