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Justinc882

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hey gophers, I've trolled around here for awhile but rarely post. With MSU vs Minnesota game coming up I was looking for some friendly banter about the game. What's your team looking like this year? Last year i was able to see a few of your games but haven't gotten to see any Gopher basketball this year. Good luck in every game this year except MSU.
 

Justinc882 said:
hey gophers, I've trolled around here for awhile but rarely post. With MSU vs Minnesota game coming up I was looking for some friendly banter about the game. What's your team looking like this year? Last year i was able to see a few of your games but haven't gotten to see any Gopher basketball this year. Good luck in every game this year except MSU.
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My team is Purdue but the Gophers have been inconsistent this season. When they're on their game, they beat teams like Butler and Ohio State. When they aren't, they lose to teams like Portland.
 

Friend Of Tubby said:
My team is Purdue but the Gophers have been inconsistent this season. When they're on their game, they beat teams like Butler and Ohio State. When they aren't, they lose to teams like Portland.
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I didn't know you're a Purdue fan. I thought you were a former Kentucky fan. I'll be darned.
 


I am a fan of Kentucky. I've visited the state and I think it is really pretty.
 





Justinc882 said:
hey gophers, I've trolled around here for awhile but rarely post. With MSU vs Minnesota game coming up I was looking for some friendly banter about the game. What's your team looking like this year? Last year i was able to see a few of your games but haven't gotten to see any Gopher basketball this year. Good luck in every game this year except MSU.
Click to expand...

Basically, the Gophers a better version of what we were last year. The team is pretty long and athletic and plays a lot of different guys (right now, our rotation goes 10 deep and that's without two of our top recruits from this year even dressing).

A lot of the team's offense comes off of transition because there are times when the half-court sets aren't as effective as they could be. In other words, the Gophers rely on defense to create offense quite a bit. The guards actually handle the ball pretty well as a group, but sometimes their shot selection can be a little erratic. Having said that, Blake Hoffarber is a killer from three. If he hits his first two, he'll go off and hit like five, six or seven on you in a hurry. Westbrook is our best all-around offensive player. He can hit the three, but likes to take it to the rim also. Devoe Joseph is kind an enigma; one game he looks really good. Others? Not so much. Al Nolen is almost exclusively a passing point guard. But he rarely turns the ball over, which is always nice in a PG.

Defensively, Tubby likes to pressure the ball as much as possible. The Gophers won't play much zone. In fact, it's almost exclusively man-to-man. But because of the team's length inside (Sampson, Iverson and Johnson are all pretty effective shot blockers), the guards will go for a lot of steals. This is where Nolen really excels. There are times when he is over-aggressive when picking up in the half court. But he has unbelievably quick hands and gets tons of steals. Damian Johnson is also a beast defensively. The team will also turn to the press if Tubby doesn't like the tempo or the team falls behind. He wants to get these guys to run up-and-down whenever possible and we have the players to play that way when needed.

Rebounding is average at best. We have some tall guys in there (Iverson and Sampson are both around 7 feet), but they're pretty skinny and get bodied out at times. Paul Carter is actually a pretty good rebounder for a small forward playing at the power forward slot, but he and Johnson are basically slashers being forced to play the four at times because of our off the court problems, which at times hurts on the glass.

That's all I got right now. Looking forward to the game with the Spartans on Wednesday.
 



Friend Of Tubby said:
Purdue graduate. Fan of UK and Cincy, too.
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notice he never mentions he's a fan of minnesota. he's just tubby's super-stalker...which is why he's made time to post over 4000 times on a GOPHER message board.

welcome, justinc - 99% of the regular posters here are gopher fans, and would enjoy game talk with msu fans.
 

we are not as talented as you are. If we win it will be the biggest upset the program has had in years. We need it a lot more than you, which is about the only thing we have going for us in this game.
 

Wow, that's surprising. So you rooted for Purdue against us? Or what's your order for teams?

Friend Of Tubby said:
My team is Purdue but the Gophers have been inconsistent this season. When they're on their game, they beat teams like Butler and Ohio State. When they aren't, they lose to teams like Portland.
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gopherbadgerman said:
we are not as talented as you are. If we win it will be the biggest upset the program has had in years. We need it a lot more than you, which is about the only thing we have going for us in this game.
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Not necessarily. I agree that Michigan State is loaded at every position including walk-on, but we have struggled against teams with an inside presence. Our bigs are athletic freaks, but small. I could see "wash your face" and Sampson having big games. You also have some quick guards that can put pressure on Lucious, Lucas, Summers and Allen.

I like the Spartans to win this at the FT line. Nothing better (or worse?) than home cooking in college hoops.
 

the gophers will dominate in every phase of the game. I anticipate an easy 93-56 victory. Hows that for home cooking?
 

MilesTarver said:
notice he never mentions he's a fan of minnesota. he's just tubby's super-stalker...which is why he's made time to post over 4000 times on a GOPHER message board.

welcome, justinc - 99% of the regular posters here are gopher fans, and would enjoy game talk with msu fans.
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That should be obvious. I root for Minnesota unless they play one of those 3 teams.
 





Goph's kept it close for a while at Purdue before gradually falling off and losing by 20. I expect about the same at MSU. We're probably a top-30 type team, but nothing more. Our 2 most talented players haven't even suited up this year and probably won't. Our two big guys have potential but are still pretty early in developmental ("young" sophomores) and probably won't have the potential to dominate for at least another year, maybe two.

We're a streaky team that relies on defensive energy and hot shooting. But those things are hard to come by on the road, especially the way B10 refs call the game. We're very tough to beat at home. I think it's fair to expect a split with MSU this year, with the game at MN being close.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
The Big O was at Cincy then. Were or are you a big Bobby Huggins fan also?
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Yes, Oscar is the reason why most folks who were my age in the Cincinnati area in late 50's are Bearcat fans.

Yes, I like Coach Huggins. He's not perfect but he's a darn good coach.

BTW neither was Oscar perfect. UC got two NCAA infractions (in 1956 and 1959) as a result of recruiting him.
 

Friend Of Tubby said:
Yes, Oscar is the reason why most folks who were my age in the Cincinnati area in late 50's are Bearcat fans.

Yes, I like Coach Huggins. He's not perfect but he's a darn good coach.

BTW neither was Oscar perfect. UC got two NCAA infractions (in 1956 and 1959) as a result of recruiting him.
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I wasn't familiar with Oscar Robertson infractions.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
I wasn't familiar with Oscar Robertson infractions.
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Not BY him but about him. 1956 was due to illegal tryouts conducted by UC - he scrimmaged against Cincy Royal Jack Twyman on campus visit. 1959 was due to UC putting him into Co-Op program. He went to school and got paid as intern at CG&E in alternating quarters until NCAA said no.
 

I believe last year, MSU lost at home to NW around this time and responded by beating the crap outta the Gophers. I remember thinking, WOW! MSU played a perfect game on both ends of the floor and the Gophers were never in the game.

Maybe this year, MSU sleepwalks a bit and Minnesota stays competitive....I just think MSU at home is too consistent and too good to succomb to a very inconsistent and imcomplete Gopher team.

MSU wins 78-62!
 

MRJ said:
Basically, the Gophers a better version of what we were last year. The team is pretty long and athletic and plays a lot of different guys (right now, our rotation goes 10 deep and that's without two of our top recruits from this year even dressing).

A lot of the team's offense comes off of transition because there are times when the half-court sets aren't as effective as they could be. In other words, the Gophers rely on defense to create offense quite a bit. The guards actually handle the ball pretty well as a group, but sometimes their shot selection can be a little erratic. Having said that, Blake Hoffarber is a killer from three. If he hits his first two, he'll go off and hit like five, six or seven on you in a hurry. Westbrook is our best all-around offensive player. He can hit the three, but likes to take it to the rim also. Devoe Joseph is kind an enigma; one game he looks really good. Others? Not so much. Al Nolen is almost exclusively a passing point guard. But he rarely turns the ball over, which is always nice in a PG.

Defensively, Tubby likes to pressure the ball as much as possible. The Gophers won't play much zone. In fact, it's almost exclusively man-to-man. But because of the team's length inside (Sampson, Iverson and Johnson are all pretty effective shot blockers), the guards will go for a lot of steals. This is where Nolen really excels. There are times when he is over-aggressive when picking up in the half court. But he has unbelievably quick hands and gets tons of steals. Damian Johnson is also a beast defensively. The team will also turn to the press if Tubby doesn't like the tempo or the team falls behind. He wants to get these guys to run up-and-down whenever possible and we have the players to play that way when needed.

Rebounding is average at best. We have some tall guys in there (Iverson and Sampson are both around 7 feet), but they're pretty skinny and get bodied out at times. Paul Carter is actually a pretty good rebounder for a small forward playing at the power forward slot, but he and Johnson are basically slashers being forced to play the four at times because of our off the court problems, which at times hurts on the glass.

That's all I got right now. Looking forward to the game with the Spartans on Wednesday.
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This HAS to be one of the most courteous,thoughtful and in-depth responses I've ever seen. Wow!
 

It sounds like the Gophers are a lot like MSU this year. Strict man to man, get into transition as much as possible. MSU has been pretty productive in our half court sets this year though. Allen has come on very strong the last few weeks and is playing well. Summers is our enigma, he's had games where he looks NBA ready and other games he disappears. Right now he's nursing a sore shoulder but he is still playing.
 

The pressure D and emotional scoring runs are so much harder to create on the road. MN has to outscore MSU by 24 pts at least in 3pt scoring to win. They won't, and MSU will win. The reason NW and WIS can win the road games that we've seen in recent years is that they execute on offense. So it doesn't matter where they play as much as other teams. The Gophers rely on defensive pressure and emotional scoring runs - not halfcourt execution. You can't play as much pressure defense on the road. We saw it against Purdue, you will almost always get into foul trouble. Unfortunately, we will have to shoot the lights out from deep to win.

I also predicted the OSU game would come down to the ability to contain OSUs 3pt shooters not named Evan Turner. They were 0-8 in the 2nd half. Gophers won.
 


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