Hole Poll: What grade would you give Gophers coaching in Asheville Tournament?

[GopherHole Staff]

Hole Poll: What grade would you give Gophers coaching in Asheville Tournament?

 

[MennoSota]

Struggled both nights against the press. Otherwise a solid job of coaching.
Impressed with the movement in the half court offense. Very nice defense and rotation. Overall well done, Ben and assistants.

 

[Marooned]

Winning an early-season tournament with a new staff and completely overhauled roster says they did their job well. Breaking the press - yes. I graded a B as I wish they’d rotate more guys in tbh.

 

[stocker08]

A

Breaking in a new coaching staff and basically.....a brand new roster.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

A = running an offense, having a plan on how to play D. The stark differences between this year and last make Pitino look clueless and or lazy for his lack of attention to any detail other than his twitter account.

 

[skyman31]

Felt like I couldn’t give anything less than an A based on the expectations going in. Probably closer to an A-, B+, as there’s a few things to clean up with press break, rotations, etc, but overall not much to complain about coaching wise so far

 

[Fleckoff]

I'll give it an A based on the options, my concerns all stem from playing a short bench, which right now I don't think the staff has an option if they want to win. Can't put kids out there if their not ready defensively. But this team plays hard, this staff coaches hard, they seemed to have put together a team that has gelled and genuinely likes each other. In sports you'd be surprised how often those intangibles can overcome more talented teams. We're kinda like an expansion team this year, but I'm excited to see what next year's recruits can do and how they'll mix in with returning players and transfers.

 

[SanDiegoGopherFan]

B. My biggest downside was who Ben has worked under and will that translate to success and more importantly player improvement.

what ive seen so far with a limited roster is very encouraging compared to Pitino ball.

if we can get some extra ppl in the rotation, I dont see this team being last in the B1G.
Right now fatigue is the biggest concern

 

[NYtoWItoMN]

Completely refreshing to see an actual game plan on both offense and defense- specifically the lack of standing around and watching on O. The quality of switching and boxing out showed CBJ isn't even trying to pretend he has a lineup with height.

By far my favorite part though, even moreso than the actual wins: the pg wasn't standing 2 ft from the inbounder every bucket, therefore being forced to dribble the entire length of the court and get into sets with 15 secs left on the shot clock. I know this might just be more of a Pitino gripe, but it really got to me for some reason- neither the score nor game clock seemed to influence this.

Second half comebacks looked to me to just be some tired legs, but understandable CBJ just needed to establish some culture/play style things with the upperclassmen. Probably got some of his own jitters out too while actually seeing how his strategies played out in real life.

 

[howeda7]

A = running an offense, having a plan on how to play D. The stark differences between this year and last make Pitino look clueless and or lazy for his lack of attention to any detail other than his twitter account.

I agree with this, except that I think that Pitino also had much stronger fundamentals in year 1. Then they laxed over time. I always felt losing McHale was a big part of it, but he never tightened them back up. I'm not sure if it was laziness, denial or just hoping talent would overcome it.

 

[See You Tomorrow Night]

Two things stood out from that championship game from an in game coaching perspective. At the end of the half Willis got the ball with about 40 seconds left and BJ was going crazy for him to push and get an early shot to ‘steal’ an extra possession. Willis hit the 3 with 38 seconds left. Every possession is going to matter for this team.

Unfortunately that coaching move was cancelled out by the next which was utilizing fouls to give to make that last Princeton possession not flow. I can’t remember the last time they had less than 7 fouls in a first half (much less 2) and could waste fouls. Probably not the best strategy with a short bench but again it was visible coaching in game. And it worked to win that possession.

Like most I only saw the championship game on TV and besides free throw shooting it was not nearly as cringe worthy as I expected.

 

[jblass]

Thought about giving an A based on how well the offense was moving the ball and getting good looks at the basket. Ended up with a B as they did not seem ready to handle the full court pressure. I will say that this team is playing much better than I thought it would after three games. They were fun to watch.

 

[matt]

B. My biggest downside was who Ben has worked under and will that translate to success and more importantly player improvement.

I think Mark Coyle is the only person Ben worked under at the Asheville Tournament. And I was pleasantly surprised and happy with the player improvement in Asheville. We saw Battle post up and use an inside game against Princeton. We saw Sutherlin go from a non-factor in game 1 to a difference maker in game 2. We saw Thiam go from the bench to seeing the court in game 2. Perhaps you’re onto something and we should be worried about EJ’s decline though.

 

[howeda7]

I think Mark Coyle is the only person Ben worked under at the Asheville Tournament. And I was pleasantly surprised and happy with the player improvement in Asheville. We saw Battle post up and use an inside game against Princeton. We saw Sutherlin go from a non-factor in game 1 to a difference maker in game 2. We saw Thiam go from the bench to seeing the court in game 2. Perhaps you’re onto something and we should be worried about EJ’s decline though.

I think EJ is playing through some sort of minor ankle/leg injury. He was gimpy at the end of the WKU game and didn't have much last night.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

I agree with this, except that I think that Pitino also had much stronger fundamentals in year 1. Then they laxed over time. I always felt losing McHale was a big part of it, but he never tightened them back up. I'm not sure if it was laziness, denial or just hoping talent would overcome it.

Good point!
I love Thorson there as he reeks of fundamentalism D and won’t let up on it ever; was cool to be able to hear his booming voice barking out instructions. Ben of course respects and listens to him and Pitino didn’t have that older mentor/ steadying hand sans McHale, which of course was his fault in not replacing him - especially with all his vaunted coaching connections. Not doing so is testament to his smugness.