I want full analysis

Donate To GopherHole

This is like watching two junior high kids beating up a middle schooler in a back alley.
 





I get your visual. Thanks for the update.
 

Cheerleaders are on the floor. I think they're doing the halftime show early.
 





ralph and colt deserve to be in the debate for best front 2 in the nation. no love for them. Nolen playing like a true point tonight
 

Gopher size and intensity too much for the Hawks. Hawks are not used to the speed. Intimidated on their shots - if it is not blocked it is altered. Can not stop the Gophers inside.
Not covering Blake on the 3's. Blake could break his 3 point record (if he tries).

Gophers letting up - playing the freshmen a lot.
 

Gopher in Texas said:
Not covering Blake on the 3's. Blake could break his 3 point record (if he tries).
Click to expand...

You probably know this, but this isn't an official game, so no records will be broken.

Blake was largely uncontested on his 5 first half threes.
 

jake,
trevor looked good on the glass...
and he tied KG's lifetime stat of 1 offensive board at the 1:02 mark... NBA anyone?
 



Go Gophs eh? said:
ralph and colt deserve to be in the debate for best front 2 in the nation. no love for them. Nolen playing like a true point tonight
Click to expand...

Ralph & Colton looked great --- however NE St front line was listed 6'7" 6'7" 6'6".

Nolen looked great at the point - offense & defense.

THE BAND SOUNDED GREAT --- MID SEASON FORM.
 

For playing a way overmatched team, I was pretty happy with what I saw. The young guys were pretty impressive all around, and we have a really bright future ahead of us. Some of them are pretty clearly going to need some time to develop, but thankfully we have the time and talent that they can be coached up plenty before we throw them to the wolves. We will definitely see Mbakwe at the FT line quite a bit this year. Blake was on fire tonight too. If you left him open there was a pretty good chance the ball was going in! I'll be very interested to see how we fare vs. better competition.

Travis Busch didn't do too bad as a color analyst on the BTN.com feed. Mike Nelson has gotten better at PBP too, so that was nice to see/hear.
 

It was hard to tell how good the team was actually playing, considering the opponent, but one of the key takeaways I had was how rust-free they looked. Often you can tell when a team is getting into playing shape early in the season - mistakes, sloppiness and just an overall unfocused effort can accompany early-season contests. None of that was apparent tonight, which was the biggest plus. Crisp passes, smart shots, great looks near the basket and tight defense. Again, a sub-par opponent will allow some leeway, but the focus was definitely there.

Nevermind the final score (which was impressive), I'm far more concerned about how they looked on fundamentals. They definitely passed the smell test on that, something you might credit to having the team play those exhibition games in Canada not long ago where they were able to shake the offseason rust and get some PT together.
 

Free throws are the only thing I would take away from this game since they are independent of the opponents, and Colton was perfect from the line. Intriguing.
 

How many people at the barn?

Best guess as to how many fans were there. I'm going to the Winona State game Monday. Buying tickets at the game will work......right?
 

Anyone know why Devoe only got 9 minutes?

Not getting worked up about exhibition minutes - just want to make sure he didn't get hurt or anything.
 

Win

Man it was fun to see a Gopher team slaughter an opponent!! I don't care if they were not too good... Al didn't score (?) but he sure can pass and play D. Hoff seems to be smart with the ball besides shooting lights out!
 


GopherJack said:
Best guess as to how many fans were there. I'm going to the Winona State game Monday. Buying tickets at the game will work......right?
Click to expand...

5 or 6K tonight. My 2 year old was able to run rampant over the upper deck 'end zone' for part of the game. Winona State will be a larger crowd, I think we can safely guess. Would bet it won't come close to 10K though. There were a couple scalpers out there on my way in. Can't believe they were getting much....
 

Gophers09 said:
Not getting worked up about exhibition minutes - just want to make sure he didn't get hurt or anything.
Click to expand...

Devoe is coming back from a leg injury. He is just going to be playing sparingly for these games I think, and I'd imagine will be ready for the opener.

The thing that impressed me (as I was curious to see this) was actually Maverick. I didn't know if he would be able to even compete with d2 opponents after all the talk about him. While he didn't look amazing, he was definitely smart with the ball, looked comfortable out there, and hit a few open shots (despite his "jump" shot) I thought he looked like a serviceable back up out there.

Also, Chip was the other freshman I still had questions about (I know Austin and Mo will be okay) and other than his odd jump shot (which actually fell a few times) I really liked his style of play and the way he moved on the court. He will be another guy who can play serviceable back up minutes. He won't make a huge difference this year (I don't think) but he won't be in over his head either.

Austin looked great, Mo was what I expected and pretty average and an effective back up

Al looked great, he played his role perfectly. Jump shot was still horrid, but he played the role of pass-first PG with perfection. Wish he would have drove more to see what he could do there, but he played well.

Ralph really impressed me as well. I thought he looked shaky in Canada and the scrimmage, but he looked great in this game.

I was also impressed with Rodney and Trevor as well. I am expecting a pretty nice season for these guys.
 

Different

Hopefully it is ok to have a different viewpoint than some other people. Not saying I'm right just saying I kind of saw some things differently.

Sampson made some nice 10-12 foot shots. That part was smooth and the stat sheet says he only had 3 turnovers. But there seemed to me to be several additional plays he messed up in one fashion or another. He absolutely had positive plays but I thought he could have played much better.

Armelin was the guy who stood out to me. He may be our quickest guy. I don't see the odd shot lots of people have commented on. He's left handed. He was 3 for 9. That has to be different. He could be...he's not... but he could be our best defender. Did several nice little things to help the cause. I like him.

Hollins, to me was ok. His shot went in from the field but his is the shot I didn't like. It was inconsistent. He really jerked a free throw. 2 for 4 from the line. He wandered defensively.
He is rail thin. Obviously others see him differently.

Maverick was fine. Another inconsistent shot stroke. Looked great on one and painful on another. But he did look poised and comfortable all around.

Walker can be really good. He is a smart player! Nice positioning. Nice passes. Seems in shape but has this big, wide body to get position.

Dawson is a ways a way from contributing.

Eliason is tall. He's not graceful but then he kind of surprises you being in the right spot or getting someplace you didn't think he would. Can't imagine he helps this year, however. Iverson, Sampson, Walker, Mbakwe all clearly superior.

My first look at the new guys. It was fun.

I thought Hoffarber was overwhelmingly the best player on the floor.... shooting, passing, and just overall command and presence on the floor. Very impressive.

We have a nice team! Wouldn't want to see them win by 50 every night but it was great to be able to see everyone play a good amount.
 

I was there and it was a fun time, though I spent some of it, I must confess, by looking for any possible updates on the election on my phone. Here's my player by player breakdown -

Nolen - looked steady, made the right pass, got out and ran, was very disruptive on D, didn't look to get into the lane much, and his shot was terrible, per usual. If he can be the steady pass-first point this team needs, I'll be happy. I'd like to see him get in the lane more, though.

Chip - looked like a very explosive athlete, very quick, and could develop into a very good defensive player this year. I also like that he definitely has a scorer's mentality. He looks to break his man down and get into the lane and score. We don't have many people who can drive to the hoop and finish. If Chip can get to that point, he'll be valuable. However, he also looked for his shot way too much, especially considering that he wasn't hitting anything last night. Aggressiveness is good, but only when it's backed up by effectiveness.

Maverick - I saw the same guy I'd seen before. He didn't stick out in any area, though I did like to see him hit a couple of outside jumpers in garbage time. I just don't see how he could develop into much of a contributor, but I hope to be proven wrong. At the very least, he didn't have many turnovers last night, and didn't really force any shots. Maybe he can help out as an emergency point to keep things calm.

Austin - His shot wasn't all that great last night, but he hustles and is pretty athletic. He's another one who can really play some D, and I like that he crashed the boards hard, and was hustling all night. I think he'll be able to contribute this year in a mid-range shooting, tough D playing type of role.

Devoe - Didn't play that much, but didn't look too limited while he was in there. It was so easy to feed the posts that he didn't look for his shot much, but that's fine. I know what we've got in him, if he's healthy, so I'm fine with him not forcing anything.

Blake - The shot's still buttery smooth, and he was getting open looks. Plus, he's the smartest player on the floor, makes good cuts, gets the odd rebound, and can destroy any team that isn't athletic enough to shut him down. Another guy who's been pretty consistent, and we will hopefully be able to rely on this year.

Rodney - Shot looked good at times, and he certainly looked more in rhythm. Plus, he was rebounding a bit, and his dunking is, as always, spectacular. I also liked his on-ball D. He was shutting down and frustrating their best player. One thing I noticed last night was that his body control in the air is spectacular. Some people can jump, but don't have the body control (Trevor sometimes looks that way). Rodney always appears to be in balance in the air. However, I still want to see him get by somebody. With his body control and leaping, there's no reason he should be able to get in the lane and hit short jumpers all day long.

Trevor - Looked beastly. He drew some fouls just from his sheer physicality. Hopefully those won't be called in the Big Ten. Doesn't really have post moves, per se, most of his offense will probably come on the break and off rebounds. Also played pretty well defensively. His rebounding wasn't spectacular last night, but he definitely looks like somebody who will be able to control the paint for us, which we need.

Ralph - Face-up game looked great. If he can consistently knock down the elbow jumper, it opens up the post for Colt, and our high-low game becomes very effective. Plus, he plays good weak-side D, he rebounded a little bit better, and he made some nice passes. His post up game is still a little weak though, because he still fades on everything.

Colt - Looked very strong. Still not much in the way of hops, but he's able to muscle his way to the hoop for layups or fouls, plus he was rebounding reasonably well (again, against much smaller opponents). I have high hopes for Colt this year.

Mo - Looked huge. I mean, the man is massive. Not very quick, by any means, which will hurt his rebounding a bit, but he was able to get a layup or two, and his bulk will make him effective in the long run, I think. Having a guy that huge lean on you for a while will tire anybody out.

Elliot - Looked a bit uncoordinated again, but has a good nose for the ball, and a good mind for the game. Got himself in good positions. Once he adds strength and balance, he'll be good for us, but I think that's about two years out.
 


60's Guy said:
....I thought Hoffarber was overwhelmingly the best player on the floor.... shooting, passing, and just overall command and presence on the floor. Very impressive.
Click to expand...

Hoff looked pretty good for a 9th year senior. :cool:
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom