Italy Trip 2018

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I wonder why Bell and Mahouchiza are in street clothes - injury, illness, held out because of team roster limits??
 

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Ignatius L Hoops said:
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The above referenced video:
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That's a pretty exclusive tour, with light crowds in the Sistine Chapel and access to the Vatican Gardens (the area behind St. Peter's that houses both the gardens and various outdoor art given as gifts from other countries over the years-much of it not that attractive). With re-purposing the space, very few people have access to the Garden tour. Whoever did the the leg work for that part of the trip did a really nice job. Looks like a great trip, but it can be brutally hot and humid in Rome at this time of year.
 

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Second Game today. Not sure if bell playing. Gophers up 38-36 at halftime
Pitts-8 points
Taiye-8 points
Staples-7 points
Brunson-7 points
 



End of 3rd, Gophers up 53-49. Bell playing as she hit 2 free-throws to make it 4-pt lead.
 


hungan1 said:
Who are they playing against? Is the game available on TV channel of lifestreaming?
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Tk Hannover, and no its not on tv. This is suppose to be the tough game of the trip, this team beat Kentucky by 18 a couple days ago.
 



GOPHERS WIN! 65-63. Were down 61-57 with under 3 mins left. Pitts hit game winner under 5 seconds left in game.
 

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That's simply awesome! Go Gophers! You make us proud!
 




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The Game Winner!
 

https://gophersports.com/news/2018/...s-the-buzzer-to-lift-gophers-in-florence.aspx

TK Hannover went back ahead at 63-61 with 1:45 to go and held that lead until senior Annalese Lamke converted on a pair of free throws with just 29 seconds remaining. With just 5.2 seconds remaining, the Gophers' defense stepped up and forced a five-second violation as TKH was unable to inbound the ball in their front court.

That set the stage for Pitts' heroics. Thanks to a screen from Lamke, Pitts was able to get past her defender and into the lane to put up the game-winning runner.

Pitts led Minnesota with 16 points, while Lamke and Bello also reached double figures with 10 points each. Brunson and freshman Mercedes Staples both scored nine points, junior Gadiva Hubbard contributed five points, senior Kenisha Bell added four and junior Kehinde Bello rounded out the scoring with two points.
 

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Coach Thibault, a few highlights and Destiny talks about the final play.
 

Who gets credit for the wins in Italy? Acting head coaches or Whalen?
 



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IMHO, it appears that we may have a developing star in Mercedes Staples. Are we ready to give her the nickname, "Mercedes Benz" yet?

I am looking forward to seeing how Lindsay Whalen develops players, point guards in particular.
 
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I'm uninformed and curious....does anyone know if they are using a shot clock in these games? The Gophers have been "held" to lower point totals in the two games and I'm wondering if that's due to the lack of a shot clock or a change in style. (I'm sure the fact that Bell didn't play in the first game and apparently didn't play much in the second game also impacted the tempo of these games.) Don't want to overanalyze two exhibition games, but I'm wondering what we can expect with the new coaching regime. I loved the tempo and the offensive confidence of Stollings' teams, even though I sometimes thought that the post players were not included enough in the offense. (That may have had to do with the lack of athleticism in the posts.) Defense under Stollings was a different story. Sometimes non-existent, often lacking, too much zone and not enough man...but improved by the end of the season last year. I'm hoping and almost certain that Whalen's teams will play better defense. I'm also hoping that last year's tempo and offensive firepower will continue, especially with Bell at the point.
 

tripledouble said:
I'm uninformed and curious....does anyone know if they are using a shot clock in these games? The Gophers have been "held" to lower point totals in the two games and I'm wondering if that's due to the lack of a shot clock or a change in style. (I'm sure the fact that Bell didn't play in the first game and apparently didn't play much in the second game also impacted the tempo of these games.) Don't want to overanalyze two exhibition games, but I'm wondering what we can expect with the new coaching regime. I loved the tempo and the offensive confidence of Stollings' teams, even though I sometimes thought that the post players were not included enough in the offense. (That may have had to do with the lack of athleticism in the posts.) Defense under Stollings was a different story. Sometimes non-existent, often lacking, too much zone and not enough man...but improved by the end of the season last year. I'm hoping and almost certain that Whalen's teams will play better defense. I'm also hoping that last year's tempo and offensive firepower will continue, especially with Bell at the point.
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I wouldnt worry much about it, this staff wants to run. I think the lower point totals probably comes from playing everyone on the roster. The last team they played also held dayton to 49 and kentucky to 46.
 

It's safe to assume that under international rules they used a 24 second clock and the deeper three point line. And it's probably safe to assume that the TK Hannover game was probably a bit physical as you would expect versus a pro team (at least Kentucky mentioned the physicality in their game story).

Compared to Stollings, Whalen really hasn't mentioned much about offense or defensive playing styles. We've only had O'Banion mentioning some different offensive structure. And as Whalenfan said, there's not a lot to take out of friendlies in which everyone plays and we don't see a box score.

Although, Destiny has been a featured player.
 

I'm glad to see that most of the players have received ample playing time. I'm not really concerned with the results. That being said, it's been nice to see that players like Lamke, T. Bello, Brunson, and Staples have been involved. Am I correct in presuming that Bello has been playing the post or has she played forward? If Bello has been playing the post, it seems that both she and Lamke have impacted the games there. IMO, Pitts could be an all-conference player, possibly even this year. Am anxious to see if her game has improved in the off-season. The fact that she drove to the hoop for the game-winner against TK Hannover is a good sign...means that she doesn't intend to play behind the arc all the time. I know...to much analysis for an exhibition game, but with the early demise of the Twins, I'm desperate to start talking hoops again.
 

If we are keeping track, those wins or losses, would go towards acting coach. But since its preseason stuff, wins and losses really do not matter. Hopefully the team is developing their chemistry and a little bit of their offensive and defensive systems for the year.
 

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https://gophersports.com/news/2018/...-gophers-dominate-in-final-italy-contest.aspx

The Gophers dominated the final exhibition. The game finished on running time.

The Minnesota women's basketball team finished its three-game exhibition schedule in Italy with a dominant 103-34 victory over Italian Select Tuesday night in Venice.

Junior forward Taiye Bello led all scorers with 19 points and was one of five Gophers to reach double figures. Sophomore Destiny Pitts added 14 points, while senior Kenisha Bell, junior Jasmine Brunson and freshman Mercedes Staples all contributed 12 points.

Seniors Palma Kaposi and Annalese Lamke both scored eight points, junior Kehinde Bello had six, junior Gadiva Hubbard finished with five points, senior Irene Garrido Perez knocked down a 3-pointer for her final point total and freshman Delaynie Byrne converted both of her free throw attempts to round out the scoring.

Minnesota wasted little time jumping on Italian Select, opening the game on an 18-3 run, which was highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers by Pitts. Leading later in the quarter, 24-11, the Gophers embarked on a 35-2 stretch that carried over into the second quarter and included periods of 16 and 19 unanswered points, respectively. That took the lead to 59-13, and the Gophers held a 69-16 edge into halftime.
 

What’s up with Hubbard? Not taking shots or missing a lot of shots?
 

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