Jay Bilas

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GopherNation

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Not sure if anyone was watching UNC at all this weekend, but Jay Bilas made comments two different nights on how impressed he was with the Gophers. He said the Gophers have a top 5 front court in college basketball, and that they are a tournament team. He also said if the Gopher's guards figure it out, they could make a run in the tourney. Although I am pretty impressed with the way we have finished games this year, I have felt the team has been a little shaky to start the year. Curious on everyone's thoughts on:

1. the Gophers front court being top 5 in college ball
2. the Gophers back court figuring it out
 

GopherNation said:
Not sure if anyone was watching UNC at all this weekend, but Jay Bilas made comments two different nights on how impressed he was with the Gophers. He said the Gophers have a top 5 front court in college basketball, and that they are a tournament team. He also said if the Gopher's guards figure it out, they could make a run in the tourney. Although I am pretty impressed with the way we have finished games this year, I have felt the team has been a little shaky to start the year. Curious on everyone's thoughts on:

1. the Gophers front court being top 5 in college ball
2. the Gophers back court figuring it out
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Hard to argue with the top 5 frontcourt part. Trevor is one of the best PFs, being on the Wooden watch list. Also Sampson is a top 20 center. Few teams have that combination.
We will see in the coming weeks the progression of the backcourt, I will withhold judgement until then.
 

Ralph will have to play a lot better than he has been for the Gopher front court to reach that level. Rodney has shown flashes and then he becomes relatively invisible the next game. Trevor has been very steady all season. If Ralph and Rodney start playing more consistently and the guards continue to develop, this could be an interesting year.
 

i kind of agree with bilas. mbakwe may be one of the top 5 power forwards in the country. he makes the frontcourt formidabale by himself and i agree with the backcourt thing if they can just protect the basketball take smart shots and develop a little bit along the way (like perimeter defense, and the ball protection thing) big IF!! they have a chance to be pretty tough. Also if coach smith can pull some magic like the 2nd half of the isu game every once in awhile, i dont see why we couldnt be very good. guys will buy into their roles on the team welch and andre seem to be able to score the ball, oto hits open threes like he has been, elliot just provides some energy off the bench and rodney plays his high flying baseline game while adding nice offensive and defensive rebounding those are some important keys. i know what were going to get from ralph. 8 to 10 points a game nice mid range J good post passing. mbakwe you get the obvious double doubles at will. austin a little bit of everything. the x factor in my opinion will be the development of andre and julian. we have seen some flashes early but we will need to see come big ten season. also joe coleman is going to develop into a good player, i feel this is almost a sure thing it will take a long time into this season and into his sophmore season but he has nice skills. im excited but im a minnesota sports fan and someone will get hurt or suspended.
 

CDH27 said:
Ralph will have to play a lot better than he has been for the Gopher front court to reach that level. Rodney has shown flashes and then he becomes relatively invisible the next game. Trevor has been very steady all season. If Ralph and Rodney start playing more consistently and the guards continue to develop, this could be an interesting year.
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Well said.
 


Joe Coleman needs to figure things out - it's taking time which is normal - but he could become more important in the overall scheme as the year goes on. He's listed as 6'4 ... like Austin Hollins (legit) but Joe seems like he's more like 6' 2. Not a big deal, but he looks smaller that I thought he would be.
 

Bilas typically seems to know what he is talking about when it comes to college hoops...hope he's right this time!
 

Jay Bilas, who played at Duke under Coach K, knows more about this game than any of the other talking heads at ESPN. Bilas was mentioned by Coach K in an interview with Dan Patrick in Sports Illustrated as one of his models for the Duke Program through all of Coach K's tenure there. I will go with what Bilas says over anyone here.
 

Dr.Don said:
Jay Bilas, who played at Duke under Coach K, knows more about this game than any of the other talking heads at ESPN. Bilas was mentioned by Coach K in an interview with Dan Patrick in Sports Illustrated as one of his models for the Duke Program through all of Coach K's tenure there. I will go with what Bilas says over anyone here.
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I'd say Bob Knight knows more than Bilas when it comes to college ball, but Bilas is a close second. I love listening to Bob Knight call the games.

EDIT: On second thought, I don't know if I would consider Bob Knight a talking head, so I suppose you are right!
 



I bet this will be in common mans preposterous statement tournament.
 


Nort73 said:
I'd say Bob Knight knows more than Bilas when it comes to college ball, but Bilas is a close second. I love listening to Bob Knight call the games.

EDIT: On second thought, I don't know if I would consider Bob Knight a talking head, so I suppose you are right!
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I agree with you about Knight. The talking heads I refer to are the dudes that babble on and on and say nothing.
 

I would hesitate to say any team, outside of Baylor, has a top-5 frontcourt at this point in the season. Even UNC's frontcourt, in spite of the obvious talent, has its flaws. The Gophs have a great frontcourt player, but that doesn't necessarily mean they have a top-5 frontcourt.
 



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