Omersa should start going forward. If he can be another Miles Tarver or J'son Stamper, that's fine. We probably had unrealistic expectations of Carr, but he has to do more. Gabe can shoot, but he can't create his own shot. He needs a PG to set him up. Willis seems similar. I am impressed with the defense, but the offense is very hard to watch, even though 4 of the 5 starters should be functional. I'd like Greenlee to get a longer look. The only problem is that he can't give you any direct scoring either, so having him and Omersa in the line-up together would be tough.
Keep the faith
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Omersa should start going forward. If he can be another Miles Tarver or J'son Stamper, that's fine. We probably had unrealistic expectations of Carr, but he has to do more. Gabe can shoot, but he can't create his own shot. He needs a PG to set him up. Willis seems similar. I am impressed with the defense, but the offense is very hard to watch, even though 4 of the 5 starters should be functional. I'd like Greenlee to get a longer look. The only problem is that he can't give you any direct scoring either, so having him and Omersa in the line-up together would be tough.
Yes, but that's also the case with Demir. At least Omersa can rebound, pass and play defense.
And the pro-Pitino club once again making up a lot of excuses.
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Gopherfan84
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How deep do you think other teams frontcourts are? Most aren’t more than 2-3 deep at most. Last year our front court was one of the deeper ones in the country had Curry gotten healthy.
MennoSota
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I would like to see specific sets created to get Kalsheur open looks. I felt the same thing about Hoffarber when he was here. Hoffarber was under utilized when we should have had plays directly designed for him to get a shot.
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What sort of expectations did you ****ing have for this season? We lost an all B1G player in Coffey and didn't have time to replace him - and we have one of the youngest teams in the country.
Pitino's last two classes have looked pretty good and we are on track for a 3rd consecutive good class with Mashburn Jr. and Mitchell already in the fold. Just appreciate that we have to develop our young talent this season...
My expectations were and still are a 6 win conference season. Which would give Pitino 6 double digit conference loss seasons in 7 years.
If that happens he shouldn’t be given another year to develop anyone as the head basketball coach at the U.
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bleedsmaroonandgold
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We have gotten more patient over the years. Before last year, the last time we won an NCAA tourney game we fired the coach for it.
That coach had already quit certain aspects of the job, if you will recall...
I don't disagree that better coaches would be interested this time around, but I think the reason that better coaches would be interested has more to do with other factors.
For one, I'd be willing to bet Mark Coyle is a boss that more coaches would prefer to work for than Norwood Teague. Who you are working for matters a lot.
Would also bet some coaches were turned off by the fact that we fired Tubby after one of the better finishes to a season in recent program history. I mean, if I'm a coach looking at the Minnesota job and I hear that an appearance in the round of 32 gets you fired within weeks...I'm not interested.
Also think the local recruiting scene has improved greatly since Tubby was fired. Way more MN high schoolers are getting high major offers than during his tenure.
IMO the program is in basically the same shape. A middling B1G program struggling for consistency.
Gopherfan84
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Richard has better players here. If a new coach came in and felt he could keep the guys here, they'd be interested. Whether it was right or wrong, tubby was sent away became of what are recruiting classes were and that he had ruined most relationships with all AAU and MN HS coaches.
You are not wrong that Coyle would be a huge reason as well and maybe the biggest of all. He wouldn't let guys slip away like Teague did.
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Who are your top 4 guys ? Do you think anyone is a better coach than Pitino. Do you have any criticisms about the job he has done. I stated that it is way too early this year to pass a judgement on this team. People act like those that are unhappy with 40-70 are Pitino haters. Just because we have higher standards does not mean we are haters. Name someone that went 40-70 and still had their job or better yet went on to win conference titles etc.. I still think this season can be special, in fact i expect it. I do not think someone is a hater if they are critical of one big 10 winning season. Remember, some fans do not believe in could have,should have, if or almost or bad calls etc.. Every team over time faces that. As fans we all have different opinions of what great is, what terrible is. Each person can decide for themselves. You get to preach your standards and views. A list now serves no purpose right now. The season just started. If and when that time comes i can easily give you a really long list. The question is how many can we hire ?
It’s very early. We do not see these guys practice. Sometimes until they get comfortable there is a wide disparity between how they perform in practice and how they look in games. I’m hoping we have a lot of that going on.
Here is what I saw last night: Oturo is our best player by a huge margin! He has improved greatly! And he was pretty good last year!
I have no idea who our second best player is but I think we might have 3 guards who could blossom in Carr, Willis and Williams. Now if we are lucky one emerges ala Springs in January. That would be huge! Or if they rotate each night but somebody has to step up among those three.
To be really good Ihnen needs to figure it out by January as well. He has the potential to be sensational. He has the experience to indicate he is going to struggle. We need to get lucky with his development to be be very good team.
Somebody needs to step up and fill the role of 2nd best player so Gabe can be a bit overlooked at times. If he’s all the defense has to stop...he’s gonna struggle.
One game conclusion: Demir cannot defend. If he is on the floor Oturu will get in foul trouble easier.
Demir can’t score enough to overcome this glaring deficiency. So, Freeman is athletic. If he can defend I’d groom him to play defense. Put him under the basket and let Oturu work on the perimeter more often. You got high low opportunity with these two. Better defense more boards. Obviously you can’t play Omersa at the same time as Freeman. Freeman would improve and you are much better positioned next year. Unless Demir looks much different in practice and/or Freeman would embarrass himself. Dunno, but what I saw was Demir has no chance to defend. Very Hurt like.
It’s early. I like the schedule. We will improve. We will evolve. We might even get hot one of these games?
Here is what I saw last night: Oturo is our best player by a huge margin! He has improved greatly! And he was pretty good last year!
I have no idea who our second best player is but I think we might have 3 guards who could blossom in Carr, Willis and Williams. Now if we are lucky one emerges ala Springs in January. That would be huge! Or if they rotate each night but somebody has to step up among those three.
To be really good Ihnen needs to figure it out by January as well. He has the potential to be sensational. He has the experience to indicate he is going to struggle. We need to get lucky with his development to be be very good team.
Somebody needs to step up and fill the role of 2nd best player so Gabe can be a bit overlooked at times. If he’s all the defense has to stop...he’s gonna struggle.
One game conclusion: Demir cannot defend. If he is on the floor Oturu will get in foul trouble easier.
Demir can’t score enough to overcome this glaring deficiency. So, Freeman is athletic. If he can defend I’d groom him to play defense. Put him under the basket and let Oturu work on the perimeter more often. You got high low opportunity with these two. Better defense more boards. Obviously you can’t play Omersa at the same time as Freeman. Freeman would improve and you are much better positioned next year. Unless Demir looks much different in practice and/or Freeman would embarrass himself. Dunno, but what I saw was Demir has no chance to defend. Very Hurt like.
It’s early. I like the schedule. We will improve. We will evolve. We might even get hot one of these games?
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Part of what makes this stretch so hard is that they are not playing at home, with all the newcomers its is hard to establish a rhythm and gain some confidence, hopefully they come through this stretch an improved team. Offensively Demir's has had a lot of shots that are close and just haven't fallen, that has to change, not giving up on him yet. Going to need some contributions from the freshman, way to early to write them off but hard to have any confidence at this point.
builtbadgers
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Agree, way to early. Look around, most teams are playing pretty sloppy and those with many newcomers to the rotation will struggle. This roster has to have a chance to be cohesive on both sides. That comes with time. These posts writing off kids and teams after 2-3 games are jumping to conclusions in my opinion.
MplsGopher
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built what would you like to see for the Utah game? If it is the same story as the OU and Butler, will you still “write off” the concerns at this point?
builtbadgers
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Improvement, better play by soundness and players being in cohesion with each other. A win would be nice and the Gophers do have better players but to see improvement is what i will be watching for. If we improve day by day the wins will come.
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So far, this team reminds me of when Murphy was a freshman. Too inexperienced to close out games, but you could see the potential. Whether the youngsters can grow fast enough to be competitive come B1G season or not remains to be seen. We may have to settle for a growth season.
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Losses away from home to Oklahoma and Butler aren't the end of the world. Kentucky lost Evansville. Northwestern lost to Merrimack (and then oddly beat Providence) UConn got ran out of its own gym by St Joe's (who lost to Old Dominion). Davidson got crushed by Charlotte. St. Mary's lost to Winthrop. Alabama lost to Penn (who got crushed by Rice). Pitt lost to Nicholls. I'm not even going to talk about Nebraska. Those are bad losses. Even Florida (the chick pick for a Final Four this year) looked absolutely awful in a loss against Florida St (who lost to Pitt). I'm sure there's a lot more.
With so many new faces, this team needs time. Stay away from bad losses, and hopefully we'll see improvement throughout the non-conference.
With so many new faces, this team needs time. Stay away from bad losses, and hopefully we'll see improvement throughout the non-conference.
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Count me in the category of those who see a lot of potential in this squad, at the same time as huge problems in execution. That we were able to hang with Butler for most of the game while looking so disjointed on offense suggests: 1) our defense was playing quite well overall, foul trouble notwithstanding, and 2) there is tons of room to improve on the other side of the ball.
When Murphy was a freshman, the team won 8 games. If we have another season like that in year 7, firing Pitino at the end of the season should be a no-brainer.
Growth seasons are fine but if we have no postseason and play in the Wednesday round of the Big Ten tournament, that will be the 4th time in 7 years that has occurred. "Growth" seasons should occur every three or four years, not every other year.
Gopherfan84
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Correct, I've been a Pitino supporter and this team is way too talented to only win 8 games. I still think they are an NCAA team. All the struggles they've had are things that can and most likely will be fixed in my opinion. Offensive continuity comes with more games. Things that are hard to fix: Attitude, Effort, and Shooting (Our shooting woes are not because of a lack of shooting skill, they will get better.). If they only win 8 I will gladly and be pushing for us to move on!
How do you know the Gophers have better players than Utah? Utah didn't seem very good last year but they had 3 consecutive NBA 1st round picks from 2015 through 2017 so they are capable of attracting some pretty good players.
SelectionSunday
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Yep, playing on Weakling Wednesday (The Rutgers Invitational) yet again could be a deal-breaker. Perhaps getting Garcia would earn some more rope.
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If I recall correctly, I asked 1984. In response to his post. I am now attacked by built. Did I do that correctly, built?
And now you jumped in, doing EXACTLY what you always do - recite RP's conference record. Yet you are always the victim of an attacking poster, badger. Your slant is clear to me and others built.
I don't have a top 4. That is YOUR area, right? How many times have you posted about your knowledge, skills, and experience with all things college BB?
A list serves a lot of purposes. YOU have repeatedly said there is always a list of top coaches. Lay it out. If you dare.
Gopherfan84
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My bad, I missed that you asked me of this. If we are talking about who I think we could get that I would want most? I do tiers more than lists and I am big on the right fits.
Home Run Hires
Craig Smith
Mike Rhoades
T.J. Otzelberger
Thad Matta
Guys who could be there that I just don't know enough about yet
Nathan Davis
Steve Forbes- I know about his involvement with the Pearl Scandal so that's what scares me with him
Travis DeCuire
Jamion Christian
Niko Medved
Assistants Who I like, but I typically prefer to hire guys with recent HC Experience
Dane Fife
Tom Ostrom
Stan Johnson
BarnBurner
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Thanks 1984. Appreciate the honesty and information.
I think it's premature to make that judgment.
Agreed. But what's a realistic bar to expect this team to clear? The NCAA's are huge reach. I'll say 15-15 or better.