Let's Take a Look Back at the Alarmists During the Illinois Game

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short ornery norwegian said:
as with everything, it comes down to consistency. during the course of a season, almost every team will have one or two bad nights, and one or two nights when everything clicks.

The real question is what happens on the rest of the nights.

If Iowa is the high-water mark for the Gophers, and Illinois the low-water mark, then what is the true level for this team?

Same thing with individuals. if player X is a 35% career 3-point shooter, and he goes out and hits 7 3's in a game, which is more likely?
A. he makes 7 3's every game, or
B. he reverts back to his career average.

Extreme opinions can run both ways. some fans watch the Illinois game and say "The Gophers stink. Fire the Coach."

Some fans watch the Iowa game and say "The Gophers are Great. Extend the Coach."

I say, let's see how they look next game. can they settle into a reasonably good level of play, or do they yo-yo between "Up" and "Down" nights?

Next week will tell a lot with MSU and Bucky.

(BTW - saw a crazy tweet. The starting lineup for Wisc has an average age that is older than the starting lineup for the Chicago Bulls.)
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The scary part is that the Gophers left a lot of open looks on the floor. I went back and watched, and there were so many open 3’s that were missed that it would not have been unreasonable to see them in future games being able to knock those down. Not to mention the rebounding, which was atrocious. Which means they beat the #4 team without playing the best game that they can play.
 

Some of my ramblings after watching all the Gopher games.

So which version of the Gophers will show up this coming week? I expect that we will continue to see overall improvement but I am very concerned about our inability to rebound, defend off the dribble and low 3 pt %. There is a lot of experience with Carr, Gabe, Robbins, Gach, Johnson and possibly Curry that RP can depend on. And the young pups are showing some moxie.

I am looking for Gach to up his game a couple of notches and I expect he can make adjustments to the BIG and be more consistent. We need to continue to get to the FT line as that has been one of the strengths. I keep on hoping Gabe and Ihnen to be more aggressive with the ball and get to the line more often but that's probably not going to happen as often as I would like. Has Gabe or Ihnen ever posted low on the block? Or Gach and Johnson for that matter. This is a team of perimeter players.

One important area that must get better is our 3 pt%, not just from Gabe. RP encourages his players to take the open three and we take more 3's than most other teams. We have to be better at it. And we must continue to take care of the ball which has been pretty much a positive in spite of leading the world in dribbles.

As stated this team is very inept at the rebound aspect including blocking out. Outside of Ihnen and Johnson, they lack the explosion, twitch, timing and strength to be effective rebounders. I have seem many lean and lanky players rebound very well. Even Carr isn't boarding like he did last year.

RP came here touting the press and pressure D. IMO, this team has more capability than any of his past squads to press. Not for the whole game but for a change up which sometimes can get the other team out of synch. I wonder if they even work on it in practice. I like to see Mash guard the whole floor as it takes some time off the 30 second clock.

I continue to be amazed at how inconsistent the officiating has been, especially under the basket. There are numerous phantom fouls that are called yet they allow the player with the ball to bully their way to the hoop, especially the opposition as Robbins rarely does that.

I am excited to see how we play against two other top BIG's this week.
 

Gabe did post up Bohanan, but I agree, they could do more of that especially against MSU by whoever is being guarded by Loyer.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
Some of my ramblings after watching all the Gopher games.

So which version of the Gophers will show up this coming week? I expect that we will continue to see overall improvement but I am very concerned about our inability to rebound, defend off the dribble and low 3 pt %. There is a lot of experience with Carr, Gabe, Robbins, Gach, Johnson and possibly Curry that RP can depend on. And the young pups are showing some moxie.

I am looking for Gach to up his game a couple of notches and I expect he can make adjustments to the BIG and be more consistent. We need to continue to get to the FT line as that has been one of the strengths. I keep on hoping Gabe and Ihnen to be more aggressive with the ball and get to the line more often but that's probably not going to happen as often as I would like. Has Gabe or Ihnen ever posted low on the block? Or Gach and Johnson for that matter. This is a team of perimeter players.

One important area that must get better is our 3 pt%, not just from Gabe. RP encourages his players to take the open three and we take more 3's than most other teams. We have to be better at it. And we must continue to take care of the ball which has been pretty much a positive in spite of leading the world in dribbles.

As stated this team is very inept at the rebound aspect including blocking out. Outside of Ihnen and Johnson, they lack the explosion, twitch, timing and strength to be effective rebounders. I have seem many lean and lanky players rebound very well. Even Carr isn't boarding like he did last year.

RP came here touting the press and pressure D. IMO, this team has more capability than any of his past squads to press. Not for the whole game but for a change up which sometimes can get the other team out of synch. I wonder if they even work on it in practice. I like to see Mash guard the whole floor as it takes some time off the 30 second clock.

I continue to be amazed at how inconsistent the officiating has been, especially under the basket. There are numerous phantom fouls that are called yet they allow the player with the ball to bully their way to the hoop, especially the opposition as Robbins rarely does that.

I am excited to see how we play against two other top BIG's this week.
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Yeah, seems like foul is the default. Which is opposite of how it should be. If the ref doesnt SEE a foul then dont call a foul. I dont know if they are afraid of losing control of the game or what, but fouls can have a huge affect of course on a game's outcome. Too many touch fouls and too much of refs anticipating fouls that are phantom. Maybe just a matter of refs need to be willing to hustle more to get in better position? Are too many refs out of shape, lazy? Rarely is a ref seen hustling to improve his line of sight. And this goes both ways, as thought St.Louis was victim of sketchy reffing in game against us - lot of quick whistles. Makes the game less enjoyable to watch of course as well.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
We need to continue to get to the FT line as that has been one of the strengths. I keep on hoping Gabe and Ihnen to be more aggressive with the ball and get to the line more often but that's probably not going to happen as often as I would like.
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Good post. Ihnen showed a bit more aggression in the Iowa game. He drove from the top of the key a couple times in the game and I think it ended in points each time. I don’t remember him driving like that before and hopefully he can keep taking steps forward and gain confidence.

The progress from Ihnen, Curry, and Robbins has been fun to watch this year. Hopefully they grew up quick enough to get us a couple more Ws in this brutal stretch. I’m not ready to add Johnson to the list as someone who has progressed as he only has one positive data point (albeit a great one). The ceiling for this team is exciting if Johnson, Gabe, and Gach can be more consistent. However we have also seen the floor in the Illinois game if the team forgets how to move the ball. Hopefully they keep moving in the right direction.
 


matt said:
Good post. Ihnen showed a bit more aggression in the Iowa game. He drove from the top of the key a couple times in the game and I think it ended in points each time. I don’t remember him driving like that before and hopefully he can keep taking steps forward and gain confidence.

The progress from Ihnen, Curry, and Robbins has been fun to watch this year. Hopefully they grew up quick enough to get us a couple more Ws in this brutal stretch. I’m not ready to add Johnson to the list as someone who has progressed as he only has one positive data point (albeit a great one). The ceiling for this team is exciting if Johnson, Gabe, and Gach can be more consistent. However we have also seen the floor in the Illinois game if the team forgets how to move the ball. Hopefully they keep moving in the right direction.
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The litmus test for me is the UW game for Gach. They are the kind of team to make him play to his weakness.
 


Performance reviews happen once a year. In the case of sports, at the end of the season.
 





builtbadgers said:
We are going to be a NCAA team
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When has Pitino had 8 he can play and trust? When has he had the best scorer in the conference? Hell, he might be the best guard in the nation.
Answer to both is never.

This team is much deeper and more talented than has been the case recently. They need to shore up the defense and rebounding and I agree.

That said, they have to keep improving as the season goes along.
 

Haha I like this thread...I'm surprised I wasn't one of the ones called out though.
 









USAF said:
Heh.
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Never been afraid to say i was wrong. This roster was as poorly coached as any i have seen. The pieces were/are there to be dominant defensively but they did not have the coach for that.
 



leib0039 said:
I also take no pride in being right in this scenario but I think the "alarmists" were closer to realists here
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lol. You predicted a 6-7 game losing streak after that first Illinois game. Not sure how the teams collapse down the stretch makes that post correct.
 


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