Marcus blog: Open basketball practice notes: Welch and Coleman shine (great stuff)

Donate To GopherHole


Question about Mo

Not sure if I missed something on Mo over the last couple months. ...

Is he expected to be ready for the season opener vs. Bucknell, or are they expecting him to miss some games? Gophers certainly will need a viable/serviceable big body off the bench.

Thanks in advance.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Not sure if I missed something on Mo over the last couple months. ...

Is he expected to be ready for the season opener vs. Bucknell, or are they expecting him to miss some games? Gophers certainly will need a viable/serviceable big body off the bench.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen anyone in the 'mainstream media' (or elsewhere) suggest that he wouldn't be ready, rather if anything they've said 'he's a week or two away'. I'd say the same thing I did five weeks ago in this article:

There is no question that a year of Mo Walker's eligibility to compete has been used. There are, however, questions about what he'll be able to do in 2011-12. He still has a long way to go before being ready to contribute on the court and the season continues to creep closer. On one hand, to achieve optimal success this season the Gophers need big minutes from both Ralph Sampson and Trevor Mbakwe, limiting the amount of minutes available to Mo. Still, a healthy Walker would be the best interior weapon available to Minnesota off the bench.
Click to expand...

I think Gopher fans could hope that he'll be able to play a little in some nonconference games at some point this winter... then be ready to go 10-15 in January. However, there are no promises that will happen. Very little depth when it comes to the interior guys.
 

If Austin can get his stroke back we will have some shooting threats along with Oto, Andre (maybe Joe & Welch... Mav?). As I have suspected all along, Rodney is not ever going to be an outside threat.

Andre Hollins didn’t hit a three-pointer while I watched him in Monday’s scrimmage, but Tubby said the Memphis product had been leading the team with better than 50 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Tubby said Joe (50 percent), Austin Hollins (40 percent) and Osenieks was shooting 46 percent from three-point range. Not sure it would be surprise, but Osenieks is the team’s top shooter. The 6-7 Latvia native hit a few three-pointers Monday in the scrimmage. There was talk about Williams changing his mechanics this summer to improve his three-point shooting. But Smith said that has not happened — and he doesn’t want Williams to shoot much from outside the paint this season. Williams was 1-for-11 shooting from three-point range in scrimmages before Monday, Smith said.
“He’s still got a lot of work to do, let me put it that way,” Smith said. “He’s never really going to be a three-point shooting threat.”
The maroon and gold groups were separated as follows in Monday’s scrimmage:


– Eliason scored on a jump hook over Sampson in the scrimmage. He also looks at least two inches taller than Sampson.

– Williams was attacking the basket quite a bit, but he couldn’t finish consistently.

– Eliason nailed a 17-foot jump shot with Sampson running out in his face.
 


Quote– Williams was attacking the basket quite a bit, but he couldn’t finish consistently.

Easily a top 10 first round NBA pick
 


I agree with other posters that Coleman should be fun to watch. If you have seen him play before, he definitely has a bit of an "edge" to him, and is not afraid to get near the basket with authority. I for one am excited that we have a 4-year player that comes in ready to play, with a great work ethic and athletic/basketball skills to boot.
 





If Coleman can develop a good jumper he will be one of Minnesota's greatest guards. When Williams was recruited I hated his jumper. I hated it last year and it sounds like it is not going to improve. Are the occasional acrobatics with the playing time he gets?
 





You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom