Northwestern Postgame Thoughts 1/22

Gopher met the test great today with an athletically overmatched opponent. Look for NW to use their zone trap much more on the rematch.
 

How does Carmody keep his job season after season?
 

Are there any kudos for the defense on 3 pt shooters? Shurna had to be sick : didn't have the energy to shoot free throws.
 

Lunardi tweet from before the game: "True bubble game tipping off in the Big Ten (Minnesota at Northwestern). Winner is in tomorrow's bracket and the loser is out"
 

I promised to keep bringing up the "Tubby Has Lost This Team Thread" started by some ill informed poster, but I will let it die the death it deserves.

I don't think we will win on Wednesday but I do feel we will get our 9 wins this year and make the NCAA's. One of the announces said that "it can be argued that the Gophers are the hottest team in the league." Go Gophers!

This is a great turnaround- not just the wins but the way they are playing in doing it. Tubby deserves a ton of credit- just as much credit as he was getting for losing. Great job today by players and coaches.
 



Yes, the Gophers are looking more energized and confident. Their passing is even a little better -- less pass, catch, hold, pause, look, consider. A few zippy sequences today give me hope.
 

Very impressive that they never let them get closer than 14 in the second-half. Beating PSU and NW is not great feat, but thoroughly thumping them is impressive.
 

How does Carmody keep his job season after season?

You may have heard, but he's at a school that's never made the NCAA tourney and is a perennial doormat in the Big Ten. And recently he's led them to some of their best seasons wins-wise ever - stringing together consecutive NIT appearances is considered positive there. They don't have great expectations of the basketball coach in Evanston.
 



I was really impressed by the Gophers defense today (especially the first half defense). The Gophers clearly bothered Northwesten with their athleticism early, but were disciplined enough to not be beat on back cuts or other plays designed to take advantage of over aggressive defense. The standouts on the offensive end were Julian Welch and Joe Coleman. I wish Joe could have finished that second steal and breakaway because he deserved a standing ovation at the point. The passing from the wings and Welch against the zone was usually solid and I like that we found holes to get the ball inside for layups/dunks.

I wasn't as happy with the second half as I thought the Gophers played a little passively trying to protect a lead as opposed to trying to put the game away. I got a little concerned when Northwestern cut the lead to 14 with like 6-7 minutes left, because the Gophers just seemed jittery and afraid to make mistakes. Overall a great gameplan from Tubby and great execution by the Gophers.

You can't point to today and say the Gophers have guards, because they didn't face anyone with the type of quickness that causes are guards problems on offense and defense. Even without that quickness on the floor, Maverick still struggled handling the ball.
 

So who will be the first to complain about Tubby? I guess it's his fault they didn't win by 25.

How many games did it take your man Tubby to figure out that we shouldn't start two of the slowest guards in the Big10 together in the backcourt? What is our record since that revelation?
 

I was really impressed by the Gophers defense today (especially the first half defense). The Gophers clearly bothered Northwesten with their athleticism early, but were disciplined enough to not be beat on back cuts or other plays designed to take advantage of over aggressive defense. The standouts on the offensive end were Julian Welch and Joe Coleman. I wish Joe could have finished that second steal and breakaway because he deserved a standing ovation at the point. The passing from the wings and Welch against the zone was usually solid and I like that we found holes to get the ball inside for layups/dunks.

I wasn't as happy with the second half as I thought the Gophers played a little passively trying to protect a lead as opposed to trying to put the game away. I got a little concerned when Northwestern cut the lead to 14 with like 6-7 minutes left, because the Gophers just seemed jittery and afraid to make mistakes. Overall a great gameplan from Tubby and great execution by the Gophers.

You can't point to today and say the Gophers have guards, because they didn't face anyone with the type of quickness that causes are guards problems on offense and defense. Even without that quickness on the floor, Maverick still struggled handling the ball.

We already have. You can't point to the squad and say they have a low ceiling anymore.
 

jamalo said:
How many games did it take your man Tubby to figure out that we shouldn't start two of the slowest guards in the Big10 together in the backcourt? What is our record since that revelation?
And.....that answers my question.
 



I get a feeling he is just struggling with his jumpshot right now. Took a couple 3s today and both looked flat and no rotation. Once he gets that going this team will have some very solid guards.

Definitely. I like that he's still willing to take open shots, without forcing anything. He was recruited as a shooter and I fully believe that he'll come around. Just look at how much better Austin is shooting the ball this year.
 

And.....that answers my question.

Incorrect; great 3 game stretch. What would their record be if your man (relative?) Tubby didn't have his Maverick fixation for the first 4 conference games?
 

Incorrect; great 3 game stretch. What would their record be if your man (relative?) Tubby didn't have his Maverick fixation for the first 4 conference games?

How is he incorrect? He asked who will be the first to complain, then you complained. Hence his response of you answering his question.
 

GophersOnTheRise said:
How is he incorrect? He asked who will be the first to complain, then you complained. Hence his response of you answering his question.
Thanks GOTR. You got it.
 

Incorrect; great 3 game stretch. What would their record be if your man (relative?) Tubby didn't have his Maverick fixation for the first 4 conference games?

coulda woulda shoulda. Speculation about what he or the team may or may not have done starting earlier is pointless. Unless you were involved in the practices, you really wouldn't know if he was ready to start as a true freshman, would you? And if early games were evidence, Coleman did not demonstrate early in the season that he deserved more minutes. He was playing poor defense, was a turnover machine, and looked uncomfortable in the offense. Maybe, and just maybe, Tubby waited to start him until he felt he had picked things up sufficiently to not be a liability on either end of the court. Of course no one really knows that except the coaching staff and other players who were involved in practices, so really, why not stop pretending that you knew it all along and/or know better than the coaches who should be playing when. Coleman is playing great and I am glad he is in there now. He gives us a great chance to finish the season strong and make the tourney. That is really all that matters.

Try to find something positive to say about the turn-around and three-game winning streak rather than playing the same old song and dance. Your schtick is way past old. SMH

Go Gophs!
 

coulda woulda shoulda. Speculation about what he or the team may or may not have done starting earlier is pointless. Unless you were involved in the practices, you really wouldn't know if he was ready to start as a true freshman, would you? And if early games were evidence, Coleman did not demonstrate early in the season that he deserved more minutes. He was playing poor defense, was a turnover machine, and looked uncomfortable in the offense. Maybe, and just maybe, Tubby waited to start him until he felt he had picked things up sufficiently to not be a liability on either end of the court. Of course no one really knows that except the coaching staff and other players who were involved in practices, so really, why not stop pretending that you knew it all along and/or know better than the coaches who should be playing when. Coleman is playing great and I am glad he is in there now. He gives us a great chance to finish the season strong and make the tourney. That is really all that matters.

Try to find something positive to say about the turn-around and three-game winning streak rather than playing the same old song and dance. Your schtick is way past old. SMH

Go Gophs!

+1
 

coulda woulda shoulda. Speculation about what he or the team may or may not have done starting earlier is pointless. Unless you were involved in the practices, you really wouldn't know if he was ready to start as a true freshman, would you? And if early games were evidence, Coleman did not demonstrate early in the season that he deserved more minutes. He was playing poor defense, was a turnover machine, and looked uncomfortable in the offense. Maybe, and just maybe, Tubby waited to start him until he felt he had picked things up sufficiently to not be a liability on either end of the court. Of course no one really knows that except the coaching staff and other players who were involved in practices, so really, why not stop pretending that you knew it all along and/or know better than the coaches who should be playing when. Coleman is playing great and I am glad he is in there now. He gives us a great chance to finish the season strong and make the tourney. That is really all that matters.

Try to find something positive to say about the turn-around and three-game winning streak rather than playing the same old song and dance. Your schtick is way past old. SMH

Go Gophs!

Do you honestly think that Mav was outperforming Coleman in practice? What part of his 37% FG% warranted him being in the starting lineup, in your rose colored opinion? Is your premise that the switch suddenly turned on for Coleman after the 4th conference game in terms of him being ready and then Tubby was prepared to commit to him?
 

This Tubby debate is really starting to feel like the tired old Adam Weber debate.
 

Do you honestly think that Mav was outperforming Coleman in practice? What part of his 37% FG% warranted him being in the starting lineup, in your rose colored opinion? Is your premise that the switch suddenly turned on for Coleman after the 4th conference game in terms of him being ready and then Tubby was prepared to commit to him?

No, my premise is that you have no clue about how he was performing in practice, and that his performance early in the season didn't warrant him starting. Of course, that wouldn't really matter to you, because seem to only fixate on how poorly Tubby is coaching this team, even in the midst of a three game winning streak. Plus, I never mentioned Mav at all in my post. Did you also forgot the fact that Andre Hollins was also starting ahead of him early in the season? Maybe Mav got the first chance because he had a better grasp of the offense and/or the defense at that time. Coleman earned his playing time by working hard, improving, and showing the staff he was ready. Why not just leave it at that? Of course, then you'd have nothing to whine and complain about, so I guess that's impossible, right? Sorry, shouldn't even have brought that up as a viable option for someone who seems to wear nothing but crap colored glasses. SMH
 

This Tubby debate is really starting to feel like the tired old Adam Weber debate.

Actually, I think it began to feel like that last year. Sorry for contributing to a worthless topic. :)
 

Definitely. I like that he's still willing to take open shots, without forcing anything. He was recruited as a shooter and I fully believe that he'll come around. Just look at how much better Austin is shooting the ball this year.

That's the comparison I was thinking about earlier today as well. Andre has the talent, no doubt. The confidence just isn't there. Austin is a great example of someone making huge leaps in that department. He's not putting up huge numbers, but he looks so much more confident in his shot and overall abilities this year. Hopefully Andre can make that leap later this season or next year.

We've definitely been a lot more aggressive on offense the past few games. Not nearly as much standing around waiting for someone else to make something happen. Coleman, Austin, Welch, Williams, and Chip especially are going to the hole a lot more, getting easy buckets, drawing fouls, or creating shots for other guys. That's been the biggest difference to me.

It was also nice to see Sampson being a little more aggressive today.
 

coulda woulda shoulda. Speculation about what he or the team may or may not have done starting earlier is pointless. Unless you were involved in the practices, you really wouldn't know if he was ready to start as a true freshman, would you? And if early games were evidence, Coleman did not demonstrate early in the season that he deserved more minutes. He was playing poor defense, was a turnover machine, and looked uncomfortable in the offense. Maybe, and just maybe, Tubby waited to start him until he felt he had picked things up sufficiently to not be a liability on either end of the court. Of course no one really knows that except the coaching staff and other players who were involved in practices, so really, why not stop pretending that you knew it all along and/or know better than the coaches who should be playing when. Coleman is playing great and I am glad he is in there now. He gives us a great chance to finish the season strong and make the tourney. That is really all that matters.

Try to find something positive to say about the turn-around and three-game winning streak rather than playing the same old song and dance. Your schtick is way past old. SMH

Go Gophs!

+1
 

It sucks that we started 0-4 in conference and obviously would have been great to have gotten a couple wins in that stretch, but why dwell on it? The team is playing great right now and have put themselves back in the NCAA tournament conversation with a lot of season left to hopefully even improve our seeding. Since Coleman has been startng the team looks completely different and it appears that we're in for a pretty good season. It's especially fun for the future watching such a young player have success like this, so why as a Gopher fan would you be b!tching so much? Any Gopher fan should be happy right now that the season appears to be back on track.
 

It sucks that we started 0-4 in conference and obviously would have been great to have gotten a couple wins in that stretch, but why dwell on it? The team is playing great right now and have put themselves back in the NCAA tournament conversation with a lot of season left to hopefully even improve our seeding. Since Coleman has been startng the team looks completely different and it appears that we're in for a pretty good season. It's especially fun for the future watching such a young player have success like this, so why as a Gopher fan would you be b!tching so much? Any Gopher fan should be happy right now that the season appears to be back on track.

Amen.
 

If Northwestern didn't have such a terrible day shooting the ball this could have been a much closer game. As it were, Minnesota's defense was smothering in the 1st half and is really starting to look like a bright spot. It's nice to win the games you're supposed to and even nicer to get to avoid a nail biter for once. I suppose that maybe it should have been obvious that JC would deliver on a Sunday...
I like that, pretty funny......Amen.
 

Gophers got up for this game because Northwestern had a big target on its back with that ~35 RPI.

Joe and Julian with MVP honors again... Jules was PASSIN the ball today.. beautiful.

Northwestern's eFG% today was 40.0%. They actually shot ** 27.6% eFG ** against Baylor... didn't watch that game, but man... today's 40% looked brutal.. can't imagine 28-ish percent.
 

Welch's midrange game and Coleman's slashing ability carved NU's defense up.

I though RS3 played a really inspired game too. He seemed very engaged and shows some heart.
 




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