***OFFICIAL FIU AT MINNESOTA IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

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29 of 30 free throws. WOW! That's amazing. This team is way better than I thought. Our outside shooting and having Oturu inside spreads the defense and gives us so many more scoring possibilities. I loved Freeman's minutes. He is going to be much better than Konate and was solid. Omersa's hustle was fun to watch. He's always the best cheerleader on the bench but the effort on the floor had energy. Pitino never plays much of a bench and by the end of the season our starters are exhausted and playing injured. We have some solid bodies off the bench. I hope Pitino gives them more minutes as the season goes on. We looked great today.
 



ltf said:
After such a slow start to the season, amazing we have a NET ranking of 28 and I see SBNation power ranking has us #6 in the big ten. Don't think the most optimistic of us would have predicted that. Of course, still a long way to go, but a seemingly lost season has been given life. Fun, fun, fun. Enjoyed just listening to Oturu's postgame interview. Don't hear the word "sir" used much anymore. More I hear these guys talk it seems like quite a high character group.
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Coaching!
 

Oturu is playing with some serious passion/enthusiasm/intensity. Haven’t seen any of our big men with an edge like this since Mbakwe. Very fun to watch!
 


Winasota Gopher said:
This is not accurate.
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Certainly, it is the kind of statement that is open to interpretation. Richard generally plays a short bench compared to those who give regular minutes to 10 guys.

In the past he has had no choice. He has had a roster 7 or 8 deep. He has more eligible candidates available to him this year. Ihnen, Greenlee and Freeman barely have seen the court except in blowouts. Hurt has had games
as a senior with less than two minutes.

I’d say it has been accurate to date.
 

With Willis out again we still managed to build up enough of a lead to get more playing time for bench players-and not just last-minute garbage time. Ihnen, Greenlee and Freeman need to get to the point where they can contribute in a tougher game, and this may have been the last game that allows some serious in-game “practice”.

Greenlee struggled more than he has in previous games, but I think he can at least give Carr a few minutes of rest each game without hurting the team too much. Freeman did some nice things, but showed how extremely raw he is offensively. Ihnen showed his nice shooting stroke but looked a bit lost on defense. I wish all three had gotten more playing time up to this point, but I can see why Pitino hasn’t given them many minutes with games on the line. They all fall into the “very raw” category.
 

Someone said Freeman is going to be better than Konate. No offense, but that is setting a pretty low bar.

If a major-conference D1 team is offering a player a scholarship, I think there is a certain expectation that the player can perform up to a certain standard. Especially if that team is trying to improve.

So saying that Player X can walk and chew gum at the same time is not a compliment in my book. It's more of a comment on the program's recruiting if fans are happy the team recruited a player who is not a complete disaster. "hey, we gave this guy a scholarship, and he doesn't suck!" If a coach is handing out scholarships to guys who can't play, then that is a real problem. Yeah, that player may be the #8 or #9 guy on the depth chart, but one or two injuries and suddenly that player is #6 or #7 and they need him to play.
 

Freeman looked ok in yesterday’s game. He is young and raw but I saw a lot of positives. He just needs more court time and our tough schedule didn’t provide a lot of playing time. I really would like to see more and more of Ihnen. He could be really good in the future.
 



short ornery norwegian said:
Someone said Freeman is going to be better than Konate. No offense, but that is setting a pretty low bar.

If a major-conference D1 team is offering a player a scholarship, I think there is a certain expectation that the player can perform up to a certain standard. Especially if that team is trying to improve.

So saying that Player X can walk and chew gum at the same time is not a compliment in my book. It's more of a comment on the program's recruiting if fans are happy the team recruited a player who is not a complete disaster. "hey, we gave this guy a scholarship, and he doesn't suck!" If a coach is handing out scholarships to guys who can't play, then that is a real problem. Yeah, that player may be the #8 or #9 guy on the depth chart, but one or two injuries and suddenly that player is #6 or #7 and they need him to play.
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Greenlee and Freeman are actually the 11th and 12th players on the depth chart. Not many teams get real solid production from the 12th roster spot. I think in most cases these are players that are very young and/or projects -- on most teams, not just the Gophers. If we need anything real meaningful from these two, then the season has gone off the rails due to injury/suspension.
 


Thought this season was lost? Though IW was better than Marcus Carr? Good thing the players still believe in themselves a bit here. Big Ten is wide open!
 

golfing18now said:
Greenlee and Freeman are actually the 11th and 12th players on the depth chart. Not many teams get real solid production from the 12th roster spot. I think in most cases these are players that are very young and/or projects -- on most teams, not just the Gophers. If we need anything real meaningful from these two, then the season has gone off the rails due to injury/suspension.
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Agree. I look at our depth chart like this:

Starters - Carr, Willis, Kalscheur, Demir, Oturu

Rotation players - Williams (although he's been covering for Willis recently), Omersa, Hurt

Bench players/future projects - Ihnen, Greenlee, Freeman

And I think Curry is a rotation player when healthy.

All in all we have pretty good depth. If we keep Oturu (although I've voiced many times I think he's going to the NBA) then we'll be bringing back 4 out of 5 starters, two rotation players, and all our future projects should be much more developed. Exciting stuff.
 



Parcival said:
Agree. I look at our depth chart like this:

Starters - Carr, Willis, Kalscheur, Demir, Oturu

Rotation players - Williams (although he's been covering for Willis recently), Omersa, Hurt

Bench players/future projects - Ihnen, Greenlee, Freeman

And I think Curry is a rotation player when healthy.

All in all we have pretty good depth. If we keep Oturu (although I've voiced many times I think he's going to the NBA) then we'll be bringing back 4 out of 5 starters, two rotation players, and all our future projects should be much more developed. Exciting stuff.
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Does Demir return next year? For some reason I thought he was a Grad Transfer/1 year kinda guy.

When you put it the way you have, future is fairly promising. Appreciate it!
 


GopherPharmaBiz said:
Does Demir return next year? For some reason I thought he was a Grad Transfer/1 year kinda guy.

When you put it the way you have, future is fairly promising. Appreciate it!
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No he is a senior. I meant it as if Oturu doesn't go to the league we return Carr, Willis, Kalscheur, and Oturu out of the starting line-up.
 

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