***OFFICIAL GARDNER WEBB AT MINNESOTA - THE OFFICIAL START OF THE NIKO MEDVED ERA IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

I think Asuma and Willis can both score more when they want to. Willis couldn't hit anything tonight though.
Reynolds will be a consistent scoring option for us too, even more than Asuma I would say. He’s definitely out there attacking the rim and looking to score.
 




This Gopher squad has 10 guys that you can put on the court without a concern. Hopefully Turner does the work to become the 11th as we need that size at times. Last night Shinholster proved he can play and I think he will play plenty. The kid has skill, quickness and energy and that will come in handy.
 


The issue with Ben was we had inferior talent and his coaching had us down 8-14 points before tipoff.

I feel like Niko can coach with most of the conference so we won’t have as much to overcome
I read here he didn’t have adequate support from the u to do a better job.
 


This Gopher squad has 10 guys that you can put on the court without a concern. Hopefully Turner does the work to become the 11th as we need that size at times. Last night Shinholster proved he can play and I think he will play plenty. The kid has skill, quickness and energy and that will come in handy.
so nice to see!

was sloppy at times but he works his tail off. was pleasantly surprised with him last night. i would imagine as we get into big ten play his minutes will trickle off but hopefully he takes advantage of his opportunity here early in the year!
 

One of the most encouraging things from last night. We jumped out to an early lead, and it let Niko play his bench and try different combinations. Hopefully getting the end of bench players experience playing will help when they are inevitably needed late in the year. How often did BJ play more than 8 guys for extended minutes? We played 10 for over 7 minutes each. Crucial development time!
 



This Gopher squad has 10 guys that you can put on the court without a concern. Hopefully Turner does the work to become the 11th as we need that size at times. Last night Shinholster proved he can play and I think he will play plenty. The kid has skill, quickness and energy and that will come in handy.
Not knowing what to expect, I was really impressed by Kai. I hope we continue to see him get minutes, as I think he could contribute this year.
 

Nice to see ball movement and player movement on offense.

Offense under Johnson was like watching a cartoon, only one player can move at a time.

Go Gophers!
 


One of the most encouraging things from last night. We jumped out to an early lead, and it let Niko play his bench and try different combinations. Hopefully getting the end of bench players experience playing will help when they are inevitably needed late in the year. How often did BJ play more than 8 guys for extended minutes? We played 10 for over 7 minutes each. Crucial development time!
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This was the first game last year vs Oral Roberts
 



One of the most encouraging things from last night. We jumped out to an early lead, and it let Niko play his bench and try different combinations. Hopefully getting the end of bench players experience playing will help when they are inevitably needed late in the year. How often did BJ play more than 8 guys for extended minutes? We played 10 for over 7 minutes each. Crucial development time!
I can recall games that were out of hand one way or another and Ben would refuse to play the deep bench. By contrast, last night, Niko was looking to put the kid in - Lorenson (?) and when play continued he called time out to get him on the floor. I think it means so much to the whole team to make everyone feel valued and to cheer for each other and give guys a chance when there are moments that just don't matter for anything else. Love it that coach did that!
 

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This was the first game last year vs Oral Roberts
Slowly but surely Betts, Edmunds and to a degree, Rigsby, all dropped out of the regular rotation. Rigsby had a little surge late but generally Ben played 7-8 guys. Niko tends to play 9, it seems. Usually during the year, one or more of your guys is going to get injured for a while. You had better have playable options that are ready to go. The best coaches seem to have players that get better during the year and become more ready as the season goes along. With Ben, it seemed like guys either were ready to roll from the beginning or they never made it.
By the way- comparing that list of players to our current talent- I like our current roster better, even considering Garcia.
 


I was at the game. Love the ball movement, love the hustle on defense. Crocker-Johnson is an excellent rebounder and defender. Tyson is a scorer and will score in the B1G, IMO. However, this weak nonconf schedule is going to hurt them. The B1G is an entirely different level of play than their first 3 opponents thus far. Last night was fun, but ….
 

I was at the game. Love the ball movement, love the hustle on defense. Crocker-Johnson is an excellent rebounder and defender. Tyson is a scorer and will score in the B1G, IMO. However, this weak nonconf schedule is going to hurt them. The B1G is an entirely different level of play than their first 3 opponents thus far. Last night was fun, but ….
Road game at Mizzou. Neutral site against San Fran and Stanford. They will be fine.....
 

I was at the game. Love the ball movement, love the hustle on defense. Crocker-Johnson is an excellent rebounder and defender. Tyson is a scorer and will score in the B1G, IMO. However, this weak nonconf schedule is going to hurt them. The B1G is an entirely different level of play than their first 3 opponents thus far. Last night was fun, but ….
Thanks for the synopsis. I was hoping to find the game either online or on the tube, but after checking in here I realized I would have to pay to watch and given the opposition I decided to forego the investment. It's obviously going to be an interesting year and at least out of the gate the team appears more organized. There's going to be a talent gap between us and a lot of the other B1G teams and while I don't like to see them lose my hope is that they play well win or lose.
 




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