Just watched the game. This was either the Gophers second or third worst performance of the conference season (Iowa worst game of the year, maybe Maryland was as bad as this one), so hopefully getting the win will get this team out of its funk. The defense was poor again today, especially on the interior. Offensively, I think the Gophers were a little bit unlucky to not score even more. Lots of wide open looks from 3 that were missed by everybody not named Andre Hollins.
Great shooting game from Andre. Really happy for him having a great shooting game, just wish it would have come against a better opponent when we needed it. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come...I thought getting that dunk (!) was huge for his confidence.
Continue to be very impressed with Nate Mason. I watched him closely because I am much more interested in the guys who will come back next year and he's quicker and more athletic than I perceived. The way he broke the press with the dribble late in the game was impressive and he had a couple very nice drives and dishes earlier in the game. If Nate can keep up this level of play, Dorsey can come in and play the role Mathieu is now instead of being forced to start.
I didn't see much encouraging from Bakary today. He had a nice 12 foot jumper and a nice pass to King for a 12 foot jumper, but other than those plays it seemed like a rough game. Bakary just doesn't get off the floor going for rebounds and seemed late to react defensively in a number of situations. Another poster made a great point about Bakary a few weeks ago that he may be thinking too much trying to avoid fouls which causes him to react so late. Regardless, Bakary has to get a lot stronger in the lower body this offseason.
Loved Carlos Morris in transition today, but he had a rough game with his shot selection (and shooting %) in the half court. Overall I think he's a guy you can win with as a starter as long as he's not your best or second best guy. It's encouraging to me that Pitino has hit on Mathieu, Mason, and Morris as guys who clearly (IMHO) can help a good team. It would be nice if we could say the same thing about a big man. Hopefully next year we will be able to say that about one or two (development of Konate, Diedhiou, Nwankwo, and/or additional recruits).
I know their are some Buggs fans on the board, but I watched a lot of him today too and he just doesn't appear to understand all the little things that go in to being a successful player at this level. He's unsure of his responsibilities on defense, he tends to "relax" (don't want to say he's lazy because I am not sure that's it) when he's away from the ball on both ends of the court which leads to his man getting rebounds or being able to help on defense without worrying about Buggs. For lack of a better description, it's like Buggs is playing pick up ball out there while everyone else is playing structured basketball.
Mo and Joey refuse to box out. I thought Joey did some good things today (he usually does pretty well against clearly inferior opponents), but both him and Mo just turn abound and look at the basket when a shot goes up instead of dropping their base and putting a body on someone. It was very apparent today on a late possession where a guy drove passed one of our guards and missed a layup, Joey/Mo both turn around and look and a Rutgers guy comes flying past both of them to tip slam the rebound. Some of this has to be on Pitino and his staff as rebounding has been an issue the entire year. Part of it is physical (lack of athletic ability), but the parts that are technical or work ethic related should be cleaned up by now.
One other positive for me today was how well Mathieu and Eliason responded to being benched. Mathieu seems to be playing just as hard despite being benched and Eliason was clearly engaged in the game and not pouting on the bench. Very impressive from a couple of Seniors and this speaks well of Pitino and his staff as well.