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cjbfbp said:
Maybe he's just a slow starter or he's not sure of his role so far. When he played very well at the end of last season, he was the first forward off the bench. He played well in the defensive interior and stopped just shooting threes and started to go to the basket (with pretty good results). Now, the team has Brandon Johnson and Omersa is playing well defensively so far.
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Good points. Ihnen actually looks worse than last season which doesnt make much sense. Still early. Would be extremely helpful if he became more impactful so hopefully he steps it up.
 


golf said:
Good points. Ihnen actually looks worse than last season which doesnt make much sense. Still early. Would be extremely helpful if he became more impactful so hopefully he steps it up.
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It's very early. Still surprising that Pitino isn't playing him much at all - doesn't look like he developed as much as we all hoped he would.
 

cjbfbp said:
I believe Omersa is 4 for 4 from the free throw line. I never thought I'd see that.
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And people keep saying his offensive game is not progressing. He is still very consistent on the alley-oops which are breathtaking to watch. His 4-4 free throw shooting showed much progress on his shooting form. Next he will knock down one from they top of the key. If I was coaching I’d tell him to shoot the #%@$ thing just to see if he could do it.
 

Guys, remember that this is a very strange off season. Many of the players were not here, no normal practices or situations. Player development was not anywhere near it is typically and it will take a while for the team to gel. You can see a huge improvement in Carr because he was motivated to get ready for the NBA.
 


jblass said:
And people keep saying his offensive game is not progressing. He is still very consistent on the alley-oops which are breathtaking to watch. His 4-4 free throw shooting showed much progress on his shooting form. Next he will knock down one from they top of the key. If I was coaching I’d tell him to shoot the #%@$ thing just to see if he could do it.
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I don't think going 4/4 at the line in 1 game is a sign that things are "progressing". He was 0/2 in the 1st game.

If you watched yesterdays game. His offensive game in the half court was to put it nicely, horrendous. We are 2 games in, so the guy should get some more time to judge this year like everyone else. But progress really hasn't been shown.....yet
 

bc2211 said:
Lots of negativity here that I don’t think is justified. Annual reminder that these are college athletes and we cannot expect NBA level consistency and efficiency out of everyone.

This is game 2 following a broken off season!! We have soon many new pieces and we know that the gophers lost two weeks of practice this month. Guys are going to continue to gel, the offensive scheme will continue to grow.

Our shot selection seemed so much better than in game one, and that, above all, makes me satisfied with game 2.
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I don't think the critiques are based on unreal expectations on the players as much as it is a stagnant offensive system. It has been a big problem for years. MCDobb's post breaks down our systemic offensive issues really well in this thread.
 

MUgopher32 said:
I don't think going 4/4 at the line in 1 game is a sign that things are "progressing". He was 0/2 in the 1st game.

If you watched yesterdays game. His offensive game in the half court was to put it nicely, horrendous. We are 2 games in, so the guy should get some more time to judge this year like everyone else. But progress really hasn't been shown.....yet
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Omersa has been light years better this year then the last two in his overall game. If you are expecting him to become a consistent scorer then you are going to be disappointed.
 

die hard gopher said:
Omersa has been light years better this year then the last two in his overall game. If you are expecting him to become a consistent scorer then you are going to be disappointed.
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His form looked better and he did a nice job against Green Bay, but I don't think he played really well last night. That said, even at his worst he is super active and does a lot of things.
 



Couple of observations.

1. Saying that Carr has been "good" is an insult to how he has played. If Carr keeps up this level of play the Gophers can contend in the conference.

2. The team defense has created a crazy number of turnovers.

3. We haven't really seen what Robbins and Johnson can do yet.

4. Gach is going to be a really nice player to have alongside Gabe and Carr.

5. We have good team ball handling. Between Carr, Gach, Gabe, and Mashburn we can feel confident that we won't dribble into many TO's like Gopher teams of the past.

6. The bench depth is there. Curry (will be coming off the bench), Mashburn, Williams, Ihnen, and a combination of Omersa, Mitchell, and Freeman gives us lots of options. Compare this team's roster with teams of the past and it's not even close.

7. As others have said, this team has barely even practiced together. I think they look good considering.

I've been reading and posting on Gopherhole for over a decade now, and it's as pathetic today as it was from day one. Probably worse. So many posters focusing only on the negatives. We're all aware that the Gophers cannot and will not recruit as well as the power house schools. We are always at a disadvantage compared with Michigan State, Michigan, Ohio State, and countless other schools across the country when it comes to recruiting. I'm not a Pitino defender at this point, but I think he did a wonderful job putting the roster together for this year. The Gophers are not an elite program, they probably never will be. This is just a simple matter of fact. We should probably be searching for the positives in a year where we have a starting five comprised of upperclassmen, a truly sensational point guard, an Abdul-Jabbar watch list Center, and a virus that threatens to derail our season at any moment. It's depressing to come on here and see people griping about a lack of "gelling", and how the offense looked so stagnant in an 88 point performance. This is college basketball, it's not always going to look pretty, especially this year. Please please just enjoy the season for what it is. This is a tournament team, if the season gets that far.
 

GopherHoopsFan said:
Couple of observations.

1. Saying that Carr has been "good" is an insult to how he has played. If Carr keeps up this level of play the Gophers can contend in the conference.

2. The team defense has created a crazy number of turnovers.

3. We haven't really seen what Robbins and Johnson can do yet.

4. Gach is going to be a really nice player to have alongside Gabe and Carr.

5. We have good team ball handling. Between Carr, Gach, Gabe, and Mashburn we can feel confident that we won't dribble into many TO's like Gopher teams of the past.

6. The bench depth is there. Curry (will be coming off the bench), Mashburn, Williams, Ihnen, and a combination of Omersa, Mitchell, and Freeman gives us lots of options. Compare this team's roster with teams of the past and it's not even close.

7. As others have said, this team has barely even practiced together. I think they look good considering.

I've been reading and posting on Gopherhole for over a decade now, and it's as pathetic today as it was from day one. Probably worse. So many posters focusing only on the negatives. We're all aware that the Gophers cannot and will not recruit as well as the power house schools. We are always at a disadvantage compared with Michigan State, Michigan, Ohio State, and countless other schools across the country when it comes to recruiting. I'm not a Pitino defender at this point, but I think he did a wonderful job putting the roster together for this year. The Gophers are not an elite program, they probably never will be. This is just a simple matter of fact. We should probably be searching for the positives in a year where we have a starting five comprised of upperclassmen, a truly sensational point guard, an Abdul-Jabbar watch list Center, and a virus that threatens to derail our season at any moment. It's depressing to come on here and see people griping about a lack of "gelling", and how the offense looked so stagnant in an 88 point performance. This is college basketball, it's not always going to look pretty, especially this year. Please please just enjoy the season for what it is. This is a tournament team, if the season gets that far.
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Is Wisconsin an elite program? Are they ahead of where the Gophers are now?
 

GopherHoopsFan said:
Couple of observations.

1. Saying that Carr has been "good" is an insult to how he has played. If Carr keeps up this level of play the Gophers can contend in the conference.

2. The team defense has created a crazy number of turnovers.

3. We haven't really seen what Robbins and Johnson can do yet.

4. Gach is going to be a really nice player to have alongside Gabe and Carr.

5. We have good team ball handling. Between Carr, Gach, Gabe, and Mashburn we can feel confident that we won't dribble into many TO's like Gopher teams of the past.

6. The bench depth is there. Curry (will be coming off the bench), Mashburn, Williams, Ihnen, and a combination of Omersa, Mitchell, and Freeman gives us lots of options. Compare this team's roster with teams of the past and it's not even close.

7. As others have said, this team has barely even practiced together. I think they look good considering.

I've been reading and posting on Gopherhole for over a decade now, and it's as pathetic today as it was from day one. Probably worse. So many posters focusing only on the negatives. We're all aware that the Gophers cannot and will not recruit as well as the power house schools. We are always at a disadvantage compared with Michigan State, Michigan, Ohio State, and countless other schools across the country when it comes to recruiting. I'm not a Pitino defender at this point, but I think he did a wonderful job putting the roster together for this year. The Gophers are not an elite program, they probably never will be. This is just a simple matter of fact. We should probably be searching for the positives in a year where we have a starting five comprised of upperclassmen, a truly sensational point guard, an Abdul-Jabbar watch list Center, and a virus that threatens to derail our season at any moment. It's depressing to come on here and see people griping about a lack of "gelling", and how the offense looked so stagnant in an 88 point performance. This is college basketball, it's not always going to look pretty, especially this year. Please please just enjoy the season for what it is. This is a tournament team, if the season gets that far.
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This is why we aren't a good program, and if this outlook is allowed to prevail, why we never will be.

Just idiotic.
 

In rewatching this game, I am struck by the fact that the Gophers do not value every possession. Instead, they treat the game like it's a pickup game at a local gym. Meanwhile, out B1G opponents will value each possession. We need to be much more disciplined than we were in this game.
 



MennoSota said:
In rewatching this game, I am struck by the fact that the Gophers do not value every possession. Instead, they treat the game like it's a pickup game at a local gym. Meanwhile, out B1G opponents will value each possession. We need to be much more disciplined than we were in this game.
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very good point
 

MennoSota said:
In rewatching this game, I am struck by the fact that the Gophers do not value every possession. Instead, they treat the game like it's a pickup game at a local gym. Meanwhile, out B1G opponents will value each possession. We need to be much more disciplined than we were in this game.
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Not quite sure I understand what you mean by valuing each possession. So far we are averaging 93.5 points a game by basically taking advantage of what the defense gives us. What exactly should we be doing different?
 
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Maybe I need to put my jaundiced Omersa goggles on, because unlike many here I thought he had an excellent game last night. His defense has been outstanding, they have him setting solid screens all over the court, I think he leads the team in steals, and he stays in his lane on offense.
 

USAF said:
This is why we aren't a good program, and if this outlook is allowed to prevail, why we never will be.

Just idiotic.
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Can you please elaborate on what was idiotic about my post?

I write a post about searching for positives in a strange season as a FAN. YOU reply by calling that idiotic.

If you believe that the attitudes of FANS on an F'ING FAN BLOG determine the future of a program then you can't be helped. Yep, it's posts about being positive and enjoying a college basketball season that will leave us a hapless program for eternity.

It took all of a handful of minutes for someone to take my post and turn it negative. What a beautiful place GopherHole is.

The Gophers ARE a middling program in a great conference. If you want to follow an annual winner go follow Duke or any of those schools. My favorite take on GopherHole is that we're bad because we settle for mediocrity. How do you suggest that is changed? Coaching change? Okay, we'll hire the next average to below average candidate and give him three or four years before we run him out the door. Rinse, repeat.

Is it impossible to find a great coach and alter the future of a program? No. Is it unlikely that it will happen? Yes. We do have to settle for something less than what fans of other programs settle for. That is simply a fact. The only thing that I would consider idiotic, would be a FAN that would EXPECT this team to be among the best in the nation. I'm not an idiot, I know they're not among the best teams in the nation. Therefore, I have a difficult time seeing how my post was idiotic.

Ideally, my favorite basketball team would be truly elite. But they're not. Pitino is a below average schemer, I agree with that gripe on this blog. But you know what? There are very few basketball coaches who are good schemers. The odds of one of those coaches ending up here? Low. Those coaches are bypassing Minnesota. You want to blame my attitude for that? Blame the institution, the salary, the winter, the whatever you want to blame, but that is reality. So go ahead, keep up with the negativity, oh joy!

I for one will simply enjoy watching some great players on what might become a surprisingly good team. If that makes me and my opinions idiotic, so be it.

That's my last post on this cesspool for the season. Good luck Gopher fans.

GopherHoopsFan
 

MplsGopher said:
Is Wisconsin an elite program? Are they ahead of where the Gophers are now?
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Obviously. Is that a real question? I know where this is going... If they can do it, we can do it. Nope, it's not that simple. I actually think we're better than them this year, who knows though. All I'm saying is enjoy the season. I'm done posting here for the season. Maybe we'll catch up a year from now.

GopherHoopsFan
 

jblass said:
Not quite sure I understand what you mean be valuing each possession. So far we are averaging 93.5 points a game by basically taking advantage of what the defense gives us. What exactly should we be doing different?
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Stop throwing up poor shots and relying on athleticism against inferior opponents.
Look to reduce our turnovers to under 5 per game.
Focus on our weak side defensive rotations.
Move the ball off the pass rather than rely upon dribble drive, kick and shoot. We become easy to guard and it will be evident against good teams. Marcus Carr, as good as he is, will not single handedly beat any B1G teams.
Imagining we are good when we play inferior talent is a fool's gold.
 

As far as the mid-range jump shot -

I understand that in today's new "rules" for basketball, everything is supposed to be a 3 or a layup.

But, in my book, it's no good shooting the 3 if you can't make it.

Given a choice between hoisting up 3's at a low percentage, or taking mid-range jump shots at a higher percentage, give me the mid-range shots. a 2 pt hoop is better than a miss from long range.

take good shots - make good shots. if you can make 3's, great. if you can't, then don't shoot them.
 

I agree SON. I like the mid range J. Missed 3’s too often lead to fast breaks going the other way.
 

golf said:
Was driving home last night and turned on the radio to listen to the game. Was the 2nd half and was going to take me 20 minutes to get home so for some reason thought i would count how many times grimm would complain about the gophers getting jobbed by the officials. I counted 4 times including "that's ridiculous" and "blood on one end and fingernail on the other end" comments. Grimm is like Paul Allen, announcers who are also fans. Enjoyable to listen to him and Tollackson.
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I actually hate announcers who make a big deal about the officials. Everybody has to deal with bad calls, iffy calls and no calls. I know and have known plenty of officials. It's not some big conspiracy against your team. Yeah, sometimes an official gets it wrong, but never on purpose and I guarantee, they don't care who wins. Good teams and good players and coaches don't use that as an excuse, because they all know that, in the big picture, they end up getting as many calls as they don't.

What's really funny is when you go to a random gym to watch a random game, in which you don't care who wins, and sit on one side for the first half and the other side for the second half. Guess which side is 100% positive they're getting screwed by the officials? Yup, both and in my experience, neither is correct.

Amazing how many times 2 people will see completely different things on the same play. That goes for pretty much all sports. I don't know the technical term for it, but I call it Wishful Eyesight.

I know there is a major shortage of game officials in the country. My advice for the people who complain the most about officials is generally, "Sign up, and get paid to do it better. It ain't as easy as it looks.". Of course, the people need to hear that are the ones who hate to hear that the most. :)
 

Look to reduce our turnovers to under 5 per game.

A quick check of the numbers from last season showed that only 4 teams in the country averaged under 10 turnovers a game and nobody averaged under 9. I'd love to hear about any teams in Division 1 or even 2 over the past 20 years that averaged only 5 turnovers a game for the season. I'm guessing that would be an NCAA Record--- by a lot!
 


GopherHoopsFan said:
Can you please elaborate on what was idiotic about my post?

I write a post about searching for positives in a strange season as a FAN. YOU reply by calling that idiotic.

If you believe that the attitudes of FANS on an F'ING FAN BLOG determine the future of a program then you can't be helped. Yep, it's posts about being positive and enjoying a college basketball season that will leave us a hapless program for eternity.

It took all of a handful of minutes for someone to take my post and turn it negative. What a beautiful place GopherHole is.

The Gophers ARE a middling program in a great conference. If you want to follow an annual winner go follow Duke or any of those schools. My favorite take on GopherHole is that we're bad because we settle for mediocrity. How do you suggest that is changed? Coaching change? Okay, we'll hire the next average to below average candidate and give him three or four years before we run him out the door. Rinse, repeat.

Is it impossible to find a great coach and alter the future of a program? No. Is it unlikely that it will happen? Yes. We do have to settle for something less than what fans of other programs settle for. That is simply a fact. The only thing that I would consider idiotic, would be a FAN that would EXPECT this team to be among the best in the nation. I'm not an idiot, I know they're not among the best teams in the nation. Therefore, I have a difficult time seeing how my post was idiotic.

Ideally, my favorite basketball team would be truly elite. But they're not. Pitino is a below average schemer, I agree with that gripe on this blog. But you know what? There are very few basketball coaches who are good schemers. The odds of one of those coaches ending up here? Low. Those coaches are bypassing Minnesota. You want to blame my attitude for that? Blame the institution, the salary, the winter, the whatever you want to blame, but that is reality. So go ahead, keep up with the negativity, oh joy!

I for one will simply enjoy watching some great players on what might become a surprisingly good team. If that makes me and my opinions idiotic, so be it.

That's my last post on this cesspool for the season. Good luck Gopher fans.

GopherHoopsFan
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GHF, A couple of turds does not make this whole place a cesspool. Stick around.
 
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Chico Gopher said:
I actually hate announcers who make a big deal about the officials. Everybody has to deal with bad calls, iffy calls and no calls. I know and have known plenty of officials. It's not some big conspiracy against your team. Yeah, sometimes an official gets it wrong, but never on purpose and I guarantee, they don't care who wins. Good teams and good players and coaches don't use that as an excuse, because they all know that, in the big picture, they end up getting as many calls as they don't.

What's really funny is when you go to a random gym to watch a random game, in which you don't care who wins, and sit on one side for the first half and the other side for the second half. Guess which side is 100% positive they're getting screwed by the officials? Yup, both and in my experience, neither is correct.

Amazing how many times 2 people will see completely different things on the same play. That goes for pretty much all sports. I don't know the technical term for it, but I call it Wishful Eyesight.

I know there is a major shortage of game officials in the country. My advice for the people who complain the most about officials is generally, "Sign up, and get paid to do it better. It ain't as easy as it looks.". Of course, the people need to hear that are the ones who hate to hear that the most. :)
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Agree. I think grimm is just so over the top with his maroon colored glasses that it actually becomes entertaining.
 

Against LMU weren’t the Gophers in the bonus 7 months minutes into the game?
 

Chico Gopher said:
I actually hate announcers who make a big deal about the officials. Everybody has to deal with bad calls, iffy calls and no calls. I know and have known plenty of officials. It's not some big conspiracy against your team. Yeah, sometimes an official gets it wrong, but never on purpose and I guarantee, they don't care who wins. Good teams and good players and coaches don't use that as an excuse, because they all know that, in the big picture, they end up getting as many calls as they don't.

What's really funny is when you go to a random gym to watch a random game, in which you don't care who wins, and sit on one side for the first half and the other side for the second half. Guess which side is 100% positive they're getting screwed by the officials? Yup, both and in my experience, neither is correct.

Amazing how many times 2 people will see completely different things on the same play. That goes for pretty much all sports. I don't know the technical term for it, but I call it Wishful Eyesight.

I know there is a major shortage of game officials in the country. My advice for the people who complain the most about officials is generally, "Sign up, and get paid to do it better. It ain't as easy as it looks.". Of course, the people need to hear that are the ones who hate to hear that the most. :)
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I believe the technical term is confirmation bias or having a preconceived notion.
 

GopherHoopsFan said:
Can you please elaborate on what was idiotic about my post?

I write a post about searching for positives in a strange season as a FAN. YOU reply by calling that idiotic.

If you believe that the attitudes of FANS on an F'ING FAN BLOG determine the future of a program then you can't be helped. Yep, it's posts about being positive and enjoying a college basketball season that will leave us a hapless program for eternity.

It took all of a handful of minutes for someone to take my post and turn it negative. What a beautiful place GopherHole is.

The Gophers ARE a middling program in a great conference. If you want to follow an annual winner go follow Duke or any of those schools. My favorite take on GopherHole is that we're bad because we settle for mediocrity. How do you suggest that is changed? Coaching change? Okay, we'll hire the next average to below average candidate and give him three or four years before we run him out the door. Rinse, repeat.

Is it impossible to find a great coach and alter the future of a program? No. Is it unlikely that it will happen? Yes. We do have to settle for something less than what fans of other programs settle for. That is simply a fact. The only thing that I would consider idiotic, would be a FAN that would EXPECT this team to be among the best in the nation. I'm not an idiot, I know they're not among the best teams in the nation. Therefore, I have a difficult time seeing how my post was idiotic.

Ideally, my favorite basketball team would be truly elite. But they're not. Pitino is a below average schemer, I agree with that gripe on this blog. But you know what? There are very few basketball coaches who are good schemers. The odds of one of those coaches ending up here? Low. Those coaches are bypassing Minnesota. You want to blame my attitude for that? Blame the institution, the salary, the winter, the whatever you want to blame, but that is reality. So go ahead, keep up with the negativity, oh joy!

I for one will simply enjoy watching some great players on what might become a surprisingly good team. If that makes me and my opinions idiotic, so be it.

That's my last post on this cesspool for the season. Good luck Gopher fans.

GopherHoopsFan
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This is nothing. Wait till the gophs actually lose a game.
Or maybe dont wait, your strategy may be the best of it.
 
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golf said:
Disagree regarding gabe. While his 3 pt shot is the same, his dribble drive is light years ahead of last year. Agree regarding Ihnen, disappointing that he has not shown improvement from last seaaon.

At this point, they do not seem like a tourney team , but i have trust in pitino to bring them along and get the most out of them.
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I’m curious to know if you thought this was a tourney team coming into the season and if yes, what have they shown to say they aren’t one?

I’d assume you don’t think Michigan, Illinois or OSU look like tourney teams either then because Michigan went into OT to a bad 0-3 Oakland team and beat Bowling Green by less than 15, Illininois needed a last second foul to beat Ohio and OSU only beat Umass Lowell by 10 and Illinois State by under 20. I wouldn’t say any of those teams have looked better than the gophers and all are projected tourney teams as well.
 

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