***OFFICIAL MINNESOTA VS PRINCETON ASHEVILLE CHAMPIONSHIP IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

Donate To GopherHole
cjbfbp said:
A couple of observations (and, no, I won't mention free throws):

-- Amazing that no Gopher fouled out in that game

-- Sutherlin should play more than he does; Stephens is OK but Sutherlin has more all around game

-- I really like Luke Loewe. He's a solid blue collar player with a great motor. He fights through screens very well.

-- Johnson is going to have to figure out how to get a couple more players in there for additional minutes; as much as I'm impressed by the team gutting through 50 minutes tonight mostly with only 7 players, doing that in the Big Ten is going to be far worse.
Click to expand...
I have a feeling that additional depth will develop as the season goes along. Somebody always gets hurt so they will have to bring in others. For now it is good to get a few wins and build a little confidence before a brutal Big Ten season.
 

All things considered, way too much negativity on this thread. This is a brand new team that doesn’t have a lot of talent. They just won two games against schools we’ve heard of away from home. They stayed composed when things got tight. They played excellent defense and shared the ball on offense. It’s a small sample size, but I wonder what Johnson could have done with some of Pitino’s teams.
Really good start to the season.
 

They look as if they enjoy themselves out there. Battle has looked great. Really wish Fox was healthy. More made free throws and less turnovers and this wouldn't have been close. Hope a couple more guys get some minutes. Has to happen, correct?
(The other day, McKnight really went off in the second half. Today he scored 11 points.
Then tonight that guard became the world's greatest rebounder. The other game he had 4.
Very strange.)
 

This was my first time watching the Gophers this season. Admittedly I didn't pay a ton of attention at times as I was working while watching.

I like the effort a lot. The movement on offense and exploiting mismatches (posting up Battle, for instance) are nice to see. I begged for the Gophers to post-up Coffey against a lot of the smaller guards he was up against and it never happened. So I'm excited about that. Definitely have a couple solid shooters.

As others have mentioned short bench is an issue but I'll give Johnson time to work on that this year and in future years, obviously.

This years team is going to get murdered by full court pressure and any competent big(s).They struggled against the press tonight and I think teams will have a better press than Princeton. Lots of standing still on inbounds. Willis had a VERY heads up timeout to save a 5 second call where he and another guard stood still and Loewe couldn't get the ball in.
 

MennoSota said:
45% from the foul line. Left about 14 points out there. Really shaky against a press, showing a desperate need for a point guard. Isaiah Washington where are you? 😏
Yep, winning these three is nice. Perhaps we pull out a game or two in the B1G. Looking for Ben to simply establish culture. Certainly these kids played solid defense.
Seeing that trophy makes me want to take a trip to Asheville and go kayaking.
Click to expand...
Used to have relatives in Asheville and I’ve been there a few times. The area is pretty but I think the town is overrated.
 



BenBall. Thus far I like it. The effort is definitely there as well as solid teamwork

Hapoy to see Battle showing his inside game rather than just launching 3’s. Both he and Willis rely on their strong hand which is concerning ad Big teams will take that away. Rebounding was a concern but they have been hanging in there. FT was a negative tonite but I think they will be ok going forward. I really like the effort on D. No one takes a play off like Carr did.

I hope recruits are taking notice and liking BenBall thus far
 

Congrats to the Gophers on winning the first, and perhaps only, Asheville championship. I like our guts in crunch time.

Also, please make more FT's even though they don't matter.
 






GopherChaos said:
Would have thought our experienced guards could have handled the press and made free throws. Ugh.
Click to expand...
We don't have a real PG on the roster. I would press the Gophers on and off every game if I was an opponent.
 

jamiche said:
All things considered, way too much negativity on this thread. This is a brand new team that doesn’t have a lot of talent. They just won two games against schools we’ve heard of away from home. They stayed composed when things got tight. They played excellent defense and shared the ball on offense. It’s a small sample size, but I wonder what Johnson could have done with some of Pitino’s teams.
Really good start to the season.
Click to expand...
First time I had chance to see them. Two things surprised me. There are five guys with actual basketball talent, i.e. scorers. I thought we had a bunch of role players with limited talent. Not true. Willis and Battle are pure talents on both ends. Sutherlin, Loewe, and Stephens are good. With no dominant big man it will be hard, of course, to win any conference games but we are not going to sit through games of 30% from the floor with 5 for 28 from three.

Second it was surprising to see how sloppy they played with a lead the last four minutes and first OT. Lazy turnovers and jacking NBA threes and tough contested shots with 20 seconds on the shot clock. And, nonchalant bricks from the line. Ben can fix that for sure. It was a game they would win comfortably in time.

So, pleasantly surprised. Ben can't create more talent this year but he can teach smart basketball. Luckily, there is some talent there.
 



also my first team watching the Gophers play.
a few thoughts:

Curry played some very solid post defense. He does seem to be moving a lot better.
Daniels hustles and works hard on defense. Offense is a little shaky.
Lots of options on offense. I liked how they tried to drive to the basket more tonight.
Ball-handling is a concern.
Likewise with free throw shooting. (funniest moment of the night - clearly hearing Willis swear when he missed 2 FT in a row....)

But overall - this is a team that plays as a team. ball movement, working hard on defense, everyone contributing. don't know how many conference games they'll win, but I like what I see. Now, if Johnson can plug some better talent into this system over the next couple of years, this could be very interesting.
 


An ugly win is always better than a moral victory. Saw lots of things I liked. They’re only going to get better once they play together more. I feel like Sutherlin should have seen more minutes.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
How bad is Treyton Thompson to not crack this lineup?
Didn’t he sign with Pitino?
Click to expand...
Going to go with your best in a tournament game. Sure Ben will look to expand the bench during the season.
 


Dakota2 said:
First time I had chance to see them. Two things surprised me. There are five guys with actual basketball talent, i.e. scorers. I thought we had a bunch of role players with limited talent. Not true. Willis and Battle are pure talents on both ends. Sutherlin, Loewe, and Stephens are good. With no dominant big man it will be hard, of course, to win any conference games but we are not going to sit through games of 30% from the floor with 5 for 28 from three.

Second it was surprising to see how sloppy they played with a lead the last four minutes and first OT. Lazy turnovers and jacking NBA threes and tough contested shots with 20 seconds on the shot clock. And, nonchalant bricks from the line. Ben can fix that for sure. It was a game they would win comfortably in time.

So, pleasantly surprised. Ben can't create more talent this year but he can teach smart basketball. Luckily, there is some talent there.
Click to expand...
Some of the late sloppiness could be attributed to fatigue. They had almost no turnovers in the first half.

These guys were the best players on their old team. They all know how to score. lot of experience on the court even if the overall talent level is lacking some.

Nice start to the season.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Some of the late sloppiness could be attributed to fatigue. They had almost no turnovers in the first half.

These guys were the best players on their old team. They all know how to score. lot of experience on the court even if the overall talent level is lacking some.

Nice start to the season.
Click to expand...
Funny how free throw shooting goes to crap when fatigue sets in, Johnson really needs to figure out how to use Thompson and Thiam for short spurts to give guys a rest.
 

was actually an entertaining game to watch.

But man we are so thin with depth. I think we will see a lot of sloppy play in the 2nd half of games as our guys are just gassed
Battle and Willis will clearly be our offense. What happens when teams take those 2 away?
Stephens is a gamer
Sutherlan is our new Tre
Daniels and Curry are going to struggled in the post in beg ten play
We have no choice but to get Thiam and Thompson and even Ogele more run here. in what will likely be a lost season we certainly should be getting Thiam and Thompson some minutes
Free Throw shooting.....gross
Man does Battle have a smooth looking shot
 

jovs said:
Funny how free throw shooting goes to crap when fatigue sets in, Johnson really needs to figure out how to use Thompson and Thiam for short spurts to give guys a rest.
Click to expand...
I have no doubt that expanding the bench will become a priority moving forward as they are going to need guys to play bigger roles and take some minutes off the starters as the season goes on.

But in a tournament situation you go with the guys you can trust as clearly they wanted to get the win.
 

bga1 said:
I have a feeling that additional depth will develop as the season goes along. Somebody always gets hurt so they will have to bring in others. For now it is good to get a few wins and build a little confidence before a brutal Big Ten season.
Click to expand...
Not to mention that too many minutes and resulting fatigue contribute to injuries. Ben needs more guys who will be prepared to see the floor if the team is to remain competitive in games that they will be outsized and out talented, which will be most. I'd prefer him not needing to drop a guy out there who isn't ready because of injury. Hopefully, more practice gets more guys ready to play.
 

jovs said:
Funny how free throw shooting goes to crap when fatigue sets in, Johnson really needs to figure out how to use Thompson and Thiam for short spurts to give guys a rest.
Click to expand...
As I recall, it they didn't tear it up from the line in the first half when they were not fatigued.
 

What I have liked thus far--and it is clearly a very small sample size--is that Johnson seems to be able to make the "whole greater than the sum of the parts," which is what Pitino could not do. Whether that was Pitino's offense or something else is up for debate. I don't want to make this an anti-Pitino thread, but I could never figure out what he was doing half the time.

I have never put a ton of stock into in-game coaching decisions outside of substitutions determining the result. I've always thought where coaches matter most is putting their players in the best situation to succeed and having an effective mix of guys on the floor. This team is limited athletically at several positions and I don't see a stellar Big 10 season on the horizon, but I think the early success shows that on-court experience does matter.
 

jamiche said:
Used to have relatives in Asheville and I’ve been there a few times. The area is pretty but I think the town is overrated.
Click to expand...
I was in Asheville a few years back. It is a very nice area. I didn't get to see a ton of it, but overall impressed. And I believe it has the most breweries per capita. Never a bad thing.
 



I think the rotation is gonna be really interesting to see how it shakes out. Based on the type of players recruited and the few games so far, BJ seems to be pretty focused on playing fundamental, solid team basketball. Pretty much all the guys who are playing right now are senior, multi-year starters, who were probably all captains on their previous teams - guys who are very fundamentally solid, if not spectacular talents. There’s a huge drop off in experience when you look at the guys who haven’t played much (Thiam, Thompson, ramberg). In order to get more minutes for those guys who have never played d1 basketball, you have to take it away from guys who are multi-year starters, and the level of fundamental basketball that is being played is going to drop.

At some level though, the only way to develop those guys is to get them experience. Gonna be really interesting to see how BJ balances trying to enforce a system and making guys earn minutes, while still developing guys for the future.
 

jblass said:
Boy were those a couple of ugly free throw attempts. We got to do better there.
Click to expand...
Most coaches would recognize that the limitations on physical size would require a major emphasis on making free throws. I am sure the coaching staff makes practice time available for three throws, it would seem more time is needed.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom