***OFFICIAL MINNESOTA VS UNLV SO CAL CHAMPIONSHIP IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

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forever a gopher said:
Before the UNLV game, they were 5th worst in FT shooting in the entire country. Those other teams you’re comparing them to are hitting them at (often) a much better clip. We need more practice than them.

If you think being 348 out of 352 teams in any statistical category is something that you don’t need to practice more, I don’t know what to tell you.

Whether it’s a practice thing, a mechanics thing, or a psychological thing, waiting until the holidays (as stated during the game) seems like an odd take. Rebounding has gotten better the last few games, so it seems he’s been focusing on that. Things can get better if you focus on them, but hey, just keep ignoring it and wait until it legitimately costs you games.
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I never said we didn’t need to practice them more. Some folks are acting like we don’t shoot them or practice them. That’s not true. These guys get shooting programs that they do outside of practice time. The amount of practice isn’t the reason we are shooting poorly. More practice certainly can’t hurt, but in reality it can hurt to because it’ll add pressure for some. Not the same for every player.
 

Gopherfan84 said:
Lol where is this quote? Did he say he’d wait until Christmas before he panics and takes judgement on players FT shooting? That’s pretty sound logic because he’s letting averages work out. The initial data point on FTs is so up and down because one miss can drop it so much. It still doesn’t mean that these guys don’t shoot them in their shooting program.
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About 20% of the season is done. I hope ft shooting improves greatly. Fast.
Not sure anyone referenced any level of panic. Discussing horrid ft shooting is ok, no?
 

Crappie said:
About 20% of the season is done. I hope ft shooting improves greatly. Fast.
Not sure anyone referenced any level of panic. Discussing horrid ft shooting is ok, no?
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Very fair to discuss it. It’s been horrible. I’m more pushing on why some think it is that way and how to fix it
 


Jack jones said:
who are we going to beat in the B1G? Maybe Nebraska. Certainly no one else. When does Johnson’s set start to get hot?
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I'm pretty confident that this team isn't as bad as Pitino's 2015-16 team and even they had 2 conference regular season victories; they likely would have had at least one more if they didn't suffer 3 suspensions and an injury to key players near the end of the season. Todd Lickliter's last Iowa team was astonishingly bad and they had 4 conference regular season victories.
 


cjbfbp said:
I'm pretty confident that this team isn't as bad as Pitino's 2015-16 team and even they had 2 conference regular season victories; they likely would have had at least one more if they didn't suffer 3 suspensions and an injury to key players near the end of the season. Todd Lickliter's last Iowa team was astonishingly bad and they had 4 conference regular season victories.
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That team is actually an interesting comparable too. Pitino knew he was going to bottom out in year three given the roster construction he inherited and used this third season to develop young players (Murphy/Mason/McBrayer). He then supplemented his roster the next year with Amir, Lynch, and Springs and had his best year. I thought we were on our way. The next 12 months were devastating with scandals, injuries, and a bad whiff on Isaiah Washington.

I don't think this is a two win team in conference either but it probably isn't much better? I'm not sure the transfer portal is a net win or a net loss at this point, but can Johnson make a similar jump next year?
 

forever a gopher said:
I have no doubt there are examples like this. Wisky fans swore up and down that Ethan Happ was actually a pretty good FT shooter in practice, but just couldn’t hit them in games. But generally speaking, those are the exception and not the rule. Cooper is currently shooting 48% FT, but is a career 65% shooter. I’m guessing he will turn it around at some point. But this team is shooting 55% as a team. Either every player on this team is having some freak streak of luck, or they just need to focus on it more. The likelihood of 10 guys practicing FT shooting in excess AND being terrible is extremely low. A couple of guys, fine. But the whole freaking team?? The statistical odds of that are extremely minute.

If y’all want to ignore it and think it’ll magically turn itself around, I have some ocean front property in Kansas I’d like to sell you.
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How much?
 

golfing18now said:
That team is actually an interesting comparable too. Pitino knew he was going to bottom out in year three given the roster construction he inherited and used this third season to develop young players (Murphy/Mason/McBrayer). He then supplemented his roster the next year with Amir, Lynch, and Springs and had his best year. I thought we were on our way. The next 12 months were devastating with scandals, injuries, and a bad whiff on Isaiah Washington.

I don't think this is a two win team in conference either but it probably isn't much better? I'm not sure the transfer portal is a net win or a net loss at this point, but can Johnson make a similar jump next year?
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I think about that team a lot too when watching this one and looking for hope, but there a few major differences.

That team was led by a sophomore in Mason and a freshman in Murphy who were budding stars almost immediately into their freshman seasons. You could also tell Dupree was going to be a solid player his freshman season. This year's team should be far better because there were no upperclassman on that roster as good as Battle, Garcia, or Cooper, yet they may end up being just as bad.

That team also wouldn't have likely been as bad if the same transfer rules today existed then. Lynch wouldn't have had to sit out, and he could have plugged other holes more quickly via the portal.
 

cjbfbp said:
I'm pretty confident that this team isn't as bad as Pitino's 2015-16 team and even they had 2 conference regular season victories; they likely would have had at least one more if they didn't suffer 3 suspensions and an injury to key players near the end of the season. Todd Lickliter's last Iowa team was astonishingly bad and they had 4 conference regular season victories.
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All true but I also think the quality of teams is way up from that era. It’s hard seeing this team avoiding Weakling Wednesday and much easier seeing them in last place, whether that’s with two four or six wins.

The primary upside now is that the talent level is much higher than last year. I hope these guys have the heart to keep competitive after they get pounded by the upper echelon of the conference. They have shown more energy recently but the jury is still out on the intangibles.
 



Minnesota and Nebraska are a very distant 14th and 13th in kenpom for the big 10. Buckle up, gonna be a long season. If we win 3 B1G games that might be a surprise
 


golfing18now said:
That team is actually an interesting comparable too. Pitino knew he was going to bottom out in year three given the roster construction he inherited and used this third season to develop young players (Murphy/Mason/McBrayer). He then supplemented his roster the next year with Amir, Lynch, and Springs and had his best year. I thought we were on our way. The next 12 months were devastating with scandals, injuries, and a bad whiff on Isaiah Washington.

I don't think this is a two win team in conference either but it probably isn't much better? I'm not sure the transfer portal is a net win or a net loss at this point, but can Johnson make a similar jump next year?
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With the talent we have and the talent coming next year- we should be a good draw for a transfer guard. It's going to be bumpy this year, but I am hoping we come on strong in the later half of the Big Ten and have people talking optimistically.
 

Spottedmuskie said:
Minnesota and Nebraska are a very distant 14th and 13th in kenpom for the big 10. Buckle up, gonna be a long season. If we win 3 B1G games that might be a surprise
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It's gonna be ugly, but I think we might squeak a win against Michigan on Dec 8. They do not look good and I think we can compete with them in our house.
 



bga1 said:
With the talent we have and the talent coming next year- we should be a good draw for a transfer guard. It's going to be bumpy this year, but I am hoping we come on strong in the later half of the Big Ten and have people talking optimistically.
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Key to in season improvement I think is Carrington. If he can handle the ball reasonably well and cover the other teams point, we have a chance to outperform last year in conference. If not, we could have two years in a row at the bottom. Ugh.
 

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