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

[GopherWeatherGuy]

Henley looks like a lost puppy out there. He has 0 business playing PG at the D1 level right now. I would hazard a guess Christie sees himself as that too. Skeptical would be my key term as well

Henley is not a guard, I’ve been saying it since the summer. This roster is so poorly constructed thanks to the lack of guard recruiting.

 

[howeda7]

Oh FFS. Stop.

I'm not saying play him a lot. But I'd rather see him than Henley at this point.

 

[GFBfan]

They gotta be better than good, Good isn't good enough !!!

True. I believe both of them are going to be better than good. Maybe not this year consistently, but they will have moments of greatness then next year will be stalwarts.

 

[60's Guy]

He isnt a B1G level player.

We go nowhere giving that level of player any run.

Hopefully hes gone next year and his scholarship goes to a fucking transfer guard that belongs on a B1G team. We need thst more than JOJ.

You got 5 other guys that have less talent. JOJ can be a very productive Big Ten player. He can defend and rebound...we do not have a lot of that. The other four guys can dominate the ball and score. He will quietly add his 10. You probably said Jordan Murphy needed to go too. JOJ is along with Payne our two most physical players.

 

[leib0039]

Poor effort, terrible FT shooting and no box outs. On one hand those are fixable issues which is good. On the other hand the fact that nothing has changed thus far is also an indictment on poor coaching si far in the season.

 

[forever a gopher]

Rather concerning that during the broadcast they said Ben wasn’t going to “do anything” about the FT shooting until the holidays. Excuse me??

It is one of the easiest things to do all by yourself, whenever you have time. There are zero excuses as to why players can’t be at least competent FT shooters at this level. I can give a pass to the freshman, but once on campus, they need to be shooting a crap ton on a daily basis.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

My biggest concern is that a ball handling guard was such an obvious glaring weakness coming into this year and we didn't/couldn't add someone. As bad as Cooper has been, he is the only thing remotely close to being able to handle the ball. I like Carrington, but he isn't ready to be a secondary ball handler right now. There are guys that I normally wouldn't think we would offer that we should have offered (Alonzo Dodd). A guy like Luke Loewe would have been really helpful.

The other major concern for me is that the few things I could hang my hat on as good signs are completely gone.

(1) We no longer run a modern offense. It's essentially clear out a side of the court for Garcia/Battle or we feed the post. I don't remember a single back cut. We don't have spacing.

(2) Our lineups just don't make sense at times. I don't think it makes any sense to run Thompson (5) - Garcia (4) - Battle (3). That lineup is both really slow, really bad at rebounding, and cannot defend the paint. I'd much rather see Payne (obviously), but even as an alternative to Payne, I'd prefer Garcia (5) - Battle (4) - JOJ (3) - - it at least creates some mismatches for us by making a 5 guard Garcia and a 4 guard Battle. Our lineups essentially don't create any mismatches for us and don't help minimize any mismatches for them. Ben was good at this last year, he's been pretty bad at it this year. It really concerns me that two other injured guys on scholarship are also more natural 4's (like Garcia and Battle (IMO)).

(3) We don't play with any intensity.

 

[GFBfan]

17 TO's on the night isn't great, but is the first team that UNLV hasn't turned over an opponent 20+ .
Did a much better job handling their pressure in the second half.

Held our own on the boards and P Payne didn't play as much. Hope he is ok to play next week.

Shot the ball poorly and FT shooting remains a problem. UNLV didn't shoot it any better overall than we did, but was slightly better from deep. They got more shots up because of the TO disparity.

 

[Bayfieldgopher]

Still no effort to establish the post and inside game. 9/31 on 3's. So many negatives tonight.
Guys gave great effort at the end which I really liked to see.

 

[GoodasGold]

They gotta be better than good, Good isn't good enough !!!

Hey now!

 

[bga1]

Still no effort to establish the post and inside game. 9/31 on 3's. So many negatives tonight.
Guys gave great effort at the end which I really liked to see.

Garbage basketball. Coach played Payne 13 minutes. Play him 30 minutes and get the ball into him. Work inside out. Eustachy commenting on the game said that Minnesota players just settle for shots time after time. He's right.

This team can shoot threes well, but we are not shooting threes out of the offense we are just jacking them and a lot of them aren't easy looks. Cooper is a little disappointing at this point. Too slow and he is not finding ways to get the team into an offensive flow. Rough night for Henley but I really like his future.

Bright side- Carrington looked pretty good and really worked.

 

[bga1]

Henley is not a guard, I’ve been saying it since the summer. This roster is so poorly constructed thanks to the lack of guard recruiting.

I think Henley will be a capable guard, but right now he is too loose with the ball, dribbles too much and is playing one on one ball. The roster is poorly constructed though.

 

[Nomellini]

The reffing has let UNLV get away with a lot that they haven't for the Gophers. Hell....Cooper got elbowed in the face and they called a foul on him.

Yeah, he should not have hit him in the arm with his face.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

Oh FFS. Stop.

Free Will Ramberg!

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

Garcia has little girl hands, slightest little tap and it’s out. My 10 year old is stronger with the ball than he is.

Sign her up!

 

[Spaulding!No!]

Winners win.

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

I think Henley will be a capable guard, but right now he is too loose with the ball, dribbles too much and is playing one on one ball. The roster is poorly constructed though.

I disagree. He doesn't have enough lateral quickness or ball handling skills to be a guard at the B1G level. Carrington is capable of that but not Henley. He should be the primary backup to Battle and replace him when he moves on.

Guard play wins in basketball. You can't have a team full of forwards and expect to win, which is why I was so frustrated coming into this season. That should now be obvious to everyone. Christie will help, but they need at least two guard transfers to be competitive next season.

 

[T-Bonegopher]

Winners win.

And something you should be very familiar with Losers lose.

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

Garbage basketball. Coach played Payne 13 minutes. Play him 30 minutes and get the ball into him. Work inside out. Eustachy commenting on the game said that Minnesota players just settle for shots time after time. He's right.

This is so insane to me after how well Payne played last game and that they were playing against a small lineup. I get that they needed to change the rotation a bit defensively, but it shouldn't have come at the expense of Payne's minutes.

 

[cjbfbp]

(3) We don't play with any intensity.

We did in the closing couple of minutes but the game was out of reach by then.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

Winners win.

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

This is so insane to me after how well Payne played last game and that they were playing against a small lineup. I get that they needed to change the rotation a bit defensively, but it shouldn't have come at the expense of Payne's minutes.

I read a couple of posts about Payne wearing something on his back. Possible he is injured?

 

[GFBfan]

I read a couple of posts about Payne wearing something on his back. Possible he is injured?

I thought I noticed something as they were leaving the floor at halftime. Just looked at the video, when Payne is leaving to go to the locker room he has a black brace/sleeve type thing wrapped around mid section. He does jog off the floor and doesn't appear to be moving slowly so hopefully nothing too serious.

 

[Gilthorp57]

What happened to the offense last year with the cuts, high/low post and screens? I thought we'd see more of that. Now we have stagnated to the stand around, dribble the ball until it bleeds, and jack up wild threes again.

 

[PhiloVance]

BADGERS are well coached and play hard!

 

[PhiloVance]

If I were Thompson I head to the Wisconsin Badgers. They know how to develop the big guys.

 

[jblass]

If I were Thompson I head to the Wisconsin Badgers. They know how to develop the big guys.

Wahl playing with a lot of intensity. Keeping Wisconsin in the game.

 

[Gilthorp57]

BADGERS are well coached and play hard!

Don't like em but like to watch them play, too bad the cheaters won.

 

[Outsider]

If I were Thompson I head to the Wisconsin Badgers. They know how to develop the big guys.

I’ll trade Thompson for Evans, Wisky can have him. I’m not impressed with him. Too slow n defense and for a guy who’s a 7 footer he needs to block and alter way more shots then he does.

 

[PhiloVance]

I’ll trade Thompson for Evans, Wisky can have him. I’m not impressed with him. Too slow n defense and for a guy who’s a 7 footer he needs to block and alter way more shots then he does.

If he has any chance it's with the coaching staff of the Badgers. Badgers just took #3 Kansas into overtime by outs orange them by over 10 points in the 2nd half. They did lose in over time by 1. What a game!