***OFFICIAL NORTH DAKOTA STATE AT MINNESOTA EXIHIBITION IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

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Swaggerson said:
Was at game. What did you see from Grove that you liked? I want him to do well but not seeing it yet.
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Ran the court well in the second half: scored smoothly off a pick & role; may provide passing/pick & role option from the high post. The Palm beach tourney will likely show if he can provide depth minutes in Power 4/Big Ten games.
 

One thing that stood out to me was how well the gophers controlled the pace. It seemed very intentional when they would decide to speed it up at times.
 




I could have cared less if they lost. Just the fact that the ball moved, players moved, and no one dribbled the ball into oblivion is a major improvement. We may not hang with more talented teams but at least the movement away from the ball actually looks like basketball. This offense should help Asuma immensely. Very similar to what he ran in high school with lots of movement and screening. Between him and, Tyson, and Durkin they have guys who should get open looks.
 
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Outsider said:
I could have cared less if they lost. Just the fact that the ball moved, players moved, and no one dribbled the ball into oblivion is a major improvement. We may not hang with more talented teams but at least the movement away from the ball actually looks like basketball. This offense should help Asuma immensely. Very similar to what he ran in high school with lots of movement and screening. Between him and, Tyson, and Durkin they have guys who should get open looks.
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Exactly.. Niko runs good stuff… uses both sides of the floor… there were a couple stagnant moments but that will get better as the team gets more cohesive… lots of movement is refreshing.. players will get more comfortable and will figure out where and when to get teammates the ball.. read and react offense… the react part will get better and become second nature…
 





Married@SiebertField said:
Ran the court well in the second half: scored smoothly off a pick & role; may provide passing/pick & role option from the high post. The Palm beach tourney will likely show if he can provide depth minutes in Power 4/Big Ten games.
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Grove didn't look lost at all. He will give them minutes and they will need that size at times. What I liked is that when they subbed in, everyone played the same way and stayed in the offense and defense. No one broke down what they were doing. Turner had a few rough minutes with drops. He was pressing. Shinholster is a kid I think we are really going to like.
 


Random thoughts...

Vaihola: In addition to the rebounding, I thought he showed good hands catching passes and didn't look like someone who will be a foul fest.

Willis Jr.: Looks like he has quickness to push the ball and get into the lane and vision to find open shooters.

Reynolds: Missed shots at rim, but liked the athleticism.

Overall, this first exhibition game impression better than past years.
 

Watching the game I notice that we have wide bodies that are not easily moved, but tall bigs will shoot over us or pass over us without much interference. Even NDSU had taller guys in the post than we have.

Our biggest guy is Nehemiah Turner, but last night he didn't get in until the very end. When he made it in he looked like an out of shape Bakary Konate. He was a bit slow and he had brick hands. I wondered how he had scored so well in his conference tournament last season. Again, it was only a few minutes of garbage time at the end so that's not enough to get a handle on Turner, but he certainly looked like a project.

Grove is undersized, but he did a blue collar job of setting picks at the top of the key and popping out in ball reversal. He got a wide open look at the point that landed soft on the rim and rolled out. He'll make that shot more often than not.

Crocker-Johnson tossed up some clankers from 3 point range last night. They didn't land soft, they cracked glass and broke rims. It was good to see him work closer to the rim where he was better.

Durkins has a soft shot. He had a number of open looks that, like Grove, just missed. He is a bit slow footed and could be a defensive liability who calls for help, but he will make shots.

I could see the comparison between Willis Jr and Bobby Jackson in regard to motor. He can hit a lane quickly, but he's not Bobby.

Asuma is just solid. Nothing flashy, but he is fundamental and always in the right spot. He is a fantastic rebounder as a guard and just has a nose for the ball.

Reynolds showed early nerves and looked a bit slow, but he improved as the game went on. He doesn't seem like an outside threat. He may be similar to a Parker Fox on this team.

The comparison of Vaihola to Murphy seems right. He's short, but unmoveable on the block with a nose for the ball on the boards. Guys may jump over him, but they won't get around him.

Overall, last night's game was fun to watch. The ball moved and the pace was quick. It was fun.
 



Bad Gopher said:
I believe I'll be attending, but I might be the only one in our season ticket group. My buddy and seat mate is favoring our bi-weekly card club, and my wife is refusing to take his place, even though the weather will be really mild. Although there's plenty of hope with the new regime, the program begins this new era in the dumps. Things were already in a hole when Johnson was hired, and he dug us so much deeper; it's going to take a lot to get the Spruce Goose back off the ground.
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It wasn't Johnson that dug the hole, it was Coyle... geez.
 





jovs said:
Vaihola and Reynolds are brick layers. They don't even look good shooting, hopefully they get better.
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Perhaps but they each clearly did some good things on the court last night. Vaihola had 14 rebounds in 23 minutes. He only shot 3 times from the floor and made all of them. Reynolds had 6 assists and three steals.

Overall the team shot 48.3% from the field which isn't bad for the first exhibition of the season against a D1 team. Yeah, the free throw shooting wasn't good (59.1%). Hopefully that isn't a harbinger of the overall season.
 



FinnGopher said:
Watching the game I notice that we have wide bodies that are not easily moved, but tall bigs will shoot over us or pass over us without much interference. Even NDSU had taller guys in the post than we have.

Our biggest guy is Nehemiah Turner, but last night he didn't get in until the very end. When he made it in he looked like an out of shape Bakary Konate. He was a bit slow and he had brick hands. I wondered how he had scored so well in his conference tournament last season. Again, it was only a few minutes of garbage time at the end so that's not enough to get a handle on Turner, but he certainly looked like a project.

Grove is undersized, but he did a blue collar job of setting picks at the top of the key and popping out in ball reversal. He got a wide open look at the point that landed soft on the rim and rolled out. He'll make that shot more often than not.

Crocker-Johnson tossed up some clankers from 3 point range last night. They didn't land soft, they cracked glass and broke rims. It was good to see him work closer to the rim where he was better.

Durkins has a soft shot. He had a number of open looks that, like Grove, just missed. He is a bit slow footed and could be a defensive liability who calls for help, but he will make shots.

I could see the comparison between Willis Jr and Bobby Jackson in regard to motor. He can hit a lane quickly, but he's not Bobby.

Asuma is just solid. Nothing flashy, but he is fundamental and always in the right spot. He is a fantastic rebounder as a guard and just has a nose for the ball.

Reynolds showed early nerves and looked a bit slow, but he improved as the game went on. He doesn't seem like an outside threat. He may be similar to a Parker Fox on this team.

The comparison of Vaihola to Murphy seems right. He's short, but unmoveable on the block with a nose for the ball on the boards. Guys may jump over him, but they won't get around him.

Overall, last night's game was fun to watch. The ball moved and the pace was quick. It was fun.
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Good analysis. I am mixed on Durkin. To your point he is slow (particularly on D). My guess is he will have a couple of games with 12-15 points but be a nonfactor scoring in most games. Seems like a savvy player.
 

Durkin could be a poor man’s Battle. Very good shooter who is below average on the boards and defensively. Might best be a scorer off the bench? Omot looks like he should be a good defender, maybe they come in together and Durkin guards the worse offensive player?

Tyson is a better athlete than I figured. He obviously surprised in this game. 28 could be a season high if it counted.
 

march madness said:
Durkin could be a poor man’s Battle. Very good shooter who is below average on the boards and defensively. Might best be a scorer off the bench? Omot looks like he should be a good defender, maybe they come in together and Durkin guards the worse offensive player?

Tyson is a better athlete than I figured. He obviously surprised in this game. 28 could be a season high if it counted.
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Brennan Rigsby had a big exhibition game last season too. At least this time it was against a D1 team. Hopefully Tyson can carry this momentum into the season as he did look very good last night. Very excited to watch this team grow throughout the season since they actually have a system to work on and perfect!
 

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