***OFFICIAL RUTGERS AT MINNESOTA IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

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PMWinSTP said:
Yeah, I thought of Jim Peterson watching Thompson today.
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Thompson has a pretty unique skillset and I can see what you're saying.

He struggles with some things but at the end of the day he is a pretty active 7fter who has some skills offensively. He also does battle for rebounds/defense - - he isn't like low motor.

He still isn't the easiest guy in the world to play a ton because right now you do have to change your defense a bit (has a hard time handling 4s and gets kind of bulled by 5s). I really expect him to be the kind of guy who takes a massive step up next year. We're going to have a pretty damn talented front court in 2022 (Payne, Battle, Fox, Ihnen, Thompson, Olo-Joseph).
 

GophersInIowa said:
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Ben's post game press conference today was his best press conference/interview. You could feel how proud he was of his team, how much he put into it, and he didn't speak in cliches.

The dude gets it. I never felt this way about Pitino but with Ben, if he sits in your living room and your a local kid and you decide you don't want to play for the Gophers, we never had a chance anyway.
 

jovs said:
I don't see why they can't go big at times, have to play a zone but Thompson, Daniels, and Battle would make it tough to shoot over, a little like Syracuse, not something you want to do very often but a change of pace and a new way to rotate players.
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You can do that, but if you have Stephens healthy, along with Lowe, Willis, Curry and Battle why would you ever want to put Thompson and Daniels on the floor together? One or both of them with Curry, but no need to do that together. They both have significant weaknesses handling the ball, and Thompson defensively as well, so unless you have to like today, no need to do that. They both have earned time though, but if we don't have to play together I wouldn't.

Also, to those folks who have said Thiam is athletic and let's play him ahead of Luke. He showed today why Ben doesn't play him. He is lost defensively, and he doesn't add anything on offense. Luke is above average on defense, and solid offensively.
 



gopherguy15 said:
Loved watching our significantly undermanned team win today, but that's also the last time I want to see that! So glad we have five days before OSU.

Willis had some amazing shots against tough 1-on-1 defense today.
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This is going to sound strange, but he also didn't do it in a way that sucked the life out of the offense. Obviously, a big part of that is that the ball was going in. However, the bigger reason for that was because we ran our normal offense and if nothing panned out, we'd let Willis do his thing at the end of the shot clock.

So he was able to dominate offensively without taking the air out of the rest of the team.

He was absolutely awesome today.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
This is going to sound strange, but he also didn't do it in a way that sucked the life out of the offense. Obviously, a big part of that is that the ball was going in. However, the bigger reason for that was because we ran our normal offense and if nothing panned out, we'd let Willis do his thing at the end of the shot clock.

So he was able to dominate offensively without taking the air out of the rest of the team.

He was absolutely awesome today.
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Yep, it wasn’t just Marcus Carr dribbling around for 25+ seconds. 18 assists on 26 shots.
 




Bob_Loblaw said:
This is going to sound strange, but he also didn't do it in a way that sucked the life out of the offense. Obviously, a big part of that is that the ball was going in. However, the bigger reason for that was because we ran our normal offense and if nothing panned out, we'd let Willis do his thing at the end of the shot clock.

So he was able to dominate offensively without taking the air out of the rest of the team.

He was absolutely awesome today.
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This is so true. I didn't really like his first deep heat check three I think it was right after he hit the first one. It was early in the shot clock, but I also figured those were going to be some of our best shots. And you are right, that was one of the only few he missed.
 


Had to attend an outreach event out in the rain (sidebar complaints) today, so this was the first game all year I missed. Sounds like the team played well given the circumstances. Looking forward to catching a replay!
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Ben's post game press conference today was his best press conference/interview. You could feel how proud he was of his team, how much he put into it, and he didn't speak in cliches.
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I agree, it was a really good post game for him and his team pride was flowing. I think it’s also easy to forget that he’s still fairly new press conferences.
 



Dang, had a family day in Madison and missed the excitement. Caught the last two minutes on my phone. Was shocked TT was in the game and thought everyone must have fouled out.
 





fan of Ray Williams said:
The whining about Treyton and Thiam playing time might stop for a game.
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Thiam, unfortunately, had a bad game.
Ben puts him in and in about 7 seconds Thiam dribbles behind his back (for no reason), loses the ball and turns it over for an easy score by Rutgers. That series ended Thiams day on the court. The man needs to pick up his game or he will keep riding the pine.
Great effort by Willis and what a perfect time for Loewe to start making shots. Thompson held his own and the iron 5 got an improbable win.
 


bc2211 said:
Dang, had a family day in Madison and missed the excitement. Caught the last two minutes on my phone. Was shocked TT was in the game and thought everyone must have fouled out.
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What did you do? Vilas? Chocolate shoppe? Vitense with some copper top for dinner??
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Thompson has a pretty unique skillset and I can see what you're saying.

He struggles with some things but at the end of the day he is a pretty active 7fter who has some skills offensively. He also does battle for rebounds/defense - - he isn't like low motor.
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He should learn to play with his back to the basket on occasion. For a big guy he can shoot from the 3, add some post up moves and he'd be a load to try and defend. Two years from now Fox, Battle, and Ihnen will be seniors, Thompson will be a junior, and Payne a sophomore. Hope they stay together.
 


BarnBurner said:
Just win. Great game.
BJ says no excuses.

Some gh posters need to adopt that same philosophy.
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That's just coach speak. It's not about "excuses" as much as it is seeing the big picture.

Was Fleck's first season a failure? Should he have been on the hot seat? He took a 9 win team and won 5 games? Or maybe, there was something bigger going on?

If you don't accept "excuses" how can anyone ever build a program? Do you just have to start winning day 1? Is that a reasonable expectation for every program?
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
That's just coach speak. It's not about "excuses" as much as it is seeing the big picture.

Was Fleck's first season a failure? Should he have been on the hot seat? He took a 9 win team and won 5 games? Or maybe, there was something bigger going on?

If you don't accept "excuses" how can anyone ever build a program? Do you just have to start winning day 1? Is that a reasonable expectation for every program?
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Fleck? Do you view college FB and BB the same in terms of length of time to build a program/achieve bowl game/ncaa tournament? Win a bowl game/ncaa tournament game? Been watching both for a long, long time and I know my answer.

I dont view it as coach speak, in terms of Bj's presser postgame. Appears to me that is his expectations of his team and program.

Excuses have been such a part of the MN program for sooooooooo long. And some GH posters gulp it up, and lick the plate. Winning day 1? You mean, like 2021/2022 non-con season? I dont think you can include "EVERY" program in the same boat. Neither do you. Reasonable is in the eye of the beholder, dont you think?

BJ has done a very, very good job thus far.

I think it is instructive that just a few days ago, BJ was hesitant about playing TT more minutes. Even after his Iowa game. Look back at the thoughts on Thompson up until a few days ago. You will find plenty of excuses.
 

Had prior commitments so didn't get to watch but really hoping they replay the game on BTN! Looks like a great effort from Willis. From what I can tell the only negative is that we weren't playing TT more minutes prior to the last 2!
 

BarnBurner said:
Fleck? Do you view college FB and BB the same in terms of length of time to build a program/achieve bowl game/ncaa tournament? Win a bowl game/ncaa tournament game? Been watching both for a long, long time and I know my answer.

I dont view it as coach speak, in terms of Bj's presser postgame. Appears to me that is his expectations of his team and program.

Excuses have been such a part of the MN program for sooooooooo long. And some GH posters gulp it up, and lick the plate. Winning day 1? You mean, like 2021/2022 non-con season? I dont think you can include "EVERY" program in the same boat. Neither do you. Reasonable is in the eye of the beholder, dont you think?

BJ has done a very, very good job thus far.

I think it is instructive that just a few days ago, BJ was hesitant about playing TT more minutes. Even after his Iowa game. Look back at the thoughts on Thompson up until a few days ago. You will find plenty of excuses.
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Bring back Monson!
 


Bob_Loblaw said:
That's just coach speak. It's not about "excuses" as much as it is seeing the big picture.

Was Fleck's first season a failure? Should he have been on the hot seat? He took a 9 win team and won 5 games? Or maybe, there was something bigger going on?

If you don't accept "excuses" how can anyone ever build a program? Do you just have to start winning day 1? Is that a reasonable expectation for every program?
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Fleck is an excellent coach and we're fortunate to have him. But the coaching job Ben has done his first three months greatly surpasses what PJ did his first season.
 

If you have a Roku you can watch replays of all our games that were on BTN. They're usually up for a few days on the Fox Sports App.
 

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