Well, sometimes a little backgrouund check can keep one from saying something foolish.
***OFFICIAL SAINT JOHN'S AT MINNESOTA IN-GAME THREAD!!!!***
- Thread starter Stan
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Well, sometimes a little backgrouund check can keep one from saying something foolish.
I plan to include irrational exuberance as part of my game day attire. For the time being, I am glad to look forward to the next game.
As you as your irrational exuberance comes in the colors of maroon and gold, I'm ok with it.
I'm not there yet in my game day attire. I'll stay with basic black, accented by a bit of maroon and gold.
MadtownGopher
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This was the first game I was able to watch and it just so happened to be when I was in Vegas. I love the make up of this team and I think they'll get better as the year goes on. Only downside was that I took the Gophers -7 and they ended up winning by 6. Damn.
Bad beat. Damn.
Super late with my thoughts on this game, but this was certainly an entertaining game. I am sure it has been mentioned on every page of this thread, but Reggie Lynch had the best game of interior defense from a Gopher post in a very long time. As great as Curry was (I will get to him), it was Lynch's ability to alter shots that I thought was the biggest bright spot going forward for this season.
Obviously Amir Coffey was the star of the game and really turned the tide in the first half with his scoring run. I was impressed with the variety of ways Amir was able to score as well as his willingness to take contact at the rim (which was improved from earlier games). When the Gophers can put Mason, McBrayer, and Coffey on the floor together they've go three capable ball handlers who are also capable of making plays for other which gives me some hope for where I see the biggest weakness of this team (half court offense).
I liked that Coach Pitino didn't have the team go in to a stall too early, but I did feel like they missed an opportunity to salt this game away by not taking a little bit more time when they were up 9-10 with around 5(?) minutes left. There were back to back possessions where the Gophers took really quick shots where just draining some time off could have changed the ending of the game...after the second quick shot St. John's came down and hit a 3 to cut it to 6/7 with plenty of time left in the game. I greatly prefer taking the shots to stalling and just hoping the clock runs out (we've only been bitten by that like 3-4 times a year for the last 8 years), but it would be nice if they could find a happy medium.
It was nice to see Hurt and Gilbert play effective minutes when called upon, the Gophers will need one of them to emerge in to someone they can count on night in and night out.
Two Biggest Concerns:
Half Court Offense: How will this team score when forced to play in the half court? I was alarmed at how poor the post moves of Lynch and Curry looked against Saint John's thin frontcourt players. We need these guys to be able to convert those post ups in to baskets. When the perimeter jumpers aren't falling and the big men are getting blocked or just flat out missing in the paint, we're down to hoping one of Mason/McBrayer/Coffey can take their guy off the dribble and create something for themselves or their teammates.
Akeem Springs: Obviously this is just one game, but I have my guard up after the Lofton and Morris situations. The Gophers NEED Springs, they literally have 3 recruited scholarship guards on the roster and need them all to play significant roles. The issue is that Pitino benched Springs (correctly) for some poor decisions in the first half and my fear is something like this could end up in another dismissal. I am not trying to overstate the issues that happened in this game, just more pointing out that this team badly needs Springs to play like a 5th year Senior because we are just one step away from being forced to play Sharp significant minutes.
Obviously Amir Coffey was the star of the game and really turned the tide in the first half with his scoring run. I was impressed with the variety of ways Amir was able to score as well as his willingness to take contact at the rim (which was improved from earlier games). When the Gophers can put Mason, McBrayer, and Coffey on the floor together they've go three capable ball handlers who are also capable of making plays for other which gives me some hope for where I see the biggest weakness of this team (half court offense).
I liked that Coach Pitino didn't have the team go in to a stall too early, but I did feel like they missed an opportunity to salt this game away by not taking a little bit more time when they were up 9-10 with around 5(?) minutes left. There were back to back possessions where the Gophers took really quick shots where just draining some time off could have changed the ending of the game...after the second quick shot St. John's came down and hit a 3 to cut it to 6/7 with plenty of time left in the game. I greatly prefer taking the shots to stalling and just hoping the clock runs out (we've only been bitten by that like 3-4 times a year for the last 8 years), but it would be nice if they could find a happy medium.
It was nice to see Hurt and Gilbert play effective minutes when called upon, the Gophers will need one of them to emerge in to someone they can count on night in and night out.
Two Biggest Concerns:
Half Court Offense: How will this team score when forced to play in the half court? I was alarmed at how poor the post moves of Lynch and Curry looked against Saint John's thin frontcourt players. We need these guys to be able to convert those post ups in to baskets. When the perimeter jumpers aren't falling and the big men are getting blocked or just flat out missing in the paint, we're down to hoping one of Mason/McBrayer/Coffey can take their guy off the dribble and create something for themselves or their teammates.
Akeem Springs: Obviously this is just one game, but I have my guard up after the Lofton and Morris situations. The Gophers NEED Springs, they literally have 3 recruited scholarship guards on the roster and need them all to play significant roles. The issue is that Pitino benched Springs (correctly) for some poor decisions in the first half and my fear is something like this could end up in another dismissal. I am not trying to overstate the issues that happened in this game, just more pointing out that this team badly needs Springs to play like a 5th year Senior because we are just one step away from being forced to play Sharp significant minutes.
Goph4phan
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Two things. One, I was impressed with Curry's motor because the last three games I've seen him trail the play running back to play defense. And two, Saint John's looked like a team that didn't have it all put together yet, but I really think this will look like an even better win in January and February.
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