Ohio State game observations

Donate To GopherHole
UpAndUnder43

UpAndUnder43

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 3, 2017
Messages
13,968
Reaction score
12,028
Points
113
Something I don’t recall ever seeing:
Williams makes a free throw, then they review the previous play, take the free throw away and have Carr shoot two.

Ohio States bench scored 35 of their 71 points. 35 bench points to the gophers 7 and they lost by 13. Crazy.

Fargo Moorhead acroteam never disappoints. Ever.

Now that Pitino has been around for a few years its cool to see some former players coming back for games. Andre Hollins was shown on the big screen today
 

God, are Andre and Rachel still just the cutest couple!

Seriously, what the visiting recruits saw tonight was the best recruiting atmosphere you could have designed, and that included the ovation the cute couple got. My goodness, the love in that building for those star alums. If a recruit can't see themselves getting that reception as alumni someday...
 

One other point I’ll make: Omersa, Oturu and Carr we’re engaging the crowd constantly. Running towards the student section to fire them up. Doing the same to other areas of the arena. Love the attitude and energy they bring. Makes me want them to win that much more
 

So much of life is about attitude. I love the attitude these guys have. Omersa, I think is the type of positive character who can help will a team through rough spots. This is a team that may end up being a lot better than we - including me, thought.
 

Great points. We both remarked we’d never seen the shooter corrected after a shot taken.
Really encouraging to see Omersa’s minutes increase against a tough opponent. He’s enthusiastic playing and enthusiastic on the bench. And his video lip sync of Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is You” was inspired!
 


UpAndUnder43 said:
One other point I’ll make: Omersa, Oturu and Carr we’re engaging the crowd constantly. Running towards the student section to fire them up. Doing the same to other areas of the arena. Love the attitude and energy they bring. Makes me want them to win that much more
Click to expand...
From the student section- I'll be the first to admit our energy has been a bit lacking this year. It means so much when those guys engage us and get us going. Marcus literally met us at half court with his arms open for the court storm. Such a good group, and glad to see the progress being made.
 

I had posted that i thought we would win. I had seen far more that i liked, even in losses than that i disliked. Playing your best defenders as a team, taking good shots has tremendous benefits. Sticking with 13-7.
 

builtbadgers said:
I had posted that i thought we would win. I had seen far more that i liked, even in losses than that i disliked. Playing your best defenders as a team, taking good shots has tremendous benefits. Sticking with 13-7.
Click to expand...
They way things have started in the conference this team could finish 10-10 and tied for first. No road wins yet in the bigten
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Now that Pitino has been around for a few years its cool to see some former players coming back for games. Andre Hollins was shown on the big screen today
Click to expand...

Trevor and Joey were in the house as well
 




Moonlight said:
Great points. We both remarked we’d never seen the shooter corrected after a shot taken.
Really encouraging to see Omersa’s minutes increase against a tough opponent. He’s enthusiastic playing and enthusiastic on the bench. And his video lip sync of Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is You” was inspired!
Click to expand...
By the time Omersa leaves, he is going to be one of my all time favorites here based on who he is as a person. I believe he is going to be a really good player by his senior year as well. The video was amazing! Love that.
 

bga1 said:
By the time Omersa leaves, he is going to be one of my all time favorites here based on who he is as a person. I believe he is going to be a really good player by his senior year as well. The video was amazing! Love that.
Click to expand...

this one?

 

That's cool too, but that's not the one I am referring to. It was as Moonlight said: "All I Want for Christmas is You"- Omersa lip synced it.
 



fair said:
From the student section- I'll be the first to admit our energy has been a bit lacking this year. It means so much when those guys engage us and get us going. Marcus literally met us at half court with his arms open for the court storm. Such a good group, and glad to see the progress being made.
Click to expand...
Energy in the crowd is always a HUGE thing. I think alums look toward the students to "light the fire" at games.

As a student, I saw the older people at games give sour-pussed looks towards the people who were engaged and cheering. It boggled my mind why they thought the decorum of an orchestra concert should apply to a football, basketball or even hockey, game.

I come from the era of forcing Gopher football into the sterile confines of the Metrodome and how it was used to mold the student behavior. It sucked a lot of the enthusiasm out of the students.

I'm glad to see more and more of that kind of dampening structure removed so the students can get into the game. This is not an endorsement of "anything goes" behavior from the students.

I think PJ Fleck is right about culture changes needed. The U needs to remember that students are future alumni. Students need to have a postive/good/memorable time while in school.

Now, did all this affect an increase in shooting percentage? I doubt we have enough of a sample size to support that, so students keep it up for no other reason than you can.
 



We have to get back to having a goal of sweeping or nearly sweeping our home games. It is so hard to win on the road. If you don't win at least 8 of 10 home games it is nearly impossible to be .500 or better in the Big Ten. Winning the home games also gets the fan base engaged. Good start!
 

Wonder if lessons learned from our challenging early schedule contributed to last night's result and also perhaps going forward?
 

A couple other things stood out for me.
- IIRC, Not once did we go to the free throw line and get shut out. A few were missed, but the momentum was kept up by making our free throws.
- Despite the fact we were shooting well we out rebounded OSU by a dozen.
- Carr scored 35 AND had 7 assists
- Willis was on his way to a double double when he went out (6 Reb/6pts) and we didn't miss a beat.

Like Selection Sunday, I was trying to reframe my thinking that at least I'd get to see some good players on the other teams this season. So...I did really enjoy seeing Wesson The Larger benched with 4 fouls, kicked off the coaches stool on the sideline, and jacking up those 3's in the final minutes!:LOL:
 

Moonlight said:
Like Selection Sunday, I was trying to reframe my thinking that at least I'd get to see some good players on the other teams this season. So...I did really enjoy seeing Wesson The Larger benched with 4 fouls, kicked off the coaches stool on the sideline, and jacking up those 3's in the final minutes!:LOL:
Click to expand...

Wesson definitely looks better this year than in his two previous years but the Gophers did a really good job defensively against him. I was most impressed by Ohio State's two freshman: Carton and Liddell. Like a number of OSU players over the years, Liddell looks like he has the size to play tight end.
 

Non game things:
-Younger guys on this squad look more ripped/buff/muscular than guys coming in previous years. I don't know if this is an S&C improvement on campus, or a recruiting focus, but i like the trend.
-Was nice to see that Marcus Carr spent a LOT of time high-fiving fans on the court despite that he could have been celebrating with anyone else.


In game:
-No frustrating inbounds plays! The team looked dramatically more focused than in any game prior. It only took until about 18:00 of the first half to realize that a very different team showed up to play.
-Still a lot of work to do, but Demir has gone from looking like a total liability to someone who can potentially add a lot of value through solid technique, spacing, etc. (i.e. the little things).
-I was surprised that it didn't seem like OSU defended the perimeter as tough as opponents usually do. Maybe due to the awful shooting vs Iowa, previously, but for whatever reason, it allowed the Gophers to get hot until the crazy shots began falling regularly. I think OSU might have been a little overrated coming in, but i hope i'm as wrong about that as i was about the outcome prior to the game. An awesome effort in any case, and certainly enables me to be a lot more excited about the rest of the season than i was 24 hours ago.
 

Ewert86PC said:
Energy in the crowd is always a HUGE thing. I think alums look toward the students to "light the fire" at games.

As a student, I saw the older people at games give sour-pussed looks towards the people who were engaged and cheering. It boggled my mind why they thought the decorum of an orchestra concert should apply to a football, basketball or even hockey, game.

I come from the era of forcing Gopher football into the sterile confines of the Metrodome and how it was used to mold the student behavior. It sucked a lot of the enthusiasm out of the students.

I'm glad to see more and more of that kind of dampening structure removed so the students can get into the game. This is not an endorsement of "anything goes" behavior from the students.

I think PJ Fleck is right about culture changes needed. The U needs to remember that students are future alumni. Students need to have a postive/good/memorable time while in school.

Now, did all this affect an increase in shooting percentage? I doubt we have enough of a sample size to support that, so students keep it up for no other reason than you can.
Click to expand...
The blue-hairs, we've always called them. Dang it, there's always Geritol and herbal supplements these people can take! They need to get with it.
 

Have to admit I thought there was a 0% chance we beat OSU yesterday. I tuned in planning to multitask with stuff around the house, but got sucked in as they played well throughout the game. I feared an inevitable Buckeye run in the second half, but it never came. I terrific defensive effort, and Carr was simply unstoppable, carrying the team on his back. It's always fun to be happily surprised.
 


Moonlight said:
A couple other things stood out for me.
- IIRC, Not once did we go to the free throw line and get shut out. A few were missed, but the momentum was kept up by making our free throws.
- Despite the fact we were shooting well we out rebounded OSU by a dozen.
- Carr scored 35 AND had 7 assists
- Willis was on his way to a double double when he went out (6 Reb/6pts) and we didn't miss a beat.

Like Selection Sunday, I was trying to reframe my thinking that at least I'd get to see some good players on the other teams this season. So...I did really enjoy seeing Wesson The Larger benched with 4 fouls, kicked off the coaches stool on the sideline, and jacking up those 3's in the final minutes!:LOL:
Click to expand...

Wesson has been a historically moody and sometimes dumb player. I know I have gotten on Daniel for making dumb fouls, but Wesson's idiocy, especially on that chuck of the cutter moving screen 27 feet from the basket right in front of the ref, really takes the cake on stupidity. Daniel staying out of foul trouble really helped.

Ohio State is really easy to hate, but I have to admit the coach kept calm during the game and offered appropriate respect to the Gophers after the game. These respectful coaches are making the rivalries boring.

I'll go out on a limb and suggest we will win almost every game that any Gopher scores 35. Great effort, Marcus!
 

Holy Man said:
Be careful. We're closer to blue hairs than not.
Click to expand...
I was going to add: all of our season-ticket mates are AARP-eligible including yours truly, but I think we still bring it every night. Now, we may end up dying of brain aneurysms at Williams Arena some day, but there are worse ways to go.
 


The crowd was intense last night. My section is a mix of older folks and younger families. The father and son in front of us turned and high fived me on multiple occasions. I don't care how old people are, it is a knowledgeable crowd at The Barn. Father was in his 50s, son in his teens. On the edge of their seat the entire game. I LOVE SEEING THIS.

The #1 way to get us fired up is to go on a run. Then the noise builds and turns into a frenzy. Opposing teams hate The Barn because its loud and crazy and a raised floor with huge ceilings.

The #2 way? Any call we perceive to be bad that goes against us. The boos rain down on the officials and it'll continue until they right their wrongs. I love The Barn.

That was probably the first time this year some of the players experienced the magic that is in that place. 10,000 strong sounds like 30,000. The echoes, everything.

As Lindsay Whalen perfectly stated “You know why it’s loud, Syl,” Whalen asked. “It’s The Barn.”
 

Couldn’t watch the game, but did we get any home cooking from the refs? I made the mistake of checking out a Buckeye forum (Eleven Warriors) and they were bitching incessantly about the refs. Also had some incredibly uncalled for things to say about our players (thugs, criminals, etc.). So happy we were able to deliver OSU’s fanbase their first loss of either the football or b-ball season.
 

builtbadgers said:
I had posted that i thought we would win. I had seen far more that i liked, even in losses than that i disliked. Playing your best defenders as a team, taking good shots has tremendous benefits. Sticking with 13-7.
Click to expand...

The team hasn't looked as bad as many think. Iowa was ugly, but in losses to Butler, Oklahoma, etc they played pretty good D, moved the ball on offense, etc. Had Carr shot FTs against Butler, Oklahoma, and DePaul like he did last night, the Gophers probably would have won 2 of those 3 games. Little things matter - free throws, a couple less turnovers, consistent defense lead to the couple of possessions that swing a game.

Great to see the team defense, and individual defense, improve. Still want to see more consistency on offense, but great defense will help through lapses. The
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom