It's rare that I agree with something that a national pundit says, but Tim Doyle hit it right on the head last night when he was talking about the Gophers. Every team we play right now wants it more than our guys do. There is no sense of urgency at all. It has been this way for the past few weeks and Tubby noted yesterday that some of our guys are playing "scared". Personally, I'm getting tired of our guys being "scared" every time something goes against them.
But our play of late has been more of the lazy variety than anything else. I wouldn't mind if we were losing games by making aggressive mistakes, such as trying to drive the ball towards the rim or getting a questionable blocking foul called on us on defense. At least then we would know there was some effort and determination going on. What we're doing is playing lax. Dribbling the ball off our own foot, making foolish passes, letting the ball bounce off our hands out of bounds, consistently getting beat off the dribble by opposing players; these are not aggressive mistakes. These are the mistakes of a team that isn't focused and isn't ready to play.
Defense has been similar recently. Our bigs concentrate too much on blocking shots and get out of position with their footwork as a result. Our guards don't move their feet especially well either and do a lot of ball-watching, a cardinal sin of playing defense. If Tubby is right and the guys are playing "scared," then they shouldn't be playing in the Big Ten period. Grow up!!!!! This is the big-time. Nobody is going to pat you on the back for simply taking the court. And nobody is going to be accept the excuse of "well, we were scared" when things got tough. Go out there and do your job.
There is no room for "scared" players in the Big Ten. And if that's going to be the mindset of these guys anytime things get tough, then we should all give it up right now. Time to get out there, bust your tails and do things the right way for a full 40 minutes.
But our play of late has been more of the lazy variety than anything else. I wouldn't mind if we were losing games by making aggressive mistakes, such as trying to drive the ball towards the rim or getting a questionable blocking foul called on us on defense. At least then we would know there was some effort and determination going on. What we're doing is playing lax. Dribbling the ball off our own foot, making foolish passes, letting the ball bounce off our hands out of bounds, consistently getting beat off the dribble by opposing players; these are not aggressive mistakes. These are the mistakes of a team that isn't focused and isn't ready to play.
Defense has been similar recently. Our bigs concentrate too much on blocking shots and get out of position with their footwork as a result. Our guards don't move their feet especially well either and do a lot of ball-watching, a cardinal sin of playing defense. If Tubby is right and the guys are playing "scared," then they shouldn't be playing in the Big Ten period. Grow up!!!!! This is the big-time. Nobody is going to pat you on the back for simply taking the court. And nobody is going to be accept the excuse of "well, we were scared" when things got tough. Go out there and do your job.
There is no room for "scared" players in the Big Ten. And if that's going to be the mindset of these guys anytime things get tough, then we should all give it up right now. Time to get out there, bust your tails and do things the right way for a full 40 minutes.