Penn St. Postgame thoughts. 1/15

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ralph had 5 rebounds,3 assists and 5 blocks in 20 minutes. You could say that equals at least 10 points if not 20 if the opposition is really really good which penn state isn't but still. That's decent production for the minutes. Plus, 2 of his fouls were total bull*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!# calls else he would've played more minutes and got the rebounds and points EE got.

I said it before.. once this team cuts down it's turnovers they are going to be very difficult for anyone to beat. They have 3 legit slashers, a few really good 3 point shooters, guys who can score in the post, play good team defense and a couple of big guys who can defend the rim. Just don't have that great ball handler but good passing can compensate for that and they have passed the ball very well since they are in the top 30 in the nation in assists. The future is bright for you guys!
 

Here is the difference I see in the last 2 games which have resulted in wins.
Anyone notice the score? 77 against Indiana and 80 against Penn St.

The offense has been allowed to shoot more instead of playing plow horse ball.
Anytime you take the reins off and allow the offense to get in scoring grooves you can win.

Them that scores the most wins --- Every time
 

notagopherfan said:
once this team gets a handle on the turnovers they are going to be hard to beat. Energetic, athletic, unselfish and hungry! Tubby has these guys bought in I think. Far from the "Tubby has lost this team" thread. Team looks crisp, hungry and well coached. All you people that bashed Tubby are crazy. This team has a ton of upside and you can see it happening right before you. Give it some time!
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+1
 

Tubby can point to growth on the part of Rodney and Coleman this year. He can tell the Jones family, enjoy the Tim Duncan experience (4 years, I realize unlikely), you'll be NBA ready, have a 12 year career and become the toast of the town, not unlike Mauer and Kirby. This board could become an interesting archive if Tubby can close the borders.
 

notagopherfan said:
once this team gets a handle on the turnovers they are going to be hard to beat. Energetic, athletic, unselfish and hungry! Tubby has these guys bought in I think. Far from the "Tubby has lost this team" thread. Team looks crisp, hungry and well coached. All you people that bashed Tubby are crazy. This team has a ton of upside and you can see it happening right before you. Give it some time!
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Did you happen to notice that Mav played big minutes and Coleman played moderate minutes in the close games that we lost early? Did you notice any differences in this game?
 


i can see 10 big ten wins.. split msu and wisky and you're there. Can't lose games you should win though
 

Just a few things to add:

Before Trevor went down, Williams numbers were 7.7 Pts, 54% FG, 2.7 REB, 2.6 AST, 1 BLK, 1.6 STL, .6 TO in 26 minutes
Since the injury, his numbers are 12.3 Pts, 60.4% FG, 7.9 REB, 1.9 AST, 1.8 BLK, 1.5 STL, 1.8 TO in 32 minutes

Also encouraging to me is the 3-point defense. In the past seven games, just once (Purdue) has our opponents made over 33.3% of their 3-pointers.

Like already mentioned, turnovers are the biggest thing holding this team back right now. Cut them down and I think we can go on a run.
 

nuggett said:
Here is the difference I see in the last 2 games which have resulted in wins.
Anyone notice the score? 77 against Indiana and 80 against Penn St.

The offense has been allowed to shoot more instead of playing plow horse ball.
Anytime you take the reins off and allow the offense to get in scoring grooves you can win.

Them that scores the most wins --- Every time
Click to expand...

I'm thinking this may have a little something to do with the fact that Indiana and Penn State allow more points per possession in conference games than anyone else. It's not unique to Minnesota. Gophers just played a couple of teams with crappy defenses.
 

jamalo said:
Did you happen to notice that Mav played big minutes and Coleman played moderate minutes in the close games that we lost early? Did you notice any differences in this game?
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Coleman is a stud. Trust me, Tubby will play this kid as many minutes as possible going forward because he's stepped up to the challenge. Tubby had no way of knowing that until he put him out there against great competition. He knows now though and as much as people like to say it, Tubby ain't a stupid coach. This kid will play a lot!! He's been very good the last 3 games. He'll have some ups and downs but i see more ups than downs, kid is bad ass.
 



Yes, Coleman plays with toughness and Rodney has also responded to the call of duty. As noted above, the turnovers, many of which are essentially unforced or horrible dribbling, just has to be cleaned up. Mav is just hard to figure; he plays games where he plays to his strength, driving and dishing and shooting the occasional three, and, conversely, the ugly when he struggles with his dribble, waits too long on the shot clock and then throws up a wild thing. Welch MUST start at the point and here's hoping Dre can regain his confidence. Gophs just have to live with Mav's apparent inconsistency.

On Rodney, if I were his agent, I'd say, Rodney: 12.3 and 7.9 post Trevor are decent and improved numbers. But they are humbers (humble numbers) that in a non insane NBA draft world should be second round caliber. Why not put up 15-18 ppg and 8 rpg senior year and join the first half of the first round?
 

Having read the entire list, and no love for Eliason. He was key in the second half. Blocked shots, rebounds. He rendered Penn State to a jump shooting team, drive the lane and there he was.
 

husker70 said:
Having read the entire list, and no love for Eliason. He was key in the second half. Blocked shots, rebounds. He rendered Penn State to a jump shooting team, drive the lane and there he was.
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+1 Definitely a different look with EE in the game. PSU had to stop and pop for short shots. EE seems very mobile for a big guy. Grabs the rebounds with authority - I was worried he would get called for a make-up elbow.

If I was a PSU fan, I would not be happy about the two intentional fouls.
 

husker70 said:
Having read the entire list, and no love for Eliason. He was key in the second half. Blocked shots, rebounds. He rendered Penn State to a jump shooting team, drive the lane and there he was.
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+1
 



BOUNDOUTPASSDUNK said:
Yes, Coleman plays with toughness and Rodney has also responded to the call of duty. As noted above, the turnovers, many of which are essentially unforced or horrible dribbling, just has to be cleaned up. Mav is just hard to figure; he plays games where he plays to his strength, driving and dishing and shooting the occasional three, and, conversely, the ugly when he struggles with his dribble, waits too long on the shot clock and then throws up a wild thing. Welch MUST start at the point and here's hoping Dre can regain his confidence. Gophs just have to live with Mav's apparent inconsistency.

On Rodney, if I were his agent, I'd say, Rodney: 12.3 and 7.9 post Trevor are decent and improved numbers. But they are humbers (humble numbers) that in a non insane NBA draft world should be second round caliber. Why not put up 15-18 ppg and 8 rpg senior year and join the first half of the first round?
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If Rodney has an agent, he'd have already declared for the draft. Once you hire an agent, you're gone.

But agree with your overall point, the NBA draft is extremely deep this year.
 


I think Ralph deserves some credit for a couple of excellent entry passes to Joe Coleman, it's big for a freshman to get a couple easy looks like Coleman did thanks to good looks from Ralph (and hard, strong cuts by Joe). I continue to be encouraged by the energy/effort of the Joe/Austin/Rodney trio. How nice was it to see a Gopher dominate his zone on the boards the way Eliason did today? Part of it was a favorable matchup against Penn State, but Eliason has now put together two solid games in a row. Let's hope he can build on it and not regress like he did after a similar streak he had right after Trevor went down. Rebounding as a whole was an issue, but without Eliason those second chance numbers would have been even more outrageous in favor of Penn State than they were.

My main concern coming out of this game was the Gophers guard play. Who do you trust handling the ball against pressure on this team? Julian makes the best decisions, but he's also very slow and sometimes just gets overwhelmed by speed/quickness. Andre/Chip have the quickness to not be overwhelmed, but they may be the two worst decision makers in the backcourt. Maverick gets overwhelmed by speed/quickness like Julian and is capable of the same type of turnovers that plague Andre Hollins (but not to the same degree).
 

notagopherfan said:
Coleman is a stud. Trust me, Tubby will play this kid as many minutes as possible going forward because he's stepped up to the challenge. Tubby had no way of knowing that until he put him out there against great competition. He knows now though and as much as people like to say it, Tubby ain't a stupid coach. This kid will play a lot!! He's been very good the last 3 games. He'll have some ups and downs but i see more ups than downs, kid is bad ass.
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The thing that has me encouraged is that Smith has been willing to try new things with the lineup rather than taking the "I'm Tubby Smith, dammit, and I'll do what I want" approach!!
 

Gopher in Texas said:
+1 Definitely a different look with EE in the game. PSU had to stop and pop for short shots. EE seems very mobile for a big guy. Grabs the rebounds with authority - I was worried he would get called for a make-up elbow.

If I was a PSU fan, I would not be happy about the two intentional fouls.
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I realize that Ralph gets the crap beat out of him on this board, and granted his offensive numbers tonight were not good (mostly due to his foul trouble IMO), but 5 rebounds, 5 blocks, and 3 assists in 20 minutes was definitely a factor. He was as big a presence inside tonight as EE, especially on the defensive end.

That being said, I agree. EE gave us some good inside presence on the boards and on D.
 

hendo59 said:
I realize that Ralph gets the crap beat out of him on this board, and granted his offensive numbers tonight were not good (mostly due to his foul trouble IMO), but 5 rebounds, 5 blocks, and 3 assists in 20 minutes was definitely a factor. He was as big a presence inside tonight as EE, especially on the defensive end.

That being said, I agree. EE gave us some good inside presence on the boards and on D.
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EE alters shots much more often than Ralph does. He is more active on D.

EG#9 said:
My main concern coming out of this game was the Gophers guard play. Who do you trust handling the ball against pressure on this team? Julian makes the best decisions, but he's also very slow and sometimes just gets overwhelmed by speed/quickness. Andre/Chip have the quickness to not be overwhelmed, but they may be the two worst decision makers in the backcourt. Maverick gets overwhelmed by speed/quickness like Julian and is capable of the same type of turnovers that plague Andre Hollins (but not to the same degree).
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I feel like Julian may be the best ballhandler, but he's gotta learn to pass on fast breaks. Whenever he brings it up and we have numbers, he keeps it.
 

You are absolutely correct about Dre. He is not in control yet. When he gets in control; look out! He may be the most talented player on this team. He is extremely quick and can shoot the rock. I hope he gets it together this year yet, but if not he will during the year next year. I really think his injury put him back a lot this year. He looks hearlthy now.
 

Atl Gopher said:
You are absolutely correct about Dre. He is not in control yet. When he gets in control; look out! He may be the most talented player on this team. He is extremely quick and can shoot the rock. I hope he gets it together this year yet, but if not he will during the year next year. I really think his injury put him back a lot this year. He looks hearlthy now.
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+1
 

pg

Welch doesnt run a fast break well because he's not a pg. Neither is Dre. Maverick shows some natural skills there but is too unathletic at times.

Tubby do us a favor and recruit a real pg.




I know I'm a broken record.
 

march madness said:
Welch doesnt run a fast break well because he's not a pg. Neither is Dre. Maverick shows some natural skills there but is too unathletic at times.

Tubby do us a favor and recruit a real pg.




I know I'm a broken record.
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Maybe he can turn into a good one. He's a freshman.
 

Didn't see the game, but it looks like a missed a good one. Unlike earlier Tubby editions, I think this is a team that may improve throughout the year as opposed to hitting a wall like some of his previous teams have. Here's hoping.
 

Did you watch the game last night ? Ralph blocked 5 shots and eliason 1. Ralph shut off Frazier's penetration much more effectively than Eliason. Eliason also gave up multiple second chance rebounds and multiple layups were scored in his face. Watch the game next time before commenting.
 

omniscient said:
Did you watch the game last night ? Ralph blocked 5 shots and eliason 1. Ralph shut off Frazier's penetration much more effectively than Eliason. Eliason also gave up multiple second chance rebounds and multiple layups were scored in his face. Watch the game next time before commenting.
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If this is a response to me, a block isn't the only way to effect a shot. There were multiple times where Eliason "gave up second chance rebounds" because he had to go help on a guard. And multiple layups scored in his face? 2 or 3, but you could say the same for Ralph.
 

Bryce Jordan Center was a morgue last night. No atmosphere, the only time people got somewhat loud was when they booed during the second technical call.
EE had good minutes last night, but it's hard to tell how good the big men were because Penn State has no good post players. When was the last time Psu had a good inside presence anyway?
 

My thoughts are a little more macro: That was a game that the Gophers had to win to validate the Indiana win. If they lose, they go 1-1 on the road trip and they don't really make up any ground.

At this point in the season, they are roughly where I thought they would be. I didn't think they'd win at Illinois or at Michigan. I thought they would beat Iowa at home and lose at Indiana. I thought at Penn State and Purdue were 50-50 games. That puts them at 2-4.

While the path is a little different than I expected, they are back where I thought they'd be. Lose at Penn State and they are still behind in my eyes.
 

Atl Gopher said:
You are absolutely correct about Dre. He is not in control yet. When he gets in control; look out! He may be the most talented player on this team. He is extremely quick and can shoot the rock. I hope he gets it together this year yet, but if not he will during the year next year. I really think his injury put him back a lot this year. He looks hearlthy now.
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I really believe Dre will be a stud for us given some time, but fans are impatient. He's a true Freshman & he's been slowed by ankle & hip injuries all season.
 


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