Post Game Pitino - Murphy is either high-motor Murph, or low-motor Murph...

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The thing with Buggs is he lacks the confidence. Like when he makes a mistake (usually a bad mistake) you will see him instantly put his head down and be upset at himself. A lot of that is his personality, and a lot of that is probably from Coaches not trusting him after his mistakes. This year, Pitino seems more forgiving towards Buggs, and we can see he is gaining confidence. He is actually a decent shooter, and his athletic ability is the best on the whole team. One thing I don't like about his game is his style, even when he jumps up for a rebound, you see him exaggerate his jump. Or when he makes a pass, he does the extra "umph" to make it look good. I don't know how to explain it other than saying exaggerate. It's kind of like a swagger... but he just hasn't learned how to control it yet. I love Buggs though, as no one has ever given him a chance, and I've always said that in my opinion, he just needs game experience. Glad Pitino is giving him that chance.

About Murphy... I think it just needs to click in his head that he can compete at this level. I think a lot of players come into their first year unsure if they can compete or not. But I think the more Murphy plays and excels, the more he will know that he can play at this level. You can just see "IT" in Murphy, like you could see "IT" in Mason last year. Dorsey isn't too bad either, but I'm glad they have this year to learn... Next year, we should be a top 25 team!
 

MadtownGopher said:
I'm not sure I've read a single negative thing about Buggs on GH yet this season. So I'm not sure what you are talking about. I think everyone here acknowledges the huge strides he's taken and how exciting his game has become.
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Apparently we're reading different message boards. Besides this last game, Jimmy and I account for probably about half of his positive comments. I don't see how it's possible that you haven't read a single negative thing about Buggs yet this season.
 

Tim1406 said:
I think Pitino is trying to tell Buggs that how he played yesterday should be the base level he has and he should be able to put up some amazing take-over-the-game type performances.
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True. Pitino definitely recognizes his talent. It just seems to me that he voices his frustrations about him (sometimes in subtle ways) relatively frequently to the media. I guess we don't see what Pitino does. He has often questioned Buggs's commitment/passion for basketball.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
I watch him play and I think he could be the best mens league player in the history of mens league. I don't anticipate him to ever "take over a game" as someone else posted, it's just not his personality, and thats tough to change.
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Hahaha, that's exactly why I could see him go relatively unnoticed in a good men's league other than some highlight dunks and blocks. If you put Russell Westbrook's heart inside Buggs you'd have a hell of a player. I guess you could say that about a lot of players though.
 



cjbfbp said:
I wouldn't say that I recall Murphy playing with a "low motor" this year. I would just say that he was turbocharged against Clemson.
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Contesting shots and defensive rebounds he has had a low motor at times. I don't think we will see it a ton going forward though.
 


alchemy2u said:
I agree. I think Pitino expects a lot more out of Buggs and he plans to get it out of him.

Mark my words: Buggs will play in the NBA! Like Pitino says, he doesn't know how good he really is.... He I


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If Kevin Burleson can sit on the end of an NBA bench for a year or two, anything is possible. Buggs had a very nice game against a school that we've heard of but that does not mean "NBA." If he keeps progressing I think he can get a job in a mid level league overseas and make $75-$100K a year. That would be an excellent outcome.
 

My two cents on Buggs and his potential that everyone sees is that Buggs needs to use his long wingspan on defense (he constantly has his arms down on defense) and he tends to be a second or two late on defensive rotations. No pun intended, but these are the things that bug me about Buggs.
 



He does try for the spectacular play ground plays. He needs a little more dirty work to his game to become more well rounded. Toughness, no-nonsense. Very few people could stop him if he would face up from 15 and drive hard.
 

I am glad to see that some are coming around on Charles, or at least being more open minded. Tubby Smith told me after his RS year that he thought he could be a pro. Pitino has stated similar publicly as well. And the word is that NBA scouts have taken some notice. He should be a pro on some level.

In some respects, he needs more of a "chip" so to speak. Those close to him have told him this before. The thing is...he is an incredibly respectful and unselfish person - too much so at times on the basketball court. He is a college kid and will put yes sir and thank you sir into text messages - all the time. It was nice to see him more dominant in the 2nd half vs. Clemson. Part of it is that the teammates and coaches need to feed him and press him to do that, imo. He also has to have that fire, and he does, even if it does not always look like it. He often wants to set his teammates up - he can overpass, and that has been an issue since HS. Though he can also be a great passer - Jay Bilas actually noted that in the Louisville game last season.

Besides being very athletic, he is an excellent shooter. YTD - 55% FG, 47% 3 pt, 83% FT. 180 is a number that has been used as a benchmark for a pure scorer (adding all 3 together). Charles is at 185 right now. He really needs to get to the FT line more, which would result from being more aggressive. I wish they would call more plays directly to him. We would do that for him in summer ball - face him up against a big man, and let him attack or pull up for a jumper. He fouled out Isaiah Austin doing this. There are some very simple NBA-type sets that could allow for that. We had one specific set that we would call a lot that would allow him to face up on the wing or at the FT line off of some simple action - but it was intentional action to put him in a certain spot, with the ball, facing his defender and the rim.

I hope that fans will continue to support Charles, and also stick with him through mistakes. I agree with those stating that Pitino has allowed him to play through mistakes this year, and I feel that is of great benefit to him. I loved seeing Pitino stick with him the 2nd half versus Clemson, and it paid off.

From a team perspective, I feel that Buggs/King/Murphy can be a really solid core, and that this team can be very good offensively. if the Gophers can defend and rebound better, they could still surprise people. The BiG will certainly be very good - but teams like Wisky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio St are all very beatable, plus you have Rutgers, Penn St, NW, and Nebraska. Protect the home court and steal a few on the road. Yes, the team is young - but there is a season to play now.

Keep the faith in Charles and in the team - and hopefully this year can surprise people.
 

and let's get those guys a game in the state of Texas next season! Texas, Baylor, or SMU would be ideal. Texas aTm if they have to. Allows family to attend, and visibility in a talent-rich state. UNC is at Texas for that reason, and many other schools do this as well. Almost all schools will schedule a “home game” for recruits from out of state. Charles’ former teammate from Yale just played at SMU for that reason, and Yale played in Nashville last season for another player. When you have Murphy and Buggs both, and when it is Texas which is full of recruits, this should be a given. Make it happen!
 

Here's my theory on helping what ails Buggs and I'm sticking to it for at least today.

Take one of the upcoming South Dakota games and tell Buggs that he has to score 30 points in the game. Shoot just about every time you touch the ball (well, maybe within reason). Tell him he has to score at least 20. Convince him he is 'the guy' for at least one game. Then see what happens.

I think the same self-help method also could be used for Morris (but the part about 'within reason' should be given more emphasis).

edit - this method should not be applied for Buggs and Morris in the same game.
 




rrjackIII said:
Here's my theory on helping what ails Buggs and I'm sticking to it for at least today.

Take one of the upcoming South Dakota games and tell Buggs that he has to score 30 points in the game. Shoot just about every time you touch the ball (well, maybe within reason). Tell him he has to score at least 20. Convince him he is 'the guy' for at least one game. Then see what happens.

I think the same self-help method also could be used for Morris (but the part about 'within reason' should be given more emphasis).

edit - this method should not be applied for Buggs and Morris in the same game.
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I like this idea for Buggs a lot.

Jimmy Chitwood - every time I see one of Buggs' long strides, I think of what you posted on here a few years ago, that you guys used to make him go from half court to the hoop taking only two dribbles and crazy long strides. It's clear that that drill has paid off for him as he can cover an insane amount of court in a quick amount of time.

Go Gophers!!
 

Jimmy, do you think Buggs has the ability to incorporate a spin move on his drives or would that just lead to more turnovers and missed shots? A guy with his size and athleticism can just destroy in college with a good spin move. Evan Turner wasn't nearly as big or athletic and basically all he did was drive as hard as he could to his right and if it wasn't there then he would spin back or else find a teammate for an open shot from drawing so much attention. That's my hope for Charles but we've seen him dribble the ball so little in difficult situations that I have no clue if that's something he could pull off.
 

I think a jump stop would be easier and it doesn't require the great ball handling and footwork.
Evan Turner wasn't just an average athlete, but he was super skilled.
 

That is funny about the drill - had forgotten about that. We did that with all of our players to encourage them to take the ball to the rim without wasting dribbles. It certainly helps that Charles has the athletic gifts that he does. It was fun to watch that game-sealing dunk (and I am glad that he did not get hurt on the camera man).

It is honestly hard for me to say about a spin move. That is not something that we ever worked on with our players, but it is an interesting concept. My main thought on Charles is that he is best facing up, but I could certainly see where that is a move that he could add to his game in a face up situation.

I am excited to watch the rest of this season, and I hope that the Gophers can surprise people. I definitely believe that this team has great offensive potential. Have to defend and rebound better...no doubt. But there is no reason that this team cannot win some games in BiG play, if they play up to their potential.
 


rrjackIII said:
Here's my theory on helping what ails Buggs and I'm sticking to it for at least today.

Take one of the upcoming South Dakota games and tell Buggs that he has to score 30 points in the game. Shoot just about every time you touch the ball (well, maybe within reason). Tell him he has to score at least 20. Convince him he is 'the guy' for at least one game. Then see what happens.

I think the same self-help method also could be used for Morris (but the part about 'within reason' should be given more emphasis).

edit - this method should not be applied for Buggs and Morris in the same game.
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I agree on Buggs, and disagree on Morris. In fact, I think Morris needs the opposite. He had all of last year with a long leash due to our limited roster. But this year he needs to earn him time on the court.

Buggs has a block and needs to push and work his way through it. The lack of expectations for this team gives Pitino the room to do so for him, and to give the freshmen room i.e. putting all three of them on the court together against Clemson to turn up the pressure.
 

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