Post Nebraska Win: What's most satisfying besides the wins? Pitino: The wins...

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Here are some post-game notes, as always, not verbatim. Loving that 8 game winning streak, now we just need to make it 9!!!

Tim Miles:
• Tonight they just got us inside, we didn't have a great match-up for Murphy after Jacobson went out. We couldn’t keep Reggie off the baseline. He did such a good job protecting the rim. You can't be that ineffective, 33% at the rim, but they had something to do with that.
• Miles on Nebraska player confidence: These young guys, their confidence goes about as long as their timeline on Twitter. I didn't see a real strong voice out there.
• Talk about last year when you were up on the Gophers- Miles: Yeah, we were up 38 points. I use that in recruiting, not anymore.
• They're our neighbors, well, they're closer than Rutgers.
• Miles on a saying he learned from his days at Southwest - As I walk through the Valley of Death, I should fear no evil…that's what Murphy looks like, Mason looks like, tough minded, play aggressive, nothing gets to them.
• I knew MN would be better, I knew what Amir could bring to the table, I knew what Richard and Ben thought of Reggie - I still blame Pat Dorsey for letting him to go IL St - I thought he was a game changer. The big thing was bringing Springs late, because McBrayer wasn't showing that 3 consistently, Mason wasn't either. We probably should of doubled Murphy earlier. They make you make a lot of tough decisions. Tonight, we didn't make enough good ones.

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Pitino:
• I look at what we went through, there's a lot of players that would have transferred, and all those guys believed we were going to be better, and took ownership. People run off the hills with us, and I don't blame them. We said "this is on us" to fix.
• McBrayer - He's been terrific, he was terrific again tonight, a great dunk I'm sure he's excited about, we've got great depth. I think Dupree will explode next year when he puts on a little weight.
• Pitino on Murphy: He's knowing who he is. He's rebounding the ball, had some really good dunks, I thought he was terrific. It's just a mentality switch. When we spoke about it, I gave him the truth as I saw it. Some people fight it and he didn’t' fight it. It's him that did it.
• Most satisfying - The wins have been really good. I like to say it's been effecting people's lives, but it's the wins. Their chemistry is really evolving, they like being around each other, playing with each other. They're committed to getting better. I've been on some runs, and it ends and goes away, so you need to enjoy the journey.
• Mason - he was really good, he just found a way to get buy guys, he was crafty with the ball and at the rim. As tough as last year was, that was good for him.
• Selflessness - 4 games in a row of 80+ points, they're sharing it. Guys are looking for each other, you can tell these guys like playing with each other.
• I thought we were playing good basketball, we didn't play in that 1st loss against MSU, but other than that, we were playing good basketball. The thing I'm the most proud of is that our guys kept their poise.
• Sid: Hey, are you going to arrange with your Dad…Pitino: He just lost, he's in a bad mood. I'm going to try. ]

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Nate Mason:
• Akeem helped me a lot, he helped Murphy a lot. He's one of the greatest leaders I've been around.
• We've gotta beat Wisconsin (he said this over again).
• Selfless play - We're all just clicking right now, we started in Feb/March, that comes with a lot of repetition and practice.

Jordan Murphy:
• Impact of the front court - Nebraska has some really good rebounding bigs, after a while, we just had to make a competitive adjustment. It was going to be a war, we knew that coming in.
• On his game changing - I just had to figure out where my real identity was on the team. It came with rebounding. I'm a pretty good rebounder. I think I was fighting it a little bit, Coach told me I was going to be a lot happier if I focused on things I'm good at.
• On his 1st dunk - It was just a big mental thing, get the energy going with the crowd. I guess that's what I was thinking.
• Coming from last year, you can see the growth that we've had over the last year, the returners never forget last season.


Dick Jonckowski signs off for the final time after 31 years behind the mic:

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The crowd was awesome. The team performed and I LOVED getting the seniors (Haugh) in for some playing time.
 

Great job, Nadine - thanks for the quotes and video.
We caught the radio interview with Nate and he talked about how much Akeem helped him become a more vocal and confident leader. Chemistry is an interesting thing. Springs was a great addition, maybe key. We'll miss him, but I think he got the job done. It's cool when you see a situation that turns out to be a total win-win for all concerned! (btw - I'd give a lot of the credit for that to Pitino)
 

I'm noticing a direct correlation between how well the team plays to how well journalists, bloggers, etc cover them. I can't imagine the support this team is capable of getting if they string together some really strong years. MPLS has to be the 2nd largest market in conference behind OSU. Suddenly Gophs are in a position to be a gravy train for national sport's media companies. I'm a little nervous when liking Minnesota goes main stream and stops being a hip underground scene. I just know the more out of left field that the first(and maybe last) national championship comes from the sweeter it will be.

Great stuff as always GL.

So Miles would gloat about blowing out the Gophs to recruits ](I have no problem with that) when we were floating in irrelevancy but is going to stop doing it now they're nationally relevant? I don't understand his logic. Maybe his new pitch will be sharing his remarkable expertise he learned after their loss to Gardner-Webb?
 



The selfless passing of this team reminds me of the old Celtics of the 50's and 60's. I find myself rewinding certain plays over and over again in slow motion because I can't believe what I'm seeing. This is my favorite team since the Mark Olberding, Mark Landsberger et al team of Musselman's final year. Better I think than the Dutcher teams. Really fun basketball and the bench is getting stronger. Take away Springs & bring in Jelly and we will really have something.
 


NYC does not count because Rutger's are not a professional team. I live less than 100 miles from NYC and trust me, half of the city doesn't know what a Rutgers is. Rutgers is only big in NJ. Even in NJ they're a running joke.

As far as declaring MPLS larger than Columbus, I just assumed it was because Columbus is the largest city in a state with probably more house hold name cities than any state, specially sports fans.

Who cares, my point was that for once we can reap the benefits from uncommonly being a big time sport's university located directly in a major metro area as a positive rather than having it feel like a burden.
 

The selfless passing of this team reminds me of the old Celtics of the 50's and 60's. I find myself rewinding certain plays over and over again in slow motion because I can't believe what I'm seeing. This is my favorite team since the Mark Olberding, Mark Landsberger et al team of Musselman's final year. Better I think than the Dutcher teams. Really fun basketball and the bench is getting stronger. Take away Springs & bring in Jelly and we will really have something.

For the first time ever when I watch teams play from 'better' conferences I can't help but think how lazy their play is. Most ACC and Big 12 games look like double A NBA basketball. Yuck. No defense, no hustle, no physical play, relying too heavily on 3s...which is great considering we might have the best 3 point defense in the country. It seems forever ago when Tim Hardaway Jr or insert best shooter from any team would light up Tubby's D and have five 3pt by half time.
 



I find myself rewinding certain plays over and over again in slow motion because I can't believe what I'm seeing.
The Coffey to Curry to Lynch for the dunk was a fantastic play. I watched that about 10 times just now.
 

The Coffey to Curry to Lynch for the dunk was a fantastic play. I watched that about 10 times just now.
Man I can totally relate. I've grown used to taking care of business so wins are not as exciting but earlier in the year after a some of our wins, specially at the barn, I would rewatch the same 3 highlights for like an hour. I would probably still be watching Springs 3 vs Wisconsin but we lost, so it took me like 2 weeks to finally watch the replay. The power that these Gophs have over chumps like us is real....and awesome!
 

The Coffey to Curry to Lynch for the dunk was a fantastic play. I watched that about 10 times just now.

Coffey is so underrated as a passer. He has made a number of passes this year that show how awesome his court vision is. There was another one in the game that was Coffey to Dupree to Murphy for the dunk. Even when he is not scoring a ton Coffey manages to have a big impact on the game.
 

Thank you for another great summary, GL.
 



Coffey is so underrated as a passer. He has made a number of passes this year that show how awesome his court vision is. There was another one in the game that was Coffey to Dupree to Murphy for the dunk. Even when he is not scoring a ton Coffey manages to have a big impact on the game.

I'm starting to think there's a rhyme to the reason Coffey usually goes into half time with less than 8 points, last few games has been without a FG. He knows he can score and will do it if his team needs him, but the kid is from a dominate basketball family and understands the impact he can have on a game without ever taking a shot. His passing ability was one of the first things that I noticed about him early in the year. He's a special, special player who if had the same attitude of Kris Humphries could average 16-18 points a game. His ego is in check and if it gets out of line he's got a hell of a father to help him out.
 

I'm noticing a direct correlation between how well the team plays to how well journalists, bloggers, etc cover them. I can't imagine the support this team is capable of getting if they string together some really strong years. MPLS has to be the 2nd largest market in conference behind OSU. Suddenly Gophs are in a position to be a gravy train for national sport's media companies. I'm a little nervous when liking Minnesota goes main stream and stops being a hip underground scene. I just know the more out of left field that the first(and maybe last) national championship comes from the sweeter it will be.

Great stuff as always GL.

So Miles would gloat about blowing out the Gophs to recruits ](I have no problem with that) when we were floating in irrelevancy but is going to stop doing it now they're nationally relevant? I don't understand his logic. Maybe his new pitch will be sharing his remarkable expertise he learned after their loss to Gardner-Webb?

Oh my gosh - that media room used to be EMPTY. Today is was packed to the max.

Miles made the joke that they were up by by 38 points (was it that bad) that's what he jokingly bragged about, and since they were down all day today, couldn't brag about that being up to the Gophers.

Great job, Nadine - thanks for the quotes and video.
We caught the radio interview with Nate and he talked about how much Akeem helped him become a more vocal and confident leader. Chemistry is an interesting thing. Springs was a great addition, maybe key. We'll miss him, but I think he got the job done. It's cool when you see a situation that turns out to be a total win-win for all concerned! (btw - I'd give a lot of the credit for that to Pitino)

You're welcome! I have a lot more, but I think I recorded 4GB of video, and my phone just shut down and is re-booting and repopulating.

I think Springs will be missed more than we know - not just his on court contributions, but truly, his leadership.

For the first time ever when I watch teams play from 'better' conferences I can't help but think how lazy their play is. Most ACC and Big 12 games look like double A NBA basketball. Yuck. No defense, no hustle, no physical play, relying too heavily on 3s...which is great considering we might have the best 3 point defense in the country. It seems forever ago when Tim Hardaway Jr or insert best shooter from any team would light up Tubby's D and have five 3pt by half time.

I think the Big 10 will really surprise come tourney time!

Thank you for another great summary, GL.

You're welcome! I do it all for you, Dr. Don :).
 




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