BleedGopher
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Doogie had Mike Ellis, who is the Senior Associate AD (and in charge of men's and women's basketball, reporting directly to Teague) on again last night. Here is a sampling of what he had to say. This is not verbatim, but it is close on the areas of greatest interest. Here is a link to the podcast page:
http://www.1500espn.com/ondemand/
Ellis on team right now…You have to be realistic. Our wins and losses are pretty solid. We’re losing to good teams and we’re beating the teams we’re supposed to. We need a breakthrough. We need to make something go our way. We’ve been competitive. We haven’t been great at times which I will admit and I think Coach Smith will as well.
Ellis on the Northwestern loss…Everyone has a tough loss. Kansas just lost to TCU. The problem is if you are going to be one of those people (top teams) you have to beat one of those people (contender). Only if you beat one of those people are you in that conversation. If you are a glass half full guy you can say we’re capable. I know what we’re capable of. I have to hope and believe that we can get back to that level of play.
Ellis on how the team is playing…We all see what we want to see. You make your own judgements and some of it is absolutely fair. Even when you win there is that. It’s human nature. I have done of some of that myself. There is no ugly win but there is ugly play within wins. We look like a team right now that is struggling with confidence. You have to walk out with a mindset that this is our time. I don’t know that our guys go out with that mindset. They don’t play confident.
Ellis on sustained stretches without a FG for Gophers offense…I think we have a lack of attack mentality and it goes back to confidence. When you make a game a game of jump shots you don’t win a lot of those games. There is a large measure of frustration of us not attacking. Joe has a big body, he has to attack the paint. I’m growing to appreciate Trevor in the post. He is a crafty veteran down there using angles. We have to go there more. The ball has to get to the paint in some form or fashion. When you start to score there it becomes self-fulfilling.
Ellis on who is more at fault of Trevor not getting the ball…It’s a bit of everything. We’re not patient enough. We take a quick look and then look away. You have to have the courage to throw the ball in there and Trevor has to seal and finish. It’s not one guys fault, it’s a shared responsibility of the unit.
Ellis on John Beilein being a good recruiter...He understands the system on what kind of player he needs for his system. At Michigan he’s recruiting better athletes than he was a Richmond and West Virginia. He brings in bright kids. They spread the floor better than any basketball team. They make defenses make choices. He’s a heck of a coach.
Plenty of more in the interview, but those are some of the highlights.
Go Gophers!!
http://www.1500espn.com/ondemand/
Ellis on team right now…You have to be realistic. Our wins and losses are pretty solid. We’re losing to good teams and we’re beating the teams we’re supposed to. We need a breakthrough. We need to make something go our way. We’ve been competitive. We haven’t been great at times which I will admit and I think Coach Smith will as well.
Ellis on the Northwestern loss…Everyone has a tough loss. Kansas just lost to TCU. The problem is if you are going to be one of those people (top teams) you have to beat one of those people (contender). Only if you beat one of those people are you in that conversation. If you are a glass half full guy you can say we’re capable. I know what we’re capable of. I have to hope and believe that we can get back to that level of play.
Ellis on how the team is playing…We all see what we want to see. You make your own judgements and some of it is absolutely fair. Even when you win there is that. It’s human nature. I have done of some of that myself. There is no ugly win but there is ugly play within wins. We look like a team right now that is struggling with confidence. You have to walk out with a mindset that this is our time. I don’t know that our guys go out with that mindset. They don’t play confident.
Ellis on sustained stretches without a FG for Gophers offense…I think we have a lack of attack mentality and it goes back to confidence. When you make a game a game of jump shots you don’t win a lot of those games. There is a large measure of frustration of us not attacking. Joe has a big body, he has to attack the paint. I’m growing to appreciate Trevor in the post. He is a crafty veteran down there using angles. We have to go there more. The ball has to get to the paint in some form or fashion. When you start to score there it becomes self-fulfilling.
Ellis on who is more at fault of Trevor not getting the ball…It’s a bit of everything. We’re not patient enough. We take a quick look and then look away. You have to have the courage to throw the ball in there and Trevor has to seal and finish. It’s not one guys fault, it’s a shared responsibility of the unit.
Ellis on John Beilein being a good recruiter...He understands the system on what kind of player he needs for his system. At Michigan he’s recruiting better athletes than he was a Richmond and West Virginia. He brings in bright kids. They spread the floor better than any basketball team. They make defenses make choices. He’s a heck of a coach.
Plenty of more in the interview, but those are some of the highlights.
Go Gophers!!
