Ogee Ogilthorpe
Over Macho Grande?
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2008
- Messages
- 19,630
- Reaction score
- 12,367
- Points
- 113
First things first: The Gophers yesterday played against a team that
1) was playing with an ENORMOUS amount of energy and adrenaline yesterday, probably moreso than most teams do, even in their season home opener under a new energetic regime. Adrenaline can carry you a long ways and yesterday, it carried the Orange for the first half.
2) the Gophers had virtually NO CLUE what to gameplan for, offensively or defensively, in preparing for the Cuse
Back to Paulus;
People are forgetting that this guy is 23 years old. He also spent the last FOUR years playing under one of the biggest microscopes in the nation in college basketball. You can't put a price on that kind of experience and preparation. He was older than virtually every guy on the field. I played 4 years of college football and I KNOW that if I went back at age 26 or so, even with HALF the athleticism I had at 19, I would have been a SIGNIFICANTLY better player.
Let's also not forget that he threw the ball more than 6-8 yards downfield maybe 3 or 4 times all day; one was to a WIDE WIDE WIDE open receiver and another was his last pass, that could have been picked off by half the Gophers' defense.
Paulus played yesterday with the kind of poise and confidence that I would have expected from a 23-yr old who spent the last 4 years playing PG at Duke University. And Syracuse played yesterday with the kind of adrenaline and enthusiasm that I would have expected from a team that's traditionally been in the toilet and is looking for something to believe in in a new coaching staff.
At the end of the day, a win is a win, time to move on...
1) was playing with an ENORMOUS amount of energy and adrenaline yesterday, probably moreso than most teams do, even in their season home opener under a new energetic regime. Adrenaline can carry you a long ways and yesterday, it carried the Orange for the first half.
2) the Gophers had virtually NO CLUE what to gameplan for, offensively or defensively, in preparing for the Cuse
Back to Paulus;
People are forgetting that this guy is 23 years old. He also spent the last FOUR years playing under one of the biggest microscopes in the nation in college basketball. You can't put a price on that kind of experience and preparation. He was older than virtually every guy on the field. I played 4 years of college football and I KNOW that if I went back at age 26 or so, even with HALF the athleticism I had at 19, I would have been a SIGNIFICANTLY better player.
Let's also not forget that he threw the ball more than 6-8 yards downfield maybe 3 or 4 times all day; one was to a WIDE WIDE WIDE open receiver and another was his last pass, that could have been picked off by half the Gophers' defense.
Paulus played yesterday with the kind of poise and confidence that I would have expected from a 23-yr old who spent the last 4 years playing PG at Duke University. And Syracuse played yesterday with the kind of adrenaline and enthusiasm that I would have expected from a team that's traditionally been in the toilet and is looking for something to believe in in a new coaching staff.
At the end of the day, a win is a win, time to move on...
