The 5 spot next season

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Bayfieldgopher

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This could be nightmare material for the serious Gopher fan. Thus far EE and Mo haven't done much and one of them needs to start showing some of the qualities that Tubby has been vocal about in the past. If we can get 6ppg and 8 boards between them, play OK D, stay out of foul trouble, and take care of the ball, count us fortunate.

Step it up boys.
 

No doubt that the front-court looks to be the biggest issue for next year. There is a ton of PT available for a capable 4/5 either for a JUCO or a ready-to-contribute HS senior.

Go Gophers!!
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
This could be nightmare material for the serious Gopher fan. Thus far EE and Mo haven't done much and one of them needs to start showing some of the qualities that Tubby has been vocal about in the past. If we can get 6ppg and 8 boards between them, play OK D, stay out of foul trouble, and take care of the ball, count us fortunate.

Step it up boys.
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I am not too worried. A lot of guys stepped up and improved this past summer- Rodney, Andre, Austin, Mav among them. I would guess Elliason will as well by next year. Mo has to lose another 30 or 40 pounds and I'm hoping that's what he's going to do. If those two improve, I think Buggs and Ellenson will be plug and play and we will be good again- maybe not as good, but still a real nice team.
 

It's a concern, but I don't think it'll be as bad as maybe you're thinking. Eliason has shown flashes of pretty solid play. Consistency is an issue. It just might be a matter of committee work. Some nights EE will have it going, sometimes it's gonna be Big Mo beasting on some fools. Alex Foster I'm guessing will likely have to play pending who our 3rd commit ends up being. Buggs hopefully will have bulked up enough to contribute at the 4 a little bit, along with Oto. Our front line is not gonna be as intimidating next year, no question about it.

BUT, experienced guards will take you places, and we will most definitely have that with the Hollins guys both upperclassmen, senior Mav, junior Coleman, and then Ellenson will not have some experience under his belt. I think that will be as big a factor as any as to where we can go next season.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
This could be nightmare material for the serious Gopher fan. Thus far EE and Mo haven't done much and one of them needs to start showing some of the qualities that Tubby has been vocal about in the past. If we can get 6ppg and 8 boards between them, play OK D, stay out of foul trouble, and take care of the ball, count us fortunate.

Step it up boys.
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EE is a lock for starting at the 5 next year, and he is no nightmare. Not all centers have to score a lot, in fact most don't.
 


IF Mo can lose weight, I think he could be pretty good. He's a great passer, has good hands, and soft touch. He's just too slow and out of shape right now, but losing some weight could make him a good player.
 

GophersOnTheRise said:
IF Mo can lose weight, I think he could be pretty good. He's a great passer, has good hands, and soft touch. He's just too slow and out of shape right now, but losing some weight could make him a good player.
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Mo's got such a nice touch around the basket but is so slow it is painfull to even watch him on the court, I'm still hoping that will be a strength next year with Eliason and a reshaped Walker.
 

WILLBGOPHER said:
EE is a lock for starting at the 5 next year, and he is no nightmare. Not all centers have to score a lot, in fact most don't.
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And big guy's develop slower, and he's shown a lot of improvement thus far. No reason to think he won't be a very good C as an upperclassman.
 

GophersOnTheRise said:
IF Mo can lose weight, I think he could be pretty good. He's a great passer, has good hands, and soft touch. He's just too slow and out of shape right now, but losing some weight could make him a good player.
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He also needs to bring it hard under the basket. On two occasions against NDSU he put up some booby soft finger roll garbage in traffic that got swatted away by guy's half his size. I don't know if he's always that soft, or if he's just so out of shape he can't even dunk right now?
 



Costa Rican Gopher said:
He also needs to bring it hard under the basket. On two occasions against NDSU he put up some booby soft finger roll garbage in traffic that got swatted away by guy's half his size. I don't know if he's always that soft, or if he's just so out of shape he can't even dunk right now?
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I think alot of it is the knee, he is definately out of shape but he was that way his Freshman year also, he has no explosion whatsover, with the knee I think he has to get into shape or he will just not be effective where before he could get by.
 

I shall interject here...So many experts, so little expertise. good discussions tho.
 


I too am worried about the 5 spot next season. I question how much some of you have seen game-wise this year. EE has brought almost nothing to the table. He struggles against 6' 6'' non-athletic big men. When I say struggle, I mean they score at will and he is nowhere to be found on the offensive end. I also think it's silly to think Mo will go out and lose 30 lbs going into next season... Just silly....
 







If EE can just be as good as he was as a redshirt freshman, it won't be a disaster. He's taken a step back, but it's not the first sophmore slump in history. Give him a few more games before hitting the panic button.
 

EE will be fine. He played well last year, he'll play well this year. Huge Mo has been disappointing, but realistically we don't need much from him this year. I'll be very surprised if he doesn't round into a pretty good player by yearend.
 

Maybe EE starting and Schilling coming in as a Frosh?
 

I'd wager that EE will be in the running for most improved player next year...and will show "spurts" of very good play during the B1G season this year.
 

EE is clumsy, has poor footwork, is not very athletic and lacks quickness. Those things don't really change much with experience. Plus he can be prone to foul trouble and his moves around the basket are feeble.

Will he be a serviceable center? Maybe, but my call is he & Mo will be the weak links on next years squad.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
EE is clumsy, has poor footwork, is not very athletic and lacks quickness. Those things don't really change much with experience. Plus he can be prone to foul trouble and his moves around the basket are feeble.

Will he be a serviceable center? Maybe, but my call is he & Mo will be the weak links on next years squad.
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Bobby Knight would disagree with you. Every Gopher center I have ever seen play as well as EE did as a frosh played in the NBA.
 

howieramone said:
Bobby Knight would disagree with you. Every Gopher center I have ever seen play as well as EE did as a frosh played in the NBA.
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I can agree with that, somewhat. Bob Martin comes to mind as a guy who took awhile to really come along.

When i started a thread early in the season making observations about EE's strength and conditioning (i pointed out that he looked more slim than i'd hoped) a few people wanted to jump all over me. I think now, you have to consider that he really could stand to bulk up a little bit as he does seem to get pushed around more than you'd like. It would be encouraging if he could get onto a workout program with the football team's coach, Eric Klein, who seems to have a pretty good measure of that sort of thing. Does the basketball team even HAVE a strength coach?
 

Yeah, I saw in an article somewhere that they have a strength coach. I think the one they have currently hasn't been around for long, and I don't know if they had one before now.
 

Bryce Webster said:
I also think it's silly to think Mo will go out and lose 30 lbs going into next season... Just silly....
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I concur. Anyone who thinks Mo is going to lose more than 20lbs at best, is probably dreaming. Regardless, there have been several big bodied but skill type players who've found success in the Big10 over the years. (Robert Traylor, anyone?) If he can get his endurance and quickness up to par, he won't necessarily need to shed a lot of actual weight.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
EE is clumsy, has poor footwork, is not very athletic and lacks quickness. Those things don't really change much with experience. Plus he can be prone to foul trouble and his moves around the basket are feeble.

Will he be a serviceable center? Maybe, but my call is he & Mo will be the weak links on next years squad.
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How did EE do against FSU this year. Dude has very good foot quickness for a true 7 footer. He will look better against the bigger 5s in the B10. Not easy for him to guard the smaller guy for NDSU, who would be more of a 3 or 4 in high major BBall.

Not worried at all about EE. He only needs to be the 5th scoring option when he is on the floor, and he knows his role.
 

WhoFellDownTheGopherHole? said:
I concur. Anyone who thinks Mo is going to lose more than 20lbs at best, is probably dreaming. Regardless, there have been several big bodied but skill type players who've found success in the Big10 over the years. (Robert Traylor, anyone?) If he can get his endurance and quickness up to par, he won't necessarily need to shed a lot of actual weight.
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How exactly is he supposed to do that without shedding the weight? The thought of that happening is way more ridiculous than the thought of Mo losing weight.
 

WhoFellDownTheGopherHole? said:
I concur. Anyone who thinks Mo is going to lose more than 20lbs at best, is probably dreaming. Regardless, there have been several big bodied but skill type players who've found success in the Big10 over the years. (Robert Traylor, anyone?) If he can get his endurance and quickness up to par, he won't necessarily need to shed a lot of actual weight.
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I dont think comparing the skill set of Mo to the Tractor is a valid compairson in any way, shape, or form...Traylor was a dominant player in the B10 and Mo gets minimal minutes...although they both are overweight.
 

gopherbadgerman said:
I dont think comparing the skill set of Mo to the Tractor is a valid compairson in any way, shape, or form...Traylor was a dominant player in the B10 and Mo gets minimal minutes...although they both are overweight.
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I don't know. Comparing them in shape seems pretty legitimate.
 

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