The good and the bad

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bga1

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First- this is a terrible loss- no getting around it. Out coached out hustled and outplayed.

The good:

Elliot's play - he played hard and well and shows he has a future
Glimpses of improvement from Mo Walker
The start of the game showed better ball movement and they got the ball inside - for their efforts they got off to a 12 point lead
There was a stretch in the second half where we had a nice little run where Andre started penetrating- he has to do a lot more of that

The bad
When we got off to the 12 point lead we were playing great and had a chance to really out them away. Illinois was on the ropes. Tubby chose to go to 4 subs and we never got back the feeling we had at the start of the game- big error
Seems basic that you take away the other team's strength- instead we allow them to shoot wide open threes all night. The only thing they are good at and it's the one thing we didn't deny them.
The failure to call time outs to stop runs or to get the all sub lineup out of ther in the second half when Illinois made a run
The joyless, passionless manner in which this team now plays the game. Reminiscent of -well, the last 5 years, save for preseason games and last year's euphoric NIT run.
 

bga1 said:
First- this is a terrible loss- no getting around it. Out coached out hustled and outplayed.

The good:

Elliot's play - he played hard and well and shows he has a future
Glimpses of improvement from Mo Walker
The start of the game showed better ball movement and they got the ball inside - for their efforts they got off to a 12 point lead
There was a stretch in the second half where we had a nice little run where Andre started penetrating- he has to do a lot more of that

The bad
When we got off to the 12 point lead we were playing great and had a chance to really out them away. Illinois was on the ropes. Tubby chose to go to 4 subs and we never got back the feeling we had at the start of the game- big error
Seems basic that you take away the other team's strength- instead we allow them to shoot wide open threes all night. The only thing they are good at and it's the one thing we didn't deny them.
The failure to call time outs to stop runs or to get the all sub lineup out of ther in the second half when Illinois made a run
The joyless, passionless manner in which this team now plays the game. Reminiscent of -well, the last 5 years, save for preseason games and last year's euphoric NIT run.
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This shouldn't be lost on us as fans. The Goose played his heart out, showed some good vision, and I thought played a solid all-around game. Plus, I loved his post-game comment about how he can't feel too good about a personal performance when the team crapped their pants as much as the Gophs did tonight (very loosely paraphrased)>
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
This shouldn't be lost on us as fans. The Goose played his heart out, showed some good vision, and I thought played a solid all-around game. Plus, I loved his post-game comment about how he can't feel too good about a personal performance when the team crapped their pants as much as the Gophs did tonight (very loosely paraphrased)>
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EE's only bad play as far as I could tell was the hard pass behind a breaking Coleman. That also unfortunately came at a crucial part of the game, where the Gophers were poised to make a run and then failed several chances on the offensive end...and then Illinois inevitably hit another 3.
 

I agree on EE. The ball moves very well when he's in there, and he played some tough D and really hustled tonight. He has responded well as of late after his one game DNP a few games back.

Go Gophers!!
 

I'm curious why the Gophers pump fake and then pass it to a different perimeter guy. They pump, get the defender off balance, then stand there and pass it off.

What was the pump for if you weren't going to drive or shoot?

Drove me nuts tonight.
 


BleedGopher said:
I agree on EE. The ball moves very well when he's in there, and he played some tough D and really hustled tonight. He has responded well as of late after his one game DNP a few games back.

Go Gophers!!
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Agreed. Very impressed with him. His passing is very underrated.

Also, Mo didn't play perfect, but he had a few nice passes out of the post. Did a great job there. Stinks he isn't in better shape because he is a smart and talented player.
 

Walker is terrible. No foot speed and can't jump. He'll never be a major contributor at this level.
 

Good analysis. EE played well. He needs to take that jumper inside the 3 point line several times a game. Seems they give it to him 8-10 times a game and he hasn't missed one yet.
 

Didn't we get out to our biggest lead with the subs in the game, though? I still chalk it up to this team thinking they can coast when they build a nice little lead. The more games they lose this way, the tougher it's going to be to deny.
 



I agree with badgopher, winners seize the moment to step on their opponents throats and these guys get off to a great start, think its over and start coasting
 

Bad Gopher said:
Didn't we get out to our biggest lead with the subs in the game, though? I still chalk it up to this team thinking they can coast when they build a nice little lead. The more games they lose this way, the tougher it's going to be to deny.
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Bad - was at least 12-2 and maybe 14-2 when the subs started pouring in. They didn't lose the lead but they gave Illinois 5 minutes to stabilize. It was a time in the game where we could have put them away. Instead we gave them a break.
 

LesBolstad said:
Walker is terrible. No foot speed and can't jump. He'll never be a major contributor at this level.
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Strap on a 30 pound weighted vest and see how fast you can move and how high you can jump. Then take it off and notice the difference. The key for Mo is losing weight.
 

Still a lot of basketball left....also the Big Ten Tourney. Still plenty of time to make this right.
 



Parski1 said:
Still a lot of basketball left....also the Big Ten Tourney. Still plenty of time to make this right.
Click to expand...

Good/Great coaches manage to steer things out of the ditch when they go bad. Tubby did this in 2010. We have no choice but to hope he can do it again. Preferably a little sooner than a miracle BTT run.
 

They played hard and I thought they had a good game, mistakes down the stretch cost them.

Mbwake gets double teamed and they stand around giving him nowhere to go with the ball, absouletely worst play of the year by the four other people on the court at a critical time.

Elliason double teamed and switched off without switching back at the most inopertune time imagainable, really no way he was going to stop Paul, Andre wanted to switch back, huge mental mistake at a critical point.

They played well enought to win I thought, very entertaining game.
 

There was a point with about 3 and a half minutes left in the game, the Illini had 5 team fouls and the 5 players on the floor had 4, 3, 3, 3 and 2 fouls. Yet it seemed like we did nothing to take advantage of this situation?

The Gophers meanwhile had 1 team foul at that point. Why wouldn't you try to force the Illini into a situation where they had to play us soft or where they started to get into foul trouble?!


This is not the first time I've noticed this. We are the right kind of team to play that kind of game, aren't we?!



But in general, while we lost, and it was a home game, and there were plenty of negatives, it seemed like there were more positives than in some past games. If Rodney had been healthy, would that have made a difference?

I think seeing some contributions from our bench is encouraging, for the long term, for our final 3 game stretch, for the BTT and for the Big Dance if we can get in.

And our RPI is still very healthy, so no reason yet to jump off a cliff.
 

bga1 said:
First- this is a terrible loss- no getting around it. Out coached out hustled and outplayed.

The good:

Elliot's play - he played hard and well and shows he has a future
Glimpses of improvement from Mo Walker
The start of the game showed better ball movement and they got the ball inside - for their efforts they got off to a 12 point lead
There was a stretch in the second half where we had a nice little run where Andre started penetrating- he has to do a lot more of that

The bad
When we got off to the 12 point lead we were playing great and had a chance to really out them away. Illinois was on the ropes. Tubby chose to go to 4 subs and we never got back the feeling we had at the start of the game- big error
Seems basic that you take away the other team's strength- instead we allow them to shoot wide open threes all night. The only thing they are good at and it's the one thing we didn't deny them.
The failure to call time outs to stop runs or to get the all sub lineup out of ther in the second half when Illinois made a run
The joyless, passionless manner in which this team now plays the game. Reminiscent of -well, the last 5 years, save for preseason games and last year's euphoric NIT run.
Click to expand...

Agree on Elliott, though it has to be pointed out that Griffey got a bunch of those wide open 3's with Elliott guarding him (more of a coaching issue IMHO)
I think it's generous to say glimpses of improvement from Mo, but he didn't look as glaringly out of place on the court I guess

I completely agree with your point about putting in the subs. I don't think they lost much of the lead, but that was an opportunity to stomp on the Illini's throat and putting in the subs really served to stabalize the game for them. There were a couple timeouts during that stretch too and it seemed strange to need to keep the starters out for what seemed like a long stretch of real time.

The other real bad was the failure to call the timeout when Trevor was doubled late in the game-inexcusable. We had to know he'd be doubled, so the decision to go in to him without an immediate pass out diagrammed OR a timeout called is truly baffling.
 

Unless Griffey is the playing center EE should not be normally guarding him. Illiniois is yet another big ten team with 4 players on the court who can shoot 3's, while we have 2. Notice something here. Think about our practices our big guys aren't even used to tall players shooting outside and having to defend it. I hope buggs can shoot the 3. I hope we can recruit forwards who can shoot instead of athletes first and skills second.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
This shouldn't be lost on us as fans. The Goose played his heart out, showed some good vision, and I thought played a solid all-around game. Plus, I loved his post-game comment about how he can't feel too good about a personal performance when the team crapped their pants as much as the Gophs did tonight (very loosely paraphrased)>
Click to expand...

+1 EE is ready for more minutes now and to start in the future. The 5 is going to be in good hands!
 

A lot of our guards struggle with ball movement and anticipation. Most of them hold on to the ball for 2-3 seconds before passing to another guy on the perimeter who is guarded. Or they need the other guard to come get the ball from them because they have used up their dribble and did nothing productive with it. A great example from last night was Joe Coleman was on the right wing and Austin Hollins ran the baseline from the far left corner through 2 screens and Joe never passed it to him as he was running across the baseline. You could see that Austin WOULD be open when he came through the 2nd screen, but Joe didn't anticipate that. Instead, he stood with the ball for 3 seconds, took two dribbles to the middle and passed to Dre Hollins to reset the offense. We commit so many turnovers by not anticipating what will happen.

Trevor really struggled getting the ball out of the double team. As soon as he was doubled, that ball needs to get back out to the perimeter and swung all the way around to the weak side. That opens up the entire offense. We could be open for a 3 pt shot, drive, drive and dish, etc. As the defense is rotating with the ball, another quick ball reversal back to the strong side would open up Trevor in the post again. He needs to be decisive before the double team comes again.
 

EG#9 said:
Agree on Elliott, though it has to be pointed out that Griffey got a bunch of those wide open 3's with Elliott guarding him (more of a coaching issue IMHO)
I think it's generous to say glimpses of improvement from Mo, but he didn't look as glaringly out of place on the court I guess

I completely agree with your point about putting in the subs. I don't think they lost much of the lead, but that was an opportunity to stomp on the Illini's throat and putting in the subs really served to stabalize the game for them. There were a couple timeouts during that stretch too and it seemed strange to need to keep the starters out for what seemed like a long stretch of real time.

The other real bad was the failure to call the timeout when Trevor was doubled late in the game-inexcusable. We had to know he'd be doubled, so the decision to go in to him without an immediate pass out diagrammed OR a timeout called is truly baffling.
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Mo is thirty pounds and some seasoning away from being a nice Big Ten center. I saw him get in the air on Sunday and that's progress. He was hustling and he has some coordination and vision.
 

Mayne Street said:
Trevor really struggled getting the ball out of the double team. As soon as he was doubled, that ball needs to get back out to the perimeter and swung all the way around to the weak side. That opens up the entire offense. We could be open for a 3 pt shot, drive, drive and dish, etc. As the defense is rotating with the ball, another quick ball reversal back to the strong side would open up Trevor in the post again. He needs to be decisive before the double team comes again.
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To me, Trevor was getting the ball away from where he can be effective. That was maddening watching him get trapped away from the basket some times. Why be there? Why pass it to him 10-12 feet away on the side? He's not very likely going to beat one guy from out there, let alone two.
 

bga1 said:
Mo is thirty pounds and some seasoning away from being a nice Big Ten center. I saw him get in the air on Sunday and that's progress. He was hustling and he has some coordination and vision.
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I agree. I never give up on sophomores. Way back when, I thought Jim Peterson was a wasted tender. He really came on about half way thru his junior year and had a nice NBA career. Our 5 sophomores still have some upside.
 

scher215 said:
I'm curious why the Gophers pump fake and then pass it to a different perimeter guy. They pump, get the defender off balance, then stand there and pass it off.

What was the pump for if you weren't going to drive or shoot?

Drove me nuts tonight.
Click to expand...

Are you my high school coach?
 

EE switched onto a guard and did not try to switch back and subsequently gave up the winning basket. He didn't flash to the ball to help Trevor on that hard double team with less than one minute in the game. If EE is the 5 for the future, we should be near the bottom of the Big 10. Did you see that wild hook shot down the stretch? Did you see his inability to protect the rim down the stretch with the Illini guards taking the ball to him. I look around the conference and I don't see any teams starting a player of his ability in the mid to upper echelon of the Big 10.
 

bga1 said:
The joyless, passionless manner in which this team now plays the game. Reminiscent of -well, the last 5 years, save for preseason games and last year's euphoric NIT run.
Click to expand...

True but with the exception of Mbakwe. He shows up every game. If he's not scoring he's grabbing double digit rebounds. You can't say he doesn't have passion, visibly was frustrated with the loss.
 

Kyle said:
True but with the exception of Mbakwe. He shows up every game. If he's not scoring he's grabbing double digit rebounds. You can't say he doesn't have passion, visibly was frustrated with the loss.
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I whole heartedly agree.
 

Kyle said:
True but with the exception of Mbakwe. He shows up every game. If he's not scoring he's grabbing double digit rebounds. You can't say he doesn't have passion, visibly was frustrated with the loss.
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As I was watching the MSU game with my wife, I kept raving to her about how hard and how well Mbakwe was playing in that game. He was just working so hard out there. No matter how this team finishes - and forgiving the turnover late against Illinois - he's leaving me with some good memories of him.
 

jumpstop said:
EE switched onto a guard and did not try to switch back and subsequently gave up the winning basket. He didn't flash to the ball to help Trevor on that hard double team with less than one minute in the game. If EE is the 5 for the future, we should be near the bottom of the Big 10. Did you see that wild hook shot down the stretch? Did you see his inability to protect the rim down the stretch with the Illini guards taking the ball to him. I look around the conference and I don't see any teams starting a player of his ability in the mid to upper echelon of the Big 10.
Click to expand...

You think EE is this team's problem? Wow.
 

Parski1 said:
Still a lot of basketball left....also the Big Ten Tourney. Still plenty of time to make this right.
Click to expand...

If the past is the best predictor of the future there is no indication that it will be made right.
 

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