Tough break (literally) for St. Mary's

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SelectionSunday

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St. Mary's looked like a completely different team without Mills in the second half last night vs. Gonzaga. Couldn't have come at a worse time (halftime of your biggest game of the season, leading by 6 in Spokane), with your next game on the road vs. the #3 team in the league (Portland). Mills also will miss the return matchups with Gonzaga & Portland. St. Mary's at-large chances just took a huge hit. Never like to see that happen to a team having a really good season.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3872758
 



they may have not beaten any yet but if you have wached them at all, you know mills and simpson would be the 2 best players on the Gophers team now. They are a good team.
 

ITS GOLD JERRY! said:
they may have not beaten any yet but if you have wached them at all, you know mills and simpson would be the 2 best players on the Gophers team now. They are a good team.
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This is easily one of the dumbest statements I've read on the board in a while, and that's saying something because Art Vandelay and other Badger fans frequently troll these waters.

I've watched several of their games this year. Mills is a very good player and would obviously be one of the Gopher's best. Simpson is above average, at best. I think Simpson would get regular minutes here, but not be a standout. He's no DJ.

St. Mary's would be in the bottom half of this conference, IMO. One man does not a B10 contender make. They couldn't survive the grind.
 


St. Mary's in the Big 10

Could they survive the grind? I don't disagree alent and size-wise, you can make an argument they couldn't--but St. Mary's and the other top teams play a different style of basketball, too. I get to see a log of WCC basketball and they will be a tough opponent whever the play...
 

Patty Mills would be the best player on the Gophers BY FAR. It's not even close.
 

TubbyTime2009 said:
Patty Mills would be the best player on the Gophers BY FAR. It's not even close.
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I guess the problem I have with statements like this is that Mills plays in the freaking WCC. We all see his stats and are enamored with him. Going for 16 and 2 against Vanguard doesn't impress me. He was huge during that stretch of games against Pacific, San Jose St, Morgan St, CS-Bakersfield, Santa Clara, USF, LMU, Pepperdine and San Diego. Good god.

I'd like to see him go against Trevon Hughes, Talor Battle, Nolen, Lucas, Frazier, et al. A little different than the comp he's throwing up those numbers against.

I realize that he was an olympian for Australia, and he does look like a very good player. IIRC, Devoe played on Canada's U20 national team this past summer. He is also a very skilled player, but has struggled some against top-flight D1 teams. I bet his numbers would be alot better in the WCC.
 

He wasn't just a player on the Australian team, he was one of the top 5 performers in the Olympics. Mills performance was extremely impressive considering who he was playing with and against, and is still very young. As far as PG play goes, the only more impressive player imo was Rubio.

Mills has excelled every chance he's gotten. He was a stand out in high school, he's a standout in the extremely weak WCC, and he stood out in the Olympics against the best competition in the world. I'm not saying Patrick Mills is deserving of Player of the Year, but he's certainly better than anyone on the Gophers. That's not a shot at the Gophers, it's more of a compliment to Mr. Mills. His injury is going to cost St. Mary's a tournament bid, unless they get him back in time for the automatic bid.
 



I don't want to belabor this much more, but a couple of things:

- The Olympics does not consist of the best players in the world. The US could make 10 teams (maybe more?), prepare them full time for 18 months, and be the odds-on favorite every time in the Olympics. The issue US basketball has is they do not prepare like their counterparts, and it is exacerbated by the fact that they generally lack the experience of the other teams as well.

- St. Mary's was a bubble team with him. Good RPI, unimpressive resume. No more than a .500 team in this conference, IMO.

- You may very well be right on his ability vs. the current gopher players. I don't know. The original post that I responded to said that both he and Simpson would be the 2 best on the Gophers. I absolutely disagree with that statement. My only reservation about Mills is that he is unproven against top-flight D1 talent. I fail to see how his great game against Iran changes that.
 

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