Trevor

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underground629

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I saw one mention of this in another thread, but what the hell was up with Trevor today? Sorry if there was more talk in the game thread (not big on those), but he just seemed "uninterested" today. He was battling down low in the very beginning, but most of the game he was just standing around instead of fighting for position. His numbers were okay, but for the first time I can remember while not hurt, he just looked passionless and overmatched. That HUGE rebound he didn't pull down was representative of his game today. While watching I was thinking he must either be sick or his body wasn't feeling great. I don't remember him ever playing weak like that. Didn't look like he leading today like usual.

Maybe I'm being overly critical of his play today, but with him being such a beast usually, his play seemed uncharacteristic for such a big game. Thoughts?
 

Huh? I thought he played his ass off like everyone did in the second half. You could hear the crowd react several times when Trevor was battling underneath for position because they thought yet another foul should be called. Maybe the fact that they were a lot bigger and just as quick underneath had something to do with it? Trevor's good but he's not Superman. Zeller is going to get drafted about 20 picks higher than Trevor ever will be. Not too sure Wartford also won't go a bit higher. That HUGE rebound is also partly on Coleman who could have gone after it or whoever was supposed to box out Hulls. We played crappy the first half, they were unconscious, we outplayed them the second half but still lost. Time to focus on Michigan.
 

I remember three times in the game where Trevor had a rebound/loose ball taken away from him by another player. That does not normally happen.
 

underground629 said:
I saw one mention of this in another thread, but what the hell was up with Trevor today? Sorry if there was more talk in the game thread (not big on those), but he just seemed "uninterested" today. He was battling down low in the very beginning, but most of the game he was just standing around instead of fighting for position. His numbers were okay, but for the first time I can remember while not hurt, he just looked passionless and overmatched. That HUGE rebound he didn't pull down was representative of his game today. While watching I was thinking he must either be sick or his body wasn't feeling great. I don't remember him ever playing weak like that. Didn't look like he leading today like usual.

Maybe I'm being overly critical of his play today, but with him being such a beast usually, his play seemed uncharacteristic for such a big game. Thoughts?
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Go to BTN2GO and watch the replay. Trevor always plays hard. You do know the other team has elite talent and will occasionally get a loose ball/rebound.
 

Trevor Mbakwe ‏@TMbakwe32
Tough loss especially being down so much and fighting back. Ill never miss a key rebound EVER again. I let my squad down.
 


I hate it when one of our guys gets a double-double against the #1 NBA draft pick. All sorts of weak. He should be ashamed.
 


I thought he played hard, Zeller is a tough machup, very active and four inches height advantage.

My one complaint is that on screens out front he stays with the double team on the guard leaving Zeller wide open underneath, this resulted in a number of easy baskets, against competion like that I would think you have to get back and cover the middle as fast as possible and not double team.
 

jovs said:
I thought he played hard, Zeller is a tough machup, very active and four inches height advantage.

My one complaint is that on screens out front he stays with the double team on the guard leaving Zeller wide open underneath, this resulted in a number of easy baskets, against competion like that I would think you have to get back and cover the middle as fast as possible and not double team.
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If he doesn't double the point, he would drive to the basket at will either scoring or passing to the open 3 point shooters. They will have to do the same to Trey Burke, or he will kill us with scoring and assists.
 



Trevor battles down there with a herculean effort every game, particularly on the defensive end. He's 6'8", maybe. But he plays center for us. His defensive rebounding effort is tremendous. I think people assume we're a great rebounding team because our offensive rebounding numbers are so high, but I don't think we are. Rodney is a great offensive rebounder, but not a good defensive rebounder for someone who is playing the 4, particularly since he wants to run.... that is a problem and results in Trevor having to battle multiple guys for defensive boards (see: Michigan State game, etc).

I thought he played great against a future top 5 pick.
 

Obviously there a a couple rebounds 2 off missed IU free throws that he should have secured, and I wouldn't say it was a particularly good game to Trevor's standards.

However, I wouldn't ever question Trevor's work ethic and intensity out on the floor. He made a promise and I'm not one to bet against him. I trust he's going to come back angry and dominant next game against Michigan.

I just feel sorry for Jordan Morgan and Mitch McGary come Thursday. I really do. Trevor will go off if I know what Trevor's about!!
 

Seriously? I already mentioned his numbers were fine, and obviously he was playing against great competition, but it was the way he played in spurts that was UNCHARACTERISTIC. Don't act like that's totally unfounded with a smartass comment.

Trevor is held to a very high standard because of the player we know he is. He's one my favorite Gopher players of all time. Can you honestly say that considering the magnitude of the game, he looked as fierce as you expected? How often do you see him have rebounds ripped out of his hands? How many times did he get into position to receive the ball in the post? He battled for that in the beginning, but as the game went on, he just stood around until the ball went up.

From the Barn said:
I hate it when one of our guys gets a double-double against the #1 NBA draft pick. All sorts of weak. He should be ashamed.
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Regardless of who Trevor plays, having the ball stripped away a few times in one game is uncharacteristic of him. Especially during critical moments. It's not all his fault, but how many times did you see Trevor get open in the post? How many times did you see him simply standing around on offense? Again, his numbers were fine, especially considering the competition, but he had a subpar game for HIS STANDARDS. I bet he would agree with that. Everyone has subpar games. It was just surprising to see how he was playing at times and I was wondering whether he had an injury bothering him or was sick.

WILLBGOPHER said:
Go to BTN2GO and watch the replay. Trevor always plays hard. You do know the other team has elite talent and will occasionally get a loose ball/rebound.
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Exactly my points. Thank you. I know it's easier to make a sarcastic and narrow-minded comment when someone questions any beloved Gopher players.

I fully expect that Trevor is going to have one of his best games of the year when we upset Michigan (although it seems they would've been more primed for a loss if OSU didn't just beat them). It sounds like he was frustrated with himself in big parts of that game just like I was, so I'm not sure why my OP was so crazy to some. The rest of the team definitely could've helped him more in the rebounding department though. My only big complaint for the entire game was our defensive rebounding on FTs. That frequency is unacceptable no matter who we're playing. I was incredibly proud of the way we played overall though.

station19 said:
I remember three times in the game where Trevor had a rebound/loose ball taken away from him by another player. That does not normally happen.
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mnsports255 said:
Obviously there a a couple rebounds 2 off missed IU free throws that he should have secured, and I wouldn't say it was a particularly good game to Trevor's standards.

However, I wouldn't ever question Trevor's work ethic and intensity out on the floor. He made a promise and I'm not one to bet against him. I trust he's going to come back angry and dominant next game against Michigan.

I just feel sorry for Jordan Morgan and Mitch McGary come Thursday. I really do. Trevor will go off if I know what Trevor's about!!
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underground629 said:
Seriously? I already mentioned his numbers were fine, and obviously he was playing against great competition, but it was the way he played in spurts that was UNCHARACTERISTIC. Don't act like that's totally unfounded with a smartass comment.
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Why ask for thoughts and then proceed to either argue with or be upset with folks who disagree? Obviously, not everyone saw the same thing from Trevor. You also totally ignore the level of player he was going against.
 

I "argued" with From the Barn because he made his typical sarcastic and out of context comment. There were a few other comments I disagreed with, but I wasn't "upset" and I didn't "argue" with them. It's called discussion.

You still don't get it. I mentioned his numbers were fine and I mentioned he was going against great competition. My point--which I've made numerous times and you still haven't responded to--is that the WAY he played was uncharacteristic (e.g., stripped balls, less explosion on certain plays (like where he got stuffed after not jumping as high as usual, less activity than usual (getting open in the post, help defense when players came through the lane). Yes, a significant amount of that was the competition, but regardless of what you say, I don't think you can honestly say he played that well for his standards even when taking the opponent into account. You can disagree with whatever, but people acting like there's zero basis in my OP is just annoying. Obviously I'm not the only one who saw what I mentioned. Even Trevor mentioned that he missed a key rebound and let his team down. How often does that happen?

Mulligan said:
Why ask for thoughts and then proceed to either argue with or be upset with folks who disagree? Obviously, not everyone saw the same thing from Trevor. You also totally ignore the level of player he was going against.
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I hate - absolutely hate - to go back to complaining about the officiating, but the way things are called sometimes will make a player more tentative. Not that Trevor was tentative, but a guy doesn't want to foul out, and if they're calling charges as block, well what do you do? You have to play "smart" out there, which can sometimes mean mixing it up less if that's what you have to do to stay out of foul trouble.
 


Gopher Gold said:
Trevor Mbakwe ‏@TMbakwe32
Tough loss especially being down so much and fighting back. Ill never miss a key rebound EVER again. I let my squad down.
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Pay back time will come on Feb. 26 when the Hoosiers visit the Barn.
 

Good point. I actually think college bball should be 6 fouls. It's far too often that refs/fouls significantly impact the game because there are only 5 fouls. There's nothing worse than watching a key player pick up 2 quick fouls in the first half and then ride the bench the next 15 minutes. When you throw in the influence of the crowd, coaches, and officials like Hightower... enough said.

Bad Gopher said:
I hate - absolutely hate - to go back to complaining about the officiating, but the way things are called sometimes will make a player more tentative. Not that Trevor was tentative, but a guy doesn't want to foul out, and if they're calling charges as block, well what do you do? You have to play "smart" out there, which can sometimes mean mixing it up less if that's what you have to do to stay out of foul trouble.
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underground629 said:
Regardless of who Trevor plays, having the ball stripped away a few times in one game is uncharacteristic of him. Especially during critical moments. It's not all his fault, but how many times did you see Trevor get open in the post? How many times did you see him simply standing around on offense? Again, his numbers were fine, especially considering the competition, but he had a subpar game for HIS STANDARDS. I bet he would agree with that. Everyone has subpar games. It was just surprising to see how he was playing at times and I was wondering whether he had an injury bothering him or was sick.
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Befoe the Illni game, I remember that hearing hat Tubby considerd not playing Trevor because he jammed his finge in practice. Trevor was probably the hardest worker on th team last year from the bench when he was could not play by the way he supported his team mates. I wonder if that finger is causing him some problems with some of the rebounds.
 


Please, don't ever start a thread with Trevor or any other first name only! Almost had a stroke before I read the first post. Thought Trevor had gotten hurt or worse. Reminded me of the days when national news would interrupt local broadcasting for a Breaking News announcement.
 

I've watched the game twice and didn't see anything wrong with his effort. Zeller beat him down the court once for a dunk but on the rewatch Trevor was hustling to get down court while Welch and I think Coleman were jogging around mid court and they basically screened him. You can see Trevor fussing at them about it as he in bounded the ball. He had another rebound stripped by Oladipo that was just on his fingertips as well. I thought Trevor played very hard. He fought Zeller tooth and nail all game so that Zeller had to earn everything he got for the most part. Zeller got I think 4 easy buckets: the transition dunk, the early dunk where we had a miscommunication and he was wide open in the lane, the drive dunk which was on Rodney because he was to CZ's right and should've switched with Trevor but he just stood there and screened Trevor out and let CZ get to the rim easily, and a put back dunk. Besides that I remember one turn around J and then a bunch of free throws. And they wanted to work it in the post at times but CZ couldn't get position.
 


I thought he had a rough first half, but most of the entire squad did, so I let that slide. In the second half, I think he was frustrated with some of the one-sided calls and stuff, but there was no doubt he was battling down there. Zeller in the paint complicates things quite a bit, he hasn't faced anything like that all year. It's hard to "beast" on a guy capable of matching you up and has like 4 inches on you. I thought he presented himself pretty well in the game despite the matchup and the way the game went. "Uninterested" is one word I definitely would not have used to describe his performance, though.
 

I don't even know why I'm wasting my time with you at this point. How did I provide no context? I've written god knows how many words on this thread and you reply with a few smart-ass comments.

You still haven't responded specifically to my points in this thread. Sounds like you just go by the boxscore anyway.

From the Barn said:
Nope, I provided the context that he had a double-double against the best center in America. You provided no context.
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Haha, my bad--I'm not very creative.

UofMdad said:
Please, don't ever start a thread with Trevor or any other first name only! Almost had a stroke before I read the first post. Thought Trevor had gotten hurt or worse. Reminded me of the days when national news would interrupt local broadcasting for a Breaking News announcement.
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Totally forgot about that. I would be very surprised if that wasn't the reason. That makes complete sense now.

Atl Gopher said:
Befoe the Illni game, I remember that hearing hat Tubby considerd not playing Trevor because he jammed his finge in practice. Trevor was probably the hardest worker on th team last year from the bench when he was could not play by the way he supported his team mates. I wonder if that finger is causing him some problems with some of the rebounds.
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Uninterested was definitely a poor choice of words. I put it in quotes because I couldn't think of a more fitting word and I realized that sounded way too harsh. What I was trying to get at was that it seemed like he wasn't consistently battling to get the ball in the post. Obviously nobody is going to do that nonstop, but it just seemed like he wasn't doing that as much as usual. I can only remember him receiving the ball in the post a few times (I'm sure it could've been more if teammates found him). The stripped balls make more sense now considering the thumb injury. I really hope that doesn't bother him all season. Maybe with the injury he also didn't feel confident to get the ball without great position. Who knows. Feedback like that (his injury) is exactly why I started this thread. I'm glad that it brought out great insight from From the Barn though.

Monty519 said:
I thought he had a rough first half, but most of the entire squad did, so I let that slide. In the second half, I think he was frustrated with some of the one-sided calls and stuff, but there was no doubt he was battling down there. Zeller in the paint complicates things quite a bit, he hasn't faced anything like that all year. It's hard to "beast" on a guy capable of matching you up and has like 4 inches on you. I thought he presented himself pretty well in the game despite the matchup and the way the game went. "Uninterested" is one word I definitely would not have used to describe his performance, though.
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