Tubby: Gophs might be better suited for tournament play because 'you just go & play'

[BleedGopher]

Tubby: Gophs might be better suited for tournament play because 'you just go & play'

per Amelia:

“I think a lot of it has to do with how you just play,” Smith said. “There’s not a lot of preparation time, you just go in and play. There’s not a whole lot of thinking, or a whole lot of game preparation, and that may be better suited for us, to be honest with you.”

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/197079461.html

Go Gophers!!

 

[JDGopher]

A very legitimate, and likely accurate thing for him to say. Whether it is coaching or execution, we have not fared well in the conference, which implies that we either cannot plan for teams or they have an easy(er) time planning for us (or, my opinion, definitely both).

 

[station19]

Well this comment was rather harsh.

"When are the rubes gonna quit drinking the gopher kool-aid.....in all sports? The gophers are a division 2 caliber athletic school and have been for 20+ years and it isn't gonna change. New stadiums, new practice facilities, top name coaches, a long line of ex coaches we're still paying, paying big money to get out of a scheduled game, 6th year seniors who underperform....what a school."

 

[JDGopher]

Well this comment was rather harsh.

"When are the rubes gonna quit drinking the gopher kool-aid.....in all sports? The gophers are a division 2 caliber athletic school and have been for 20+ years and it isn't gonna change. New stadiums, new practice facilities, top name coaches, a long line of ex coaches we're still paying, paying big money to get out of a scheduled game, 6th year seniors who underperform....what a school."

I'd ask said person if they've ever watched Division 2 athletics. Doesn't excuse some of the mismanagement, but yeah.

 

[Rouser]

per Amelia:

“I think a lot of it has to do with how you just play,” Smith said. “There’s not a lot of preparation time, you just go in and play. There’s not a whole lot of thinking, or a whole lot of game preparation, and that may be better suited for us, to be honest with you.”

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/197079461.html

Go Gophers!!

While tubby is opening himself up to some easy jokes... Truthfully, I think Tubby has always been a good tournament coach, even at Minnesota.

Finals of BTT. Winning San Juan. 2-1 at Atlantis. NIT run. Sure he has two NCAA losses but even at KY he usually advanced. While tubby and crew have underachieved. No questions. I do think there is truth to his statement.

 

[station19]

While tubby is opening himself up to some easy jokes... Truthfully, I think Tubby has always been a good tournament coach, even at Minnesota.

Finals of BTT. Winning San Juan. 2-1 at Atlantis. NIT run. Sure he has two NCAA losses but even at KY he usually advanced. While tubby and crew have underachieved. No questions. I do think there is truth to his statement.

Problem is, there really is a regular season.

 

[tinyarch]

Would we have beaten Indiana by even more points if Tubby didn't have a week to prepare? I don't think so.

In the NCAA tournament, perhaps there is an advantage to the athletic team in a short turnaround, but in the B1G tourney all the coaches are very familiar with the other teams. I don't see the quick turnaround as being all that important. However, with a short turnaround, perhaps the kids don't have to listen to Tubby as much and can just let their instincts take over rather than worry about Tubby getting involved.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

What I'm getting out of this is: "when both myself and the other coach have an opportunity to prepare game plans, I get worked over, but, when both teams go out there willy-nilly without a chance for extended preparation, sometimes my players will win in spite of me."

Now that I got that cheap shot out of the way, I guess if you are going to stink at either regular season or playoffs, I'd rather stink at the regular season (so long as you still make the postseason). I've said this countless times, but since I judge seasons on postseason success, Tubby could still have a good year. Go Gophs.

 

[goldengophers]

What I'm getting out of this is: "when both myself and the other coach have an opportunity to prepare game plans, I get worked over, but, when both teams go out there willy-nilly without a chance for extended preparation, sometimes my players will win in spite of me."

Now that I got that cheap shot out of the way, I guess if you are going to stink at either regular season or playoffs, I'd rather stink at the regular season (so long as you still make the postseason). I've said this countless times, but since I judge seasons on postseason success, Tubby could still have a good year. Go Gophs.

I got the same thing, basically we have the athletes and talent and without coaching prep we're better off.

 

[EG#9]

While tubby is opening himself up to some easy jokes... Truthfully, I think Tubby has always been a good tournament coach, even at Minnesota.

Finals of BTT. Winning San Juan. 2-1 at Atlantis. NIT run. Sure he has two NCAA losses but even at KY he usually advanced. While tubby and crew have underachieved. No questions. I do think there is truth to his statement.

Agree and disagree. Gophers have played two very bad NCAA tournament games in his tenure where they were barely in either game and have only made one strong run in five years in the BTT. The early non-conference tournaments have been good with the exception of the year we got beat by Portland (?) after beating Butler.

 

[Rouser]

Agree and disagree. Gophers have played two very bad NCAA tournament games in his tenure where they were barely in either game and have only made one strong run in five years in the BTT. The early non-conference tournaments have been good with the exception of the year we got beat by Portland (?) after beating Butler.

Well.. I think Tubby is much like Clem in some respects. Clem couldn't win on the road to save his fricking life.. and everyone knows it. We were 1-7) the sweet 16 year) yet did well in NIT and the tournament. He didnt have a BTT to test himself.. Tubby is not going to win every game.. But winning San Juan and Beating Butler before losing to Portland wasn't horrible). He beat Louisville on neutral court. Of top of my head, neautral court wins include Louisville, Butler, North Carolina, Western KY, West Virginia, Memphis and Stanford.... not counting any NIT wins. Plus he typically advances in BTT (once to Saturday and once to Sunday) against good teams.

Hey, like I said, he has not lived up to expectaitons.. but there is no denying he has beat good teams on neautral courts. I don't think his record in that department is well above average.. and admit, it might be the only area that is above average.

 

[jamiche]

While tubby is opening himself up to some easy jokes... Truthfully, I think Tubby has always been a good tournament coach, even at Minnesota.

Finals of BTT. Winning San Juan. 2-1 at Atlantis. NIT run. Sure he has two NCAA losses but even at KY he usually advanced. While tubby and crew have underachieved. No questions. I do think there is truth to his statement.

I guess it means that if you give him time to get his team ready to play things don't go so well.

 

[Rouser]

I guess it means that if you give him time to get his team ready to play things don't go so well.

I see you took the "easy joke" route. Shocking.

Yes, I suppose thats what it means...

 

[ruppertflywheel]

In the words of Shelly Berman: " Jibber, Jabber"

 

[jamiche]

I see you took the "easy joke" route. Shocking.

Yes, I suppose thats what it means...

Except it wasn't a joke.

Sometimes the answer is right in front of your face.

 

[station19]

In the words of Shelly Berman: " Jibber, Jabber"

 

[MNVCGUY]

When it comes to tournament play a lot of it is getting hot at the right time and riding the wave. It is the one hope the Gophers have because when they are on I honestly believe they can play with and beat anyone in the country. Problem is on a game to game basis you have no clue which Gopher team is going to show up, the one that beat Indiana and did very well against other top competition or the one that looks like they have never seen a basketball before and can't figure out how to get the orange ball thingy to go through the circle with the netting attached to it.

 

[vagopher]

I think when the Gophers play relaxed, they tend to play well. Too often they are tentative and appear afraid to make a mistake. That might be, at lest in some instances, a result of over preparation.

 

[GophersInIowa]

Agree and disagree. Gophers have played two very bad NCAA tournament games in his tenure where they were barely in either game and have only made one strong run in five years in the BTT. The early non-conference tournaments have been good with the exception of the year we got beat by Portland (?) after beating Butler.

I'm not sure I would say the Xavier game was very bad. We were down 6 with 1:12 left in the game.

 

[scher215]

I'm not sure I would say the Xavier game was very bad. We were down 6 with 1:12 left in the game.

And the guy who beat MN (guy, not team) is currently logging good minutes for the Boston Celtics. Not a single Gopher from that team has had an NBA career like Crawford. To quote Myron, Dat boy good.

 

[jovs]

A very legitimate, and likely accurate thing for him to say. Whether it is coaching or execution, we have not fared well in the conference, which implies that we either cannot plan for teams or they have an easy(er) time planning for us (or, my opinion, definitely both).

I think Tubby is saying the makeup of the team doesn't fair very well when teams have time to prepare for them, lets face it they are very athletic but offensively challenged, Joe, Rodney, and at times Trevor go into a funk and can't make a play if there life depended on it, with the season Austin is having it makes it tough. In a tournament that athleticism might be more successfull.

 

[MRJ]

What I'm getting out of this is: "when both myself and the other coach have an opportunity to prepare game plans, I get worked over, but, when both teams go out there willy-nilly without a chance for extended preparation, sometimes my players will win in spite of me."

Now that I got that cheap shot out of the way, I guess if you are going to stink at either regular season or playoffs, I'd rather stink at the regular season (so long as you still make the postseason). I've said this countless times, but since I judge seasons on postseason success, Tubby could still have a good year. Go Gophs.

Have to admit I kind of feel the same way. Tubby stopped just short of saying that since he's done a miserable job of preparing the team for games, maybe just letting them roll out there in a tournament atmosphere will do the trick. At this point, he's got to hope for that, as it's his only play to even claim any level of success versus the two-month-plus debacle the conference season has been. The difference for me is that regardless of what happens from here on out, folks are going to have a tough time forgetting the absolute mess he and his team made of their conference season.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

I think there's something to the notion of "over-thinking" a game - or "paralysis by analysis."

For whatever reason, the Gophs seem to bog down when they're thinking about the game plan (i.e. trying to run a half-court offense) - but they look a lot better, more free and easy, when they just get out and run - letting instinct take over. I think hypnosis may be the answer.