*UMN vs UMD Official Game Thread*

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bga1 said:
Just back from the game. Pretty good showing with Mason and Walker out. Morris- I really like his all around game- excellent passer and ball handler. Also very impressed with McNeil. It's a great sign that our big loss from last year was Austin and yet we looked really strong at that position. Andre and DeAndre have some things to clean up -but this could be a really nice squad-very deep.
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Thanks beej. A non-political review is great to hear from you. Thanks bunches.
 

I thought they really worked hard as a team on defense in the first half, slacked off a bit in the second half but by that point it was a blowout. Play like that and I don't see any reason they can't be competitive in every game.

I'm getting excited about Dre, he's got some bounce back, controlled while getting to the basket, missed on a few but is always right on the rim, he's going to have some breakout games this year.

Morris is tough attacking the basket, great pullup jumper, looked good shooting his free throws.

McNeil was deadly from the three, between him and Morris a ton of points were scored from the 3 position.

King's game is so consistent, they are a better offensive team when he is in there.

Even without Walker and Mason they had decent depth.

Hope they can stay with Louisville and make it a game, Dre gets hot and they could win that game.
 

I just gotta say..loved how Morris looked. In much of his game, he is an improvement to Austin in many ways. Very excited for Louisville!
 

Thanks for all the recaps of the game. I am anxious to see Andre Hollins play for myself to see how well he's come back from his injuries.
 

How many boards for Eliot? 17????? or so!
 


Good all around game by the Gophers, besides 2nd half defense which I wouldn't read much into. UMD actually outscored the Gophers in the 2nd if you take away a 9-1 run. The press was giving the Bulldogs fits much of the game. I think Andre needs to be a little more aggressive and step up to make plays. Hard to rate the bigs since they had a huge size advantage all night, although the fact that Konate and Martin fouled out against guys much smaller than them isn't so good.
 

bga1 said:
Just back from the game. Pretty good showing with Mason and Walker out. Morris- I really like his all around game- excellent passer and ball handler. Also very impressed with McNeil. It's a great sign that our big loss from last year was Austin and yet we looked really strong at that position. Andre and DeAndre have some things to clean up -but this could be a really nice squad-very deep.
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I was there as well. I will echo the Morris sentiment. Obviously he scored a lot, but if he had 9 baskets, I think he scored in 9 different ways. He was pretty much scoring all over the court. I only saw him take one really bad shot. Also, he looked extremely comfortable and confident. Firing passes, decisive moves to the basket and elsewhere with and without the ball.

The Dres will be fine. I though Deandre looked a lot like last year and he just needs to clean up a couple TOs. He even made a couple outside shots. Dre is Dre - you think he's not doing that great and look up and he has 12 points.
 


All this Morris hype makes me a wee bit excited.

Andre Hollins will figure it out.

I would tap the breaks on Nate Mason being as big of a contributor as we are all expecting, just because I feel like his legend has grown exponentially in the last month. However, we said the same thing about Morris, so what the hell do I know?!?!?

I'll watch the BTN replay on Tuesday (Traveling to the promise land for the Iowa Game SKI U MAH!)
 



the box score

box score:
http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2014-2015/mnmbbex1.html


Can see that the team defense dropped off in the 2nd half when looking at UMD's shooting numbers FG% from 29 to 45%, 3pt % 1st H=20%, 2nd half 50%.

Martin with 8 pts, 7 reb, 0 turnover, but 5 fouls in 24 minutes.
Konate 4 pts 3 reb, 3 to, 5 fouls in 13 min.
EE line is crazy 3p, 16 reb, 3 ass, 3 blks, 1 stl, and 1 to.
McNeil and King shot it well from 3.
Morris dominatedwith 23p, 3r, 3 ass, 2 stls,1 to.

Probably best if Morris starts as McNeil can probably back up all 3 perimeter spots.
 

8:3 on the a:to for Deandre...

MUCH better than what we've been hearing.
 

They are obviously just highlights, but I like what I see from the new comers..
 

march madness said:
Probably best if Morris starts as McNeil can probably back up all 3 perimeter spots.
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It's nice to see McNeil pull the three with confidence and a good looking stroke. He was the first guy to come in for one of the guard spots for Hollins. He is a bit like Austin, shows athletic flashes, plays under control, doesn't force things or seem to make many mistakes. He will get plenty of minutes.
 



13 TO's and 14 takeways against a D2 team isn't that great. Hopefully they can clean things up before L'ville.
 

HOOP DREAMS said:
It's nice to see McNeil pull the three with confidence and a good looking stroke. He was the first guy to come in for one of the guard spots for Hollins. He is a bit like Austin, shows athletic flashes, plays under control, doesn't force things or seem to make many mistakes. He will get plenty of minutes.
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Can he get past/create? Per the highlights it looks like a lot of the opportunities were penetration with a drop off to Konottoday or Martin (who seems like hes trying to tear the hoop down every-time, Pay attention Mo.). Last year McNeil looked to have the handles to get into the paint just not the quickness or stability/size. Thoughts?
 

The highlight video left out an absolutely ankle breaking move Deandre put on someone driving the lane for a basket. But it does show the nice drive-and-dish passing that was used repeatedly, leading to several easy baskets. Lots of little 2 foot dump-offs for lay-ins or dunks.

Regarding McNeil - he clearly was looking more aggressive offensively. He was driving the ball - not like Morris - but he just looked like he was given the green light. Martin does look to be a guy that will tear the rim off. I think every basket he made was a dunk.
 

Eliot to me is the most valuable player - we must rebound to win. This might be the deepest team in years. At the Illinois football game - a gopher fan from Florida saw Carlos and Nate play last year - He predicted stardom for Nate and said Carlos would be a very good player!
 

Louisville

It is too bad they don't get to play Louisville after a few more non conf games. The one thing that will ensure a loss to a Louisville team is to commit to many turnovers and 2nd would be to stay physial with Harrell without fouling (Konate/Martin).

Louisville still has tremendous quickness with their small guards: rozier and jones that will be tough for A. Hollins to cover plus they both hit 37% from 3 last year. Blackshear will be a steady pressence at the 3 for them. Their c Mathiang is ever improving and can really affect shots in the lane. Harrell could be the best college pf right now. Their bench is unknown.

I would put King on Mathiang who isnt a scorer and EE on Harrell. Having a sr backcourt should help us from beating ourselves against them.



mcal24 said:
13 TO's and 14 takeways against a D2 team isn't that great. Hopefully they can clean things up before L'ville.
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McNeil and Morris >>>>> Austin and Malik...I haven't seen him play but Mason sounds a lot better than Mav.

If our front court can hold it down this could be a really fun year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


I checked out the game on DVR tonight and had a few thoughts, though these opinions can (and will likely) change with more viewing of the team and individual players.

Positives

Daquien McNeil was very solid on both ends of the floor. The talk of him being improved seems to have merit. I was most impressed by a nice drive and dish he had to Josh Martin for a dunk, and a pull up 3 he made in transition. It wasn't so much the result of the 3 going in as it was the confidence in which he shot the ball.

Gophers controlled the boards. This should be expected against an undersized opponent from a lesser level of basketball, but it was still nice to see the Gophers (especially Eliason) take care of the boards.

Joey King looked really good in the pick and pop game and also had a nice offensive rebound and put back.

Carlos Morris was a major asset as an additional ball handler and shot creater on offense. I mentioned that he could do these things when I posted about watching his JUCO team play online last year. It doesn't seem outlandish to say that Morris might end up with the ball in his hands more often than Dre Hollins this year.

Josh Martin finishing inside. I mentioned this many times last year, that the Gophers were hindered by their bigs not being able to go up and just dunk the ball when they received the ball in good position. Martin, put in several dunks in the exhibition that would have been a power dribble followed by an attempt at a layup from Elliott/Mo/Joey.

Matthieu getting others involved. I think we'll need his scoring against better competition, but it was nice to see him really focus more on getting the ball to teammates in this setting.

Hollins baseline drive "and 1". I didn't think Andre really stood out that much in this game, but that baseline drive showed some explosiveness that just wasn't their post Wisconsin last year.

First half defense. After the first timeout, the defense was very solid.

Negatives:

I've seen a number of Vince Grier comparisons for Squirrel online post game. While I can see the comparison I saw a little bit too much Chip Armelin both in form/result of his jump shot and his shot selection involving said jumper. Morris did some very good things last night, but we can't afford to have the "Chip" aspects of his game show up very often against better opposition.

Defensive pressure on the ball: I was very disappointed in the lack of pressure that Matthieu/Morris/Hollins put on the ball, especially in half court situations. These guys all got beat off the dribble, and I can't remember a single pocket pick from any of them. If the team can't make guards at the Minnesota-Duluth level more uncomfortable, that's a major concern going forward.

Eliason's offense. A little thing in an otherwise solid game from Eliason, but he still rushed his one post touch opportunity on what should have been an easy basket. He still has that internal clock that's telling him to rush things when if he just took his time he'd be so much more effective. A senior 7 footer should have been feasting against that team on the offensive end.

Konate is not quite as far along as we've been lead to believe. I am not sure how much Bakary can play immediately after watching the game. He's clearly a very fast player for his size, but he lacks a feel for the game and the lower body strength to anchor himself down low. I am certainly a fan of his potential, but I see a lot of fouls, turnovers, and failure to secure rebounds in his immediate future.

Turnovers: Pitino's "wear a helmet" comment still seems accurate in regards to the way this team handles the ball. I am sure things will get better to some degree when the rotation is set and guys become more aware of where each other will be, but unforced turnovers are tough to overcome.
 

Really thought EE was going to dunk it at 00:30. "He's going to dun... nope."

Nonetheless, he may prove to be one of our MVPs this year.
 

Harrell here in Louisville today shooting treys.

Jones, healthy & agressive Wayne... gophers will really have their hands full.
 

Gopher Warrior said:
Harrell here in Louisville today shooting treys.

Jones, healthy & agressive Wayne... gophers will really have their hands full.
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We are pretty healthy too. Louisville will really have their hands full!!!
 

What does anyone know about the starting lineup?

I'm watching the exhibition game now, finally, and I noticed that Josh Martin and Konate both started. Is that what we expect for the opener? Or will Mo replace Donate?

Is Josh Martin taking the starting job from King?
 

afurry91 said:
What does anyone know about the starting lineup?

I'm watching the exhibition game now, finally, and I noticed that Josh Martin and Konate both started. Is that what we expect for the opener? Or will Mo replace Donate?

Is Josh Martin taking the starting job from King?
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I think I remember reading that Pitino was just trying to shake things up and keep the guys on their toes for the game. I don't believe it's any indication of the actual starting lineup.
 

MinneStoa said:
I think I remember reading that Pitino was just trying to shake things up and keep the guys on their toes for the game. I don't believe it's any indication of the actual starting lineup.
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I remember that too, Stoa. But lest you have forgotten...GH'ers love to over analyze things.
 

Dr.Don said:
I remember that too, Stoa. But lest you have forgotten...GH'ers love to over analyze things.
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Relax. I was just asking a question.

Thanks, Stoa. I didn't read that.
 

Martin has a better understanding of the game than I imagined someone labeled as raw would and he has the body to help this year in the big ten. Morris is smooth, looks a bit like Hargrow, might be closer to 6-4 then 6-6, but he can handle, pass, and shoot. Konate will get his feet wet this year and he has lots of athleticsm in a big package. Excited to see Mason. Hope McNeil can turn himself into a solid 3pt shooter.
 

EG#9 said:
I've seen a number of Vince Grier comparisons for Squirrel online post game. While I can see the comparison I saw a little bit too much Chip Armelin both in form/result of his jump shot and his shot selection involving said jumper
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I don't see Grier or little Chip as good comparisons. I only saw him take one bad shot (looked like a heat check) when King was wide open waiting for the ball. King and Coach let him know about it.

Moe, like others have pointed out seems spot on.
 

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