Welch

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bga1

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Watching Welch make plays yesterday left me wondering what happened to him this year. I was thinking that the combination of he and the two Hollins might have been tougher to throw a zone at. Up until yesterday Welch seems to have totally lost his confidence. The kid proved last year that he can shoot and that he can make plays. Perhaps losing playing time to Andre late last year and then Coleman this year just was too much for him to take. Too bad because watch him get 7 assists and making some outside shots yesterday shows what he could have added. Maybe there will be role for him down the stretch.
 

He has struggled against more athletic competition. Good game for him yesterday to get minutes, etc.
 

He was never given a chance this season. I think it was a miscalculation by the coaching staff, but that's based somewhat on my preference -- I liked the idea of another 3-point shooter, and one that can play PG or SG, on the court with Dre & Austin.

That's not a knock on any other players - it's a compliment to Julian. I wonder if anyone heard Welch's intro for senior day... and then thought, "wow, that sounds pretty good... why didn't this guy get more of a chance this year?"... it went on and on about how great his shooting was junior year i.e., his first year at Minnesota... as compared to Gophers of yesteryear.

His shot wasn't great yesterday (after making his first two), but he got players the ball in position to score and didn't turn the ball over (7 assists, 0 turnovers)... I'd also point to a physical guard DJ Newbill going 2/16 from the field.

But, I think he's a good kid that will be ready as needed in the tourneys. Great pickup by the coaching staff.
 

You're right, he definitely lost confidence this year. It seems to me that he didn't take his benching (didn't he start like 20+ games last year?) well, and then he struggled with TO's. I imagine those things really led to the rest of his game slipping. My biggest complaint with him is on defense- his rotation is occasionally really bad and he sometimes just looks lost. He's not alone there but it's stood out to me this year

I guess it's hard for me to get overly excited about anything anyone did yesterday... Pretty much everyone played well, but we'll see how it goes moving forward. As a team, we've played well the last two games, so that's what I'm excited about.
 

Welch - among his many assists was the assist to Williams for his final dunk at Williams. That was great! I know GW has been a fan of Welch and so have I since I read last year he was a Sinatra aficionado. Lots have said he was too slow. I think he could have been used better this season.

I say use the Senior Starting Lineup the rest of the way.
 




Looks to me that he's a scorer who expects to be involved and influence the outcome and the confidence in himself to go after it. Have no fear, Tubby will beat that initiative out of him before he will see any significant minutes.
littlebigboy said:
Wally might be a ball hog??
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MN1nAZ said:
Looks to me that he's a scorer who expects to be involved and influence the outcome and the confidence in himself to go after it. Have no fear, Tubby will beat that initiative out of him before he will see any significant minutes.
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So Chip Armelin Jr.?
 



afurry91 said:
To say it nicely. He's not afraid to shoot.
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Or get his shots blocked from behind him. Complete waste of a redshirt, no matter whose decision it was. He will not contribute this year.
 

Gopher Warrior said:
He was never given a chance this season. I think it was a miscalculation by the coaching staff, but that's based somewhat on my preference -- I liked the idea of another 3-point shooter, and one that can play PG or SG, on the court with Dre & Austin.

That's not a knock on any other players - it's a compliment to Julian. I wonder if anyone heard Welch's intro for senior day... and then thought, "wow, that sounds pretty good... why didn't this guy get more of a chance this year?"... it went on and on about how great his shooting was junior year i.e., his first year at Minnesota... as compared to Gophers of yesteryear.

His shot wasn't great yesterday (after making his first two), but he got players the ball in position to score and didn't turn the ball over (7 assists, 0 turnovers)... I'd also point to a physical guard DJ Newbill going 2/16 from the field.

But, I think he's a good kid that will be ready as needed in the tourneys. Great pickup by the coaching staff.
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Agreed. I just think there are some players who are much better when they get their minutes. I've been saying all year I think he should have been getting 15-20 minutes a game.
Andre Hollins-30 minutes
Austin Hollins-30 minutes
Coleman-25 minutes
Welch-15-20 minutes
Maverick-10-15 minutes
Oto-0-5 minutes
 


rrjackIII said:
Welch - among his many assists was the assist to Williams for his final dunk at Williams. That was great! I know GW has been a fan of Welch and so have I since I read last year he was a Sinatra aficionado. Lots have said he was too slow. I think he could have been used better this season.

I say use the Senior Starting Lineup the rest of the way.
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Although I will agree he looked good yesteday, I never thought he was that good of a player, maybe a 4th guard on a good team...too slow and a poor defender IMO. All that said I am glad he played well yesterday. That pass to Williams was 99% Rodney going to get it.
 



Gopher Warrior said:
He was never given a chance this season. I think it was a miscalculation by the coaching staff, but that's based somewhat on my preference -- I liked the idea of another 3-point shooter, and one that can play PG or SG, on the court with Dre & Austin.

That's not a knock on any other players - it's a compliment to Julian. I wonder if anyone heard Welch's intro for senior day... and then thought, "wow, that sounds pretty good... why didn't this guy get more of a chance this year?"... it went on and on about how great his shooting was junior year i.e., his first year at Minnesota... as compared to Gophers of yesteryear.

His shot wasn't great yesterday (after making his first two), but he got players the ball in position to score and didn't turn the ball over (7 assists, 0 turnovers)... I'd also point to a physical guard DJ Newbill going 2/16 from the field.

But, I think he's a good kid that will be ready as needed in the tourneys. Great pickup by the coaching staff.
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Where was Welch in their biggest game of the year (Indiana). I personally think that Welch should be PG and Ahmanesi SG when they are in together given Mav's ability to hit an uncontested 3 (plus Mav's poor assist/turnover ratio_
 



It would have been nice if Welch earned more PT, but I agree with Tubby not playing him. When he played this year he was always slow rotating on defense, he couldn't shoot, I just couldn't imagine a scenario where we would have been better off with more Welch this year.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
It would have been nice if Welch earned more PT, but I agree with Tubby not playing him. When he played this year he was always slow rotating on defense, he couldn't shoot, I just couldn't imagine a scenario where we would have been better off with more Welch this year.
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Welch is tied for the best AST/TO ratio on the team with Austin Hollins. He leads the team with one assist per 8.25 minutes played. This with him playing a lot with the second stringers this season. I agree his defense and shooting haven't been that great this year, but he distributes the ball just as good as anyone on the team.
 

I don't understand those saying Welch didn't get enough of a chance this year. Coming into the year he was seen as our sixth man and that's exactly how the coaching staff tried to use him. As a sixth man he could've been getting 20 minutes a game (well, besides the cupcake games when we play 12 people). But he sucked, almost right from the very beginning this year. And Mav has not sucked, at least not sucked very often, and basically has leapfrogged Julian in the pecking order.

Basically, it seems like he either wasn't that good to begin with, or was incapable of adjusting to the sixth man role. (Again, I wouldn't just say "coming off the bench." There's something more to being the "sixth man.")
 

I think Welch was hurt early in the year. He looked really slow and laboring at times. He looks much faster now. I don't know if that he was dogging it or if he had some injuries but he indeed looks more quick the last few times I've seen him. That being said, he's still not a really good defender so he's a liability to your team at times. Kentucky has this problem with Kyle Wiltcher, he's a great shooter but he sucks at defense so while he'll make a 3 he'll give up a lay up and a foul for an and 1 on the other end.

Tubby will carve out some minutes and a niche for him as the post season gets here because the kid is a pretty good shooter, maybe the best on the team when it comes to uncontested jump shots. So Tubby will get him in as a zone buster as the season winds down and maybe play zone defense when he's in the game. I've noticed teams are playing more zone against Minnesota but you're such a good offensive rebounding team you rebound them out of it pretty quick especially when you get a lot of 2nd chance points but Welch could be your secret weapon at times.
 

WanderingGopher said:
I don't understand those saying Welch didn't get enough of a chance this year. Coming into the year he was seen as our sixth man and that's exactly how the coaching staff tried to use him. As a sixth man he could've been getting 20 minutes a game (well, besides the cupcake games when we play 12 people). But he sucked, almost right from the very beginning this year. And Mav has not sucked, at least not sucked very often, and basically has leapfrogged Julian in the pecking order.

Basically, it seems like he either wasn't that good to begin with, or was incapable of adjusting to the sixth man role. (Again, I wouldn't just say "coming off the bench." There's something more to being the "sixth man.")
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Maverick has been the better shooter. Welch has been the better ball handler and distributor.
 

To me Welch's pretty decent play when he's been in there this year - with other starters, not the 2nd or 3rd tier - shows how messed up Tubby's subbing patterns have been. Welch could have / should have been playing against zone defenses this year in place of Coleman. Coleman is good at breaking down a man defense with the dribble, but Welch is a better ball handler and shooter against a zone.

That said, the Gophers beat Indiana with Welch never seeing the floor. Still, perhaps 3 or 4 games were lost in large part because of questionable subbing patterns.

Tubby has subbed in an intelligent manner the past 2 games, both good performances. Tubby also had better subbing patterns at the end of last season during the NIT run, and at other points throughout his term in Minnesota - in nearly all cases the team appeared to play better under normal subbing patterns. Why is Tubby so stubborn as to want to continue his continually failed experiment of the line change substitutions?
 

I think the problem is that Welch hasn't gotten enough time with the starters. He plays his best when he's playing pg and teammates set a lot of screens for him. He wasn't exactly set up for success. I wouldn't mind seeing him take a few minutes away from Austin, Joe, and Dre so they can be a bit fresher and play more aggressively. I'd like to see more of Welch playing pg alongside Dre and Austin when Joe isn't playing aggressively
 

My bad cncmin... just noticed you posted something similar. I guess we agree on Welch needing more time alongside starters.
 

WanderingGopher said:
I don't understand those saying Welch didn't get enough of a chance this year. Coming into the year he was seen as our sixth man and that's exactly how the coaching staff tried to use him. As a sixth man he could've been getting 20 minutes a game (well, besides the cupcake games when we play 12 people). But he sucked, almost right from the very beginning this year. And Mav has not sucked, at least not sucked very often, and basically has leapfrogged Julian in the pecking order.

Basically, it seems like he either wasn't that good to begin with, or was incapable of adjusting to the sixth man role. (Again, I wouldn't just say "coming off the bench." There's something more to being the "sixth man.")
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But he didn't come in as 6th man. He came in with 4 other subs. If he would have come in as 6th man I think we might have seen soem better things out of him. My opinion is that Joe should have played about 20 minutes in a lot of games depending upon the opposition. Dre has to be out there 30-35 minutes but you can slide him to the 2 when Welch is out there and Austin over to the 3 with no problem. Joe is tremendous against teams that will run- like Indiana, but has a real tough time against the zone and slow down teams. Welch is the opposite.
 

The reality is, Welch is not Big Ten caliber player. He is very, very slow and has D-2 quickness, at best. Everything he gets on offense is a result of poor defense or wide open looks. He cannot create his own shot and struggles guarding pretty much everyone.

The two passes he had to Rodney last game were not great. The reason the first dunk was so crazy is because he had to go get the lob which was thrown behind him. The one in which Rodney was fouled was probably worse. Fast break, late, behind him and below his waist. Two GREAT plays by Rodney. To give any praise to Welch is ridiculous.

IMO Mav is a MUCH better all-around baller. Plus Mav seems to like to pressure of big shots whereas Welch has the confidence issue.
 

Welch has played better as of late as has Mav. They both need to see more time in these last 2 games so they can get some confidence and flow with the regulars inside, as Austin's 3pt shooting has gone in the toilet. We will need these two zone busters as Trevor gets doubled more and more. We start 1 3pt shooter. Austin is shooting 7% in the last 10 games from 3.
 

Bigg Robb said:
The reality is, Welch is not Big Ten caliber player. He is very, very slow and has D-2 quickness, at best. Everything he gets on offense is a result of poor defense or wide open looks. He cannot create his own shot and struggles guarding pretty much everyone.

The two passes he had to Rodney last game were not great. The reason the first dunk was so crazy is because he had to go get the lob which was thrown behind him. The one in which Rodney was fouled was probably worse. Fast break, late, behind him and below his waist. Two GREAT plays by Rodney. To give any praise to Welch is ridiculous.

IMO Mav is a MUCH better all-around baller. Plus Mav seems to like to pressure of big shots whereas Welch has the confidence issue.
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Thanks god, finally someone with some basketball IQ commented on this. The previous post are just ridiculous particularly the one that calls the HOF coach to finally become intelligent. My goodness!!!!

Go Gophers
 

Bigg Robb said:
The reality is, Welch is not Big Ten caliber player. He is very, very slow and has D-2 quickness, at best. Everything he gets on offense is a result of poor defense or wide open looks. He cannot create his own shot and struggles guarding pretty much everyone.

The two passes he had to Rodney last game were not great. The reason the first dunk was so crazy is because he had to go get the lob which was thrown behind him. The one in which Rodney was fouled was probably worse. Fast break, late, behind him and below his waist. Two GREAT plays by Rodney. To give any praise to Welch is ridiculous.

IMO Mav is a MUCH better all-around baller. Plus Mav seems to like to pressure of big shots whereas Welch has the confidence issue.
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I'm fairly confident Welch is pretty quick compared to 90% of D2 athletes.

You think he's slow because you are watching him in comparison to the Big10. In fact, Welch was freshman of the year in a D1 conference. I hardly think he belongs in D2.

Welch also hit plenty of "clutch" 3's last year, it's too bad you only remember the free throws he missed.

Sorry, when a guy has 7 assists and 0 turnovers he deserves credit. 10 points 7 assists is a darn good stat line.

Maverick was great against PSU hitting open threes. He was atrocious running the offense.
 

The-Real-Truth said:
Thanks god, finally someone with some basketball IQ commented on this. The previous post are just ridiculous particularly the one that calls the HOF coach to finally become intelligent. My goodness!!!!

Go Gophers
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You're right, Welch is awful and anyone who thinks differently is just a Tubby basher.

Who in the world signed that Welch kid to a scholarship anyways??? He must be a real moron.
 

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