Your opinion of the Gophers after Maui is?...
Maui was about what I expected, ya know, ups and downs like a yo-yo, and I'm going to continue to expect that throughout the season. I think that's the most realistic viewpoint, given the new coach installing an entirely new system and without even the benefit of his own full recruiting class in order to help implement such drastic change.
Clearly, we are undermanned size-wise and in the front court, hurting for rebounding, and I can foresee a lot of games where EE and Mo despite their best efforts might get into early foul difficulties because of that. It's just a shame Rakeem Buckles isn't here (and curses to the NCAA once again), as that is an area of need he could surely (and immediately) helped address, and with 15+ points and 9+ rebounds per game for FIU so far this season, he's proven himself healthy and a highly effective player. Water under the bridge, I know, but still, that pisses me off.
Anyway, I saw a lot of positives in Maui. I loved the overall energy of the team, especially given the really fricken early AM starts. It ain't easy trying to generate energy at that hour of the morning (and in paradise no less), but I thought Pitino and staff did a very good job extracting max effort from their players most of the time (with the exception being in portions of the Chaminade game). Two players which especially stood out to me in that regard were Mav Ahanmisi, who seems to have become kind of a whipping boy on this board for all the things that he is not, but what I love about the kid is the fact that he unfailingly gives it his all. He plays hard and busts his tail every minute out there, he plays like it matters and means something to him no matter what the game situation might be, and honestly, who could fault a player like that? Love such effort, and he played like that in Maui. The second would be Joey King, as he really impressed with his high energy and effort.
Those were the two players which really struck me coming out of Hawaii, but obviously and understandably enough the team as a whole is still entirely a work in progress, and because of that we're likely to get blown right out of the gym some games, but we will win our fair share too, especially if Pitino and Co. are able to motivate as I felt they did in Maui.
As they say, Rome was not built in one day, and neither is a basketball program, and at this point it seems mostly personnel (or rather, adequate lack thereof) capable of playing Pitino's style that we're missing, the exact right pieces and fits. I do feel proud of this team though, proud of their effort, and proud of their coaches post-Maui, and have great hope and am really, really, really looking forward to the future, just to see what happens.
