What can we hope for/predict for the gophs in B10 play?

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per rivals we are supposedly 23rd in the nation RPI wise with a 69 SOS, not to bad. Maybe we shouldnt be so worried about not blowing out decent teams w/o nolen? hopefully we are battle tested and ready to meet expectations for once. I am a little worried on how we play at the kohl center. a W would give me some confidence in this team again. right now i say 5th in the BT. predictions/thoughts on how weve been playing?
 


i liked it, makes me feel just a little better about our performances
 

The Tubby Smith show was on FSN when I was at a bar tonight having a couple of drinks. There was no sound.

But they did have a segment about perimeter defense and I just about spit up my beer.

Found it an odd topic considering that the Gophers have allowed about 20 more made treys so far this season than any team in the Big Ten.
 

The success this year will depend on about five variables and I'm not sure about any of them:

1. Al Nolen's health. Too often as he goes, so go the Gophers. We need him for 30 min's per game. Without him we are 50% in the big ten.

2. Mbakwe's development. Trevor is a potential game changing animal. He needs to be in
better position some times, needs to learn to shoot from 8-10 feet and needs to shoot FT's.

3. Cory Joseph's head. He has great talent, but needs to understand Tubby's defensive system.

4. The center, whomever he is. Sometimes it seems we have a strength in the middle and sometimes it seems we are playing with only four men on the court.

5. Free throw shooting, scoring from the stripe and, oh yea, efficiency from the charity line. Did I mention free throws?

This is potentially a real good team, but we have played down to the competition and at this point we are considerably over rated. IMHO, of course.
 


anonymous said:
The Tubby Smith show was on FSN when I was at a bar tonight having a couple of drinks. There was no sound.

But they did have a segment about perimeter defense and I just about spit up my beer.

Found it an odd topic considering that the Gophers have allowed about 20 more made treys so far this season than any team in the Big Ten.
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The gophers are seeing opponents put up a lot of 3's this year because teams don't have much success going inside against this big Gopher team.

At the Kohl center, the gophers will face a team that has a lot of good 3 point shooters. This includes their tallest starters. If our big guys have to move outside to defend this. we may also lose our rebounding advantage.
 

Things preventing a Big Ten title (in order of importance IMO)

1) Foul Trouble of the posts....both Mbakwe and Sampson have had issues with this this year, Iverson has also at times in his career had issues with this.....play smart

2) Al Nolen's health...the whole team is better with Al, Joseph is a better player with Al playing with him because Al can do the things that Joseph would struggle with (like dribble out of pressure). It also allows Joseph to play some 2, and allows Tubby to limit mavericks minutes

3) Free Throw Shooting

4) Overlooking teams.....MN cannot lose more than 1 combined game to PSU, IA, NU, MI, or IU if they want to be Big Ten champs

5) Not letting 1 loss become 2, if the gophers have more than 1 "losing streak" in Big Ten play, they will not win the Big Ten title
 

Time for hope is gone - Time to perform

Anything less than 3rd in conference and a run to the 16 would be disappointing.

Tubby has his kids in place, and AN and BH are darn good players left from Monson.
 

BarnBurner said:
Anything less than 3rd in conference and a run to the 16 would be disappointing.

Tubby has his kids in place, and AN and BH are darn good players left from Monson.
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I agree with the Sweet 16 part, but I just don't see us being able to finish 3rd in this conference...it's just too tough.
 



GopherHomer said:
I agree with the Sweet 16 part, but I just don't see us being able to finish 3rd in this conference...it's just too tough.
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OSU is tough, at least so far. Other than that, I dont think any team has better personnel that MN. Bigs, 3 point shooters, etc.

The rest is on the coaching staff to make it happen.
 

Oh the double!

With our physical bigs and their shot blocking skills it is too bad that the defense Tubby employs REQUIRES a double down and an open three. Really, could we skip the double and let some fool attempt to shoot over our length and let Trevor clean the glass and start the break?

Yes oh yes, in a perfect world we have perimeter athletes with length who can both double down and cover the outside shot, but this team doesn't have that. Lets adapt to our strengths!
 

march madness said:
With our physical bigs and their shot blocking skills it is too bad that the defense Tubby employs REQUIRES a double down and an open three. Really, could we skip the double and let some fool attempt to shoot over our length and let Trevor clean the glass and start the break?

Yes oh yes, in a perfect world we have perimeter athletes with length who can both double down and cover the outside shot, but this team doesn't have that. Lets adapt to our strengths!
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RW has a lot of perimeter length.
 

I agree, tubby, quit asking our perimeter players to double the post, it leaves the other teams shooters wide open, and trevor, ralph, colt, mo don't need help gaurding anyone in the B10 except sullinger. that simple.
 



I would say any worse than 4th in the conference OR a run to the sweet 16 would be a poor showing, if people are healthy.

If we finish 6th,and make a run to the sweet 16 I would be fine with that, or if we somehow finish 2nd and lose in the 2nd round, I would be ok with that as well. I think a NCAA win is a must.
 

gopherbadgerman said:
I would say any worse than 4th in the conference OR a run to the sweet 16 would be a poor showing, if people are healthy.

If we finish 6th,and make a run to the sweet 16 I would be fine with that, or if we somehow finish 2nd and lose in the 2nd round, I would be ok with that as well. I think a NCAA win is a must.
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That would be one NCAA win in 4 years with Tubby.

Seems light on expectations, imo, based on the team he has built.
 

BarnBurner said:
That would be one NCAA win in 4 years with Tubby.

Seems light on expectations, imo, based on the team he has built.
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I totally understand...

I just think that a 14-4 Big Ten record and a 2nd round hicup might not be that bad...
 

Based on what I've seen since Puerto Rico, 14-4 is a pipe dream. Sure hope I'm wrong, but, this team reminds me of the old Colonel Sanders stab at McDonald's chicken sandwich. "Parts is parts. Where's the pieces?" We've got a lot of parts, good parts. Only occasionally does Tubby get them together as a collection of pieces.
 

From the Barn said:
Funny you should ask, I just wrote way too may words about this, if you care.

http://fromthebarn.org/2010/12/26/l...conference-season-and-forward-to-the-big-ten/
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Good read. What I like is you don't pretend to know all the answers. Should be obvious but, yes, we really don't know what sort of a team this is going to be. Start finding out tomorrow. Hope you're right about Leuer having problems against us and Al being able to take Taylor out of his game. Feel pretty good about the game if those two things happen.
 

The Gophers, when healthy, can beat almost anyone in the country. The Gophers, when healthy, can lose to almost anyone we will play this season. The Big Ten is not as strong on top, but its not as weak on the bottom as previous years. Indiana is improved, Northwestern is obviously pretty good, Iowa is terrible...but for the most part there arent easy games, especially on the road.

I think 12-15 wins in the B10 is expected, I would be surprised if they did worse than that barring major injury to a key player(s)
 

GopherHomer said:
I agree with the Sweet 16 part, but I just don't see us being able to finish 3rd in this conference...it's just too tough.
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It's tough but no one besides OSU is really, really good. We will see an ugly loss and we'll see us take it to a Mich.St. or OSU, but most teams will have that kind of season. The Big Ten is highly overrated as a conference with elite teams. We have lots of good teams. If The Goph's can have a "charmed" year, they should contend for the conference title. If they struggle, we still should be able to make the tourney. In my humble opinion of course.
 

I guess I just don't think the Big10 is as overrated at the top as some people on this board. I think 3rd place would represent a charmed season where everything falls our way. OSU and MSU (I don't yet buy their demise) are not going to be caught. 4th or 5th would be where I expect us to finish with 6th or below being a disappointment. But, as has been said before, all will be forgotten based on how we do in the tourney.
 

MSU hasn't beat anyone yet. Once they beat a good team, or even a team perceived to be good, I will say they are fine. Izzo is a great coach and they will finish top 4 in the Big10, but to say they wont be caught seems a bit odd. OSU looks to be the best team in the conference and Sullinger is a beast, MSU has shown nothing this year.
 

OSU 16-2
MSU 14-4
Minnesota 13-5

Read all about it at minnesotahoops.blogspot.com
 

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