Omaha World Herald: Tubby gushes about Eliason

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“We do have some talented people there coming back,'' Smith said. “But Elliott will play significant minutes.

“I love his toughness and how hard he works to improve his game. That's what excites me. He's gifted and he keeps the ball up high.''

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110517/SPORTS/110519650

Go Gophers!!
 

Glad to hear he keeps the ball up high. That's one of the things Ralph still hasn't gotten the hang of. He has a tendency to make himself a 6-footer by bringing the ball down after getting a (offensive) rebound or when he's in traffic.
 

Can't help but get excited about Elliott after reading that article.
 

Let it begin-

'Elliott should start, Ralph needs to hit the bench'

----------

Smith said. “He will be as talented a post player as we have had here.''
 

>>“He really reminds me a lot of a Kevin McHale where he is so fundamentally sound, and keeps the ball up where a big man should keep it,'' Smith said. “He will be as talented a post player as we have had here.''



Well, so much for keeping expectations in check... : )
 


I'd be a lot more excited about this if I hadn't heard from Tubby about Mav last year.
 


Walker and Eliason will eventually be better than Sampson and Iverson. If Walker can lose a few pounds and stay healthy they may be much better. For the time being I'm glad Sampson is still on board. We need his experience. I think we have a nice group of forwards. At least on paper.
 




Maybe the reason Sampson wanted to go pro was he knew he was going to lose his minutes to Eliason and Mo...
 


For anyone who says Tubby is just mean to his players and always throws them under the bus, please read this article.

Tubby gives out praise too.
 

There have been few and far between that have ever come in and been dominate in their first year of collegiate eligibility at Minnesota, Mchale sure didn't. To think that Eliason is going to start ahead of Sampson is crazy. To think that in two years Eliason will be better than Sampson was at that time in their careers, I hope so.
 



This is refreshing to read...let's also consider the writer of the article who clearly wanted to write a positive piece. Let's start with the headline 'Tubby gushes about Eliason", you would be hard pressed to find a (non game related) positive story like this locally. Perhaps the reporter asked questions like "what do you love about him?"...to which Tubby could answer "I love how he..." or "I'm excited about...."

Sad state of affairs that Tubby has to be guarded/careful with his comments in working with the sour old men up here. I wonder why we don't her a lot of "gushing" from the Star Trib or SPPD?...Insterad they prefer to be looking for holes, shortcomings, breakign news (most ofetn wrong) and negative angles rahther than break their editoral doctrine of negativity...

+1 Omaha World Herald
 

NurumbiCongo said:
He never gave close to that much praise about Mavrick the dud.
Click to expand...

Very true. Also, with the exception of OSU's freshman PG, I have never seen anybody doing too well in their 1st year in Big10. Mav did what he was supposed to do. He will grow and become a great player coming of the bench. The reason that OSU's PG shined the way he did was the fact that he was on the court with 4 great players. This will automatically gives so much confidence to the player. Great example: Rondo. I would love to see him play like that for a team like TW in Minnesota. Another example would be Billups when he played for the Pistons. Once we have 4 good players on the court, we can see what Mav is about.

Go Gophers
 

THE Chitown Gopher said:
This is refreshing to read...let's also consider the writer of the article who clearly wanted to write a positive piece. Let's start with the headline 'Tubby gushes about Eliason", you would be hard pressed to find a (non game related) positive story like this locally. Perhaps the reporter asked questions like "what do you love about him?"...to which Tubby could answer "I love how he..." or "I'm excited about...."

Sad state of affairs that Tubby has to be guarded/careful with his comments in working with the sour old men up here. I wonder why we don't her a lot of "gushing" from the Star Trib or SPPD?...Insterad they prefer to be looking for holes, shortcomings, breakign news (most ofetn wrong) and negative angles rahther than break their editoral doctrine of negativity...

+1 Omaha World Herald
Click to expand...

Great post. Thank you.

Go Gophers
 

Sampson vs Eliason

Sampson will start probably every game next year. He started every game his junior year I believe. After Iverson's monster game against Butler in 2010, Sampson still started.

The perfect compliment to Sampsons finesse game is Trevor. Sampson has a decent outside shot that makes the high low effective with him and Trevor on the floor. The better coaches started playing the "high" player super tight to stop the entry pass. I hope in that case they can learn to take one power dribble and a 5 foot shot.

Eliason could play major minutes if we press more. He seemed like he could run the floor well for his size. Of the pair of Eliason and Walker, we would need whoever isn't in the post to be able to hit a 10 foot shot. I've seen Walker with a decent touch, hopefully Eliason does as well.
 

We finally got some good news this offseason! Big guys who can run the floor are nice, but will we try to push the pace at all next year?
 

The-Real-Truth said:
Also, with the exception of OSU's freshman PG, I have never seen anybody doing too well in their 1st year in Big 10.
Click to expand...

I would respectfully disagree. In addition to Craft at Ohio State (6.9 ppg, 4.8 apg), just going back 5 years there are all kinds of point guards that were effective & productive in their 1st year as Big Ten point guards, including one of our own (Al Nolen). To name a few:

Talor Battle (PSU) -- 10.2 ppg, 3.2 apg
Bryce Cartwright (Iowa) -- 10.9 ppg, 5.9 apg
Michael Conley (OSU) -- 11.3 ppg, 6.1 apg
Lewis Jackson (Pur) -- 5.9 ppg, 3.3 apg
Kalin Lucas (MSU) -- 10.6 ppg, 3.5 apg
Demitri McCamey (Ill) -- 8.2 ppg, 3.3 apg
Darius Morris (Mich) -- 4.4 ppg, 2.6 apg
Al Nolen (Minn) -- 4.3 ppg, 3.5 apg
Cully Payne (Iowa) -- 8.7 ppg, 3.8 apg
 

It is interesting hearing Tubby's comments on Eliason. The only time I have ever seen him play was in last year's Tubby's Tipoff, so this was a VERY brief sample of his skills, and he has had a year of practicing and weight room time since. At that time, I was very pleasantly surprised by Eliason's play. Did he look strong? No. Did I see him jump out of the gym? No. Did he look fast or quick? No particularly. What surprised me, though, was that he looked like he knew what he was doing. He seemed to get into good position. He rebounded some balls where he got the rebound not because he jumped over a guy's back, but because he had boxed out. What a concept!! I also remember one nice offensive move where he seemed to already have good footwork. I say this not because I'm an expert on big-man offensive footwork, but he made what looked like a text-book move with the ball in his hands that allowed him to make an easy close-in shot. It was shocking, considering how often it seems like our big men have looked lost offensively. Tubby's comments seem to back up what I observed that day in such a limited viewing: Eliason has been taught the right way to play center. We need to keep our excitement in check, because he probably is not going to set the world on fire, due to the fact that he is not the physical freak we would all like our centers to be. However, wouldn't it be a treat to have a center that plays the game fundamentally sound? That would be a nice base on which to build.
 

SelectionSunday said:
I would respectfully disagree. In addition to Craft at Ohio State (6.9 ppg, 4.8 apg), just going back 5 years there are all kinds of point guards that were effective & productive in their 1st year as Big Ten point guards, including one of our own (Al Nolen). To name a few:

Talor Battle (PSU) -- 10.2 ppg, 3.2 apg
Bryce Cartwright (Iowa) -- 10.9 ppg, 5.9 apg
Michael Conley (OSU) -- 11.3 ppg, 6.1 apg
Lewis Jackson (Pur) -- 5.9 ppg, 3.3 apg
Kalin Lucas (MSU) -- 10.6 ppg, 3.5 apg
Demitri McCamey (Ill) -- 8.2 ppg, 3.3 apg
Darius Morris (Mich) -- 4.4 ppg, 2.6 apg
Al Nolen (Minn) -- 4.3 ppg, 3.5 apg
Cully Payne (Iowa) -- 8.7 ppg, 3.8 apg
Click to expand...

That's fine. I have nothing to say.

Go Gophers
 

Tubby's no Brewster or anything, but all coaches have a tendency to sling it now and than. He was preaching to the choir a bit, obviously. That said, I'm excited to see what this kid can do, but with a grain of salt.
 

Just a touch cynical, what do we think he will say to the local paper, he is a recruiter after all. And he does want him to show up for practice this fall.
 

macgopher said:
Just a touch cynical, what do we think he will say to the local paper, he is a recruiter after all. And he does want him to show up for practice this fall.
Click to expand...


No kidding, I agree. What is Tubby supposed to say? "This is a big kid but he isn't worth a $hit"?
 

And sometimes it's just not possible to pick up a terd from the clean end. (Bill Clinton)
 

He's been gushing about this kid for a while, he's done something to impress him. I'm not expecting him to come in 1st year and just tear up, but he's probably got some great skills to build around and that's what excites Tubby. Skills don't mean production though, you gotta put it out on the court when the lights come on. I'm excited to watch him grow the next four years, along with Big Mo and see what kind of tandem they can form.
 

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