Balance and Depth

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leftyslefty

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So I was watching the Ill vs. Ind game yesterday, and the analyst (Greg Anthony?) was stating that Illinois was going to be a handful for anybody they played in the tournament because no less than 8 players had been the leading scorer in one game or another this year......and thus they were a tough team to prepare for.

So checking on our beloved Gophers I found that EACH of the 11 "regulars," has led or tied for the team scoring lead in a given game this season.

Westbrook 8 times, best of 29 @ Wisconsin
Nolen 5 times, high of 18 vs. St. Cloud St and Louisville
Damien 2 times, high of 21 vs. So. Dak. St.
Blake 2 times, high of 20 @ Colo. St.
Iverson 2 times, high of 20 vs. E. Wash
Devoe 2 times, high of 23 @ PSU
Sampson once, 17 vs. High Point
Carter once, 22 vs. Ind.
Abu-Shamala once, 20 vs. ND St.
Bostick once, 19 vs. PSU
Busch once, 10 @ Iowa (tied with Westy)

Sooooo......therein lies Tubby's dilemma! He has 11 capable (at times) scorers, and he has to find the right combo. The two most consistant scorers have struggled lately which must really add to his burden of trying to figure out who to play at what time.

But.......it could make us tough to play at tournament time!
 

Nolen had 18 vs Louisville and Busch had 10 vs Louisville, so I ask how 18 = 10.
 

My Bad........

Busch's game high point effort was @ Iowa. Now fixed. He did have 13 and 6 boards against the Ville and I confused his best game with the messsage of the post.
 

leftyslefty said:
So I was watching the Ill vs. Ind game yesterday, and the analyst (Greg Anthony?) was stating that Illinois was going to be a handful for anybody they played in the tournament because no less than 8 players had been the leading scorer in one game or another this year......and thus they were a tough team to prepare for.

So checking on our beloved Gophers I found that EACH of the 11 "regulars," has led or tied for the team scoring lead in a given game this season.

Westbrook 8 times, best of 29 @ Wisconsin
Nolen 5 times, high of 18 vs. St. Cloud St and Louisville
Damien 2 times, high of 21 vs. So. Dak. St.
Blake 2 times, high of 20 @ Colo. St.
Iverson 2 times, high of 20 vs. E. Wash
Devoe 2 times, high of 23 @ PSU
Sampson once, 17 vs. High Point
Carter once, 22 vs. Ind.
Abu-Shamala once, 20 vs. ND St.
Bostick once, 19 vs. PSU
Busch once, 10 @ Iowa (tied with Westy)

Sooooo......therein lies Tubby's dilemma! He has 11 capable (at times) scorers, and he has to find the right combo. The two most consistant scorers have struggled lately which must really add to his burden of trying to figure out who to play at what time.

But.......it could make us tough to play at tournament time!
Click to expand...

Amazing stat. I wonder if this has ever been done before.
 

You could make the point that this is actually a problem for the Gophers in that their rotation has involved too many players resulting in inconsistent performances from game to game. I would like to see Carter start for Iverson and Bostick get more consistent minutes.
 


But

what the gophers are missing is the Willie Burton type athlete that can carry the team consistently and come thru in the clutch when you need him. Nice supporting cast with no leader.
 

TABinMO said:
You could make the point that this is actually a problem for the Gophers in that their rotation has involved too many players resulting in inconsistent performances from game to game. I would like to see Carter start for Iverson and Bostick get more consistent minutes.
Click to expand...


By default any team is going to score at least 50 something points per game, and someone has to score them. Extreme balance is very bad.
 

At last glance it looked like we might be following Devoe, If he puts another effort together we might have a Burton to rally behind
 

We have the depth, and tubby has some tools to use to counter certain matchups. But still if we're fading most of the game, and can't match up to close out a game it'll be awfully tough to win any big games. We can't rely on a surprise performance every night. We need a core that can get something done. It's there, but can it be pulled together?
 



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