As an Indiana fan for over 20 yrs, I have always respected the Minnesota program and rooted for you guys in the NCAA and whenever a Minny win helps the Hoosiers indirectly in the B1G. I've never posted on this site but have followed it for years, as I find the primary message bds of the next opponent to say a lot about a state of a program. A few of the posters are really good and have informed, balanced insight, and I tend to look for their views here. Having lived through a decade-long decline of IU hoops and a great coach past his prime in the mid 1990's, a long stretch under Knight of one-and-done's in the tourney, lightening striking the program under Davis in the 02 title game, and the ensuing debacle and a horrible last 5 years, I've seen some unhappy fans. Put another way, I hail from a fan base that has experienced the sky falling. But even in our worst days I have never seen the type of negativism chronically manifested on this Board, where some in the fan base apparently enjoy spewing venom personally at the players when your many late game collapses over the last couple years is clearly a coaching issue.
The Minn-Mich State is a case in point of this larger problem. Even as a neutral observer, that game was absolutely maddening. How do you guys reconcile such poor end of game coaching and then Tubby throwing his players under the bus when it’s his scheme that gave another critical game away for your program? The misuse of Sampson in that late game situation is emblematic of chronic meltdowns by this team.
I’ve coached the game for 20 yrs and live in Big 10 country, so watch an embarrassing amt of college hoops, and have seen your team play a ton of games, in person and by DVR over the last several yrs. So I'm an outsider, but a relatively informed one. I couldn't believe that the Tubster was running that hilarious weave offense for 6 minutes trying not to lose, when all he needed to do was Iso the post, let Sampson go to work and either score or get fouled and shoot 90 percent from the line. Even a miss would have been better than the steals for layups. (Ironically, that weave worked when Sampson was in the game and he delivered two dimes to two guards who missed layups, but that offense doesn’t work with the other personnel. Your other big guy gives great effort and has really good rebounding aptitude, but needs a lot of work on offense, passing, shooting and free throws.) Sampson made those two Mich State big men look like they were moving in slow motion in the post all game and had them completely befuddled when they were playing defense. And remember that Payne had just shut down Sullinger a game before for the upset win. Sampson’s stats weren't eye popping but he was dominating that game in stretches in multiple ways -- against one of the hottest, best and toughest team in the country, as he did to open the season against a then-good Illinois team and a 7’1’’ future NBA center. It was clear he was the one option against Michigan State in the half-court set that was working. That was an easy call to go to him late in the game, but instead Tubby went to an inexperienced freshman point guard and a JUCO point guard who is too slow to penetrate consistently.
From what I’ve seen, Sampson is chronically missed by the guards in the post, is an afterthought in the offense, and is largely used as a 6’11 facilitator on the high post because he can hit that shot. But why? In the just the last few games, I saw him in the opening minutes of your last couple games score easily on Sullinger and Shurna in the post -- so easy that even my son said, “wow, that’s all night,” and then he was basically ignored the rest of the game, got just a few more shots, and you lost. That is bad coaching -- big men depend on guards and can’t pass to themselves (even supermodels know that) -- and NBA coaches who live on mismatches and going with what works, would be incensed if you ignore big men in the post who are scoring, because it takes them completely out of the game. (I also was sitting on the floor for the Indiana game in Bloomington, and also in Orlando for the Indiana State game and other games in the Old Spice, and it was shocking in that IU game how many times Sampson was open in the post for a couple seconds for the feed and was looked-off. I also couldn’t believe Sampson was even playing in Orl, the kid was clearly taking one for the team to give 10 minutes or so off the bench on a very serious injury that I’d bet is not even fully healed today -- I’m not sure if you could tell it on TV, but he could barely move laterally in that game and limped continually during time outs, etc.; not a lot of kids with next level aspirations would kill stats and risk more severe injury for multiple games that early in a season, which is another reason I’ve grown to root for the kid.)
On the broader issue of mismanaging Sampson, we would have loved to have him at IU instead of undersized Tom Pritchard at center for 3 years. From what I can tell, Sampson gets a lot of grief on this Board, but I’ve seen him play multiple times, and he absolutely should be playing 30 + minutes and shooting 10-15x a game for this offensively challenged team with no go-to guy. He’s a chronic mis-match that Tubby hasn’t exploited. In the games I’ve seen he shows elite skill in the post (how many centers in the country can, in one-on-one situations, score with both hands, hit running hook shots with both hands, consistently make both baseline short corner jumpers and 17-ft jump shots, pass the ball at an elite level, block shots and defend solidly in the post? Not many). The kid’s defensive rebounding was an issue and needed work but seems to have improved to about average (he seemed to play too straight up and wouldn’t turn his head to find a man to box out, but seems actually pretty improved this year; and that double foul call with Payne, which was a dagger and you guys got robbed, is an example of getting better.) Over the last couple years in games I’ve watched in Bloomington, one year he had something like 6 blocks against us, another year he marched to the line 13/14 times, and even this year hit an absolutely money shot (after being ignored most of the game by the guards) in the last 2 minutes that killed an IU run. And watching that kid shooting in warm-ups, I must say, is pretty cool for a basketball purist given his form, high arch and touch on the ball. But, hey, as they say, the grass is always greener, and perhaps it’s hard for your fans to see all these positives when he’s your guy, and easier for me to ignore the negatives when he’s not my guy.
Anyhow, this post is too long, and I apologize, but really wish Minny could return to glory, as a top notch Minny team is good for the conference, good for basketball, and good for rivalries in an age where conference realignment and profit is undermining a lot of the game’s history. I could go on about other Minny teams I loved, particularly that 08-09 team with Damien Johnson or the Bobby Jackson years, but think Tubby has blown it this year, generally with Sampson, and generally with the recruitment/management of a subpar set of point guards since he’s been the coach. And, in case you guys don’t know it, most people believe Tubby’s hockey line changes are insane and disrupt his own starters’ rhythm. Some of this is like watching Coach Knight in decline 2.0 -- detached from the modern player and watching a talent exodus in transfers because the coach lost touch with how to motivate players and develop them. The Minnesota transfers scream volumes, even though many will rationalize them.
I wish your team good luck in tomorrow’s game. I’ll bet IU wins, partially because Tubby doesn’t feed Sampson or get him going consistently and he gets marginalized/loses confidence, and instead Cody Zeller touches the ball, has a big game, gets a couple cheap founds on Sampson and he becomes (again) a non-factor in the game. Sampson is a really, really good player that would be a stud in any system that doesn't shackle it's big men and ignore them in favor of ball-dominating guards. I’m just glad it won’t be tomorrow!
The Minn-Mich State is a case in point of this larger problem. Even as a neutral observer, that game was absolutely maddening. How do you guys reconcile such poor end of game coaching and then Tubby throwing his players under the bus when it’s his scheme that gave another critical game away for your program? The misuse of Sampson in that late game situation is emblematic of chronic meltdowns by this team.
I’ve coached the game for 20 yrs and live in Big 10 country, so watch an embarrassing amt of college hoops, and have seen your team play a ton of games, in person and by DVR over the last several yrs. So I'm an outsider, but a relatively informed one. I couldn't believe that the Tubster was running that hilarious weave offense for 6 minutes trying not to lose, when all he needed to do was Iso the post, let Sampson go to work and either score or get fouled and shoot 90 percent from the line. Even a miss would have been better than the steals for layups. (Ironically, that weave worked when Sampson was in the game and he delivered two dimes to two guards who missed layups, but that offense doesn’t work with the other personnel. Your other big guy gives great effort and has really good rebounding aptitude, but needs a lot of work on offense, passing, shooting and free throws.) Sampson made those two Mich State big men look like they were moving in slow motion in the post all game and had them completely befuddled when they were playing defense. And remember that Payne had just shut down Sullinger a game before for the upset win. Sampson’s stats weren't eye popping but he was dominating that game in stretches in multiple ways -- against one of the hottest, best and toughest team in the country, as he did to open the season against a then-good Illinois team and a 7’1’’ future NBA center. It was clear he was the one option against Michigan State in the half-court set that was working. That was an easy call to go to him late in the game, but instead Tubby went to an inexperienced freshman point guard and a JUCO point guard who is too slow to penetrate consistently.
From what I’ve seen, Sampson is chronically missed by the guards in the post, is an afterthought in the offense, and is largely used as a 6’11 facilitator on the high post because he can hit that shot. But why? In the just the last few games, I saw him in the opening minutes of your last couple games score easily on Sullinger and Shurna in the post -- so easy that even my son said, “wow, that’s all night,” and then he was basically ignored the rest of the game, got just a few more shots, and you lost. That is bad coaching -- big men depend on guards and can’t pass to themselves (even supermodels know that) -- and NBA coaches who live on mismatches and going with what works, would be incensed if you ignore big men in the post who are scoring, because it takes them completely out of the game. (I also was sitting on the floor for the Indiana game in Bloomington, and also in Orlando for the Indiana State game and other games in the Old Spice, and it was shocking in that IU game how many times Sampson was open in the post for a couple seconds for the feed and was looked-off. I also couldn’t believe Sampson was even playing in Orl, the kid was clearly taking one for the team to give 10 minutes or so off the bench on a very serious injury that I’d bet is not even fully healed today -- I’m not sure if you could tell it on TV, but he could barely move laterally in that game and limped continually during time outs, etc.; not a lot of kids with next level aspirations would kill stats and risk more severe injury for multiple games that early in a season, which is another reason I’ve grown to root for the kid.)
On the broader issue of mismanaging Sampson, we would have loved to have him at IU instead of undersized Tom Pritchard at center for 3 years. From what I can tell, Sampson gets a lot of grief on this Board, but I’ve seen him play multiple times, and he absolutely should be playing 30 + minutes and shooting 10-15x a game for this offensively challenged team with no go-to guy. He’s a chronic mis-match that Tubby hasn’t exploited. In the games I’ve seen he shows elite skill in the post (how many centers in the country can, in one-on-one situations, score with both hands, hit running hook shots with both hands, consistently make both baseline short corner jumpers and 17-ft jump shots, pass the ball at an elite level, block shots and defend solidly in the post? Not many). The kid’s defensive rebounding was an issue and needed work but seems to have improved to about average (he seemed to play too straight up and wouldn’t turn his head to find a man to box out, but seems actually pretty improved this year; and that double foul call with Payne, which was a dagger and you guys got robbed, is an example of getting better.) Over the last couple years in games I’ve watched in Bloomington, one year he had something like 6 blocks against us, another year he marched to the line 13/14 times, and even this year hit an absolutely money shot (after being ignored most of the game by the guards) in the last 2 minutes that killed an IU run. And watching that kid shooting in warm-ups, I must say, is pretty cool for a basketball purist given his form, high arch and touch on the ball. But, hey, as they say, the grass is always greener, and perhaps it’s hard for your fans to see all these positives when he’s your guy, and easier for me to ignore the negatives when he’s not my guy.
Anyhow, this post is too long, and I apologize, but really wish Minny could return to glory, as a top notch Minny team is good for the conference, good for basketball, and good for rivalries in an age where conference realignment and profit is undermining a lot of the game’s history. I could go on about other Minny teams I loved, particularly that 08-09 team with Damien Johnson or the Bobby Jackson years, but think Tubby has blown it this year, generally with Sampson, and generally with the recruitment/management of a subpar set of point guards since he’s been the coach. And, in case you guys don’t know it, most people believe Tubby’s hockey line changes are insane and disrupt his own starters’ rhythm. Some of this is like watching Coach Knight in decline 2.0 -- detached from the modern player and watching a talent exodus in transfers because the coach lost touch with how to motivate players and develop them. The Minnesota transfers scream volumes, even though many will rationalize them.
I wish your team good luck in tomorrow’s game. I’ll bet IU wins, partially because Tubby doesn’t feed Sampson or get him going consistently and he gets marginalized/loses confidence, and instead Cody Zeller touches the ball, has a big game, gets a couple cheap founds on Sampson and he becomes (again) a non-factor in the game. Sampson is a really, really good player that would be a stud in any system that doesn't shackle it's big men and ignore them in favor of ball-dominating guards. I’m just glad it won’t be tomorrow!
