FSN: This year's Gophers feature enviable depth

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"That ranking lasted all of one game. Despite beating Cornell by five at home, No. 13 Minnesota fell to 20th in the polls — and eventually out of the rankings by season's end."

Didn't someone claim that you down fall in the polls by winning??
 

They fell 7 spots because they lost to Virginia at home that same week, not because they beat Cornell by 5. That is, unless the polls came out on Tuesday that week, a day after they loss to Virginia. They proceeded to drop out of the rankings after dropping 9 of there last 10 games...
 

Yep. Reporter wrong. Poll came out on Monday and we were #15. Lost to Virginia that night at home, then beat Cornell by 5. Dropped to #22.
 

We have depth at every position, except the point guard position. After Andre Hollins we have a pretty drastic drop off. Welch is struggling and Ahanmisi is only good for bursts where he's on the court for less than 5 minutes. After 5 minutes I think he'll really struggle to direct the offense (especially in B1G competition). Knock on wood and pray that Hollins doesn't get hurt in practice or in a game because this team will struggle if he's not on the court. For me, Andre has been the brightest spot so far on this team. It's not the points that impress me, it's the low turnover to assist rate that he's been building as the season progresses. For a natural two guard, Andre has developed significantly in regard to handling the ball and directing movement in the offense. As Hollins goes, so go the Gophers.
 


Health will always be a factor. If we suffer temporary injuries, it can pay dividends. But we can't lose any of our top guys for any significant time and expect to just brush that off, we're not that kind of deep. We have guys who fit roles pretty well in spurts, but I wouldn't be comfortable with counting on them for 25 minutes.

This team has flat out looked really good, and there's really no denying it. Even in their one loss, it was a team considered a top 5 squad, and they shot lights out to keep us at bay. They pretty much worked over every opponent they should have, and scored a couple good wins in the Bahamas. I honestly can't really complain about anything that's gone on so far. I mean, it'd be nice to see more out of certain individuals, but as far as how the season has progressed, it's actually better than I anticipated.

This is the best a Tubby team has looked for a sustained stretch that I can remember. The '08-'09 team had a pretty darn good start, going 16-1, beating ranked Louisville and OSU, and winning at Wisconsin. They kinda faded though. Obviously the Puerto Rico squad looked good until injuries. It'll be interesting to see how this team can hold up as the season progresses.
 


I would call it unenviable depth which correlates to being amazingly inadequate.
 

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