Souhan: "U's Williams bounces back"

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thanks for letting us know the U bounced back... Some folks may have thought they bounced foward
 

Rodney will convince me when he does something like this against Indiana or Wisconsin. Until then, I still view him as a house of cards that collapses when pressure is applied.
 

as soon as Rodney does something against Duke, Michigan St, or Memphis he is only a house of cards
 

What Rodney did last night...he should be able to do every night. The key? He worked WITHOUT the ball looking for gaps. He was active. In the past 3 games he stalked the perimeter only.
 


StCroix said:
What Rodney did last night...he should be able to do every night. The key? He worked WITHOUT the ball looking for gaps. He was active. In the past 3 games he stalked the perimeter only.
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Very true. This not only applies to Rodney, but to the whole team. Under Tubby's standing offense the kids look like pillars observing the dribbler. When they stop standing and become active on the offensive end it brings significantly better results.
 

The High Low game was working perfectly last night. Trevor, Austin, and others had nice passes to cutters. Not sure if that offense would have worked against 1-3-1 or against the Badgers tight man on man, but it's a sight for sore eyes.
 


Yes sir, and it's easier to hit a guy cutting/moving to the basket if you are able to either penetrate via dribble or pass to the high post. Nebraska seemed content to let us make that first entry pass.
 



brucekaupa said:
Movement. The key is movement.
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We have a winner.

I also still think we pass up getting the ball into the low post too often. Joe Coleman seems to give up extremely fast on guys posting up. It happened several times with Mbakwe and even EE last night. I could tell Mbakwe was frustrated a few times.
 

GophersInIowa said:
We have a winner.

I also still think we pass up getting the ball into the low post too often. Joe Coleman seems to give up extremely fast on guys posting up. It happened several times with Mbakwe and even EE last night. I could tell Mbakwe was frustrated a few times.
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I noticed this as well. He'll look for about a second and pass on it. Doesn't really give the guys a chance to establish positioning. It's definitely a problem area for this team considering we have a post beast down there who could really take advantage of the touches.
 

nokomismod said:
Yes sir, and it's easier to hit a guy cutting/moving to the basket if you are able to either penetrate via dribble or pass to the high post. Nebraska seemed content to let us make that first entry pass.
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Great point. Wisconsin does a wonderful job of denying the entry pass. The Gophers get caught watching the dribbler rather than making an away from the ball cut or screen to allow for an entry pass. Usually what happens is that someone comes up to the dribbler and tries a pick and roll while the others watch. It is very frustrating to watch when the kids stand around. Somehow Tubby has to provide more options for the offense to get started.

Last night the entry pass was uncontested, which led to much better movement. We'll see what happens when the Gophers go up against a team that denies that entry pass.
 

StCroix said:
What Rodney did last night...he should be able to do every night. The key? He worked WITHOUT the ball looking for gaps. He was active. In the past 3 games he stalked the perimeter only.
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He was very active, those first couple of buckets really got him engaged, there were a couple of times that he got the ball inside went up and got completely stuffed but the next time he got the ball inside he took it right back up, haven't seen that in him much, if he can keep going at it in the paint he will get his points, it's when he shy's away on the perimeter that he has no impact.
 



jovs said:
He was very active, those first couple of buckets really got him engaged, there were a couple of times that he got the ball inside went up and got completely stuffed but the next time he got the ball inside he took it right back up, haven't seen that in him much, if he can keep going at it in the paint he will get his points, it's when he shy's away on the perimeter that he has no impact.
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Small sample size, but when he is dominating inside, he seems to shoot better from the outside as well. All about confidence.
 

Holy Man said:
Small sample size, but when he is dominating inside, he seems to shoot better from the outside as well. All about confidence.
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I hadn't thought about that, but he did hit a 3 last night, and I wanna say he hit a jump shot or two as well.
 


Scoreboard said:
look at the rotation on his shot........
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I'm not knowledgeable enough about basketball to know what is a good or bad rotation or be able to glean any information from it.
 


Cayman said:
I'm not knowledgeable enough about basketball to know what is a good or bad rotation or be able to glean any information from it.
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As you observed, his shot was good after being successful inside. His shot rotation was great, a nice spin that was front to back, consistent, smooth and a bucket. Rodney shoots without a conscience, he will be very good.
 

Holy Man said:
Small sample size, but when he is dominating inside, he seems to shoot better from the outside as well. All about confidence.
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Very true. Confidence is a huge factor in all sports.
 

station19 said:
Very true. Confidence is a huge factor in all sports.
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I think confidence is important but overrated. If you are a smart, team-oriented player, you can find ways to be valuable with your playing time even when you are in a slump.

Baseball: When the hits aren't coming, lay down a bunt, focus on situational hitting, hit behind the runner on second, drive one to the outfield with a man on third and less than two out, etc.

Basketball: When the shot isn't falling, hustle on defense, keep yourself in good position, if you are in the right spot and generate some turnovers, that can lead to easy, confidence building layups/dunks on the fast break. On offense, make sure to move well off the ball, set your screens, make your passes. If you contribute to good ball movement, this keep lead to some easy, open shots which can help get the confidence back.

Football: When the ball isn't coming your way, make sure you hustle and hit your blocks, move your feet on routes that aren't designed for you. If your efforts open up the other guys, their productivity will attract more attention leaving you more open.

Hockey: When you don't seem to be scoring, drive the net, create some traffic, set screens. That will generate goals for your linemates, and eventually your effort will be rewarded when a rebound lands on your stick. Also, hustling hard on the back-check can give you a chance to disrupt the other team in transition and generate odd-man rushes the other way, which should create some good scoring chances to help boost the confidence.

I'll stop with the big North American sports. But my point is, even when a player is having a rough statistical stretch, so long as they keep these two maxims in mind: 1) I should be giving maximum effort every second I am out there, and 2) the team winning is more important than me scoring, then they should be able to do some less-recognized but still valuable things to help the team win, and doing those things will probably result in more opportunities for them to find their way back onto the scoresheet.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
I'll stop with the big North American sports. But my point is, even when a player is having a rough statistical stretch, so long as they keep these two maxims in mind: 1) I should be giving maximum effort every second I am out there, and 2) the team winning is more important than me scoring, then they should be able to do some less-recognized but still valuable things to help the team win, and doing those things will probably result in more opportunities for them to find their way back onto the scoresheet.
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And confidence helps with those also.
 

Station19's key word of the day...confidence.
 

When I hear the term "confidence" being thrown around regarding Williams, I think of the term "streaky".

Williams is a streaky player. When his form is good and he's feeling relaxed he can go on a tear, but when his form is off and he's in a funk he can just suck the life out of the team. The one thing that is certain about a streaky player is that you can't build your team around him. What we have to hope for with Williams is that he's on one of those good streaks come tournament time.
 

tinyarch said:
When I hear the term "confidence" being thrown around regarding Williams, I think of the term "streaky".

Williams is a streaky player. When his form is good and he's feeling relaxed he can go on a tear, but when his form is off and he's in a funk he can just suck the life out of the team. The one thing that is certain about a streaky player is that you can't build your team around him. What we have to hope for with Williams is that he's on one of those good streaks come tournament time.
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Good points. I also think he's a guy that is not going to take over a game like Andre Hollins can. He generally does well when the offense is moving the ball effectively. I wouldn't say that his teammates make him a good player, but in some ways he does rely on others to be an effective player.
 

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