STrib on Gophers: "the lack of natural leaders has been glaring."

Donate To GopherHole
BleedGopher

BleedGopher

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 11, 2008
Messages
60,762
Reaction score
16,153
Points
113
per Amelia:

The struggles are wearing on this team. Saturday, coach Richard Pitino benched senior point guard DeAndre Mathieu for "attitude" problems, and freshman Nate Mason -- who started in his place -- admitted that the team felt the captain's poor demeanor "a lot." After the Northwestern loss one game prior, senior Mo Walker said Pitino lit into the guys about playing like individuals and "playing like we're not a team anymore." Minnesota's seniors should be the overwhelming strength of this team, but as times have gotten tougher, the lack of natural leaders has been glaring.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/293272941.html

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
per Amelia:

The struggles are wearing on this team. Saturday, coach Richard Pitino benched senior point guard DeAndre Mathieu for "attitude" problems, and freshman Nate Mason -- who started in his place -- admitted that the team felt the captain's poor demeanor "a lot." After the Northwestern loss one game prior, senior Mo Walker said Pitino lit into the guys about playing like individuals and "playing like we're not a team anymore." Minnesota's seniors should be the overwhelming strength of this team, but as times have gotten tougher, the lack of natural leaders has been glaring.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/293272941.html

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

Been rehashed a million times on the board. But none of our seniors have ever been the emotional/psychological leader of this team. Not once in prior years did I ever feel that Andre or Mo had the eye of their teammates in a leadership fashion. If the shots are falling, sure, Andre is an emotional leader, same goes for Mo, but when they aren't? Look out.

We will have the same problem next year. Our senior leaders will be Joey King (Personally have never know him to be a man of many philosophical words) and Morris, whom will not get that badge due to him being a 2nd year in the program guy. Is Mason capable of stepping up and being more of a leader in a mental and psychological aspect? TBD. I sure hope so, he's going to need to for 3 years.
 

Mason seems like he has that potential, but he doesn't seem very vocal.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Mason seems like he has that potential, but he doesn't seem very vocal.
Click to expand...

I think that's ok. I've always thought the concept of the "vocal leader" was a little bit overrated. For a leader, you need a guy who is willing to make the smart and selfless plays and exert 100% effort all game long, whether you are on a winning streak, on a losing streak, getting blown out, or blowing someone else out. A guy who is willing to stand in and draw a hard charge or dive off the raised court to save a ball going out of bounds even when we are down 20 points with 3 minutes to play. A guy who is able to remain calm and cool whatever the situation, whether he got called for a non-foul, whether he has the ball in his hands with seconds to play and the game on the line, or whether he just got nailed with a cheap shot the ref missed. If you have someone that can do all that, you are doing just fine for leadership on the team, even if you are not very vocal.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
I think that's ok. I've always thought the concept of the "vocal leader" was a little bit overrated. For a leader, you need a guy who is willing to make the smart and selfless plays and exert 100% effort all game long, whether you are on a winning streak, on a losing streak, getting blown out, or blowing someone else out. A guy who is willing to stand in and draw a hard charge or dive off the raised court to save a ball going out of bounds even when we are down 20 points with 3 minutes to play. A guy who is able to remain calm and cool whatever the situation, whether he got called for a non-foul, whether he has the ball in his hands with seconds to play and the game on the line, or whether he just got nailed with a cheap shot the ref missed. If you have someone that can do all that, you are doing just fine for leadership on the team, even if you are not very vocal.
Click to expand...

So what do you think of the Wolves bringing in KG, and the Twins bringing in Tori Hunter?
 


station19 said:
So what do you think of the Wolves bringing in KG, and the Twins bringing in Tori Hunter?
Click to expand...

I don't think bringing in KG has anything to do with winning. No one is showing up to watch the Timberwolves lose, but I bet a handful of nostalgic fans will be willing to pay the price of admission to see him one last time.

As for Hunter, if his production can remain similar to where it was at last year, he should be a nice contributor. I would bet against the Twins having a good year, but they have enough serviceable pieces that I think they would be a reasonable sleeper pick to surprise us.
 

Funny, your shots go in you're a leader. They don't, you're not.
 

You need a leader to be vocal. Not afraid to get into the face of a teammate that isn't doing their part.
 

Agree with Les. The leadership thing is getting a little too much play. There's 1 primary thing I've learned about the Gophers throughout most of this Big Ten season:

If Hollins is scoring, let's say in the ballpark of 18-22, most nights (IU certainly was an exception) the Gophers are going to have a chance. If he's shut down by the opponent or his shots aren't falling, the Gophers are a very pedestrian Big Ten squad and have little chance.
 



I think a team does need to have one or two guys who have the respect of the other players - who can help pick up a guy who's struggling, or - if necessary - get in the face of someone who's not busting their butt in practice. Those are the players a team can rally around during tough times. To me, it looks like the Gophs simply don't have that type of player on the roster. When things go bad, the team falls apart. That, to me, signifies a lack of leadership.
 

Leadership isn't necessarily about being loud or not, its more about setting a standard. A team with good leadership has a standard of work and effort that everyone must meet. That may be by being consistent, by being vocal or whatever but that's typically what happens
 

my thoughts- Leaders need to be the most committed and focused and help their team-mates stay committed and focused. Coming into this year one would have thought that would be the point guard (Deandre), or the leading scorer (Andre), or one of two senior big guys( Mo or Elliot). But life happens to college basketball players just like it happens to all college kids.
Deandre- had a baby and priorities changed. Probably has a better outlook on life and might be a better person for it long term, but it affected him on the court.
Andre- long time girl-friend had a major injury and life decisions to make just before the Big Ten season and that might have affected his play.
Elliot - lost his starting spot-probably played through that better than most would have, but it is hard to lead from the bench
Mo- doesn't seem overly vocal to start with and had never started for the Gophers before and didn't expect to have to lead.
 

Minnesconsin fan said:
Elliot - lost his starting spot-probably played through that better than most would have, but it is hard to lead from the bench
Click to expand...

Oddly enough Elliot was made co-captain last season in mid-Jan after some strong play. When Richard didn't make him a returning captain for his senior year that was a strong sign that his roll might diminish, and it certainly has.
 



station19 said:
So what do you think of the Wolves bringing in KG, and the Twins bringing in Tori Hunter?
Click to expand...

$$ mostly. But having someone to tell Aaron Hicks/What'shisname Bennett to stop being dumb@sses is a bonus.
 

Minnesconsin fan said:
my thoughts- Leaders need to be the most committed and focused and help their team-mates stay committed and focused. Coming into this year one would have thought that would be the point guard (Deandre), or the leading scorer (Andre), or one of two senior big guys( Mo or Elliot). But life happens to college basketball players just like it happens to all college kids.
Deandre- had a baby and priorities changed. Probably has a better outlook on life and might be a better person for it long term, but it affected him on the court.
Andre- long time girl-friend had a major injury and life decisions to make just before the Big Ten season and that might have affected his play.
Elliot - lost his starting spot-probably played through that better than most would have, but it is hard to lead from the bench
Mo- doesn't seem overly vocal to start with and had never started for the Gophers before and didn't expect to have to lead.
Click to expand...

Agree with the bold.

Many of the young guys need to be shown the professional/committed way of approaching their job/role and what it takes to be the best they can be.

Starts with leading by example, but there also needs to be someone(s) to oversee and motivate their teammates.
 

98VQueens said:
Oddly enough Elliot was made co-captain last season in mid-Jan after some strong play. When Richard didn't make him a returning captain for his senior year that was a strong sign that his roll might diminish, and it certainly has.
Click to expand...

Strong point, I wasn't aware of that.
 

I always hated playing with guys who thought "being vocal" was what leadership was all about. Often times it seemed more like a publicity stunt than leadership. "Hey look at me, I'm standing on a bench in the locker room, yelling at my teammates". If you want to impress me with your leadership, beat me to practice every day. Be in the weight room every time I come in. Play hurt. Stand up for your teammates, don't tear them down. Hold your best friend or the toughest guy on the team to the same standards as the new guys. Like Kill says "I hear what you say, but I see what you do."
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
I always hated playing with guys who thought "being vocal" was what leadership was all about. Often times it seemed more like a publicity stunt than leadership. "Hey look at me, I'm standing on a bench in the locker room, yelling at my teammates". If you want to impress me with your leadership, beat me to practice every day. Be in the weight room every time I come in. Play hurt. Stand up for your teammates, don't tear them down. Hold your best friend or the toughest guy on the team to the same standards as the new guys. Like Kill says "I hear what you say, but I see what you do."
Click to expand...

+1

You said what I was trying to say earlier much more eloquently. There might be a time to call out a teammate, but that time and place is usually one where no one outside the organization should know it happened.

I thought one great example of leadership was Mason earlier in the season. We were blowing out one of our many non-con cupcakes, it was a home game, and Mason got a steal which led to a 2 on 0 with him and Big Dre. I'm sure it would have been fun for a freshman to score the easy bucket in front of a cheering home crowd, but Andre had been struggling him, and Mason just handed it off to give Hollins the free two points.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
I always hated playing with guys who thought "being vocal" was what leadership was all about. Often times it seemed more like a publicity stunt than leadership. "Hey look at me, I'm standing on a bench in the locker room, yelling at my teammates". If you want to impress me with your leadership, beat me to practice every day. Be in the weight room every time I come in. Play hurt. Stand up for your teammates, don't tear them down. Hold your best friend or the toughest guy on the team to the same standards as the new guys. Like Kill says "I hear what you say, but I see what you do."
Click to expand...

Fine, but you have Mason admitting that Mathieu's attitude has been impacting the team. That is obviously an issue and if so, he should be benched for the balance of the regular season, even if it means playing Shell
 

jamalo said:
Fine, but you have Mason admitting that Mathieu's attitude has been impacting the team. That is obviously an issue and if so, he should be benched for the balance of the regular season, even if it means playing Shell
Click to expand...

Fine, but then you have to bench Mason for voicing publicly his attitude regarding Mathieu's attitude, and I'm sure Shell would have something to say about that which would lead to his benching and...well, you see where we're going with all that! By the time you're done, the only guy starting is Gaston Diedhiou and only because no se habla Englese.
Hey, I've got idea...I'll lead, you follow!
 

GoodasGold said:
Fine, but then you have to bench Mason for voicing publicly his attitude regarding Mathieu's attitude, and I'm sure Shell would have something to say about that which would lead to his benching and...well, you see where we're going with all that! By the time you're done, the only guy starting is Gaston Diedhiou and only because no se habla Englese.
Hey, I've got idea...I'll lead, you follow!
Click to expand...

No, saying that Mathieu should be benched if he is negatively impacting the team to such an extent. Kudo's to Mason for calling him out
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom