NIT Game #4: #1 Gophers vs. #1 Florida State at MSG [ESPN2, Tues @ 8:00PM]

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Sunday night <a href="https://twitter.com/GopherBBall">@GopherBBall</a> checking out Times Square -- <a href="http://t.co/Nfj8Sy8igF">http://t.co/Nfj8Sy8igF</a></p>— Marcus R. Fuller (@GophersNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GophersNow/statuses/450629693008379904">March 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Go Gophers!!
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Pitino said junior center Elliott Eliason won't play Tuesday vs. Florida St because of an ankle injury. Could play if <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> reach finals.</p>— Marcus R. Fuller (@GophersNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GophersNow/statuses/450676785605529602">March 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>The <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> might have to use starting PF Joey King as a backup center. Pitino even said junior Oto Osenieks could play if needed.</p>— Marcus R. Fuller (@GophersNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GophersNow/statuses/450677805811249153">March 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Go Gophers!!
 

Elliot Eliason ruled out for tomorrow's game. From the sounds of things, Oto Osenieks could see some action against Florida State. Now there's a curveball! (It's opening day, I had to throw that in there)
 

BleedGopher said:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Pitino said junior center Elliott Eliason won't play Tuesday vs. Florida St because of an ankle injury. Could play if <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> reach finals.</p>— Marcus R. Fuller (@GophersNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GophersNow/statuses/450676785605529602">March 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>The <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> might have to use starting PF Joey King as a backup center. Pitino even said junior Oto Osenieks could play if needed.</p>— Marcus R. Fuller (@GophersNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GophersNow/statuses/450677805811249153">March 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Go Gophers!!
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Bleed, you're a hawk on these tweets! Beat me to it.
 

GameDay said:
Elliot Eliason ruled out for tomorrow's game. From the sounds of things, Oto Osenieks could see some action against Florida State. Now there's a curveball! (It's opening day, I had to throw that in there)
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The Oto item is odd to me. If his career is over due to medical issues, how could he possibly play? It would seem to me that if we had a shot to get him a medical waiver and thus, keep him on scholarship as a staff member next year, we wouldn't want to show the NCAA that he's still able to play, even if he's limited. Either way, we picked a bad team to lose one of our big men against.

We may be forced to play a 4-guard lineup at times, shifting Austin to the PF slot which isn't ideal against FSU's size.

Go Gophers!!
 


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Chairman CM Newton takes a photo with <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NIT&src=hash">#NIT</a> Final Four coaches Brown, Brownell, Pitino and Hamilton. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> <a href="http://t.co/kCcZGkOH2m">pic.twitter.com/kCcZGkOH2m</a></p>— Marcus R. Fuller (@GophersNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GophersNow/statuses/450679886949416960">March 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Go Gophers!!
 

Richard is 42 years younger than Brown. Pretty mind blowing to think about.
 

I have seen tweets that Oto is still practicing with the team too. So who knows what this whole thing is about.
 

Oto stuff is bizarre. Buggs will probably get a lot more playing time.
 



For as big as FSU is, they have really struggled this year. The key is keeping MO out of foul trouble and making shots from outside the arc. If we can force their bigs to defend 16 feet from the basket, we can punish their guards.

Expect to see a lot of high/low with Mo & King and inside/outside with Mo & everyone.
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>SMU coach Larry Brown says Richard Pitino was fortunate Tubby Smith left him with "a good group." <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> <a href="http://t.co/LPhdHSFqd7">http://t.co/LPhdHSFqd7</a></p>— Marcus R. Fuller (@GophersNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GophersNow/statuses/450704833994317825">March 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Oto can probably get a knee injection to get him by as long as he doesn't play too much. From what I have heard/read his knee is bone on bone... so no good permanent fix...
 

MadtownGopher said:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>SMU coach Larry Brown says Richard Pitino was fortunate Tubby Smith left him with "a good group." <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> <a href="http://t.co/LPhdHSFqd7">http://t.co/LPhdHSFqd7</a></p>— Marcus R. Fuller (@GophersNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GophersNow/statuses/450704833994317825">March 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Old guy sticking up for another old guy.
 



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Between <a href="https://twitter.com/MNCoachPitino">@MNCoachPitino</a> and assistants Dan McHale (from NJ) & Kimani Young (from NY) could have 100 friends & family attending Tuesday's game</p>— Marcus R. Fuller (@GophersNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GophersNow/statuses/450737061830852609">March 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
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This season's NIT run and next season's preseason NIT run could really help us get a little exposure in the NE for recruiting purposes.
 

Wonder if Rick will be there as well.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Pitino said his brother, Ryan, who lives and works in NY, will be at <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> game but not in a chicken suit. Too bad <a href="http://t.co/2s5N0LQqqN">pic.twitter.com/2s5N0LQqqN</a></p>— Marcus R. Fuller (@GophersNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GophersNow/statuses/450738430125674496">March 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Obviously the answer to my forthcoming question is very dependent on which teams are playing and which year, but what kind of crowds are we looking at for these games at MSG?
 

BarnBoy said:
Obviously the answer to my forthcoming question is very dependent on which teams are playing and which year, but what kind of crowds are we looking at for these games at MSG?
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Well last years championship, Iowa vs Baylor, drew a whopping 5,301. So about the same type of crowd that we would have at an NIT game at the barn, just more spread out.

Looks like the Iowa vs Maryland semi drew just over 10k. Could be due to Marylands proximity to NY.
 

BleedGopher said:
The Oto item is odd to me. If his career is over due to medical issues, how could he possibly play? It would seem to me that if we had a shot to get him a medical waiver and thus, keep him on scholarship as a staff member next year, we wouldn't want to show the NCAA that he's still able to play, even if he's limited. Either way, we picked a bad team to lose one of our big men against.

We may be forced to play a 4-guard lineup at times, shifting Austin to the PF slot which isn't ideal against FSU's size.

Go Gophers!!
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Amazing what a shot of cortisone can do for you, I'm sure it would be a minute here, a minute there.
 

Given EE is out and Dre is playing like Mav, I'd be kind of shocked if we win this one.
 


mcal24 said:
But Mav is playing like Dre
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mj-laughing.gif
 

FSN: Pitino, Gophers want to leave New York with a trophy

Hollins scored 10 points the last time he took the court at Madison Square Garden. Now Minnesota's senior captain wants to erase the memory of the 2012 NIT loss and finish his Gophers career with a win.

"It sits in our mind, definitely, since we're back in the NIT. We think about that," Hollins said of the Gophers' last trip to New York. "We went that far and lost in the championship game. That's something we don't want to do this year. We want to learn from that. We've got a new team, new coach. We expect to go in there and win this whole thing."

http://msn.foxsports.com/north/story/pitino-gophers-want-to-leave-new-york-with-a-trophy-033114

Go Gophers!!
 

PP; old-home-week-richard-pitino

"We're still trying to get the Minnesota brand coast to coast," McHale said. "Being able to play here and being on national TV, and to see coaches we know in this area, is definitely big and good for recruiting. It's going to take time. East Coast kids aren't that familiar with Minnesota. But for them (to have) a chance to see our jersey and see the way we play, it helps us a lot."
http://www.twincities.com/gophers/ci_25461170/gophers-basketball-old-home-week-richard-pitino-and
 


A nice national piece from the NY Times: Pitinos Gather for a Garden Reunion

About 30 Pitino relatives and friends will be at the Garden on Tuesday night, headed by Joanne and perhaps even Rick, because Louisville lost to Kentucky in the N.C.A.A. tournament Friday.

Of four boys and a girl, Richard is the only one who followed their father into coaching. (A sixth child, Daniel, died as an infant in 1987.) And Richard started even earlier than Rick. He volunteered at St. Andrew’s School in Barrington, R.I., while he was at Providence before serving as a student manager for the team, which was then coached by Tim Welsh, a family friend.

“Rick was at Kentucky, he said to me, ‘When Richard gets out of school, would you be open to considering him as a grad assistant?’ ” Welsh, now an ESPN analyst, said. “I said of course. That’s how I got my start. My dad was a coach, and he made a call for me. But then I said: ‘Let’s not wait. I can put him on staff now.’ ”

Welsh said that besides Pitino’s manager duties, he helped with on-court instruction.

“His ability to communicate with players was pretty apparent,” Welsh said. “And I thought right there, ‘He’s going to make it.’ At that young age, he was really their peer, yet they responded to him.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/s...pitinos-gather-for-a-garden-reunion.html?_r=0

Go Gophers!!
 

STrib: Pitino must choose between an old successful trick and the current strength vs. FSU

Pitino said he feels the team has raised its defensive effectiveness since the second round of the Big Ten tournament, when Minnesota lost to Wisconsin while handing the Badgers a bevy of easy shots. Wisconsin made 54.5 percent of its shots from the field in that game, including 10 of 24 three pointers.

"The Wisconsin game, not only did we understand that we'll win no games if we play that type of defense, but moving forward for next year -- because we're going to have a lot of key guys back next year -- if we are committed to not being the last guy in the tournament but hopefully getting a good seed in the tournament, this has got to stop," Pitino said. "So it was just good old fashioned hard work, and understanding, more than anything that we will not win that way."

The coach said he plans to use both and make in-game adjustments as necessary, but DeAndre Mathieu said the team had mostly practicing in man-to-man.

"We have a lot of confidence in our man-to-man defense because we've played it so much lately, through different stretches in the season, we'd go man for a while, zone for a while. Lately, it's just been a whole lot of man-to-man defense."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/253241891.html

Go Gophers!!
 



This is the wrong game not to have Eliason. It looks like Bojanovsky hasn't contributed a ton on the offensive end recently and Ojo is barely playing, but that's two 7 foot guys to guard Mo who struggles to elevate at times. It's kind of hard to see where the Gophers are going to get easy baskets in half court sets, especially with FSU's size being a detriment to Mathieu's drives to the basket. I know the Gophers have played a lot more man recently, but they've only played one team with a bunch of Big Ten level athletes in the NIT in Southern Miss. I'd think zone would be the way to go especially with both teams playing in an unfamiliar arena. We also need to be concerned with Mo getting in foul trouble with no Elliott, so a zone would prevent a lot of penetration and chances for Mo to draw fouls underneath. Most concerned about a potential Okoro White vs Joey King matchup. White is a Senior who has put up at least 16 points in each of his last four games while shooting no worse than 50% from the field. White had 16 and 8 against the Gophers in the first match-up.

Beyond the obvious reasons why you'd like to see the Gophers win this game (chance at the NIT title, more exposure with another game on ESPN, we always want to see the Gophers win every game), I think it's important for this group to get a quality win outside of Williams Arena. The team played some solid games on road/neutral courts, but couldn't pull out wins. I'd like to see them go in to next season having experienced at least one victory away from home that they can hang their hat on.

I disagree with afurry saying that this is the NIT and everybody blows. Given the parity in college basketball and the resumes of Minnesota and SMU (and to a lesser extent FSU), I think it's easy to make a case that two or three of these teams could have won a game or two in the NCAA tournament this year if they made the field.
 

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