2014-2015 Season Lead Up Thread

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MadtownGopher

MadtownGopher

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Use this thread for fall work out updates and articles about this year's team.

We'll get things kicked off with an exciting tweet (IMO):

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More details on Konate from the PP interview:

Q. How good can Konate be at 6-foot-11 with the ability to shoot from the outside and block shots? Will he play as a freshman?

A. Yeah, no question. I love his potential, love it. I'm blown away by how far along he is. He's by far been the biggest surprise of the fall, especially because he wasn't with us in the summer. Sky's the limit for him. The question now really becomes when we play 5 on 5, and we start introducing terminology and plays; how quickly does he pick up on it? But he is all of 6-11. He's got great skill. He can shoot the basketball. He is a phenomenal kid, willing to learn. I'm really excited about him. I think he's 225-230 (pounds). I don't worry about his weight. Just from the amount of eating and (working with strength coach) Shaun Brown, he'll put on 15-20 pounds. He's going to put on that weight.
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Makes you wonder if Konate could pass Mo and EE at some point this season. You have to remember Konate is already 20.
 

Interesting comments on Nate Mason. Makes me think he's telling Jarvis (and Dorsey before him) that they don't really have a PG on the roster for 2015.

Q. Is guard Nate Mason the freshman most ready to help now?

A. Pleasant surprise. Competition is a great thing as long as guys stay patient. What I love about Nate is, he's not really a pure point guard but he's willing to play any spot. He's kind of like Andre (Hollins), where he's like, 'Just get me on the court and let me do what I do.' Great potential. The only difference between him and Andre is he's not a great shooter yet, but I think he'll get there. Nate has the potential to be a really good defender. He's like Andre's frame but maybe an inch taller at 6-3. He can play multiple positions, maybe even (swingman) in a pinch if we're going small. He can certainly dribble. The only pure point guard we have in our program is DeAndre, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
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Season expectations.

Q. Is the goal not to be on the NCAA tournament bubble this season?

A. Absolutely. But we put ourselves, whether you thought we should've been in or out, we put ourselves in that position. We had an opportunity in 18 league games to win. Go win at Purdue, if you want to make the NCAA tournament. Beat Northwestern at home. Beat Illinois at home. Do those things. So again, I don't necessarily have a goal of doing this or doing that; my biggest thing is we have to improve on turnovers and defending without fouling. Those are the things we worry about. If we take care of those things, then the NCAA tournament will take care of itself.
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STrib: A conversation with Mo Walker

Do you see yourself as having a bigger leadership role this year as well?
I think I might be the oldest one on the team. Losing Austin Hollins, he was pretty much our go-to guy when it came to leadership. I feel like I'm a pretty good influence on the guys and I can be pretty vocal -- more behind the scenes than in the spotlight, but I feel like the guys all have respect for me, we all have respect for each other so I feel like my role as a leader will definitely increase this year.

Has the team talked about collective goals with each other at all?
Briefly. We always have high expectations for ourselves. I know other people don't really talk too much about us. But we like having an underdog mentality and we're going to show that through our play. We expect to be in the top half of the Big Ten this year.

Toughness was a big area Pitino cited trying to improve this season. Do you see any hints that the team might?
We just ran a mile today, our first day back from time off. One of the things coach Brown told us was if you took that time off and you didn't really work on your mile, it's going to be mental for you. You're going to have to fight through it and you're going to have to get your time. The guys fought through it, we ran the mile and it was pretty good.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/274477581.html

Go Gophers!!
 


Not really sure where to put this, but this works I suppose:

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Down with Goldy said:
Not really sure where to put this, but this works I suppose:

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Just incredible. All one can say is...#SMH.

Go Gophers!!
 





Does anyone else remember when The Sporting News was awesome? Seems like a long time ago...
 


I believe The Sporting News gets their info from GW.
 




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