STrib on Diedhiou: raw talent, potential and size are evident

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Amelia:

Gas! The reward for covering tonight's game was our first glance at the mysterious international power forward, Gaston Diedhiou, another big piece of the future the Gophers hope will be better than the present. It's clear he's still learning the system and the plays, but the raw talent and potential -- and most of all, for a small Minnesota team, the size -- is evident. If the Gophers continue this slide, we'll only see more and more of him.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/289259061.html

Go Gophers!!
 

Impressive that Amelia was able to gather all that after 5 minutes of playing time and 1 foul.

For the record, I think it's the right thing to start getting Gaston some minutes. Doesn't make any sense to redshirt a 21 year-old freshman. Time to start finding out if there is an untapped Big Ten player in that Big Ten-sized body. We'll need both he and Bakary to grow by leaps and bounds next season to avoid another majorly disappointing season like this one, though somehow I don't think that'll be possible. Expectations for 2015-16 will be as low as they've been around here in quite some time unless we have an about-face between now and March.

Beat Illinois.
 

God he took a lot of space on the floor! I hope he continues to learn. The guy is huge...with him and Konate on the floor at the same time we looked like a huge team!
 

SelectionSunday said:
Impressive that Amelia was able to gather all that (raw talent & potential) after 5 minutes of playing time and 1 foul.

For the record, I think it's the right thing to start getting Gaston some minutes. Doesn't make any sense to redshirt a 21 year-old freshman. Time to start finding out if there is an untapped Big Ten player in that Big Ten-sized body. We'll need both he and Bakary to grow by leaps and bounds next season to avoid another majorly disappointing season like this one, though somehow I don't think that'll be possible. Expectations for 2015-16 will be as low as they've been around here in quite some time unless we have an about-face between now and March.

Beat Illinois.
Click to expand...

Expectations will be low - as they should be. However, we can all remember the ARob, Hagen, Grier, Lawson, Coleman squad. Prior to that year I would have never guessed we would have won 5 Big Ten games- much less 10. That was a year where every player got better in the off season and they added one guy in Grier who had the will and talent to win...and they did it.

As I look at next year, I think they could possibly surprise with a starting lineup of Mason, Morris and one of the new guards along with Konate if they can get someone to come in at PF and play at Big Ten level on the boards. King needs to be a sparkplug off the bench type of guy. Mason and Morris have to get better but the talent is there. Konate has a lot of potential, will he be good enough by next year? Not sure but the possibility is there. None the less you are setting the expectations correctly.

In retrospect - the squad we have won the NIT, and started thinking they were going to be really good. Then they played a bunch of pickup squads in their non-conference schedule who they were able to bully. Once the conference schedule arrived they had a false confidence about where they were at. Then they got popped in the mouth in Big Ten play and they never recovered mentally. These guys are missing shots you just don't miss. The free throws are a sign of the fragile state of this squad.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Impressive that Amelia was able to gather all that after 5 minutes of playing time and 1 foul.

For the record, I think it's the right thing to start getting Gaston some minutes. Doesn't make any sense to redshirt a 21 year-old freshman. Time to start finding out if there is an untapped Big Ten player in that Big Ten-sized body. We'll need both he and Bakary to grow by leaps and bounds next season to avoid another majorly disappointing season like this one, though somehow I don't think that'll be possible. Expectations for 2015-16 will be as low as they've been around here in quite some time unless we have an about-face between now and March.

Beat Illinois.
Click to expand...

Next year the team may not be quite as good. But the conference record may not be as bad. Recruiting not up to par for a Big Ten team with expectations of improvement upon Tubbys regime.
 


It's too bad he and Konate aren't much for basketball players. So much learning the game during one's younger years that go into making you an effective player that they missed out on. They look the part though.
 

The Charles Buggs experiment has soured me on the 'he's raw but has sooo much talent' argument.
 

The Brain Trust said:
Recruiting not up to par for a Big Ten team with expectations of improvement upon Tubbys regime.
Click to expand...

It is quite the bummer that we weren't able to keep Alex Foster and Alvin Ellis, that's for sure...
 

## Player GP-GS Min--Avg FG-FGA Pct 3FG-FGA Pct FT-FTA Pct Off Def Tot Avg PF FO A TO Blk Stl Pts Avg
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
34 Schilling, Gavin... 18-12 335 18.6 54-79 .684 0-0 .000 20-44 .455 31 49 80 4.4 45 1 7 22 16 5 128 7.1

03 Ellis III, Alvin... 12-1 118 9.8 5-21 .238 2-10 .200 9-15 .600 0 6 6 0.5 16 0 8 7 3 8 21 1.8

i left Gavin Schilling in these MSU stats because there was a pretty remote chance of him thinking about the U.

from Texas Tech
34 Foster, Alex....... 15-1 99 6.6 8-14 .571 0-0 .000 3-14 .214 4 13 17 1.1 17 0 3 10 4 0 19 1.3
 



Gaston and Bakary are major, major projects. Raw as they come. What are the odds that either one of them develops into an above average B1G post player over the next 3 years?

Pitino's obsession with these African big men is very strange indeed. Is he looking at how his dad hit on Gorgui Dieng and thinking he can do something similar? Is Nwankwo incredibly raw as well, or will he be ready to contribute some important minutes next season?
 

Minnesconsin fan said:
## Player GP-GS Min--Avg FG-FGA Pct 3FG-FGA Pct FT-FTA Pct Off Def Tot Avg PF FO A TO Blk Stl Pts Avg
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
34 Schilling, Gavin... 18-12 335 18.6 54-79 .684 0-0 .000 20-44 .455 31 49 80 4.4 45 1 7 22 16 5 128 7.1

03 Ellis III, Alvin... 12-1 118 9.8 5-21 .238 2-10 .200 9-15 .600 0 6 6 0.5 16 0 8 7 3 8 21 1.8

i left Gavin Schilling in these MSU stats because there was a pretty remote chance of him thinking about the U.

from Texas Tech
34 Foster, Alex....... 15-1 99 6.6 8-14 .571 0-0 .000 3-14 .214 4 13 17 1.1 17 0 3 10 4 0 19 1.3
Click to expand...

Exactly. My comment was 100% tongue in cheek, but that translates horribly on a message board.
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
Gaston and Bakary are major, major projects. Raw as they come. What are the odds that either one of them develops into an above average B1G post player over the next 3 years?

Pitino's obsession with these African big men is very strange indeed. Is he looking at how his dad hit on Gorgui Dieng and thinking he can do something similar? Is Nwankwo incredibly raw as well, or will he be ready to contribute some important minutes next season?
Click to expand...

Bakary's chances? Very good. Gas? No one knows. Looking back- EE was a lot more raw. Walker was over 3 bills. Iverson was a bull in a china shop. It's not easy finding polished 6-10 guys- all the programs know about the best ones. Name the last center we had come in at Minnesota that was ready to play day one.
 

I just like the phrase: mysterious international power forward, Gaston Diedhiou,. Sounds like a character from a Bond movie. (or maybe the next Austin Powers movie....)

From my perspective, in recruiting, if you're not a top-20 power school, sometimes you take what you can get. If Pitino could land a polished big man who was ready to step into the lineup and play major minutes, he'd take that type of player in a heartbeat. The fact the Gophers wound up with the unpronounceable trio of raw prospects tells you that was what Pitino could get at this stage of his career.

Maybe some of the guys who follow this recruiting stuff more closely could answer this: is there a JUCO PF out there who could come in next year and present a significant upgrade over the current roster? If there is someone like that available, I'd like to see the Gophs go after them.
 



Kimani Jackson or deshawn freeman are of at juco level that are unsigned.
 

Don't know anything about them just they are in top 25 of juco players.
 

Pitino trying to play as Florida and Louisville play. They sometimes play 2 tiny guards, but they also have physically strong players in the frontcourt to help with rebounding in years past: Chane B, Blackshear, Harrell, P. Young, Parsons. They also usually have some shot blocker in the back to make up for the guards overplaying for steals: Dieng, Mathiang, Onuaku, etc. I like our guards,we dont have any muscle down low.
 

march madness said:
Pitino trying to play as Florida and Louisville play. They sometimes play 2 tiny guards, but they also have physically strong players in the frontcourt to help with rebounding in years past: Chane B, Blackshear, Harrell, P. Young, Parsons. They also usually have some shot blocker in the back to make up for the guards overplaying for steals: Dieng, Mathiang, Onuaku, etc. I like our guards,we dont have any muscle down low.
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I'm not sure where you think we would have gotten muscle down low in 1 season. Center and PF have to be developed or you have to be a top top program to get the already polished kind.
 

In retrospect it's amusing that Pitino was claiming at the start of the year that Konate was farther along at the same point than Dieng. Either Dieng was nearly hopeless or Pitino is actually John Calipari's love child.
 

jamiche said:
In retrospect it's amusing that Pitino was claiming at the start of the year that Konate was farther along at the same point than Dieng. Either Dieng was nearly hopeless or Pitino is actually John Calipari's love child.
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Hilarious and spot on
 

StCroix said:
God he took a lot of space on the floor! I hope he continues to learn. The guy is huge...with him and Konate on the floor at the same time we looked like a huge team!
Click to expand...

He did look big, taller and wider than I expected. At times he actually looked a little bigger than Bakary.
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
Gaston and Bakary are major, major projects. Raw as they come. What are the odds that either one of them develops into an above average B1G post player over the next 3 years?

Pitino's obsession with these African big men is very strange indeed. Is he looking at how his dad hit on Gorgui Dieng and thinking he can do something similar? Is Nwankwo incredibly raw as well, or will he be ready to contribute some important minutes next season?
Click to expand...

I didn't see enough of Gaston to guess one way or the other about his future prospects. Bakary seems like a fast learner to me. In addition to fouling a lot, he also has shown some propensity to get to the free throw line where his 54% free throw percentage is better than Elliot's as a freshman or a senior. He also had more rebounds in 13 minutes than Mo and Joey had in a combined 58 minutes of last night's game.
 

Big men who are ready to step in as freshman are not that common and they all go to Kentucky.
 


I watched Gaton pretty close during his five minutes on the floor and the only takeaways I had were that he has good size and that he's not completely sure of where to position himself on the floor. I'd love to say I saw "raw talent" or "potential", but he simply didn't do anything to warrant the use of those terms. That's not to say he doesn't have potential, just that nothing he did in that game stood out.

I feel like there's quite a gap between an Okafor type big man and a Konate/Diedhiou type project. It seems to be taking the easy way out to claim that we have to take bigs that are THIS raw. I am sure there are a number of less athletic, but more skilled bigs out there. There's also always a few 6'6-6'7 bruisers who rebound much bigger than their size from day one. I am not saying it's not good business to try to develop someone that you think has great potential, just that you to balance your projects with guys who are ready to play. I guess Pitino could argue that these guys will be ready to play while the next batch of raw prospects (Nwankwo, etc) learn the game.
 

Minnesconsin fan said:
## Player GP-GS Min--Avg FG-FGA Pct 3FG-FGA Pct FT-FTA Pct Off Def Tot Avg PF FO A TO Blk Stl Pts Avg
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
34 Schilling, Gavin... 18-12 335 18.6 54-79 .684 0-0 .000 20-44 .455 31 49 80 4.4 45 1 7 22 16 5 128 7.1

03 Ellis III, Alvin... 12-1 118 9.8 5-21 .238 2-10 .200 9-15 .600 0 6 6 0.5 16 0 8 7 3 8 21 1.8

i left Gavin Schilling in these MSU stats because there was a pretty remote chance of him thinking about the U.

from Texas Tech
34 Foster, Alex....... 15-1 99 6.6 8-14 .571 0-0 .000 3-14 .214 4 13 17 1.1 17 0 3 10 4 0 19 1.3
Click to expand...



Gavin Schilling's already pretty good and going to be really good, don't kid yourself. The other two, meh. Tubby seemed to be in the lead for Schilling until MSU swooped in at the 11th hour. Missing on Schilling was one of Tubby's last failures (maybe THE last one) before he was fired.
 

Yep, Schilling has improved quite a bit from his freshman to sophomore season. He and Matt Costello have morphed into a more than serviceable center combination for Sparty. Schilling's range is still limited, mostly lobs and dunks, but the can jump out of the gym, and I've heard Izzo say he's one of their best defenders and capable of guarding multiple positions.

Ellis, definitely has been a disappointment, but in fairness I don't think he's ever gotten up to speed this season with his early inury. Tough to get into that guard/wing rotation with Trice, Valentine, Forbes, and Tum Tum.
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
Gaston and Bakary are major, major projects. Raw as they come. What are the odds that either one of them develops into an above average B1G post player over the next 3 years?

Pitino's obsession with these African big men is very strange indeed. Is he looking at how his dad hit on Gorgui Dieng and thinking he can do something similar? Is Nwankwo incredibly raw as well, or will he be ready to contribute some important minutes next season?
Click to expand...

He recruited them in a cycle where he thought he was going to get a 4 star local recruit to be an impact player right away. After that fell through he went searching. If you remember there were a bunch of people he recruited BEFORE getting Gas and Bakary to commit. To characterize Pitino as obsessed with large Africans because he recruited 2 in one year is completely ignoring the circumstances. He needed big bodies next year, so he had to get 2 of them in Minneapolis, regardless of ability. I think both are intriguing prospects and hopefully they stick around campus and bust their as$es because they will likely be logging major minutes next year.

That all said, I definitely see us having players with similar playing styles to Bakary more so than Mo. I do not anticipate us to have a significant big man offensive weapon in future years. Look at his recruiting since, guards, guards, guards and wings. Our big men need to rebound above the rim, set solid screens, and be able to be effective rim protectors if the opposition gets past our aggressive perimeter defense. If they can knock down a 15-20 foot jumper or heck even a 3 ball or 2, HUGE bonus. The fact that we use Mo the way we do is an adaptation to what I think Pitino really wants to do, which is clear out the middle and have his guards get layups, or open looks in the corners and run the fast break off of turnovers. His forwards (lets not call them centers) will knock down shots from the elbow and 3 point slots and will crash the boards after setting solid screens.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
To characterize Pitino as obsessed with large Africans because he recruited 2 in one year is completely ignoring the circumstances.
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You're forgetting about Nwankwo. So that makes 3 in two years.

I stand by my characterization, good sir.
 

EG#9 said:
It seems to be taking the easy way out to claim that we have to take bigs that are THIS raw. I am sure there are a number of less athletic, but more skilled bigs out there. There's also always a few 6'6-6'7 bruisers who rebound much bigger than their size from day one.
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Agreed. There are certainly fewer bigs available who are ready to come in and contribute from day 1. But let's not act like there is such a dearth of bigs that our only option is to recruit the raw Africans with minimal basketball background/training.
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
You're forgetting about Nwankwo. So that makes 3 in two years.

I stand by my characterization, good sir.
Click to expand...

I thought he was from NY?

Edit: My mistake he was from Nigeria originally?

Anyway your posts sound slightly racist the way you say "Pitino's obsession with these African big men is very strange indeed." I would phrase it differently like this: "Pitino's obsession with these tall, lengthy, mobile big men who just need to learn where to be on the floor is strange indeed." doesn't that sound better?
 

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