Observations from Maryland's win Thursday (Minnesota is much more depleted than MD)

per the Baltimore Sun:

Minnesota is much more depleted than Maryland

As tough as it’s been for the Terps after losing forwards Justin Jackson and Ivan Bender to season-ending injuries, the Gophers are in much more dire situation without sophomore forward Amir Coffey and senior center Reggie Lynch.

Just based on what they had done this season, Coffey and Lynch were a big part of why Minnesota had started 13-3. Coffey was a great third scoring option behind junior forward Jordan Murphy and senior guard Nate Mason, and Lynch was the heart and soul of the team’s interior defense.

While Jackson was leading the Terps in rebounding, he was having a disappointing season offensively. Though Bender was a versatile player to have off the bench, his injury has given opportunity to redshirt freshman Joshua Tomaic to show he has a much bigger upside .

Minnesota coach Richard Pitino had high praise for the healthy players Turgeon is using.

“To have as much depth as he has and sustain Jackson getting hurt and Bender getting hurt, they’re still a terrific team and a force to be reckoned with,” Pitino said. “They had Michigan beat at Michigan. They were certainly a difficult matchup for us tonight.”

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/...s-sp-maryland-minnesota-shots-0119-story.html

Go Gophers!!

Funny, many on this board think college teams cant have depth

Gopherhole's official position for both basketball and football has always been that nobody has been hit harder by injury and suspensions than the Gophers. Every football game last year, we had it the worst and so far this year in basketball every game. It is actually quite remarkable.

Can someone name a Big Ten team that has suffered more significant personnel losses than the Gophers this year? Ivan Bender is a reserve who gets about 3.5 points and 3 rebounds in 15 minutes a game. If I were to approximate Maryland’s situation to our roster, I’d say imagine we still don’t have Coffey, and we lose Konate, but we still have Curry and Lynch.

The loss of Curry, Coffey, and Lynch is insurmountable. We can talk about adjustments, playing hard, development of remaining players etc, but the Gophers went from a Sweet 16-caliber team (with all three) to a solid NCAA team (without Curry), to a non-tournament team without all three. Really hard to watch this shattered roster but I am focused on Jamir and IW since they have the most growth potential.

Block M said:

The loss of Curry, Coffey, and Lynch is insurmountable. We can talk about adjustments, playing hard, development of remaining players etc, but the Gophers went from a Sweet 16-caliber team (with all three) to a solid NCAA team (without Curry), to a non-tournament team without all three. Really hard to watch this shattered roster but I am focused on Jamir and IW since they have the most growth potential.

Click to expand...

Yes, but it would be okay for Richard to get guys like Mason to play hard and not be whiny imo

Some guy said:

Yes, but it would be okay for Richard to get guys like Mason to play hard and not be whiny imo

Click to expand...

What has Mason been saying?

Moonlight said:

What has Mason been saying?

Click to expand...

He talks to the refs after every play.

Block M said:

The loss of Curry, Coffey, and Lynch is insurmountable. We can talk about adjustments, playing hard, development of remaining players etc, but the Gophers went from a Sweet 16-caliber team (with all three) to a solid NCAA team (without Curry), to a non-tournament team without all three. Really hard to watch this shattered roster but I am focused on Jamir and IW since they have the most growth potential.

Click to expand...

All around the country teams lost guys and then other guys on their roster step up and take on larger roles than they had been earlier in the year. I don't understand why we don't expect the same here occasionally?