Game 10: Gophers Hoset Coppin State (12-12-18)

Ignatius L Hoops

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Going for a Perfect Ten

Coppin State (0-7) enters Williams Arena lugging some seriously ugly numbers. They are shooting .271% from the field (.228 from three) and committing 21.6 turnovers per game. In their defense, the Baltimore university has played a seriously tough schedule including road contests at West Virginia, Maryland and Mississippi State. The Eagles, picked to finish 9th in the 12 teams MEAC ahead of Florida A&M and Savannah State, arrive in Minneapolis set to face their fourth top 25 opponent.

Last season CSU were 6-23 (5-11 MEAC) good for a 10th place tie with Delaware State. Coppin State only returned three players from that team. One of the returnees, junior Chance Graham, is averaging 15 points and 10.3 rebounds this season. She was a preseason MEAC first team player and has put together a good career at Copping State starting with being named MEAC Rookie of the Year in her first season.

The Eagles are coached by Coppin State alum, Dewayne Burroughs, who is in his third year. Burroughs took over from Derek Brown who, during the course of his career, led the Eagles to three NCAA tournaments (2005, 2006 and 2008) and two WNITs (2007 and 2009). It’s been a bit of grind for Burroughs whose success at his previous job, Division II University of the District of Columbia, has not yet translated to CSU. Burroughs was a baseball player at Coppin State. His entry into women’s basketball was as a student manager at CSU. He then moved on to the high school and college coaching ranks.

I watched the Eagles last game-a match-up with Ohio University. The Bobcats were coming off a victory over Purdue for the second consecutive year and appeared a bit sluggish in the first half. This allowed Coppin State to keep the game close. It was tied at thirteen at the end of one and 30-26 Ohio at the half. This was despite CSU’s 18 turnovers. Ohio took control in the second half and cruised to a 87-62 win. CSU finished with 31 turnovers. The Eagles leading scorer and best player that day was Brooke Fields with 26 points and 9 turnovers. CSU looked well coached but short on talent and height.


Losses: @West Virginia 37-78; @Maryland 36-93; UMBC 52-57; @ Mississippi State 38-110; @ Marshall 67-88; @ Virginia 41-55; @ Ohio 62-87.

Probable Starters:

6’0” F Jr Chance Graham 15 ppg and 10.3 rebounds/game
5’5” G Sr Kaiya Coleman
5’5” G So Maraiyah Smith
5’6” G Sr Brooke Fields 11 ppg
5’10” G Fr Emmya Price

Other:
6’3” C Fr Jalynda Salley


Gopher Opponents Thus Far with RPI through Sundays games:

255 New Hampshire (3-7)
60 Xavier (7-1)
130 San Diego (5-3)
161 Arkansas Pine Bluff (0-3)
249 Cornell (2-5)
11 Syracuse (8-2)
150 Air Force (4-5)
292 Incarnate Word (0-10)
116 Boston College (8-2)
 

Cupcake St should be a game of heavy bench minutes, just like Incarnate. But the game after this one, they shouldn’t really take for granted. Looks like Rhode Island is ranked around the same as BC.
 
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Xavier keeps winning, so it’s looking like that will be a better than expected win.
 

Rhode Island is projected to lose a ton of close games, so maybe they can turn around a few of those and not be as huge a drain on the Gopher RPI?
 

Hoping that the Gophers don't look past Rhode Island. But RI lost by 24 to BC earlier this year in a home game. The next two games for the Gophers, one of the main goals should be not to suffer any injuries heading into the conference season.
 


Hoping that the Gophers don't look past Rhode Island. But RI lost by 24 to BC earlier this year in a home game. The next two games for the Gophers, one of the main goals should be not to suffer any injuries heading into the conference season.

Is there ever a time when your goal IS to suffer injuries?
 


The game was put away in the 2nd quarter. Nice to see the Bello sisters get to play several minutes together. Pitts is finding her range on the 3s. She took a very long one from on top as well. Tomancova would not even put any weight on the foot in the boot. Does anyone know what happened or how serious?
 

Tomancova would not even put any weight on the foot in the boot. Does anyone know what happened or how serious?

Tomancova was using crutches to get down the bench and hopping to the huddle during time outs. It did not look good. Hubbard, on the other hand, during the pregame warmups sat on the bench with her foot elevated; but otherwise was walking normally.

Like the second quarter at BC we got to see a four guard lineup. At BC it was Kaposi at the post and tonight it was Lamke. Once again, Bell, Brunson and Staples got plenty of time running the point. Taiye played the most minutes tonight, 29 while Brunson put in 28. Bell had 5 assists and should have had 2 more except Lamke and T Bello missed layups. All in all a good game to work on the post offense before the break.
 




Nice to see the bench players log more time. That may be rare for some of them when BIG play rolls around. Yes, it seems that Pitts has her mojo back. She's also made some nice entry passes this year. As EaganGopher pointed out, it was nice to see the Bello sisters on the floor together...and each got a flagrant foul! And I think each had four fouls. All 10 players who played scored. Gophers' passing seems to be improving in recent games. Defense seems to be allowing more open threes the past couple games and I hope the Gophers can revisit that before conference play starts. Again, not much to be gained from games like this, but it won't be long and the level of competition will increase a couple of notches.
 

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http://www.startribune.com/gophers-...women-s-basketball-improve-to-10-0/502644772/

There's this:

Freshman Barbora Tomancova missed her second game with a sore left foot. Whalen said Tomancova is receiving treatment daily, but doesn’t know how long the Czech Republican native will return to action.

This note was removed from the online and print editions. I wonder if Youngblood asked about Tomancova and Whalen's response was about Hubbard. It makes more sense as a comment on Hubbard's injury-not particularly encouraging though.
 

Tomancova being hurt isn’t a huge factor, unless they run into depth problems. K Bello has been surprisingly good (albeit against the worst competition) when given the actual opportunity. I wonder if there’s potential for the Bello twins to start together next year.
 
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Tomancova being hurt isn’t a huge factor, unless they run into depth problems. K Bello has been surprisingly good (albeit against the worst competition) when given the actual opportunity. I wonder if there’s potential for the Bello twins to start together next year.

The concern is that she isn't practicing and developing. We will be very thin at forward/post positions next year (but admittedly, I am not familiar with the incoming recruits).
 

Shades, I've had the same feeling in watching K. Bello the past few games. I'm wondering if there's something there and wondering if she might be able to contribute in a bigger way in the future. Maybe at least as a replacement for her sister. Seems like she can rebound. Haven't yet seen that she is the finisher that her sister is. Too bad she is already a junior.
 




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