With non-conference over, the Gophers basketball team is...?

With non-conference over, the Gophers basketball team is...?

  • Better than I expected they'd be.

    Votes: 4 5.1%
  • About what I expected they'd be.

    Votes: 48 61.5%
  • Worse than I expected they'd be.

    Votes: 26 33.3%

  • Total voters
    78
We have players who can finish well/or get to the foul line. We need Washington to play at least 30 min, because he pushes the pace and helps produce easy baskets, getting the ball to guys going to the rim. We are not good in the half court and need these easy buckets to win. Gabe can come off the bench without hurting his ego. Is capable of instant offense and good D.

As you point out, he needs to take care of the ball better and compete on defense, but is the real key to this team improving!

Oh and fellas, shoot the ball better!
Wisconsin and many B1G teams will force us to run an offensive set and reduce transition baskets. We have to score out of our sets or we will be a bottom dweller in the B1G. IW has to become excellent running half-court sets or he becomes a liability.
 

They have good players but they have a few glaring weaknesses that will prevent them from being a good team.
 

We rank 287th in division 1 out of 353 teams at 30% 3 pt %.
We were 191st last year 35%.
202 in 16-17 34%.
313th at 31% in 15-16.

Basically we haven't been a good 3pt shooting team in the recent history.

Stull is the only shooter hitting over 40%, he is 6 of 10.
Gabe was hot starting the year, I don't think he shot that consistently from 3 in high school. He is definitely cold but he should get out of this streak and approach 40%, I would imagine.

Coffey dropping from 37% last year to 31% this year.
McBrayer 34% last year to 29% this year.
Hurt 42%, this year 10%.

Remember the schedule gets consistently harder. No physical reason Coffey, McBrayer, and Hurt cannot return to last years numbers. Also no reason to think our ceiling is anything but hoping to draw even with whomever we play. Time to recruit a few more shooters? Kerwin Walton?

This is part of the larger picture of what our identity is and what identity Pitino wants us to have. As Marcus Fuller has observed, this team is so bad at shooting that their identity needs to be defense. They've played good defense in stretches during games but haven't been the least bit consistent. They still have frequent bad lapses.

I remember when Pitino was hired, he said he wanted to 1) run fast tempo on offense and run a lot; 2) play full-court pressure defense; and 3) shoot a lot of threes. On the latter point, when reporters asked him why he wanted to shoot a lot of threes, he said because there's no 4-point field goal in the rules. Yet he continues to bring in poor to middling outside shooters...with the exception of Gabe, who wouldn't be here if Ben Johnson hadn't championed his recruiting.

The closest we've come to realizing Richard's best-laid plans is the first item, but they're still don't do that with a great deal of proficiency or frequency.

I continue to struggle to understand what RP's approach is or how close we're getting to implementing it after how many years?
 

This is part of the larger picture of what our identity is and what identity Pitino wants us to have. As Marcus Fuller has observed, this team is so bad at shooting that their identity needs to be defense. They've played good defense in stretches during games but haven't been the least bit consistent. They still have frequent bad lapses.

I remember when Pitino was hired, he said he wanted to 1) run fast tempo on offense and run a lot; 2) play full-court pressure defense; and 3) shoot a lot of threes. On the latter point, when reporters asked him why he wanted to shoot a lot of threes, he said because there's no 4-point field goal in the rules. Yet he continues to bring in poor to middling outside shooters...with the exception of Gabe, who wouldn't be here if Ben Johnson hadn't championed his recruiting.

The closest we've come to realizing Richard's best-laid plans is the first item, but they're still don't do that with a great deal of proficiency or frequency.

I continue to struggle to understand what RP's approach is or how close we're getting to implementing it after how many years?
You make a solid point. Pitino seems to be unsettled as to exactly what he wants to become. It may be a chicken and egg thing. Perhaps Pitino has not been able to recruit his ideal player and therefore must adjust to his personale. At the same time the personale he has, forces him to not have a consistent approach.
 

They are about what I thought they’d be but they are really dumb.
Stupid foul trouble will cost them chances 3-5 games in the conference that they could’ve won. Not saying they’d win all of them, but they’ll have no chance in a couple of them because of foul trouble.
 


They are about what I thought they’d be but they are really dumb.
Stupid foul trouble will cost them chances 3-5 games in the conference that they could’ve won. Not saying they’d win all of them, but they’ll have no chance in a couple of them because of foul trouble.

Hopefully they will learn.
 

I was encouraged by Curry 3 point attempt - it looked smooth and just lipped out - have we ever out 3 pointed anybody we play? Wisconsin will get Happ's points but the 3 ball will kill us.
 

The record is about where I thought it would be but how they’ve played overall is worse than I thought.

This is exactly my thought.

A good team would blow out half the non-conference teams we played and we F around and win by 12. Truly the only time I've been impressed with this team is the second half against Nebraska.
 

This is exactly my thought.

A good team would blow out half the non-conference teams we played and we F around and win by 12. Truly the only time I've been impressed with this team is the second half against Nebraska.

Which absolutely means nothing. Hasn't exactly been greatest non conference schedule as it seems lately we play once a week. Cant get into any rhythm. We are 11-2 and in my opinion beat a really good nebraska team. Haven't played as good as I wanted also but I'm not gonna judge when were 11-2 and beat a really good Nebraska team.
 




This is such an interesting question. I voted "worse than I expected them to be", even though I would have taken 11-2 at this point in the season in a heartbeat prior to the start of the season. Before I say anything else, Pitino/the Team should get credit for being 11-2 as the actual record means more than anything else.

That said, I've watched every game this year and in every single game the Gophers have had a stretch where a tournament team (much less a championship team) would likely put the game away against them. The Gophers started out up 9-0 and were up by just 6 over an absolutely horrific Mount St Mary's team with like 6 minutes left to play. It doesn't take a genius to figure out they were outscored by 3 over something around 30 minutes of game play at home against Mount St Mary's. That's an extreme example, but there was at least a 7 minute stretch of play in every game where the Gophers would turn it over a bunch or not make a single field goal. The fact that they didn't put a 30 point beat down on any of the weaklings on the schedule is as alarming as the horrific loss at Boston College.

Concern 1: Perimeter shooting- this team has consistently shot the ball worse than expected and that's including surprising early season success from Gabe Kalscheur. Everyone that we hoped would take a step up in this area (Dupree, Amir, Isaiah, etc) has not done so or actually regressed.

Concern 2: Depth especially at the 1-3 spots: Right now we have 4 high major athletes for 3 positions in Dupree, Gabe, Amir, and Isaiah. Brock Stull has been a massive disappointment and looks as over matched as Michael Hurt from a physical perspective.

Concern 3: Turnovers and Free Throw shooting: I am grouping these together in that they've been a reoccurring theme in games where the score ended up being tighter than it should have been. If you look at the Vancouver Showcase in particular, I believe these issues showed up in all 3 games. The turnovers are especially concerning when they are completely unforced and are the result of either a lack of focus and/or solid fundamentals (Matz and Daniel in particular will put the ball on the floor unnecessarily when they should go straight up for a dunk).

Concern 4: It's scouting report time: Teams are not going to just let the Gophers get deep paint touches for Jordan and Daniel, they are going to force the Gophers to show them something else. Amir's tendency to only drive/finish with his strong hand will be recognized. Jordan's tendency to use physicality rather than technique in the paint will lead to some foul trouble. The Gophers have shown no counters all season. Where does the offense come from when the first option is taken away?

The Gophers have 18 regular season games left, and I certainly think it's possible for them to win 9 or 10. Unfortunately, I think them winning 5 or 6 is more likely than them winning 11 or 12. I think the ceiling to this team is capped unless/until they can alleviate some of my concerns.
 

One of the worst shooting teams in the country.


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Not a great shooting team but certainly not the worst, I've seen every one of them get on a hot streak and hit a string of three's, they are in a rut, I would hope someone on the staff could point out the bad habit that has encroached on their shots, that is what good coaching staffs do, get kids out of their slumps, I would compare it to hitting in baseball.
 

From Seth Davis’s buy, sell or hold column. An optimistic take.

Minnesota (11-2, No. 61 KenPom)

Rating: Buy

This team is unranked and undervalued, but coaches around the Big Ten know how dangerous the Gophers can be. Conference play is usually an ugly, physical grind, and not many teams in the league are built for that better than this one. The Gophers have a stud rebounder and post scorer in 6-7 senior forward Jordan Murphy, and 6-10 freshman Daniel Oturu is starting to come on strong. The outside shooting tends to disappear for long stretches, but they compensate by ranking fifth in the country in offensive rebound percentage and offensive free throw rate. And junior Amir Coffey gives this team a different look as a 6-8 point guard.


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Apparently Seth doesn't read the GopherHole? :rolleyes:

I think if you only watch the Gophers, you would vote "worse" but if you watched a lot of basketball, I would improve the rating. Outside of the top 10/15, there are not a lot of world beaters in college hoops and almost EVERY fan poll would have the same results as ours.

We are 11-2 and have a win or a top 25 B1G team (Nebraska at time) plus several power conference wins. If we stay healthy and Curry gets more involved and IW keeps improving, there is a lot of room for improvement. Should be an interesting conference season. I could see us go in a lot of directions (strong conference).
 



Man, you guys are harsh!

I'm pretty happy with 11-2. I'd love for us to be 13-0 but that's a pipe dream.

Overall, we are a bunch of grinders who play hard and aren't able to shoot long-range shots well. As long as we play good defense and keep a applying pressure down low on offense, I feel we will be able to win our share of games in and overall "ugly" fashion. We do a good job of getting to the FT line consistently and if we can make those we can cut down on the negative effects of our low 3 pt production by getting and1's and lowering the other teams defensive abilities through drawing fouls.

Yes, we will get blown out when we can't hit and the refs swallow their whistles. Yes, we will win big at home when we get hot. But a B1G season is usually determined to be good or bad in how you perform in those ugly close games, and I think these guys can come through with a better than average win percentage.
 

Man, you guys are harsh!

I'm pretty happy with 11-2. I'd love for us to be 13-0 but that's a pipe dream.

Overall, we are a bunch of grinders who play hard and aren't able to shoot long-range shots well. As long as we play good defense and keep a applying pressure down low on offense, I feel we will be able to win our share of games in and overall "ugly" fashion. We do a good job of getting to the FT line consistently and if we can make those we can cut down on the negative effects of our low 3 pt production by getting and1's and lowering the other teams defensive abilities through drawing fouls.

Yes, we will get blown out when we can't hit and the refs swallow their whistles. Yes, we will win big at home when we get hot. But a B1G season is usually determined to be good or bad in how you perform in those ugly close games, and I think these guys can come through with a better than average win percentage.

Mostly agree, but the play hard part has been the most disappointing part to me. In some of these games that should have been blowouts, I noticed a softness in effort that is discouraging. If they display the heart they did against Nebraska, good things can and will happen. If they don't they will get outworked and be beaten by teams they shouldn't. The upside is they still have a long way to go to hit potential. The downside is they haven't shown much that suggests potential can be reached.
 

The Gopher team can make the tournament if Curry can contribute at a high level. I think they are too weak inside now, lack defensive chops, and consistent offense.

Curry and Washington will be the keys to success in the Big Ten. If Curry can get to the point where he can be a regular in the rotation playing at the level he was before he got hurt and Washington can be the distributer this team needs they have a shot to be pretty good.

Hopefully they can find some level of consistency at some point here in the near future.
 

I don't see them as having played very good at all yet. Is it because they are playing down to their competition? Or are they just not that good? They did beat Nebraska, but will not beat them again. That was basically Coffey having the best game he likely ever has a Gopher, or they lose that game by 10-15 at home and everyone is complaining about it.

Murphy has to not get into foul trouble, or this team is in trouble, period. They just do not play that well when he is not on the floor. Coffey has to be and stay aggressive and give 100% every game. Everyone says Washington is the key, but he has to almost do a 180 if you want him as any sort of contributor come Big Ten play. This team just cannot have the consistent turnovers and dumb quick shots he takes for very long each game.

I'd love to see Dupree and Gabe get back on track also. We will need one or both to have an excellent season if they want to make the dance.
 




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