BleedGopher
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per Inside the Hall:
Yet preseason predictions for this year’s team once again foresees the Gophers in the back-half of the Big Ten.
Those predictions aren’t surprising considering they are losing their two leading scorers from last season in Jordan Murphy, who graduated and signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Amir Coffey, who declared for the draft and despite being undrafted, was signed by the Los Angeles Clippers on a two-way contract.
Bottom line: Without the motor of Murphy in the paint and isolation skillset of Coffey, the offensive production remains a mystery for Minnesota. The offense even struggled last season with those two. The young talent appears to have potential, but they’ve yet to step foot on the collegiate stage. Even the established players on the roster haven’t shown the ability to become the focal point despite very good freshmen seasons from Oturu and Kalscheur. It’s going to come down to how fast Pitino can integrate the new pieces and find new scoring threats. If that takes longer than the non-conference season, and Big Ten play hits, Minnesota might not overachieve its predictions this season.
Quotable: “Obviously Jordan Murphy — losing him — that’s hard to replace. I think Daniel and Gabe — Daniel is going to be a really good player. He’s put on a little bit of weight, you know, and he’ll get there. But all these young guys, I feel like this program, you know, we’ve taken hits with injuries, and I hate using excuses, but we have. We can’t let it derail us, you know, we gotta bounce back and get back in this thing (NCAA Tournament) next year. I think these guys got the character to do it,” — Pitino, following Minnesota’s NCAA Tournament loss to Michigan State last season.
https://www.insidethehall.com/2019/09/18/2019-20-ith-season-preview-minnesota-golden-gophers/
Go Gophers!!
Yet preseason predictions for this year’s team once again foresees the Gophers in the back-half of the Big Ten.
Those predictions aren’t surprising considering they are losing their two leading scorers from last season in Jordan Murphy, who graduated and signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Amir Coffey, who declared for the draft and despite being undrafted, was signed by the Los Angeles Clippers on a two-way contract.
Bottom line: Without the motor of Murphy in the paint and isolation skillset of Coffey, the offensive production remains a mystery for Minnesota. The offense even struggled last season with those two. The young talent appears to have potential, but they’ve yet to step foot on the collegiate stage. Even the established players on the roster haven’t shown the ability to become the focal point despite very good freshmen seasons from Oturu and Kalscheur. It’s going to come down to how fast Pitino can integrate the new pieces and find new scoring threats. If that takes longer than the non-conference season, and Big Ten play hits, Minnesota might not overachieve its predictions this season.
Quotable: “Obviously Jordan Murphy — losing him — that’s hard to replace. I think Daniel and Gabe — Daniel is going to be a really good player. He’s put on a little bit of weight, you know, and he’ll get there. But all these young guys, I feel like this program, you know, we’ve taken hits with injuries, and I hate using excuses, but we have. We can’t let it derail us, you know, we gotta bounce back and get back in this thing (NCAA Tournament) next year. I think these guys got the character to do it,” — Pitino, following Minnesota’s NCAA Tournament loss to Michigan State last season.
https://www.insidethehall.com/2019/09/18/2019-20-ith-season-preview-minnesota-golden-gophers/
Go Gophers!!
