Gophers-Colorado St scrimmage

Donate To GopherHole
NYtoWItoMN said:
So on-court chemistry being a factor in performance is just simply no longer a thing?

2 paths:
1. Build team with 4/5 star players like KS/KY/Duke and let them play AAU style iso-ball.
2. Build team with 2/3 star players and have them run system... which takes time to figure out

KS, KY, and Duke pull it off by having 5 star guys like Banchero or Zion or Kyrie or Embiid where the coach can simply say "When in doubt, give it to ______."

Gelling is absolutely a thing. Knowing when someone is going to cut backdoor or square off a screen or double the post etc etc is important.

That being said... in this convo, I think we're talking about the 10-14th players having time to gel with game time... soooooooooo good use of my time typing this up lol
Click to expand...
Who are the two stars in line for playing time?
 

short ornery norwegian said:
be careful what you wish for. I heard a rumor that if Johnson is fired, the administration will insist that the next coach is multi-racial and trans-gender, so that they can check off all the diversity boxes at once. other requirements will include: "must have watched a basketball game at some point."

semi-seriously - I am not sure that the Administration gives a rip about sports - other than the financial aspects. and I am not sure that Coyle gives a rip about anything other than Football and the TV money.

I don't think that the administration sits around arguing about "what's wrong with the men's basketball team?" maybe - I said maybe - there might be 1 or 2 regents who pay attention to sports.

point being - the people on this board care more about men's basketball than the people running the University and the people who hire the coaches. align your expectations accordingly.
Click to expand...
Dakota2 said:
Who are the two stars in line for playing time?
Click to expand...
Ah- good call. I meant star player rankings. Like recruiting an Oturu vs a (with respect to the kid, could be real good) Grove

Do they even give 2 stars any more? Or is anything under 3 stars just "Unranked?"
 

This thread is pretty dang funny.

Rumors of a "rough outing" during what was essentially a practice and we have 7 pages of panic posts. If we don't beat Macalester by 60 points there is going to be a total meltdown. Bring on the first exhibition game!!!!
 

CPTMidnight said:
This thread is pretty dang funny.

Rumors of a "rough outing" during what was essentially a practice and we have 7 pages of panic posts. If we don't beat Macalester by 60 points there is going to be a total meltdown. Bring on the first exhibition game!!!!
Click to expand...
If there were any data points from the previous two seasons to suggest this was a one off situation, this thread would not be in a meltdown. Since there isn’t, the meltdown is to be expected. Your optimism is welcome, but our lack of it is not an irrational response, invisible scrimmage or not.
 



CPTMidnight said:
This thread is pretty dang funny.

Rumors of a "rough outing" during what was essentially a practice and we have 7 pages of panic posts. If we don't beat Macalester by 60 points there is going to be a total meltdown. Bring on the first exhibition game!!!!
Click to expand...
I think you are mistaking resignation for "panic". Losing by 40 is never a good look, no matter the particular circumstances. Especially to a middle of the pack team from a lesser conference.
 

Holy Man said:
If there were any data points from the previous two seasons to suggest this was a one off situation, this thread would not be in a meltdown. Since there isn’t, the meltdown is to be expected. Your optimism is welcome, but our lack of it is not an irrational response, invisible scrimmage or not.
Click to expand...
+1

If Gonzaga had a scrimmage like this, it would be so contrary to recent performance that it would easy to trust Mark Few's track record with the Zags and shrug it off. When you have a coach whose only two seasons have been so bad that we would consider making the NIT a huge step forward, this scrimmage result seems to confirm what we have seen in regular season performance under this regime. If he manages to make the tournament this year, no one will be harping on the result from a preseason scrimmage (and hopefully he does).
 

CPTMidnight said:
This thread is pretty dang funny.

Rumors of a "rough outing" during what was essentially a practice and we have 7 pages of panic posts. If we don't beat Macalester by 60 points there is going to be a total meltdown. Bring on the first exhibition game!!!!
Click to expand...
I don't know if even the harshest CBJ critics would be in a panic mode if we were awful. It'd be more of a mix of annoyance mixed with apathy.
 

NYtoWItoMN said:
Ah- good call. I meant star player rankings. Like recruiting an Oturu vs a (with respect to the kid, could be real good) Grove

Do they even give 2 stars any more? Or is anything under 3 stars just "Unranked?"
Click to expand...
Far as I know all our scholarship players were three or four.
 




howeda7 said:
I think you are mistaking resignation for "panic". Losing by 40 is never a good look, no matter the particular circumstances. Especially to a middle of the pack team from a lesser conference.
Click to expand...
We have 1 more week boys. Then we can panic. (patience is a virtue)
 





A few thoughts on different topics brought up in reading this thread. I find it incredibly strange that the Gophers reportedly lost this scrimmage 87-49 and (to my knowledge) none of the most prominent Gopher basketball media members wrote an article on it or even put the score up on their social media. Nothing from Ryan James, Marcus Fuller, or Andy Greder that I've seen.

As for the idea that it doesn't matter or it's not a big deal. I could buy that in a lot of instances, but never in the instance of getting run out of the gym by a team expected to be average in its mid major conference...especially when that team beat Minnesota in a scrimmage last year. So we're supposed to believe Minnesota took the time to fly out to Colorado Springs to scrimmage against an opponent (one that will be better than all but 1-2 teams in their non-conference schedule) with the attitude of "who really cares"? Ben talked about "culture" a lot, what type of "culture" is fine with losing 87-49 in any scenario? Also the score itself is especially problematic as it shows issues on both the offensive (have to score more than 49) and defensive (can't give up 87) ends of the floor. Obviously the game doesn't count, but last year this team was absolutely terrible on both ends of the floor and the (reported) score of this game would lead people to the same conclusion about this years squad.

Back to hiring of Ben Johnson, it's still a complete mystery how it happened. The circumstantial evidence pointing to it being the "administration" begins with Johnson not fitting the profile of any coach Coyle had hired for a premier sport at the University of Minnesota. The comparisions to Whalen are unfounded. A similar hire to Whalen would be like Sam Jacobson or John Thomas if they had won a couple gold medals in the Olympics, made multiple all star teams and won a couple championships for the Timberwolves. Look who was hired post Johnson: Coyle poached a successful volleyball coach from Wazzu and a successful basketball coach from WVU. Prior to Johnson he hired Motzko and Fleck. None of these hires were anything like a guy who tried and failed to get the Northern Illinois job two weeks before he got hired at Minnesota. IF (again if) Coyle was forced in to hiring Johnson, was he also forced to pay him ~2 million a season for optics? What about the absolutely Maturi-like egregiously bad extension Ben was given after finishing last in his first season? Was that forced on him too? I feel like we will never know the answers as hard questions were not asked by the media at the time of Johnson's hiring.
 

EG#9 said:
As for the idea that it doesn't matter or it's not a big deal. I could buy that in a lot of instances, but never in the instance of getting run out of the gym by a team expected to be average in its mid major conference...especially when that team beat Minnesota in a scrimmage last year. So we're supposed to believe Minnesota took the time to fly out to Colorado Springs to scrimmage against an opponent (one that will be better than all but 1-2 teams in their non-conference schedule) with the attitude of "who really cares"? Ben talked about "culture" a lot, what type of "culture" is fine with losing 87-49 in any scenario? Also the score itself is especially problematic as it shows issues on both the offensive (have to score more than 49) and defensive (can't give up 87) ends of the floor. Obviously the game doesn't count, but last year this team was absolutely terrible on both ends of the floor and the (reported) score of this game would lead people to the same conclusion about this years squad.
Click to expand...
I was always taught that no matter what the circumstance you compete. It doesn't matter if it is a scrimmage, a league game, or a pickup game at painter park you give it your all and play to win otherwise don't be out there. Sure the matchups, injuries, etc. might not be in your favor but that kind of an outing sure hints at a complete lack of mental toughness. Yes it matters everytime you step on the court.
 


If what was reported by Donovan’s source was incorrect, the local media guys would have been all over a correction. Not mentioning anything creates deafening silence to me. And strikes me as lazy reporting and not wanting to hurt the coach. Their job is to report what they know. It’s bizarre that they have said nothing about the scrimmage. And quite worrisome as well.
 



MissouriGopher said:
Local media isn't reporting it because they understand that scores from scrimmages are meaningless. It's not hard.
Click to expand...
My memory is fading, but I do recall scores being reported in previous years. Not sure if it’s local source or not. But the information was out there. Perhaps the receiver of the information could decide whether it’s meaningless or not, rather than the gate keepers. I stand by my point that if it was good news to report, the local media would have reported it.
 

Holy Man said:
If there were any data points from the previous two seasons to suggest this was a one off situation, this thread would not be in a meltdown. Since there isn’t, the meltdown is to be expected. Your optimism is welcome, but our lack of it is not an irrational response, invisible scrimmage or not.
Click to expand...
I really have no data points for this year other than we ended in last place the last 2 years, we lost some players but possibly added overall depth. Next week will be telling as will each successive game as the season unfolds.

Rumors from a practice game that nobody saw - meh. That is what makes this thread so funny.
 

GopherBlood666 said:
WInona State in 2006 is on a whole different stratosphere than Macalester. Losing to Macalester this season would probably be 100x worse. I can't foresee that happening.
Click to expand...
MAC will be a bad MIAC team this year...that would be the worst loss in the history of NCAA basketball.
 

Holy Man said:
If what was reported by Donovan’s source was incorrect, the local media guys would have been all over a correction. Not mentioning anything creates deafening silence to me. And strikes me as lazy reporting and not wanting to hurt the coach. Their job is to report what they know. It’s bizarre that they have said nothing about the scrimmage. And quite worrisome as well.
Click to expand...
They were doing Ben a solid by not mentioning it. Plus officially "no one keeps score".
 


Holy Man said:
My memory is fading, but I do recall scores being reported in previous years. Not sure if it’s local source or not. But the information was out there. Perhaps the receiver of the information could decide whether it’s meaningless or not, rather than the gate keepers. I stand by my point that if it was good news to report, the local media would have reported it.
Click to expand...
I looked at Fuller's old tweets about past scrimmages and it seems to be a policy of the current regime to not let the local media get or report too many specifics of these. I couldn't find any details besides stating they lost to Oklahoma two years ago and nothing even referencing that they lost to Colorado State last year (just that they played it). Alternatively, under the previous regime Marcus quoted lots of stats from the scrimmage win over Iowa State in 2019 and posted a box score from the scrimmage win over Creighton in 2018.
 

Johnnyboy18 said:
First the boogeyman administration got him hired and now the media is protecting him from a secret scrimmage score. What's the next conspiracy?
Click to expand...
Why the staff remains unchanged despite glaring fundamental in game coaching deficiencies.
Why he's our coach in year four after three seasons of bottom of the conference finishes.
 

for those who want Ben gone -

if the team is as bad as you think it's going to be, you will get your wish. IF the Gophers finish last in the B1G again, I don't see any way that Johnson returns.

for those who don't want Ben gone - or at least are willing to see how the season plays out -

I'm not going to bet my life's savings on the Gophers taking a huge jump up in the standings. I just want to see some improvement - especially over the course of the season. i want to see a team that is playing better at the end of the season that it was at the start.

and we won't know that until we see the team play some games, especially B1G games. if the Gophers are losing B1G games by 20-and 30-point margins, then it's time to panic.
 



Last year the Ole game was close at half. I’ll expect the same and hope we win by 5. I have to remind myself - it is only preseason and we should have known going into yr three that we would struggle.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom