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Gopherfan1000

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Michigan dismantled Wisconsin last night and even led by 40 at one point. They look to be the second best team in the country being the Zags right now. They are blowing out everyone right now. The Gophers are not alone. So our four losses have come against top-10 teams.
 

I was skeptical when they hired a high-profile alumnus to replace Beilein, but man, it's working out. I was more impressed by Michigan's defense in last week's game than I've been with any other defense I've seen this year. That and the freshman big man make them a national title contender.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I was skeptical when they hired a high-profile alumnus to replace Beilein, but man, it's working out. I was more impressed by Michigan's defense in last week's game than I've been with any other defense I've seen this year. That and the freshman big man make them a national title contender.
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really something when you see a team play so well on both ends of the court. Rare to see a team put so much ball pressure on you and still dominate inside . So long, physical and extremely well coached. He has absorbed so much from so many and really knows how to teach it, their effort is as good as I have seen. Lets see if they sustain it.We need help to beat them. We need our best game and their worst. I have seen that happen many times. What they did with 3 straight wins against ranked teams, winning all by 19 or more had never been done ! Further, in the last two it was more like 40 but Howard was classy and played his green team. K would never do that.
 

builtbadgers said:
really something when you see a team play so well on both ends of the court. Rare to see a team put so much ball pressure on you and still dominate inside . So long, physical and extremely well coached. He has absorbed so much from so many and really knows how to teach it, their effort is as good as I have seen. Lets see if they sustain it.We need help to beat them. We need our best game and their worst. I have seen that happen many times. What they did with 3 straight wins against ranked teams, winning all by 19 or more had never been done ! Further, in the last two it was more like 40 but Howard was classy and played his green team. K would never do that.
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Crazy things happen on the road in the current environment. If we can get off to a fast start and MI misses some shots early, we have a good chance to win this one. The officiating really favors the home squad as well on ticky tack calls.
 

builtbadgers said:
really something when you see a team play so well on both ends of the court. Rare to see a team put so much ball pressure on you and still dominate inside . So long, physical and extremely well coached. He has absorbed so much from so many and really knows how to teach it, their effort is as good as I have seen. Lets see if they sustain it.We need help to beat them. We need our best game and their worst. I have seen that happen many times. What they did with 3 straight wins against ranked teams, winning all by 19 or more had never been done ! Further, in the last two it was more like 40 but Howard was classy and played his green team. K would never do that.
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We get another crack at them on Saturday. Wish the Barn could be packed and loud. But, ugh!
 


builtbadgers said:
really something when you see a team play so well on both ends of the court. Rare to see a team put so much ball pressure on you and still dominate inside . So long, physical and extremely well coached. He has absorbed so much from so many and really knows how to teach it, their effort is as good as I have seen. Lets see if they sustain it.We need help to beat them. We need our best game and their worst. I have seen that happen many times. What they did with 3 straight wins against ranked teams, winning all by 19 or more had never been done ! Further, in the last two it was more like 40 but Howard was classy and played his green team. K would never do that.
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He's starting to strike me as a guy who used his playing career as a coaching apprenticeship. I've heard Damian Johnson talk about how much he learned at every stop along his way, specifically citing a couple of his pro coaches.
 

Bad Gopher said:
He's starting to strike me as a guy who used his playing career as a coaching apprenticeship. I've heard Damian Johnson talk about how much he learned at every stop along his way, specifically citing a couple of his pro coaches.
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Good point - he stuck for a long time, after he was a usable player, great guy in the locker room and was exposed to one of the best BB coaches ever in his three years playing there and 6 years as an assistant. (Pat Riley)
 

A win against Michigan will solidify Minnesota as a team in the dance. Michigan is a legit title contender and beating them at the Barn would be the equivalent of beating a #1 Indiana when Mbakwe and crew won that game. Right now, Michigan has a legit claim to be rated #1 based upon strength of schedule.
 

They're playing great defense but they are also very efficient offensively. They don't take bad shots and shoot well enough from outside.
 



My understanding as well is that Juwan Howard is a real nice, good person. Not full of himself. Not sure all coaches wouldve pulled starters as early as he did against Wisconsin.
 

MennoSota said:
A win against Michigan will solidify Minnesota as a team in the dance. Michigan is a legit title contender and beating them at the Barn would be the equivalent of beating a #1 Indiana when Mbakwe and crew won that game. Right now, Michigan has a legit claim to be rated #1 based upon strength of schedule.
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If we shoot well we can do it. Interesting in yesterday's gophers weekly pitino talked again about the time Gabe puts in shooting. Maybe Saturday will be the day he is rewarded for all his hard work.
 

It will be interesting to see if RP makes adjustments based on the game film against us. If so the guys need to execute. One could say the same for MI but their domination was so great that doing the same should give similar results.

I don't think the guys have played their best overall game to date. Who knows, maybe it will be Saturday!
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
Good point - he stuck for a long time, after he was a usable player, great guy in the locker room and was exposed to one of the best BB coaches ever in his three years playing there and 6 years as an assistant. (Pat Riley)
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He hired Martelli and reached out to the college games best coaches, especially on the defensive side. He already knew what he offense he wanted to run but Riley pointed him to a place he had gone for himself for defensive keys and those were giants in coaching circles for defense.
 



builtbadgers said:
He hired Martelli and reached out to the college games best coaches, especially on the defensive side. He already knew what he offense he wanted to run but Riley pointed him to a place he had gone for himself for defensive keys and those were giants in coaching circles for defense.
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Thanks for the info and it's cool to hear about how the knowledge is passed along via coaching trees.

Always loved Martelli's St. Joe's teams, great coach.
 

Plus they have the #1 recruiting class in the country coming in for next year, including the kid from Stewartville.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
Good point - he stuck for a long time, after he was a usable player, great guy in the locker room and was exposed to one of the best BB coaches ever in his three years playing there and 6 years as an assistant. (Pat Riley)
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And, seriously, don't forget about Eric Spoelstra. Dude knows his stuff. Howard certainly took things from him, too, as Spoelstra was the actual head coach when Juwan was a player and assistant there.
 


howeda7 said:
They're not going undefeated. They should be due for a loss....
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Exactly. They blew out us and Wisconsin and outside of those games they've played Maryland, Penn St, Northwestern, and Nebraska.

They'll have to play Illinois, Iowa, Michigan St, and Rutgers. Someone will bring them back down to Earth.
 

tjgopher said:
And, seriously, don't forget about Eric Spoelstra. Dude knows his stuff. Howard certainly took things from him, too, as Spoelstra was the actual head coach when Juwan was a player and assistant there.
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Thanks - Yup, Coach Spo learned from Riley and they play the game the right way - fun to watch.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
It will be interesting to see if RP makes adjustments based on the game film against us. If so the guys need to execute. One could say the same for MI but their domination was so great that doing the same should give similar results.

I don't think the guys have played their best overall game to date. Who knows, maybe it will be Saturday!
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I cant imagine pitino wont make adjustments. They were down 30 against michigan the first time. Not sure what the adjustments will be, but we wont play them obviously like we played them last game. I think we can win this game. They have played unbelievable for a couple of games. Time for them to come back to earth and be just a normal team on the road in the BIG! Lets hope so anyway.
 

Based on the eye test - and admitting I have not seen every team in the conference play - Michigan looks like the most complete team in the B1G.

As noted, it's fun to watch when everyone on a team buys into the system and really executes it well.
We can only dream about the Gophers getting to that point some day.........
 



golf said:
playing with a smile on his face again. Been too long since the air guitar.
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100% this. I don't where he lost it, but Gabe plays without any passion whatsoever. He works his ass off and plays hard and we all admire that. But, for some reason, there is no happiness in his play.

He took a charge a few games ago, his teammates rush to help him up, high five him, congratulate him, and Gabe gets up with no reaction at all like he just found out he flunked a final exam. His teammates have to be wondering what is up.

We need "air guitar" Gabe back, have some fun Gabe. Its a game!

It is almost like this self-imposed pressure and he can't set himself free.
 
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golf said:
Will never need to worry about Gabe not doing the "dirty work" to help his team win. Would be nice to see him sinking 3s and playing with a smile on his face again. Been too long since the air guitar.
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Yep. Someone needs to convince him to play like it's a pickup game at the Y.
 

tjgopher said:
100% this. I don't where he lost it, but Gabe plays without any passion whatsoever. He works his ass off and plays hard, but there is no happiness in his play.

He took a charge a few games ago, his teammates rush to help him up, pat him on the head, high five him, congratulate him, and Gabe gets up with no reaction at all like the he just found out he flunked a final exam. His teammates have to be wondering what is up.

We need "air guitar" Gabe back, have some fun Gabe. Its a game!

It is almost like this self-imposed pressure and he can't set himself free.
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I think your last sentence nailed it. He seems like the type of person that internalizes things and the pressure just builds. Hard to play that way.
 

tjgopher said:
100% this. I don't where he lost it, but Gabe plays without any passion whatsoever. He works his ass off and plays hard and we all admire that. But, for some reason, there is no happiness in his play.

He took a charge a few games ago, his teammates rush to help him up, high five him, congratulate him, and Gabe gets up with no reaction at all like he just found out he flunked a final exam. His teammates have to be wondering what is up.

We need "air guitar" Gabe back, have some fun Gabe. Its a game!

It is almost like this self-imposed pressure and he can't set himself free.
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Chicken or the egg.

Does he have fun and then play better or does he play better and then have fun.

I can say it's annoying watching a guy having fun while getting his ass kicked too.
 

Maybe a few of them will fall off the raised floor and get hurt.
🥴
 

tjgopher said:
100% this. I don't where he lost it, but Gabe plays without any passion whatsoever. He works his ass off and plays hard and we all admire that. But, for some reason, there is no happiness in his play.

He took a charge a few games ago, his teammates rush to help him up, high five him, congratulate him, and Gabe gets up with no reaction at all like he just found out he flunked a final exam. His teammates have to be wondering what is up.

We need "air guitar" Gabe back, have some fun Gabe. Its a game!

It is almost like this self-imposed pressure and he can't set himself free.
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Not everyone is emotional, its probably a big part of why he was/is😬 a good three point shooter. We need that back.
Stone cold killer, I'll take it!
 

Wally said:
Not everyone is emotional, its probably a big part of why he was/is😬 a good three point shooter. We need that back.
Stone cold killer, I'll take it!
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I think the King of "Lets not get too crazy about anything" was Tim Duncan. Maybe Gabe emulates that. I used to love it when a player used to make a nice play and act like "Look at Me, That was Totally Awesome", and then watch Duncan make a far greater play in a bigger moment and act like "Yeah, I can do that pretty much anytime I feel like it, so what's the big deal?".

Personally, I'm always a little more fearful of a guy who pulls off amazing stuff and acts like "I'm just cruising. Wait until you see what I'll do to you if you actually get me fired up!". It's like, "if he thinks that Jaw-Dropping play was just par for the course, I wonder what he's actually capable of? Better not test him.".

Maybe on that charge, Gabe was thinking "I made the defensive rotation I was supposed to make, got into the spot I was supposed to get into, what's the big deal about just executing my assignment the way I'm supposed to?". Not saying that's what was in his head, but who knows?

If Gabe keeps playing the best and most consistent defense on the team and continues to work on other ways to contribute to the offense if the 3 isn't falling (if you're wide open and it's in rhythm, you've GOT to take it) I'm absolutely fine with him staying on the floor and not smiling.
 
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