My early take on the squad

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borninthebarn

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Ignoring off-the-court issues, we've now seen 4 games and are starting to see what the squad looks like. Here are some of my early-season thoughts.

1. Athleticism/Defense. We were the most athletic we've been in a decade last year and we've only improved with the addition of Cobbs, Williams, and potentially Mbakwe. This leads to good defense which has dominated lesser competition. We have yet to see a quality squad but the team appears to be settling in to playing Tubby-style defense and should be solid again.

2. Depth. We have 10 guys (11 with Bostick) that are talented Big-10 level basketball players. The platoon substitutions don't have me worried because we don't really lose much. Yes, that also means we don't have an All-American starting 5, but it is nice to be more than one injury away from a mediocre season. I liked the 2nd half lineup tonight - with Carter at the 4 the 2nd 5 are a little bigger than with Rodney, who looks more comfortable at the 3. Would be nice to have Trevor and/or Royce to beef up the 4 spot a bit, but that's wishful thinking for now.

3. Shooters. We struggled from the outside last year and it hurt us, but it seems we have improved here. Devoe is money - in my eyes the best shooter on the team, Westbrook is shooting well, Hoffarber seems to have regained his touch, and Nolen can make an open shot if he has it. Add to that Cobbs who has shown nice touch and Rodney who is shooting very well from the outside and we have 5-6 guys with range. If Carter and DJ can hit open looks at a decent clip we will be much improved.

4. Focus. Through 8 halves of blowout basketball, the team has been sharp all but one. It has to be difficult to stay motivated when you are so much better than the other team, but Tubby has the guys playing intense through the final buzzer. To me that says the guys know we have a long ways to go to reach our potential but they are committed to getting there.

5. Chemistry. It is easy when you are winning by 40+ points every night, but the guys seem to really mix well out there. Damian, Nolen, and Westbrook are playing like experienced veterans and everyone else is following their lead. I can't put my finger on it but the team chemistry looks improved.

6. Young guys. I have been very impressed with the (playing) Freshmen. Cobbs is athletic, smooth, and plays smart. It might be early to say, but playing him against Big 10 defenses doesn't worry me at all. Rodney has explained in no uncertain terms his position on taking a red shirt year (remember when most of the board thought that was a good idea?). What a stud - a special player in the making.

7. Inside Scoring. I am not sure whether this is real or a result of the competition we've seen, but Ralph and DJ appear to have improved their inside games. We needed this to take the team to the next level. DJ showed a dribble drive and good touch around the rim tonight and Ralph has shown some very good moves so far this season. If they can produce underneath and our outside shooting improves we'll take a big step forward. This is the area losing Royce and Trevor hurts the most, but if DJ and Ralph see it as an opportunity and take advantage we will be ok.

Maybe the Kool-Aid dispenser has been on overdrive, but I really like this squad. We should be in every game we play. If we can find consistent scoring from the inside and continue shooting well from outside I don't think there is a team (at least in the B10) we can't hang with and have a chance to beat.

My main concern is rebounding. I haven't seen anything to suggest major improvement from last year, and the cavalry didn't exactly arrive as planned. When we start seeing Big 10 bruisers underneath our bigs need to step up.

Anything else people have seen stick out one way or the other so far?
 

"and Nolen can make an open shot if he has it. Anything else people have seen stick out one way or the other so far?"

Not that.
 

Agree with most of what you've said. From my standpoint, the thing that I really like about this team is that when they have decided to play with a killer instinct and put a team away, they have done it. Last year, the guys lacked a little bit of that killer instinct at times and let teams hang around instead of putting it to them and knocking them out.

So far, this team has shown an ability and desire to put teams away relatively early on. That bodes well because it denotes a "we're going to take care of business" attitude, which I think will serve them well as the season progresses. Obviously, it's still extremely early and there is plenty of ball left to be played. But I'm with you. I really like this team, their attitude and what they bring to the court in terms of versatility and talent.
 

Without those power forwards the team lacks balance. Just like last year, we have plenty of guards and 2 big centers. But, the pressure is really on the remaining forwards to match up underneath. It is bound to limit their success this year. Teams that have talented big men. like Mich., Mich. St, Ill., Ohio, and even Wisconsin, are going to be a challenge.
 

Nolen's not as bad as people give him crap for. He shot 30% from 3 last year - not great but far from horrible.
 




Boy how far we have come in just three short years. We would have been lucky to beat Stephen Austin under Monson. Nolen would have been our best player.
Now people are beatching about him and all he does is lead us in assists which is what a good point guard is supposed to do.
 

I'll take Nolen's 7 assists tonight as a good sign. That is what a point guard is supposed to do. An occassional bucket is a bonus. Ask Flip Saunders when he played.
 



My only big concerns that I see so far, although I'm sure there will be more once the real games start, are rebounding which we should be a lot better at, go-to scorers, and defending the 3. We gave up a lot of wide open looks on 3s that decent teams will hit. Doubling in the post like we do leaves us vulnerable to uncontested 3s fairly often.
 

PurplePride said:
Boy how far we have come in just three short years. We would have been lucky to beat Stephen Austin under Monson. Nolen would have been our best player.
Now people are beatching about him and all he does is lead us in assists which is what a good point guard is supposed to do.
Click to expand...

No intent to do that by me - he does a lot of things well and has won big games for us.
 


Dr.Don said:
I'll take Nolen's 7 assists tonight as a good sign. That is what a point guard is supposed to do. An occassional bucket is a bonus. Ask Flip Saunders when he played.
Click to expand...

The 7 assist are great, but has zero offense presence which bothers me, he just isn't an offensive threat. He should have no problem averaging 8 points per, but I don't see that to be the case this year.
 



PurplePride said:
Boy how far we have come in just three short years. We would have been lucky to beat Stephen Austin under Monson. Nolen would have been our best player.
Now people are beatching about him and all he does is lead us in assists which is what a good point guard is supposed to do.
Click to expand...

I realize that I said "you know you've got problems" referring to Nolen, and that sounded like I was griping about him. I was just referring to his shot, I should have been more clear. I do not think he is a very good shooter, but he is a tremendous defender, and a great passer.

I agree that the PG is primarily to distribute, not shoot, but the problem has been (esp. the later Big 10 games) that no one has respected his shot, defenders have sagged into the lane, making dribble penetration difficult, and hurting his game. If he can get people to respect his shot, he can be deadly.

Trust me, I am very happy with the team right now (even w/o Mbakwe and Royce) and when I say that I think Nolen/PG position may be the weak link on this squad, that's a very good sign.
 

AN is not picking up his dribble as much as he has in the past. This is a very good news as this should limit his TO's and keep the offense flowing. He seems to be attacking towards the basket more often which will give him opportunities to score, create assists, and force the defender to play defense instead of just sagging on Al. LW looks quicker because of his weight loss and is not trying to dribble his way to the basket. When he would try to dribble out of double teams or a good defense, he'd generally become a turnover machine. Let's hope that mentality doesn't return. Colton needs to make his free throws or I'm certain his PT will be reduced. RS III looks a lot more confident, and his overall game has improved but I'd sure like to see him take the ball and go to the rim more often. His fade away jump shot (against shorter players) is not necessary and will hurt the teams rebounding in the long term. Again, limiting TO's and increasing the % of team FT's will go a long way to helping this team reach it's goals.
 

Rebounding is a concern but it's a bit of a catch 22 situation. Sampson, DJ, Iverson, Williams, and Carter can all block shots and get a bit to jump-happy in the paint in anticipation of one. Miss the block and you're often out of position to rebound the shot you may have altered. Get the block and it's a momentum swing...catch 22.

This team will once again lead the BT in block shots but it does come at a price sometimes. Last night there are 3 cases where an attempted block led directly to an offensive rebound for SFAU.

Going for the block isn't the only reason why rebounding will be an issue but it partially explains the number of offensive rebounds we will give up.

I'm not saying we change our approach at all. I'd rather alter a shot with the increased likelihood of giving up an offensive rebound but understanding why it happens sometimes is important.
 

I'll allow myself to go here one time...

Man am I pissed Trevor is out. He would bring that inside presence without losing any or much athleticism. I didn't really have a lot of expectations from him other than toughness and rebounding but that's what this team is really missing. Our 2nd line now is thin in the frontcourt as opposed to having the great depth we'd have had without the 2 losses
 

Doubling in the post like we do leaves us vulnerable to uncontested 3s fairly often.[/QUOTE]
I totally agree I remember us playing some team, it may have been Penn St. But we kept doubling the backup post player, who has no offensive skills, and he'd pass it out and they'd sink an open three on us. I have confidence in tubby and his defense, and maybe we will play it better this year, but I can't see doubling a horrible post player. IF you get a steal great, but if you dont it leaves the three wide open with a reverse of the ball.
 

We're gonna struggle rebounding this year we just dont have enough size down low to clear out the lane. We do have superior length though I can imagine a lot of tipped passes with DJ, RWill, and PC huge wingspans.

Next Year:
Cory Joseph
Devoe Joseph
Rodney Williams
Trevor Mbakwe
Ralph Sampson

Throw in potentially Royce White and that is one really good team. Im just sayin'.
 

The truth is that IF White ever sees the court we'll have a very good team next year with or without Corey Joseph. With him we're even better as he gives us a legit scoring threat at PG
 

I'm really excited about having Rodney in the starting lineup as another scorer. I always thought Nolen was handicapped by having too many guys that couldn't score in the starting lineup, and it made him look a lot worse than he actually was last year. With an improved Sampson, Westbrook, and Rodney at the 3, I think Nolen will have a great year. I also love Carter as the 6th man because he is such a high energy guy that can come in and block a shot, get a steal, or throw down a dunk to get the crowd and his team fired up.
 

Westbrook is going to have a huge year for us as he get's use to his slimmed down frame. He's seems much quicker.
Nolen needs to be a scoring threat when he drives. He seems to drive and never look to take it to the hoop. He looked good on D.
Johnson seems to have taken Williams under his wings and you can tell he loves playing with him. Good mentor as he matures this year.
Sampson looks soft again this year and not aggressive in going after the boards. I know he had 11 rebounds, but he could have had 20.
I love the depth of the team and it will pay dividends as we go down the road. We will get a good look at Butler against Northwestern on Wednesday. Go Gophs!
 

In regards to Cobbs, it looked he was having some issues getting everyone set up in the half court. There were a few times he had the ball at the top of the key, picked up his dribble and needed Devoe to come bail him out. It appeared this happened a few times, so I'm a little hesitant to annoint Cobbs as a quality back-up for Nolen. While his offensive potential appears to be much higher than Nolen's, I wonder how well he can really direct the offense. This may improve during the Big Ten season when we move away from the platoon substitutions and he is playing with some of our starters.
 

Agreed. I can understand doubling a dominant post player (Pittman against us last year), but why would we double an undersized center like last night? And either way, players in the BT are good enough to find the wide open player and there are good enough 3 point shooters to hit the shot, so I'd rather let Ralph defend a 2 point shot than give the center and opportunity to find the wide open 3 point shooter.

march madness said:
Doubling in the post like we do leaves us vulnerable to uncontested 3s fairly often.
Click to expand...

I totally agree I remember us playing some team, it may have been Penn St. But we kept doubling the backup post player, who has no offensive skills, and he'd pass it out and they'd sink an open three on us. I have confidence in tubby and his defense, and maybe we will play it better this year, but I can't see doubling a horrible post player. IF you get a steal great, but if you dont it leaves the three wide open with a reverse of the ball.[/QUOTE]
 

30 points from the SG position last night. 15 for Westbrook, 15 for Joseph (who did not play any PG). Neither was on the floor at the same time.

DJ seems to have upgraded his mid-range game. This bodes well.

PC is still having mucho problems getting any shot to fall. Still the Gophers best rebounder. Anyone notice that after he was called for a foul on a 2nd half block attempt and gave a ref a sheepish grin that two different refs patted him on his rump?

Williams is a finisher. The Gophers didn't have that last year. And my reason to have Rodney starting is ... that ... he ..is .. the ... best ... perimeter ... shot ... in the front court.

Nolan played OK. Still doesn't keep defenses honest with his shot though. That may be a big deal once the Big Ten games start.

Cobbs is worlds ahead of where Devoe was last year as a backup freshman PG.

Hoffarber was only on the floor as a SF/3rd-guard.

Sampson/Iverson are pretty solid (13.5 points / 16.5 rebs combined).
 

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