***OFFICIAL DEPAUL AT MINNESOTA IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

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I missed the game. Wife got tickets to the Phantom. I did listen to the last 5 minutes on the way home. It sounded like the Gophers shot themselves in the foot with unforced errors and missed rebounds. Is that accurate?
 

Decent game, but a loss is a loss. Win at least 2 of the next 3 or It's time to pull the plug in Pitino.
 

MennoSota said:
I missed the game. Wife got tickets to the Phantom. I did listen to the last 5 minutes on the way home. It sounded like the Gophers shot themselves in the foot with unforced errors and missed rebounds. Is that accurate?
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They didn't make a fg the last 6:34
 

Call me crazy, but I'm actually encouraged by the Gophers effort tonight. That's a very good DePaul team that's now 8-0 for the first time in 30+ years. They should compete for the Big East title.

It was a match-up nightmare for the Gophers, especially in the backcourt. They were long and athletic at every spot except their PG, and he made plays all night.

Carr never got going because he had a defender in his mug the entire game. DePaul's on-ball defense was outstanding, and quite frankly, they were just a tougher team than Minnesota overall. Carr and Gabe went a combined 5-22 from the field and 2-10 from 3. Kalscheur has to make shots, that's the bottom line. Carr has to be more aggressive going to the basket, it seems lately he's not 100 percent sure what he wants to do when he has the ball, and that's a problem. His turnover out of a timeout late when the Gophers were down 3 or 5 was an absolute killer. A simple wing pass that he telegraphs, and the DePaul guy jumps it. A lazy pass like that is completely unacceptable in that spot, and then he turned it over again.

Demir, Oturu and Willis all played pretty well I thought. Omersa getting in foul trouble hurt, the 5th foul call was garbage. The other game-changer was the 4-point play, the DePaul shooter should've been called for an offensive foul for throwing his leg out as Gabe was trying to contest the shot.

I don't care what the Gophers shoot at the FT line, if Gabe, Carr and Willis go a combined 11-39 from the field (28.2 percent), you have no chance.
 


cjbfbp said:
It's worse than that: 20 regular season Big 10 games, a conference tournament game, Clemson, and OK State = 23.
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I stand corrected. Forgot momentarily that we've gone from 18 to 20. 23 more high-major games indeed!

I don't think the sky is falling, but they haven't beaten a high major team yet. They'll win some games this year, but in some ways it could get worse than this due to the gaping holes in our lineup that'll get scouted on film.
 

topos said:
I was at Sally's before the game, enjoying a beer, bellied up at the bar when a couple of college kids behind me ordered drinks. They knew the bartender. The bartender asked them, "What do you guys have going on today?"

College Kids-"We're going to watch Gophers hoops."

Bartender - "They play today!?!?"

College Kids-"Yeah, they play Depaul; they are undefeated; it should be a good game!"

Bartender -" Don't know how that is going to go... Some of them were here last night."

College Kids-"The Depaul guys were drinking!?"

Bartender -"No, the Gophers were..."

---

No clue if it's true or not, but it put me in a foul mood. My mood proved to be justified.

I hung out with DIII track athletes in college, and they wouldn't dare pull that before a Saturday meet.
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My daughter is a D3 athlete, and dry season is dry season. A few of her teammates cheat, but most don't. The stakes are high. You get four years of competition, and they don't want to eff it up. Gotta be at your best every day.
 

Bad Gopher said:
My daughter is a D3 athlete, and dry season is dry season. A few of her teammates cheat, but most don't. The stakes are high. You get four years of competition, and they don't want to eff it up. Gotta be at your best every day.
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Well that all explains a lot. I see the difference in the football and basketball programs right now being the level of discipline. The football team seems to get it. The bball team, not so much. One team wants to be great, the other just doesn’t seem to care.
 

The Gophers were 3.5 point favorites today and ESPN's matchup predictor gave them over a 70% chance to win. Watching the game it was hard to believe either of those things.

Marcus Carr might be the most overrated sit out transfer in Gopher history and there have been quite a few. Richard Pitino should be embarrassed for suggesting he would have made a big difference last year. This is not the first player he's oversold, but it should be the last. Since Marcus transferred in last Spring/Summer, Pitino had plenty of time to evaluate him and be concerned about the point guard spot. Marcus is not terrible, he's a D-1 player, but he's not the primary ball handler on a power 5 team. To only bring in a last second desperation hail mary option at the position to back Carr up was inexcusable. The athleticism difference on the court was vast and the PG and PF positions were particular sore spots. Alihan Demir and Michael Hurt both had several rebounds that a D-1 player has to be able to corral that they were not athletic enough to come down with.

I am confused as to what this roster was supposed to be: the Gophers are not athletic nor are they filled with shooters. This game wasn't lost with X's and O's, it was lost on the recruiting trail. It's aready been a rough, rough season and I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. Ihnen didn't play today and Williams didn't score. The four freshmen combined for 9 minutes, 0-3 from the field, 1 assist, and 1 steal.
 



Interesting that coach Pitino called Depaul's starting 5 as good as anyone's. He must have meant as good as anyone he has seen.
 

builtbadgers said:
Interesting that coach Pitino called Depaul's starting 5 as good as anyone's. He must have meant as good as anyone he has seen.
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How can you possibly think this Gopher squad will finish anywhere near .500 in B10? This is a low talent squad. Oturu is above average and there isn't much much else. This team wins <8 B10 games and Lil' Ricky is done.
 

At least they are playing hard and are competitive this year, night and day difference to some of the teams in the past, season isn't over yet, they are struggling at PG, they get to the end of the shot clock without a viable shot way to often.

DePaul is a decent team, they shot lights out at times making shots they didn't have any right to make and they were more athletic.
 

EG#9 said:
The Gophers were 3.5 point favorites today and ESPN's matchup predictor gave them over a 70% chance to win. Watching the game it was hard to believe either of those things.

Marcus Carr might be the most overrated sit out transfer in Gopher history and there have been quite a few. Richard Pitino should be embarrassed for suggesting he would have made a big difference last year. This is not the first player he's oversold, but it should be the last. Since Marcus transferred in last Spring/Summer, Pitino had plenty of time to evaluate him and be concerned about the point guard spot. Marcus is not terrible, he's a D-1 player, but he's not the primary ball handler on a power 5 team. To only bring in a last second desperation hail mary option at the position to back Carr up was inexcusable. The athleticism difference on the court was vast and the PG and PF positions were particular sore spots. Alihan Demir and Michael Hurt both had several rebounds that a D-1 player has to be able to corral that they were not athletic enough to come down with.

I am confused as to what this roster was supposed to be: the Gophers are not athletic nor are they filled with shooters. This game wasn't lost with X's and O's, it was lost on the recruiting trail. It's aready been a rough, rough season and I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. Ihnen didn't play today and Williams didn't score. The four freshmen combined for 9 minutes, 0-3 from the field, 1 assist, and 1 steal.
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I thought Carr was supposed to have been the difference maker for last year, too.

He did start at Pitt, as a freshman, right? Maybe sitting out has made him lose his mojo?


Question: in football, a true freshman can play in 4 games (including post-season games) and still retain the ability to count that season as a redshirt season, allowing him to participate in four more seasons ... does the same thing apply in basketball? Or have the true freshmen who have already played in games this season lost this year as a redshirt?

Maybe it doesn't matter as much in basketball, and/or maybe it is very rare for a college bball player to spend five calender years at the same college program?
 



DePaul has beaten Iowa, Boston College, and now Minnesota on the road. They get Texas Tech at home on Wed. I guess we will find out just how good of a team they have. But we certainly made them look like a great team.

And we still kept it close. I have no idea if that means we still have a chance to turn things around this year or not.
 

MnplsGopher said:
DePaul has beaten Iowa, Boston College, and now Minnesota on the road. They get Texas Tech at home on Wed. I guess we will find out just how good of a team they have. But we certainly made them look like a great team.

And we still kept it close. I have no idea if that means we still have a chance to turn things around this year or not.
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Seems like they deserve to be ranked. The Gophers were close to beating them (which is something but still no wins in four tries against quality competition). This team plays well at times but hasn't gotten over the hump. I think they'll improve, but they got too many holes and too little discipline and consistency.
 

I think the Big East, and DP fans have been waiting, oh so patiently, for DP to be good and hopefully capture some interest in Chicago.

They have a new arena now, looks pretty nice.

Loyola had a nice run a few years ago, and I'm sure DP fans were saying "that should be us, damnit!"
 

We were in this game the entire time but lost due to poor FT shooting and Charlie Moore absolutely killing us. His play won the day, if Moore has an average day Gopher's win by 10. Disappointed in the loss like all, but this team does fight and is improving even if the results have not shown. Again, depaul beat iowa on the road by 20. Depaul did control the majority of the game, but the Gopher's were in it to the very end. A little surprised they didn't try something differently on Moore, but probably couldn't do too much as their other guards were much bigger than carr. Sky is not falling, if Gophers won this game it would have been a very good win even though they were favored.
 

GopherBlood666 said:
Sky is not falling, if Gophers won this game it would have been a very good win even though they were favored.
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The problem isn't so much that they lost this game. Having watched DePaul against Iowa, I expected the Gophers to lose this game. The problem is that they are 0-4 against power conference teams and they play 20 regular season games against power conference teams.

Even in Pitino's disastrous 8 win season, we beat Clemson at home in non-conference. Coincidentally, we will see them again at home on Monday. We also have another similarity to that non-conference season: playing OK State at a neutral court. OK State is 7-0 and came on very strong in their holiday tournament. If we beat Clemson and lose to OK State, I'm going to have really eerie feelings of Deja Vu.
 
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Do people consider the Big East a power conference? I count them as a P conf, for bball. They're better than the SEC, outside of Kentucky.
 


Gophers will struggle all year without front court size/talent outside Oturu. Our guards are not bad at all.
 

The old adage "You live by the 3, you die by the 3" seems to be appropriate this year. So far our 3 point shooting against power 5 teams has been poor. We don't run sets to have Kalsheur or Willis come off curls and picks to catch and shoot so we don't get them open looks. Carr shoots a palm ball, which means he's going to be really streaky from 3. Our forwards are not physical on the boards and they can't shoot from outside, which means the opposition can double Oturu without any worries.
Conclusion: This is going to be a long, painful, season to watch.
 


NWMetroGopherFan said:
Call me crazy, but I'm actually encouraged by the Gophers effort tonight. That's a very good DePaul team that's now 8-0 for the first time in 30+ years. They should compete for the Big East title.

It was a match-up nightmare for the Gophers, especially in the backcourt. They were long and athletic at every spot except their PG, and he made plays all night.

Carr never got going because he had a defender in his mug the entire game. DePaul's on-ball defense was outstanding, and quite frankly, they were just a tougher team than Minnesota overall. Carr and Gabe went a combined 5-22 from the field and 2-10 from 3. Kalscheur has to make shots, that's the bottom line. Carr has to be more aggressive going to the basket, it seems lately he's not 100 percent sure what he wants to do when he has the ball, and that's a problem. His turnover out of a timeout late when the Gophers were down 3 or 5 was an absolute killer. A simple wing pass that he telegraphs, and the DePaul guy jumps it. A lazy pass like that is completely unacceptable in that spot, and then he turned it over again.

Demir, Oturu and Willis all played pretty well I thought. Omersa getting in foul trouble hurt, the 5th foul call was garbage. The other game-changer was the 4-point play, the DePaul shooter should've been called for an offensive foul for throwing his leg out as Gabe was trying to contest the shot.

I don't care what the Gophers shoot at the FT line, if Gabe, Carr and Willis go a combined 11-39 from the field (28.2 percent), you have no chance.
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This summarized the game pretty perfectly. Considering our lack of firepower and Gabe not playing great, I'm actually surprised we've been this close against some solid competition. We have no depth and very few playmakers and are embarrassing at PF and PG, but yet, we aren't completely awful to watch in a rebuilding year. Obviously we've had too many of those, but it really is too bad Coffey left, which I don't think anyone saw coming. Carr is so careless and basically just tosses the ball in the direction of the hoop when he gets into the lane and doesn't have a good angle. We would be a bubble team with Coffey, but without him, it's going to be like the first year with Murphy when we lost every single close game. It's going to get so ugly if Oturu misses any games. Thankfully our defense is good enough that we can stay within striking distance while shooting under 40%. Too bad we can't strike ...
 


underground629 said:
We have no depth and very few playmakers and are embarrassing at PF and PG, but yet, we aren't completely awful to watch in a rebuilding year.
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Well, since you put it that way, can't wait for the next game!
 

EG#9 said:
The Gophers were 3.5 point favorites today and ESPN's matchup predictor gave them over a 70% chance to win. Watching the game it was hard to believe either of those things.

Marcus Carr might be the most overrated sit out transfer in Gopher history and there have been quite a few. Richard Pitino should be embarrassed for suggesting he would have made a big difference last year. This is not the first player he's oversold, but it should be the last. Since Marcus transferred in last Spring/Summer, Pitino had plenty of time to evaluate him and be concerned about the point guard spot. Marcus is not terrible, he's a D-1 player, but he's not the primary ball handler on a power 5 team. To only bring in a last second desperation hail mary option at the position to back Carr up was inexcusable. The athleticism difference on the court was vast and the PG and PF positions were particular sore spots. Alihan Demir and Michael Hurt both had several rebounds that a D-1 player has to be able to corral that they were not athletic enough to come down with.

I am confused as to what this roster was supposed to be: the Gophers are not athletic nor are they filled with shooters. This game wasn't lost with X's and O's, it was lost on the recruiting trail. It's aready been a rough, rough season and I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. Ihnen didn't play today and Williams didn't score. The four freshmen combined for 9 minutes, 0-3 from the field, 1 assist, and 1 steal.
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I hate to say this about a college player who isn't making much money, but Carr is killing this team. If Pitino promised him a certain amount of PT, then he gets credit following through and being a straight up guy. It will also probably cost him his job. There is better ball movement on this team than at any time since Pitino arrived EXCEPT when Carr has possession of the ball. He can't shoot. He can't pass. He can't penetrate. He can't draw fouls. He can't play defense. It's completely demoralizing when he's in the game. Willis needs to run the team and Williams or somebody else needs to start.

It pains me to be so harsh about a young player who isn't in the NBA, but Pitino will lose this team (and his job) if he continues to play Carr heavy minutes.
 

jamiche said:
I hate to say this about a college player who isn't making much money, but Carr is killing this team. If Pitino promised him a certain amount of PT, then he gets credit following through and being a straight up guy. It will also probably cost him his job. There is better ball movement on this team than at any time since Pitino arrived EXCEPT when Carr has possession of the ball. He can't shoot. He can't pass. He can't penetrate. He can't draw fouls. He can't play defense. It's completely demoralizing when he's in the game. Willis needs to run the team and Williams or somebody else needs to start.

It pains me to be so harsh about a young player who isn't in the NBA, but Pitino will lose this team (and his job) if he continues to play Carr heavy minutes.
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I agree he hasn’t been playing well. Also not throwing in the towel yet, but not much time left to turn it around this year.
 

jamiche said:
I hate to say this about a college player who isn't making much money, but Carr is killing this team. If Pitino promised him a certain amount of PT, then he gets credit following through and being a straight up guy. It will also probably cost him his job. There is better ball movement on this team than at any time since Pitino arrived EXCEPT when Carr has possession of the ball. He can't shoot. He can't pass. He can't penetrate. He can't draw fouls. He can't play defense. It's completely demoralizing when he's in the game. Willis needs to run the team and Williams or somebody else needs to start.

It pains me to be so harsh about a young player who isn't in the NBA, but Pitino will lose this team (and his job) if he continues to play Carr heavy minutes.
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I don't understand how Carr has so much run. I hate to bring up IW, but is there much of a difference between Carr and IW? I get, aesthetically, they play different brands of basketball, but Carr over dribbles, over penetrates, turns the ball over, takes bad shots, and misses a lot of shots. I can't speak to effort at practice, attitude, etc. That plays a big part that we fans don't see.

It's odd to me that IW was relegated to mop-up duty, all but forced to transfer out, and Carr plays 35+ minutes a game and is the team captain. I think Carr can be a gamer for us, but not running the offense. I feel like RP doesn't know what he wants/needs. It's been an issue on past teams; unfortunately, I think the inconsistency, lack of identity, roster mismanagement, etc., will make this year extra long.

I would love to see some extended Greenlee minutes in December. If he can run the offense, play defense and penetrate under control, that would really open things up for Willis, Gabe and even Carr on the wing.
 
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