***OFFICIAL GOPHERS VS WESTERN KENTUCKY IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

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Konate is raw, Martin looks raw too, but a bit more advanced than Konate. Mason is solid. He will take over for little Dre well after this year.
 

Mason will be a stud. Can't believe he's only two games into his Gopher career.
 

Mason looks very good. Love the way he plays and will have a very good career here I think.
 


Morris needs to settle down a bit, I think Coach probably doesn't want him taking bad shots. As it seems, he's always on the bench after a bad shot. But I love his moves. Joey King has the slowest reaction time of everyone. Elliason struggles to control his body. Little Dre keeps forgetting that he really short.
 

This is a good recruiting class. The incoming class could be OK too.
 

Buggs needs defensive awareness. Too often in transition he just trots back to the other side turning his back to the ball and not sprinting. He's got a talented shot and would be a weapon in transition. He's a good passer too. But the fact he is a complete liability on defense makes him only viable when we go to a 2-3 and vs a 2-3 as he lacks the ability to set up his own shot. He's a weapon but more of a situational one.
 

As others mentioned, Mason is going to be very good. I like the potential of Konate and Martin. Both are a lot more athletic than our other bigs right now.

Great pressure on defense tonight, a little shaky on offense at times and at the free throw line but that isn't too surprising early on.
 



Winasota Gopher said:
Buggs needs defensive awareness. Too often in transition he just trots back to the other side turning his back to the ball and not sprinting. He's got a talented shot and would be a weapon in transition. He's a good passer too. But the fact he is a complete liability on defense makes him only viable when we go to a 2-3 and vs a 2-3 as he lacks the ability to set up his own shot. He's a weapon but more of a situational one.
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I was unable to see the first half so I only saw Bugg's second half action- he was pretty active on both ends tonight. He's hitting the boards better. He may yet see some floor time if he keeps improving. The second half was pretty sloppy.
 

Was at the game. Here's my thoughts...

-Obviously Nate Mason is extremely talented and poised! He'll be a key player for us this season and beyond. Excellent defender, ball handler, & shot-maker. :)
-I'd like to see Buggs get some solid PT going forward. He does everything on the offensive side the right way and is good on the boards. Defense needs some work, but it isn't as terrible as above poster says
-Andre struggled tonight. Shot selection wasn't great, neither were his passing choices.
-Mo and EE played pretty well for the most part. No real news here!
-King's pump fake is nice! His game still centers around the 3-point shot. Needs to start participating in rebounding.
 

Mason is going to be a beast next year when Andre and Deandre graduate.

I'm anxious for Morris to settle down on his shot selection. He's looking like he has a little Chip Armelin in him these first two games.

King destroyed with those pump fakes tonight. We're a much better team when he's playmaking. I realize that often has a lot to do with the competition for him though. I would still like to see a lot of cutting when he gets the ball.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Buggs needs defensive awareness. Too often in transition he just trots back to the other side turning his back to the ball and not sprinting. He's got a talented shot and would be a weapon in transition. He's a good passer too. But the fact he is a complete liability on defense makes him only viable when we go to a 2-3 and vs a 2-3 as he lacks the ability to set up his own shot. He's a weapon but more of a situational one.
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He has some issues on transition defense, but his on-the-ball defense isn't bad. He has athleticism, some skill, and good court awareness on the offensive end. I think he could improve his focus significantly by the Big Ten season with greater minutes in non-conference. Luckily the Gophers have the kind of non-conference schedule that should allow him to play more, at least in December.
 



cjbfbp said:
He has some issues on transition defense, but his on-the-ball defense isn't bad. He has athleticism, some skill, and good court awareness on the offensive end. I think he could improve his focus significantly by the Big Ten season with greater minutes in non-conference. Luckily the Gophers have the kind of non-conference schedule that should allow him to play more, at least in December.
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Pretty accurate.
My issues with buggs are almost entirely effort and focus related. He's tall enough to play the 4 but doesn't box out or play through contact enough to be effective. Heears to be agile enough to play the three but his quickness and defensive effort away from the ball make him a liability vs quicker guards.

There will be games where Buggs is a great matchup this season. And he might win Us a game or two again this year. However, I think there's a reason for why Buggs still isn't logging minutes in the first half of blow out non conference games. And from my vantage point it's effort and focus related.
 

GophersInIowa said:
As others mentioned, Mason is going to be very good. I like the potential of Konate and Martin. Both are a lot more athletic than our other bigs right now.

Great pressure on defense tonight, a little shaky on offense at times and at the free throw line but that isn't too surprising early on.
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Yes, great defense particularly in the first half. I'm more optimistic about Josh Martin's freshman year after tonight. He definitely has the athleticism. Konate, on the other hand, appears to be rawer than I anticipated before the season started. Right now he looks like he has little more than size. So far, his footwork when he gets the ball around the basket has been awful. His old coach said he had an outside shot so maybe he should try some. I'm glad the Gophers have the weak December schedule so the players who don't play much can get more experience.
 

cjbfbp said:
Yes, great defense particularly in the first half. I'm more optimistic about Josh Martin's freshman year after tonight. He definitely has the athleticism. Konate, on the other hand, appears to be rawer than I anticipated before the season started. Right now he looks like he has little more than size. So far, his footwork when he gets the ball around the basket has been awful. His old coach said he had an outside shot so maybe he should try some. I'm glad the Gophers have the weak December schedule so the players who don't play much can get more experience.
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Based on the way his free throw shooting looks, there's no reason he should be shooting outside shots. Still extremely raw, and it'll be interesting to see what Pitino makes of him during his time here! He has a ton of adjustments to make, but I do believe the high potential could be there.
 

After being at tonight's game and watching the first on ESPN, I have been thoroughly impressed with Nate Mason. Love the energy he brings on both ends of the court!
 

We are going to need mason to be a leader next year, glad he has had such a good start. Hope we are saying the same thing about Dorsey, mcbrayer and johnson. We need at least two of those to give us good minutes next year.
 

Feeling pretty good about a starting 1-3 of Mason, McNeil, and Morris next year. Then bring Dorsey, Jarvis, and McBreyer off the bench.
 

MadtownGopher said:
Feeling pretty good about a starting 1-3 of Mason, McNeil, and Morris next year. Then bring Dorsey, Jarvis, and McBreyer off the bench.
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+1. It depends on how far along Dorsey and Jarvis are when they arrive, but I could see one of them starting alongside Mason and the other in the current Mason role (6th man, big minutes off the bench). Either way our backcourt should be quite good for the foreseeable future.
 

I havent seen the game but the box score says we forced 25 tournovers and we had 17 steals against a solid team. That is the kind of defense we are aiming for. Nice to see Buggs with some quality minutes. Nice for lil Dre to have a nice game.
 

march madness said:
I havent seen the game but the box score says we forced 25 tournovers and we had 17 steals against a solid team. That is the kind of defense we are aiming for. Nice to see Buggs with some quality minutes. Nice for lil Dre to have a nice game.
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Defense was suffocating at times. Fun to watch.

It will be interesting to see who gets more minutes at the 4 between Martin and Buggs. Martin is still 1st off the bench, but Buggs played more minutes last night. Obviously we aren't going to play Joey for 35 minutes per game, so someone is going to get some minutes there.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Buggs needs defensive awareness. Too often in transition he just trots back to the other side turning his back to the ball and not sprinting. He's got a talented shot and would be a weapon in transition. He's a good passer too. But the fact he is a complete liability on defense makes him only viable when we go to a 2-3 and vs a 2-3 as he lacks the ability to set up his own shot. He's a weapon but more of a situational one.
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I thought Charles was quite a bit more fundamentally sound than I've seen him in the past. I watched just him for extended periods when he was out there. He seemed to know his assignment, when to switch (better than some other players) and boxed out effectively. Good things happen when he's in there. He's one of the few who didn't play scared or tentative against the elite team last week.
 

cjbfbp said:
Yes, great defense particularly in the first half. I'm more optimistic about Josh Martin's freshman year after tonight. He definitely has the athleticism. Konate, on the other hand, appears to be rawer than I anticipated before the season started. Right now he looks like he has little more than size. So far, his footwork when he gets the ball around the basket has been awful. His old coach said he had an outside shot so maybe he should try some. I'm glad the Gophers have the weak December schedule so the players who don't play much can get more experience.
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Konate has the look of someone who touched a basketball for the first time a few weeks ago. Doesn't seem to have a feel for the game or even the skills of the game. If he's playing, though, it means he understands the schemes and his assignments, which attests to his smarts and being a quick study.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Konate has the look of someone who touched a basketball for the first time a few weeks ago. Doesn't seem to have a feel for the game or even the skills of the game. If he's playing, though, it means he understands the schemes and his assignments, which attests to his smarts and being a quick study.
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Konate is going to be a really good player over his 4 years. When you think of him think about where Elliot was at 4 years ago (also a smart player). Konate has the smarts and athleticism. His shot doesn't look too bad to me for a big guy. The baseline slam he had against Louisville is just a taste.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I thought Charles was quite a bit more fundamentally sound than I've seen him in the past. I watched just him for extended periods when he was out there. He seemed to know his assignment, when to switch (better than some other players) and boxed out effectively. Good things happen when he's in there. He's one of the few who didn't play scared or tentative against the elite team last week.
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The fast break he almost scored on would have been an amazingly athletic play, he made a great catch and near finish on that one. I'm with you on his performance last night. There are signs of improvement there.
 

I don't see the mental awareness improvement I would expect from a guy who's had mental awareness problems for a whole year while playing for Richard Pitino.

I'll say there is some improvement, I still think he's a liability and should be used in very low leverage situations until those things improve or in situations that play to his strength ie against zone defenses and when we are playing zone.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
I don't see the mental awareness improvement I would expect from a guy who's had mental awareness problems for a whole year while playing for Richard Pitino.

I'll say there is some improvement, I still think he's a liability and should be used in very low leverage situations until those things improve or in situations that play to his strength ie against zone defenses and when we are playing zone.
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Whatever you say, sir.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
I don't see the mental awareness improvement I would expect from a guy who's had mental awareness problems for a whole year while playing for Richard Pitino.

I'll say there is some improvement, I still think he's a liability and should be used in very low leverage situations until those things improve or in situations that play to his strength ie against zone defenses and when we are playing zone.
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I think you're being a little hard on the Beave. :)
 

bga1 said:
The fast break he almost scored on would have been an amazingly athletic play, he made a great catch and near finish on that one. I'm with you on his performance last night. There are signs of improvement there.
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Had a perfect angle on the play and Mason made an amazing pass. He started to pass even before it looked like Buggs was open. It led Charles perfectly, perfectly placed where the defender couldn't react to it. Really, really like this kid. Those 3 pointers back to back weren't too shabby either.
 

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