***OFFICIAL MINNESOTA AT INDIANA IN-GAME THREAD***

Otis

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Robbins or no Robbins the Gophers tip off tonight still looking for that elusive first road win in program history for this season.

Without Robbins who will start?

PG: Carr
DG: Gabe (can't seriously list him as a shooting guard)
SF: Williams
PF: Johnson

C: ???????

Options:

Curry: limited mobility established veteran. You know what you get and you get what you get and little more. 65% chance of starting.

Freeman: Big body who is rumored to still be on the team. Could provide a large presence in the middle and five fouls on defense. Offensive hole who adds nothing but an occasional garbage bucket. 10% chance of starting.

Mitchell: Stick has even less minutes than Freeman if that is possible. Has some talent though but no physical substance to establish position. -10% chance of starting.

Ihnen: Had a good game last time out. Has started at PF in the past. If he starts, it basically means we don't have a center. 35% chance of starting.

Omersa: He opts back in seeing the Gophers need him and finding out tattoo removal is a very delicate process. Starts at center and saves the day with a double double. February 17th becomes Jarvis Omersa day forever more for Gopher basketball!

Who am I kidding. It will be Curry.
 

Yeah I think it would be Curry who starts but we'll see quite a bit of Freeman. Curry will be in serious foul trouble trying to keep up with Indiana's bigs. We'll likely have to see Johnson and Ihnen down there banging around quite a bit too.
 





im sure its curry.

But i hope to see Johnson & Ihnen on the court together again tonight.

And get Freeman some run!!
 

Well if we lose this one we can chalk it up as another year with a losing conference record. Have beat 3 top 10 teams too so not sure how that exactly happens, but really hope we can pull out a win. Only have one more chance after this one.
 

Indiana doesn't have a real center so this may not be the handicap that it would be against Illinois, Purdue, or Michigan. Perhaps Curry should start but not play the majority of the game. He has the ability to have a quick offensive start with a few buckets but then disappears.

Freeman should play more minutes than usual. Give Ihnen an extended run after the game he had against Maryland. He's more valuable on the inside anyway.
 







Didn't the big 2nd half comeback against Maryland the other day come primarily with-out a 5 on the floor for Minnesota? Of course, the defensive intensity by the whole team also picked up significantly during that segment of the game, so that might have been the key.

If Ihnen can come up with another performance like Sunday, that would certainly minimize the absence of Robbins. Of course, that's been his problem this year-a solid game followed by 2-3 where he looks totally lost. If Mashburn can get his defensive progress to match his offensive improvement, that would also be helpful. Right now he's playing well enough on offense to need to put up with some of his defensive gaffe's. It would be nice if this team didn't have to settle for that philosophy.
 




If Ihnen can come up with another performance like Sunday, that would certainly minimize the absence of Robbins. Of course, that's been his problem this year-a solid game followed by 2-3 where he looks totally lost.

I think that's been Ihnen's problem this year. He isn't quite sure what he is supposed to do. I think he has been misplaced critically by playing out on the perimeter. He's naturally quick and when he is inside he reacts quickly without thinking. When he gets the ball on the perimeter, he thinks about it and either jacks up an ill advised 3 or passes off and loses the initiative. He also does not appear to have much confidence in his ball handling which is a real handicap if one is playing out in the perimeter.
 

I think that's been Ihnen's problem this year. He isn't quite sure what he is supposed to do. I think he has been misplaced critically by playing out on the perimeter. He's naturally quick and when he is inside he reacts quickly without thinking. When he gets the ball on the perimeter, he thinks about it and either jacks up an ill advised 3 or passes off and loses the initiative. He also does not appear to have much confidence in his ball handling which is a real handicap if one is playing out in the perimeter.
I asked Pitino about your thoughts and he said 'You lost me at I think"
 




It really should be Ihnen, but Pitino values the guys that have put in the time, so it will be Curry who will give up three easy layups and a dunk and draw 2 fouls within the first 6 minutes. I know Indiana is small, but they play fast paced, they cannot shoot 3's, so Curry better be able to play help D and switch on and off guys quick. Pitino will be exposed in this one I believe.
 

Only question is whether we lose by over or under 20 points.
 




What color uniforms we wearing tonight?

Oh yeah, forget it, this isn't football.

We should wear black and try to look like Maryland, though.
 



If Robbins has a high ankle sprain, I hope he sits. They are going to need him for games they have a better chance of winning.

Besides, crazy shit happens when the Gophers go to Assembly Hall.

A small lineup might just work.
 

What color uniforms we wearing tonight?

Oh yeah, forget it, this isn't football.

We should wear black and try to look like Maryland, though.
If we wear white we’re cooked!
 

I think that's been Ihnen's problem this year. He isn't quite sure what he is supposed to do. I think he has been misplaced critically by playing out on the perimeter. He's naturally quick and when he is inside he reacts quickly without thinking. When he gets the ball on the perimeter, he thinks about it and either jacks up an ill advised 3 or passes off and loses the initiative. He also does not appear to have much confidence in his ball handling which is a real handicap if one is playing out in the perimeter.
When Ihnen is in the paint- he's effective. When he is out on the perimeter, he's Rodney Williams as a frosh. Lost.
 




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