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

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TwistingMyMelon said:
You know, I'm assuming you're here because you are a fan. You're not in the role of a banker deciding whether to grant a $50 million dollar loan so clear displays of caution and judiciousness really aren't necessary.

If you don't think last night's performance by a team that was an underdog to start the game and then had to play almost the entire game without a player who was considered absolutely indespensable to his team's success isn't something worth celebrating, then I don't know what to say.
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He doesn't need me defending him but a relative newbie lecturing Holy Man on how to react to a Gopher victory is a bit head shaking. HM has built up more equity as a Gopher fan over the years than I suspect you you'll ever have.
 

jamiche said:
I'm very pleased for Johnson and the team. They made plays down the stretch that have been very infrequent during the last 2.5 years. This is the most talented team Johnson has put together. Let's hope this game means something.
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The most talented team he has had but not very talented by Big Ten standards. And the one actually very talented guy didn't score a point or even take a shot. This performance was all about effort and kids performing way above their talent level.

Johnson showed me a lot the way he played the last five minutes and the personnel he deployed. With about four minutes left Carrington twisted an ankle and was noticeably limping. Christie was on the bench so most of us probably assumed he would replace Carrington.

Ben hung with Carrington and asked him to suck it up. Why? Because he finished that game with his five mentally toughest available competitors: JOJ, Payne, Carrington, Hawkins, and Mitchell.

Sure, Christie is more talented. But on that night Christie was not yet ready to be one of the five toughest available guys.

Ben doesn't have the reputation to attract big talent, Christie excepted and Garcia for other reasons. But the idea that he doesn't know basketball is bunk.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Yep and he's horrible if he's playing the wing and solid if he's not. I don't mind him playing a lot of minutes, if he's playing the right position.

I know it's annoyed some of you that I harp on this but are you blind? Have you seen how much better we look with three guards playing? Have you seen how much better JOJ looks while playing his position? What I'm harping on isn't revolutionary, it took Robbie Hummel all of 5 minutes to notice. Have you seen how much better Battle looks playing his right position?

Again, this isn't a concept that I thought of like some Gopher basketball version of a Beautiful Mind (without all that genius baggage), this is basketball 101. Talking about playing people in their proper positions really bothers a lot of folks but it's incredibly important in college basketball.

I know, talk about me being in a trance, say some other tough talking BS, and layer in some borderline homoerotic comments about Jack Wilson. It's rinse and repeat with you.
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Another great brief. Still more room in the Library of Congress?
 

MonikerSchmoniker45 said:
Teams seem to take on the attitude of their head coach and CBJ seems too laid back sometimes. I wonder if he finally snapped at halftime and the team responded accordingly?
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Well, using myself as an example, putting out a calm, cool and collected face for the general public is no indication of the fire burning inside. When it comes to my friends/co-workers, you will never see me acting up in public just so people can see that I care. My friends and co-workers call me the most laid-back person they know, it seems like nothing really bothers you. They also know that I am incredibly driven and competitive, and if something needs to be said, it will be said in private, away from the bright lights. I don't feel the need to show my fire to people who aren't in my circle. The people who ARE in my circle know exactly how hot it burns and what my expectations are.

One of my philosophies, that developed from experience over the years, is showing anger and a lack of control usually hurts you more than it helps in the long run, so don't be that hothead.
 

Holy Man said:
I’m not sure I saw any home cooking. I thought both teams were not very aggressive on defense early limiting fouls both ways. When Nebraska got down they needed to be more aggressive and fouled more.

Point guard needs to be better at the foul line. And he can be.
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I think the FT% decline from Hawkins is a combination of mean regression and fatigue from playing much more active defense.
 


bga1 said:
The first half looked like the other games against decent teams.
The 2nd half they played defense in a way we haven’t seen from this team. That made them the aggressor and they played up tempo on offense
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It was 100% about effort and defense. If someone came along today and tried to understand this game from the box score, he would be clueless. Statistically, we were below our average performance. Shooting was not really good. We were low on threes made (but hit a bunch in crunch time), we missed 11 free throws, we only had a one rebound edge and just one less turnover than Nebraska.

Stats say we played a middling game, most likely a loss to a decent opponent. Stats just can't measure effort, desire, emotion, and in-game momentum. There would be a free lesson last night for football coaches.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Rest of the season will determine Johnson's fate but hopefully a showing like last night will calm down the "fire the coach now" crowd. Let things play out and see what happens.
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Johnson doesn't have a fate, he has a contract.
 

skiumah1 said:
Need to have consistency. These massive swings aren't ideal.

I don't think Nebraska is a great team, I still expect more in year 3. Never hurts to win, but let's see some consistent winning against Power Conference Teams.

Apologies on the negativity, I would just think beating NEB at home in year 3 would be a given.
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Agreed, but remember that Neb was the second best team (#38 Torvik rank) that we have faced this year. OSU was #28, while Mizzou and USF were around #100-ish. Enjoy the double digit win over a team that absolutely needed a victory as badly as MN.
 

Mulligan said:
He doesn't need me defending him but a relative newbie lecturing Holy Man on how to react to a Gopher victory is a bit head shaking. HM has built up more equity as a Gopher fan over the years than I suspect you you'll ever have.
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Well, thanks for the advice but be aware it will have absolutely no effect on my behavior. The idea that anyone deserves anything because of spending a long time on a message board is preposterous. Some of the worst people are among those who hang on the longest. If I ever become obsessed with being popular on an anonymous message board with very mixed quality, I hope the Dear Lord decides to remove me from the face of the earth soon after.
 



As fun as it was to watch the 2nd half comeback, I still state that Hawkins is a lesser version of Isaiah (Jelly Fam) Washington. He is our blessing and our curse depending upon whether he values the possession or not.

An unsung person is Fox. He gave us solid minutes and was very active on the defensive end. His effort should be applauded.

Carrington. I'm pretty sure he can tell you what type of gum Tominaga was chewing. His effort was outstanding.

Ola Joseph gets the "Miles Tarver" award for best junkyard dog. He attacked on the offensive end and Nebraska had no athlete that could deal with him.

Mitchell, I love his technical in that he was lit. His passion was great to see. This team needs to let lose and find that passion everyday.

Even Ben showed passion. Who knew? That's the energy he needs to exhibit to these kids. They needed to know that he has their back and will fight with the refs on their behalf.

I hope the players realize what is possible when they dig deep and put it all on the line. No one will complain if they show that type of effort, win or lose. And, we will win more than lose if they show the effort of the 2nd half against Nebraska.
 

Chico Gopher said:
Well, using myself as an example, putting out a calm, cool and collected face for the general public is no indication of the fire burning inside. When it comes to my friends/co-workers, you will never see me acting up in public just so people can see that I care. My friends and co-workers call me the most laid-back person they know, it seems like nothing really bothers you. They also know that I am incredibly driven and competitive, and if something needs to be said, it will be said in private, away from the bright lights. I don't feel the need to show my fire to people who aren't in my circle. The people who ARE in my circle know exactly how hot it burns and what my expectations are.

One of my philosophies, that developed from experience over the years, is showing anger and a lack of control usually hurts you more than it helps in the long run, so don't be that hothead.
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Generally, I agree with you. But CBJ is not dealing with friends and coworkers. He's dealing with kids that need to learn fast. I'm not sure I've ever seen a successful coach that doesn't lay into his players now and then. I agree if you're always yelling people tend to stop listening, but I haven't seen much fire from CBJ on the bench the last couple years.
 


TwistingMyMelon said:
You know, I'm assuming you're here because you are a fan. You're not in the role of a banker deciding whether to grant a $50 million dollar loan so clear displays of caution and judiciousness really aren't necessary.

If you don't think last night's performance by a team that was an underdog to start the game and then had to play almost the entire game without a player who was considered absolutely indespensable to his team's success isn't something worth celebrating, then I don't know what to say.
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With all due respect, don’t be obtuse. I didn’t say I wasn’t celebrating I said I was reserving judgment what one game means in the larger picture. And yes, I will be cautious with my $50 million investment Need to take care you know.

I’ve been around a long time and have seen too many people extrapolate one game into a season to run for cover in a bad one or think everything is bright in the future either.

Good effort. Good game. Not a career or trajectory changer for the program either.
 




Gophers have evidently proven some worth of late in the projections, up to 7-13 conference record projected. Still shy of my 10 win ceiling, but MN early favorites to beat MD (1/7), RUT (2/18), and PSU (3/2), while one-possession underdogs vs. IOWA (1/12), PSU (1/27), NW (2/3), IND (3/6). two possession 'dogs vs WISC (1/23), MSU (2/6), OSU (2/22). All winnable games! Need consistently solid efforts unlike the yo-yo game scores we've had of late: USF (15!), followed by UNO (95), then OSU (48) followed by NEB (88)--all based on a combination of metrics for overall team efforts.
10 win BTN season is doable with a larger upset win here and there, plus taking care of business. All Torvik data which I think is very well done. One game at a time, as projections mean little in reality. Just fun to look at compiled data on all D1 teams.
 

Impressive second half. Thoroughly enjoyable.

But Wins based on guts and emotion are rare. Difficult to repeat very often.

Gonna need to see some impressive W's based on talent before I believe this was anything more than a fun half against a team with similar skill.
 


SplitDecision said:
Gophers have evidently proven some worth of late in the projections, up to 7-13 conference record projected. Still shy of my 10 win ceiling, but MN early favorites to beat MD (1/7), RUT (2/18), and PSU (3/2), while one-possession underdogs vs. IOWA (1/12), PSU (1/27), NW (2/3), IND (3/6). two possession 'dogs vs WISC (1/23), MSU (2/6), OSU (2/22). All winnable games! Need consistently solid efforts unlike the yo-yo game scores we've had of late: USF (15!), followed by UNO (95), then OSU (48) followed by NEB (88)--all based on a combination of metrics for overall team efforts.
10 win BTN season is doable with a larger upset win here and there, plus taking care of business. All Torvik data which I think is very well done. One game at a time, as projections mean little in reality. Just fun to look at compiled data on all D1 teams.
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I’m not a gambler but I think point spreads weeks and months out don’t give much helpful data.

I’m not as optimistic as you are, but if they continue to improve team defense, they will be competitive in every game.
 


TwistingMyMelon said:
You know, I'm assuming you're here because you are a fan. You're not in the role of a banker deciding whether to grant a $50 million dollar loan so clear displays of caution and judiciousness really aren't necessary.

If you don't think last night's performance by a team that was an underdog to start the game and then had to play almost the entire game without a player who was considered absolutely indespensable to his team's success isn't something worth celebrating, then I don't know what to say.
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I think everybody celebrated last night's win.
 

SplitDecision said:
Agreed, but remember that Neb was the second best team (#38 Torvik rank) that we have faced this year. OSU was #28, while Mizzou and USF were around #100-ish. Enjoy the double digit win over a team that absolutely needed a victory as badly as MN.
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Yeah I'm being pissy and a little negative, I just want to see more. I want an NCAA tournament competitive type team.
 


Just watched replay. As others have obviously pointed out, great 2nd half. Great energy defensively and good movement and aggressiveness on offense. Want more of this Ola-Joseph. Attack the o-boards.
Think we have 7 1/2 trusted players. Garcia, Payne, O-J, Mitchell, Hawkins, Christie, Carrington and 1/2 in Fox. He needs a few minutes but not sure he gives you enough offensive possibilities in a tight game, late.

BTW, think Hummell is very good color guy.
 

Holy Man said:
I’m not a gambler but I think point spreads weeks and months out don’t give much helpful data.

I’m not as optimistic as you are, but if they continue to improve team defense, they will be competitive in every game.
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That is the lesson I hope they came away with last night. Shots won't always fall and referees won't make every call in your favor, but they can absolutely control defensive intensity and hustle, which has a habit of kickstarting the offense (steals and layups do wonders). They have depth for a change to spell guys so they aren't completely gassed at halftime.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
Well, thanks for the advice but be aware it will have absolutely no effect on my behavior. The idea that anyone deserves anything because of spending a long time on a message board is preposterous. Some of the worst people are among those who hang on the longest. If I ever become obsessed with being popular on an anonymous message board with very mixed quality, I hope the Dear Lord decides to remove me from the face of the earth soon after.
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:ROFLMAO: You pompous twit, it's not how long he's posted on GH. It's how long a person has been a fan and is an astute observer who has solid takes on where the Gophers are at from year to year.
 
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Bob_Loblaw said:
Yep and he's horrible if he's playing the wing and solid if he's not. I don't mind him playing a lot of minutes, if he's playing the right position.

I know it's annoyed some of you that I harp on this but are you blind? Have you seen how much better we look with three guards playing? Have you seen how much better JOJ looks while playing his position? What I'm harping on isn't revolutionary, it took Robbie Hummel all of 5 minutes to notice. Have you seen how much better Battle looks playing his right position?

Again, this isn't a concept that I thought of like some Gopher basketball version of a Beautiful Mind (without all that genius baggage), this is basketball 101. Talking about playing people in their proper positions really bothers a lot of folks but it's incredibly important in college basketball.

I know, talk about me being in a trance, say some other tough talking BS, and layer in some borderline homoerotic comments about Jack Wilson. It's rinse and repeat with you.
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JOJ is clearly one of the 5 most talented players on the team- after Payne, Garcia and Christie he's right there. Payne and Garcia each need to be 30 minute guys. JOJ cannot play the 5. That means he can get 10 minutes at the 4 in place of Garcia. Garcia is not a 5 in the Big Ten so I don't think JOJ plays well at the 4 with Garcia. So you have to go big at times and play JOJ at the 3 or perhaps at the 4 with Garcia on the wing. Payne, Garcia and JOJ have to be on the court together half the game at least in my opinion. Great coaches figure out how to use the best talent out there together, even if it means tweaking the style of play a bit to fit that.

Bill Musselman at times would put 4 guys at 6-8 plus on the floor. To do it, he'd play zone and slow it down and then let the opposing coach worry about the mismatches. The Twolves are doing something unusual right now with Gobert and Towns and making it work great.
 

FinnGopher said:
As fun as it was to watch the 2nd half comeback, I still state that Hawkins is a lesser version of Isaiah (Jelly Fam) Washington. He is our blessing and our curse depending upon whether he values the possession or not.

An unsung person is Fox. He gave us solid minutes and was very active on the defensive end. His effort should be applauded.

Carrington. I'm pretty sure he can tell you what type of gum Tominaga was chewing. His effort was outstanding.

Ola Joseph gets the "Miles Tarver" award for best junkyard dog. He attacked on the offensive end and Nebraska had no athlete that could deal with him.

Mitchell, I love his technical in that he was lit. His passion was great to see. This team needs to let lose and find that passion everyday.

Even Ben showed passion. Who knew? That's the energy he needs to exhibit to these kids. They needed to know that he has their back and will fight with the refs on their behalf.

I hope the players realize what is possible when they dig deep and put it all on the line. No one will complain if they show that type of effort, win or lose. And, we will win more than lose if they show the effort of the 2nd half against Nebraska.
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Memory blurs a bit but did Jelly ever record 11 assists in a game for the Gophers?
 

bga1 said:
JOJ is clearly one of the 5 most talented players on the team- after Payne, Garcia and Christie he's right there. Payne and Garcia each need to be 30 minute guys. JOJ cannot play the 5. That means he can get 10 minutes at the 4 in place of Garcia. Garcia is not a 5 in the Big Ten so I don't think JOJ plays well at the 4 with Garcia. So you have to go big at times and play JOJ at the 3 or perhaps at the 4 with Garcia on the wing. Payne, Garcia and JOJ have to be on the court together half the game at least in my opinion. Great coaches figure out how to use the best talent out there together, even if it means tweaking the style of play a bit to fit that.

Bill Musselman at times would put 4 guys at 6-8 plus on the floor. To do it, he'd play zone and slow it down and then let the opposing coach worry about the mismatches. The Twolves are doing something unusual right now with Gobert and Towns and making it work great.
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We are pushing the ball more than in the past and I think Ben will continue to call for more of that. JOJ is the invaluable man as finisher in up tempo.
 

Dakota2 said:
Memory blurs a bit but did Jelly ever record 11 assists in a game for the Gophers?
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He didn't get that much playing time. Pitino opted for point guards who didn't turn the ball over.
I use Washington as being similar in speed and size, along with turning the ball over as a similar player to Hawkins. But, I hope Hawkins plays like he did in the second half and only gave one turnover.
 

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