***OFFICIAL NORTH DAKOTA (FORMERLY SIOUX) AT MINNESOTA IN-GAME THREAD***

We only gave up what....67 points? But is anyone concerned about the number of layups the "Sue" put up off the dribble? A lot of them were when Robbins was out of position.
 

Looking at the box score as I couldn't see the game since I don't have BTN, looks like Pitino is back to using his starters nearly the entire game. Yes, he played a few guys other than the 5 starters, but each starter played over 25 minutes. This is against NoDak.

What will be the stat line once we hit the B1G? This guy just does not have a plan for his team or his players. Sometimes, no matter what is happening on the floor, you need to get the other guys into the game to gain necessary experience. Sometimes when the starters are not looking good, you need to shake things up. This guy just is not willing to do this which to me last year was his downfall, which translates into the teams failures to pull games out at the end due to guys just being exhausted.

I don't know. I didn't see the game, just looking at the box score but here I thought we had such a deep team, but again he seems unwilling to 'trust' anyone outside his 5 starters, and MAYBE one or 2 others guys 'slightly'. It sounds like Gabe could be subbed for?? Maybe others at times?
They had to play a lot it was a close game
 



That was worse than Loyola Marymount round 2. I am not sure I'd put Gabe's shooting in my top 10 things to worry about with this team. Why are we giving up straight line drives for layups to North Dakota in the last 5 minutes of a close game? Why do we see no signs of improvement from Jarvis Omersa in year 3? Liam Robbins looks like a solid backup big man for a good team as opposed to a key starter on a good team (still early to say that for sure). If we can't consistently get to the basket against North Dakota, how is this drive and get fouled offense going to work against disciplined defenses like MSU and Wisconsin or teams that can put great athletes on the floor (usually Maryland/tOSU) in the B1G? The fact that Ihnen, Mitchell, and Freeman can't crack the botation that includes Curry and Omersa should tell you a lot. I think the reported depth of this team is still very much an open question.

Brandon Johnson bounced back to make some really nice plays in the last 10 minutes or so of that game.
 



Player grades so far:

Carr: A
Gabe: D
Gach B+
Johnson: C+ {but an A tonight)
Robbins: D

Mashburn: B-
Williams: C-
Ihnen: D
Curry: C
Omersa: D
 

A few thoughts-
Terrible defense tonight
Offense still is disjointed, everything is individual plays
Poor outside shooting
Good individual effort by Johnson and Gach
Some good signs from Curry and Robbins- Robbins just missing too many easy shots right now, I think he is going to be fine.
Scored on an inbounds play....
 

Is Ihnen in the doghouse? No idea what's going on with his lack of PT.
He just isn't assertive out there. He hangs out waiting to shoot threes. Needs a more grit and want to...
 



Player grades so far:

Carr: A
Gabe: D
Gach B+
Johnson: C+ {but an A tonight)
Robbins: D

Mashburn: B-
Williams: C-
Ihnen: D
Curry: C
Omersa: D
Agree with the trend of most of those, but think I’d give C’s to Gabe, Robbins, and Omersa so far. Curious why you give mashburn a higher grade than johnson, feel like Johnson has given me a lot more to think that he’s gonna be a contributer this year mashburn (but still think mashburn is gonna be good eventually)
 

Looking at the box score as I couldn't see the game since I don't have BTN, looks like Pitino is back to using his starters nearly the entire game. Yes, he played a few guys other than the 5 starters, but each starter played over 25 minutes. This is against NoDak.

What will be the stat line once we hit the B1G? This guy just does not have a plan for his team or his players. Sometimes, no matter what is happening on the floor, you need to get the other guys into the game to gain necessary experience. Sometimes when the starters are not looking good, you need to shake things up. This guy just is not willing to do this which to me last year was his downfall, which translates into the teams failures to pull games out at the end due to guys just being physically or mentally exhausted.

I don't know. I didn't see the game, just looking at the box score but here I thought we had such a deep team, but again he seems unwilling to 'trust' anyone outside his 5 starters, and MAYBE one or 2 others guys 'slightly'. It sounds like Gabe could be subbed for?? Maybe others at times?
I hear you but not tonight. He played 9 guys 8 or more minutes. Gave another a 2 minutes stretch to do something- anything - he didn’t. The guys played who should have tonight. They played their minutes in spurts, not straight. Like I said in my earlier post, I thought the substations were pretty seamless.
Playing 10 guys in a 9 point win is awesome. We trailed 3/4 of the game.
The concern is Robbins cannot defend other than blocking shots.
Too many straight line drives to the hoop with no help....I think we’ll improve that.
But without going zone, I have no idea versus some lineups how you hide Robbins against good coaches....and like I said our team defense was also not good.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=401263453
 
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Watching BTN. Gophers up 24 - 8! What? Wait.
 

Agree with the trend of most of those, but think I’d give C’s to Gabe, Robbins, and Omersa so far. Curious why you give mashburn a higher grade than johnson, feel like Johnson has given me a lot more to think that he’s gonna be a contributer this year mashburn (but still think mashburn is gonna be good eventually)
I guess I expected more immediate impact from Johnson than Mashburn, which we didn't see the first three games.
 



Regarding minutes...we don’t see these guys practice. Just for selfish reasons because I haven’t seen him play...I‘d like to see if Mashburn should be getting a few more minutes. The glimpses I have seen of Freeman....I’m intrigued by him. I’d like to think he can defend but I don’t really know. I know Robbins can’t....leaves Omersa to valiantly try to overcome being 6 inches too short.
 

Agree with the trend of most of those, but think I’d give C’s to Gabe, Robbins, and Omersa so far. Curious why you give mashburn a higher grade than johnson, feel like Johnson has given me a lot more to think that he’s gonna be a contributer this year mashburn (but still think mashburn is gonna be good eventually)
Liam, Johnson and Gabe have all done a lot more than Mashburn.
 

I guess I expected more immediate impact from Johnson than Mashburn, which we didn't see the first three games.
So these are grades based off of expectations not just off of performance? Got it, then I agree with you
 

A few thoughts-
Terrible defense tonight
Offense still is disjointed, everything is individual plays
Poor outside shooting
Good individual effort by Johnson and Gach
Some good signs from Curry and Robbins- Robbins just missing too many easy shots right now, I think he is going to be fine.
Scored on an inbounds play....
I agree our team defense needs a lot of work. But something we are doing more this year is pressuring the ball. It might be why we are getting beat. But we got several guys down in a stance working hard. They just need to develop the 5 guys guarding the ball mentality to help. We aren’t late...we are not even aware we should be helping. Gotta improve that.
 

Gabe today: 8 points on 6 shots. One of 3 players on the team averaging more than 1 point per shot tonight.

Sure. If he gets to shoot free throws. He didn’t make a shot. That isn’t sustainable.
 


Regarding minutes...we don’t see these guys practice. Just for selfish reasons because I haven’t seen him play...I‘d like to see if Mashburn should be getting a few more minutes. The glimpses I have seen of Freeman....I’m intrigued by him. I’d like to think he can defend but I don’t really know. I know Robbins can’t....leaves Omersa to valiantly try to overcome being 6 inches too short.

Freeman has never shown any ability to defend adequately.
 

Freeman has never shown any ability to defend adequately.
Maybe I missed the game he got some minutes? He has shown he can make free throws. He has size and weight. He rebounds in his very limited minutes. I have not reached your conclusion on what I’ve seen defensively. He doesn’t need to be great to be an improvement defensively at the 5.
 

Sure. If he gets to shoot free throws. He didn’t make a shot. That isn’t sustainable.
Points are points. Agree that he needs to shoot better for him to be a consistent contributor. Disagree that there isn’t anything defensible about his game.
 

By far Rollin's(aka Robert's) best game. Johnson's and Gach's best games as well.
Our worst defensive game so far.

MVPs: Announcing crew. They were very understated which i love. Also enjoyed the 4 -5 minutes of silence due to audio trouble. A whole game of audio trouble would be just fine with me.
 
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I’ve watched every game this season and the thing that stands out to me about watching our team play is lack of intensity and energy. It seems like we are coasting through games against inferior competition. Maybe it’s hard to get up for games with no fans against mid majors?? I see talent, but it’s hard for me to say how it translates to big ten play. Obviously if we play like this against conference opponents we get crushed, but I wanna hope there is another level to go.
 

We only gave up what....67 points? But is anyone concerned about the number of layups the "Sue" put up off the dribble? A lot of them were when Robbins was out of position.
I agree. I think Robbins spends too much effort looking for the block and it gets him out of position for defending and rebounding. It also probably contributes to his foul rate.
 

We are not a very good basketball team and it's the same issues over and over again.

Our offense, for years, is putrid. It's mostly a design defect and there is absolutely no ball movement and the players off the ball just stand and watch. It's part of the reason we lack intensity. It's really hard to stand around and then be quick on defense.

Also, even if it's a close game, we NEED to start getting more from our bench and giving Carr a rest. It was a close game, I get it, but I'd rather lose a couple non-conference games if it meant that we would develop a backup PG.

We also need to shoot better but that is really unlikely with our offense. We will continue to have shooting issues until our offensive design changes and pass more and dribble less.
 

A few thoughts-
Terrible defense tonight
Offense still is disjointed, everything is individual plays
Poor outside shooting
Good individual effort by Johnson and Gach
Some good signs from Curry and Robbins- Robbins just missing too many easy shots right now, I think he is going to be fine.
Scored on an inbounds play....
I think we have scored more on inbounds plays in the last two games then all of 2008-2019.
 

Early so doesnt mean a whole lot, but gophs 41st in kenpom but 10 big ten teams ahead of us. So 11 big ten teams, 9 acc teams, 7 big twelve teams, 4 pac12 teams, 4 sec teams, 3 big east teams in kenpom top 41.
 
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What's the deal with Ihnen, is he hurt? Can't believe he's not getting more playing time than Omersa.


Very true. Not a good sign for him if behind those two.
 




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