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

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Parcival said:
Off-hand floater, good handles and a silky looking jump shot only work against UMKC?
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Honestly, I figured he could shoot. I was pretty surprised by his offensive skillset. I realize it was against backups but he looked taller and more skilled than I was expecting.
 

bga1 said:
Freeman gobbled up every board in the area and had a nice block. He is getting better. We didn't see him post up but I assume that the offensive end still holds him up. Omersa, though I love the kid seems headed towards less PT. He has a great attitude, but he can only play center and he is just too short at 6-6.
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We really need to pick Omersa's spots better. I'm with you on Freeman. Freeman is a pretty high energy guy for a 7 footer. I'm not so sure Omersa's minutes shouldn't go to him.
 

cjbfbp said:
He's probably a bit slow and not too good on defense but he has some offensive confidence and some moves as well as size and strength. He already showed almost as much confidence as Michael Hurt showed in four years.
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Give him some minutes and he’ll get better defensively. It’s not like all the guys ahead of him are incredible defenders. We found minutes for Michael Hurt and he never showed that much swagger in four years.
 


bga1 said:
Freeman gobbled up every board in the area and had a nice block. He is getting better. We didn't see him post up but I assume that the offensive end still holds him up. Omersa, though I love the kid seems headed towards less PT. He has a great attitude, but he can only play center and he is just too short at 6-6.
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Every opportunity he has made free throws and possesses a shot, so idk
What we need from him is post defense and so far nobody has really posted him up...seems willing to be physical. He is very active on the boards. I’d like to see more of him.
 


60's Guy said:
Every opportunity he has made free throws and possesses a shot, so idk
What we need from him is post defense and so far nobody has really posted him up...seems willing to be physical. He is very active on the boards. I’d like to see more of him.
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He doesn't even need a real skillset on offense to be an effective player. If he can play defense, be active on the boards (offense and defense) and be a rim protector he is a pretty ideal C.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
He doesn't even need a real skillset on offense to be an effective player. If he can play defense, be active on the boards (offense and defense) and be a rim protector he is a pretty ideal C.
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From what I’ve seen from Freeman so far, seems like his floor is a Konate level player. Shot looks smooth enough that he definitely has potential to develop into something more, but he at least looks like a guy that can give you a couple decent minutes at a time.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Honestly, I figured he could shoot. I was pretty surprised by his offensive skillset. I realize it was against backups but he looked taller and more skilled than I was expecting.
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Bob_Loblaw said:
Honestly, I figured he could shoot. I was pretty surprised by his offensive skillset. I realize it was against backups but he looked taller and more skilled than I was expecting.
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Thought the exact same thing when Mutaf came in. He looks natural with the ball, confident, and big enough to fit in. Think those 4 minutes of garbage time gave as good of an impression as they could have.
 

Urbandale said:
My hot take before the season was that Freeman would get more minutes than Omersa. That hasn’t happened, but I don’t know why not. Freeman has a nose for rebounds. He’s got strong hands. He’s active on defense.
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He can’t catch. He drops a lot of balls in his limited minutes.
 





Bob_Loblaw said:
Honestly, I figured he could shoot. I was pretty surprised by his offensive skillset. I realize it was against backups but he looked taller and more skilled than I was expecting.
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Did he look about 6’5” to you?
 

skyman31 said:
From what I’ve seen from Freeman so far, seems like his floor is a Konate level player. Shot looks smooth enough that he definitely has potential to develop into something more, but he at least looks like a guy that can give you a couple decent minutes at a time.
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LOL, he is already MILES better than Konate
 




Bob_Loblaw said:
It's hard to say but I remember thinking that he looked taller than 6'5" when he came in the game. It was just a gut reaction and I could certainly be wrong but that was my initial gut reaction.
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He is listed at 6’5”. UMKC didn’t have a dude that tall on the court at the time. Guessing they didn’t make him shorter than he actually is when they made the online roster.
 


Chico Gopher said:
So I kept a close eye on Gabe playing defense tonight. Most of his time was spent guarding KC's top offensive player, McKissic. McKissic ended up with 10 on 5-10 shooting. However, while Gabe was on him, he was only 1 of 2; a challenged 3 that he missed, and a challenged 2 footer that he muscled up over Gabe. Other than that, he never really got any looks with Gabe on him.

I might have missed one, but on the times that Gabe was guarding somebody else or got switched off to somebody else, I don't think he even gave up any shots. He didn't really do anything spectacular, but he played solid, stay in front, good close out defense. And provided some good help most of the time when it was called for.

I think that's what the coaches love about him. He's gonna guard the other teams best perimeter offensive player and generally going to keep that player under control.
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Yes. Gach on the other hand not so much tonight.
 


The Gophers have some cleaning up to do on defense, but it looks like they are starting to figure out how to use who they have. Robbins got the ball close to the basket tonight and was effective versus getting it out high. The high low game worked with Ihnen.
 

Urbandale said:
My hot take before the season was that Freeman would get more minutes than Omersa. That hasn’t happened, but I don’t know why not. Freeman has a nose for rebounds. He’s got strong hands. He’s active on defense.
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My uneducated guess is that Richard has the Jarvis ahead of him because he played more last year. I think Jarvis can come in for a few minutes her and there for energy/being a pest, but I thought Freeman looked legit last night and his frame looks B10 ready - it's early still so, he can move up in the rotation - and in my opinion we'll need him in conference as Robbins won't be playing against undersized 5s then. Our strength could be our depth this year and we should work the bigs from other teams with them - it's nice to have all this length.

I like that Ihnen start in front of Curry - good sign to me that Richard will be more decisive in changing the lineup this year.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
My uneducated guess is that Richard has the Jarvis ahead of him because he played more last year. I think Jarvis can come in for a few minutes her and there for energy/being a pest, but I thought Freeman looked legit last night and his frame looks B10 ready - it's early still so, he can move up in the rotation - and in my opinion we'll need him in conference as Robbins won't be playing against undersized 5s then. Our strength could be our depth this year and we should work the bigs from other teams with them - it's nice to have all this length.

I like that Ihnen start in front of Curry - good sign to me that Richard will be more decisive in changing the lineup this year.
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I also think Freeman should play reserve minutes in the post before Omersa if for no other reason than his size. Omersa plays with a lot of energy and he does come up with more than his fair share of steals but he's just too small to play there for any period of time and he's also very foul prone. Ihnen also would be a better choice to play reserve minutes in the post.
 

bga1 said:
The Gophers have some cleaning up to do on defense, but it looks like they are starting to figure out how to use who they have. Robbins got the ball close to the basket tonight and was effective versus getting it out high. The high low game worked with Ihnen.
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I actually think the exact opposite. I think we'll be ok on defense, I didn't see anything tonight to suggest our offense was impressive.
 

cjbfbp said:
I also think Freeman should play reserve minutes in the post before Omersa if for no other reason than his size. Omersa plays with a lot of energy and he does come up with more than his fair share of steals but he's just too small to play there for any period of time and he's also very foul prone. Ihnen also would be a better choice to play reserve minutes in the post.
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I agree(y).

This "Depth Thing" is fun
 

bga1 said:
The Gophers have some cleaning up to do on defense, but it looks like they are starting to figure out how to use who they have. Robbins got the ball close to the basket tonight and was effective versus getting it out high. The high low game worked with Ihnen.
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I don't have any premium channels right now so I haven't seen them play but with all the new guys being a major part of the minutes I figured it would take time, that's good to hear, with the B1G games in December though that's going to be a tough task to overcome.
 

Man if this team at any point can hit its open 3s, they can beat anyone. I'd imagine we're going to spring an upset or two based on a night we get hot but also drop a game or two when we shoot it particularly poorly or a game where officials really don't call much (we have a lot of guys generating contact frequently). Nice to see the team playing at a higher pace, which is what Richard said he wanted to do long ago. Finally may have the horses to try do so if we can try stay healthy
 


Chico Gopher said:
So I kept a close eye on Gabe playing defense tonight. Most of his time was spent guarding KC's top offensive player, McKissic. McKissic ended up with 10 on 5-10 shooting. However, while Gabe was on him, he was only 1 of 2; a challenged 3 that he missed, and a challenged 2 footer that he muscled up over Gabe. Other than that, he never really got any looks with Gabe on him.

I might have missed one, but on the times that Gabe was guarding somebody else or got switched off to somebody else, I don't think he even gave up any shots. He didn't really do anything spectacular, but he played solid, stay in front, good close out defense. And provided some good help most of the time when it was called for.

I think that's what the coaches love about him. He's gonna guard the other teams best perimeter offensive player and generally going to keep that player under control.
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I made an effort to watch the defensive end closely last night as well. As you mentioned, what Gabe does is not "flashy", but he really does a great job staying in front of his man, limiting their scoring chances, and especially working over screens. He's very quick to get through and back on his man which protects our bigs. His "help" defense is what stood out for me. On one play in particular, he slid across on help and created a turnover. Both was there to get the loose ball and the "steal" on the stat sheet, but it was clear Gabe's help side D created the turnover.

My general thought is that being a "Great / Elite Defender" is based upon reputation. You really can't see it on a stat sheet. As you mentioned, our coaches love what he brings to the defensive end and I'm sure it's noticed by the coaching staffs of our opponents as well. A lot of guys "look the part" when it comes to defense, but don't get it done because of the level of effort and fight truly involved.
 

McDobb4BB said:
I made an effort to watch the defensive end closely last night as well. As you mentioned, what Gabe does is not "flashy", but he really does a great job staying in front of his man, limiting their scoring chances, and especially working over screens. He's very quick to get through and back on his man which protects our bigs. His "help" defense is what stood out for me. On one play in particular, he slid across on help and created a turnover. Both was there to get the loose ball and the "steal" on the stat sheet, but it was clear Gabe's help side D created the turnover.

My general thought is that being a "Great / Elite Defender" is based upon reputation. You really can't see it on a stat sheet. As you mentioned, our coaches love what he brings to the defensive end and I'm sure it's noticed by the coaching staffs of our opponents as well. A lot of guys "look the part" when it comes to defense, but don't get it done because of the level of effort and fight truly involved.
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Above average defender. Struggles against quicker guards. Hope he turns it around, but based on present play Tre should be eating into his minutes. Between Gabe, Tre, or maybe even Mutaf... whoever can make a higher 3% should be the one getting the PT. Having a shooter on the floor to compliment Carr and Gach slashing would put us into the middle half of the conference rather than the bottom
 

restovich said:
I have noticed that too. His hands are limiting his opportunities. In that respect, he is reminsicent of Bakary......
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Omersa has the same issue. If you can’t catch, you can’t play basketball
 

60's Guy said:
I saw nothing to tell me why Freeman does not play.
I need more Mutaf. He has swagger. That’s amazing after 5 games with zero minutes. He can score, no doubt! Got in a stance defensively.
Sorry, Mitchell is a long term project. He is athletic!
Most fun of the night seeing those three guys get minutes!
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That was fun and well earned by them!

Also helps as some of those minutes might be tough to come by moving forward.

A new chant for the empty barn directed at Richard-

Free Freeman!
 

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