Starting Lineup and Minutes the Rest of the Way

[BarnBurner]

I have to give RP credit for not running Curry off. I think he could have and chose not to. That said, despite unanimous hope that EC would be able to return and be effective, it is obvious he cant do it. Love the guy, and am sad he has been put through the injury ringer.

 

[Chico Gopher]

Haha, gold! It really is insane how many OOB Gach gets on sidelines. It has to be around 1/game. I know he's had 2 games with 2 step outs.

Seems like the Gophers as a team have had about 10 of those this season.

 

[Go Gophs]

I could not agree more, and it is too bad it took this long for us to see a line up with some toughness that does not force me to start yelling at the TV. (Gabe, B Gach, ect)

Ihnen has pissed me off for weeks as I watch him put up the 3 pointer and miss, but he looks like a player, and is pretty quick for a guy with a giant wingspan. If the guy could be coached to drive like hell to the rim and draw some fouls, I would be all in on him getting big minutes. Anyone who rebounds and defends deserves to play over a guy like Gach.

Gabe being gone seems to have made the team look better, despite the loss at IU, and the lack of Freeman getting a chance regardless.

Mashburn and Carr should have been on the floor together from the beginning. Tre can hit a shot and put a body on someone when defending. He is pretty rigid and mechanical going to the hole, but who cares, at least he tries hard and has some confidence.

I'd be happy to never see Gach play another minute. His lack of defense, court vision, and general basketball sense annoys me to no end. If he is some great athlete, why would i almost prefer to see year 5 of Hurt over this crap? Sure enough he stepped out of bounds yet again for a turnover at IU this week.

Freeman showed me something early in the year, that we do not have. He is a pretty solid in the lower body, and cannot be easily moved. He has pretty quick feet when defending and rebounding, and and is a quicker leaper than I expected. Freeman might also have the slight mean streak referenced above.

Had Pitino gone heavier with Freeman, Tre, and Mashburn sooner, he might have had a better shot at not being fired after the season. His stubborn loyalty to Gach, Gabe, and Curry may well be what put the final nails in his coffin, and I do not hate RP as much as some around here.

This is a pretty good post, and I am with you on alot of it.

I'd use Gach more though. I think he just needs to be told what to do. Take the ball to the rim. Do not settle for jumpshots. In fact, the entire team needed to be told this a very long time ago.

Pitino acts and says things like "we don't shoot it very well from 3, not sure why we take so many". Here is the #1 problem with him. HE IS THE BOSS. Act like it. Demand that they take less 3 point shots or they see the bench. This single thing(shooting too many 3's) has literally been our #1 downfall this year. It's sad really, that such a simple adjustment would have led to such a different outcome on the season.

 

[bga1]

This is a pretty good post, and I am with you on alot of it.

I'd use Gach more though. I think he just needs to be told what to do. Take the ball to the rim. Do not settle for jumpshots. In fact, the entire team needed to be told this a very long time ago.

Pitino acts and says things like "we don't shoot it very well from 3, not sure why we take so many". Here is the #1 problem with him. HE IS THE BOSS. Act like it. Demand that they take less 3 point shots or they see the bench. This single thing(shooting too many 3's) has literally been our #1 downfall this year. It's sad really, that such a simple adjustment would have led to such a different outcome on the season.

This is just a weird team.
-For a team that jacks so many threes they are also a team that is near the top in shooting and making free throws. They DO drive it to the hole a lot.
-They have good depth but at any given time half of them are in a severe slump- so during the season, Carr, Gach, Robbins, Johnson, Gabe, Mashburn, Williams and even Ihnen have all had excellent games that make them look like starters and then......
- They have been a bunch of top 25 teams yet they are among the poorest shooting teams in the nation both from 3 point range and in FG% overall.
-They are a poor rebounding team
All of that and they still have a 50/50 or better shot at the NCAA tournament...

One more point on the threes- yes, they shoot way too many of them. That's what other teams give them. They jam up Carr and they double the low post and they let everyone else just wing up whatever outside shot they want. They dare us to shoot them- because we are so awful at it. It takes a lot of discipline and much better ball movement and patience to find the better shot when the tempting one is almost always wide open.

 

[McDobb4BB]

I agree with your comments and how you highlighted "disciplined and ball movement". Ball movement is critical to create lanes for driving to the basket. All too often we fall into the pattern of "Guy with ball dribbles and looks to drive, gets cut-off, dribbles and passes to guy #2" ... "Guy #2 dribbles and looks to drive, gets cut-off, dribbles and passes to guy #3" ... "Guy #3 dribbles and looks to drive..."

All of this may look like being "aggressive", but it's really quite passive because it doesn't force the defense to move. Ball movement makes the defense move quickly side to side which will lead to mistakes and lanes to the basket.

And it is a discipline ... something that we don't really have a lot of on either end of the court. It's why we're such a weird team. For a while we move the ball, then is stops ... for a while we play good defense and then the energy disappears ... I believe this is the reason we're so inconsistent / weird.

 

[tmvander]

I agree with your comments and how you highlighted "disciplined and ball movement". Ball movement is critical to create lanes for driving to the basket. All too often we fall into the pattern of "Guy with ball dribbles and looks to drive, gets cut-off, dribbles and passes to guy #2" ... "Guy #2 dribbles and looks to drive, gets cut-off, dribbles and passes to guy #3" ... "Guy #3 dribbles and looks to drive..."

All of this may look like being "aggressive", but it's really quite passive because it doesn't force the defense to move. Ball movement makes the defense move quickly side to side which will lead to mistakes and lanes to the basket.

And it is a discipline ... something that we don't really have a lot of on either end of the court. It's why we're such a weird team. For a while we move the ball, then is stops ... for a while we play good defense and then the energy disappears ... I believe this is the reason we're so inconsistent / weird.

The gophers also have been pretty bad at getting the ball inside. I realize they won't have a strong inside out game with their poor shooting, but it can create good ball movement which can create lanes for easy baskets at the rim. Their only offense is pick and roll ball which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. If they mixed it up and posted up Robbins and Johnson I'm confident enough in their 1 on 1 game inside to score or draw fouls. If there is a double start passing around like crazy and someone will be wide open cutting to the rim.