What is Gopher Basketball known for?

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Otis

Otis

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Used to be Gopher basketball was known as a big man cradle. Mychal, Kevin, Randy, and the big guys who dominated the B1G and became successful pros. Those teams played defense and pounded the other team with an inside out offense that was enviable.

What are we known for now?

Shooting more deep balls than we should. Dribbling deep into the shot clock. Folding like a cheap lawn chair on the road.

Give me one redeeming trait Pitino has instilled as culture here at Minnesota.

All i can come up with is no recruiting violations.
 


At this point they're known for not being a serious contender for a conference title. That's how I think of them, and that's how I'm sure the coaches and fans of the other Big Ten programs think. Suddenly, now, you have Rutgers who's on the radar of up-and-coming programs that could make a run at a championship if they keep building. The last time Minnesota had that kind of steam was when Tubby recruited Royce White.
 












And a weird court. Like Vanderbilt.

edit to say I love our court. But nationally, not sure people care. National reputations are overrated.
 
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tmvander said:
To me Pitino's culture is you can never expect a win or loss. They will be ranked top 15 and lose 4 in a row. They'll be dead last in the Big Ten and then beat the #1 team in the country.

Every game and every season is an emotional rollercoaster.
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...Except for when they play on the road
...or when the game is tight the last 2 minutes since he has no inbound plays
 

"It's cold there" "They have a weird floor."
 
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I'd go with outside of MN, the only thing we're known for is the Barn. There is nothing else redeeming nationally for good or bad. Inside MN, depends on how old you are if you remember some of the scandals and things. Otherwise it's probably for being lack of a contender and a perennial disappointment to most
 

upnorthkid said:
I'd go with outside of MN, the only thing we're known for is the Barn. There is nothing else redeeming nationally for good or bad. Inside MN, depends on how old you are if you remember some of the scandals and things. Otherwise it's probably for being lack of a contender and a perennial disappointment to most
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Nationally, only the Barn but that is what makes it such a great job. If it can happen at UW it can happen here. Even better, if UVA can become the landlord of the ACC while Duke, UNC , LOUISVILLE were all winning huge, it can be done here.
 


They're the Seinfeld of major college basketball: it's a show about nothing.
 

The question, as the OP put it, is what are we known for now (in the Pitino era)? Nationally, we're not known for anything in basketball because we're simply not covered much by media. Within the Big Ten, if I had to think of something noteworthy (in terms of a strength) in the Pitino era, I would say shot blockers. We had Reggie, Oturu, now Robbins, and even Murphy to a degree although his greatest strength was rebounding. There was also Matz who didn't play big minutes but had pretty good blocks per minute numbers.
 
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An occasional "They're in my Final Five" by some Minnesota kid who could give the program a much-needed jolt, but who we all know will sign elsewhere. Sadly, more and more don't even bother with that any more.
 

More recently, they're known for their fancy dribbling.
 


Trying to put the snark aside -

I would say that, in the Pitino era - MN is the program that typically has at least one outstanding player or even two, but for some reason, the team does not gel into a consistent contender.

In other words, at MN, you think of individual players - not team success.

having the 'star' players is fun - but I would rather have five blue-collar guys who work hard, play as a team, and win games.
 

cjbfbp said:
The question, as the OP put it, is what are we known for now (in the Pitino era)? Nationally, we're not known for anything in basketball because we're simply not covered much by media. Within the Big Ten, if I had to think of something noteworthy (in terms of a strength) in the Pitino era, I would say shot blockers. We had Reggie, Oturu, now Robbins, and even Murphy to a degree although his greatest strength was rebounding. There was also Matz who didn't play big minutes but had pretty good blocks per minute numbers.
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Mostly true we have little national presence except for having a few top recruits leave the state. This season where arguably the best female and male players are from MN. Other than the Lynx and Twins who have won national championships I think most of our teams are well known for choking.
 



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