2010-2011 Gophers

[CJH]

Both Joseph and William are playing tonight

My bad, thought the paper said they weren't playing.

Not a good effort at all, no urgency, looked like they were overlooking V. The guard play was horrendous, defensively and offensively. Not sure what was up with Joseph, he was trying to do way too much, but looked very rusty. Thought the bigs played OK. They didn't get the ball in the post nearly enough, but could have rebounded a little better. Most of V's damage came from the perimeter, way too many open 3's.

I have a feeling there will be lots of sprints ran today - Tubby doesn't tolerate bad defense or lack of effort, and he shouldn't.

Hopefully this will be the kick in the pants they need.

[SkunkedAgain]

Yup, good timing for a loss before starting the Big 10 season. It's been covered enough above: bad defense, hurried offense, lack of execution, etc....

It's still exciting to watch this team, and you can see the talent in their freshman lineup. Finally a Gopher sports program with promise for the future.

[Coach1310]

Didn't see the game, BUT just from reading the comments I can visualize it and it ain't pretty!!! Sometimes a loss like this is necessary to refocus ...hopefully that is the case. The bummer I see is if they end up a bubble team, this is one of those losses that will come back to hurt you as a BAD LOSS at home unless Virginia is a much better team than they have been and are being predicted to be....

[mr_jman]

It was an ugly game, but losing this time of year to help the team refocus and realize that anyone can beat you on any night may help them in the long run. If the Gophers are a bubble team, this loss may hurt BUT keep in mind we have already beat a lot of teams that were in the tourney last year. For me the season will really start when we play Big 10 teams. With the strength of this conference, we will have many chances to make or break our season!

[SkunkedAgain]

Actually, it was a great game for the first half. The Gophers were absolutely destroying Virginia for the entire half. We went into the halftime with only a ten point lead, and then started out alright, but Virginia dominated the second half. The announcers stated it correctly, Virginia needed to play flawless basketball in order to win - and they did. They hit nearly all their 3-point attempts and free throws while forcing Minnesota to play panicked offense. It was ugly in the end but more because it was a tale of two teams.

[Scott M]

Just watched ESPN U's All Access Minnesota Men's basketball. Didn't think much of it. Got a couple bad interviews from Sampson and Iverson, who talked about living up to their pedigrees. The only guy that could carry a conversation with Andy Katz was Austin Hollins talking on the same subject. Not a lot of substance in examining the facilities, practices, or players.

I caught the Duke All Access and thought it was way better. So much more insight from Coach K about how he keeps himself grounded (Looking out at Krzyzewskiville and seeing all the kids camping out for the best seats), how he looks at practice as both physical and mental conditioning ("fight through being tired...make a stand that right now we stop them from scoring"), and how he makes sure the team gets better with each game and practice. It was also interesting to hear from Singler (The next Larry Bird?) as he talked about his decision to come back and how he does other things to keep his mind off basketball (cooking and painting).

Good show format but the team and coach really make the show. No high marks for Tubby or his players.

[Scott M]

Can't believe the Gophers are in the top 25 and can't get on TV. Got the road win at St. Joe's. Eastern Kentucky at home on Saturday.

[LMITOUT]

Duke is playing St. Louis this weekend on CBS. No time for the silly Gophers.

[CJH]

Can't believe the Gophers are in the top 25 and can't get on TV. Got the road win at St. Joe's. Eastern Kentucky at home on Saturday.

I was surprised it wasn't at least on the Big Ten Network!!!

[Nick Kuhn]

Too bad a win over both Eastern and Western Kentucky doesn't just count as a win over Kentucky :P

[schweady]

Good luck and safe travels to everyone trying to get to tomorrow's matinee!

[Scott M]

Not a well played game but they played good defense in spurts. They held EKU scoreless for about 10 minutes in the second half, that alone allowed the win. I thought Hoffarber, Sampson, and Mbakwe played good games. Lots of plays where players seemed a step slow, played flat, weren't sharp with the basketball. A wins a win, but they should have beat this team by 25-35 instead of 13.

[Duffman]

I do dig the way Mbakwe throws them down with style and gumption.

The Gophs started out the game as though they finally realized on the way to the arena that they're playing out their career in a winter hellhole.

[CJH]

They looked like they were half asleep, but I wouldn't expect them to get up too much for EKU. I expect to see more fire out of them once the Big Ten season starts.

The young guys definitely look more athletic/explosive. There should be a lot more dunking the next few years.

[Scott M]

Gophers sleepwalking through the first half against Akron, down 5 at the break. Better blow things open in the second half, this would be an ugly loss.

[Scott M]

Gophers win by 8. They are looking more and more like a grind it out team. They focused on the interior and pulled away. I still think they are better off trying to get easy baskets in transition. They got some of those today, but the inside passing was the key.

Loved what the Gophers did keeping Williams on the baseline. If his man helps they send him to the basket for dunks.

Mbakwe with another solid double double. If I am a guard I'm yelling at Sampson to post up like a man...kind of frustrated with his inconsistency, but he is what he is at this point. Hoffarber doing a great job distributing. 1,000 career points milestone for him tonight.

I think Tubby could sense that Akron could pull one out if he didn't tighten up the lineup. The freshmen got about 5-7 minutes apiece tonight...slim pickens with a shortened bench.

Teams have figured out how to beat the Gophers, slow down the game, penetrate and dish, and hit your threes. This team is terrible at perimeter defense. And foul Minnesota/don't give up easy buckets/make them earn it at the line....the free throw shooting is still poor.

I'm not worried about this team starting with 3 of 4 on the road in conference play against ranked teams. They play to their opponents, so they will be in all those games. What I am worried about is the games against nobodies, like SDSU and Indiana. When the Gophers play down to the other team, they can be beat.

[Dotch]

Watching Joseph tonite just drove me nuts! Turning the ball over, taking the quick ill advised 3 and not distributing the ball intelligently. I thought maybe Tubby was going to bench him after his performance in the 1st half. How he wound up with as many points as he did was beyond me. I hope Nolen comes back with a vengeance and allows Joseph to settle in at the 2 guard spot where he belongs. If I had to be critical of any of the big guys in this game it was Iverson. Appeared he didn't log a lot of minutes in the second half as a result. He was tentative again going to the basket, laying it up gingerly and watching it come off several times. Free throw shooting wasn't good as a whole and that's got to improve as they move into the Big 10 season or as you say da chise, they could easily be ambushed by some of the chumps in this league. It's what keeps you in the close games and gives you the chance to win even though the effort may not have been up to par on any given night.

[rundrave]

Will tonights game vs SDSU be on TV?

Should be in interesting game, SDSU is off to a much better start than years past but are still SDSU and will get beat but may hang with them for a while.

The gophers are much bigger so shouldnt be an issue but could make for a fun game especially with some players like Nate Wolters playing for SDSU and Iverson from SD playing against SDSU.

[Dotch]

Nope, not unless you're set up to get ESPN3. WIll have to rely on 'CCO radio otherwise.

[Scott M]

For anyone that doesn't know yet, ESPN 3 can be viewed online. If you have decent broadband internet service you can watch the games.

******

Gophers again have trouble defending 3's and are slow on defensive rotations and close outs. As a result, the jump shooting jackrabbits stay in the game until the final 5 minutes. Gophers close them out down the stretch and Nolen was back, but overall it wasn't a pretty game. Mo Walker came down on a buckling knee and was helped off the floor. Looked like some kind of knee sprain which could be tough for a guy of his dimensions. Mbakwe was neutralized on account of foul trouble. The GOphers shot 60% from the foul line. They are going to lose some Big Ten games because of foul shooting. I can't believe they can be this bad.

Rodney Williams is doing a good of getting to the rim. Not dunking it necessarily, but getting close enough to use his athleticism to hang long enough in the air to finish off the glass. With his amount of hangtime, most guys are back on the deck around the time he's finishing.

Iverson looked good banging inside. He was the Gophers co-leading scorer with 15. Devoe also had 15 and looked like last year when he could dribble to his spot, and pick up and shoot.

Final score 85-73 Gophers. Bring on Bucky. Any avatar bets? Gophers are looking pretty beatable since they've left so many teams in games all year. Bucky's defense and ball movement could upset the Gophers in Madison. Only one game with Wiscy this year...

[CJH]

For anyone that doesn't know yet, ESPN 3 can be viewed online. If you have decent broadband internet service you can watch the games.

******

Iverson looked good banging inside. He was the Gophers co-leading scorer with 15. Devoe also had 15 and looked like last year when he could dribble to his spot, and pick up and shoot.

Final score 85-73 Gophers. Bring on Bucky. Any avatar bets? Gophers are looking pretty beatable since they've left so many teams in games all year. Bucky's defense and ball movement could upset the Gophers in Madison. Only one game with Wiscy this year...

Thanks for the tip, wasn't aware of that.

Doesn't seem like Iverson has gotten many minutes this year up until now, despite being productive when given a chance. Don't get that at all.

Starting on the road against a rival is not an easy way to start the Big Ten schedule. Hopefully they can turn it up a notch as they have seemed lackadaisical in the games I have been able to watch.

[Northlander]

Gophers just arent very good guys. They will be in the bottom 25% of the Big Ten if not worse. They dont have a killer instinct and a go to inside presence. The D is spotty at best.

[Trucks]

I think alot about this team is going to be told when we play Wisconsin. It's always tough judging a team from the nonconference schedule. We will go into a hostile environment at the Kohl Center and we will see how they handle the pressure.

[CJH]

Big game tonight against the Badgers!!!!! Will be interesting to see if the triple towers (Mbwakwe, Sampson, Iverson) can contain Leur.

Haven't heard anything about Walker's knee.

[SkunkedAgain]

They have a good chance to win against Wisconsin, but that's not an easy place to do it. We'll know alot about these Gophers in the next week or two with the tough start to their Big 10 schedule. They could put on an impressive run down the stretch the builds momentum going into the big dance.

[mr_jman]

I think people are still leary of this team because we haven't dominated the non conference schedule... Sure our record looks good but winning these games by under 10 points (and the one bad loss) doesn't exactly make us look like a dominant team that can compete for a Big Ten Championship.....

These first 3 games of the Big Ten season will really tell everyone if we're contenders or pretenders! Yes, we can make a nice run again like last year but it would be nice to know we are in the dance before playing the conference tourney...

[Scott M]

Rough news released this morning that Walker is done for the season. Torn posterior cruciate ligament. He was a pretty nifty passer inside, had a soft touch, and played good position defense. All the bigs offer something a little bit different.

[Scott M]

Down by 4 at the half. I thought the Gophers came out pretty strong but some of that intensity slipped. If they can come out with their opening intensity, they will win the game as the aggressors. If they wait for things to happen, they will stand and watch Bucky pull away.

[Scott M]

Gophers put themselves into too big of a whole at the start of the second half (down by 10 at one point) to come back. 10 points isn't much, but in the grind of the big ten, that's a lot to be down. They came out rattled to start the second half and just weren't efficient in the half court. Too many wasted possessions down the stretch. They had it tied up with 5 or 6 minutes to go but couldn't execute on either end to finish it off. It's not going to make or break their season, they lose the bragging rights game, but it would have sent a strong message to win in Madison. They will again be in the middle of the Big Ten, not challenging for a title behind Ohio State as they had hoped.

To win the rebound battle like Minnesota did and go away losing tells you they were deficient in other areas of their game. Nolen's 0 point, 1 assist stinker really stands out. Jordan Taylor was able to get to where he wanted on the floor and he was able to score on drives and by penetrate and kick. Nolen on the other hand couldn't do that. His defense was just okay and his offense poor.

I don't understand why after 4 years the Gophers don't run Hoffarber off a monster series of screens and get him open...if the defense switches screens, they can always work their bigs inside or get open shots on screeners. I don't see how Wisconsin can get so many open looks while the Gophers get so few.

[harvey lee]

Looks like it will be a tough big ten season for the Gophers.

Pretenders.