2010-2011 Gophers

[Duffman]

That offense that's been missing most of the season? They still havn't found it.

I'll give them credit for getting back in the game, nothing more.

Point guard, we needs it.

[CJH]

Ugly first half. First few minutes of the game, everybody was standing around except Hoff, and he had no where to go with it. Feel bad for him, though I give him credit for taking on the point.

I have never seen so many D1 guards/wings that couldn't knock down a shot (other than Hoff). Tubby has always said he wants to play pressure D. Where the heck is it. Get those young guys in there pressing and flying around. They've got young legs and could get some easy baskets off of turnovers. We are making it too easy to defend us. Every team will lock down on Hoff and make everybody else try and beat them.

[CodyDawg]

Guys, I am starting to think Tubby isnt the coach I thought he was. I didnt see the game, but listened to it and it was apparent this team was both not ready to play and was not prepared personnel wise. That is coaching.

[hunter76]

I agree about Tubby. They have the worst offensive play calling I have ever seen. Pass it around the 3 pt line with the big guys out there? Set some screens down low and jam it in there. They look so pathetic coming out of the gates its a joke. They seem to show up with about 5 minutes left in the game.

[Scott M]

I'd normally have a huge hissy fit rant right now, but I didn't watch a minute of the game and my wife didn't set the Tivo for me like I asked and I had obligations in the cities.

Same team we've seen for a few years now, they are going to be on the bubble. High water mark, November, low water mark, loss to Indiana. Sound familiar? From ranked team in February to bubble team in March. It's going to get worse.

[B. Amish]

i know several high school bb coaches and they've all been to gopher bb camps where tubby has given presentations. they all came away with a feeling of being let down afterwards with comments like 'man tubby didn't impress me at all'.

[Duffman]

In typical MN sports fashion, don't be all that surprised if the Gophs beat Ohio State Saturday.

"Beat the best, lose to the worst"

[CodyDawg]

playing to the level of your competition is one mark of bad coaching. yeah, i am having some doubts about him. kentucky sure didnt like him as they ran him outta there. and look at the talent he had there!

[thatoneguy]

You guys do realize that they are crippled by being forced to play their only shooter at PG, right?

[Dotch]

Yup and I guess there must be a whole bunch of bad coaching going on in the Big Ten if we're gonna look at it from the perspective some are starting to. Bad coaching by Tom Izzo because his team gets killed by 20 at IA last week and they're 5 - 5 in the conference, 13 - 9 overall? Fire him! Bad coaching by Bruce Weber for his Illini losing against Northwestern today? Fire him! Tom Crean whom everyone was calling a genius after last week's upset over MN all the sudden does a bad job of coaching when his Hoosiers lose to IA at Bloomington today? Fire him too! It ain't easy to win on the road in the Big 10, heck it ain't a gimme at home on any given night anymore. Does Tubby drive me nuts sometimes? Sure but who else we gonna get? Put the 5 Gopher players who are injured or defected over the past 2 seasons back into the mix and he may suddenly look like a better coach. It's a game. Players play, coaches coach. Fans, especially MN fans bellyache. Go Gophers!

[Scott M]

Another loss. They couldn't rebound and (I felt) they lost their composure on some bad breaks and a couple bad calls in the second half. The gophers have played to their competition all year, but you aren't making a move on Ohio State, the #1 team in the country without some momentum going in. The gophers have momentum, but in the opposite direction in the win/loss column. I'll guess Wisconsin upsets Ohio State later this week, we'll see.

There are 8 guaranteed games left for Goldy, if they go .500 they won't be dancing. This is the wrong time to be playing poorly. They're going to have to rally around something or someone. Now it's time for Tubby to coach them up and earn the big bucks.

Every team around the country deals with injuries and transfers. What I'm sick of is watching this team, with a towering front line, flip up weak shots inside, not box out on rebounds, not post up properly, give up position on the other end, and not play fundamentally sound basketball. They've been outplayed a number of times, but lately they are getting outhustled, and that just should not happen.

[harvey lee]

As always, just another lackluster season for the Gophers.

Back to the pretenders.

[Dotch]

What were you smokin', Duffman? No doubt, every team deals with defections and injuries although I have never seen a Gophers team or recall any team that counted for that matter deal with what this one has short of being on probation. I look at it a lot the same as what we experience in the purebred livestock showring. If you took 5 of the top animals out of my show string of 16 - 18 head over a 2 year period, it's going to leave a mark and we won't compete at the same level. I know, I've had it happen. No amount of slick showmanship and fancy fitting will change that. And the officiating is just as subjective and political as college basketball!

The Gophers are going through a rough stretch and w/o some of the freshmen stepping up, it will continue to be that way. Getting the freshmen some major playing time today probably did not hurt their cause. I've maintained all along that the big guys, Sampson and Iverson need to finish. They're not doing that consistently or catching and hanging onto the ball for that matter. They have had some decent games too so it's in there, they just need to figure out how to bring it with them every time out. They need to fish 4 games out of their remaining schedule and win them to get into the NCAA IMO.

Frustrated? Sure but I also watch a lot of Gopher hockey and if you want frustrating, watch what has happened over there the past several seasons. I'll take what this basketball team has done given the circumstances anyday over that. Difference there being if they fire Donnie, there's a waiting list of coaches who would love to come here to coach. Get the Fire Tubby bandwagon rolling and you'll probably get another coach of the caliber of Monson or worse. Or hey, maybe Mich St. will fire Izzo after the whupping they took at Madison today! Talk about leaving a mark.

[Scott M]

I hear ya Dotch. The gophers have had more than their fair share of incidents and injury during Tubby's reign, but the transfers, academics, and legal issues were the baggage that came with the players. Take the scholarships elsewhere or get these guys to buy into the system or you deal with the issues of the Mbakwes, Whites, Nolens, and Josephs.

I look at it a lot the same as what we experience in the purebred livestock showring. If you took 5 of the top animals out of my show string of 16 - 18 head over a 2 year period, it's going to leave a mark and we won't compete at the same level. I know, I've had it happen. No amount of slick showmanship and fancy fitting will change that. And the officiating is just as subjective and political as college basketball!

I too spent time in the purebred livestock showring. A way to restate my frustration in this analogy is if those 5 top animals are gone and you roll into Hickville county fair open class with your remaining string, you don't pay attention to the start time of the show, and you have animals that aren't ready for the ring. You show up, unclipped, unprepared, and unready and get dropped a few spots back in your respective classes that you should have won. Same thing. There are coaches that would love to have Sampson, Iverson, and Mbakwe inside and Hoffarber outside, but Tubby's offensive coaching rating is about a 2 out of 10. They get beat on the glass, turn over the ball too much, miss way too many free throws. Always a piece away, always an excuse, always on the bubble. Put up or shut up, it's time to earn that money. If Tubby wants that practice facility, take this team somewhere besides one and done.

[CodyDawg]

I hear ya Dotch, I can understand some blips here and there, they happen. The Virginia loss? Oh well. But I am seeing a very unimpressive pattern with Tubby. That team was not prepared to play at Indiana. Coaching. 5 defections? 1 or 2 might just happen, but 5 you say? the coach has to take some responsibility for that. The end of the Michigan game? Absolutely horrible coaching. the half court offense? or should I say lack of offense? bad coaching. No originality, just the same old, same old thing that doesnt work. I think you are seeing hollins and armelin start to play some productive minutes, so we should start to see more of them and less of rodney williams who is just brutal (somehow he managed to not break the backboard or bend the rim yesterday). Williams has not progressed at all, yet tubby sticks with him. again, at least questionable coaching. my .02

[EBass]

Cripes...

[Duffman]

I didn't predict they'd win, I just said don't be all that suprised if they somehow pulled out a vic, it's a home game in the Big Ten, anything's possible.

That said, a sixth grader could snatch the ball out of Iversons hands, Sampson still can't decide if he actually wants to play the game of basketball. The young guys are just that, young. The team is always a step slow and cannot see a man when he's open or about to be open. They are always a second slow to recognize what's going on on the court. There's some talent on the team, just not a lot of it.

[Dotch]

Injuries plus defections = 5 Cody. Joseph, Carter and White defected and Walker and Nolen are key injuries. Just funnin' ya Duffman especially after some of your exchanges with MM down under. I'll admit in the back of my mind I thought the Gophers might have an outside shot but it was way back there behind moving snow, getting the chores done and thinking about a friend who suddenly wound up getting a quadruple bypass last Friday. Will be interesting to see how Ohio St. fares in Bucky's building on Saturday.

I agree about the offense: It's painful to watch at times even to an old wrassler like myself. When no one is moving around, there are large chunks of the floor unoccupied near the basket, someone is being double teamed, someone needs to be getting their arse open and attempting to use some of that free space to score, whether it's a called play or not. There have been flashes of promise and to me that's probably what frustrates me the most about the year. I'm frustrated too though by the athletes who bail, not just at the U but all over the place in the NCAA. It's happening with greater frequency it seems right down to the local level, especially since open enrollment took off in MN. Guess there must be an "I" in team these days. Oh well, along those same lines, I've been told that the "N" stands for knowledge at Nebraska! They should be almost as much fun to trade barbs with as the Hawkeye fans.

[Duffman]

Just funnin' ya Duffman especially after some of your exchanges with MM down under.

I was wondering what in the heck????? A guy has open views on a lot of things and next thing ya know he's awarded title of the local burnout. (Do they still use that term these days?)

[CodyDawg]

Carter? I cant think of who Carter was. But you missed Justin Cobbs.

Iverson....i am okay with Iverson. he is what he is. But both he and Sampson need to be taught the simple fact that if you cant get a 2 foot hook shot over the rim, it aint goin' in. Ever. Give that pumpkin a chance my 8th grade coach would say....you gotta get it over the front iron. Miss long, dont miss short. ohhh, that makes me mad.

I like some of sampsons game, but someone needs to light his britches on fire to get some passion in his game.

[CodyDawg]

since I am critiqueing some, I will do it for all. And at 5' 10", it is easy for me to offer up advice!

Mbakwe. Love his fire. Wish he could give 5% of it to Sampson. Needs to take a extra millisecond once in awhile to make sure of that easy put back, secure the rebound, etc. but that is nitpicky, i like his game.

Hoffarber. I like his game too. He needs to be a little more selfish though and be aggressive. take more shots, Blake, just about anyone else shooting a jumper wide open is much worse than you shooting one with a hand in your face. good passion.

Williams. should be riding the pine. he is not ready for big ten hoops. his shot is horrendous. a project. might be serviceable as a senior.

Armelin. Potential here. can drive. can shoot. needs to understand the game a little more. i think he needs more minutes. take those minutes from williams.

hollins. copy what I said about armelin. a little better at the rest of his game than chip, but not as good on the drive. nice potential.

ahanmisi. needs woork. needs time on the pine and practice time. good potential on the jumper.

[Dotch]

Paul Carter was the lanky forward who would spell Damian Johnson some and could score. His sister had cancer and he transferred to UIC. I forgot about Cobbs, not that there was a lot to remember necessarily. I agree about those hooks. I just cringe every time those guys put one of those up. Will it or won't it and too many times they clang it off the front rim.

[CodyDawg]

oh yeah, paul carter. cant really put that one on Tubby. i will give him a pass on Carter.

Cobbs would be looking good right now without any sniff of a PG on the team.

I really think the front of the rims at Willum (A flashback to the Haskins era) Arena have GOT to be dented in with so many clanging off the front.

By the way, how does Hoff shoot so dang fast and hit anything???

[Trucks]

My question is how they are still ranked. They are 25 in the Espn rankings and just missed the top 25 rankings in the ap poll.

[Scott M]

This team left a ton of points on the court tonight and it cost them. The game played for the Gophers like a beginner learning to swim. They had to work so hard to keep the game close much like a swimmer trying to keep their head above water. Hoping for two minute miracle is futile because they can't make clutch plays or hit free throws.

The refs didn't help by blowing the Mbakwe and-one, the Armelin sideline call, the out of bounds ball pounded down by Illini player in front of the Illinois bench, the Sampson bump, etc. Normally bad calls even out but the Gophers didn't get any breaks. Maybe they'll return to the mean in another game, but it didn't happen tonight.

Now's a good time to jump off the bandwagon. This is going to be a slow and ugly fall from grace, a slow death by attrition. They had to win this game at home tonight to keep pace. They aren't looking like an NCAA team and as their conference record continues to dip below .500, their chances continue to drop. You can say the schedule gets easier with no more ranked teams, but don't you think this is going to open the door to Michigan State, Iowa and Penn State? Those teams want in, and Minnesota is going to be on the outside looking in.

What's amazing to me is Tubby is willing to change the lineup for every single nonconference game to see how his team develops chemistry. Now when the games mean everything, he refuses to budge with Hoffarber running the point. What's the worst that could happen by running Armelin or Ahanmisi out there? They are already free falling and losing games. Weber starts the game by benching his star seniors. Tubby needs to send the same message to Williams to pick it up. Last year the talk was that the team would go as Williams go. Thankfully that hasn't been the case, but they absolutely need someone to pick it up and getting anything meaningful from Williams would be huge.

No pride tonight, no attention to details....WAY too many turnovers. It would make me sick to lose at home to Illinois when you've only won like 1 of the past 25 games in the series. And to see Illinois' student section show up, make noise, and celebrate a win...no pride by your Gophs.