Gophers 84, Montana 58

Well that couldn't have gone much better.  Montana is a step up from Lehigh and will be in the running for an NCAA bid (by winning the Big Sky, not at-large) and the Gophers simply crushed them.  The press hassled Montana from the get go and helped the Gophers jump out to a big lead they'd never relinquish.  The Gophers (still questionable, imo) front court was able to destroy the Grizzlies on the glass 45-29.  Although the rebounding margin should be celebrated too excessively given that Montana is a horrendous rebounding team, for the Gophers it is definitely a step in the right direction.  The Gophers also unleashed the three, which will likely end up being a big part of their offense, and hit 11 of 25.  Much of the Gophers success this year will be determined by their ability to create turnovers with the press while limiting their own, being competitive on the glass, and being able to hit the outside shot.  I'd say this game was an A+.

Player-by-Player:

Dre Hollins - simply a star.  He looks like he's taking his game to another level, and he's a rare player who can score from three, taking it to the rim, or with a mid-range jumper and can do all efficiently.  His free throw shooting will be a huge asset this year with the new rules continually putting driving guards at the line.  The addition of Mathieu makes him even better because he can play off the ball and run off of screens.

Dre Mathieu - I love watching him play.  He may get himself in a little too deep driving the ball from time-to-time, but that's just his mentality - he gets the ball and looks to drive.  His excellent vision is going to create a lot of open shots for teammates, and he's so fast he should be able to get to the line quite a bit simply by taking it right at his defender and creating contact before they can get out of the way. 

Austin Hollins - I have a feeling these three are going to be talked about a lot this year.  Austin continues to have a clear sense of purpose, confidence, and leadership, and when he needed to help out in the paint he just went ahead and grabbed 10 rebounds.  Very much a senior year Damian Johnson type of feel to him right now in terms of leadership and just rising to the occasion. 

Elliott Eliason - He's starting to develop and almost adequate offensive game, and his defense and rebounding are absolutely crucial to this team as the only real post presence (we'll see about Mo when he's back).  Even when his numbers aren't there (they were last night with 8 boards and 5 blocks), he alters enough shots and takes up enough space to make the defense much better.  Whenever Eliason is in foul trouble it is going to be a very big deal.

Oto Osenieks - Hit two threes and grabbed six rebounds and finished without a single turnover.  You can actually see his confidence starting to return after the combination of a horrible year and Tubby somehow reduced him to worthless.  I said before the year started that if he could find his shot he would be able to thrive in the type of system Pitino is going for, and although he isn't nearly there yet he's moving in the right direction.

Joey King - Still drives me crazy, but at least he dialed back the perimeter stuff and attempted six two point shots compared to just one three point shot.  Managed just two rebounds in 15 minutes, and one of them was tipped out to him on the perimeter.  Also clapped for himself when he made a shot.

Malik Smith - Any time someone is described as a streaky shooter you know what you're getting, and right now Smith isn't looking impressive at just 3-11 while doing absolutely nothing else on the court.  I assume at some point the buckets will start falling and he'll probably basically win a game for the Gophers single handedly.  At least that's the hope.

Maverick Ahanmisi - I don't even know what to write about Mav anymore.  He's questionable with the ball, passable defensively, rebounds well for his position, and can knock down an open shot.  Rinse, repeat.

Wally Ellenson - I have no idea why he's on the team other than as a ploy to try to get his brother to commit here.  Amazing athlete without much skill.  Loves to shoot.


All in all, I'm very encouraged by that game as I expected the Gophers to struggle, at least a little bit, before ending up with a low double-digit win.  I certainly didn't expect them to nearly win by 30.  Everything went right that game, but things get a lot tougher this weekend with a trip to Richmond.  The Spiders are a step up from Montana (I like the first three game opponent difficulty progression quite a bit) and being on the road is always dicey.  After tonight, confidence is high, however when I write my later this week I suspect I will talk myself out of it.

Hoops Preview: Gophers vs. Montana

After an easy-ish win over Lehigh, the Montana Grizzlies will come into Williams Arena on Tuesday and, for good or for ill, this will be the Gophers toughest home non-conference opponent - yes, they're better than Florida State.  The Grizzlies have won the Big Sky in back-to-back years, and are poised to go after the three-peat.  They do lose three starters off last year's team, but that hasn't mattered in year's past as coach Wayne Tinkle (hee hee) has a solid system in place and the results are solid no matter the roster turnover.

Montana's big wild card on Tuesday will be swingman Kareem Jamar, who just won both the regular season and tournament MVP in the Big Sky while leading the Grizz in scoring (14.2 per), rebounding (5.9), and assists (4.0).  He very well might be the best player on a mid-major in the entire country, and most of us won't get to see it because the stupid game isn't on tv anywhere and paying for Gopher All Access is basically giving in to extortion.  Jamar is a model of consistency as his stats from last year are nearly identical to two years ago, although with two of the starters who are gone being the other two big scorers on the team his numbers could take a drastic jump.  He can hit the three (36%) but isn't dependent on it (3.3 attempts per game), can drive and get to the line and make them, find an open shooter or score himself, and he has a solid mid-range game.  He should be pretty fun to watch (if you can) and a good early season test for Austin Hollins defensive shutdown skills.

I downplayed the loss of three starters earlier, but although a solid team system can help ease the loss when you're talking Big Sky, having your second and third best players, both double-digit scorers, gone from last season hurts when going up against a major conference foe, especially since this is the first game of the year for Montana.  Those two did have some injuries issues which caused them to miss 18 games between the two of them which helped the depth gain some experience, but outside of Jamar I'm not sure what Montana really has here.

Similarly to Lehigh, the Grizzlies shouldn't pose too big of a threat to the Gophers' questionable front court, particularly with Mo Walker out.  Most of their returning minutes come from Jamar and two guards - Jordan Gregory and Keron DeShields who I am going to assume is related to Delino because that's cool and I refuse to look it up and prove myself wrong and their top incoming recruit is another guard.  Gregory was actually one of the most efficient players in the country on the offensive end last season (71st) due to good shooting percentages (46% from two, 42% from three, and 88% from the line) and a refusal to turn the ball over (just one per game).  He's going to have be more involved this season due their losses, and more importantly become more of a play maker (1.2 assists per game).  One of Montana's big strengths last season was tough perimeter defense, so these guys have a lot to live up to.

While the perimeter overall is probably ok, the front line is where some issues could arise.  Montana will be relying mainly on three guys who have the size (Michael Weisner 6-7, Eric Hutchison 6-9, and Andy Martin 7-0) if not the experience (21 minutes per game, 16 minutes per game, and 8 minutes per game) to give the Gophers trouble.  They also have a 6-7 JuCo power forward coming in who I can't find any information about other than what I just said.  His name is Chris Kemp.  Probably Shawn Kemp's kid.  Anyway, looking at the box scores from their last exhibition game it appears rebounding is a serious weakness, and not like it was kind of a weakness last season for Montana but I mean like holy balls bad.  Getting out-rebounded by Lewis & Clark College is not good.

Overall, Montana was a decent team last year whose main strength was their offensive efficiency and ability to score.  Their weaknesses were overall defense and rebounding.  Although they will still end up being in the mix for the Big Sky title, the players they lost are only going to diminish their strengths and highlight their weaknesses until the new players and players in new roles get things figured out, and that's not going to fly against a Gopher team, even for all its flaws.  Enjoy watching Jamar though, assuming you can.

Minnesota 70, Montana 57.

FUN FACT:  I once met some girls from Montana.  They refer to partying hard as "getting rugged" out there.  Good to know.

I bet they got rugged after.  And before.