SiouxScore

I don't know if I ever think he will be a key guy but he has loads of athleticism. He is much better this year at understanding concepts and it seems like the game has slowed down for him a bit. He isn't ever going to be a big scorer with his skillset I don't think but he plays extremely hard, can grab some rebounds, and brings a ton of energy. Type of guy that seems like a great teammate as well.

Oturu was a huge commit he picked Minnesota over Kansas as a Junior in high school and the rest of the big boys were gonna be coming after him too. Kalscheur and Omersa were definitely more under the radar guys when you look at the offer list. Pitino was able to land Jarvis Johnson who never played because of a heart issue and Amir Coffey as big time recruits. Michael Hurt was thought to be a solid get when he committed although he really hasn't produced. It really is frustrating to see so many really good players leave for other places. It really seemed for a long time like they were gonna land Garcia and he is my top guy in the Minnesota '20 class. You could say Suggs as the top guy but I don't think he has ever been realistic. If he goes to college I'd be shocked if it wasn't Gonzaga and it has been that way since last winter although there is a very real chance he goes pro instead and plays in a place like Australia for a year. Lately it is a problem in both football and basketball to get the top Minnesota kids to stay home. You look at the last couple classes for football and the top 2 go to Notre Dame and Nebraska last year, this year is a little different with the top 2 being the 2 Minnehaha kids is Johnson and Suggs. Johnson is undecided but if he was gonna be a Gopher it seems like he would've committed already and Suggs will play basketball, even the 21 class the top 2 are committed already to Wisconsin and Iowa. On the basketball side of things in 19 they were after Hurt who went to Duke and Nnaji who went to Arizona who wanted some things that Pitino just wouldn't do and they went after Tyrell Terry(Stanford) a little but I think other guys were higher on the board. In the 20 class you have Garcia who picked Marquette, Carlson who picked Wisconsin, Crowl was a weird situation picking Wisconsin. His family was mad the Gophers didn't offer on a campus visit earlier in the spring even though they hadn't been able to watch him yet and they said they wanted to wait and see his progress. If the family wants to be mad about it that is fine but the Gophers offered as soon as they saw him play in the open period and 2 days after Wisconsin. Wisconsin had him on campus for their team camp but didn't offer after the camp instead waiting another 3 weeks. They also missed on Gabe Madsen who wanted to play with his brother and the Gophers didn't offer his brother so they both picked Cincinnati. Kerwin Walton is the guy still undecided in the class and the Gophers are trying on him but not sure I feel real confident in any locals in any sport right now. EDIT: Also missed Dain Dainja for the 2020 class. He is committed to Baylor. Gophers were after him early but the interest kind of trailed off because of academics. He has some work to do.

This is a much different Gopher team than the last few years. The last few years you had Amir Coffey's ability to get to the hoop and really this offense was predicated on getting to the rim and getting to the free throw line. The other big part of the offense was throwing it to the walking double double Jordan Murphy on the block and letting him go to work inside. This year they will throw it to Oturu inside but he can also step out and hit the 3 and plays very well in space. The ball movement is much crisper with this years squad and they shoot it a ton better than they have the past few seasons. Daniel Oturu is the top player for the Gophers and has been very good this year. The only problem is some times he doesn't get enough touches. The last game against Central Michigan he really didn't do much as they doubled him before he even got the ball some times. If he keeps playing as well as he has in the stretch against Oklahoma, Butler, and Utah he could be a 1st round pick after this year. The rest of the Gopher starters are PG Marcus Carr. He has been a little frustrating as he has been very up and down in the early going. He sometimes over dribbles the ball and makes some bad decisions but more often than not he has been moving the ball well and he can create for others as well as himself. He has really struggled at the free throw line and he has got there a decent number of times so that is a big part of the frustration. SG/SF Gabe Kalscheur and Peyton Willis. Both are excellent defenders and great 3 point shooters. Gabe struggled with his shot a little early in the season but seemed to find it a little against Central Michigan with 5 3 pointers. Willis handles the ball a little better and has been very consistent with just one bad game at Utah. The PF spot has mostly been grad transfer Alihan Demir. He has really struggled to finish around the rim and on the defensive end at times as well. Seems like he is still trying to fit in to his new role. He has been a little better the last couple games. Bench-You will probably see SR Michael Hurt as first off the bench. He isn't real flashy but usually makes the right play and is in the right spot. He will spend time at the 3 and 4 and is coming off his best game of the season. FR Tre Williams will get minutes at the 2/3 and is a solid defender that can hit the 3 if left open. SO Jarvis Omersa will probably play the backup 5 minutes. He is the best athlete on the floor nearly every time he steps on it. Tendency to pick up fouls. Loads of potential but play needs to be more consistent in his time on the court. FR Isaiah Ihnen will probably get the backup 4 minutes. He is a long lean athlete that has loads of potential. He missed the first 3 games with a wrist injury. In each of the games he has played he has knocked down a 3 and done a good job of creating a couple turnovers with deflections.

Gophers take care of Northwestern to clinch at least a share of the B1G West and wisconsin beats Purdue. Next Saturday Gophers and Badgers for the Axe, a spot in the B1G Championship, and Gameday making their first trip to Minnesota.

Played a solid defensive game. Left a little to be desired offensively at times but bottom line made a big play when you needed it to get the win.

This team is really fun to watch. Such a different style than last year and just seem to be playing more freely and confident. I don't know if there is one returner that looks like they didn't make a significant jump from last season to this season. I'm not talking about just in production either if you watched last season and are now watching this season the difference in guys is so obvious.

Michaud

Really well played game from the guys last night. Excellent job by the PK coming up big time and killing off a couple very bad calls. Scheel was excellent all weekend. The guys definitely looked like they were out to prove something this weekend which was great to see. Now gotta back it up next weekend against St. Cloud. Got a good laugh at the guys waving bye to their student section and making fun of that stupid whiteboard when they were celebrating the win at the net after the final buzzer.

Such a disappointing loss for the Gophers today. Played one of their worst games of the year with so many mistakes. Think the most frustrating thing to me was the defensive game plan in the 1st half to sit back and not blitz really at all against a QB that struggles against pressure. That combined with a ton of missed tackles in the 1st half led to an extremely productive 1st half for Iowa. Still had a chance to win at the end but just didn't get it done. Win at Northwestern next week and it should set up a date with wisconsin for the B1G West Championship with a pretty good chance of College Gameday coming to town then too.

Fun game to watch. Little disappointed we didn't get the straight up win as I still don't think DU's goal should have counted and then the one late scramble in OT that got through the DU goalie and somehow just went wide. Good play by Weatherby and finish by Poolman to get the extra point.

You're the best. Thank You!

Sweep is a sweep. Not near as clean and crisp tonight but still got the job done. I think next weekend will give us a much better idea of just exactly where this team is at.

It always seems like it is like 30mph winds, cold, and raining when the Gophers play in Evanston with about 500 people actually at the game. Weird things happen in college football but Northwestern's offense has been absolutely dreadful all year. I think Gameday would make the trip to Minneapolis for the Wisconsin game if it is a battle for the West but not sure if they still would if the Gophers have already wrapped up the division.

Wish I could've got down there for that one. Man it looked like The Bank was rocking on TV. Few press people said the press box was shaking after a couple Gopher TDs and they couldn't recall that ever happening there.

Iowa is a tough place to play next week. Gophers have more talent but it has been a long time since they've won down there. It will be a test.

Where is he gonna be? Just re did his contract the buyout until January 1st 2021 is $10 million. He loves working with Coyle and isn't going anywhere outside of the Midwest due to his family situation. He had a list of 10 schools including Minnesota when he came to Minnesota. Plus he has all the row the boat stuff and I don't think some traditional programs would let him put the oars, compasses, and stuff like that on their uniforms. Believe it or not Minnesota is a very good fit for him.

I was

Kiersted

Definitely a choppy game offensively. Just not a whole lot of sharpness with the puck but I guess some of the credit on that should go to Tech. Got the win though and that is the most important thing.

Pinto

That is just stupid. Hain really struggled last night by imo that was more a product of who he was playing with and Blaisdell really had some solid sequences.

PJ was definitely campaigning for Gameday to head to Minneapolis in a couple weeks. I still think they will end up going to LSU/Bama but he had a good sell. Really fun one to watch today. Gonna be a fun build up to that huge game with Penn State. Biggest Gopher game in a long time. TCF should be rocking.

Good to get out of that one with a win. Bemidji was the hungrier team, the more urgent team, and the team that executed better for about 50ish minutes tonight. UND just seemed a half second slow with everything for most of the night. Nobody really had a great game but I thought Mismash and Blaisdell had some solid play as far as forwards go. Caulfield was solid in his limited opportunities too. For as good as Hain was watching him opening weekend he was non-existent tonight. I don't think the line changes tonight helped him out at all. I think I'd keep him with at least one of Mismash, Michaud, and Pinto. Think Frisch needs to be a little bit more aggressive with his offense. Seemed a little hesitant at times and I think part of it is just being more confident and trusting yourself. Had a couple solid shot looks where he chipped it back in the corner instead.

Gophers just have to take care of business against Maryland. Maryland has a ton of speed so the defense will have to really tackle well in space. Especially with the Gophers top tackler this year Kamal Martin leaving the game against Rutgers and looking like he will miss at the very least this next week. The Gophers offense has to be able to take advantage of a Terp defense that hasn't been good though. The Wisconsin loss was definitely a nice surprise yesterday for sure.

I'd love for another night game for the Gophers but it sounds like that probably won't happen. Apparently they were interviewing an associate AD pregame yesterday and he said they've been told it won't be a night game. If I were to guess I'd say it will be Fox's Big noon game and while it would be cool to be their focus game a 11 a.m. start wouldn't help the atmosphere at all.