Minnesota

[propar80]

Re: Minnesota

So look on the bright side of things. I'm going to sping this to make it sound not so bad. With out one of the best players in the cointry and our 6th man were out going against a top 15 team. So from the frist half to the second half we increased our scoring by 26 points and held the goofers to 8 points less from the first to the second half. So that means we had a 34 point swing in our favor. They didn't increase the lead on us and we socred more points this year then last year if I recall.All that said it doesn't make this loss feel any better.

Good try...with Wolters and Prince we would've maybe kept it under 20 points. They would've just kept their starters in longer. We're an average team right now and this TEAM needs to figure things out and find some damn toughness. Sorry for the honesty. Go Jacks!!

[witness]

Re: Minnesota

Good try...with Wolters and Prince we would've maybe kept it under 20 points. They would've just kept their starters in longer. We're an average team right now and this TEAM needs to figure things out and find some damn toughness. Sorry for the honesty. Go Jacks!!

Maybe under 20??? They were down by 24 at half... Wolters makes this more than 4pts better. Losing by 24 on the road against the #15 team in the country without our best player and 6th man and how can you say we lose by 20 if they played? Watching the first half I saw many Minnesota pts off TOs which would have been cut down considerably if Nate was playing and the offense would have flowed better.

[joeboo22]

Re: Minnesota

Its not so much having Wolters and Prince out as is its having 2 of the more experienced ball handlers out, and having a true freshman take the bulk of the minutes running the point. I wish Nagy would have had Carlson run the point instead, and I wish they would have slowed it down a little more, but Bittle had 7 TO's, and it seemed as if he was having problems setting up the offense (I was unable to watch the game, but from the radio that was the impression I got). Which again as a true freshman against a top 20 team you are going to have those problems.

And then changing the style you are playing, and taking the ball out of the freshman's hands doesn't help the team improve at all in the long run, as this game really doesn't mean much (especially with 2 main players not suiting up) and you probably want to run your style of play whether that means losing by 10 or 30.

Ryan James who is the Rivals.com guy of Minnesota was at the game and was somewhat live tweeting it and had good things to say about SDSU. Also from the sounds of it, both on the radio and twitter, Minnesota shot lights out, now some of it again was transition points and points off of turnovers, but they hit a bunch of threes, and had been struggling from the arch most of the season.

[goon]

Re: Minnesota

Sdsu defenses seem to allow cold shooting teams to go lights out against us. At least at frost other teams the last few years having been scorching the nets like in years past. Was it ou or oru or probably both a few years ago when kangas was around seemed they like shooting in frost and against sdsu anywhere.

[discoDancinJackrabbit]

Re: Minnesota

Definitely. Someone mentioned earlier that we have the same talent level as U of M. It is crystal clear that is not the case. Even with Wolters, we needed at least a couple of others to have the best games of their careers in order to win. It sure would have been fun to see what Wolters could do in terms of personal scoring though.

I know ! Just to see how he matches up to that kind of talent and athleticism is interesting in itself.. Usually he does pretty dang good and a fascinating thing is how he would do on a team surrounded by elite level athletes. I genuinely tell myself that he has that NBA type stuff

[6-4-3 Jackrabbit]

Re: Minnesota

Is it fair to be disappointed when Nate doesn't play? Disappointed is the only word I can use to sum up the game last night.

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: Minnesota

Nagy: Disappointed. Feels they didn't compete, was upset at halftime. Have a lot of guys that don't play with confidence. Aren't playing to the level he thinks they can play. Again says didn't compete. Got a look at what this team will look like next year, didn't like what he saw.

Only so much complaining, look in the mirror, as a coach, what has he done to contribute to this? Practices not good, he's gotta do a better job. Wonders why they aren't competing. Has to point finger at himself.

On Bittle: Jake's a tough kid, tough play to throw him in, not pointing fingers at him, great kid tough competitor.

Fiegen: He's the rock, most consistent, Says Jacobson is another tough kid, Nagy says he hasn't seen anybody dive on the floor this year ... Need more energy

Need to take a look at this game, frustrated with not seeing things he knows they are capable of doing. Doesn't care who they are playing, just not seeing it, need to get it straightened out.

He says Nate probably won't play Thursday, doesn't know about Prince.

Without Nate and Prince, he says they are capable of playing way better and competing. Need to watch film, etc.

Was at the game.

Bold. 2 minutes into the game pretty much everyone except Tony looked like they wanted to be anywhere in the world except Williams Arena last night.

Additional thoughts:
-Maybe the best game of Tony's career (not just offensively). #33 Rodney Williams usually gets about 3 Sports Center-like dunks a game, he appeared visibly frustrated much of the game and was held to 2 points and 2 rebounds. Well below his 13-6 averages.
-Jordan ended the game with 17, but was SHUT DOWN until late in the game.
-Chad and Brayden were willing/able to take shots in the first half. Besides them, guys were looking for someone to pass to to take a shot.

I'm disappointed in the effort, not the outcome. We played harder against Minnesota they year we won 6 games. I feel like this could have been a 60 point loss if they kept their foot on the gas.

Only comment I'll make on coaching: Nagy has repeatedly said when he stops yelling at you, be concerned because he doesn't care anymore. He wasn't doing a whole lot of yelling last night. Purely my opinion, but I think the coaching staff gave up on this game once Nate got hurt and the players followed suit.

[propar80]

Re: Minnesota

Maybe under 20??? They were down by 24 at half... Wolters makes this more than 4pts better. Losing by 24 on the road against the #15 team in the country without our best player and 6th man and how can you say we lose by 20 if they played? Watching the first half I saw many Minnesota pts off TOs which would have been cut down considerably if Nate was playing and the offense would have flowed better.

If that's your take then so be it. Last night without Wolters and how we played...UM LET this be a 24 point game...but if it makes you feel better to think they couldn't of beat us by 40 if they wanted to last night then great. I'm just saying this team has a long ways to go...the Dak St. Game will be interesting. Will we be satisfied with a 10-15 point win? I wont but I'm sure a bunch of us on here will be. Go Jacks!!

[jacks1]

Re: Minnesota

Maybe under 20??? They were down by 24 at half... Wolters makes this more than 4pts better. Losing by 24 on the road against the #15 team in the country without our best player and 6th man and how can you say we lose by 20 if they played? Watching the first half I saw many Minnesota pts off TOs which would have been cut down considerably if Nate was playing and the offense would have flowed better.

You do realize that the Gophs could've 40-balled us last night if they wanted to...right?

Tony has clearly stepped up his game this year. Nate will be Nate when he is healthy again. Not sure how much the others have 'improved'. Brayden is struggling right now...that is an understatement. Chad only shoots spot up 3's. I was hoping he would develop a back-to-the-basket game this year and maybe more off screens (ala Sargent). Nagy sounds genuinely concerned and that worries me...

[Southeast]

Re: Minnesota

...the Dak St. Game will be interesting. Will we be satisfied with a 10-15 point win? I wont but I'm sure a bunch of us on here will be. Go Jacks!!

I agree about the DSU game. Wolters will be sitting out again (I hope) and we'll get a chance to see this team try to deal with that again. Anything less than a 20-point win will be a dissapointment to me at this point. Can the Wolters-less bunch deliver? Based on what I saw last night I am not sure. Honestly, without Wolters I think we would struggle to finish higher than 6th in the Summit this year. The supporting cast (minus Fiegen) has looked THAT bad since half-time in the Alabama game. It is perplexing.

[OldHare]

Re: Minnesota

If that's your take then so be it. Last night without Wolters and how we played...UM LET this be a 24 point game...but if it makes you feel better to think they couldn't of beat us by 40 if they wanted to last night then great. I'm just saying this team has a long ways to go...the Dak St. Game will be interesting. Will we be satisfied with a 10-15 point win? I wont but I'm sure a bunch of us on here will be. Go Jacks!!

It will be time to find out who else on the team wants to be a leader on the floor with Nate on the mend. I would also agree that we need to have a lopsided game with some cohesive and positive flow of game by the Jackrabbits. At this time I will attribute the extra turnovers to the good defense by the Gophers last night. It is a great time to see the supporting cast show their ability. Last night's game was a wakeup for where we need to improve if we hope to compete at the end of this season. Go Jacks!

[SUPERBUNNY]

Re: Minnesota

I watched it, and yeah, we didn't look very good. Agree with what Nagy said, the effort needs to improve. Sure, it sucks that Nate didn't get to go and play healthy. It certainly would've changed the game. At the same time, we were playing the #14 Gophers. That is by far the best gopher team we have played and we caught them on a night when they were shooting well. Our D didn't do much to change it.

They remind me off the football team in that all season long we never really saw a complete game but when they did put it together against Western Illinois, oh baby! These guys have that same thing. They need to pull it together but I have 100% confidence they will. This game was one I had circled on the schedule, and my guess is that the team was really looking forward to it. Time to move past it and focus on the conference grind ahead. That is what matters and how they get back to the NCAA Tournament.

Feel bad for the guys not getting to go to Williams Arena healthy and give that team everything we had. This team is capable of playing with anyone, I truly believe that.

SUPERBUNNY

[SDSUAlum08]

Re: Minnesota

Yes, it was very unfortunate that Wolters didn't play yesterday (and Prince); however, until the rest of the team gets their act together they won't have a chance to win the Summit League, let alone an NCAA tournament game. There's a lot of time left to get it figured out, but tons of improvement is needed. Nate is a once in a generation player for State and if he has no one around him playing consistently EVERY NIGHT they won't do anything that actually matters. There is zero depth on this team and that's a major problem. The team needs a couple other guys to step up and it's not happening.

[bigticket1]

Re: Minnesota

Only comment I'll make on coaching: Nagy has repeatedly said when he stops yelling at you, be concerned because he doesn't care anymore. He wasn't doing a whole lot of yelling last night. Purely my opinion, but I think the coaching staff gave up on this game once Nate got hurt and the players followed suit.

I think it might be the other way around. On the post-game Nagy said what the coaching staff is trying to do with the players obviously isn't working. He also said the only way it will get better is if the players decide they want it to get better. He complimented Jacobson for getting on the floor after a loose ball and that it was one of the first times that had happened all season. I don't know if Griff was what it took to get that kind of effort last year,but the coaching staff obviously believes it isn't there yet this season.

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: Minnesota

I think it might be the other way around. On the post-game Nagy said what the coaching staff is trying to do with the players obviously isn't working. He also said the only way it will get better is if the players decide they want it to get better. He complimented Jacobson for getting on the floor after a loose ball and that it was one of the first times that had happened all season. I don't know if Griff was what it took to get that kind of effort last year,but the coaching staff obviously believes it isn't there yet this season.

You are definitely entitled to you opinion, and I agree with Jacobson and an overall lack of hustle, as well as the players need to turn it around. All I know is our normally vocal coach sat with his elbows on his knees most of the night. He rarely even got up to jaw at officials. Maybe he was feeling under the weather.

I think there were two people on our bench who wanted any part of Minnesota last night: one was wearing a sweatsuit, the other has red hair. Even during our 6 win season, I don't remember the guys taking the court at the Barn looking almost scared.

This team has very little confidence right now, IMO. Time to get some swagger going.