panndder -> RE: Gopher Basketball (Mens) (2/20/2011 10:19:08 AM)
|
The MSU and WI games we might have lost by 17 points, but we were within a possession with less than a minute to go in both and started fouling. That's how a close game can be lost by 10. If you want to blame Nolen for this basic coaching strategy, so be it. Furthermore I've never argued that Nolen is anything approaching a scoring juggernaut (although he shoots the 3 at a clip over 30% which isn't horrid for a PG, so I'd almost call him underrated based upon what I'm hearing here) but he does make our offense click. He's also the guy who prevents the oher team's best guard from totally lighting us up (see: Battle, Talor). As for freshmen PG in the league, there are none I'd rather have this year over a healthy Nolen. Craft is starting to figure it out and could very well be a star, but he still makes a lot of freshman mistakes. Nolen DID play very well against Purdue, but that was hardly a career game. He has a lot of career games where he puts the team on his back. See: Louisville, Butler, North Carolina, West Virginia (off the top of my head). If Nolen's not the style of point guard you like to watch that is fine, but I knew (and a cursory viewing of a few games has proven) that this season's success post-Joseph relied on Nolen.
|
|
|
|