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Minnesota is not having a very good year, and player injuries have hurt them even more than expected.
Minnesota started off 2-5 then Dan Monson left and Jim Molinari took over.
they are 7-12 since then including 3-9 in the Big Ten, right about where they were expected to be, and maybe even a little better, as they are presently in 9th place in the 11 member Big Ten, and they were picked to finish 10-11th.
But I ran into Coach Molinari who was in Peoria last night to catch one of his daughter's school functions, and I had a chance to talk with him.
Being a head coach is a very time consuming job and Jim is, as usual, pouring his whole life and effort into it.
He was actually pretty proud of how his Gophers played Wednesday night against Wisconsin even in a loss.
The Gophers hung within 2-4 points for most of the game....but with 5 minutes to go and MN behind 57-53, the whistles started blowing and Wisconsin started going to the line and ended up 21-31 from the FT line while Minnesota was 14-18.
Jim lamented the fact that the Gophers are pretty thin in the paint and when their only real big guy fouled out with 8 minutes to go, the Badgers had too much advantage.
Minnesota has no seniors, so they get everyone back next year, but they need to score big in recruiting.
But when the conversation turned to Bradley, Coach Mo had nothing but really kind words. He asked about my observations, but he said he really enjoyed their style of play and had gotten a couple chances to see them. He stated several times how impressed he was that Coach Les has done a very fine job and has an outstanding system for the players to excel in. It is clear that he still loves the BU team and fans (even after the way he was treated by some.) As always, I really enjoyed talking with Mo again.
PS-- they (Minnesota) have a huge game coming up Saturday against Ohio State (at home) then next week, they go to Indiana.
Coach Mo is optimistic and assures we will see a good effort in those games.
Minnesota started off 2-5 then Dan Monson left and Jim Molinari took over.
they are 7-12 since then including 3-9 in the Big Ten, right about where they were expected to be, and maybe even a little better, as they are presently in 9th place in the 11 member Big Ten, and they were picked to finish 10-11th.
But I ran into Coach Molinari who was in Peoria last night to catch one of his daughter's school functions, and I had a chance to talk with him.
Being a head coach is a very time consuming job and Jim is, as usual, pouring his whole life and effort into it.
He was actually pretty proud of how his Gophers played Wednesday night against Wisconsin even in a loss.
The Gophers hung within 2-4 points for most of the game....but with 5 minutes to go and MN behind 57-53, the whistles started blowing and Wisconsin started going to the line and ended up 21-31 from the FT line while Minnesota was 14-18.
Jim lamented the fact that the Gophers are pretty thin in the paint and when their only real big guy fouled out with 8 minutes to go, the Badgers had too much advantage.
Minnesota has no seniors, so they get everyone back next year, but they need to score big in recruiting.
But when the conversation turned to Bradley, Coach Mo had nothing but really kind words. He asked about my observations, but he said he really enjoyed their style of play and had gotten a couple chances to see them. He stated several times how impressed he was that Coach Les has done a very fine job and has an outstanding system for the players to excel in. It is clear that he still loves the BU team and fans (even after the way he was treated by some.) As always, I really enjoyed talking with Mo again.
PS-- they (Minnesota) have a huge game coming up Saturday against Ohio State (at home) then next week, they go to Indiana.
Coach Mo is optimistic and assures we will see a good effort in those games.
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