Osenieks and Eliason looking like different players from a year ago

The frontcourt has long been considered to be the Gophers' liability. At the start of the year, there simply wasn't enough size, there weren't enough bodies and wasn't enough experience in the group.

All of that will still present big challenges to overcome once the Gophers get into the meatier part of the schedule.

But on Thursday, with the Gophers undermanned in the game before the Maui Invitational, which the team left for today, the Minnesota frontcourt seemed able and eager to pick up the slack.

Eliason effectively played the role of rim protector and flirted with a triple-double, recording 11 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks (a career high). Osenieks had 14 points and five rebounds (12 points and five rebounds in the first half, before getting into foul trouble). Both moved well with and without the ball and had good defensive positioning, despite that Osenieks had never played center before (and only had one day to learn the position in practice).

The rest of the frontcourt was in street clothes. Joey King sat out because of a fractured jaw sustained in Tuesday's game, and Mo Walker served the fifth game of a six-game suspension for violating university policy.

Afterward, coach Richard Pitino gushed a little.

"Oto and Elliott were tremendous," he said. "Elliott, certainly, almost getting a triple-double. He continues to grow, continues to get better. When you're playing without two guys who play significant minutes, [that's impressive]. And then Oto was very good offensively. I just love the confidence that he's playing with right now. I keep telling him don't worry about anything just play aggressively. He's showing that. To do that without two guys that are going to play major, major minutes and do it with all the type of odd lineups that we played with tonight -- I mean, Oto played the five, and that's tough to do because he never practices at the five. It's not like we had three days to prepare. We only had one day to prepare. That shows his basketball IQ."

The Gophers' frontcourt still is lacking girth and experience, areas that will likely be exploited down the road. But what Pitino and the rest of the Minnesota staff should be credited for is the way they've gotten their players to perform early on. The coaches embraced what they had and have absolutely gotten the most out of it so far. To the players' credit, they've bought into the system and the game plan completely, and done the work to improve.

When the players talk about Pitino, it explains some of the impact. Osenieks has expressed how much more comfortable he feels this year after the coaching change, and last night, Eliason explained just how much he enjoys the new system.

"When we first started scrimmaging each other, you kind of got the feeling, 'Man, this is pretty cool,'" Eliason said. "When I first came in, I wasn't sure how it was going to be but the more I learned, the more I talked to coach Pitino, the more we played, I thought, wow, this is a great style for me. I'm going to get out in run, especially if I get into shape, lose a little weight. Once you buy into the system you really appreciate it a little more, have a little fun, and I'm having a blast."

Both of those sentiments, from Osenieks and Eliason, are showing on the court. The pair took their jobs seriously and played with great energy and intensity. In the past couple of weeks, the two frontcourt players seem to have grown tremendously and are exuding confidence on the court -- they look like different players from the ones we saw a year ago. Give the players the credit for doing the work, and the coaches the credit for connecting in a very effective way.

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