Gopher Mens Hoops

[Dotch]

Total stinkeroo. What did I say about looking past IL? Stick a fork in their NCAA hopes. Good thing the dog show was on. Was much more entertaining to watch that beagle win as opposed to this pathetic performance. After reverting back to Monson form, can't wait for this group of seniors to leave and get some players on the court who can compete at this level. Keep this up and they won't make the NIT!

[Flaco651]

Probably NIT bound this year, but then a long string of appearances in the Big Dance.

[Scott M]

Pretty sad. Tonight the clock struck midnight, the shoe did not fit, and they will not go dancing. They will not finish the conference season with a winning record. I left with 6 minutes left and a guy next to me left saying "That...was worse than brutal." You are correct my friend.

Illinois is a jekyl and hyde team, no doubt. But you have to beat a team like that at home. No excuses. Illinois is having a rotten year and you have to add to their miseries. Illinois has now won 18 games in a row against Minnesota, dating back to the 1999 Big Ten tournament. That's right, the Illini has beat Minnesota every time they've faced them during this decade. Pretty sad. The last game of the year is in Champlaign, but I don't like the Gophers chances there either.

The gophers can't defend simple pick and rolls, they can't score in the half court, they can't close out shooters under control...scratch that, they can't close out shooters period...We're playing catch outside the 3 point line while the lane's wide open and meanwhile Illinois is attacking us inside and outside.Where is the defense? Where is the offense? It's pathetic on both sides of the ball.

At halftime the Gophs were down six and I thought they couldn't possibly play with less sense of urgency, direction, or emotion. But that was false. They got stomped in the second half. Thirty seconds in they were down 4...then they just let Illinois take them to task inside and outside with a variety of wide open looks. This defense is just atrophying in front of us! Wisconsin will destroy the Gophers this weekend on the heels of their home loss last weekend to Purdue. I don't have to rehash how they are doing the same things wrong but what is happening? When does the sun shine on this team? They aren't going this year, they are most likely too young next year...maybe they'll make their run in 2010?

Sorry to drag everyone down with me but I got home and after games like this, that you expect to win, you realize that Minnesota is the worst sports landscape in this country, bar none. Other than two world series' when I was in elementary school, what has any MN team accomplished?

Allright, I promise to try and find some positive things, since we are looking into NIT or next year, quite possibly the same thing to most people. I mean, let's be honest, the gophers aren't winning more than 2-3 games over the next 4 weeks so we might as well try and find some silver linings. Here goes my first attempt. Another great game from Damian Johnson. 9 points, 10 rebounds. Effortless. This guy is a heck of a talent and will be a starter next year. Can't wait to break things down and see next year's freshmen, but this guy can play. What an athlete.

*********************

If you want to root for a team with a great coach, scrappy players, and a tough defense, root for Tubby Smith and his Golden Gophers Matt Painter and his Purdue Boilermakers. THey are going to win the conference as the second worst rebounding team, the 8th best shooting team in the conference. How do they win? Heart and defense. Anybody see Robbi Hummel tonight? I wish every kid played the game the way he did. Unbelieveable.

How about Billy Gillespie's Kentucky Wildcats? 11 points in the first half, one of the largest losses in school history. They're 12-10 on the season...guess things could be worse Gopher fans.

[Willy]

Chise,

A little frustrated are ya?

That was a terrible game. Boy, how can they get manhandled like that at the barn by a bad team?

The 3 seniors we have are a bunch of stiffs and make it hard to watch the team. They have no heart or desire to win. If I was Tubby I would sit Dan Coleman the rest of the year just because he is the most talented player on the team by far, but NEVER and I mean NEVER trys hard or shows up in games we need to win.

One thing that did concern me last night was that it seemed like Tubby was largely uninterested. IMO, he needs to be out on the floor and getting in the face of the upper classmen that are dragging the rest of the team down.

NIT here we come! I can't wait to watch them play in the toilet bowl of college basketball that is the NIT. YUCK!!

[Dotch]

No doubt, Tubby wasn't "on" people last night. I was a little afraid he was gonna go sit in the bleachers ala Ricky Birdsong the way they were playing. I'd have a hard time starting any of the seniors this next game, just to send the message that "I'm done screwin' around with you head cases. Rot on the bench until you can demonstrate some real leadership and you're ready to play. We'll play people who play with some heart & desire. Your choice." Then of course what do I know? After they took the field hockey sticks away from us when we were playing basketball during wrestling practice, (our version of cross training) it was the beginning of the end. Gotta admit, that sure was a nice looking beagle that won that Westminster dog show last nite.

[Scott M]

Hey, there were in it for a half against Wisconsin, even within the last 7 minutes. A couple more playmakers on that team and they would have stolen a win in the Kohl Center.

[Dotch]

Just hope they don't phone in their remaining schedule although I don't think Tubby will let them. With Michigan upsetting Ohio State over the weekend, they better be ready to play better than they were against Illinois.

[tisosy11]

Badgers looked absolutely atrocious that game. Gophers got them on an off night and couldn't capitalize...Tubby needs a HUGE road win to get his team into the big show (and maybe more than 1)

[ozzie]

the gophs can always win the big 10 tourny to get in!!

[tisosy11]

Thats what it will take and that thing is a crapshoot some years...I think MSU wins the Big Ten tourny though and begin their late year acceleration a little later than usual...

[Scott M]

Great start, great finish. McKenzie was just feeling it. Horrible rebounding and too many drives on the defensive side. McKenzie flat out carried them. 26 points, a career high. Ties the Gopher high for made 3 point field goals. He had to, since the team turned the ball over 17 times, knocked a couple rebounds out of bounds, and overall didn't take care of the ball. Flat performances from most of the other players. Tollackson chipped in 12 with 50% FT shooting. Big Jon Williams had 7 points and 8 rebounds. He pulled down some boards in the second half when the Gophers pulled away.

I guess I can say I'm glad the team won, because they let the Wolverines into this game time and again and let them hang around all game. The team and most of it's players are just too inconsistent. If I went back to the end of last year and asked myself if I would be happy with 16 wins in the third week of February, I probably would have been ecstatic, so maybe its best to think long term. It's just dissapointing to me to look back earlier in the year when they were playing hard and giving fans false hopes about sneaking into the tourney. They would have to win out and win a Big Ten tourney game to get in. Not inconceivable, but beyond the inconsistencies of this year's team.

As for Michigan if Beilein can recruit anyone this team will be decent next year. Sims and Harris are a heck of a tandem.

[tisosy11]

Well, the gophers never should of gave anyone hope about a tourny run.

They beat who their suppose to beat most of the time...lots of wins with lots of cupcakes.

They lose to who their suppose to lose to. They needed at least one and maybe two premier games on their resume and that might not help with some of the performances they put up.

Please see illini game and 1st badger game...

[ozzie]

ummmmmm......I think you are forgeting that this team won like no games last year with virtually the same squad......I am impressed with any big 10 win they get.....NCAA tourny talk is just to get you excited....NIT here comes Tubby's kids!!!

[Willy]

Ozzie, yes they did, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't have.

The gophers are doing and playing about like they should be. Not good, not bad, they are an average team with average to below average players.

I think Tubby is doing a pretty good job and I am pumped to see his guys get here next year. NIT doesn't excite me unless they are in the final 4. Lots of teams that don't want to be there and not alot of effort is usually put forth in the first few rounds of the NIT.

March Madness is where it's at. Hopefully we are on the right track and can start expecting it, rather than being shocked when we get in.

[Dotch]

Had to chuckle when the ESPN announcers were talking about how cold it was (sure seemed warmer to me during choretime) and also about what will happen when the seniors are gone. Obviously they had not seen them play in previous games. Michigan had started to gel the past 3 games so was concerned they would give the Gophers problems. They did and the Gophers were their own worst enemy at times, throwing the ball away and standing around when someone would get trapped. Westbrook appeared to have a particulary off night. The McKenzie performance was special. That prayer he put up before the shot clock expired was unreal.

Have to say I've been overall happy with the progress they Gophers have made this season. Would not have expected them to go to the NCAA's from the start although they had a shot at it if they'd won some critical games. Winning out in the Big Ten tourney? Maybe next year. Looks like THE Ohio State University will be an NIT team too, especially if they lose a bunch of their remaining games. Entirely possible as their schedule is nasty. Given the talent they have that surprises me somewhat. If anyone in the Big Ten should be disappointed it's a Buckeye fan. The Gophs should beat Penn St. A win against the Buckeyes at The Barn would be sweet, and then to avenge their earlier loss against IL would be icing on the cake. All bets are off on beating anyone else before the Big 10 tournament but if they do, that sure won't hurt Tubby's recruiting. While the NIT's not a great tournament, it's still Gophers basketball being played vs. flipping through the reality show garbage trying to find something interesting to watch.

[Scott M]

Missed the game while returning from Slabfest, but I guess they played well enough to win against Penn State. The AP report wasn't very well written-it was written in a Minnesota homer way. Pretty poor first half, cold shooting, and passive defense. Same old song and dance.

Scary to think how close the Gophers are to the tournament. Score an upset here or there, take care of Illinois at home...they could have done that, but quite honestly the product has always been missing a few pieces. Both Ohio State and Minnesota have 17 wins on today's date and both finish with very challenging opponents in the remaining four games. One of the two teams will tough it out and get the fifth and final NCAA spot. My vote is Ohio State.

[Great Outdoors]

Don't usually get involved in BB discussions, but think that Tubby has done a very nice job in his first season at Minnesota.

The team he inherited, well, it is what it is!!

Once he gets some recruiting in, look out. (IMO)

These current players have done well, and Gopher BB future looks bright.

[bassNspear]

they didnt give up today, thats what i got out of the game. I was watching it today while the race was on, but from what i watched, they came back from being down, and when penn got close, they battled back to always keep the lead. I think tubby himself has changed this program for the better, and i think they will be getting better year after year.

[Dotch]

The first half was a little annoying, especially after Penn St. knocked down 6 of 7 from the 3 pt. line. Gophers free throw shooting was atrocious and trying to keep pace with Penn St. from beyond the arc just got them in trouble deeper. The Gophs came back just before half after being down 13 at one point to pull within 2 going into the locker room. Second half was mostly Gophers until the last few minutes after leading by 8 for most of it. Points in the paint and shutting down Penn St. from the outside were the keys. They let up on the gas for just a little late in the half and let Penn St. back in it. They did the right thing though from that point on. They took care of the ball, got the right people on the floor for Penn. St. to foul (those who can actually shoot better than 50% from the line) and won going away from the foul line. Westbrook played a tremendous game.

I agree, if they take 5 teams from the Big Ten, Ohio St. should make it based on RPI and strength of schedule alone. Watching them yesterday though, they played like the Gophers have played when losing close games to Indiana, Michigan St. and the game I missed seeing against WI. They used some poor judgement and faded in the waning minutes of the game. That and WI is nothing to sneeze at. Ohio St. is beatable even by the Gophers. Just curious, what happens if both teams lose all but one of their remaining games, particularly if Ohio St.'s win comes against MN and MN's lone win should come against IL? Just wondering if 18 wins are enough to get one or the other into the Big Dance? At any rate, it will be fun to see what transpires.

[Willy]

If that happens Dotch, neither will get in.

I really don't think the comittee cares how many get in from each conference. They go by each individual resume. They will take someone else before they let a sub-par team in from the bigten. I will bet it is: Wisky, Mich St., Indiana, and Purdue and that will be all the teams that get in from the BT, unless someone besides those teams wins the BT tourney. Could happen, as it has in the past.

[Scott M]

A loss at Purdue. I think these seniors are going to make Tubby pull out his hair. His post game interviews are full of sentence fragments where he just stops and loses his concentration, then launches into another sentence of what his players are doing wrong. The poor guy is just stymied.

I feel for him. He has a lot of guys with low basketball IQs. I would take a Robbie Hummel over a Spencer Tollackson on hoops IQ any day of the week. I remember Bob Knight once saying good basketball players don't win game, smart basketball players win games. The Gophers have a lot of dim-witted guys out there.

Same song and dance. I was pleased to see them pick up their game before halftime, but they must have went in the tank in the second half.

Gotta win out starting with Ohio State on Saturday. I'd at least like to see the team get to 20 wins, which they ought to do if they get in the NIT.

[Willy]

What gets me though is that with as good of a coach that Tubby is, which I am not disputing, you would think he would find a way to pull of a big win or two. Right now they haven't had any.

I know it is alot to expect of Tubby to win lots with this group of players and they have been competitive even against the top flight teams in the Big Ten.(Something that Monson never did)

Also, they have won quite a few games this year.

However, just thought the "Tubby factor" might lead to us stealing a few games that we shouldn't have won. Hopefully once his hired guns get here next year they can begin to take that next step and win some games that they aren't supposed to.

[tisosy11]

yeah - but he does have little talent...can't expect the big wins year 1...that is rare.

You will see in the next coming years that he will get a BIG win...just have to be patient...and find guys that can make layups!!!

[Dotch]

Amen! Where the heck were Tallackson and Coleman hiding after the first half? McKenzie came out and clanged some off the rim but at least his name was called, until he fouled out that is. Some interesting officiating once again (tickle fouls and no-calls) but hey, that's the Big Ten and both teams got the same treatment. Gotta deal with it, play ball and not whine. Nolen hustled, so did Johnson, Westbrook played fair and the rest of the team, well, dunno where they were but they sure didn't score. Just when it looks like they're starting to see the light, they come out and lay an egg in the second half. Went to the barn to check for lambs afterwards and came back in just as grumpy. I hope this season hasn't made Tubby think twice about his decision to come here. Nothing would suck worse than to see him bolt and go to Indiana ala Lou Hoax. Although his name hasn't been mentioned as a candidate that I've seen, nothing surprises me anymore. Thinking like that tells me I'm spending too much time in the barn.

While I'd love to see them win out, would be great just to see them pick off Ohio St. and avenge that loss to IL, do well in the tournament, then go deep or better yet, win the NIT.

[Dotch]

Yeeessssssss!!! Great win today over THE Ohio St. University! McKenzie was unconscious in the 2nd half but they played as a team and kept the lid on things after they got the lead. Cut down on turnovers after the half and pretty much contained Butler for the game. Made my day after seeing too many of these slip through our fingers. They owed this one to Tubby and themselves. Sweet way for the seniors to go out on their last home game and remember their careers here.

[pearllakebulls]

you hit the nail on the head with the reduction of turnovers. If they can just keep that up they could win the next couple games, then win a couple games in the big ten tourney and who knows, they could back in to the NCAA's! Stranger things have happened.

[Scott M]

11 turnovers in the first half, 3 in the second half. Tale of two halves.

Thad Matta just gave this game to the Gophers. He had the more athletic squad. His zone press was phenomonal, but his half court zone stunk against a team that wasn't going to beat you inside anyways...The stats mislead him into thinking it was smart to continue the halfcourt zone from the first half (11 turnovers, when the press caused more than the zone) into the second. So what did his zone do? Gave Westbrook, Hoff, and McKenzie tons of wide open looks and let the Gophers beat the Buckeyes on the glass. The gophers don't beat anyone on the boards...Huge mistake running the zone.

Overall an impressive win but not a "signature" or "quality" win needed for the NCAA tourney. Ohio State is freefalling and their early easy schedule is catching up on them. Ohio State will fall by the wayside with their remaining schedule and now I think 4 Big Ten teams get in. Just think, if Minnesota took care of business at home with Indiana or MSU, or Illinois just two weeks ago, they probably would have a shot. They can get to 20 wins and take a Big Ten tourney game and they won't get in. Win out, take a big ten tourney game and they probably still won't get in (Equivalent to the previous sentence BTW). Not enough good quality wins.

Impressive game from McKenzie...That's two in a row for him. Even though these seniors are super inconsistent, it will be hard to replace their scoring input next year. I'd venture a guess they are upwards of 40% of the scoring punch on this team.

Tubby actually got on some guys. That was good to see. Hopefully he can get a stretch run out of these guys. Revenge game for the Indiana debacle and the Illinois home beat down.

Pretty good team defense and really good rebounding. Butler and Koufos got theirs (Anybody see Koufos Sprite that dunk? He's really underachieved in his first year in Columbus) but nobody else did much else.

What's the deal with OSU's shorts? They were more like capri's! They touched the calf. I know in the NBA you can get a technical if your shorts are below the knee, apparently that's not the case in the Big Ten or NCAAs. I'm all about long shorts but those things looked silly.

On to Indiana and Illinois for the Gophs. Good luck, they'll need that and more to go Dancin. They would be an underdog 10-14 seed, in and done team anyways. I for one don't want to see them get trounced.

[tisosy11]

Gophs win nice - need to win er out!

[Scott M]

69-55 Final. Last night I watched the Buckeyes beat Purdue at home in overtime in a game where they never gave up and never quit. Maybe OSU will still go dancing. I don't have BTN so I missed tonight's game but it looks like they never had a chance. Tollackson finishes with 0 points, the only guys that did anything were Coleman and McKenzie. The team shot 10-17 from the free throw line. Gordon gets 20 points and goes 12-14 from the free throw line.

Couldn't beat a team when they needed to, when it mattered, when it would have been a quality win. Story of 07/08. Hope the young guys next year don't have the same non-finishing traits.

The least they can do now is win a few NIT games since they won't be playing any powerhouse teams.

[Dotch]

Caught the last few minutes of the first half after chores and watched all of the 2nd half. They played better than the score indicated but as you said lost out at the free throw line coming down the stretch. When IN is in the double bonus canning free throws like they did, they have only 5 fouls with several minutes left in the game, your shot blocker Damien Johnson is on the bench with 4 fouls and you have to go with a shorter line up and hope you can shoot 3's and jumpers on the Hoosiers home court, you are toast. Really thought the Gophs had a shot with about 7 minutes left when they actually went ahead. But alas, 'twas not to be. MN played with heart kept it close and held IN well below their season average, but you win with talent and that difference was obvious tonight. Hope the Gophers can return the favor and beat up on the Illini on Saturday. Need to go deep into the NIT and what the hay, win the dumb thing.

Have a silly question though and maybe someone knows the answer. A lot of balls coming long off the rim like superballs tonight. Have noticed this other times in games played at Indiana that the rims appear to be fairly "live". In listening to broadcasters while watching the games played at the Barn, the rims are reputed to be "soft" and appear to give more. Is there supposed to be a standard resistance those rims are set to? Are they ever checked? Just curious.