Gopher Mens Hoops

[Kyle Sandberg]

I'll make mine short and sweet because the previous post covered it all. Overall, I thought the men played really good. I guess it just not expected to beat a number ten team but I'm glad they stuck with them and weren't blown out. Only caught about 3/4 of the game but I'm looking foward to what Tubby can offer this team in a couple years.

[bassNspear]

a good team can learn from what happend, and turn it into a positive, and i think tubby can do that with this team or any team he is running.

[Kyle Sandberg]

Who and when do the gophers play next? Are they gonna be on any local stations anytime soon. I don't have the Big 10 and would love to see them play again.

[walleyewizard]

K-Dawg, the Gophs have Michigan St. on Sunday at 3:00. Their next game on ESPN is against Iowa on Feb. 9. Man these guys are fun to watch this year. Hopefully they will get over the hill on sunday and finish the job with a W.

[Kyle Sandberg]

Thanks for the reply walleyewizard. It sure is fun to watch them.

[walleyeking19]

I have tickets for the badger vs. gopher game in madison. that will be a fun game. but the badgers will win because they are amzing!!

[koonie]

AS OF RIGHT NOW OUR RECRUITING CLASS FOR NEXT YEAR IS CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE TOP 15. The future looks bright as well.

[bassNspear]

thats all about tubby right there. hes bringing this program back to where it belongs.

[Scott M]

It certainly is a talented recruiting class. Here are a few rankings from the early recruiting period:

Minnesota class of 2008-09 rankings:

Hoop Scoop #7

Hoopmaster #11

ESPN #19

Rivals #20

Scout Hoops doesn't have MN in the top 25. Maybe they don't score JUCOs as high or something.

[Scott M]

Brutal game this afternoon in the Barn. A game where I just left disgusted. I flat out left mad…How can this team not know how to handle its business at Williams? This is your homecourt and you can’t take care of business? If they are serious about getting to the Big Dance, they had to win one of these 2 home games against the best of the big ten. They aren’t a team dead in the water by any means, but a win in one of these games certainly strengthens the resume. Quality wins are really important. I knew this would be the worst stretch of games on their schedule, finishing on Saturday by going to face an upstart Ohio State team that will probably battle Minnesota and maybe another team or two for the Big Tens last bid to the Big Dance.

The game never got off to a good start. Guys are crying about fouls, getting pushed around on offense and defense. Honestly, you can’t blame the refs, they set the tone and you follow their lead. If they let you play, play. Frontcourt beasts like Matt Trannon and Paul Davis are gone. MSU still have a couple big guys, but they are there to set picks and rebound, and you should know that going in. Attack the rim hard! Instead Spencer and the other forwards are trying to dipsy-doodle around and throw up little shots instead of powering it in, and playing tough on both ends of the floor.

I heard all this talk about how the Gophers are in such great shape, while maybe they are slimmer and quicker than last year, but they aren’t in MSU shape. State ran them ragged in transition. I watched guys that didn’t even turn around on defense when they hit halfcourt. That’s just fundamental. Layup drills for MSU. That’s always been what State does, quick inbounds and start the fast break. It was disgusting. Guys are jogging up and down the court with only a couple guys sprinting. Gettting beat to both ends. How are things going to get better conditioning-wise when the team can’t practice as often with classes starting up this week?

And the same problems with not knowing what to do on offense. Standing, high screens, whittling the shot clock down and then taking a long jump shot. Tubby’s gotta do something with this offense. It has to have a purpose and a foundation, particularly in the end of games.

Defense was garbage. More troubles with transition defense. Maybe some of it was conditioning and not getting back, but a lot of it is not picking guys up or stopping the ball in transition. You gotta be able to come down, stop the ball, pick up your man, and defend your basket. If you can’t stop the ball, or leave trailers on the perimeter wide open, or can’t even sprint down you are going to get killed the same way all year long.

They let Neitzel destroy them in the second half. Don’t they practice against a pretty good shooter? Don’t they run Hoffarber off screens in practice to simulate stuff like that? Almost every look Neitzel got in the second half was wide open. Of course he’ll bury those shots. He finished with 19 points on 5-8 three point shooting. Those guards have to play on top of those screens and in the passing lane. If he fades off the screen you can recover, if he curls, you’ve got help…He’s not a backdoor threat at 6’0”. He got all these wide open looks on down screens, back screens, and cross screens. They even ran double picks with their bigs for him. They have a long way to go on defending screens, particularly with the premier shooters in the league.

Most of it is poor defense, but I should acknowledge what a talent Neitzel is at setting screens up. He fakes, he cuts, he is always moving. He’s a great player to study on and off the ball. He leads the country in assist to turnover ratio as MSU’s PG for a reason, and he’s deadly in the 2 guard role or just roaming the perimeter.

McKenzie has a nice game, but only after the game wasn’t in doubt and he got free reign to shoot some threes. Finishes with 20, basically he kept the final score respectable when state took the 10 point lead with a little under 5 minutes to go.

Damien Johnson has a decent game, getting the start and putting up 10 points and 6 boards.

Al Nolen doesn’t play with a deep thigh bruise. I hear it was a game time decision, he dressed and everything. They really missed him. Westbrook plays, and you’d think he had a nice game with a dozen points, but he left Neitzel open all game, turned the ball over 5 times, and had a dribbling convention at the top of the game during Minnesota’s half court sets. I would have liked to see Nolen out there for defensive purposes on Neitzel.

Coleman had a flat game after being so consistent of late. He goes 4-13 for 9 points, and three rebounds. Spencer has 7 points, 6 rebounds, 1-3 from the FT line. Meanwhile MSU’s bigs Naymick and Suton, who together average about 12/13 points and 12/13 boards, go for 19 points and 17 boards combined. How easy the pickings are against this MN frontcourt. Can Ralph Sampson III forego the remainder of his high school senior season and be flown in tomorrow? Minnesota doesn’t get punished on the boards, but they do lose another battle of the glass.

For me there isn’t much to be excited about. Raymar Morgan went off for 31 in East Lansing a couple weeks ago, tonight he scores 9 and is 5-12 abysmal from the FT line. Does that count? Honestly, no one impressed me. Michigan State basically held the lead the whole game, played consistent, and “the barn” crowd never really got into it. Neither did the players. I thought the Gophers played a better all around game against Indiana than they did against Michigan State today. I thought they would have wanted it more, and knowing that State is a physical team, they would have manned up and played tough and pulled it out. But that didn’t happen. You wonder why guys like Dahlmann go to MSU, it’s because they come in to Williams and win every year, and then do the same thing everywhere else. Make no mistake, Michigan State is the model in the Big Ten, has been for right around 10 years now. Competitive each year, 10 consecutive trips to the Big Dance and 4 Final 4’s in that decade span.

Guess we’ll see if this team is gonna roll over and die at Columbus on Saturday, or win and get back to .500 in the conference and get ready to beat up on some Big Ten cellar dwellers and prepare for Bucky. Too early to give up on the team, but I need to see some huge changes in the next game before I can fathom them even being on the bubble come March. They HAVE to win 10 games in the conference to even be in the conversation, to even be on the bubble. That means they can’t lose more than 3 more, and they still have 3 games with ranked opponents, lots of road games, and two games with an Ohio State squad that will be right there at the end of the season. I hope there are some pubs in Ely with the Big Ten Network on Saturday!

[Dotch]

I concur da chise. Thought they definitely played better against Indiana than Michigan State. Having watched enough Gopher hoops over the years, guess I should know better than to get my hopes up. At least Mychal Thompson didn't try to sell me his tickets the year before they had the chance to be something special that season. For some reason though a nagging little man in the back of my mind desperately keeps wanting them to win. The inconsistency that consistently plagued Monson is still with us like the odor in Seinfeld's car. The level of athleticism really shows against a team like MSU too and while the Gophers were definitely more well conditioned than some of their lesser opponents, it was telling yesterday. Tallackson goes about 4 minutes and his shots start falling off and getting blocked. Not getting back on D and not contesting shots will get your arse beat every time. Remains to be seen if the Dahlmann's of the world will continue in numbers to leave the state to play elsewhere but my bet is the chances of them staying with Tubby in place are dramatically improved. It's hard to be patient after what we've been through though isn't it? No doubt, missing Nolen was a blow and no one really picked up the slack. McKenzie somewhat redeemed himself by knocking down the 3's in the second half after putting up one gawd awful attempt in the 1st half. Think Tubby sat him down right after that. Still won't miss him next year. The game wasn't as close as the score indicated. Actually, I'm still wondering who the loud, blood curdling screamer is in the student section. My god, has she got a set of lungs! Heard her at the NDSU game and could even hear her on TV yesterday. In the first half she timed her screams earlier so that Raymar missed from the free throw line but in the second half, sounded like she waited too long. She'll need to work on that. We won't have that luxury on the road against the Buckeyes but just have a hunch this might be their chance to pull off an upset. Hopefully Nolen's bruise will be better. If not, could be another L.

[Willy]

Yep, you guys pretty much summed it up. Seems like the team had a little hangover effect from the game with Indiana. I just listened as I don't have the BT network, but it sounded like Mich St. was in control most of the game.

One thing that I think will help this team next year is to have a few bigs that can play come in. Spencer and DC have to be the softest combo in the league. Both of them need to step up and "win" in these types of games, and usually neither of them do. They are the seniors that should be the leaders, but are not. Seems both of them have a very fickle game that can be taken advantage of by most good teams.

Time will tell, but to me it seems like this team is one step below a legitimate NCAA tourney team. They really have not beaten anyone worth a darn this year. A team that wanted to or will make the dance this year, would have won both of those last 2 games, they were there for the taking. Who knows, maybe they will hang tough and go on a winning streak, but they needed at least one of these 2 games.

[Scott M]

Agree with you both guys. Seems like the Gophers are like one player away still.

You are missing a freshman points guard, and like Jim Souhan pointed out in the Strib, it's like you are missing Jordan or something. Gotta be able to win without a freshman PG.

[Scott M]

I missed the game Saturday night but it sounds like they got stomped in the final 13 minutes.

Now they have to watch out for Ohio State and Purdue. Purdue had some talented kids 2 years ago that are now coming into their own.

The schedule gets a little easier, although you can't take anyone for granted in this league.

[Dotch]

You didn't miss much and stomped pretty well sums it up after spotting Ohio State 11 pts. right out of the chute and coming back to within 3 in the second half. Another almost moral victory against one of the top 4 teams in the Big Ten although Tubby's T was fun to watch. His antics brought back memories of Clem in his heyday. Let's hope the Gophs can get back on track, pick up a win against a Michigan team they should beat and build on that. Talk of an NCAA berth seems to have been dropped from the vocabulary concerning this team and at this point, justifiably so. They still play tough D, cause a lot of havoc with turnovers, just need to capitalize on it.

[mr_jman]

Agreed to the last statement. They play some really good tenacious defense, especially in the front court. They just don't seem to capitalize enough on the other teams turn overs and mistakes. I would also like to see the shoot a better free-throw percentage. Frustrating to get to the line and not make them.

It also seems like they get into foul trouble early in half's. This goes hand in hand with the tough defense so take one or the other I guess. They played tough defense against Ohio State and almost came back but just couldn't get over the top.

This team, if anything, will be a fun one to watch this year, and the next few years could provide some excellent college basketball in Minnesota again!

[Scott M]

Gophers take care of business in Ann Arbor, cruise to the early lead and win by 12 after leading by 22. Nice to have a team like Michigan to play after 3 straight losses. Tubby finally gets to career win #400. Wished I could have seen it, but the Big Ten Network mess continues.

I'll be at Sunday's game with Wisconsin, then race back home for the Super Bowl. Beat Wisconsin and people will start paying attention to the team again.

[hamrej23]

Man, Wisconsin was tough last night against Indiana,

but then again, they were at home.

[Dotch]

Was a nice win for the team and Tubby too. A game they should win but was getting jittery when Michigan trimmed the lead to 10 late in the game. Still having flashbacks from last year apparently but they buckled down and put it away. Free throw shooting was attrocious and there were some silly unforced turnovers that generated "the look" and a substitution from Tubby. McKenzie played well and so did Coleman except from the line. Tallackson had a better game than he's had in awhile and while Abu-Shamala still looks lost sometimes, he had 5 pts. A bunch of these guys will be gone however and am looking forward not so much to seeing if this team makes the NCAA's but to what kind of recruiting class shows up next year. As the announcers said and I'd tend to agree, with the number of high powered coaches in the Big Ten right now, the next several years should be extremely exciting to watch, making it one of the premier conferences if not the premier conference in the country.

Hear the same grumbles from those on cable in town not getting the Big Ten Network. I hope they get that mess straightened out for those who can't see the game. That or I'm going to need to improve my seating capacity! 'Sconni was taking no prisoners last night. Would be great to catch them feeling a little smug in the Barn after whuppin' the Hoosiers.

[Willy]

Gophs cannot beat a good team. They haven't beat anyone I would say is a "big dancer".

Sounded like a good Bucky team took it to them from the start of the game. Tubby even questioned some of his seniors play and desire, stating they were not in the game.

I for one, will be happy to see Spencer, DC, and McKenzie go and get some young talent in here. These guys are good enough to lead this team to an upper half BT finish and a tourney spot, but they never show up during big games when we need them the most. "Senior leaders" - these 3 are not.

I am about ready to write this team off as NIT bound at best. I will still follow them, but a spot in the tourney looks like a longshot when you cannot beat ANY good teams, and lose 3 straight at the barn. Gopher teams that were in the tourney or at least on the bubble in the past didn't let many teams come in and win at the Barn. Heck, I hardly remember them EVER losing there under Clem, even against top ranked teams. This group doesn't protect their home court well enough, something that probably goes back to the Monson years.

[Scott M]

With 5 minutes left in the Wisconsin-Minnesota game, I got up and left. I couldn't take it anymore. Walking the ball up the court, passing and catching way outside the 3 point line. No energy. Someone should have told them they were down by 20. These players have a lot to learn. Some days I just wish Tubby had a little more Bob Knight in him. He gives "the stare" but he doesn't really chew anyone out. We're past the part where these guys need some TLC so they don't lose their confidence, they need to know that playing flat at home is not acceptable. I haven't walked out of a game since the Monson years a couple years ago. It was just bad basketball.

If Michigan State is the class of the Big Ten, Wisconsin is the runner up. You know you aren't getting any easy ones when you play Wisconsin. I watched the Gophers come down, and Wisconsin bumped cutters, bumped guys off picks, showed and recovered on high pick and rolls, overplayed passing lanes, and boxed out pulling down about every Gopher miss. They make you catch the ball 30 feet away from the basket at the least. On the other side of the floor, Wisconsin got dribble penetration and just killed Minnesota with drive and dish or finishing at the rim. Guys behind me are complaining because Wisconsin was shooting 80 and 70% at different times in the first half. Well guess what people? This is division I basketball, if you can't hit an open shot you don't play.

It's halfway through the first half and it's 30-10. That's embarrassing. There was a time when unless you were a top ten ranked team in the nation, you weren't going into Williams Arena and winning. It just wasn't happening. Maybe it was the atmosphere, the mystique, or the players pride...whatever it was, it is gone. These players can't get it done on the court. Same problems-nobody wants to step up, nobody wants to take the shot, poor senior leadership. After 4, and for some of those guys, 5 years, wouldn't you have a clue about winning ways and wanting it? Same problem in the second half. Wisconsin pretty much called off the dogs, but MN is still dawdling with the ball. There was a 4-5 minute period where neither team scored and it stayed a 22 point margin. Wisconsin plays better when games are tight, if they wanted to, they could have won by 30 or 40.

The guard play was really bad. Westbrook and Nolen made Hughes look pretty good with all their cross court passes, I think he finished with 6 steals and tons of breakaway dunks and layups. Guys are passing to the first available guy or not finding the people who are open when they get double teamed. The frontcourt guys are playing soft, giving up position and trying to draw fouls instead of going up strong.

The thing is, the Gophers are a bad half court team. They are losing to teams that don't give up points in transition. They make you beat them with half court games, which the Gophs don't have. I think WI and MN both finished with something like 17 turnovers each. The difference is WI probably got like 20 points off turnovers, and MN probably got like 6. Uncontested layups are easy points, half court 35 second sets aren't always so easy.

Honestly the only real bright spot is Damian Johnson. He really fills out the stat sheet and is really about the only guy that is the caliber of athlete we want playing for the Maroon and gold. He can run and jump with anybody. Johnson picks up a quiet 10 points with 5 blocks, 3 boards, and 2 assists.

This game was the end of the rope, if they couldn't show something here, they weren't going to the Dance. And they aren't. They still have to play Wisconsin away, Ohio State at home, Purdue away, and Indiana away. And a pile of road games where they could get upset easily.

People are saying, well, they haven't lost a game they were supposed to win. Well folks, they haven't won a game they were supposed to lose. If you want to go Dancin', you have to beat some good teams. They have yet to do that. If this trend continues, they will finish 19-11 with no quality wins, suppose they win a Big Ten tourney game to get #20...they will still not make it.

[Willy]

Their RPI is sitting at 90 right now, their SOS is 115th. They have not beat a team in the RPI top 100 yet. To make the dance, you have to have a .500 record against those teams. Their Road/Neutral court record is about the only thing they have going for them right now. They have a 5-4 record in those games, which is still not that great.

Ralph Sampson III, Devoe Joseph, Colton Iverson, Paul Carter, Devron Bostick.

That is what I am looking forward to.

[Dotch]

Well, not ready to abandon ship but realistically, this team would have had to overachieve to get to the Big Dance. They belong in the NIT unless they start eating their Wheaties. Where did Tallackson go in the 2nd half? I don't remember hearing his name called once after about 4 minutes into the game (again). Looked like Nolen hustled but he also looks like a defensive specialist, period, and the scorers need to step up to the plate and capitalize on the turnovers he creates. McKenzie wasn't hitting and after starting out earlier in the season, Coleman has reverted to last year's form against teams that matter. I think your pts. off turnovers was pretty close da chise if I remember the graphics on TV from yesterday. And I agree Willy. Next year we'll see Tubby's recruits and be one more year removed from the Monson disaster. One thing about it, they'll likely get a chance to play.

After a good start, it's been disappointing but watching coaches come and go over the years, have learned to be patient. It's hard but to be a fan, one has to. It hasn't been all peaches and cream over at Mariucci this year either where the Gophers are a perennial hockey power but I still watch the games. They've suffered the same fate with all the players being lost to the pros (think Humphries, Rickert, Pryzbilla) difference being they've been able to recruit and replace them, but I digress. In '86-'87, Clem was 9 - 19 and 2 - 16 in the Big Ten. In '87 - '88, they were 10 - 18 and 4 - 14 in the Big Ten. Took Clem a few years to get it cranked up after Dutcher and it'll take Tubby a few to get this thing flying again. I think based on his track record he'll get it done.

[Scott M]

Tubby must have told them to quit shooting jumpers. The recap makes it sound like they attacked the hole, but they must have gone inside-outside cuz they finished with 12 treys and Tollackson was 7-7. 92-72 win over Northwestern. And Abu finally broke into the scoring column.

We'll take it. Home with Iowa on Saturday.

[Dotch]

Yup, that's pretty much it in a nutshell. Didn't see the first 10 minutes but heard they were having technical difficulties during part of that anyway. From the portion of the game I saw, still too many silly turnovers (15) and hurried shots so Northwestern wasn't really out of it until late in the game. The Wildcats have no big man to defense Tallackson, would collapse on him or whoever was driving the lane, leaving Abu-Shamala & Hoffarber to blaze away from beyond the arc if they didn't get fouled. Was good to see Abu-Shamala have a decent night after struggling in some games. Good team win too with 6 players in double figures. Thought for awhile they might hit the century mark the way they were draining the 3's but looked like Tubby wanted to reign them in and use the clock towards the end of the game. Wise move and they could always use the free throw practice. No reason to run up the score and humiliate someone who's having a rough year (0-9 in the Big Ten) on their home court either. That can come back to haunt. After watching IA match up well with Wisconsin and give them all they wanted, not sure how well the Gophers will fare. Fortunately it's at the Barn. Looks like they have a decent shot in 3 or 4 of the next 5 games.

[hamrej23]

bottom line is they need to beast purdue and ohioo state and win the must win games to have a chance, then win atleast one game inthe tourney

that means they lose to Indiana at Indiana and At Wisconsin.

never say never- bobby knight

[Dotch]

Nice win over an IA team that could've made this a game had they taken advantage of all the blown Gopher layups in the first half. Still, had to give the Gophers credit for not folding when IA took the lead shortly before the midway point in the 2nd half. After Tallackson put them back on top, Nolen became a one man wrecking crew for awhile. If he can continue to play at that level, will make life interesting for upcoming teams if they don't take care of the ball. The last 2 games, looks like they've re-learned how to stay in control the last several minutes, use the clock, and put teams away. Exciting game to watch, so much so it tuckered me out and triggered a long nap afterwards.

From here on out, they need to take one game at a time, do the same to beat IL and not be looking ahead to WI, Purdue, Ohio St. or Indiana and let the chips fall where they may. Losing to IL, MI and/or Penn St. and beating one or 2 of the aforementioned 4 just gets you a better seed in the NIT. Not what you want if your stated goal is still the NCAA tournament.

[hamrej23]

I personally think they have a chance for the NCAA.

They have to get to 20 wins and win atleast one or two games in the Big ten Tourney.

They have a 93 RPI, and an 135 sos which both are giong to get better with wins against Illinios, penn state, and michigan and hopefully WI, purdue, Ia, or OHio state.

[Dotch]

Oh sure, I agree, they have a chance. They must actually beat IL twice, MI, & Penn St. once each though and not count their chickens before they hatch. Their best chance of a win right now against the rest of the teams on their schedule appears to be Ohio State, who got beat on their home court by Indiana yesterday. They looked beatable and playing at the Barn could tip the scales in the Gopher's favor. Of course Bucky & Bo got beat at home too by a surprising Purdue team but after watching them handle MN at the Barn, not getting my hopes up. Anything's possible and I'd like to be more optimistic but there are still a few too many of the Monson era tendencies to make me think this will be an NCAA qualifier. And so what if they aren't? A low seed one and done versus having a shot to win the NIT? Certainly didn't hurt Clem's recruiting. I thnk Tubby's done a great job and probably overachieved with the talent he's had to work with regardless of which tournament they wind up going to.

[Scott M]

You know me, I gotta agree with you there Dotch. 5 Big Ten teams are going to make the Big Dance, with the fifth a bubble type team that might need to do something in the conference tournament. Gophers have to win (they currently sit 6th) and get some help (in the form of OSU losing)

Been gone for about 2 days after I got out of Williams on Saturday following the Iowa game. Had plenty to ruminate over.

*Tollackson and Coleman disappeared. No shock there. But Spence was an absolute black hole. Ball goes in, he dribbles in back to the basket, creates contact, and crotches a shot or completely misses. He is trying to draw fouls, not score points. If I'm on the wing and he's posting, he's not getting it. He never threw it back out once.

*That halfcourt offense is HORRIBLE. Iowa came back with dish and drives and staggered screens that creates all sorts of open looks. Tubby is getting outcoached in half court sets. He needs to find some offense that plays to his team's strengths, like doing something to free up guys like Hoffarber and Shamala, or bringing Coleman to the high post to catch and pop, or something. I'm seeing too many coaches make adjustments where their teams can score in huge spurts on half court sets, while Minnesota can't. That is how Iowa erased a 10 point deficit in no time. With like 7 guys collecting checks on that coaching staff, there is no excuse for how bad a team this is in half court offense.

*This was a game that MN should have won by 20....at halftime. Iowa is horrible this year. They didn't win a game at the South Padre holiday tournament. The reason they won this game? Al Nolen decided to work his tail off. In about a 2 minute span, he scored 8 points (he finished with 11 points, 8 assists). A steal and layup in transition, another steal, where he later got a free look in the corner in transition, and another steal where he got an open look at the end of transition as Iowa wasn't quite set in half court defense. This team has to get free points in transition, so Nolen needs to stay aggressive, but I wish he would also look to be the aggressor on the offensive end. He could make a living harnessing his quick feet and use it to drive to the hole on offense instead of just using those feet and hands to pick pockets and intercept passes. But I digress, this team should have won by 20+ points, but I was happy to see them pull away in the end, make some free throws, win by 13, and get back to .500 in the conference. If they didn't miss so many bunnies and have so many dumb turnovers (freshman can't run fast breaks I guess) they might have pulled it off.

*For those of you that missed it, Damian Johnson is on fire. 6 offensive rebounds, 9 points...he does all this in the flow of the game. Imagine if he was trying to be an offensive threat. Also, THE HIGHLIGHT of the year. Nolen drives down the middle, defense collapses and alters his shot, JOHNSON COMES FLYING IN OUT OF NOWHERE AND STUFFS IT HOME!!!He just hung in the air. That play happened ten rows in front of me and I didn't see it coming. I can usually see these things develop a second before they happen but that came out of nowhere! Then Iowa trys to catch the Gophers napping, quick inbounds, runs down the court 3-2 advantage, hits the left cutting wing, and JOHNSON PINS IT ON THE GLASS! Nice back to back highlight reel plays, in the words of Tim Brewster, "just a TREMENDOUS ATH-UH-LETE."

We'll see how things go tomorrow night hosting Illinois. Illinois is another team like Iowa that is having a brutal year. Gotta take them to the woodshed like they have done to the rest of the conference during the Bill Self years.

Go Gophs