2012-2013 Gophers

[Huskie]

We sure didn't get the Tubby I expected when we signed him years ago. How about someone on the bench that can draw up an out of bounds play.....anyone. I can't imagine them getting into the Big Dance the way the 2nd half of the season went. But if they do, I'll be rooting for them to win, but I'll be picking against them in my NCAA March Madness brackets.

[harvey lee]

They did give it away today. If they make the NCAA, they will be lucky to win one game.

I believe they have lost 11 of the last 16 games.

Terrible for the talent they have.

Maybe Tubby wanted to save his guys for the big NCAA run. HA.

Tubby may need to go. I really thought when he came to the Gophers we would be much better.

[walleyeman1]

They should fire Tubby tonight and whatever tournament we get in let an assistant be the head coach. Play 11 guys in the first half! We should of had a rotation developed by the time tournament time comes. Unbelievable!

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

Kentucky fans and Kentucky U have to just be ROTFLTAO..... I think you can figure out what those capital letter stand for.

[Slabasaurus]

To sum up the gophers this season in one sentence: They might not make the NCAA tournament, and they knocked off a no 1 seed this year.

That pretty much says it all.

A little explanation: They have raw talent, sure. They even have hustle. but they don't execute for beans, and their silly mistakes are something that a middle school C team would not even make. They make a lot of those kind of mistakes...

For the record I think anyone who says tubby is a bad thing for gopher basketball needs to give some pretty dang good reasons. Look where we were before he came in...

[mrklean]

nice stink fest today they would be better off giong to the NIT at least they might win another game this year instead of a first round loss in the tourney

[Snag]

I don't root against the gophers, but we were betting at lunch on how they would blow the game. I bet steal and lay up or dunk for Illinois, buddy said they would never get the ball in bounds.

Tubby needs to hire an NBA assistant coach to get an out of bounds play. He also needs to hire someone to teach him a new offense that can get the ball to his best players in good positions to score.

I drank the 15-1 koolaid and jumped hard on the bandwagon after the first Michigan State game.

Nobody skipped class, stole jeans from Macy's, quit the team, contacted ex's who had restraining orders, or got injured for long periods of time.

Here is an excuse for Tubby, Illinois pretty much had a home game.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

For the record I think anyone who says tubby is a bad thing for gopher basketball needs to give some pretty dang good reasons. Look where we were before he came in...

Where we were before he came? In the exact same place! An occasional trip to the NIT, good in non conference against american U and south dakota st, and HORRIBLE in the big ten. Its exactly the same as it was when Dan Monson left. Tubby has always been over-rated and we have seen it first hand for 6 years now.

[toughguy]

The Clem days are a distant memory. The basketball program is on its way to becoming as big of a joke as the football program is. Fire him now and get someone in there with passion. Tubby's fire is obviously out.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

2 words for Norwood Teague- FLIP SAUNDERS. make it happen so we can at least see a functioning, competent offense on the court.

[DrJuice1980]

play in game... our 1st tourney win in years.

[Slabasaurus]

Where we were before he came? In the exact same place! An occasional trip to the NIT, good in non conference against american U and south dakota st, and HORRIBLE in the big ten. Its exactly the same as it was when Dan Monson left. Tubby has always been over-rated and we have seen it first hand for 6 years now.

If you only look at the record and not the details, sure. We're in the same place. kinda....

Our recruiting has improved a bunch with Tubby though.

What I see missing from the gophers is once we have the raw talent we can't make them actually execute.

Perception is reality in this world, and if tubby is overrated, so be it. Still helps recruiting.

[Slabasaurus]

Kentucky fans and Kentucky U have to just be ROTFLTAO..... I think you can figure out what those capital letter stand for.

I once heard the only good things to come out of KY are bourbon and I-75.

[alleyes]

Slab, if they have talent and can't execute,they play scared, and struggle to prepare,etc...sounds like horrible coaching to me, period!

[Slabasaurus]

Slab, if they have talent and can't execute,they play scared, and struggle to prepare,etc...sounds like horrible coaching to me, period!

Which is why one could keep the figurehead that can recruit, and surround him with people that can coach and motivate.

I agree that the coaching aspect isn't awesome... that is glaringly obvious. But getting rid of tubby would be a detriment to the recruiting talent.

I don't see much of a good answer here though. Rock (us) Hard Place

[alleyes]

Let's see how recruiting goes after another epic collapse, still looking for one player that's gotten better playing under Tubby here...

[Scott M]

Bubble Watch

by Eamonn Brennan, ESPN

CHICAGO -- It is the season for a lot of things -- the gross wet cross between winter and spring, taxes, calling in "sick" to watch college basketball -- but it's hard to type my favorite annual rite of March: widespread bubble misunderstanding.

It never fails. We spend six weeks trying to understand this stuff, to cull some reasonable order from the chaos that is the NCAA tournament selection process, and as soon as conference tournament weekend starts, all of a sudden it's like our predictable, staid rules no longer apply. All bets are off.

Which brings us, of course, to Minnesota.

After the Golden Gophers' buzzer-beating loss to Illinois in the first round of the Big Ten tournament Thursday afternoon -- a game they began with an utterly horrific first half -- one didn't have to search hard for analysts suddenly proclaiming Minnesota was done. You may have heard this or read it. Even at the Big Ten tournament, the media room was abuzz with bubble intrigue: Were the Gophers out? They were 8-10 in Big Ten, 5-7 in their last 12 and 5-10 since a 15-1 start vaulted them inside the top 10. Hadn't this team misspent its chance?

No! Look: The Gophers are no one's idea of a fearsome team. They turn the ball over far too much. They don't defend particularly well. Even the most ardent Minnesota fan (heck, even Tubby Smith) would admit this group has squandered its talent and experience and a totally promising start to the season with six weeks of mediocrity, and there are no easy answers for why.

But despite all that, the Gophers are still likely to get in the NCAA tournament because they're still OK based on the metrics that really matter. They played the second-ranked schedule in the country and the 12th-ranked nonconference slate. They have a top-25 RPI, which is historically a near-guarantee of NCAA tournament selection. They have some variously impressive wins on their ledger (Indiana, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Memphis and at Illinois).

Those formal criteria more often correlate to tournament selection, and the criteria you often hear bandied about are typically outdated emphases. So, no, conference record isn't a deciding factor. Neither is recency. The final 12 games don't matter more than the first 12, and no, there are no bonus points awarded (or subtracted) for conference tournament wins. Advanced efficiency numbers -- including ESPN's own BPI -- might be considered in the committee room, but they are far less important than the NCAA's own RPI, which underpins the entire organization of its infamous nitty-gritty team sheets.

Because it always eventually becomes a subjective exercise, the NCAA's selection criteria can be hard to pin down. This is the root cause of the confusion. But the confusion is also self-imposed: Our brains are wired to suffer from the recency effect, and besides that, we want single-elimination March games to mean more than just 1/30th of a season. We want clear, black and white implications. We crave narrative. Win and you're in. Lose and you're out.

It is rarely this simple, and so the misinformation spreads.

[Scott M]

Listed as a Giant Killer at ESPN...based on how flukey they are, I can understand why when you look at their metrics...

2. Minnesota Golden Gophers

Giant Killer Rating: 58.9

Secret Sauce: 5.73

Key Metric: 44.3 offensive rebounding percentage (No. 1 in the nation)

Who can make sense out of the Gophers? Well, maybe our model. You know about their 15-1 start to the season and their 5-11 finish, including yesterday's dreadful loss to Illinois in the Big Ten tournament. Lunardi still has them in his bracket, but they've slid into GK position. And that might be just the right fit.

Minnesota has wins over Indiana, Michigan State and Wisconsin this season, so the Gophers have shown that they can challenge anyone, despite their horrendous stretch run. So allow us to consider the following theory: Maybe they've been miscast all season as a top power-conference team. Maybe they're just a prime Giant Killer. Their rating speaks to that idea. In addition to their prolific offensive rebounding, the Gophers also rank 34th in the country in steal percentage. Those categories make up the bulk of a GK's secret sauce, so Minnesota carries a strong resemblance to teams that have pulled off prior upsets. Plus, they rank 30th in the BPI. So Minnesota isn't just a good Killer. It is a good team, despite the way it finished the season.

[Scott M]

Tubby is (was?) a decent name coming into a kids home to make a pitch. But if you were watching through the years and saw 8-9 guys getting 20 minutes apiece, line change substitutions, players playing out of position, terrible X's and O's, stale and unimaginative offense, complete lack of player development, quick exits for mistakes, and being in the middle of the conference at best, I can't see Tubby being this big recruitment name anymore. I know I wouldn't sign up for that, but that's just me. Like slab says, it's probably a perception thing that works in his favor, but I still give HS kids more credit than that. They ask around and pay attention to some of those things.

Did he sign some highly touted recruits? Yes.

'08

Sampson - King Charmin, best guard in the 7' and over league

Iverson - transferred

Joseph - transferred

Paul Carter - Juco

Devon Bostick - Juco

'09

Cobbs - transferred

Mbakwe - Juco

Williams - Too bad the NBA instituted their 1 year rule, he'll never make a million dollars in one year now. And 1 traveling tour? He's got some awesome hops and dunks.

White - transferred

'10

Armelin - transferred

Ahanmisi

Au Hollins

Walker

Eliason

Osenieks

'11

Coleman

Dre Hollins

Welch - Juco

Ingram - Juco

'12

Ellenson

Buggs

I see some big names and high recruits in there, but all either left or never got a hair better. He's signed some decent kids and got them here, but that's only part of the puzzle of being HC. I have a feeling his recruiting is about to get a lot worse when the kids look at the last 4 seasons, better than half his tenure here (2009-2010 Devoe Joseph mid-season transfer, mediocrity ensues, 2010-2011 Nolen goes down and the wheels come off, 2011-2012 Mbakwe goes down and the team can't win a B1G game to save their life, 2012-2013 Conference road games unwinnable) and look at player development and number of his Minnesota players in the NBA.

[Slabasaurus]

I see some big names and high recruits in there, but all either left or never got a hair better. He's signed some decent kids and got them here, but that's only part of the puzzle of being HC. I have a feeling his recruiting is about to get a lot worse when the kids look at the last 4 seasons, better than half his tenure here (2009-2010 Devoe Joseph mid-season transfer, mediocrity ensues, 2010-2011 Nolen goes down and the wheels come off, 2011-2012 Mbakwe goes down and the team can't win a B1G game to save their life, 2012-2013 Conference road games unwinnable) and look at player development and number of his Minnesota players in the NBA.

Yep. I mean I can't disagree with this much but I still feel its too early to cut tubby...

maybe it's just me being annoyed with how quick MN folk tend to be to scream FIRE (insert coaches name here). That and the word epic... though that isn't isolated to MN.

[alleyes]

You're right, predictable would have been better than epic, for that I am sorry.

[Slabasaurus]

You're right, predictable would have been better than epic, for that I am sorry.

If you live in this state you should not be surprised by this kind of collapse Predictable actually is the better word there.

Although it appeared I was referring to your use of the word "epic" I wasn't... I can see how it looked that way though. I had just read a news site where the word "epic" appeared in most of their headlines... seemed a bit excessive.

[Scott M]

The last couple Lunardi mocks have the Gophers playing Colorado State in a 8-9 matchup. That would be a heck of a matchup seeing Colt 45 again...I'd have to take CSU and I think Colt would have a huge game. Good call taking Sampson over Colt Tubby. But he wouldn't be eligible this year anyway so I guess its a moot point.

[DTro]

To: Mike Bobinski

Chairman

NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Selection Committee

Dear Mike:

I would like to apologize for the familiarity, Mike, but I wanted to make this a personal plea in behalf of all Minnesotans who believe in fair play when it comes to athletic competition.

The Star Tribune reported several remarks from your conference call Wednesday on the selection criteria that your committee will be using this week to determine the 68-team field for this year’s tournament.

We here at the Strib couldn’t help but read between the lines of some of your comments and reach the conclusion that our University of Minnesota student athletes will be announced as part of that field come Sunday evening.

We’ve had a lot of humiliations thrown at us here in Minnesota. We had our hero Harry Peter Grant lose those four Super Bowls. We had a presidential candidate lose to Richard Nixon and another collect 13 electoral votes. On Jan. 8, 1999, we watched with mouths agape as Jesse Ventura took the oath as our governor.

I’m down on bended knee here, Mike: Come Sunday, don’t reward this collection of dedicated underachievers and their hapless coach with one of the precious 37 at-large bids.

To assist you in reaching that right-minded decision, I’ve taken the liberty of refuting the thoughts you expressed that seemed to favor our rodents.

• On good wins vs. bad losses, your response included: “This is just me as a single committee member. ... I would tell you that the ability to beat good teams is really, probably a clear indication of your deservedness. ... I think that to me weighs a little bit heavier than the loss side of it.”

Obviously, we respect your opinion — you’re a chairman, after all — but you’re dead wrong when it comes to our Gophers. The bad losses by our student athletes far outweigh the wins.

You got Memphis down as a good win, I presume? That game was played in November in the Bahamas. That was a lifetime ago, and in no way reflects on the Gophers witnessed in a majority of the 14 games starting Jan. 23.

You’re also giving credit for the 76-63 victory over Michigan State in the Big Ten opener, right?

There’s also this view: Tubby Smith’s Gophers making such a descent as Tom Izzo’s Spartans have made such a rise should give demerits for what happened on Dec. 31 to the Gophers, not honor points.

For every good win, Mike, I can trump it (and then some) with bad losses: at Northwestern, at Wisconsin (45-44), at home vs. Illinois, at Iowa (72-51), at Ohio State (71-45), at Nebraska, at Purdue and, finally, on Thursday, 51-49 to an Illini bunch that had one player go 10-for-16 from the field and the rest of the klutzes go 8-for-40.

• There was a question about the teams passing the “eye test” or losing by a big margin in games. This was the interesting aspect of your response:

“I don’t know that any particular loss ... would really significantly damage or advantage any team’s position in the field. ... One game is ultimately one game and we need to keep it in perspective.”

Agreed, Mike. That’s why I gave you a list of eight humiliations for the Gophers over the past 51 days. As for the “eye test,” there are reports that seven Minnesotans suffered temporary blindness watching the telecast of the Gophers’ 53-51 loss at Nebraska.

• You also refuted the long-held notion that importance is placed on a team’s past 10 games:

“We took it out [of the selection criteria] because folks in the media and elsewhere were really fixating on that as an overly weighted determinant ...”

OK, Mike, but can I interest you in the past 14 games as criteria?

If you want to keep perspective over one game, the abomination for the Gophers was the upset of Indiana. There were nine games — yup, nine of 14 — where Tubby’s bricklayers scored 53 points or fewer in regulation.

And I haven’t even mentioned the turnovers.

Mike, we’re begging here.

Show the nation your committee has standards.

Don’t call our name Sunday. We’re busy. We have another failed coach to pay off.

[DrJuice1980]

What a waste of ink and paper. What an egomaniac. He would rather see our squad not get a chance. I don't care how disappointed fans are, it's about the players. If they get the invite and you are mad they're in then you have major problems and are one of those people that get off on pessimism, you're a pathetic so called "fan." I want to see them play.

[Bryce]

I want to see them play.

I have no problem with that. Just want to see that with an interim coach. Bet I can get a plus 1 on that.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

What a waste of ink and paper. What an egomaniac. He would rather see our squad not get a chance. I don't care how disappointed fans are, it's about the players. If they get the invite and you are mad they're in then you have major problems and are one of those people that get off on pessimism, you're a pathetic so called "fan." I want to see them play.

I hear ya juice. I just dont believe the 9th place team in ANY conference deserves to be in. Even if its the team i follow. Their gonna get in but i dont like it.

[DrJuice1980]

So you're a fan but you don't want them in the tourney? I don't get that. Would you rather see a tiny school that won 13 games all season but managed to get lucky and win their crappy conference tourney get in? Or how about some A10 3rd place team who's won more games than the Gophs but on a WAY easier schedule? Another thing I don't get is how he can say a 1 point loss at Wisconsin is bad. Some ugly loses but yeah this is the Big10 not the Mount West, A10, Conf. USA, heck even throw the Pac 12. These are tough games night in and night out. Penn State beat Michigan for crying out loud. Yeah they upset me at times but I never wanted them to lose.

Shame on those who call themselves "fans" but don't want to watch your team. Thick and thin, if you're not that then you're just a fake bandwagon loser. Unless your squad was a bunch of theifs, rapists, and murders you should always cheer for them. Go to H E double hockey sticks Reusse. You're a pathetic piece of trash starving for attention, egomaniac thinks he is our voice. Your radio show is as bad as your so called "sports" column. You work for a newspaper that costs me pennies for a Sunday edition. You are a no talent (insert word you all know) clown. Take it easy on the Karkov and maybe you'll be able to open your eyes more than a squint.

"Let's go Gophers". I'll be watching and cheering for you even if its the CIT!

[alleyes]

I'm hoping they get in as well, just not holding my breath. If they don't get in, I'd completely understand, and would hope they would decline another NIT invite.

[timjones]

What is really sad about this is Tubby gets a $100,000 dollar bonus it they get in.