2013-2014 Gopher Hoops!

[Scott M]

Joe Coleman might be in the building Sunday. He might have been a nice piece this year although he was very consistent in his time in MN.

[pushbutton]

That was painful to watch. Is Larry Brown actually still alive?

[hockeybc69]

That was NIT basketball at its best.... The announcers were almost laughing at times about the lack of coaching and on court decisions. I thought Bobby Knight might throw his chair in the booth a couple times....

[paceman]

That was an ugly game by the gophers, dumb turnovers/missed free throws/coaching mistakes... But they did win and I think they have a very good chance to beat SMU and wind the NIT!

[Huskie]

Why Malik and not Maverick???

[Dotch]

Good question. Malik hasn't been able to hit the broad side of the Barn since the Nebraska game.

[fishersofmen]

After they blew it in regulation I thought they had zero chance to win. Almost had to turn it off it was so ugly but they pulled it off. Hopefully they learned some things for tomorrow night.

[ozzie]

That was bad coaching at the end of the game and bad officiating through out and also was the worst game I have ever had to listen to with Knight in the broadcast. That guy was a jackhole when he coached and is still an arrogant jackhole!! All he did was talk when he was a coach...guess what Bobby it isn't 1970 anymore!!!

[SkunkedAgain]

My take - Knight is still arrogant but he does explain the game in a way that people can understand. He also knows a lot, but you obviously can't give him a pass on his past behavior.

As for the game, Patino said in his post-game interview that his intention was not to foul on either possession in the last seconds of both regulation and OT. I can go either way on it. Florida State couldn't hit 3's all game so I can understand forcing them to do it for a tie. Foul them, and they arguably have an equal or better chance of tying with the intentional miss on the second free throw.

OT was ugly but you have to give it to big Mo for hitting all of those clutch free throws in OT. If memory serves me correctly, he had 6 of our 7 points in OT and went 7 of 10 from the line. Unfortunately he was only 1 for 7 from the field but he was fouled on most of his shots, leading to the free throws.

It sounds like Eliason is still a big question mark for tonight. Hopefully we don't run into the same foul trouble as Tuesday night from King and Walker.

Most importantly, even if our shots aren't there this Richard Patino team needs to rely on its defensive prowess. It's kept us in ugly games and sparked big wins. Shooting mojo comes and goes but defense is all about effort.

[mrklean]

Good luck to the boys tonight, a W would be huge for recruiting and slowing putting them back on the map

[fishersofmen]

Fun game to watch so far both teams hitting a lot of shots hopefully we keep on hitting the 3's.

[Duffman]

Brings a tear to my eye and reminds me of days past when we all cheered on such a victory. From Columbia Height and Coon Rapid to Hasting and Hopkin, we were all proud of our Golden Gophers.

Good experience for the young players and coaching staff.

[harvey lee]

They played a darn good game and CONGRATS to the Gophers.

[mrklean]

Congrats to the Gophers should help recruiting our to

[certified jumbo]

A nice win and confidence booster!

[Dotch]

What a great way for coach Pitino and the players who gutted it out to cap off their season. Even better, we got to watch and the weather didn't knock the dish out. Go Gophers!

[DrJ]

What a change from Tubby ball.Really fun to watch a well coached team. I hope he stays for more than a few years before he moves on to a bigger program.Hopefully we can get some Mn boys to stick around.Who knows maybe young Richard will want to raise his family in good ole Minnesota.. DrJ...

[BartmanMN]

No kidding. Just think if those 3 top MN players from MN that played in the McDonalds game all went to the UofM. That would have been nice.

[SkunkedAgain]

I've got a pizza bet with one of my brothers about how long before Pitino leaves for a better program. He think Richard will be gone after next season.

It was a great game to watch. Given one more year in college and Austin Hollins could be a very good player. I hope that Andre comes back healthy and regains his original form next year. Walker should keep improving and there are some young kids ready for playing time.

Seeing Osenieks out there on his ailing knee was great. The kid went out on top with little regret. Eliason provided some good defense out there even though the stats weren't there.

Does anyone know why Ahanmisi didn't play and wasn't even dressed?

[LMITOUT]

People are actually excited and happy that MN won the NIT tourney? The best of the lousiest, the lousiest of the best?

Really?...Really?

I see that the bar is set high for this program. Not that it has ever changed so I suppose I shouldn't be all that surprised.

Kudos to Indiana for rejecting the offer to play in the CBI. Too bad more teams don't do the same, including those who believe they're a big league school yet celebrate NIT championships.

[rundrave]

I agree winning the NIT isnt much to celebrate however.....

Kudos to Indiana for rejecting the offer to play in the CBI. Too bad more teams don't do the same, including those who believe they're a big league school yet celebrate NIT championships.

So was it acceptable for the Bison to be disappointed to not get an NIT invite last year after they got beat in the Summit league tourney despite their RPI? Prior to this year they played in the CBI 2 years in a row.

See link: Bison dissapointed to not be in NIT

[SkunkedAgain]

Happy that after getting destroyed by Wisconsin, they pulled themselves together and didn't give up. If they all had your attitude Lmit, they would certainly be a doomed team. We expect more, but this is a decent start for a team expected to be the worst in the Big Ten this season.

[LMITOUT]

If they all had your attitude Lmit, they would certainly be a doomed team.

Just the opposite.

Why reward them with what is essentially a participation ribbon for a mediocre season? It was refreshing to see the pride that IU showed by rejecting a tourney of rejects. Too bad more B1G league schools won't do the same and send a message to their student athletes, and perhaps more importantly, their overjoyed-with-mediocrity fans that 'we're better than that'.

[LMITOUT]

So was it acceptable for the Bison to be disappointed to not get an NIT invite last year after they got beat in the Summit league tourney despite their RPI? Prior to this year they played in the CBI 2 years in a row.

Mid-major or lessor conferences are exactly who should be playing in these tournaments. Not the Big 10's, Big 12's, or ACC's of the world. It would be nice if the major conferences would put a rule in place that wouldn't allow their teams to participate in these tourneys. To be a major conference and have teams playing in those tourneys should be an embarrassment.

[fishersofmen]

The last 4 winners of the NIT- Baylor, Stanford, Wichita State, Dayton.

Look for the Gophers to be in the sweet 16 within the next 2 years.