2008-2009 Gophers

[Dotch]

A stubbed toe at Northworstern, not the first time in Gopher history, won't be the last. Recall the Brewer-Behagen days when the Gophers were practically unstoppable and Northwestern was terrible. Rolled into Evanston after losing only a couple games all season and promptly laid an egg in their last game. The legacy continues. I hope they keep this one in mind and work the Wildcats over good when they visit The Barn Feb. 22. I know one thing, glad it's not me going to practice today.

[UdeLakeTom]

They still are in 2nd place in the Big 10....I'll take that for now seeing who nr 1 is.

[Scott M]

Just got back from a fishing trip and heard the news. Northwestern was due, they aren't that bad of a team to be 0-4. It just emphasizes how important home court is.

The schedule is pretty tough for the remainder of the season and especially in the near future. They get Indiana twice and that's about all that's anything near "easy", and they are always competitive for at least a half. Beat Purdue and they will regain some mojo. They have enough confidence and play a similar game, and are at home so it should be good. See if they can finally get a good game from their post players and they can work things inside out for a change.

[Dotch]

Good point da chise. After looking promising against Penn St., Sampson III and Iverson have done a disappearing act in the scoring column. Iverson looked overmatched against 'sconnie and while I didn't see the Northwestern game, sounded like the Gophers relied too much on the long ball in the second half and took the dreaded quick shots. That's good when they go in like they did in the 1st half, not so good when they clang off the rim for long rebounds for your opponents. They sure have the tools inside, would be nice as you say to see them put it together so they aren't relying so heavily on their guard play. I agree too, this Northwestern team is not the worst team they've ever fielded. They're always a problem for the Gophers it seems though no matter how good they are especially when they play in Evanston. If there was a game I figured they lose, the one against Northwestern was it, especially after the emotional win over the Badgers. Were they looking past Northwestern at halftime? Hard to say. They're still a young team, still learning and hopefully they chalk this one up as a learning experience on the way to bigger and better things.

[fishin58]

Big game on the ESPN tonight!! Not the ocho either, I think Espn2. Chew em up Gophs.

[Scott K]

It was nice to see Northwestern beat State, makes our loss to them not as big!

[Scott M]

Purdue 70, Minnesota 62. Pretty listless looking team at home tonight. Gophers just settled, at best, for 3rd in the conference by not taking care of business at home with Purdue. They took quick shots, a bad habit that rears its ugly head from time to time. When you shoot 16% on 3's and 27% from the floor you know the other team is playing good defense and you are rushing shots. I hate the fact that this team can't set up a half court offense when it matters. Any team across the country can win games with transition baskets, but the good teams that can go deep come tournament time, have half court sets, plays, and players that can create their own shots. Outside of Nolen I'm not sure you have anyone that can do that. Tonight you didn't see the extra pass and if you want to beat a good defense you make them pay for getting overextending...Where is the patience? Where is the extra pass? Very little sharing of the ball when your squad has only 5 assists, and poor decisions with the ball when you turn it over 14 times, many times unforced. Way too many outside shots. Get something going with a post game so you have an opportunity to work the ball inside out and get shots that are closer than 15 feet away. I don't expect we'll see this style of play until the Sophomore versions of Iverson and Sampson are ready to go.

The schedule doesn't get any easier. Seems like the team got a little overconfident and thought they had it made after coming back in Madison. Purdue just looked like the more battle tested team in playing with poise, beating the press, and getting good shots. The only silver lining for the Gophers was good free throw shooting down the stretch. They believe that they can come back in any game and to a certain extent they can, but the challenge is to never fall that far behind in any game so you aren't on your heels down the stretch. Play with poise on offense and let your defense dictate the speed of the game.

[Quackaddict9]

wow, I think I only saw 3 or 4 FG's made in the 2nd half...hopefully they can comeback in the next game and make more FG's then they'll be winning games.

[Cooter]

Thought you guys would win that one at home, Purdue showed their potential last year - no surprise they are playing good ball.

Chise - you like my new avatar?

[Scott M]

I like it Cooter! Keep it up, so when Bucky loses to them next Tuesday Purdue will be 2-0 for the season series.

Minny will drop from the rankings, but its a good time to face Indiana. Hopefully Tubby will have his team working on half court sets and not having Westbrook and Nolen drive the lane and take on 3 guys. Hoff needs to dust off his old shooting touch.

Gotta win some games or Minnesota will fall back onto the bubble.

[Cooter]

How is Indiana doing? Haven't heard much about them this year. Its frustrating when a team can look so good one day and mediocre the next.

Badgers loss to Iowa was their third straight - not much to look ahead to for them....forget Big Ten champs, forget the Big Ten tourney, forget the big dance. Oh well.

[Brade04]

They're struggling to stay on top of horrible Indiana. They are last in the Big Ten. Last update was Minnesota was up 49-45 with 15 minutes to go.

[snoozebutton]

The Gophers did end up winning it 67 to 63. I watched a little bit of it, pretty good game.

[Dotch]

It was a good game to watch on a cold winter afternoon. They got back to the basics that got them started on their win streak: forcing and capitalizing on turnovers, an inside game to complement their jump shooting, working the ball around for the extra pass and bending but not breaking when IN tried to catch them in the 2nd half. Not an easy place to win, even when the Hoosiers haven't been stellar in the past. Tough schedule coming up but don't see any quit to this team after a couple rough games. They won't win them all but they'll play hard. All one can ask on the road in the Big Ten this year.

[Willy]

Gophers play like a young team at times. And they are young. Too many turnovers, letting too many offensive rebounds, taking quick shots.

Tubby said it and they should listen. Get the ball inside first. I saw them running a Flex Cut offense yesterday. That should facilitate inside play and with the depth we have, running cutters through the lane will eventually break down defenses.

I also like when they use that athletic lineup: Nolen, Westbrook, Carter, Bostick and Johnson. Those guys can run up and down the floor and apply a pretty tough press to beat. I'd like to see them use this lineup a bit more and try to force more turnovers. It has worked well against teams with young or shoddy guard play.

[Scott M]

6 weeks ago I was raving about Iverson and waiting for Sampson to come around, now the roles have changed. Sampson is really gaining confidence. He has great body control to block shots, although he still lacks the frame to fight for position. I noticed in watching his individual highlights how easily he gets pushed under the basket. He’s just so long that at this point he can overcome this limitation and still block shots, grab boards, and get the garbage putbacks. I’m already drooling at Iverson and Sampson version 2.0 and hopefully there is a 3.0 and 4.0 Their experience will be good when you bring in Trevor Mbakwe and Royce White.

I only got to see the first half but it sounded like the second half was a lot like the first. More instituted movement on offense, the same long and athletic defense that is good at forcing turnovers and taking away looks, and some of the same maladies that plague the team from time to time like periods of stagnant offense, lack of commitment to defensive rebounding, and not taking care of the ball.

I caught highlights of Crean’s press conference and it sounded like they really wanted this game, more than others they have played. You forget how tough of a building that is to play in until you hear on TV how loud the crowd is and see all the banners and pomp and circumstance of IU basketball. 0-5 in the conference or 5-0, that’s a tough place to play with fiercely loyal fans. Indiana and basketball go hand in hand.

Glad to see the win and hopefully it’s something to build on. You don’t want to be defined by your season’s losing streaks and had they dropped 3 straight that would have been the focus.

[Quackaddict9]

Gophers are not on tv tonight? I thought they were playing on BTN?

[Scott M]

Pass the word, the streak is over! 20 straight losses to Illinois. I couldn't' believe that the Gophs could lose 3 games to them last year but it happened. Hard to watch Hoff struggling with his 3's but he's finding other ways to contribute. Westbrook is looking like a go to scorer when he sets his feet on treys and uses his upper body strength for the quick pull up jumper. Also got to see a glimpse of Iverson/Sampson 2.0. Their high low game was fantastic tonight. Nolen did a good job of setting up the offense, even if it didn't translate on the stat sheet, because if he lays it up on the rim and his teammates get a put back, it's as good as an assist. You saw that a lot tonight, when the Gophs pulled down something like 12 offensive boards. Because this team is so deep the minutes are really variable. Some media types have suggested Tubby shorten his bench down the stretch, February into March, but I don't think he will do that. It's hard to be a big contributor like Busch or Shamala or Bostick and see less than 10 minutes of action, but it could happen to anyone any given night. Nice win before you get 2 tough road games. I'd really like to see the Gophs steal one in East Lansing or Columbus before they get Indiana at home. Gophers sit third in the conference tonight and hopefully they can finish in that spot or better with a legit chance to play well in the conference tournament and get a respectable seed in the big dance. Tonight is a quality win at home, they're now at the halfway point in the conference regular season. Will a 12-6 finish put them in 3rd? They will probably be underdogs in 3 games, but any of the remaining 9 games could be a loss with the way the conference stacks up this year.

[PierBridge]

Gophers are not on tv tonight? I thought they were playing on BTN?

Yes BTN...8:00 Central

[zepman]

Sampson and Iverson are going to be really fun to watch in the years to come. They seem to work very well together.

[Mudcutter]

I think the Gophs go 11-7 in a very good big 10 this year and get a 5-6 seed in the tourney.

SO much better being a 5-6 seed than 7-8.

They have the horses, just a bit raw.

MSU is a loss,(MSU will likely get to final 4, they are loaded)

OSU is a close loss. they will lose to PSU, but beat MU on the road.

The home games they should win out.

Mud.

[Quackaddict9]

Quote:

Yes BTN...8:00 Central

you're saying they're doing a rerun tonight on BTN? It was not on last night but I watched live scoreboard/feed on BTN HSOforum. Looks like we got by with many Free Throws?

[Scott K]

It was on my BTN!

[Rick]

It was on my BTN as well. Great game to watch.

[Quackaddict9]

Hmmm it was not on BTN here at my house! oh well, next one then!