***OFFICIAL GOPHERS VS PURDUE IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

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Stan

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Big Ten season is here! Time to see if the feasting on cupcakes has prepared our crew for the rigors of the Big Ten. A winnable game is on the schedule today. Gotta make it happen. GET 'ER DONE PITINO!!!!!!!!!!!
 

This game is a MUST WIN!!!

Okay, no it's not, but it would be really nice to start off B1G play with a road win. Let's hope Dre, Dre and Mason are on their game and the rest will follow!
 

Golden_Sloth said:
This game is a MUST WIN!!!

Okay, no it's not, but it would be really nice to start off B1G play with a road win. Let's hope Dre, Dre and Mason are on their game and the rest will follow!
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The folks in Vegas seem to think that it will happen. Purdue opened as a 2 point favorite, but Minnesota is now a 2 point favorite. That is a big swing in a tight line.
 

Would be very, very nice to start the conference season out with a road win. They are really tough to come by but this one looks possible. Cement ourselves in that "next group" after Wisconsin and potentially Maryland after yesterday's win at Sparty.
 

Actually, I think the big men battle could decide this game.If we keep Hammonds down our backcourt can win the game.
 



Win this and play with house money at Maryland. Need to be 2-2 coming out of this rough 4 game start.
 


In my mind the key to this win lies in extremely effective passing. Force Hammons and Haas to come out to the perimeter and use Mathieu, Mason and Dre to slash and pass in a way to force Hammons and Haas to struggle to pick up players on defense. The gophers has demonstrated excellence when they run this kind of offense and its truly an advantage on this slower Purdue team. Offensive rebounds unfortunately could make our game too. Getting Hammons and Haas out of their comfort zone near the rim could open opportunities for more success in offensive rebounds (Purdue is currently 45th in the nation for offensive rebounds).

On the defensive side for the gophers exploit Purdue's frustration when struggling to distribute the ball. Occasional double teams / collapse on the pass into the paint will be huge for us. I can see that our full court pressure, half court traps will pay dividends for us to get Purdue frustrated and make forced plays. We can really dot our Is and cross our Ts by protecting the quick transitional plays from turnovers and not let their bigs generate block stats (currently they are 11th in the nation for blocked shots).

Pitino alluded to this kind of offense by tweaking Matthieu's play in saying: "Play the game not the stats." I think that dynamic balance with Matthieu, Dre and Mo is the identity this team has that could beat any team in the B1G.

Go Gophers! We can really make for a bad start of the year for the Purdue faithful!
 



I'm getting really hungry, I've held off on taking my lunch so that I can go over and eat at a sports bar and catch the first half of this game.
 







Alright let's go boys. Let's win a freakin big ten road game for once.
 

MadtownGopher said:
Would rather win this one than tomorrow's game.
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I'd say I'm more of a hoops than a football guy, but I think winning tomorrow's game would be a bigger deal for the football program than today's win would for the basketball team. Let's just win both :)
 


Important game. Get off to a positive start in conference, grab a road win against one of the not-so-strong teams, and kill some of the demons at Mackey.
 


Shut Hammonds down. I don't like players picking other schools over our offers.
 


Why was Mo taken out immediately after his first foul? Just to protect him? He was dominating the game, then EE came in and screwed it all up.
 

Oh, it looks like he has a bandage on his face. Maybe he was bleeding.
 

The way this is shaping up could be a real back and forth battle. Free throw shooting could be big. Just wish Hollins would heat up.
 

Haas is huge. Makes Mo look small.


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A team like ours, playing against so many young players, should be able to force a lot of errors.


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Like what I see so far. I want us to run away with this game.
 

I like some of his young players, but probably going to be another rough year for Purdue basketball. Painter's colors have faaaaaddddeeeedddd over the years.
 

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