B1G Tournament Game 1: Gophers versus ? (2 March 2018)

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You could list the possibilities:
#5 Iowa, #12 Northwestern, or #13 Wisconsin
 

Shades said:
You could list the possibilities:
#5 Nebraska, #12 Northwestern, or #13 Wisconsin
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Well it's likely to be #5 Iowa.

I was thinking we've played Iowa a number of times; but it has only been three. All were Gopher losses (not unusual since Minnesota has the worst winning percentage in the B1G Tourney 9-24 (.273). Previous meetings.

2009 #4 Iowa 79 and #5 Minnesota 54 in the quarterfinals
2003 #7 Iowa 80 and #2 Minnesota 77 in the quarterfinals
1995 #9 Iowa 57 and # 8 Minnesota 44 in the 1st round
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Well it's likely to be #5 Iowa.

I was thinking we've played Iowa a number of times; but it has only been three. All were Gopher losses (not unusual since Minnesota has the worst winning percentage in the B1G Tourney 9-24 (.273). Previous meetings.

2009 #4 Iowa 79 and #5 Minnesota 54 in the quarterfinals
2003 #7 Iowa 80 and #2 Minnesota 77 in the quarterfinals
1995 #9 Iowa 57 and # 8 Minnesota 44 in the 1st round
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You mean Northwestern passed the Gophers and has a better tourney win percentage!?

Not looking forward to seeing Doyle again.
 



Ok this team really took off after Whalen and Banham assisted with practices and gave them a pep talk. I say get your collective a#*es over to Williams Arena before the tourney��
 

What's the consensus? Will the Gophers need to win at least one game in the BIG tourney to make the NCAA tourney or are we already in? I'm thinking that they are already in, but not comfortably in. A second win over Iowa and they'd have to be a lock. Am I correct in thinking that going into the BIG tourney, the BIG has maybe 5 teams headed to the NCAA tourney...OSU, Maryland, Minnesota, Iowa, and maybe Michigan. As good as Nebraska has been, they still might have to play their way in because of their non-conference losses, strength of schedule, and RPI. Any bracketology gurus out there with any opinions?
 

Katogopher said:
Ok this team really took off after Whalen and Banham assisted with practices and gave them a pep talk. I say get your collective a#*es over to Williams Arena before the tourney�
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Do you think it was mostly that or mostly the new practice facility?
 

Shades said:
Do you think it was mostly that or mostly the new practice facility?
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Maybe both, BTN made some comments on Rachel and Lindsay coming back and practicing with the team hopefully it inspires them to do well. Need to break the bad BIG Tourney karma.
 



From my perspective, our good fortune this season is mostly due to hard work by the players & coaching staff, as well as the visits from some past greats. The new practice facility wasn't available until late in the season.
 

fanfromthevalley said:
From my perspective, our good fortune this season is mostly due to hard work by the players & coaching staff, as well as the visits from some past greats. The new practice facility wasn't available until late in the season.
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That’s the point... well January is more mid-season and where they seemed to turn the corner.

I think a big part of it is actually putting effort into defense. Yesterday they weren’t very good until they decided to put extra energy into the defensive end. Against the better teams they may need to do that the entire game.
 

Shades said:
That’s the point... well January is more mid-season and where they seemed to turn the corner.

I think a big part of it is actually putting effort into defense. Yesterday they weren’t very good until they decided to put extra energy into the defensive end. Against the better teams they may need to do that the entire game.
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Agreed, the Indy game and early in yesterday game they seemed to hang their heads when shots not falling; difference was playing tougher defense, grabbing rebounds (Wagner and Bello) and getting to the free throw lines. Coming up ways to win when shots aren’t falling
 

Iowa it is. Must contain this woman. She was fairly contained today against NW. 12 pts on 8 shots and 9 rebounds. This Iowa team doesn't seem all that special but somehow they get it done.

gustafson.jpg
 



Here are the two box scores of the games against Iowa so you can compare.

The 77-72 win at home
iowastatswin.jpg


Good post contributions off the bench. Fernstrom with a post-high 27 min.
Edwards and Hubbard combine for a brutal 1-17.


The 84-92 loss at Iowa
iowastatsloss.jpg


Emphasis on the perimeter game in the loss. Bell, Hubbard, and Wagner combine for 54 of team 69 shots.
It worked for 84 pts, but the defense failed them giving up 92.


Edwards wasn't much of a factor in either game.
Pitts wasn't much of a factor in the loss. I think she had early foul trouble (in both games?).
Iowa didn't seem to be able to contain Bell in either game.
In the loss, Gustafson scored 25 pts, grabbed 15 reb, and took 14 FT, making 11.
 

http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=137612

Some Lisa Bluder post Northwestern quotes:


Q. How would you rate your team's defense in the last three quarters?

COACH BLUDER: Yeah, disappointed we didn't finish the possession. I thought that we just weren't finishing it. That 14, she's a handful to box out. She's incredibly athletic, and she did a great job crashing the boards for us.

But for us, it's the defense, you've got to finish it out. I thought we communicated well in our screens. I thought we made them take some hard shots. They weren't getting really easy shots, and I think that's always good.


Q. You guys won without a huge contribution from Megan. How big is that for your team going forward?

COACH BLUDER: Yeah, I don't remember the last time we won a game when Megan only had eight shots. I think that was really different for us. And it's nice, actually. It's good. It's good for other people to understand that they need to step up in those situations and that they can. And so I think it's actually a really good thing.


Q. Was there anything different they did that disrupted her at all?

COACH BLUDER: You know, we have. We've seen everything on her, but I think it was really basically two people boxing her out every single time, so other people needed to crash. We kind of rely on Megan crashing for us, but other people need to get involved in that.

I think it was just an extremely physical game. It was just like beat her up and see what can happen, surround her every time she had the ball, and again, when that happens, okay, they're giving something else up; what else are they giving up? We need to take advantage of that.
 

Been a great tournament so far. BIG may lack the “Star Power” of some other P5 conferences but I’ll take a competitive tournament any time.
 

I think the shot will count. Go Michigan State!

EDIT: I see the shot clock froze. No basket.
 


Is this on TV?

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 



So is this the year where the Gophers can strings some victories in the tournament? BIG tourney has never been good for the Gophers even when they’ve been a much higher seed. They finally got a Monkey off their back when the beat the Terps, let’s hope for similar success this weekend.
 

Katogopher said:
So is this the year where the Gophers can strings some victories in the tournament? BIG tourney has never been good for the Gophers even when they’ve been a much higher seed. They finally got a Monkey off their back when the beat the Terps, let’s hope for similar success this weekend.
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2005 (the McCarville/Brobeck club) was probably the best. The #4 Gophers defeated #5 Purdue 71-68. Then they took out #1 Ohio State in OT 66-63 before falling in the championship to Final Four bound #2 Michigan State 55-49.
 



I like the pace and the energy they are bringing, Edwards killing them defensively. Now if onlysome of their 3pt shots would start falling but like that they are driving to the basket
 

Hubbard misses a pair of FT's to end the quarter

25-17 MIN end of first

Wagner 9 pts
Hubbard 8 pts, 1 reb, 1 stl

Gustafson 10 pts, 5 reb
 

Need some help on Gustafson. Don't want this lead to totally slip away.

33-25 MIN

Gustafson with 16 pts
 

Just like that.... lead evaporated.
 

Refs checking out the major flop by Doyle.
 

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