***OFFICIAL OREGON AT MINNESOTA IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

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Ski-U-Ham said:
The one hand pass in the air from Asuma to Garcia made me rewind and watch again. From the corner to the top of the key on a line. That was impressive IMO. Then Garcia, not forcing things, seeing Patterson open on the wing. Garcia's shot would've been a good look, but Patterson's was better.
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That sequence was in a write-up of the game. The story claimed there were 10 passes. I don't remember that many but it probably was the highlight of the game. Wish we saw more of those.
 



stocker08 said:
Indiana and Minnesota are the only two football/basketball team combos to be undefeated against the Big Pac 4.
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Well, in fairness to those newbie western teams, we didn't play two of them in football this season and we've played only one of them in basketball so far although it was the highest rated one.
 



Gopher_In_NYC said:
I think if we play Sparty tough/beat them Tuesday....
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I'm still not willing to let my mind go there. That just seems like too big of a hill to climb. I'd say the same thing about Illinois and UCLA but they're only 5-4 in conference so they've demonstrated that they're beatable.
 

StPaulDrew said:
I think what a lot of people dogging on this team and coach need to realize is we have arguably three players who deserve to be on a big ten roster. it helps that one is easily all-conference but this team is overachieving right now so enjoy it don’t ask why things weren’t gelling in October.
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Isn't it dogging on Ben and the team to say 9 of the 12 players don't belong on a Big Ten roster?
 




So just to preface, I was unable to watch. Did not see one play. Just looking at the box score, this screams of "this is why DG makes the big $$" game. That's what your star is now paid to do. Nice to see him find success at the end of a very good career.

As a hardened CBJ hater, I must say I'm shocked (in a good way) about how he's gotten a team that was 0-5 in conference and filled with guys that could've easily checked out, to play this well. Also kudos to the players, this is a nod to them as well.

Just based off a few pictures that were tweeted out, Barn looked to be pretty full and lively. I know it's old and needs some fixing, but for my money when the basketball is good, it's my favorite arena ever to be in. It just has a bit of mystique. So that is also fun to see.

The one negative I'll say, where in the actual fudge was this the first whatever 13 games? I think we can all agree after our lack luster NC and blowing it to OSU this looked like maybe the worst team in the P5, suddenly 3 straight Q1 wins? It's cool we are better but honestly, what happened to start this year?!? And I don't want to hear it's transfers. That's literally every single team
 

MNVCGUY said:
Couldn't agree more....the team is playing well and winning some games.....just enjoy the friggin ride while it lasts.

Still a long way to go and more likely then not it all ends with Johnson getting fired but this is an awesome run for the program knocking off 2 really good ranked teams at home and getting a big road win over the Hawks.

I feel sorry for any Gopher fans that are so negative about the overall state of the program that they can't enjoy what is going on right now.
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Not sure it's the program. I think some hate the coach that much. There are some fans that just hate him period.
 

leib0039 said:
So just to preface, I was unable to watch. Did not see one play. Just looking at the box score, this screams of "this is why DG makes the big $$" game. That's what your star is now paid to do. Nice to see him find success at the end of a very good career.

As a hardened CBJ hater, I must say I'm shocked (in a good way) about how he's gotten a team that was 0-5 in conference and filled with guys that could've easily checked out, to play this well. Also kudos to the players, this is a nod to them as well.

Just based off a few pictures that were tweeted out, Barn looked to be pretty full and lively. I know it's old and needs some fixing, but for my money when the basketball is good, it's my favorite arena ever to be in. It just has a bit of mystique. So that is also fun to see.

The one negative I'll say, where in the actual fudge was this the first whatever 13 games? I think we can all agree after our lack luster NC and blowing it to OSU this looked like maybe the worst team in the P5, suddenly 3 straight Q1 wins? It's cool we are better but honestly, what happened to start this year?!? And I don't want to hear it's transfers. That's literally every single team
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The start is easily explained by the lack of non conference quality opponents to prepare the team for conference competition.
 

Go4POV said:
I was at the game. Fun game. I’ll be honest. I was surprised we won, especially after we let them back in and blew an 18 point lead. But, credit the players for maintaining composure, Fox and Garcia for monster game, and coach Ben Johnson for a defensive strategy that took Bittle and Shelsted off their games and for having the Gophers ready to play right out of the gate. The fast start put the Ducks on their heels right away. Early in the season this team had a hard time finishing. Ben got blamed for that. Give him credit for having these guys in a mental state to finish. And, best crowd of the season! Go Gophers!
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Thank you AD Coyle!
 



STPGopher said:
Not sure it's the program. I think some hate the coach that much. There are some fans that just hate him period.
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I don't really get the sense there are many that hate Johnson on a personal level. Don't like the hire and don't think he is qualified to be the coach but it isn't and shouldn't be personal.

Johnson is a local guy and seems like a good person so if anyone is truly so backwards that they hate the person that is pretty pathetic on their part.
 


MNVCGUY said:
I don't really get the sense there are many that hate Johnson on a personal level. Don't like the hire and don't think he is qualified to be the coach but it isn't and shouldn't be personal.

Johnson is a local guy and seems like a good person so if anyone is truly so backwards that they hate the person that is pretty pathetic on their part.
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Agree with you. Not so much on here, but there are some "fans" that are like that. Some just want him to fail so that they can say see I told you so.
 

leib0039 said:
The one negative I'll say, where in the actual fudge was this the first whatever 13 games? I think we can all agree after our lack luster NC and blowing it to OSU this looked like maybe the worst team in the P5, suddenly 3 straight Q1 wins? It's cool we are better but honestly, what happened to start this year?!? And I don't want to hear it's transfers. That's literally every single team
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I attribute the slow start to a number of things. Transfers and injuries definitely played a role. But to me the change is Dawson Garcia. It's not obvious in terms of stats but he is playing at a different level and the team is feeding off of it. It's like he has finally decided he is the best player on the court and is going to play like it.

Other factors - Mike Mitchell being injured played a role in the struggles because he is our clear cut second option on offense. And then guys like Frank Williams, Femi, Patterson, etc....just took a while to figure out how to compete at this level. Frustrating that it took experienced players so long but we saw something very similar last year when Hawkins and Mike Mitchell took a while to get adjusted before they really started playing at a high level.

As long as Dawson can continue to play at an all Big Ten level this team has enough solid pieces around him to compete most nights. Took them way too long to figure it out but they have it rolling right now. Will be interesting to see how the remaining games play out.
 


No question that Dawson is playing the best overall basketball of his career the past few games. But its obvious that the other's have elevated their game and doing things now that they didn't do before. Frank Mitchell is a good example of that followed by Femi, etc. It seems that whoever gets PT makes meaningful contributions and accepts their role.

I give credit to Ben and the staff for not giving up on the team and the players for hanging in there. This has to be a ton of fun for the guys and will give them confidence going forward.
 

I was there with my 15-year-old son, and yes, he stormed the court and I won’t apologize to anybody for letting him do it. He had a blast. All I kept thinking about it throughout the game was if the Gophers could somehow have a top 25ish type program, the state would go crazy for basketball. The atmosphere was electric, and the upper levels were still only about half full. I don’t care what anybody says, the Barn is not an impediment to winning. It can be a serious home court advantage.

With three minutes left in the game, the gophers got a defensive stop and nearly forced a shot clock violation. The barn was rocking. The defense today was amazing, and it sure seemed like everybody was buying into their roles, including Patterson who I have not been a fan of all year really defended today. He was out-classed physically, but competed like crazy.

Finally, Dawson Garcia was a beast=31 points on 19 shots in the Big Ten is incredible. Combine that with his defense on Biddle???? All together was probably one of the top 20 individual performances I’ve seen by a Gopher in my lifetime.
 
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60's Guy said:
The start is easily explained by the lack of non conference quality opponents to prepare the team for conference competition.
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The non conference schedule for the most part is filled in after Johnson has had a chance to evaluate his talent for the year. I think the NC schedule was dumbed down intentionally to give the players time to develop and jell as a team. I didn't expect much but at this point I am pleasantly surprised. Focus on Garcia is going to be stepped up a notch from here on, can the other four on the court take advantage of this.
 

STPGopher said:
Thank you AD Coyle!
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Hahaha! I love it that so many of the Ben haters don’t have season tickets and many rare,y go to games, some admit they don’t regularly watch them. Many of the people who sit around us are supportive of a coach Johnson and believed that he coached good games against Michigan, Iowa, and Oregon, and that these players are motivated to play for him. Give credit when credit is due.
 


cheeseheadgophfan said:
I was there with my 15-year-old son, and yes, he stormed the court and I won’t apologize to anybody for letting him do it. He had a blast. All I kept thinking about it throughout the game was if the Gophers could somehow have a top 25ish type program, the state would go crazy for basketball. The atmosphere was electric, and the upper levels were still only about half full. I don’t care what anybody says, the Barn is not an impediment to winning. It can be a serious home court advantage.

With three minutes left in the game, the gophers got a defensive stop and nearly forced a shot clock violation. The barn was rocking. The defense today was amazing, and it sure seemed like everybody was buying into their roles, including Patterson who I have not been a fan of all year really defended today. He was out-classed physically, but competed like crazy.

Finally, Dawson Garcia was a beast=31 points on 19 shots in the Big Ten is incredible. Combine that with his defense on Biddle???? All together was probably one of the top 20 individual performances I’ve seen by a Gopher in my lifetime.
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LesBolstad said:
They had some really good teams in that era. Unfortunately, they had to contend with the UCLA teams in their heyday
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Yea, UCLA's bench may have been the second best team in the country in the early 70s. Still the Ducks took them down a few times.

I'll share one UCLA story. The PIT (AKA Mac Court) was one hell of a home court. When the fans got going you could see the scoreboard that hung over the court start to bounce and the safety chains would be swinging. Also the backboards and rims would vibrate, you had to hit all net to be sure the ball would stay in.

So I sat in the south end zone and the guy next to me had a very whiney voice that could be very annoying. He'd focused on Dave Meyer's of UCLA that game and he just kept saying "Ohhh Davieeee, Ohhh Davieeee. And finally Meyers looked at the UCLA bench to see where Wooden was then he positioned his body so Wooden couldn't see him give us the single digit salute. That's when we knew we had the and yes we won that game.
 


Ben haters? That’s BS. People hate bad basketball. It’s a matter of letting the season play out and see where the program goes from there. This how dare you question our well compensated head coach is a joke. Hopefully the wins keep coming.
 



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