What I didn't like about the Louisville game...

[Ogie Ogilthorpe]

A few things stood out yesterday that didn't go the Gophers' way:

> Gophers missed out on a lot of loose balls. The effort was sure there, but for whatever the reason, the Cards seemed to come up with most of them, and there were a lot of them.

> I'm sorry, I have to say it, the officiating was horrendous and no, it wasn't exactly "both ways". Call it sour grapes, even though we won, but I thought the Gophers got the short end of the stick on a ton of calls, particularly fouls called on DJ. IIRC, the Gophers had 4 fouls before the first TV timeout of both halves.

> Too much to comment on about Westbrook but I'll leave it alone. Just never seemed to have any confidence, picking up two early fouls didn't help.

> The official, very professional, colorful, well-laid out program for the day actually said "Minnesota State University Golden Gophers" in big bold letters above the team photo. How is this possible?

> Bostick's end to the first half had to cause a heart attack somewhere. Everybody in the Stadium could see his shot getting blocked (from 25 ft) before he even got set to shoot, and the Cards take it down for a layup to close the half.

The good, aside from the obvious that I'm sure has already been stated, and after looking at the box score:

> We actually held our own on the boards against a pretty athletic Louisville team.

> 5 points from Louisville's bench? Wow. That's not a lot of depth.

> The overall fortitude of the team to withstand a strong Louisville push, particularly when they turned up the heat defensively. What a great win....

 

[figi]

The good news is they won the game and there is room for lots of improvement.

 

[KyGopherfan]

I was disappointed at Westbrook purposely holding the ball instead of passing attempting to draw a foul, but ended up turning it over twice. This was very critical at the end of the game. He should've given the rock up instead of holding it. I know he wanted to do more to impress his family, but this was not smart basketball. If he got fouled and got to the line, it would've been different, but he turned it over.

 

[ShowinGoldyLove]

I was disappointed at Westbrook purposely holding the ball instead of passing attempting to draw a foul, but ended up turning it over twice.

I've noticed this as well...he does the same thing nearly every game with the clock winding down. He could make a pass to keep the clock running, but instead just holds onto attempting to draw the foul.

You think the coaching staff would say, "if there is an open guy, PASS THE BALL to keep the clock running. Don't be selfish." It just makes sense....

 

[vaporboy]

Westbrook is the leading free throw shooter

Maybe Tubby told him to hold on to it, but I still agree, he should have recognized the presure coming and passed it. And yes the foals didn't help because normally he is a very good defender; when he fouled he had to be substituted to maintain the defensive agression, surly a coach's decision and a sound one.

 

[Gopherholefan]

I agree with most of the other posts... my thing I didn't like was right before the half and that whole sequence we had. We got a couple of offensive rebounds with less than 35 seconds left, and for some reason put up a 3 and then a contested 3 footer instead of pulling the ball out for 1 shot to end the half. Devoe got an off rebound with around 30 seconds left and immediately passed to Al at the top of the key. Al took the 3 that bricked off the back of the iron. Busch then off rebounded the ball and drove the lane and put up a contested 3 footer that didn't even hit the rim. Why didn't we pull the ball out after either of those rebounds?? On that rebound Williams fouled T williams (I think) and he made 1 of 2 on the other end. We then came down and had our shot blocked and they dunked the ball off a fast break as the buzzer sounded. Instead of being up 8 and taking the last shot (or even 7 in the last possession scenario), we were up 5 points at half.

 

[MNSnowman]

>

The official, very professional, colorful, well-laid out program for the day actually said "Minnesota State University Golden Gophers" in big bold letters above the team photo. How is this possible?

Oops. Maybe a fan of the old TV show, Coach?