B1G game 1: Gophers host Maryland 12-7-25

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BBJones said:
"They haven't been in many situations where they have to close-out tough games like Maryland." And why is that? It couldn't be all those 40 point victories against this year's version of the cupcake brigade, could it?
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Most power conference teams, including many of the nationally ranked teams, stack their nonconference schedule with easy wins. Look at Maryland's nonconference schedule for example. Theirs is almost as weak as Minnesota's. Kim Mulkey and LSU are a notorious example of this too. A tough nonconference doesn't necessarily guarantee success, and it's also not not necessary for some other teams that still end up being very good.

This team is largely the same from last year and should have had plenty of experience in tough games during Big Ten play, but maybe the lessons just haven't sunk in for whatever reason. That's still troubling.

At half time of the Maryland game, I did say I was worried about the lead the Gophers had because I knew Brenda Frese is an excellent coach and they don't have much experience in the last few years defending a lead in close Big Ten games. I was worried about their ability to stay composed as strong opponents chipped away at the lead, and that's what happened here. Last year it seemed they were a lot better at staging fourth quarter comebacks than establishing and keeping a lead, so honestly this collapse made sense. You let your guard down in the last 45 seconds because you think you've done enough to get the win, and that's when the best teams can take advantage of you.
 


DietCokeFan said:
9thI know in the past I have gone back and forth with you and have not agreed much; but have to say I think you're spot on with this post and I apprecate your insights. I am really curious to see how the team reacts going forward.

Question: Would you say the at Indiana game is a must win for NCAA tourney hopes? I just look at the beginning of BIG play and besides the Northwestern game I am worried we might be trouble. Thoughts?
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Since I like to pretend I know bracketology I'll answer:
To be safe you'd like to finish ahead of (at least) one of the bubble (or just above the bubble) tier-teams like Indiana looks to be this year and the best way to help with that is to beat them. (Washington last year beating the Gophers made sure they were ahead of the Gophers) Therefore beating Indiana would be huge.
Otherwise if the Gophers finish 13th place again with the same record as last year then they might again rather take a team higher in the stadings in the much weaker ACC again if it isn't obvious the Gophers are better (though thanks to a bid-steal Virginia Tech just missed out last year). Luckily at least of all the potential ACC bubble teams, none of them really did more non-conference than the Gophers and a couple of them had bad losses.
 
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BBJones said:
"They haven't been in many situations where they have to close-out tough games like Maryland." And why is that? It couldn't be all those 40 point victories against this year's version of the cupcake brigade, could it?
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Good point. I don't know if we know who are our 'go-to-scorers' are when we need a basket. We haven't seen anybody really step up. It would be nice to have that figured out by now.

Also, I think we need a 'true' point guard. Battle is great and can handle a lot of the point guard duties but I don't think she is a 'true' point guard. Gophers finish the Maryland game if they had a pg.
 

I did like the defensive effort for most of this game with the exception of sometimes in ot. Battle's rebounding and defense was outstanding also free throws were great. I wish she would have developed on the offensive side. I don't know if she is the best PG on the team. The differance between Brenda and Dawn was night and day. Brenda almost always had plays running especially after time outs and we pretty much looked lost. And of course when we did get layups we missed. I don't think Dawn knows who her 5 best players are yet. Plus she does not know how to use them. Hope she gets the offensive turned around.
 


gophersoa said:
Good point. I don't know if we know who are our 'go-to-scorers' are when we need a basket. We haven't seen anybody really step up. It would be nice to have that figured out by now.

Also, I think we need a 'true' point guard. Battle is great and can handle a lot of the point guard duties but I don't think she is a 'true' point guard. Gophers finish the Maryland game if they had a pg.
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I agree. Last year, I thought Battle was trying to be the point guard and the go-to shooter. She has a great mid-range jumper and can get to the basket. I felt she should have spent more time running the offense and spending time setting up and making her teammates better. This year, I think they could have other people run the offense more and free up Battle to shoot. Unfortunately, her mid-range shot is just not working.
 

walleye said:
I agree. Last year, I thought Battle was trying to be the point guard and the go-to shooter. She has a great mid-range jumper and can get to the basket. I felt she should have spent more time running the offense and spending time setting up and making her teammates better. This year, I think they could have other people run the offense more and free up Battle to shoot. Unfortunately, her mid-range shot is just not working.
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Sorry if we need to have Battle shoot we are in big trouble. She can get hot and have a good game maybe one out of ten games. That is alot of loses.
 

Gopher Mac said:
I did like the defensive effort for most of this game with the exception of sometimes in ot. Battle's rebounding and defense was outstanding also free throws were great. I wish she would have developed on the offensive side. I don't know if she is the best PG on the team. The differance between Brenda and Dawn was night and day. Brenda almost always had plays running especially after time outs and we pretty much looked lost. And of course when we did get layups we missed. I don't think Dawn knows who her 5 best players are yet. Plus she does not know how to use them. Hope she gets the
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When you shoot like the team did against MD, it makes absolutely no difference what offensive sets you run, or even if you run any. Numerous missed bunnies at the basket, missed mid range,and with the exception of GB poor 3 pt shooing. Team wide lack of accuracy. It didn’t make any difference if they were open or contested.

Hart missed everything from the right side of the basket, and almost always does. She isn’t bad from the left side, but should never see an entry pass that requires use of her right hand. And it wasn’t just her. Braun was maybe worse in that game. Her continuing attempts to go to the hole simply were not working. But that didn’t stop her from continually doing it.

As for Battle I have no idea. Towards the end of last year she seemed to have "got it". She showed she could carry a team by herself if necessary. This year she seems somewhat un motivated? Does not look for her shot and while for a guard she is not a bad rebounder, her lack of block outs at the end of the game were impactful.

It’s always easy to blame a coach for a "lack of offense". But when the players on the floor miss open shots consistently, when your star player goes 3 for 20?, and your senior leader has 7 turnovers, the only thing a coach can do is turn to the bench. But there is not a lot of bench to turn to. They are missing about 3 of what would have been the top 8 in the rotation. Yes I know other teams have injuries, but this team didn’t have a lot of depth in the first place. And no,I don’t think Holloway is the answer. Gifted athletically, but she hasn’t shown any hint of being impactful during the competitive parts of a game.
 

How did they get to 99 points?
Can you imagine how many points they would have scored if they made the baskets they should have, 150?
 



Gopheritnow said:
When you shoot like the team did against MD, it makes absolutely no difference what offensive sets you run, or even if you run any. Numerous missed bunnies at the basket, missed mid range,and with the exception of GB poor 3 pt shooing. Team wide lack of accuracy. It didn’t make any difference if they were open or contested.

Hart missed everything from the right side of the basket, and almost always does. She isn’t bad from the left side, but should never see an entry pass that requires use of her right hand. And it wasn’t just her. Braun was maybe worse in that game. Her continuing attempts to go to the hole simply were not working. But that didn’t stop her from continually doing it.

As for Battle I have no idea. Towards the end of last year she seemed to have "got it". She showed she could carry a team by herself if necessary. This year she seems somewhat un motivated? Does not look for her shot and while for a guard she is not a bad rebounder, her lack of block outs at the end of the game were impactful.

It’s always easy to blame a coach for a "lack of offense". But when the players on the floor miss open shots consistently, when your star player goes 3 for 20?, and your senior leader has 7 turnovers, the only thing a coach can do is turn to the bench. But there is not a lot of bench to turn to. They are missing about 3 of what would have been the top 8 in the rotation. Yes I know other teams have injuries, but this team didn’t have a lot of depth in the first place. And no,I don’t think Holloway is the answer. Gifted athletically, but she hasn’t shown any hint of being impactful during the competitive parts of a game.
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But in my opinion, it was the coach that missed calling the TIMEOUT to advance the ball down the court up 7 with 44 sec left, especially after collapsing in 1st OT inbounding the ball down below the hoop.

Still painful to listen to Bluder after the 1st turnover say "and still not calling the timeout" right as we inbound then second later commit the 2nd turnover and 2nd and 1 to make it a 1 point game with 35 seconds left. 6 point swing in 9 seconds. Advancing the ball with 44 seconds wins the game.

I am really rooting for coach and this team to do well and be great to get to the dance, but seeing this game against Maryland against quality opponent where Maryland a top team had 4 freshman play and 2 playing most 2nd OT and they seemed ready to go when needed.

In 3 years have had 2 Freshman recruits (GG,Tori) get minutes in quality games. Christian this year is borderline, but why isn't she ready to take a cold Braun/GG/Battle/Glenn spot if needed for more then a minute or two at a time. Now going in for a minute here and there would seem really tough to get comfortable in my opinion. Especially after 1 mistake I get taken out which I have seen unless your are GG or Tori. I know it is a veteran team, but Iowa, if senior/grad leaders Stuelke or Feuerbach are struggling, they are playing less minutes some games. Just the way it is. Can't expect every player to play well every game.

Rah for good rest of this year!
 

"But in my opinion, it was the coach that missed calling the TIMEOUT to advance the ball down the court up 7 with 44 sec left, especially after collapsing in 1st OT inbounding the ball down below the hoop."
This!!!
 

Year 3 I am disappointed. Not ready to throw in the towel but I did not think with all this leadership we would be hoping and praying just to make the tournament. In some ways looks like the team Whalen coach. Defense definitely improved but offense not so much.
 

Whytetale said:
"But in my opinion, it was the coach that missed calling the TIMEOUT to advance the ball down the court up 7 with 44 sec left, especially after collapsing in 1st OT inbounding the ball down below the hoop."
This!!!
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All the missed shots, bad decisions, poor passes but the outcome is all because of the timeout?
 






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