B1G Game 18: Gophers visit Michigan State (3-1-25)

[bball_craz_31]

You literally say the same thing every post. Fans can be upset, annoyed or whatever we want to feel because this coaching staff has simply not done anything.
Her not developing players in the non conference or the ability to draw up offense is extremely frustrating. Her defense mentality in the BIG is not working.
We all know you love Dawn and this staff and that is perfectly fine; but, we when we as fans have frustrations that can also be fine.

Yes this is frustrating to lose. and its comical that you say I say the same thing... you cowards literally complain about the same thing all year every single loss.

So once again.. what offensive mind is coming? Should we go back to Stollings and lose 114-106 in games? What great coach should we go get? Or you all must have soooooo much more knowledge than her...why not tell her? share your great wisdom with her if you want the team to win. Clearly she needs people on this boards help.

Hasn't done anything.. beating Michigan, Michigan State and Nebraska (all tournament teams last year) is nothing? easy right?

this year beat Indiana and Illinois...clearly easy if this staff did that right?!

 

[DietCokeFan]

Yes this is frustrating to lose. and its comical that you say I say the same thing... you cowards literally complain about the same thing all year every single loss.

So once again.. what offensive mind is coming? Should we go back to Stollings and lose 114-106 in games? What great coach should we go get? Or you all must have soooooo much more knowledge than her...why not tell her? share your great wisdom with her if you want the team to win. Clearly she needs people on this boards help.

Hasn't done anything.. beating Michigan, Michigan State and Nebraska (all tournament teams last year) is nothing? easy right?

this year beat Indiana and Illinois...clearly easy if this staff did that right?!

I’m not going to go back and forth with you.
I’ll just agree with you.

 

[BBJones]

Yes this is frustrating to lose. and its comical that you say I say the same thing... you cowards literally complain about the same thing all year every single loss.

So once again.. what offensive mind is coming? Should we go back to Stollings and lose 114-106 in games? What great coach should we go get? Or you all must have soooooo much more knowledge than her...why not tell her? share your great wisdom with her if you want the team to win. Clearly she needs people on this boards help.

Hasn't done anything.. beating Michigan, Michigan State and Nebraska (all tournament teams last year) is nothing? easy right?

this year beat Indiana and Illinois...clearly easy if this staff did that right?!

Just a suggestion, but have you considered changing your moniker to "Broken Record"?

 

[thatjanelpick]

Just a suggestion, but have you considered changing your moniker to "Broken Record"?

The "ignore" function can make this site a much more pleasant place to visit.

 

[Gophers112233]

so question.. if someone told you when Dawn came in she would lose Mara for 39 games.. and we'd have back to back 20 win season.. you would take that?

and that is what we have had the last 2 season and some fans are FREAKING out and saying Dawn isn't a good coach all of the sudden?

we lost 2 of our top 8 players to injury.. moved Tori from the bench to the starting lineup.. when that happened we lost a scoring punch off the bench.. So that left Anni as the only scoring threat off the bench..

Rose wasn't brought in to score she was brought in to give Amaya a breather here and there and help on the defense end.

Maggie has shown she can help here and there but she wasn't all of the sudden be a 10-12 ppg player this season.

Klick was still coming back from her ACL and guessing she wasn't herself this year

Nia showed she can help in spots but doesn't proved much shooting help.

Kenna we all know why she didn't get much time.. her defense wasn't ready.. can't have 2-3 other players trying to tell her where to be while their are trying to play defense themselves.

yes this year didn't finish how we wanted it too.. but to to improve to 8-10 in big ten play from 5-13.. and let's remember we finished 1-9 last year in B1G without Mara..

I'd say this coaching staff and team improved maybe not as much as everyone wanted but.. they did.

 

[DietCokeFan]

so question.. if someone told you when Dawn came in she would lose Mara for 39 games.. and we'd have back to back 20 win season.. you would take that?

and that is what we have had the last 2 season and some fans are FREAKING out and saying Dawn isn't a good coach all of the sudden?

we lost 2 of our top 8 players to injury.. moved Tori from the bench to the starting lineup.. when that happened we lost a scoring punch off the bench.. So that left Anni as the only scoring threat off the bench..

Rose wasn't brought in to score she was brought in to give Amaya a breather here and there and help on the defense end.

Maggie has shown she can help here and there but she wasn't all of the sudden be a 10-12 ppg player this season.

Klick was still coming back from her ACL and guessing she wasn't herself this year

Nia showed she can help in spots but doesn't proved much shooting help.

Kenna we all know why she didn't get much time.. her defense wasn't ready.. can't have 2-3 other players trying to tell her where to be while their are trying to play defense themselves.

yes this year didn't finish how we wanted it too.. but to to improve to 8-10 in big ten play from 5-13.. and let's remember we finished 1-9 last year in B1G without Mara..

I'd say this coaching staff and team improved maybe not as much as everyone wanted but.. they did.

Yes Dawn may have won 20 games this year; but, I think most coaches would with how awful that non conference schedule was this year.

 

[Gopher Mac]

I think a lot of things can be true at the same time. I think Dawn is a very good coach. I also think this team looked bad the second half of the season. I think they looked tried. Offense looked bad. I also know losing two of your best players hurt. It is frustrating as a fan. They don't have enough talent to survive the loss of Braun. Hopefully Dawn can add more talent. If we do make the tourney this team can't stay with any ranked opponent.

 

[Gophers112233]

Yes Dawn may have won 20 games this year; but, I think most coaches would with how awful that non conference schedule was this year.

sure.. but we also improved our big ten record as well without our best player.. who we dearly struggled to win B1G games last year..

this season we beat the teams we were suppose to.. we DID NOT do that last year..

we took Maryland to the buzzer due to a late game rally.. took OSU to OT and lost by 3..

let her get some more of her players in here..

this coaching STAFF is getting very good local players to stay home.. give her time to build her program and to get her recruiting classes in here..

just a FYI without Dawn and her staff.. we don't have Tori ..

 

[MaroonMagic]

sure.. but we also improved our big ten record as well without our best player.. who we dearly struggled to win B1G games last year..

this season we beat the teams we were suppose to.. we DID NOT do that last year..

we took Maryland to the buzzer due to a late game rally.. took OSU to OT and lost by 3..

let her get some more of her players in here..

this coaching STAFF is getting very good local players to stay home.. give her time to build her program and to get her recruiting classes in here..

just a FYI without Dawn and her staff.. we don't have Tori ..

Not to mention that the margins in the Big Ten have greatly improved in just one year. This year, the Gophers were able to blow out one of the bottom teams by 40 points. That didn't happen last year. And there haven't been any games where the Gophers lost by 30 or more points, which happened multiple times last year without Mara. Clearly there has been great success and improvement year over year, even if it's also been frustrating to have so many close games not go our way. But that's what you get when your number one offensive threat goes down while you're in year two of rebuilding from a majority freshman team.

 

[thatjanelpick]

so question.. if someone told you when Dawn came in she would lose Mara for 39 games.. and we'd have back to back 20 win season.. you would take that?

and that is what we have had the last 2 season and some fans are FREAKING out and saying Dawn isn't a good coach all of the sudden?

we lost 2 of our top 8 players to injury.. moved Tori from the bench to the starting lineup.. when that happened we lost a scoring punch off the bench.. So that left Anni as the only scoring threat off the bench..

Rose wasn't brought in to score she was brought in to give Amaya a breather here and there and help on the defense end.

Maggie has shown she can help here and there but she wasn't all of the sudden be a 10-12 ppg player this season.

Klick was still coming back from her ACL and guessing she wasn't herself this year

Nia showed she can help in spots but doesn't proved much shooting help.

Kenna we all know why she didn't get much time.. her defense wasn't ready.. can't have 2-3 other players trying to tell her where to be while their are trying to play defense themselves.

yes this year didn't finish how we wanted it too.. but to to improve to 8-10 in big ten play from 5-13.. and let's remember we finished 1-9 last year in B1G without Mara..

I'd say this coaching staff and team improved maybe not as much as everyone wanted but.. they did.

Ok, they won 20 games but, at the risk of being accused of sounding this horn again, most of those wins were against godawful teams. Precisely one of the non-conference opponents finished with a winning record. They are, essentially, bad wins that left the team underprepared for the conference schedule.

 

[WoodburyTim]

Ok let's come at this a different way. Obviously all you great coaching D1 minds know so much more. Dawn and the staff are awful and terrible.

What coaches do you think we should go out and get? Who is coming here? What great basektball mind that is deemed worthy of the holier than thou standards of this board?

reminder, Dawn has two back-to-back 20 win seasons despite Mara Braun ,her best player, for 25 games this year, and didn't have Mara for 14 of the 36 games last year.

So she is at 66 career games as gopher coach and hasn't had her best player for 39 of those games. With her She has wins over at Michigan, Michigan State and Nebraksa last season at home and this year has no Quad 3 or 4 losses.


But by all means... she can't coach so I'm curous what coach you all think is coming that is up to your standards.

Yikes that was a lay on the ground and kick and hit the ground tantrum because everyone doesn’t agree with you. Well played.

 

[drewhaus7]

The frustration is seeing the same thing happen again this year. As the season got longer, the starters seems to wear down and the W's were harder to get and we lacked depth on the bench. Seemed this year with the weaker non conference, too many games we wanted to win by 20-30 instead of developing more from the bench and that hurt us come tough big 10 season. There were games after Braun and Woodson injuries. Maybe more going on with injuries, etc. Maybe it is how the NCAA works to get into the tournament? (if so this needs to change imo.)

Year 1 it took 5 WNIT wins to get to the 20 wins. 5-13 in the big ten and we had Mara for 8.5 of those big 10 games. This year, yes stings lost Woodson and Mara again, but we still had most those last year, plus included Tori, Grad transfers Stewart and Rose, and Johnson. Non conference was weaker and 8-10 in big 10(4-9 last 13) and 13 of 18 teams. Only two wins to Indiana and Illinois which were higher then us in the standings . 4 key losses at home to Michigan, Iowa, Oregon, Washington. Win 1 or 2 of these and in the big 10 tourney. Didn't get a W vs any ranked opponent. Yes we did come close a few times.

It seems the big 10 is too tough to only focus on defense. Yes D is crucial, but the teams that get get way more shot attempts, especially behind the arc, are the teams making a few more and coming away with the W most of the time. When you play the way we are playing, you almost have to be perfect the entire game in holding your opponent to scoring, which seems to be very very difficult task for and team in the big 10. Will coach P find away to adjust from D and find more offense is the question? Will we continue to schedule a weaker non conference schedule just to rack up W's to hopefully squeak into the NCAA tourney. If we do schedule weaker non conference games, will we try to develop more players so ready to play in big 10 play and not wear down other players?

Was their improvement in year 2 so far, yes a little. Were some people hoping for a little more improvement, Absolutely! I, hockey fan, was not much a U women's basketball fan until the 4 in Battle, Heyer, Braun, Holloway all decided to stay home. We are all hoping for the best for the women who wanted to stay here and bring U women's basketball back on the map. Hopefully we can still get on a run in the BTT and find away to yet squeak into the dance and once you make the dance, it is a whole new season and ya never know! Rah! Go Gophers!

 

[BBJones]

I don't think anyone is saying Dawn is a terrible coach and that the Gophers didn't play better this year. GG expanded her game, Battle played more under control, Tori was a revelation, Heyer was steady, and Hart had her moments. Plus, the team did improve it's Big ten record. But offensively, we were Godawful with hardly any ball movement. Sure, Braun and Woodson would have helped, but I don't remember either one as being a facilitator. We desperately need a point guard and a big who can jump. Hopefully, they can find help in the portal. In the meantime, let's stop slapping ourselves on the back for a completely meaningless 20 win season. It padded the coach's resume but little else.

 

[BBJones]

I don't think anyone is saying Dawn is a terrible coach and that the Gophers didn't play better this year. GG expanded her game, Battle played more under control, Tori was a revelation, Heyer was steady, and Hart had her moments. Plus, the team did improve it's Big ten record. But offensively, we were Godawful with hardly any ball movement. Sure, Braun and Woodson would have helped, but I don't remember either one as being a facilitator. We desperately need a point guard and a big who can jump. Hopefully, they can find help in the portal. In the meantime, let's stop slapping ourselves on the back for a completely meaningless 20 win season. It padded the coach's resume but little else.

I forgot Stewart. She was a fine addition.

 

[Star City]

MEDIOCRE, what a disappointing end to the regular season. Can’t get over the hump and beat good teams. Seriously the weakest bubble in NCAA history and they probably won’t make it. Even poor teams pull an upset once in a while. Please hit the portal and get a reliable consistent scorer

The only Power Conference school I can find with a larger losing streak against ranked teams than the Gophers' almost six season-long, 35-game losing streak is Pittsburgh who, if I counted right, appears to have lost 70 staight since they last beat a ranked team in January 2015.
Wake Forest has only 1 win in the same timeframe and appears to have lost 31 straight since their last ranked win, and every other team seems to have at least 2.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Ok, they won 20 games but, at the risk of being accused of sounding this horn again, most of those wins were against godawful teams. Precisely one of the non-conference opponents finished with a winning record. They are, essentially, bad wins that left the team underprepared for the conference schedule.

I think it had more to do with running out of gas late in the year than unprepared. They played defense but couldn’t get the offense to be consistent enough. Gotta find a way to be healthy and play 9-10 player rotation throughout the season.

 

[Star City]

Ok, they won 20 games but, at the risk of being accused of sounding this horn again, most of those wins were against godawful teams. Precisely one of the non-conference opponents finished with a winning record. They are, essentially, bad wins that left the team underprepared for the conference schedule.

If the non-conference schedule left them completely unprepared then they wouldn't have easily beaten Penn State and Wisconsin. Maybe the Gophers aren't built to be able to beat good teams with much regularity if they don't have anybody who is capable of going off for 30 points or being a go-to-scorer down the stretch like Braun was supposed be. (This is assuming the players the Gophers have now are better with they are playing with a star player than being asked to do extra.
There's 99.999% chance if Braun went to any school other than Minnesota she'd be a contributor to a perennial NCAA Tournament team and we'd be crying about never being able to have any players like her. Also it wasn't until her senior year that Carlie Wagner was consistently great as a go-to star player if the argument is Braun hadn't been consistent enough so far into her career so far.

 

[thatjanelpick]

If the non-conference schedule left them completely unprepared then they wouldn't have easily beaten Penn State and Wisconsin. Maybe the Gophers aren't built to be able to beat good teams with much regularity if they don't have anybody who is capable of going off for 30 points or being a go-to-scorer down the stretch like Braun was supposed be. (This is assuming the players the Gophers have now are better with they are playing with a star player than being asked to do extra.
There's 99.999% chance if Braun went to any school other than Minnesota she'd be a contributor to a perennial NCAA Tournament team and we'd be crying about never being able to have any players like her. Also it wasn't until her senior year that Carlie Wagner was consistently great as a go-to star player if the argument is Braun hadn't been consistent enough so far into her career so far.

I said "underprepared," not "completely unprepared." The Gophers were well-prepared to beat terrible teams.

 

[Star City]

I said "underprepared," not "completely unprepared." The Gophers were well-prepared to beat terrible teams.

I made the mistake of reading small print too fast and read "underprepared" as "unprepared". I will adjust my eyes from now on.
I hate playing 357 of out 362-ranked non-conference schedules as much any anybody, but I'm not sure how true that is because under the previous coach beating/playing good teams non-conference never led to any success once Big Ten play started, and I'd assume playing all of the top Big Ten teams should've left the Gophers prepared enough for Oregon or Washington.

 

[akgo4]

They are winning with players recruited by a different coach to potentially play in a different system. They have won 20 games back to back years. Fact..... Obviously Coach P. has adjusted. Teams with better athletes will beat them, but overall their coaches are getting the best effort they can. LEt her get her own players in there. My question to you is are they winning the same way Coach P did at both West Virgina and South Dakota? If so, I'd say the system is pretty good. Quit looking for a reason to complain about the coaching Norwood....