B1G Game 8: Gophers Visit Wisconsin (1-23-24)

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Pretty hard to overcome this loss. Very bad. Did not play well at all.
I got a question: If you are only going to play man to man defense and you need Braun to score points. Why is she defending the other teams Steph Curry clone each game? The girl Mara defends runs from side to side, runs her off screens, cuts to the hoop and bounces her into traffic
and completely exhausts her. Yes, the other girl doesn't score but neither do we....Mara's exhausted...mentally if not physically. Not surprising she is frustrated.
On the offensive end she gets very few open looks she doesn't create off the dribble. Scramble plays, second shots, deflections, transition she'll occasionally get an open look but ... again she's spent from running around on defense and is not relaxed...everything on offense for her is rushed...doesn't always have to be but that's her mindset...that she has to hurry. In our set offense versus 5 on 5...the next time she gets an open look in rhythm will be the first time. A look-one she didn't create with dribbles....a catch and shoot shot and she is open....never happens.
 

Mara might just be overall physically exhausted she played a lot of international basketball this summer and fall.

I will say it again but I think Battle looks for her shot more this year - yes her assist number are up slightly. Our posts are not athletic enough.
 
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As far as announcers go, I thought Shimmy did a good job, mindful that many announcers are widely criticized. Like Joe Buck, constantly badmouthed. I liked her contributions.
 

Ghos345 said:
Mara might just be overall physically exhausted she played a lot of international basketball this summer and fall.

I will say it again but I think Battle looks for her shot more this year - yes her assist number are up slightly. Our posts are not athletic enough.
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I saw an interview with Coach P last week in which she mentioned that she wants Battle to look for her shot and be a scoring threat from the point guard spot. She also explained why. I think they'd be comfortable with her taking 10-12 shots per game. She is certainly capable of creating good looks for herself with-out sacrificing her ability to effectively distribute to teammates when (or if) they're open.

I know I'm fine with her creating her own offense. Although all point guards who look to score will sometimes miss an opening for a teammate, I haven't seen enough of that from Battle to make that a major concern for me. There are bigger issues that we are starting to see as we wade into Big 10 play.
 


One of the biggest issues I see with this team is that we don't have anyone that can create their shot; maybe battle. To me it just seems every team we play the coaches are running an offense where people are getting easy looks. Last night Wisconsin ran a simple screen play probably four times to give the girl four wide open looks at a three. To me the Gophers stand around and watch Mara try to score, of course she is going to get tired. Also, if Heyer is having an off night, this team seems to struggle.
 

Disappointed by this loss but this team will get better from it. Coach P knows she can get more from this team, on to the next one.
 

Coach P is a great recruiter in terms of getting the right players for her system. It looks like this tough conference stretch made them leg weary last night, but give Wisconsin credit, they played with more passion. The next 5 games are tough.
 

We lack athleticism in the paint. Hart works hard but her strengths aren't defending athletes. It limits her rebounding also. For me Johnson is a better option. Holloway backing her up. This is against athletes.
The cover over the rim surely didn't help! We were cold, very cold shooting.
We were out played and out hussled.
This is a minor setback!

SKI-U-MAH
 



60's Guy said:
Pretty hard to overcome this loss. Very bad. Did not play well at all.
I got a question: If you are only going to play man to man defense and you need Braun to score points. Why is she defending the other teams Steph Curry clone each game? The girl Mara defends runs from side to side, runs her off screens, cuts to the hoop and bounces her into traffic
and completely exhausts her. Yes, the other girl doesn't score but neither do we....Mara's exhausted...mentally if not physically. Not surprising she is frustrated.
On the offensive end she gets very few open looks she doesn't create off the dribble. Scramble plays, second shots, deflections, transition she'll occasionally get an open look but ... again she's spent from running around on defense and is not relaxed...everything on offense for her is rushed...doesn't always have to be but that's her mindset...that she has to hurry. In our set offense versus 5 on 5...the next time she gets an open look in rhythm will be the first time. A look-one she didn't create with dribbles....a catch and shoot shot and she is open....never happens.
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I agree. And when she drives to the basket, she just flings the ball up there. No form at all. She just can't handle contact (like GG, for example). She ends up on the floor a lot, and it seems she doesn't get her fair share of foul calls.
 

BBJones said:
I agree. And when she drives to the basket, she just flings the ball up there. No form at all. She just can't handle contact (like GG, for example). She ends up on the floor a lot, and it seems she doesn't get her fair share of foul calls.
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Ya, I agree on the sad layup attempts...not sure what's going on there. It seems, I saw someone different on the 3 on 3 hilites this summer. Just really poor attempts to finish layups like you say.
It's been going on long enough that it should be fixed by now...it's correctable, it's teachable.

The falling on the floor is 99% an attempt to get to the foul line but she often falls too soon to get a call. I don't think it is her intention but she almost avoids contact but yet she's thinking she is going to get free throws by falling down. That's been since day one.

She is really good! Just not playing well at all and it's all fixable. Doesn't wait to dribble when somebody is setting a screen for her...so we get an illegal screen foul. Doesn't come off screens shoulder to shoulder....big space between her and screener. And the passes from a teammate are very late or they aren't even looking the infrequent times she is open coming off a screen.
 

after a few good wins that were setting us up for the NCAA imho WASHES out after last night.. and I think last night took us out of the ncaa tournament talks, because you just can't lose to Wisconsin when you want to make the ncaa tournament.. hopefully we get to the WNIT.. but I think the NCAA Tournament just slipped through our hands..

we shall see if this lose will WAKE UP the team or if it snowballs..
 

We played poorly offensively, not just shooting, but we lacked the crisp passing and off-ball movement we’d come to expect from this team. Maybe this was in part due to tired legs and mental fatigue after 4 games in 10 days, with the last one being on the road.

I thought Wisconsin looked like a team with fresher legs and greater determination in this game. They hadn’t played in a week, so they also had the luxury of practicing just for what we like to do.

While we couldn’t grit out a win, even after taking the lead late, it is for the moment only a Quad 2 loss, which the Committee doesn’t consider a “bad” loss.

The Gophers fell from 31 to 33 NET as a result. That still roughly equates to a 9-seed in the tournament. If we can beat Illinois on the road, that would add another Quad 1 win to our resume. We currently have Quad 1 wins against Michigan, Nebraska, and Michigan State, and Quad 1 losses to UConn, Iowa, Indiana, and Maryland.
 



rwlarson said:
We played poorly offensively, not just shooting, but we lacked the crisp passing and off-ball movement we’d come to expect from this team. Maybe this was in part due to tired legs and mental fatigue after 4 games in 10 days, with the last one being on the road.

I thought Wisconsin looked like a team with fresher legs and greater determination in this game. They hadn’t played in a week, so they also had the luxury of practicing just for what we like to do.

While we couldn’t grit out a win, even after taking the lead late, it is for the moment only a Quad 2 loss, which the Committee doesn’t consider a “bad” loss.

The Gophers fell from 31 to 33 NET as a result. That still roughly equates to a 9-seed in the tournament. If we can beat Illinois on the road, that would add another Quad 1 win to our resume. We currently have Quad 1 wins against Michigan, Nebraska, and Michigan State, and Quad 1 losses to UConn, Iowa, Indiana, and Maryland.
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Probably a dumb question, but how to do Quads work again? how can you tell what is a 1 or a 2? is it based on NET?
 



This is a huge game ahead. Swept by Wisconsin two years in a row? Or a split.

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60's Guy said:
Ya, I agree on the sad layup attempts...not sure what's going on there. It seems, I saw someone different on the 3 on 3 hilites this summer. Just really poor attempts to finish layups like you say.
It's been going on long enough that it should be fixed by now...it's correctable, it's teachable.

The falling on the floor is 99% an attempt to get to the foul line but she often falls too soon to get a call. I don't think it is her intention but she almost avoids contact but yet she's thinking she is going to get free throws by falling down. That's been since day one.

She is really good! Just not playing well at all and it's all fixable. Doesn't wait to dribble when somebody is setting a screen for her...so we get an illegal screen foul. Doesn't come off screens shoulder to shoulder....big space between her and screener. And the passes from a teammate are very late or they aren't even looking the infrequent times she is open coming off a screen.
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I agree on how we are using screens. You have to rub shoulders to force the defense to go under or foul. They have been working on this all year. When you leave a gap, the screener leans or moves to close the gap and picks up the foul.
 

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