B1G Game 9: Gophers visit Illinois (1-28-24)



Disappointing loss. We would like to think that we lost because Braun got hurt and the basketball gods dumped on us. However, they gave away much of their half-time lead in the third quarter and that made a big difference in the game.
 


Obviously the offensive flow (the little this team has) changed when Braun went out; but you have to find a way. Pretty sad this team can't beat the teams they should. Was hoping things would change with this new coaching staff, but the improvements from game to game is not improving. When do we see the next win? could be a long Feb.
 


No way this team stays together at the end of the season. Such high expectations coming into the season and can't even beat a sub .500 Illinois team.
 

Gophers Bench

Holloway 0-3 field goals, no 3-pt shots

Czinano 0-2 field goals, 0-1 3-pt

Sanders 1-4 field goals, no 3-pt shots


That's 1-10 from the bench.
 






No way this team stays together at the end of the season. Such high expectations coming into the season and can't even beat a sub .500 Illinois team.
And I got yelled at for saying after the Wisconsin loss that recruiting will hurt from these games.
 

In the post game Plitzuweit said Braun came down on the defenders foot after the shot. and that a foul should have been called for not allowing Braun space to land. She had a point although I can't see much from watching the replay
 

Okay, I’m going to enter the crying room again to interject with some positivity toward future. We are what we are this year, short bench, slow of foot, especially at end of games when minutes creep up and we struggle to defend the post. We pick up wins when raining threes. Next year we add top 60 recruit in Johnson and 6’1” guard McKinney who is supposed to be the best defender Cosgrove has ever seen. Both are high energy girls. Future is bright
 
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In the post game Plitzuweit said Braun came down on the defenders foot after the shot. and that a foul should have been called for not allowing Braun space to land. She had a point although I can't see much from watching the replay
yep! that's what I was thinking to myself.. figured she landed on an Illinois players foot..
 

In the post game Plitzuweit said Braun came down on the defenders foot after the shot. and that a foul should have been called for not allowing Braun space to land. She had a point although I can't see much from watching the replay
I do think coach P has a legitimate complaint on how teams have been physical with Mara and get no calls. Someone touches Clark and it’s a foul. Blaming these losses on officiating, no clearly the Badgers came to play and the Gophers didn’t, team’s mojo fell apart after Braun’s injury. Just frustrating on the inconsistency of foul calls and it’s just not Gopher’s game either.
 

I do think coach P has a legitimate complaint on how teams have been physical with Mara and get no calls. Someone touches Clark and it’s a foul. Blaming these losses on officiating, no clearly the Badgers came to play and the Gophers didn’t, team’s mojo fell apart after Braun’s injury. Just frustrating on the inconsistency of foul calls and it’s just not Gopher’s game either.
heck if someone looks at Clark the wrong way it's a foul..
 

No way this team stays together at the end of the season. Such high expectations coming into the season and can't even beat a sub .500 Illinois team.
Such high expectations from whom?

Start 3 sophomores, a freshman and a junior. The expectations is they would take some lumps this year, but show steady improvement.

Why wouldn't this team stay together?
 

Such high expectations from whom?

Start 3 sophomores, a freshman and a junior. The expectations is they would take some lumps this year, but show steady improvement.

Why wouldn't this team stay together?
Plus first year in a new system. I think we got rose-colored glasses with the great non-conference record and lost sight of the reality. Also, they still have a month to improve for when it matters most.
 

Why would Sanders shoot a layup with 9 seconds left, down 3. She is a shoot first point guard, the worst kind. When she comes in everyone else stands there and watches her dribble! I really don’t need to see her play again, she just bogs up everything.
 

Plus first year in a new system. I think we got rose-colored glasses with the great non-conference record and lost sight of the reality. Also, they still have a month to improve for when it matters most.
Maybe people were thinking of a Brenda Oldfield like turnaround in 2001-2002 when she took over from Littlefield.
 

Why would Sanders shoot a layup with 9 seconds left, down 3. She is a shoot first point guard, the worst kind. When she comes in everyone else stands there and watches her dribble! I really don’t need to see her play again, she just bogs up everything.
not to be rude.. BUT I'm really glad she's just a GS and here for one year.. I knew she was going to do that too.. not sure why she didn't kick out to GG who was wide open in the far corner.. or maybe it was Mal..
 

Okay, I’m going to enter the crying room again to interject with some positivity toward future. We are what we are this year, short bench, slow of foot, especially at end of games when minutes creep up and we struggle to defend the post. We pick up wins when raining threes. Next year we add top 60 recruit in Johnson and 6’1” guard McKinney who is supposed to be the best defender Cosgrove has ever seen. Both are high energy girls. Future is bright
What you say is true. But, in addition we need to add a post player who can score and defend.
Or, largely we'll be much the same relying on days when the 3 ball is going down.
 

Is Zie just not developing? I recently saw some old videos from last year when they had some 3:3 drills/tournament and thought she had good moves and shot the ball well around the rim. I know she was dealing with and injury but thought maybe she would have developed into some playing time.
 


Why would Sanders shoot a layup with 9 seconds left, down 3. She is a shoot first point guard, the worst kind. When she comes in everyone else stands there and watches her dribble! I really don’t need to see her play again, she just bogs up everything.
I agree. It was a stupid play. She's athletic and has contributed to a couple of wins, but she's not who you want handling the ball when the game is on the line. But then Battle had some costly turnovers in the 4th quarter too.
 

I think to have dreams for this year we needed to beat Wisconsin and Illinois on the road.
We are now 4 and 5 and 14 and 6.
Most likely outcome, if things go well and we can win the next game at home vs Penn St is that we finish up 4 and 5 to end up 8 and 10 in conference. Those two wins would have had us likely 10 and 8 instead.
Now we may end also end up 18 and 11 vs 20 and 9...both of those are dramatic differences for how the season went. But what's done is done.
We have no margin for error. 18 and 11 won't be easy.
 

No way this team stays together at the end of the season. Such high expectations coming into the season and can't even beat a sub .500 Illinois team.

They went 11-19 last year, why did you have such high expectations? They're much improved but they're awfully thin in the post.

Are we at the point now that whenever the team loses a game some whiny fan is going to post that the entire team is going to transfer?
 

Such high expectations from whom?

Start 3 sophomores, a freshman and a junior. The expectations is they would take some lumps this year, but show steady improvement.

Why wouldn't this team stay together?
Count me as another who figured (figures) a 500 in the Big 10 will be a great step and should be considered a successful season. Finishing in the top 4-5 in the Big Ten would far exceed my expectations for this years team.

This season is for installing a system and culture and learning how to win. As I've said before, Improvement is not a steady, constant climb. Lots of hills and valley's. Still pieces that need to be added. Frustrating to watch right now, but I'm still a believer in this group and coaching staff.
 

After the MSU win I saw some people on X stating that we were moving into the easy part of the conference. However I just hadn't seen enough consistency to think that this team could start chalking wins. Now they are in a dogfight to finish upper half. With unbalanced schedule and standings it's really hard to look at record and chalk up wins.

We've beaten 3 teams ahead of us and lost to 2 teams behind us in standings.

Remaining games include 6 teams ahead of us including 4 against the top 4 teams and at MSU/NE. Quite possible we go 1-5. Would need to go 3-0 against Rut/NW/WI. That's 8-10 overall.
 

After the MSU win I saw some people on X stating that we were moving into the easy part of the conference. However I just hadn't seen enough consistency to think that this team could start chalking wins. Now they are in a dogfight to finish upper half. With unbalanced schedule and standings it's really hard to look at record and chalk up wins.

We've beaten 3 teams ahead of us and lost to 2 teams behind us in standings.

Remaining games include 6 teams ahead of us including 4 against the top 4 teams and at MSU/NE. Quite possible we go 1-5. Would need to go 3-0 against Rut/NW/WI. That's 8-10 overall.
I was among those who thought 4-0 against WI/NW/RU was likely. Still surprised by loss to Bucky.
 




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