B1G Tournament Game 1: Gophers versus Nebraska (3-10-21)

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Bunyan said:
We could use Strande's scoring and rebounding in this game. Why is she not playing?
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unavailable but shes likely the covid positive from a couple weeks ago since the other 2 that were held out are playing today
 

So Nebraska misses 8 straight shots and we still cannot make a dent in the score. Was Smith a big scorer in HS? Doesn’t seem to have any touch or ability to finish her shots.
 


Katogopher said:
So Nebraska misses 8 straight shots and we still cannot make a dent in the score. Was Smith a big scorer in HS? Doesn’t seem to have any touch or ability to finish her shots.
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She has been disappointing given how many minutes she has played this season. She gets to the basket but does not finish consistently. I hope she makes a big leap next season.
 



Like the fight at the end just too undermanned today. We need a Haiby type of player on our roster. Hard to tell with this disjointed season but we seem to lack a go to player, a player that puts the game on their shoulders when things aren’t going well. I do hope this team stays together as there are good pieces on this team a good off season working on defense would help.
 

I thought the effort was solid, especially in the second half. Couldn't expect the Gophers to win this one without their top three scorers. I still think the future could be good for this team if some players can "up" their games. Sissoko is one of those players with a lot of potential. Sconiers made some major strides this year and she'll need to continue to improve her game. Borowicz and Smith got some valuable experience in the second half of the season. Love the energy that Katie brings. I also think Smith has some upside. Hoping that the bulk of this roster will stay together. This will be an interesting offseason for the Gophers and most college basketball teams. I expect to see some "musical chairs" as seniors will be able to return and I'm thinking that the transfer portal will be loaded for all of college basketball.
 

There oughta be an award. On the post game they mentioned that Klarke Sconiers was the only Gopher to play in all 21 games. This was the only game Sissoko missed.

One of the things I like about Borowicz is that she has some idea of what she wants to do with the ball BEFORE she gets it. Plus she can actually create a angle to get the ball to the post from time to time.
 

Quite clear that Pitino is treated much differently than Whalen when it comes to injuries affecting the team. Grant it though the Men's basketball team clearly have made some bonehead plays this year that will contribute to losses.
 



#2Gopher said:
Quite clear that Pitino is treated much differently than Whalen when it comes to injuries affecting the team. Grant it though the Men's basketball team clearly have made some bonehead plays this year that will contribute to losses.
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True; although part of that difference is seven seasons versus three seasons.
 

#2Gopher said:
Quite clear that Pitino is treated much differently than Whalen when it comes to injuries affecting the team. Grant it though the Men's basketball team clearly have made some bonehead plays this year that will contribute to losses.
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One is in year 8 the other in year 3. Whalens team has some nice young talent with more coming in. The future looks pretty good where Pitino doesnt have much cooking. Would probably be different if the mens team dealt with injuries all year like the womens too.
 

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Post game presser with Lindsay, LBK and Katie.

MINNESOTA HEAD COACH LINDSAY WHALEN

WHEN DID YOU FIND OUT SARA SCALIA WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO PLAY? Final word this morning, but kind of had an idea yesterday.

WHAT DO YOU TELL A TEAM IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS WHERE THEY’VE GOT THESE KEY PLAYERS OUT? Not every day is going to be 75 and sunny. Living in Minnesota recenlty we just a stretch of weather where it was minus 20 and we had to keep going to class, we had to keep getting on our zooms, we had to keep meeting with our group and our team and keep coming to practice. Today is a day when we had adversity, but you’re going to face this and you have no option but to keep going. I said obviously we have a lot of our players out, but everyone was there in the locker room who is on the team. Everyone has a role. If you’re able to play, leave it out there. If you’re unable to participate in the game today, then be a great teammate and continue to uplift the ones that are on the floor. We’re all in this together. We started this together and we were going to play here together.

TIMES IN THE GAME WHEN THE GAME WAS GETTING AWAY FROM YOU, BUT TO SEE TEAM BATTLE THROUGH THAT, WHAT DID THAT MEAN TO YOU? I thought our second half once we got our feet under us a little bit with some of the different lineups we were going to have, we started playing hard. We played together. I thought defensively we were really good especially in the third quarter. In the second half, we were playing really well and I told them I was proud of them for that and bringing it to the court and representing the state of Minnesota in a really good way. I told them I was proud of them and everyone who got in the game had a really good effort today.

FIRST HALF SHOT DIFFICULTIES… I thought we had good looks. I liked the looks we got. Difference is we had one offensive rebound compared to nine offensive rebounds in the second half. We started crashing the boards harder. I thought we got some really good looks and did some things that were really good in the second half. Crashing the boards was one of them and it obviously increased our field goal percentage and it ended up being a good second half for us.

KATIE (BOROWICZ) WAS STARTING A HIGH SCHOOL GAME A FEW MONTHS AGO. HOW IMPRESSED HAVE YOU BEEN WITH HER? I think she’s done a great job of coming into a situation that none of us have ever been in. Graduating early, getting down here and joining the team midway through the season and then gets her first career start today. Once she got her feet under her, I thought she just got things going in the second half and she showed a lot of poise and a lot of grit. I’m proud of the whole team, but definitely proud of her.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FIRST AND SECOND HALF I think in the second half we stopped worrying about things and who was playing what position and we have Laura playing the three who has played the four and five all year, but without a guard substitute on the bench, that’s what we had to go to. Once we dialed in to that, we settled in and playyed our game and played really hard.

THOUGHTS ON LAURA BAGWELL KATALINICH… Gets 10 and nine and a big steal. I thought she did a lot of things really well. She was playing three different positions today and handled it all really well. There’s no questions she’s going to hustle and give it everything she has.

THOUGHTS ON GRACE She scraps, gets the rebound, we kick it out and then she hits the three. I’m telling her when she has it to shoot it and let it go and get that shot up. Fun to see that go in for her. Having it comes off a hustle play makes it even more fun as a coach to see.

MINNESOTA FORWARD LAURA BAGWELL KATALINICH POSSIBILITY OF LAST COLLEGE GAME That’s been the question ever since there’s been the possibility to play more. I still don’t know the answer to that and will take my time making that decision. It’s been a long career and I figured if this ends up being it for me, I’d want to give it everything I had. I think most people felt that way, but particularly the seniors. I think we did that, but it didn’t go the way we wanted.

PLAYERS SETTLING INTO NEW ROLES TODAY AND PLAYING IN FIRST HALF FIGURING IT OUT We were without three of our typical starters and when that happens you have to be ready to step up. I played a little bit of the three today, which I haven’t done all year, but that’s why you have to know every position. That’s what every coach tells you and today it actually happened. We had Erin Hedman playing the three, Gadiva Hubbard sometimes playing the four. There was a lot of this adjusting that even if you know the plays, getting into a game and executing them from an unnatural position is difficult, but we’re basketball players playing at the highest level and we had some trouble getting going and I had faith we would get into a groove, especially in the third quarter, we started finding the right people at the right spots. I don’t know how often that will happen again, but that’s good to be able to do that.

WHEN YOU SEE TEAMMATES PLAYING HARD AND NOT QUITTING I feel very proud of this team today and it’s been a tough season with a lot of ups and downs with illnesses and injuries that no team wants but everyone has got them at some point. It was our turn. I really am so proud of this team. You had players playing positions they may have never played, ever in their life, definitely not this year and I think after the first half when we struggled, we could have given up and let Nebraska roll us over and say we’ll come back next year. We fought in the second half and even thought it didn’t go our way, but big picture that is something to be proud of to build on for next year.

PLAYING SHORTHANDED… It’s hard, especially on a gameday, but that’s not the first time that’s happened this year. It’s cliché, but next player up was definitely ringing true for us today. Kadi (Sissoko) is our starting four and does a phenomenal job and it was hard having her out so I had to step up and try to fill her shoes. She’s a fantastic player. It’s nothing new to us. It’s unfortunate it happened, but the message the older players such as myself say is next player up and some players took that to heart and that was awesome to see.

HER DIFFERENT POSITIONS PLAYED TODAY… My spot is the four the power forward. Today I stepped out and played the three. Sometimes I have to play center in some rotations, which isn’t my favorite. I’m certainly undersized in this league. It’s one of those things again you have to know every position and be willing to do your part no matter what that specific part is and we have a lot of girls doing that. It was s kind of fun though. I actually enjoyed playing the three, but I don’t know if that’s a permanent thing.

MINNESOTA GUARD KATIE BOROWICZ

SHOOTING STRUGGLES TO START, BUT SHOTS STARTED FALLING TO CLOSE GAP… At the end, we definitely played for ourselves and we had fun. At the end of the game in the locker room, coach was talking about how we weren’t focused on plays and were just playing hard and having fun. We weren’t worried about anything. Laura was going in for offensive rebounds and it was really fun.

STARTING THIS GAME WITH LAST-MINUTE NOTICE… Everyone on the team is a role model to me, so their support was helpful and I know the plays, but they were all there for me and knew I could do it.

RECAPPING FRESHMAN SEASON AND PLAYING DIFFERENT SPOTS TODAY… It’s gone by so fast. I first come here I have to learn the plays, I have to learn everyone’s tendencies, their names and I figured that out. I got to play a couple of games and last game it has been very crazy and I couldn’t imagine going through this without this team and coaches.

EXCITEMENT LEVEL OF COMING BACK… I’m very excited. I cannot wait especially because I’m already like a step ahead. I know the plays. I know the teammates, but I cannot wait to go out and represent the state of Minnesota and play basketball
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#2Gopher said:
Quite clear that Pitino is treated much differently than Whalen when it comes to injuries affecting the team. Grant it though the Men's basketball team clearly have made some bonehead plays this year that will contribute to losses.
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well Pitino has been here for 8 years and it's kind of been the same thing for every single season he has been here for so that could do it.. Plus he has had the talent and still hasn't done much with it. he had 11 big ten wins in 16-17 and from there it's done down.. in the last 3 years his big ten record has been worse then the previous year..

give Lindsay more then 2 season plus a cvoid year.. she is bringing in some good pieces over the next two seasons..
 



For Pitino high expectations and low results were his death knell. Whalen was just the opposite with 8 newcomers this year. Whalen has good talent coming in. Pitino does not!!
 


Ignatius L Hoops said:

If you prefer the video to the transcript, here's the video
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I'm probably the weird one, but I've discovered that in almost every case, unless I'm watching actual game video or highlights, I always prefer the written transcript of a game report, pre-or post game analysis or interviews. I guess the exception would be if the coach were talking, pointing out and describing what is happening while pointing at specific things being shown in the game video.
 

Chico Gopher said:
I'm probably the weird one, but I've discovered that in almost every case, unless I'm watching actual game video or highlights, I always prefer the written transcript of a game report, pre-or post game analysis or interviews. I guess the exception would be if the coach were talking, pointing out and describing what is happening while pointing at specific things being shown in the game video.
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With the transcript you can scan ahead to the interesting bits.
 

whalenfan said:
One is in year 8 the other in year 3. Whalens team has some nice young talent with more coming in. The future looks pretty good where Pitino doesnt have much cooking. Would probably be different if the mens team dealt with injuries all year like the womens too.
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The men won and competed well against a top 20 team. No excuses for either program from Top to bottom both need to get better.
 

whalenfan said:
Isnt this about injuries? The men once their injuries hit werent competetive except a few games and went 1-8 with losses to Nebraska Penn st and northwestern. The women had injuries/covid all year and won more big ten games then the men. They had 12 different starting lineups in their 21 games. No ones saying they dont need to get better but thats why the comparisons arent similar between programs.
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Yes both have excuses why they lost. Please let me know when the ESPN 30/30 is on. “Gopher Women’s Basketball- Only College team Hit by COVID”. Men were as well stunted their development and cohesion with their newcomers. At this point I would say slightly the women’s program is in better shape. Get better all I am saying. Whalen needs to be better and the new coach needs to be better than Pitino..
 


Roland Brooks said:
Seriously I do appreciate your inside takes. Thank you.
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Im not sure why my post disappeared but im not trying to make any excuses for anyone but my post was just replying to why the womens team was treated different than the mens this year. I agree with you, both programs need to get better, but i can see the vision Whalen is trying to implement with some nice young pieces and some nice recruits coming where Pitinos team is gonna get worse and doesnt have any momentum in recruiting.
 
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