B1G Tourney Game 1: Gophers versus Indiana (3-7-19)

[#2Gopher]

Not the way I envision the first 2/3 of the season to end. Hopefully they will get an invite to the NIT for the last 1/3. I'm hoping that with another off season we'll do better as a whole next year. Kind of a rocky first year with some positives in play.

 

[whalenfan]

Waited way too long to apply energy into the defense. I suppose they wanted to conserve for the next game. Now there isn't going to be a next game.

I mean they did start the game in a full court press but you can only do that after you make shots which didnt happen, Indiana just completely outworked them in the 1st half. Time to go win the nit.

 

[EaganGopher22]

I couldn't believe they hit Pitts with a technical, which was extremely critical to whatever chance we had. I hope they are as quick to call one on Maryland's Charles during the tournament.

 

[Aesop70]

I couldn't believe they hit Pitts with a technical, which was extremely critical to whatever chance we had. I hope they are as quick to call one on Maryland's Charles during the tournament.

They needed to call Patberg with all those push offs - who cares if she just came back from an injury, that doesn't give her extra latitude.

 

[Aesop70]

Not the way I envision the first 2/3 of the season to end. Hopefully they will get an invite to the NIT for the last 1/3. I'm hoping that with another off season we'll do better as a whole next year. Kind of a rocky first year with some positives in play.

I'd respect Whalen more if she turned down the NIT. I'm sure some of the seniors might want to play some more. But I'd rather she set a precedence that you're a serious program, that you go into the season with the intention of making the NCAA tournament or nothing.

 

[EaganGopher22]

I'd respect Whalen more if she turned down the NIT. I'm sure some of the seniors might want to play some more. But I'd rather she set a precedence that you're a serious program, that you go into the season with the intention of making the NCAA tournament or nothing.

Can't disagree more. Additional experience for the players, especially if used to get more minutes for Staples and others. And Whalen needs to take advantage of another opportunity to coach in a tournament.

And look, Indiana won it last year. It probably helped their team get off to a hot start this year.

And this team was doomed to miss the NCAA as has been discussed extensively on other threads by the fine nonconference scheduling by the previous head coach.

 

[whalenfan]

Can't disagree more. Additional experience for the players, especially if used to get more minutes for Staples and others. And Whalen needs to take advantage of another opportunity to coach in a tournament.

And look, Indiana won it last year. It probably helped their team get off to a hot start this year.

Agree with everything here. The more games they can the better it is for the program.

 

[tripledouble]

Tuned into BTN to watch a basketball game and a Patberg family feature broke out. BTN did the same thing in the Wisconsin game when they featured Marsha Howard's parents. I hate when they do that. It wouldn't bother me so much if they just showed the parents, but then the announcers had to talk about it all the time also.

Stating the obvious, the Gophers didn't play well. The Gopher defense in the first half was often non-existent. As Bell goes, so go the Gophers. She didn't shoot well against the Hoosiers and she made some bad decisions on offense. Pitts with a dumb taunting foul that led back to an earlier offensive series when she and Patberg were woofing. Bello too many turnovers in the lane. Perez a non-factor. Gophers shot FTs well and Pitts continued to show that she can put the ball on the floor and hit some baskets going to the hope. Don't know what was up with that ridiculously long three she took. I'm guessing Whalen didn't know what was up with that either.

Will we ever see the Gophers win the BIG conference tournament? The continuous early exits are disappointing.

 

[Hrothgar]

After tonight's pathetic play, I'm not certain the Gophers should bother to play any more this season. In Indiana, they lost (read: gave a game away) to a team they should have beaten by 10 points or more. They quite simply didn't bother to show up for the game. First half defense was non-existent, which the color announcer was honest enough to explain to any viewers who didn't see it. The praise of Indiana seemed totally unwarranted, except it served to show who the announcers were rooting for. Indiana just received a gift they didn't have to earn. Depressing.

 

[Aesop70]

Can't disagree more. Additional experience for the players, especially if used to get more minutes for Staples and others. And Whalen needs to take advantage of another opportunity to coach in a tournament.

And look, Indiana won it last year. It probably helped their team get off to a hot start this year.

And this team was doomed to miss the NCAA as has been discussed extensively on other threads by the fine nonconference scheduling by the previous head coach.

Your points aren't illogical. But that's also how every mediocre team in the country thinks. I'd rather establish a culture of higher standards. Teams that only squeak into the dance every 4-5 years will take the NIT when they can. If a perennial top 10 team had an off/rough year and misses - they'd pass. Every player on those teams have the mindset from the time the season starts: we dance or we're done. And that's what I'd like us to develop into.

 

[Bad Gopher]

I feel like a boob for looking forward to this game all week and rushing home to watch it. Extremely bummed and disgruntled to see them not show up. I thought they were playing as well as any team in the league coming in, and then it's like, what is this. Indiana dictated the game with their defensive intensity, which i kept waiting for the Gophs to match and engage.

One additional reason to accept a WNIT bid (as if you wouldn't) is that you don't want to go out like this. It's a bad taste in the seniors' mouths, and you don't want the returning players to wonder if they're not as good as they thought they were.

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=147427

Post-Game Presser (In a word-frustrating)

March 7, 2019

Lindsay Whalen
Kenisha Bell
Destiny Pitts

Indianapolis, Indiana

Indiana - 66, Minnesota - 58

LINDSAY WHALEN: They punched first, and for us, unfortunately it was just too much to come back from. They had 20 points in the paint in the first half. Second half they only had six. Our kids didn't quit. They stuck together in the second half, but it was too much to come back from in the first half.

Q. Did you ever feel like you actually got into a rhythm?
LINDSAY WHALEN: No, not really. When we played off our defense a little bit, then we were -- then we got some things going. But other than that, they kind of sagged off of us, and they really crowded the paint. It was just -- you know, they had obviously a really good game plan.

Q. Seemed like you guys were sometimes trying to do a little bit of hero ball and getting sagged on by three people and still trying to get the ball out.
LINDSAY WHALEN: Well, I think everybody was trying to make a play at a certain point. That's what happens when you kind of get frustrated. We got a little frustrated, and we weren't able to make some of those reads, like you said, and get it to the open player. So yeah, we'll have to watch the tape back and kind of see and learn from it, and we'll go from there.

Q. Obviously your season probably isn't done. There's the WNIT I would imagine that you're anticipating.
LINDSAY WHALEN: Yeah, I told the guys we'll just see what happens. Two Mondays from now, on selection night, and then we'll see where we go, and then we'll just go from there.

Q. What was it about their game plan that worked tonight?
DESTINY PITTS: I mean, really they just packed the paint and just did a good job of trying to keep their individual player in front of us.

Q. How frustrating was it -- was this a little more frustrating because it was so hard to get over the hump?
DESTINY PITTS: Yeah, I will say it was definitely frustrating because I know how good we are as a team and how hard we work together. Just to kind of not see our shots fall in the first half and then us work so hard the second half and not be able to get the success we wanted, I would say it's very frustrating.

Q. How did the game play out from your perspective?
KENISHA BELL: I mean, we weren't hitting shots, and they was kind of coming down getting every shot that they wanted. We didn't really play the defense that we usually play. They had the momentum coming out, as well, because they knew they needed to win to get to the NCAA Tournament.

Q. How frustrating did it get? You guys were getting some shots, they just weren't going down.
KENISHA BELL: It was really frustrating just because you know you can hit those shots, and this is a time where you kind of need them. In every game you've got to come to play basically because you don't know if it's your last or not.

Q. You were able to kind of get the defense squared away there after that first quarter, but it just wasn't -- you couldn't quite get over the hump. You came within six a few times.
KENISHA BELL: Yeah, we were fighting. We didn't give up. The whole game we knew that it still mattered even though we were down 10. We've been in games where multiple teams came back from a 10-point lead or down 10 and came back and won, so we knew that we were still in the game. We just needed a little more time that we should have made up for the first half.

Q. What were they doing defensively to make it so difficult to find a rhythm?
KENISHA BELL: They were packing the paint. They had really their whole five kind of sitting in the paint and we wasn't hitting shots, so it was making it easy for them to kind of guard us.

Q. Obviously in two weeks you'll find out where you're going, and probably the NIT. It's not the NCAA, but to continue playing with this group, are you looking forward to that?
KENISHA BELL: I'm looking forward to anything, but I definitely would hope it would be NCAA before anything. But I mean, if I can get one last shot playing with the group of girls that we've got, then I'll take it.

 

[gopherdudepart2]

I'd respect Whalen more if she turned down the NIT. I'm sure some of the seniors might want to play some more. But I'd rather she set a precedence that you're a serious program, that you go into the season with the intention of making the NCAA tournament or nothing.

This is as dumb a statement as I have ever read on this site. You always reward your upperclassmen with postseason play if invited. Plus it is important to get more practices in for the younger players. This is a new coaching staff, they need more time to work together. You do not grow your program by turning down a chance to play more games, especially at home.

Sent from my SM-J327P using Tapatalk

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=147428

Teri Moren
Ali Patberg

Indianapolis, Indiana

Indiana - 66, Minnesota - 58

Q. For you, what does it mean to be playing in the Big Ten Tournament here in Indy, in your home state in front of your home crowd?
TERI MOREN: Well, it's a terrific thing. We're not lost on it, the fact that we can just drive an hour. I think this is the best venue for it. One thing about the state of Indiana, we love basketball, and we have a terrific group of players and coaches in the Big Ten. We've had tremendous parity throughout the entire season. We've already seen some exciting games, and that's just going to continue.

Q. So as a Big Ten graduate yourself, what does it mean to be coaching in this tournament?
TERI MOREN: Well, it's always special. Any time you have an opportunity to be the head coach at a Big Ten school in a league that you played in, it's always been special for me. And then it's just icing on the cake because I grew up here in the state. I'm a very, very, very proud Hoosier.

Q. Bendu played phenomenal defense on Kenisha Bell. What did you think of her performance today?
TERI MOREN: I think she was terrific defensively. I thought she got a little bit gassed on the offensive end. She's not typically -- she had four turnovers. That's not a typical Bendu. I thought Ali Patberg did a great job on Pitts, and JP (Jaelynn Penn) did what she needed to do. But the key tonight, I thought our post players -- and this is what goes unseen, just their ability to rotate, come from the help side. We felt like any time that Bell or any of them, their drivers tried to really get to the basket, they were met by another teammate, and so that was terrific. I'm really proud of our overall defensive play.

Q. Was the idea to kind of pack the paint, force them to beat you?
TERI MOREN: It was. You know, Bell is a terrific player. She can get inside the paint. The key was not to foul. We did a much better job, I thought, in the second half than we did the first. But yes, we were trying to -- we call it wall up, right, just bring as many defenders as we could, just to not make it easy for Bell to get to the basket, just a driving lane with being untouched.

Q. They just couldn't make you pay for it?
TERI MOREN: Yeah, like I said, defensively we were pretty terrific. It was on the offensive end, I thought we were great in the first half. But we got the lead a little bit, and that press, I thought we started playing a little bit like -- a little more timid than I would have liked to have seen us play. But I'm really just really proud that they finished it out.

Q. Do you feel like you maybe could have taken advantage of that first half a little bit more, only being 14 points --
TERI MOREN: I don't know that we could. Jaelynn came in letting it go. I thought we were getting good shots, and Brenna got off to a hot start, so did AP (Patberg). So no, I don't know that we could have built on it. The first several possessions was frustrating because we were turning it over, had way too many turnovers, especially in the first four minutes of that game. We still have 18 for the game, but a lot of those came the second half against that press. But happy, I thought AP did a terrific job running her basketball team tonight.

Q. It looked like they were generally having fun out there on the court. Ali Patberg seemed like she was super engaged in the game. What does that say about where this team is at in the season?
TERI MOREN: I think they know what's at stake. They realize that we're still playing for something. And they've always been like this. They've kind of fallen in love with each other's success, and that's what you want your basketball team to be about.

Q. What did you see behind the scenes last year from Brenna and from Ali in terms of how they helped each other through what was a challenging situation for both of them?
TERI MOREN: Well, and again, bringing them in together I thought was critical, the fact that they could sit over there and learn our system offensively, defensively, get in the gym. They're by far our gym rats. Love to be in the gym, love to watch film, love to do all the extra stuff. And so they kind of have each other in addition to the fact that they have a 3.8 G.P.A, they're in the Kelly School of Business. So it actually goes beyond basketball. The Kelly School of Business is no joke, so they lean on each other from an educational standpoint, as well.

Q. Do you think that they're maybe enjoying this a little bit more this year because of what they went through last year?
TERI MOREN: Oh, there's no question. I think last year our run in the NIT, I think they were so much a part of that in terms of helping us prepare and get ready, but when you've got the uniform on, it means something, and I'm sure it is, it's special for them finally to be able to get out and finally to get to the Big Ten Tournament and win their first game.

Q. Bendu wasn't somebody who made the all-Big Ten defensive team, but do you think she made somewhat of a statement today?
TERI MOREN: She should have, and again, I don't know how that goes. I think you have to not poll the coaches, maybe you've got to poll the players. Poll Karissa McLaughlin, poll Kenisha Bell and some of the other guards that she's had to guard throughout Big Ten play and realize that Bendu Yeaney is a terrific defender, and she should have been on that all-defensive team.

Q. You talked obviously about Ali. When you didn't have her when she was injured you didn't have that three-point threat. How much does it add offensively for you guys --
TERI MOREN: Well, you could see. In the Iowa win, in the Purdue win, having another scorer, scoring threat from beyond the arc, she's a great facilitator, but she also gives everybody good juice. When she plays well, this basketball team plays well.

Q. Obviously Iowa a few weeks ago, coming back in game No. 2 against them, does the game plan change?
TERI MOREN: Well, we don't know if we'll tweak it a whole lot. Like I said, there's no recipe for stopping Megan (Gustafson). She's just too good of a player. No one has been able to figure out how to do that. What we were able to do is get them out of rhythm in the second half by changing up what we were doing defensively, and as luck would have it, I think, as hot as their guards were in the first quarter, and you were there, you remember that, they cooled off in the second half, and that was, I think, paramount to winning that game.

Q. In a game of runs, Minnesota made a slight run end of the third quarter, early in the fourth quarter. How were you guys able to get back to Hoosier basketball?
TERI MOREN: Well, we had to manufacture some shots, just really out of broken plays. Doing that, I thought AP really was calm. Bendu at times, she got a little sped up, which is uncommon, like I said, of Bendu. Jaelynn got a little sped up. But I just thought Ali Patburg, she controlled the tempo for us, and when things looked like they were getting ready to unravel, she was the peacekeeper out there, I think, amongst her teammates.

Q. How excited are you that this game did not go four overtimes?
TERI MOREN: Yeah, we're going to be getting in a little bit earlier than normal, getting to bed a little bit sooner. But this has been a terrific afternoon of basketball, and this is what the Big Ten has been like all year, us beating up on each other. Tonight's last game with Nebraska and Purdue is not going to be any different. Big Ten has exciting players, exciting coaches, exciting programs, and I hope we're garnering the respect that this league deserves.

Q. Obviously you didn't get to play the whole game against Minnesota last time. How much did this game mean to you just to be able to play?
ALI PATBERG: I mean, I try not to think about it, just getting hurt. But I was just trying to do my best so we could get the win. That was the focus.

Q. You were able to hit a few three-pointers. How much more confidence did that give you guys do you feel like?
ALI PATBERG: Yeah, we tried to come out, and we wanted to execute the plan defensively. I think we did that early, and then shots were falling. I was just trying to be aggressive for our team so they could be confident and be aggressive themselves, so it worked.

Q. I know Coach always talks about the first four minutes of each quarter. You guys came out with an energy; how big of a focus was that for you?
ALI PATBERG: That was huge. I mean, Coach told us to come out with a lot of juice, a lot of energy, come out the first four minutes, but then also keep the foot on the pedal. And I think we did. We knew they were going to make runs, and we sustained it and got the win.

Q. At the end of the game you were kind of trying to slow it down, run out the clock. What did you do to kind of overcome those last-second pressures and finish off the game?
ALI PATBERG: Yeah, we knew they were going to pressure us hard. They're a really athletic team and they get up in you, and our goal was we knew time was on our side, so we wanted to get a shot at the end of the shot clock, whether that be a great shot or a decent shot, and that's what we did. We took the clock out as far as we could. I think that kind of affects you offensively, if you hold on to it.

Q. Bendu, it seemed like made every shot. How important was she?
ALI PATBERG: Bendu was amazing. Kenisha Bell, she's a great player, and Bendu played awesome. She made her hit tough shots. The shots she hit, they were all tough, and Bendu is an amazing defender. We had full confidence that was going to happen?

Q. You talked about you guys going on a run and you had to sustain a run from them late in the third quarter, early in the fourth quarter. What did you think was going on? Was it just them going on runs or was it you guys breaking down?
ALI PATBERG: Yeah, they weren't the seventh seed for no reason. They're a good team. We knew they were going to make runs. It's a game of runs, and we just had to stay calm, and once they started to cut it down, we just needed one stop at a time or one offensive play at a time, and we sustained it.

Q. Obviously Iowa, you guys had a pretty close game with them the first time around. How tough do you think it's going to be to try to beat them a second time?
ALI PATBERG: You know, we beat them once, but that doesn't matter. They're going to come out ready to play. But so are we. I know I'm confident, we're confident that our coaches are going to have a great game plan, and we're going to do our best to go out and play hard, play together and execute what they want us to do.

Q. It looked like you were genuinely having fun out there. Was there like an excitement in this team?
ALI PATBERG: I mean, we've said a lot recently, it's now or never. This is what we've worked for all season, all off-season, to get to this moment. You know, I wanted to make the most of it, and I think that our team is playing our best when we're having fun, and when we're having fun, we're executing what the coaches want us to do. We're playing hard, and we're playing together, and that's fun. So winning is fun.

Q. What's key for you guys going into the quick turnaround, coming back tomorrow?
ALI PATBERG: Yeah, you know, (strength coach) Mr. Rob is going to take care of us. We're going to get a good dinner in tonight. We're going to get rest, take care of our bodies, and we're going to come ready to play. You know, we're not going to be able to use that excuse that we're tired. Right now it's postseason. It doesn't matter. And we're going to come out and play hard.

Q. I know the NCAA Tournament was a goal at the beginning of the season. Is that on your minds at this point in the season, or is it just focusing on what's at hand?
ALI PATBERG: You know, it's focusing on one game at a time. That's what they tell you to focus on, one win at a time, one team at a time, and that's what we're going to focus on from here on out

 

[EaganGopher22]

Your points aren't illogical. But that's also how every mediocre team in the country thinks. I'd rather establish a culture of higher standards. Teams that only squeak into the dance every 4-5 years will take the NIT when they can. If a perennial top 10 team had an off/rough year and misses - they'd pass. Every player on those teams have the mindset from the time the season starts: we dance or we're done. And that's what I'd like us to develop into.

I don't think that the players should be punished for a poor nonconference schedule that the current coaching staff had no control over. I might agree with you if the NIT passed on the Gophers and the only option was the next tournament after that (name escapes me--but I remember Pam Borton accepted it in advance of even knowing if the NIT would invite the Gophers, which I believe it did).

 

[thatjanelpick]

Not the way I envision the first 2/3 of the season to end. Hopefully they will get an invite to the NIT for the last 1/3. I'm hoping that with another off season we'll do better as a whole next year. Kind of a rocky first year with some positives in play.

Actually, if the teams in the league that are expected to get the NCAA invite do, wouldn't the Gophers be the automatic bid?

 

[Waffle]

Actually, if the teams in the league that are expected to get the NCAA invite do, wouldn't the Gophers be the automatic bid?

Ohio State will get the auto-bid to the WNIT. This isn't like the men's tournament with the half field size though. There's no way the Gophers wouldn't be invited.

 

[Aesop70]

This is as dumb a statement as I have ever read on this site. You always reward your upperclassmen with postseason play if invited. Plus it is important to get more practices in for the younger players. This is a new coaching staff, they need more time to work together. You do not grow your program by turning down a chance to play more games, especially at home.

Sent from my SM-J327P using Tapatalk

Well I'm entitled to my opinion as imbecilic as you find it. And if you just want to be rude and insult me (I haven't insulted anybody personally here), I can keep repeating it. Are the teams that turn down NIT bids also stupid to do so?

 

[#2Gopher]

Its a long ways before next season. Furthermore it will be about 10-16 days before their next game should the WNIT officially invite them in which I would think would happen. Some practice time is going to take place in preparation of their next game to help shake off some bad vibes from the game with Indiana. I wouldn't pass on an opportunity to play in the WNIT.

 

[CutDownTheNet]

...
Will we ever see the Gophers win the BIG conference tournament? The continuous early exits are disappointing.

Well, I honestly thought that this was going to be the year that we won the B1G tournament. We had the juice to do it. In my mind Iowa was our only hurdle, albeit a big one. I felt that neither Indiana nor Rutgers would be particularly challenging - as long as we didn’t hit a 4th quarter wall that might erase our 10-15 point lead. And I felt there were potential ways to beat Iowa by holding Gustafson down to 25 points. Once past them, admittedly Maryland is no piece of cake, but we effectively beat Maryland this year - all except for the 10+ points that Maryland’s own refs donated to Maryland. On neutral ground with Maryland-owned refs out of the picture, I’m pretty sure we could beat Maryland. So I felt the big challenge was beating Iowa.

Of course every team has a horrible game once in a while. But it’s a bit of a shock to see a tournament run go south already in the first quarter - especially for a team whose troubles are usually depth/fatigue related and come in the 4th quarter.

Makes one wonder to what extent our losses this year might have been psychology related, and not for lack of skill or depth. I know I can imagine what it must have felt like in one of those 4th quarter losses - something like “Oh no, not this again.” Today it seemed like “Oh no, not this again” already in the first quarter.

As far as winning in the Big Ten tournament goes, well maybe next year. And actually, in 2018 we came close (minus one important point). We made it to the final game against Maryland (who we beat at home in 2017-18, so perhaps could beat them again) last year, that is, right up until the last 4 minutes of the semifinal game against Ohio State. At which point Stollings made one of the stupidest coaching mistakes I’ve ever seen, which took us from a 6 point lead, to handing the win over to OSU on a silver platter. Credit Kevin McGuff for being brilliant in taking full advantage of Stollings stupidity. Kevin correctly reasoned that Stollings *always* plays 4 guards, even if doing so will lose the game for the Gophers. So McGuff simply put in 2 posts/3 guards. And Stollings left Taiye Bello, our best rebounder, on the bench. McGuff played a triangle-and-one-and-on-ball zone. With one OSU post handling our only post, their other post roamed free in guard territory chasing the ball, and blocked 80% of our shots. Meanwhile, they got all the rebounds. I think they had one 5-shot possession til they finally scored. While we had 20% chance of a shot and 80% chance of a block. I knew we lost as soon as I saw stupid Stollings not put Taiye in.

But things are looking up. We have a smart coach now. One who needs a little bit more solid play from her current players, and needs a couple more players plus a couple less injuries to remedy depth issues, so we may look forward to winning the Big Ten soon. And soon after that we win the NCAA. At least, that’s what I envision.

 

[CutDownTheNet]

Well I'm entitled to my opinion as imbecilic as you find it. And if you just want to be rude and insult me (I haven't insulted anybody personally here), I can keep repeating it. Are the teams that turn down NIT bids also stupid to do so?

I wouldn’t say they were stupid. I’d say it’s their perogative.

I believe that Rutgers turned down the WNIT last year. At the time I thought it a bit pretentious of them. Or I thought it might be a CVS ego type of thing. But I was conclusion-jumping. For all I know, they might have decided via a team vote.

As for what the Gophers decide, I guess that’s up to them. But I’m casting my vote right now.

I vote that they go win the WNIT. This is a great team that is just a chess-piece or two away from winning the NCAA this season. But it would be a shame to break this team up early. I want to see them play some more.

 

[GopherJack]

I wouldn’t say they were stupid. I’d say it’s their perogative.

I believe that Rutgers turned down the WNIT last year. At the time I thought it a bit pretentious of them. Or I thought it might be a CVS ego type of thing. But I was conclusion-jumping. For all I know, they might have decided via a team vote.

As for what the Gophers decide, I guess that’s up to them. But I’m casting my vote right now.

I vote that they go win the WNIT. This is a great team that is just a chess-piece or two away from winning the NCAA this season. But it would be a shame to break this team up early. I want to see them play some more.

Seriously?

 

[CutDownTheNet]

Seriously?

Well mainly there’s a lot of positivity in my statement. But I do believe that if (purely hypothetically) we had a healthy Hubbard plus a Bueckers added to this year’s players, we could play with the best, such as UConn or Notre Dame or Oregon.

 

[Shades]

Seriously?

Maybe if the two chess pieces were McCowan and Ionescu, they’d have a case. But even then they’d have the same inexperienced coach that makes poor adjustments or makes good ones too late. I’m not sure CutDownTheNet even saw this game, because it was as disappointing as the Rutgers game and maybe moreso. Little to no creative ball movement. Just relying on Bell bully-ball and the Pitts long bomb three. I think they ended up with 9 assists for the game, which is terrible. They definitely didn’t look like a team they deserved to go to NCAA tournament, if you’re being honest.

 

[tripledouble]

Love the positivity, cutdownthenet, but you might want to lay off whatever you've been smoking or drinking. Gophers still a long, long way from competing with the best teams in the country...and even the conference. They're much more than a chess piece away.

And for those of us who have been harping about the lousy non-conference schedule (me included), it's time to admit that this schedule is not the reason the Gophers are not going to the NCAA tourney this year. It might have been the reason they weren't even in the conversation, but not the reason they won't be invited. This team had plenty of chances in conference play. The loss to Illinois and the collapse against Maryland are larger factors in not getting to the NCAA than the non-conference schedule. So even though we can blame the non-conference schedule on Stollings & Company, the current coach and team still have to own their failure to get it done in conference play and the BIG tourney.

 

[Aesop70]

Love the positivity, cutdownthenet, but you might want to lay off whatever you've been smoking or drinking. Gophers still a long, long way from competing with the best teams in the country...and even the conference. They're much more than a chess piece away.

And for those of us who have been harping about the lousy non-conference schedule (me included), it's time to admit that this schedule is not the reason the Gophers are not going to the NCAA tourney this year. It might have been the reason they weren't even in the conversation, but not the reason they won't be invited. This team had plenty of chances in conference play. The loss to Illinois and the collapse against Maryland are larger factors in not getting to the NCAA than the non-conference schedule. So even though we can blame the non-conference schedule on Stollings & Company, the current coach and team still have to own their failure to get it done in conference play and the BIG tourney.

We're not a long way from competing with the best in the conference. A healthy Hubbard and one more above average front court player (there's the 2 chess pieces.. lets call them a bishop and rook - for reference: Bell and Pitts are Queens) and we would have probably been in the top 4 in the BIG at the very least.

 

[Hrothgar]

If you want to win big, you need players with big-time talent. The Gophers have two such players (Bell & Pitts). The rest of the team is hard working, admirable young women, who do their level best, but their skills are mediocre. Lindsay Whalen needs to recruit some players with All-American skills. Not easy to do but not impossible either. What the fan base wants is championship performances. That takes championship talent. It could take 4-5 years to gather that kind of talent.

 

[Shades]

We're not a long way from competing with the best in the conference. A healthy Hubbard and one more above average front court player (there's the 2 chess pieces.. lets call them a bishop and rook - for reference: Bell and Pitts are Queens) and we would have probably been in the top 4 in the BIG at the very least.

They show both Hubbard and Tomancova being used as practice players, so if they would have made that much of a difference, I guess it was a bad choice not to bring them back with the superlative Bell.

 

[Shades]

If you want to win big, you need players with big-time talent. The Gophers have two such players (Bell & Pitts). The rest of the team is hard working, admirable young women, who do their level best, but their skills are mediocre. Lindsay Whalen needs to recruit some players with All-American skills. Not easy to do but not impossible either. What the fan base wants is championship performances. That takes championship talent. It could take 4-5 years to gather that kind of talent.

Are we off to a good start? Where’s the freshmen representatives for All-League? Who will be the representatives next year?

 

[Aesop70]

They show both Hubbard and Tomancova being used as practice players, so if they would have made that much of a difference, I guess it was a bad choice not to bring them back with the superlative Bell.

I didn't say we already had the chess pieces.. My point was were probably 2 players away from competing toward the top of the BIG10. To your specifics: I'm assuming that they were used lightly in practice because they were both coming off injuries. They probably already decided to redshirt Hubbard. Hubbard seemed to prove last year that she could contribute in mulitiple ways. She is definitely a chess piece. I have no clue what Tomancova is capable of.. that's why I said Hubbard and "an above average front court player"... a hypothetical player that isn't necessarily on the team at the moment.