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Crazy and with a 15-16 record. The Big 10 was brutal this year and scheduling the 2nd hardest Non Conference schedule in the NCAA was a good idea. Too bad it was a disappointing year with many uncalled for close losses. This team would have for sure been dancing should we have beaten @Purdue (refs actually screwed us in this one) Iowa, Maryland and DePaul. You could even say we should have won @Wisco but blew it down the stretch with poor shooting and fts.
 

I wish the team would have closed out more games because I loved watching this group of guys. The effort was there in all but a very few games, just too many missed opportunities. It seems like a great group of guys and certainly Oturu is a player to be remembered for a long time. Maybe the likely cancelling of the NCAAs will teach us all that it is just a game and that we should enjoy the moments rather than melting down during all of the ups and downs of it. As with all of us here, I have high hopes for better years ahead!

I think one thing we can agree with builtbadgers on is this: Once we complete the roster, if the guys we have come in and commit to play great defense, there will be enough talent here to win a lot of games. Whether it is Pitino or some other coach, I hope that happens.
 

bga1 said:
I wish the team would have closed out more games because I loved watching this group of guys. The effort was there in all but a very few games, just too many missed opportunities. It seems like a great group of guys and certainly Oturu is a player to be remembered for a long time. Maybe the likely cancelling of the NCAAs will teach us all that it is just a game and that we should enjoy the moments rather than melting down during all of the ups and downs of it. As with all of us here, I have high hopes for better years ahead!

I think one thing we can agree with builtbadgers on is this: Once we complete the roster, if the guys we have come in and commit to play great defense, there will be enough talent here to win a lot of games. Whether it is Pitino or some other coach, I hope that happens.
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Great D, yes.

You cant have key players shoot as poorly as they did this season and expect the win total to go up.
 



Gopherfan1000 said:
Crazy and with a 15-16 record. The Big 10 was brutal this year and scheduling the 2nd hardest Non Conference schedule in the NCAA was a good idea. Too bad it was a disappointing year with many uncalled for close losses. This team would have for sure been dancing should we have beaten @Purdue (refs actually screwed us in this one) Iowa, Maryland and DePaul. You could even say we should have won @Wisco but blew it down the stretch with poor shooting and fts.
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Yes. They choked away (there is a coaching element here ) three games for sure (Purdue, Iowa, Maryland), and had the lead at Wisconsin in the final minute. Oh well. Next year will be interesting as well without Oturu.
 

bga1 said:
I wish the team would have closed out more games because I loved watching this group of guys. The effort was there in all but a very few games, just too many missed opportunities. It seems like a great group of guys and certainly Oturu is a player to be remembered for a long time. Maybe the likely cancelling of the NCAAs will teach us all that it is just a game and that we should enjoy the moments rather than melting down during all of the ups and downs of it. As with all of us here, I have high hopes for better years ahead!

I think one thing we can agree with builtbadgers on is this: Once we complete the roster, if the guys we have come in and commit to play great defense, there will be enough talent here to win a lot of games. Whether it is Pitino or some other coach, I hope that happens.
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Well said.
 

Gopherfan1000 said:
Crazy and with a 15-16 record. The Big 10 was brutal this year and scheduling the 2nd hardest Non Conference schedule in the NCAA was a good idea. Too bad it was a disappointing year with many uncalled for close losses. This team would have for sure been dancing should we have beaten @Purdue (refs actually screwed us in this one) Iowa, Maryland and DePaul. You could even say we should have won @Wisco but blew it down the stretch with poor shooting and fts.
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Check that non con schedule. Think it was about 75th and we lost to some terrible teams.
 



bga1 said:
I wish the team would have closed out more games because I loved watching this group of guys. The effort was there in all but a very few games, just too many missed opportunities. It seems like a great group of guys and certainly Oturu is a player to be remembered for a long time. Maybe the likely cancelling of the NCAAs will teach us all that it is just a game and that we should enjoy the moments rather than melting down during all of the ups and downs of it. As with all of us here, I have high hopes for better years ahead!

I think one thing we can agree with builtbadgers on is this: Once we complete the roster, if the guys we have come in and commit to play great defense, there will be enough talent here to win a lot of games. Whether it is Pitino or some other coach, I hope that happens.
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How we fill the roster needs to exceed what many Big 10 schools are already doing, coach the hell out of them and be a top 5 conference defensive team, not 10th or whatever the hell we were.
 








builtbadgers said:
Said check non conference strength of schedule. And to lose several games to terrible teams.
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Got it. Misread your post. Put it in context though. Gophers had THE toughest non conference schedule of B1G teams. Not sure what criteria you use for terrible teams, but based on NCAA Net Rankings, DePaul (#86) was the worst loss and only quad 3 loss. Second worst was at Utah (#85) where Gophers came back from huge deficit on the road and nearly won. Next two worst losses were to Indiana (#56).
 

You don't make the NCAA tournament based on KenPom rankings. You make the tournament based on wins and losses - or by winning your conference tournament. I suppose someone could argue that the Gophers might have won the B1G tournament. I find that unlikely.

But, in the end, the team finished with a losing record. barring a miracle run through the conference tournament, this was not an NCAA tournament team.
 

builtbadgers said:
Said check non conference strength of schedule. And to lose several games to terrible teams.
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Lay off the hyperbole. My god. We lost to Butler, Oklahoma, DePaul, and Utah. None of them were terrible. To start, the two worst, Utah and DePaul, beat Kentucky and Iowa. And only one of those games was at home. There is a big difference from decent or mediocre to terrible.
 

His issue has always been depth. Next year with adding two quality players and losing 1 (star I'll admit) we will be deeper. Also have to assume Williams/ilhen will make a significant leap.
 

WilliamsArenaGuy said:
Lay off the hyperbole. My god. We lost to Butler, Oklahoma, DePaul, and Utah. None of them were terrible. To start, the two worst, Utah and DePaul, beat Kentucky and Iowa. And only one of those games was at home. There is a big difference from decent or mediocre to terrible.
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WilliamsArenaGuy said:
Lay off the hyperbole. My god. We lost to Butler, Oklahoma, DePaul, and Utah. None of them were terrible. To start, the two worst, Utah and DePaul, beat Kentucky and Iowa. And only one of those games was at home. There is a big difference from decent or mediocre to terrible.
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DePaul is horrible, Utah terrible, the schedule in the non con was the hyperbole. It was tougher than some but paled in comparison to what others have done.
 

Think of where this team would have been without Oturu and then project that to next year. That's the talent level we will be watching. Unless Ihnen explodes, which is unlikely, there will be no "go to" players on next year's team, with or without Pitino. There are some nice complimentary players coming back and coming in, but no one who requires a double team. The product on the floor will make recruiting that much tougher if Pitino remains as coach.
 

builtbadgers said:
DePaul is horrible, Utah terrible, the schedule in the non con was the hyperbole. It was tougher than some but paled in comparison to what others have done.
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They finished right about .500 and 85 and 86 in the NET. Utah beat Kentucky. DepPaul beat us and Iowa on the road and Texas Tech. They were 10-0 after that stretch.

You definition of terrible and horrible is stupid. They were mediocre teams capable of beating good teams. The definition of it. Doesn't mean we should have lost both or that I was happy about it, but this view that every team below a certain line is automatically 'horrible' is a bad take and insulting to many teams.

So was Minnesota 'horrible' this year? You must think so. I think they were disappointing and up and down. They were mediocre.
 


jamiche said:
Think of where this team would have been without Oturu and then project that to next year. That's the talent level we will be watching. Unless Ihnen explodes, which is unlikely, there will be no "go to" players on next year's team, with or without Pitino. There are some nice complimentary players coming back and coming in, but no one who requires a double team. The product on the floor will make recruiting that much tougher if Pitino remains as coach.
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Think NW, this year.
 

builtbadgers said:
DePaul is horrible, Utah terrible, the schedule in the non con was the hyperbole. It was tougher than some but paled in comparison to what others have done.
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Non-conf strength of schedule usually has small schools highest in the rankings. Gophers had the 12th hardest non-conf SOS of major conference teams and the toughest in the B1G. It was not a hyperbole. If we replace 2 or 3 games against Butler, DePaul, or Oklahoma with cupcakes like most other teams did, we would have been 18-13 and squarely on the bubble of the tournament.
 

mcal24 said:
Non-conf strength of schedule usually has small schools highest in the rankings. Gophers had the 12th hardest non-conf SOS of major conference teams and the toughest in the B1G. It was not a hyperbole. If we replace 2 or 3 games against Butler, DePaul, or Oklahoma with cupcakes like most other teams did, we would have been 18-13 and squarely on the bubble of the tournament.
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BADGER is THE epitome of anti gopher.
 

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