End of Game Stats - Questions

[cncmin]

At the end of games since Nolen's injury, how many times did the Gophers have the lead in the last 3 minutes, and how many of those games did they win? I swear that every game ends about the exact same way:

Gophers have a small lead in the final 3 minutes, the Gophers miss a chance to increase the lead, and the other team hits a 3-pointer to take the lead. The Gophers then miss almost every shot while the other team makes almost every shot and ~100% of their free throws.

As bad as the Gophers were this season, even with injured Nolen, with any luck at all they could have pulled out 3-4 more games, and if they were Wisconsin-Lucky, they'd have pulled out 6 of them; as is they lost each, including two to Penn State where Battle hit monstrous 3's to retake the lead for PSU.

Perhaps the question of this season is why the opposition has felt so comfortable shooting the basketball. Each game, the opposition makes a high percentage of 3's, whether open, contested, falling backward, doing somersaults... what is the psychological reason why Brooks nails the open 3, while Ralph airballs his? Is Brooks that much better at 3's - I doubt it.

That injury to Nolen did a LOT more than take away a senior steals and assists leader - it demolished the team's confidence and raised the opposition's. For whatever reason, the opposition feels absolutely comfortable at the end of every game, while the Gophers just "know" they'll lose it. Somehow, the spirit of Glen Mason is haunting this basketball team.

 

[DontHassleTheHoff]

Absolutely agree. We just seemingly could not catch a break in the ends of games all season long. Never could build off a decent lead, never could go on a 10-0 run, and never could get a big defensive stop (discluding the end of the Purdue game). Anything that could go wrong did. Good riddens on this season, hope for the best in the BTT and look forward to (hopefully) a better 2011-2012 campaign.

As far as your question goes:

We went 0-7 in BTT games without Al when the score was +/- 5 with under 5 minutes to go
(@ Indiana, Illinois, @ Penn St, Michigan St, Michigan, @ Northwestern, Penn St)

 

[ringneck]

"if they were Wisconsin-Lucky, they'd have pulled out 6 of them". I think it's time to acknowledge that "Wisconsin-Lucky" has to do with character of their coach, his ability to judge talent and his ability to "coach them up". I know the Gopher-Badger rivalry doesn't allow for giving cudos to them but let's be grown-ups here. Ryan isn't doing this with great recruiting classes. He develops his players. I'm sorry to say that I don't see Tubbys players develop like Ryan's. And to do this with, basically, four Minnesota rejects speaks volumes about judging talent, assembling that talent and coaching them to play within his system. Ryan does this every year. It's not "Wisconsin-Luckey".

 

[Rosemountian]

I think this team is something like 6-3 against major conference opponents when the game is decided by 10 points or less with Al Nolen.
Without Nolen they are 0-6 in that type of game.

2 of the 3 losses with Nolen were on the road against top 15 teams who are still unbeaten at home.

With Al they have 0 RPI 50+ losses
Without Al they have 5 such losses.

 

[fryguy22]

"if they were Wisconsin-Lucky, they'd have pulled out 6 of them". I think it's time to acknowledge that "Wisconsin-Lucky" has to do with character of their coach, his ability to judge talent and his ability to "coach them up". I know the Gopher-Badger rivalry doesn't allow for giving cudos to them but let's be grown-ups here. Ryan isn't doing this with great recruiting classes. He develops his players. I'm sorry to say that I don't see Tubbys players develop like Ryan's. And to do this with, basically, four Minnesota rejects speaks volumes about judging talent, assembling that talent and coaching them to play within his system. Ryan does this every year. It's not "Wisconsin-Luckey".

Good point. Tubby should have coached our freshmen guards up enough to bank in an awkward 3 at the buzzer against Michigan. That Bo Ryan is a genius at drawing up plays.

 

[thevintageeffect]

Great points about how much we underestimated Nolen's value over the years. I was quite critical during his sophomore and junior years (not on this site but with family and friends) but he really proved to be an important piece for this team. Also, great points about how Bo Ryan takes talent that isn't necessarily rated as highly on scout boards and turns his teams into strong competitors each and every year. I'm not sure whether his crew is just better at detecting talent or whether they are better at developing it, or both, but that is a top-flight organization. It hurts me to say it because I really despise UW (mostly due to jealousy).

Development of players has been pretty mediocre so far with Tubby and Co. The fundamentals are pretty weak year in and year out. Poor picks, weak passing (i.e. not strong with the wrists), poor post set-up (rarely do they have their man properly sealed), mediocre cuts, no real triple-threat positioning, lousy shooting, worse free-throw shooting, slow passing, no shot fakes, no pass fakes, etc.

 

[Friend Of Tubby]

At the end of games since Nolen's injury, how many times did the Gophers have the lead in the last 3 minutes, and how many of those games did they win? I swear that every game ends about the exact same way:

Gophers have a small lead in the final 3 minutes, the Gophers miss a chance to increase the lead, and the other team hits a 3-pointer to take the lead. The Gophers then miss almost every shot while the other team makes almost every shot and ~100% of their free throws.

As bad as the Gophers were this season, even with injured Nolen, with any luck at all they could have pulled out 3-4 more games, and if they were Wisconsin-Lucky, they'd have pulled out 6 of them; as is they lost each, including two to Penn State where Battle hit monstrous 3's to retake the lead for PSU.

Perhaps the question of this season is why the opposition has felt so comfortable shooting the basketball. Each game, the opposition makes a high percentage of 3's, whether open, contested, falling backward, doing somersaults... what is the psychological reason why Brooks nails the open 3, while Ralph airballs his? Is Brooks that much better at 3's - I doubt it.

That injury to Nolen did a LOT more than take away a senior steals and assists leader - it demolished the team's confidence and raised the opposition's. For whatever reason, the opposition feels absolutely comfortable at the end of every game, while the Gophers just "know" they'll lose it. Somehow, the spirit of Glen Mason is haunting this basketball team.

Take away the starting PG and back-up SG/PG (so-called 3rd guard) from any team and you lose a lot.

Gophers were 1-9 in final 10 games. Even with the 2 key G losses, they w/c/s been 5-5 in them.

 

[GopherinPhilly]

Great points about how much we underestimated Nolen's value over the years. I was quite critical during his sophomore and junior years (not on this site but with family and friends) but he really proved to be an important piece for this team. Also, great points about how Bo Ryan takes talent that isn't necessarily rated as highly on scout boards and turns his teams into strong competitors each and every year. I'm not sure whether his crew is just better at detecting talent or whether they are better at developing it, or both, but that is a top-flight organization. It hurts me to say it because I really despise UW (mostly due to jealousy).

Development of players has been pretty mediocre so far with Tubby and Co. The fundamentals are pretty weak year in and year out. Poor picks, weak passing (i.e. not strong with the wrists), poor post set-up (rarely do they have their man properly sealed), mediocre cuts, no real triple-threat positioning, lousy shooting, worse free-throw shooting, slow passing, no shot fakes, no pass fakes, etc.

I just don't see this...we have 2 seniors this year that under Tubby's tutelage were drastically improved over their four years in Minny...Blake and Al both grew. Next year we will see if Rodney and our Senior big men will start to pan out. We have used 2 Jucos, lost our 2nd top rated recruit to transfer and had one top 25 Fr never make it on the court. We have a very small sample of how Tubby develops players...but that sample of Blake and Al tells me his system works...now we just need some consistency within the program and keep our players on the court for 4 years and see what happens.