Gophers/Spartans Post Game Thread - analysis, frustration, suggestions & more

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#1nHkyCfbBsbDncSolarDebat said:
Only at the Gopherhole would Gopher fans go on and on and on all week about how horrible we are, how horrible our coach is, and then go ON THE ROAD, to play the #11 ranked team in the nation, coached by the famous Tom Izzo, who's taken his teams to SIX FFs in the 21st Century, and expect us to win?!

It boggles my mind.


If any of you idiots would just go back, to earlier in the season, when we were at our peak, ranked #8 in the nation, thinking we could maybe pull off a win vs Michigan at home. EVEN THEN, the majority of GHers considered the game @MSU to be a probable loss.

Then we go on a 4 game losing streak, we go into a major funk, and barely beat Iowa at home, but STILL, GHers act like we should have won this game?!


If not for the injuries MSU suffered, there wasn't a single GHer who truly believed we should win this game. Not saying no one believed it couldn't be won, but under NORMAL circumstances, playing on THE ROAD vs the #11 ranked MSU Spartans, is a LOSS, 95% of the time. No matter who you are, Duke, Minnesota, NCSU, UK, Indiana St, etc..
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I am not upset that we lost to #11 on the road. I am upset that our team did not give anywhere near their best effort tonight. When we come out of a funk with a dominant win against Nebraska and a dramatic late win against Iowa, I expect that we see a team giving maximum effort playing their best basketball desperate to get a win against a top tier team to prove we still belong with the big boys. What we got instead was a lazy and sloppy effort.
 

And just so you all know, one thing that watching college basketball has consistently shown me. Playing weak competition makes a team look good, and playing strong competition helps to expose a teams weaknesses.


No one outside of the Big Ten this year has to be tested as often as the Gophers. NO ONE!!!!!



At TeamRankings dot com, they have Minnesota listed #1 in SOS, and 3 other Big Ten teams are also ranked in the Top 5 in SOS.


Big Ten this year is BRUTAL.



Put this team in the SEC this season and we would look stellar, we'd still be ranked Top 10, right behind Florida.
 

#1nHkyCfbBsbDncSolarDebat said:
Only at the Gopherhole would Gopher fans go on and on and on all week about how horrible we are, how horrible our coach is, and then go ON THE ROAD, to play the #11 ranked team in the nation, coached by the famous Tom Izzo, who's taken his teams to SIX FFs in the 21st Century, and expect us to win?!

It boggles my mind.


If any of you idiots would just go back, to earlier in the season, when we were at our peak, ranked #8 in the nation, thinking we could maybe pull off a win vs Michigan at home. EVEN THEN, the majority of GHers considered the game @MSU to be a probable loss.

Then we go on a 4 game losing streak, we go into a major funk, and barely beat Iowa at home, but STILL, GHers act like we should have won this game?!


If not for the injuries MSU suffered, there wasn't a single GHer who truly believed we should win this game. Not saying no one believed it couldn't be won, but under NORMAL circumstances, playing on THE ROAD vs the #11 ranked MSU Spartans, is a LOSS, 95% of the time. No matter who you are, Duke, Minnesota, NCSU, UK, Indiana St, etc..
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You seem to go on and on as well as most.
 

I couldn't believe that at one point tonight we had Oto, Mo and EE in there together on the road at Michigan State with less than 5 minutes to go in the game. I'd love to hear the strategy behind that group at that time of the game.

Go Gophers!!
 

Hey, our chances of dominating in the NCAA tournament are AWESOME, if tonight was a lazy and sloppy effort, yet we still had a shot with 4-5 minutes left ON THE ROAD vs #11 MSU.


Why is it so hard to believe that our competition wants to win as badly as we do, and that their quality of opposition might have something to do with our not looking so great?!


You mention that we beat Nebraska so badly?! Well, who hasn't beaten them? They are 2-8 right now. It was a home game for us. And actually, they played us straight up for the final 2/3rds of the game.


And our win over Iowa?! Was hardly a glorious moment. We could still be in that funk. We could simply not be as good as we all thought we were earlier on. Face it, beating Illinois on the road made us ALL feel like we were better than we were. Admit it. Our win vs MSU was a HOME game, and MSU came close to winning that game.


We showed we can play with both IU and Michigan, but we also showed that we could get dominated by them. We also showed we can lose to teams like NW and Iowa.


We simply are not as good a team as we thought. We don't have enough depth. No team can depend on the same 5 guys to come through game after game after game, not when playing in a conference like the Big Ten.
 



BleedGopher said:
I couldn't believe that at one point tonight we had Oto, Mo and EE in there together on the road at Michigan State with less than 5 minutes to go in the game. I'd love to hear the strategy behind that group at that time of the game.

Go Gophers!!
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agreed - the combinations of substitutions that Tubby puts on the floor is downright dumbfounding at times.
 


#1nHkyCfbBsbDncSolarDebat said:
Only at the Gopherhole would Gopher fans go on and on and on all week about how horrible we are, how horrible our coach is, and then go ON THE ROAD, to play the #11 ranked team in the nation, coached by the famous Tom Izzo, who's taken his teams to SIX FFs in the 21st Century, and expect us to win?!

It boggles my mind.


If any of you idiots would just go back, to earlier in the season, when we were at our peak, ranked #8 in the nation, thinking we could maybe pull off a win vs Michigan at home. EVEN THEN, the majority of GHers considered the game @MSU to be a probable loss.

Then we go on a 4 game losing streak, we go into a major funk, and barely beat Iowa at home, but STILL, GHers act like we should have won this game?!


If not for the injuries MSU suffered, there wasn't a single GHer who truly believed we should win this game. Not saying no one believed it couldn't be won, but under NORMAL circumstances, playing on THE ROAD vs the #11 ranked MSU Spartans, is a LOSS, 95% of the time. No matter who you are, Duke, Minnesota, NCSU, UK, Indiana St, etc..
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But Michigan St. didn't win this game, we lost it.
 



Penn St and Purdue are the only teams in the Big Ten not ranked in the Top 90 of the RPI, and they are 2 of the only 3 Big Ten teams that we have yet to play. The NW game was a road game, and Iowa is ranked as high as #38 in the Sagarin ratings, so basically, we've had one easy game so far in conf play. Yet we have 5 wins.


I predicted we'd finish 3rd in conf, and that was because I thought our schedule was slightly favorable and because we were either the 3rd, 4th or 5th best team in the conf.

Seems if we take care of business, we could still finish in 5th, maybe in 4th in conf. Not too shabby if you really consider all the facts.

Teamrankings dot com has Michigan rated as the #1 team in the country. The Sagarin ratings have Indiana #2, and the AP and Coaches poll has them #3 and #1.

OSU is #7 in the Sagarin and MSU is #10 in the Teamrankings dot com ratings and both OSU and MSU are Top 12 in the Coaches and AP polls.


There is no shame in coming in 5th in the Big Ten this season.
 


Something very important I noticed tonight. We don't take the ball to the basket nearly enough. I know MSU is a little intimidating with their size and length, but when the outside shots are not falling and our ball movement is getting enough open looks, take the ball the drive it.

in the 2nd half, Austin drove the ball to the basket 5 times. He got 2 layups, got fouled 2 times and once had a shot blocked. 4 outta 5 was possitive and I'd take that all day.

Teams have started to over-play Austin and Andre on the 3 point line. Both need to start up faking and driving. If they miss, we got a 50% chance to get a putback.
 




Very simple actually. We don't ever correct correctable mistakes. It's like Groundhog Day with this team.
 

I'm gonna give EE some credit...12 minutes, 3 boards, 2 assists and 2 points, 0 turnovers...Credible defense in a few spots except for when Payne backed him down once in the 2nd half. EE is starting to improve...Tubby should find more ways to play him with Trev and Rodney on the court at the same time.
 

Moses87 said:
I'm gonna give EE some credit...12 minutes, 3 boards, 2 assists and 2 points, 0 turnovers...Credible defense in a few spots except for when Payne backed him down once in the 2nd half. EE is starting to improve...Tubby should find more ways to play him with Trev and Rodney on the court at the same time.
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The last few games he's starting to play with more confidence and is giving us some solid minutes. It's an encouraging sign.

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
The last few games he's starting to play with more confidence and is giving us some solid minutes. It's an encouraging sign.

Go Gophers!!
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they should try running the O thru EE at the high post.... dump downs to trevor, kickouts for 3's... or that little 12 footer he hit tonight in a bind..
something other than the 25-second-weave-then-go-one-on-one-and-jack-up-a-prayer that we have been running would be nice.
 

#1nHkyCfbBsbDncSolarDebat said:
Penn St and Purdue are the only teams in the Big Ten not ranked in the Top 90 of the RPI, and they are 2 of the only 3 Big Ten teams that we have yet to play. The NW game was a road game, and Iowa is ranked as high as #38 in the Sagarin ratings, so basically, we've had one easy game so far in conf play. Yet we have 5 wins.


I predicted we'd finish 3rd in conf, and that was because I thought our schedule was slightly favorable and because we were either the 3rd, 4th or 5th best team in the conf.

Seems if we take care of business, we could still finish in 5th, maybe in 4th in conf. Not too shabby if you really consider all the facts.

Teamrankings dot com has Michigan rated as the #1 team in the country. The Sagarin ratings have Indiana #2, and the AP and Coaches poll has them #3 and #1.

OSU is #7 in the Sagarin and MSU is #10 in the Teamrankings dot com ratings and both OSU and MSU are Top 12 in the Coaches and AP polls.


There is no shame in coming in 5th in the Big Ten this season.
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where would the shame be? 6th? 8th? 10th?
 

dboy said:
they should try running the O thru EE at the high post.... dump downs to trevor, kickouts for 3's... or that little 12 footer he hit tonight in a bind..
something other than the 25-second-weave-then-go-one-on-one-and-jack-up-a-prayer that we have been running would be nice.
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Agree completely.
 


@GoodmanCBS: Name me a team that hasn't had a "concerning" moment so far this season? Everyone has had one. Everyone. Matchups, health key in March.
 

scher215 said:
@GoodmanCBS: Name me a team that hasn't had a "concerning" moment so far this season? Everyone has had one. Everyone. Matchups, health key in March.
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We have concerning moments.
 

dboy said:
+1
when we pulled it out after appling went down and we had a 5 on 4, i had to laugh.
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That was unbelievable! I actually saw Tubby calling a play. LOL! Tubby has to be yelling at his guys to PUSH THE BALL in that situation. How have we been successful in our wins? By PUSHING THE BALL! We are not a good half court team. Michigan St. guards were limping around, and Trice wasn't playing. You have to put some half court and full court pressure on this hobbled team. Tubby should smell blood in this situation, and attack, Attack, ATTACK!

Why Tubby has gone away from playing the uptempo basketball that got the team a #8 ranking is beyond me. You have to recognize your players strengths. Coleman and Rodney are unbelievably good in the open court, and unbelievably bad in the half court. Why are we now playing slow tempo basketball? I really thought Tubby changed and gave his players some freedom to be themselves. I guess I was wrong.
 

I don't have any official stats to back it up but I believe we got 0 points in transition last night. I don't remember any dunks at all and the only layups were from half court offense. You gotta hand it to Izzo and MSU...They played great defense and they get back fast.

If we don't run and get transition baskets, we are hurting.
 

bga1 said:
12 turnovers- not horrid but MSU only had 5 so that's a big advantage for them. Worse though was the shooting of the three starting guards 11-34. Ouch. Over the last several games the shooting has gotten worse primarily because the shots have been tougher- the offense is not producing open shots.
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Open shots require crisp passing. Whirling, leaping, create-your-own playground shots may impress the fans, but they are low percentage. Give me a sharp passing team that earns open shots.
 

bga1 said:
Andre really looks as if he is playing not to make mistakes now. I think the coach is in his head. He has to drive some to open up the court and he isn't even trying to do it lately.
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The question is why? He has the skills.
 

BleedGopher said:
I couldn't believe that at one point tonight we had Oto, Mo and EE in there together on the road at Michigan State with less than 5 minutes to go in the game. I'd love to hear the strategy behind that group at that time of the game.

Go Gophers!!
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Noticed the same thing, and had the same question.....
 

dboy said:
they should try running the O thru EE at the high post.... dump downs to trevor, kickouts for 3's... or that little 12 footer he hit tonight in a bind..
something other than the 25-second-weave-then-go-one-on-one-and-jack-up-a-prayer that we have been running would be nice.
Click to expand...

I think EE might be the best passer on the team. Seems to know what to do with the ball - fakes, doesn't hold it forever,etc. He needs to start or play a lot more minutes. Joe and Rodney are basically the same players with poor shooting ability. There could easily be 25 minutes for EE if he's not in foul trouble.
 

Am to the point where I'd be more than willing to start EE and go with a bigger lineup, if for no other reason having Coleman come off the bench gives us a non-starter who is a legitimate threat to score. I thought Welch could be that guy this season, but it just hasn't happened.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Yeah, it's not like Michigan St. made a bunch of 3's or anything.
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They were draining a lot of easy threes. Any team would have been hitting most of those shots with some of the looks we were letting them have This has been a big gripe of mine over the years, we give up easy three point shots and then wonder why every team seems to get hot from behind the arc against us.
 

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