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Mod's move this to the Tourney Thread please.


How in the world do they lose in the 1st round of the NCAA? I remember proclaiming them as the best of the B1G after they put a thumping to us. That team has all of the talent in the world, yet they are worse at defense than our beloved Gophers. Does Fran's seat get a bit hotter after laying that kind of stinker at the end of the year? As Gopher fans I think we are all accustomed to this kind of hype build up in the beginning of the year only to be utterly disappointing come February, but I think this is worse than any of our prior failures.

That team, is at least 7 deep with very quality starters, yet none of them play inspired D. Marble has all the skill in the world, doesn't play much defense. Aaron White has the size and skill to be a 1st team B1G player, I remember being scared of him when he was a freshman. Doesn't seem to have progressed much since then. Gesell has the speed and quickness to be a very tough defender and facilitator, but seems to only be engaged on one end of the floor. Utoff has 0 fire, Woodbury is a disappointment for a 7 footer with his apparent athleticism.

I'm just pissed because I had them picked to upset Duke as I was hoping Farmer Fran could get the guys back in shape for a couple games, and it looked like I was right in the first 5 minutes of that game. I didn't even watch the OT because I knew Iowa couldn't stop Tennessee and that's what happened.
 

Easily the most disappointing team in the Big Ten. I thought, Aaron White, especially, completely disappeared down the stretch of the season. The talent on that roster should not be losing in the First Four to a very pedestrian Tennessee squad.

There had to be something internal going on with that team the last month of the season (think Northwestern football, cancerous Kain Colter). They just didn't look right, seemed to lack zip, which is surprising considering how long it's been since they made the NCAA tourney.

Plus, the Big Ten now is off to a 0-1 start, vs. the 3-bid SEC to boot.
 

How they got picked before us is a mystery to me. They have been a dumpster fire for the last month and we finished 5-5, with a better SOS and RPI. Total BS>
 

Yeah. It's difficult if not impossible for an outsider like me to decipher just what happened to that team, other than holy God, did they fall right off the table.

They started out 15-3, including 4-1 in conference, with one of those wins coming on the road against then #3 ranked Ohio State, and how at that point they seemed poised to run off a truly epic season as well as grab a very high slot in the Big Dance, and then they proceeded to pretty much fall just straight apart, with the culmination of that being the two humiliating and devastating regular season home losses to Illinois and Northwestern (and **cough** doesn't that ring familiar?), ending their Big 10 season as having lost 6 of 7 games, and in the absence of any significant injuries (or any injuries at all), just what in hell happened to that team?

They've got talent to bear, size, skill, and shooters, so maybe God only knows what happened to that team at the end.
 



From experience with the Gophers (in just about every sport), I know how much it stings to think you are poised to be a really good team only to come crashing back to earth late season. It almost hurts more than having just a bad season start to finish. I think that's because they showed they have the talent to be a good team, and then just stopped using that talent. Its more comfortable to think of your boys as the lovable underdogs who never had a chance but kept fighting.
 

I really thought this Iowa team was gonna tear it up, though. They started so strongly, looked so good, are so veteran and have such talent to spare, I thought if there were ever going to be a year for Iowa, this would be the one, making it only all the more baffling to me to see just what became of them.
 

I found myself wondering if it is worse to go to the NIT, or lose in OT in the play-in game. That must be pretty a painful, but as all have said, not surprising outcome.
 

I guess I'm willing to cut McCaffery and the Iowa team some slack considering the circumstances. Has to be tough to have your son undergo surgery to remove a potentially cancerous thyroid tumor in Iowa City in the morning, travel to the game site and be focused on coaching. Had to also effect the team's prep and focus.
 



This is like the Purdue teams in the '10 and '11 seasons.... Only 2 or 3 guys had season ending injuries to ruin there seasons.....
 

Iowa was all hype. They played poor defense. Their offense was good, but it was slightly overrated.
 

Not to let Iowa off the hook, but why are two 11 seeds playing in the play-in round? These games should be the eight worst teams in the tournament, which would be your 16 and (hypothetically) 17 seeds.
 

Hates Monikers said:
Not to let Iowa off the hook, but why are two 11 seeds playing in the play-in round? These games should be the eight worst teams in the tournament, which would be your 16 and (hypothetically) 17 seeds.
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Because that will get butts in the sets and CBS/Turner to pony up big time $$$$ for those rights.
 



Is *********** on suicide watch?
 


The two big men from Tennessee got tough inside and Iowa backed down. I loved how the refs let those two teams play last night. I wish the Big Ten was still like that.
 

Tenn wore them down - Iowa was exhausted at the start of OT. Tenn has talent as well.
 

mnsports1 said:
Because that will get butts in the sets and CBS/Turner to pony up big time $$$$ for those rights.
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It's time to go back to 64 teams.

The last 4 at-large teams aren't really deserving of being in a national championship tournament.
 

station19 said:
It's time to go back to 64 teams.

The last 4 at-large teams aren't really deserving of being in a national championship tournament.
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I'd love the "old" 64 team format again. However, there don't seem to be any tournaments/playoffs that are contracting. Most seem to be expanding now. Which of the 64/68 teams in the tourney are deserving is another debate...
 

They were basically like half of Tubby's teams (this isn't a knock Tubby post btw) in which they'd start strong, look capable of beating anyone in the country, and then fell off during the B10 grind. Seriously its the same thing that happened to our 2013 team, 2012 team and 2010 team (I think those are the right years)
 

Hates Monikers said:
Not to let Iowa off the hook, but why are two 11 seeds playing in the play-in round? These games should be the eight worst teams in the tournament, which would be your 16 and (hypothetically) 17 seeds.
Click to expand...

There was only one 12 seed available to at-large bids. The two at-large play-in games go to the lowest available seeds for at-large bids. This year, that ended up being a 12 seed and an 11 seed.

But I agree with others, all play-in games should be eliminated. Go back to 64 and start the tournament on Thursday.
 

mnsports1 said:
I'd love the "old" 64 team format again. However, there don't seem to be any tournaments/playoffs that are contracting. Most seem to be expanding now. Which of the 64/68 teams in the tourney are deserving is another debate...
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IMO, Iowa, BYU, North Carolina State, and Xavier did not deserve to be in. Easy to trim it to 64 where it should be.

The tournament has become too diluted with mediocrity.
 


Could not happen to a better bunch. White plays defense by simply hacking at arms and hoping the ball pops loose. McCabe is a cheap punk. Marble is a spoiled baby who pouts and Wooderson or whatever his name is is just a goon who looks like Spalding from Caddyshack.
 

oleboy41 said:
They were basically like half of Tubby's teams (this isn't a knock Tubby post btw) in which they'd start strong, look capable of beating anyone in the country, and then fell off during the B10 grind. Seriously its the same thing that happened to our 2013 team, 2012 team and 2010 team (I think those are the right years)
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Yeah, it would seem we would understand Iowa's pitfalls late in the year more than any other program. It looked almost carbon copy of what we've seen recently. I mean we literally went from a top 20 team to not even an NIT team in the span of a month because of an ankle injury. Makes Iowa's fall look graceful lol.

That's why you can't predict things halfway through the season. You just don't know if a team can maintain a level of play, or handle being the targeted squad, or anything like that.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
Simple, they were 9-9 in the B1G. We were 8-10
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Aside from the fact that you can't simply draw a conclusion from conference records because of the unbalanced schedule, exiting in the 1st round of the BTT (one round sooner than us), to an RPI 100+ team that didn't even have one of its best players, at least makes up for a 1 game difference in the regular season standings.

Add in the fact that we had a better RPI, better SOS, and Iowa literally collapsed down the stretch, and I think there's just no reasonable case for putting Iowa in the tourney above us.
 

Deep down I don't give a $hit about Iowa, glad they lost.

IOWA SUCKS!!!
 

WanderingGopher said:
Aside from the fact that you can't simply draw a conclusion from conference records because of the unbalanced schedule, exiting in the 1st round of the BTT (one round sooner than us), to an RPI 100+ team that didn't even have one of its best players, at least makes up for a 1 game difference in the regular season standings.

Add in the fact that we had a better RPI, better SOS, and Iowa literally collapsed down the stretch, and I think there's just no reasonable case for putting Iowa in the tourney above us.
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"Eye test" I watched Iowa earlier in the year and thought, when they were on, they were the best team in the B1G. I think the Gophers last year had a similar effect benefit them. Where when people watched them at certain points during the year you could have said they were one of the best teams in the conference and country. Except where 2013-14 Iowa lacked on defense, the 2012-13 Gophers lacked on offense. You felt if either of these teams found any consistency on those respective of sides of the ball that they were top-15 caliber.

Back to Iowa, it just baffles me a team of that size can't play a little better defense. I don't think I have ever seen a team underachieve so much on one side of the ball. I am not sure if comes down to poor understanding of positioning or laziness. I am going to guess the latter. I really don't get it.
 

gopherskynet said:
"Eye test" I watched Iowa earlier in the year and thought, when they were on, they were the best team in the B1G. I think the Gophers last year had a similar effect benefit them. Where when people watched them at certain points during the year you could have said they were one of the best teams in the conference and country. Except where 2013-14 Iowa lacked on defense, the 2012-13 Gophers lacked on offense. You felt if either of these teams found any consistency on those respective of sides of the ball that they were top-15 caliber.

Back to Iowa, it just baffles me a team of that size can't play a little better defense. I don't think I have ever seen a team underachieve so much on one side of the ball. I am not sure if comes down to poor understanding of positioning or laziness. I am going to guess the latter. I really don't get it.
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Our RPI last year was around 30 and we got an 11 seed, so how exactly did we benefit from this so-called "eye test"?
 

oleboy41 said:
They were basically like half of Tubby's teams (this isn't a knock Tubby post btw) in which they'd start strong, look capable of beating anyone in the country, and then fell off during the B10 grind. Seriously its the same thing that happened to our 2013 team, 2012 team and 2010 team (I think those are the right years)
Click to expand...

You had to point out the elephant in the room didn't you... :drink:
 

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