NIT Championship: #1 Gophers vs. #1 SMU at MSG [ESPN, Thurs @ 6:00PM]

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Trophy presentation is worth your time, if you can catch the replay when it is up. It lasts less than 10 minutes and included each player getting a watch, the all tournament team each getting a plaque/trophy, Austin getting the MOP, and the Gophers doing a little celebrating.
 

When is the last time we've won two "how'd we do that" games in a row?
 

XMan said:
When we were down 7 without momentum, I thought the game was going to go South fast. Then we had Mathieu's three point play, a steal and a basket and then their offensive foul. Turned game around.
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And it was all after a timeout. The play drawn up for Mathieu was a great call. The sign of a great coach when he can turn momentum with a timeout call.
 


BarnBoy said:
Hey, I missed Rick coaching from the stands. What did he do?
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He was yelling at the team reminding them no timeouts and then yelling towards the huddle saying foul foul. It was hilarious.
 



Just watched the trophy and MVP presentation on ESPN3. Thanks for pointing me that way!
 






afurry91 said:
I'd say winning the NIT puts you mid 30s roughly. But that is just my opinion.
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Heck with that. There are two tournaments and we won one of them. That makes us the second best team in the country!
 


BTN is showing postgame coverage right now, interviewed Richard and Rick already and will play interviews with Austin and Andre a little later.
 



I posted this after Tuesday's win, but let's really hope this is a stepping stone to something more. You've got a young coach who proved he could win a tournament with some variables being thrown at him. The last 4 NIT Champs in this year's NCAA tourney: Dayton, Wichita State, Stanford and Baylor. Two Sweet Sixteens, an Elite Eight and a team that started the year 35-0. Maybe the NIT is nothing more than bad postseason hoops, but if you look at those teams, there might be value to be gained by winning this thing.
 

LongLiveMilesTarver said:
How quickly we forget about the CBI and CIT!
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Awesome effort! Winning the NIT was a heck of a lot more fun than losing first round NCAA, and IMO much more impressive. They played some high-quality teams along the way and bested them all. Effort was relentless.

Great to see Elliott get on the floor, even if he was clearly hobbled (Bobby Knight yelling at EE for not moving his feet fast enough was priceless enough, given the injured ankle). Was very happy to see Malik Smith get two big 3's (even if he threw up some more head-scratchers), as he really needed a quality way to end his collegiate career and IMO, he got it. Was dismayed Mav didn't get in the game, but it is what it is and Mav had some really nice NIT games to propel the run. Most of all, was wonderful to see Austin Hollins have a great tournament, and no doubt I will miss him as a Gopher. Class act out there. I will most definitely miss him in the Maroon and Gold, and wonder how he'll be replaced next year.

Was great to see father Rick get so involved and emotional. Obviously he's cheering for the success of his son, but regardless, he clearly was supporting the entire Gopher team. Richard Pitino is a great fit for this program, and he will do great things assuming he is truly dedicated to the U.

Announcing crew was comically inept, IMO, Bobby K. has certainly seen better days. This game was exciting from start to end and I'm happy for the team and all involved.
 

ESPN3 has the awards up. Just fast forward to the end of the game.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
I posted this after Tuesday's win, but let's really hope this is a stepping stone to something more. You've got a young coach who proved he could win a tournament with some variables being thrown at him. The last 4 NIT Champs in this year's NCAA tourney: Dayton, Wichita State, Stanford and Baylor. Two Sweet Sixteens, an Elite Eight and a team that started the year 35-0. Maybe the NIT is nothing more than bad postseason hoops, but if you look at those teams, there might be value to be gained by winning this thing.
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Who peed on your Cheerios? It wasn't Final Four material, but that was certainly quality basketball.
 

cncmin said:
Who peed on your Cheerios? It wasn't Final Four material, but that was certainly quality basketball.
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Nobody. All throughout the tournament, all you heard from Dan B., Sansevere, Judd Gonad, Reusse, etc. was how stupid it was for anyone to get excited over the NIT because it didn't matter.
 


jaymil said:
BTN is showing postgame coverage right now, interviewed Richard and Rick already and will play interviews with Austin and Andre a little later.
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Thanks for posting this
 


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very nice win tonight. SMU is a very good team with a hell of a resume.

They swept UCONN
Beat at the time #7 Cincinnati
Beat Memphis
 


97alumni said:
He was yelling at the team reminding them no timeouts and then yelling towards the huddle saying foul foul. It was hilarious.
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It looked like he was kind of just joking and not being serious. Obviously those kids and Richard know what to do and he was just having a good time. That's not going to stop some population of Buckyville from doing the whole "Rich needed Rick's coaching to help him win" spiel.

I'm proud of our kids taking what they were given and making the best of it. Honestly I think this NIT run proved so much more valuable than something like Iowa's one-and-done play-in game. Getting an extra few weeks of practices is great any way you look at it.
 


They had Father Pitino on espn 1500 after the game, he said him and richard talked about the end of game situation at great lengths after the last game, they came to the consensus that they would foul at the end this game..

Side note Rick also referred to the gophers 'WE' and this is the proudest moment of his life...........
 

No doubt in my mind if you asked Father Pitino (and he HAD to be honest) when the post season tournaments started....if he would have rather won another NCAA tourney this year or have his son win the NIT, he would have taken the NIT win for Richie
 

Was at the game and it was an incredible experience!... Not going to lie, the SMU fans that were there, which was about 80% of the crowd, were complete dicks and there was no better feeling than cheering and clapping as the filed there way past! What a great game a team win! I can't wait for spring recruiting! Hoping we land a stud transfer!
 

I always say only one team gets to complain about not making the NCAA…and that's the NIT Champ…but I'm not going to complain, five straight victories is just plain fun. And basically the NCAA is the top 68 teams..the NIT the next 32. So 5 wins against top-100 teams with about 320 D1 basketball teams…that's great.
 

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