cncmin
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2008
- Messages
- 23,136
- Reaction score
- 7,383
- Points
- 113
First, if you were to tell me before the week started that we'd be 1-1 on our road trip, I'd say good! Second, this was an obvious trap game, with the Gophers coming off their biggest road win in a long time and Northwestern playing a very different style of basketball than most teams. Here is what I think went wrong:
1. Northwestern played awesome. No doubt about it, they shot amazingly well, they PASSED extremely well, played with poise, and always ended up with the loose balls; which leads to #2...
2. The loose ball always seemed to end up in Northwestern's hands. If there were 3 Gophers around and 1 NU player, the ball still magically found a way to get to the NU player. It was one of those days. I think this wore on the Gophers mentally, because we're usually the ones getting those loose balls. When that didn't happen, I think they started to get nervous and lose poise.
3. The Gophers were absolutely awful passing the ball today. Northwestern was playing an extended 1-3-1 zone for about half of the game...this is the defense that really gave the Gophers fits. That's ironic, because it's the 1-3-1 full court zone that the Gophers typically play when they press. So you'd think that the Gophers would be ready for it. The Gophers did way too much dribbling into the middle of the zone (Nolen and Westbrook) and did not spread the Wildcats' D, nor did they tire out the Wildcats with fast passes (that said, where did the NU speed come from today?!). The standard way to beat a 1-3-1 zone is an even 2-1-2 offense, with 2 guards up top, 2 wings in the corners and on the baseline, and a center controlling the middle. Why the Gophers didn't make quick passes around the zone and use some inside-out game is beyond me. I don't think they were ready for it; that's all I can think of. That said, I think a lot of their problems against this zone were due to #4...
4. They panicked when Northwestern went on the run that gave them the lead. The Gophers were struggling, but still very much in control of the game 38-32 until they went ice cold from the field, missing 3-pointers, layups and free throws. Meanwhile, NU and Moore in particular caught fire, especially from 3-land, and the Gophers started panicking and they lost their lead. As NU took the lead, that is particularly when our offensive problems accelerated, as we got out of our game plan, lost our poise and forgot to play fundamental basketball. Note that at the same time, we were going too hard for blocks and steals and loose balls, which resulted in a lot of easy layups for the purple team.
5. Free throws: Did we shoot over 50% from the line? NU sure did. They made the most of their chances (coming in as the WORST FT shooting team in the league), and we made the least.
6. We were outplayed and today we were possibly outcoached, too. Give credit to Northwestern, they played about as well as they possibly could (this had to have been their best performance of the year, maybe by far their best), while the Gophers played one of their worst games. Chalk it up to circumstance. The Gophers would beat NU @ NU probably 8 of 10 times. This was one of those other times. They still come home with a satisfactory road trip; and you'd always take the road win over Wisconsin over the game today, right? Time to come back and get ready for Purdue; Tubby better get a better scheme for beating a 1-3-1; that was awful.
7. One thing I don't understand about Tubby's D is why we don't put our best exterior defender in the face of the opposing team's best or hottest outside shooter. It just baffles me to no end; it was the exact same way last year. It was like watching Glen Mason football. You all know the Wolverines are going to throw a screen pass to Perry, GUARD HIM! Same thing here, after Moore's first swoosh we all knew he was going to make any shot he took, so GUARD HIM! Put DJ on him, or maybe Nolen. Who else did Northwestern have that was going to score with any consistency? Coble? That's what Sampson and Iverson are for. Deny their best scorer the ball FTW. Other teams seem to do just fine taking Hoffarber's shot away, but I'm disturbed that we rarely do the same to their shooters. When Moore makes 4 more 3's than Hoff, you know it's going to be awfully tough to win.
8. Last comment, I still don't understand why we start the game pressing with both Iverson and Sampson on the floor for the first 6 minutes. What advantage does this give us? We always start out slow, and maybe a bit of fatigue could explain why both of these guys have disappeared in the second half of most of our games lately.
16-2 is very good and the Gophers have proven worthy of a top-25 ranking. We better smash Northwestern at home on 2/22. If I were a player/coach on that team, I'd make sure to pound them and pound them with serious basketball, never giving them a chance to breathe; a win by less than 30 would be a disappointment.
As for our upcoming schedule, it's ugly. First a home game against Purdue, who should be higher ranked than us coming in after their two victories this week. Then comes yet another trap game at Indiana, but they are no Northwestern; we'd have to play much worse than badly to lose that game...or maybe Indiana will be on fire like Northwestern was, who knows. Then comes vs. Illinois, @ MSU, and @ OSU. Ouch! We could easily come out of this stretch on a big losing streak; or we could take 3 or 4 of 5. It'll be interesting! One thing I know, Tubby has to make sure that Al knows to PASS around a zone, not dribble into it. That will be the first correction step after today.
1. Northwestern played awesome. No doubt about it, they shot amazingly well, they PASSED extremely well, played with poise, and always ended up with the loose balls; which leads to #2...
2. The loose ball always seemed to end up in Northwestern's hands. If there were 3 Gophers around and 1 NU player, the ball still magically found a way to get to the NU player. It was one of those days. I think this wore on the Gophers mentally, because we're usually the ones getting those loose balls. When that didn't happen, I think they started to get nervous and lose poise.
3. The Gophers were absolutely awful passing the ball today. Northwestern was playing an extended 1-3-1 zone for about half of the game...this is the defense that really gave the Gophers fits. That's ironic, because it's the 1-3-1 full court zone that the Gophers typically play when they press. So you'd think that the Gophers would be ready for it. The Gophers did way too much dribbling into the middle of the zone (Nolen and Westbrook) and did not spread the Wildcats' D, nor did they tire out the Wildcats with fast passes (that said, where did the NU speed come from today?!). The standard way to beat a 1-3-1 zone is an even 2-1-2 offense, with 2 guards up top, 2 wings in the corners and on the baseline, and a center controlling the middle. Why the Gophers didn't make quick passes around the zone and use some inside-out game is beyond me. I don't think they were ready for it; that's all I can think of. That said, I think a lot of their problems against this zone were due to #4...
4. They panicked when Northwestern went on the run that gave them the lead. The Gophers were struggling, but still very much in control of the game 38-32 until they went ice cold from the field, missing 3-pointers, layups and free throws. Meanwhile, NU and Moore in particular caught fire, especially from 3-land, and the Gophers started panicking and they lost their lead. As NU took the lead, that is particularly when our offensive problems accelerated, as we got out of our game plan, lost our poise and forgot to play fundamental basketball. Note that at the same time, we were going too hard for blocks and steals and loose balls, which resulted in a lot of easy layups for the purple team.
5. Free throws: Did we shoot over 50% from the line? NU sure did. They made the most of their chances (coming in as the WORST FT shooting team in the league), and we made the least.
6. We were outplayed and today we were possibly outcoached, too. Give credit to Northwestern, they played about as well as they possibly could (this had to have been their best performance of the year, maybe by far their best), while the Gophers played one of their worst games. Chalk it up to circumstance. The Gophers would beat NU @ NU probably 8 of 10 times. This was one of those other times. They still come home with a satisfactory road trip; and you'd always take the road win over Wisconsin over the game today, right? Time to come back and get ready for Purdue; Tubby better get a better scheme for beating a 1-3-1; that was awful.
7. One thing I don't understand about Tubby's D is why we don't put our best exterior defender in the face of the opposing team's best or hottest outside shooter. It just baffles me to no end; it was the exact same way last year. It was like watching Glen Mason football. You all know the Wolverines are going to throw a screen pass to Perry, GUARD HIM! Same thing here, after Moore's first swoosh we all knew he was going to make any shot he took, so GUARD HIM! Put DJ on him, or maybe Nolen. Who else did Northwestern have that was going to score with any consistency? Coble? That's what Sampson and Iverson are for. Deny their best scorer the ball FTW. Other teams seem to do just fine taking Hoffarber's shot away, but I'm disturbed that we rarely do the same to their shooters. When Moore makes 4 more 3's than Hoff, you know it's going to be awfully tough to win.
8. Last comment, I still don't understand why we start the game pressing with both Iverson and Sampson on the floor for the first 6 minutes. What advantage does this give us? We always start out slow, and maybe a bit of fatigue could explain why both of these guys have disappeared in the second half of most of our games lately.
16-2 is very good and the Gophers have proven worthy of a top-25 ranking. We better smash Northwestern at home on 2/22. If I were a player/coach on that team, I'd make sure to pound them and pound them with serious basketball, never giving them a chance to breathe; a win by less than 30 would be a disappointment.
As for our upcoming schedule, it's ugly. First a home game against Purdue, who should be higher ranked than us coming in after their two victories this week. Then comes yet another trap game at Indiana, but they are no Northwestern; we'd have to play much worse than badly to lose that game...or maybe Indiana will be on fire like Northwestern was, who knows. Then comes vs. Illinois, @ MSU, and @ OSU. Ouch! We could easily come out of this stretch on a big losing streak; or we could take 3 or 4 of 5. It'll be interesting! One thing I know, Tubby has to make sure that Al knows to PASS around a zone, not dribble into it. That will be the first correction step after today.
