***OFFICIAL GOPHERS VS ST JOHN'S IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

[EG#9]

Wow, I haven't been this upset after a loss since the lifeless performance against Illinois at the Barn last year. All of the Seniors really, really let this team down in a game that absolutely should have been a win. I can't say enough bad things about Elliott and Mo in this game. If we have ANY interior presence on the offensive or defensive side of the floor in the first half, we're up a minimum of 15 at the break. In the second half, we had Elliott's tech (after a bad call), then Mo failing to box out the rebound leading to a 5 point possession for St John's. Later on, Elliott commits a horrible turnover and gets dunked on for a huge momentum shift. Mo, Elliott, and Joey all missed EASY, EASY! looks from inside 5 feet in the second half with at least two of those misses turning in to transition buckets for St John's and four point swings. Finally, Andre Hollins had some brutal turnover starting with the one to end the first half (that Nate Mason bailed him out on) and continued in the crucial moments of this game. Mathieu just didn't impact that game like he normally does, we need all 4 of these guys to play infinitely better than they did tonight.

Just a brutal loss with the only bright spot being the continued poised, confident play of Nate Mason. If just one or two of his SENIOR teammates followed his lead, we would have had a victory tonight.

 

[mcal24]

Ugh. If you don't think Mason should've played down the stretch, than you clearly don't know basketball. The problems for this team go beyond simply 1 bad half. Hollins is slow, not a leader, makes bad decisions, and Deandre also has some big issues to work out. Now that Mason keeps on proving himself, isn't it time to start him and make our two other guards prove they deserve to start and play in crunch time?

I'm not saying Mason shouldn't have been in, but I know that Richard Pitino has seen these guys a lot more than you and I so choose to trust his decisions. Still not too worried about Hollins either. Maybe I will if he's still struggling in January.

 

[GameDay]

I'm not saying Mason shouldn't have been in, but I know that Richard Pitino has seen these guys a lot more than you and I so choose to trust his decisions. Still not too worried about Hollins either. Maybe I will if he's still struggling in January.

Andre is who he is. He'd benefit a ton playing off guard (full-time) with Nate Mason handling the ball and drawing the attention off of him too. He's not a creator or ball-handler, but instead, spot up/1 dribble pull-up shooting and fastbreaks are his game. That's what he needs to be doing going forward.

 

[bigticket1]

Wow, I haven't been this upset after a loss since the lifeless performance against Illinois at the Barn last year. All of the Seniors really, really let this team down in a game that absolutely should have been a win. I can't say enough bad things about Elliott and Mo in this game. If we have ANY interior presence on the offensive or defensive side of the floor in the first half, we're up a minimum of 15 at the break. In the second half, we had Elliott's tech (after a bad call), then Mo failing to box out the rebound leading to a 5 point possession for St John's. Later on, Elliott commits a horrible turnover and gets dunked on for a huge momentum shift. Mo, Elliott, and Joey all missed EASY, EASY! looks from inside 5 feet in the second half with at least two of those misses turning in to transition buckets for St John's and four point swings. Finally, Andre Hollins had some brutal turnover starting with the one to end the first half (that Nate Mason bailed him out on) and continued in the crucial moments of this game. Mathieu just didn't impact that game like he normally does, we need all 4 of these guys to play infinitely better than they did tonight.

Just a brutal loss with the only bright spot being the continued poised, confident play of Nate Mason. If just one or two of his SENIOR teammates followed his lead, we would have had a victory tonight.

I don't think I have ever seen a pair of Gopher post players combine to play more rumblin , stumblin and bumblin basketball than I saw tonight. Elliot , well he was just Elliot , and Mo looked he had cement in his sneakers.

 

[GibsonSG]

Ugly, ugly, ugly. Maybe I have a short term or selective memory but the second half was the worst half of basketball I have seen in the Pitino era. Felt like we should have been hearing circus music with clown and slapstick sound effects when the gophers were on offense. Dribbling, passing....yuck. Very disappointing to see when you have two starting senior guards. Hope this game isn't indicative of the season or there are going to be very few wins away from home this year.

 

[Roland Brooks]

Don't forget about the bear on the unicycle. It was comical. Dribbling off their own feet, outlets to the wrong team, and passes to spots on the court where no one was there. Done mostly by the Seniors....

 

[cjbfbp]

Wow, I haven't been this upset after a loss since the lifeless performance against Illinois at the Barn last year. All of the Seniors really, really let this team down in a game that absolutely should have been a win. I can't say enough bad things about Elliott and Mo in this game. If we have ANY interior presence on the offensive or defensive side of the floor in the first half, we're up a minimum of 15 at the break. In the second half, we had Elliott's tech (after a bad call), then Mo failing to box out the rebound leading to a 5 point possession for St John's. Later on, Elliott commits a horrible turnover and gets dunked on for a huge momentum shift. Mo, Elliott, and Joey all missed EASY, EASY! looks from inside 5 feet in the second half with at least two of those misses turning in to transition buckets for St John's and four point swings. Finally, Andre Hollins had some brutal turnover starting with the one to end the first half (that Nate Mason bailed him out on) and continued in the crucial moments of this game. Mathieu just didn't impact that game like he normally does, we need all 4 of these guys to play infinitely better than they did tonight.

Just a brutal loss with the only bright spot being the continued poised, confident play of Nate Mason. If just one or two of his SENIOR teammates followed his lead, we would have had a victory tonight.

Yep, that pretty much says it all.

 

[howeda7]

Wow, I haven't been this upset after a loss since the lifeless performance against Illinois at the Barn last year. All of the Seniors really, really let this team down in a game that absolutely should have been a win. I can't say enough bad things about Elliott and Mo in this game. If we have ANY interior presence on the offensive or defensive side of the floor in the first half, we're up a minimum of 15 at the break. In the second half, we had Elliott's tech (after a bad call), then Mo failing to box out the rebound leading to a 5 point possession for St John's. Later on, Elliott commits a horrible turnover and gets dunked on for a huge momentum shift. Mo, Elliott, and Joey all missed EASY, EASY! looks from inside 5 feet in the second half with at least two of those misses turning in to transition buckets for St John's and four point swings. Finally, Andre Hollins had some brutal turnover starting with the one to end the first half (that Nate Mason bailed him out on) and continued in the crucial moments of this game. Mathieu just didn't impact that game like he normally does, we need all 4 of these guys to play infinitely better than they did tonight.

Just a brutal loss with the only bright spot being the continued poised, confident play of Nate Mason. If just one or two of his SENIOR teammates followed his lead, we would have had a victory tonight.

+1

 

[Winasota Gopher]

Wow, I haven't been this upset after a loss since the lifeless performance against Illinois at the Barn last year. All of the Seniors really, really let this team down in a game that absolutely should have been a win. I can't say enough bad things about Elliott and Mo in this game. If we have ANY interior presence on the offensive or defensive side of the floor in the first half, we're up a minimum of 15 at the break. In the second half, we had Elliott's tech (after a bad call), then Mo failing to box out the rebound leading to a 5 point possession for St John's. Later on, Elliott commits a horrible turnover and gets dunked on for a huge momentum shift. Mo, Elliott, and Joey all missed EASY, EASY! looks from inside 5 feet in the second half with at least two of those misses turning in to transition buckets for St John's and four point swings. Finally, Andre Hollins had some brutal turnover starting with the one to end the first half (that Nate Mason bailed him out on) and continued in the crucial moments of this game. Mathieu just didn't impact that game like he normally does, we need all 4 of these guys to play infinitely better than they did tonight.

Just a brutal loss with the only bright spot being the continued poised, confident play of Nate Mason. If just one or two of his SENIOR teammates followed his lead, we would have had a victory tonight.

Very objective criticism. Better post than everyone else's combined

 

[GophersInIowa]

Had something going on earlier tonight so just watched the recording of the game. That was one of the worst sequences of basketball I have ever seen. I've seen more hustle and execution at church league games. I can't believe how little the seniors did. So frustrating and disappointing.

Oh, and Dan Dakich can kiss my @ss.

 

[XMan]

Just so hard to see all the seniors lay an egg all on the same night. This team has four significant Seniors, two floor leading guards. They should all be ashamed a
Of how they played.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

I'll say it again. It's ONE bad half people! It's a long season

It'd be fine if it was only a bad half, but really haven't looked that good aside from our thumping of a division 2 team.

 

[rrjackIII]

The first half of the St Johns game looked good to me.

Don't ask me about the 2nd half.

 

[Bad Gopher]

I agree with this an with bad gopher's assessment of our center situation.

I have been thinking that Pitino should just play Mathieu regardless of multiple fouls in the first half, because when he sits him early, he never gets his game going again anyway. If that is how he's going to play coming back in the second half, might as well keep him in and risk him fouling out.

I'm with you. If Deandre is going to habitually rack up two quick fouls in every frickin' game, then he'd better get used to playing major minutes with two fouls. And if that entails him fouling out, than so be it. People can say what they want about Dan Dakich - and he annoys me, too - but I appreciate his candor. He basically said the Gophers were better with Nate Mason in there, and he was right.

 

[GophersInIowa]

I'm with you. If Deandre is going to habitually rack up two quick fouls in every frickin' game, then he'd better get used to playing major minutes with two fouls. And if that entails him fouling out, than so be it. People can say what they want about Dan Dakich - and he annoys me, too - but I appreciate his candor. He basically said the Gophers were better with Nate Mason in there, and he was right.

He was right about that, but that's where my compliment stops. Obekpa could do no wrong according to him, including the time he hit Walker in the face instead of the ball, no foul was called, and Dakich just said it was good defense. We deserved to be ripped for the 2nd half, but he was in love with St. John's for the full 40 minutes. If you didn't see the score, people watching would have thought MN was losing by 15, not up 7-10 like they were most of the 1st half.

It's not hidden that he hates Minnesota.

 

[Bad Gopher]

He was right about that, but that's where my compliment stops. Obekpa could do no wrong according to him, including the time he hit Walker in the face instead of the ball, no foul was called, and Dakich just said it was good defense. We deserved to be ripped for the 2nd half, but he was in love with St. John's for the full 40 minutes. If you didn't see the score, people watching would have thought MN was losing by 15, not up 7-10 like they were most of the 1st half.

It's not hidden that he hates Minnesota.

Yes, very true. I was saying all those things to my wife during the broadcast. Am I the only one who thought it was curious that they only interviewed the coach of the trailing team at halftime? I don't think I've ever seen that before. It's almost as if that were some sort of official showcase for St. John's basketball, and the Gophers were in effect the Washington Generals. It was strange and borderline creepy.

 

[mplarson7]

Yes, very true. I was saying all those things to my wife during the broadcast. Am I the only one who thought it was curious that they only interviewed the coach of the trailing team at halftime? I don't think I've ever seen that before. It's almost as if that were some sort of official showcase for St. John's basketball, and the Gophers were in effect the Washington Generals. It was strange and borderline creepy.

They did interview Pitino before tip-off though. Or at least showed one.

 

[scher215]

He was right about that, but that's where my compliment stops. Obekpa could do no wrong according to him, including the time he hit Walker in the face instead of the ball, no foul was called, and Dakich just said it was good defense. We deserved to be ripped for the 2nd half, but he was in love with St. John's for the full 40 minutes. If you didn't see the score, people watching would have thought MN was losing by 15, not up 7-10 like they were most of the 1st half. It's not hidden that he hates Minnesota.

He still dreams about Blake Hoffarber

 

[ruppertflywheel]

We need to wait for the kids coming in next year. Some of you really ragged on Austin Hollins. We really miss his length on both sides of the ball. This team will do good at 8-10. This will get most of their wins towards the end of the season as kids like Morris , Konate, etc. improve.