***OFFICIAL ILLINOIS AT MINNESOTA IN-GAME THREAD!!!!***

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GFBfan said:
Great interview on BTN with Pitino right now. Talked about the NET and how it changes how they coach the end of a game.
Wasn't sure how much emphasis that scoring efficiency and scoring margin had on the rating and what impact that would have on a tournament team. Said it affected sub patterns at end of game.
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I was watching the Georgetown-St. Johns game this weekend and someone on Gtown dunked with one second left. The Garden crowd got riled up but his dunk put the margin of victory at 11 so he should be rewarded.
 

By the way for those that went to the game, the BTN game crew was VERY impressed by your dedication. I wish I remembered the name of the color guy off hand, but he always has had really nice things to say about the Barn and its fans (I want to say it was Stephen Bardo, but I remember the voice and not the name). In the post game presser, Pitino says he expected somewhere around 3K in the Barn and it was 9,600 and said that wouldn't happen anywhere else in America (also made a joke about the weather possibly not happening anywhere else in America which I am not sure is great strategy on the recruiting front...not to mention it was brutal everywhere in the Midwest).
 

EG#9 said:
By the way for those that went to the game, the BTN game crew was VERY impressed by your dedication. I wish I remembered the name of the color guy off hand, but he always has had really nice things to say about the Barn and its fans (I want to say it was Stephen Bardo, but I remember the voice and not the name). In the post game presser, Pitino says he expected somewhere around 3K in the Barn and it was 9,600 and said that wouldn't happen anywhere else in America (also made a joke about the weather possibly not happening anywhere else in America which I am not sure is great strategy on the recruiting front...not to mention it was brutal everywhere in the Midwest).
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It was Bardo. I can't stand his commentary, but I did like that he was complimentary of those who made it out.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
I'd like to see the Gophers try a back cut against the Illinois pressure. Ideally come out and play a 1-4 high. Hard to double the bigs and if the wings help either open 3s or back cut for a possible layup. Seems like if they want to over play, we should exploit that.

One advantage is that the film will show Illinois very little because of how dominant they were.
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So many back cuts. So many good looks!
 

I pulled into the ramp across the street at 4:55. Walked to Buffalo Wild Wings. Had a couple beers and some crappy wings. Walked to The Pav for the pregame talk. Into the game after that. Walked across the street after. Home by 10:30. Wasn’t nearly as cold as I anticipated. Enjoyable night and good crowd. Game helped obviously!
 


In addition to having been a very good bb player in the late 1980s, Bardo is a U of I grad who's intelligent and fair-minded; he shows none of the bad sides of tonight's Illinois team. I'm a native of Illinois and now live in Minnesota. Watching the Illinois players' disgusting roughhouse tactics and repeated flagrant fouls (only one of which was called by the refs) reminded me why I left that state and moved to Minnesota. In addition, I found it interesting the IL coach didn't show up for the post-game press conference (unless the weather was a factor, he could easily have made it).
 

EG#9 said:
By the way for those that went to the game, the BTN game crew was VERY impressed by your dedication. I wish I remembered the name of the color guy off hand, but he always has had really nice things to say about the Barn and its fans (I want to say it was Stephen Bardo, but I remember the voice and not the name). In the post game presser, Pitino says he expected somewhere around 3K in the Barn and it was 9,600 and said that wouldn't happen anywhere else in America (also made a joke about the weather possibly not happening anywhere else in America which I am not sure is great strategy on the recruiting front...not to mention it was brutal everywhere in the Midwest).
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When I entered the arena, I was immediately approached by a cameraman and a suited guy with a microphone. He wanted a quick interview and then asked me questions for about a minute, mostly about the weather. I'm curious as to who that was. Maybe BTN? Maybe the unversity?

Anyways when I finally got to my seat, I looked around and was absolutely shocked at how many people were there. That reporter specifically asked me how many people I thought would show up, and I guessed 5k.
 

Here is a weird observation.

Illinois scores with about 36 seconds left in the first half. The clock continued running. Hurt grabbed the ball and inbounded it as quickly as possible, with about 35 seconds left. Instead of taking his time and inbounding with about 30 (don’t grab it instantly, take a few seconds while standing out of bounds) and Frazier doesn’t get that 3 before the half. Watch the film. Hurt does nothing well
 

localhuman said:
Could not have said it better
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The more I heard the old Flying Illini commentator and Cory talk about he NET ranking, as Illnois kept scoring garbage time buckets after we were up 81-64 the more pissed off I became.

If this is really the system I hate it.

And for the record the Flying Illini was my favorite non gopher team other than maybe the 1986-87 Raveling led Iowa team.
 



Hrothgar said:
In addition to having been a very good bb player in the late 1980s, Bardo is a U of I grad who's intelligent and fair-minded; he shows none of the bad sides of tonight's Illinois team. I'm a native of Illinois and now live in Minnesota. Watching the Illinois players' disgusting roughhouse tactics and repeated flagrant fouls (only one of which was called by the refs) reminded me why I left that state and moved to Minnesota. In addition, I found it interesting the IL coach didn't show up for the post-game press conference (unless the weather was a factor, he could easily have made it).
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Yet Bardo didn't seem to have much problem with Illinois's play. I don't think the dead ball "blocked shot" that got Oturu hit in the face should necessarily should have been called a flagrant or technical foul(though I have definitely seen it called that way), but Bardo's comment was "welcome to the Big10." As cliched and stupid as Matt Millen could have ever delivered.
 
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UpAndUnder43 said:
I pulled into the ramp across the street at 4:55. Walked to Buffalo Wild Wings. Had a couple beers and some crappy wings. Walked to The Pav for the pregame talk. Into the game after that. Walked across the street after. Home by 10:30. Wasn’t nearly as cold as I anticipated. Enjoyable night and good crowd. Game helped obviously!
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I was waiting for the call, in case you needed some help;)
 

More bad charge calls... Curry was gathering and rising well before that Illini defender jumped in front of him and fell down. Charging means running over a stationary defender. I refuse to accept the calls made today, back in the Jordan era those were all blocks.

I slowed down the Curry charge on the DVR and the defender was feet away when Curry physically committed to rising to the basket. Back when I played in the stone ages of the late 80s, early 90s, the officials would never let you jump under a player at the last minute and get a "charge".

Now "legal guarding position" means something different than it did up to 15 years ago, if you are beat jump in front of the driver who beat you and fall down...... charge


I blame DOOK and Bo Ryan

Dook still at it:
https://twitter.com/BarstoolPack/status/955618475539599360

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdyto5rf0HU
 
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WoodburyTim said:
I was waiting for the call, in case you needed some help;)
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Hahahahaha. It really wasn’t bad. Was parked close enough I could start my car with the remote from inside the barn. Let it warm for about 4 minute before we walked out. Heated seats helped too!
 



Robbie Hummel must hate Minnesota. Tore both his ACLs here I think.

Said tonight “if Minnesota wants to be and NCAA tournament team they need some wins against top conference teams. Beating someone like wisconsin would be a huge help”. Didnt we win in Madison? F Hummel.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Hahahahaha. It really wasn’t bad. Was parked close enough I could start my car with the remote from inside the barn. Let it warm for about 4 minute before we walked out. Heated seats helped too!
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That's some good range on the car starter.

Wins always warm the air after a winter game.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Robbie Hummel must hate Minnesota. Tore both his ACLs here I think.

Said tonight “if Minnesota wants to be and NCAA tournament team they need some wins against top conference teams. Beating someone like wisconsin would be a huge help”. Didnt we win in Madison? F Hummel.
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I can't stand hummel
 

Is Hummel still eligible like Aaron Craft?
 

Some stats to like: Rebound 35-30
20-26 at the stripe.
50% from 2.
9 turnovers.

Some that still need work:
Steals 2
Blocks 2
3pt 6-19. 32%.
 

The weather was not a problem whatsoever. In fact, can we do this more often? It was truly a festive atmosphere at the game and a sense of accomplishment of being there. It was a breeze getting there with how light the traffic was, and as it turned out, they didn't charge for parking at the ramp: no attendant on duty, and the gates were up at the exits.

This game was about the Gopher defense and rebounding: how poor they were in the first half and how good they were in the second half. Putting Coffey on Frazier turned the game in my estimation, and Isaiah's defense was very good. His effort and footwork were exemplary; he got in people's way out there.
 

Illinois killed us with the 2 freshman (center & guard) in the first game. Didn't really go to them this time (or we took it away). I kept waiting for them to pound the rock like last game.
 

Solid win for the Gophers. Both teams played hard, and Illinois remains a better team than their record shows. I loved seeing more screens and back cuts against the Illinois defense, it opened up everything for the Gophers in the second half.

We ended up winning the rebounding battle after giving up some offensive boards early. Though I will chalk most of those up to being long rebounds after missed 3s. Defense was lock down in the second half. Anyone not named Trent Frazier shot 16-of-44, including 2-of-15 from 3. They were giving different looks at Ayo Dosunmo on defense. He went off on us 2 weeks ago for 23 on 9-of-13 shooting. Last night, he couldn't get where he wanted in the lane and only had 6 points on 3-of-9 shooting. Great team defense.

Great to see the Gophers share the ball again, five guys in double figures. Great to see IW playing more confident and more aggressive. He opens up the entire floor being able to beat his defender off the dribble and with a simple jab step, creates lay-ups for everybody else when the defense collapses. Adds another weapon when he can hit a jumper or 2 like he did last night.

It's absolutely ridiculous that Pitino felt forced to keep his starters in the final 2 minutes up double digits to maintain the NET ranking for potential seeding purposes down the road. It's just ludicrous, and he said post game that's why they were still in. And he's not the only one doing so. I wonder if the day will come where somebody gets hurt when they otherwise would've been on the bench because they need window-dressing on a win for the NET ranking.

3 of the next 4 on the road, starting with Purdue Sunday. Then after hosting Wisconsin you go to Sparty without Langford and Nebraska without Isaac Copeland, huge losses for both teams. Though MSU has been without Langford for the last 8 games. I'd love to go 2-2 in that stretch, 3-1 would be fantastic.

And what the hell has happened to Indiana? Rutgers ran them out of the gym in the second half last night. Saw some tweets referencing buying out Archie Miller, woof.
 

SIAP but it was about 16 minutes to go in the second half, Illinois was up 5 (exact score escaping my mind) but we had a series of

IW 3
Curry off. rebound out to Gabe for 3 to take the lead
Murph dunk
Another Gabe 3

And that was game
 


UpAndUnder43 said:
Here is a weird observation.

Illinois scores with about 36 seconds left in the first half. The clock continued running. Hurt grabbed the ball and inbounded it as quickly as possible, with about 35 seconds left. Instead of taking his time and inbounding with about 30 (don’t grab it instantly, take a few seconds while standing out of bounds) and Frazier doesn’t get that 3 before the half. Watch the film. Hurt does nothing well
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Bumping this to reinforce the idea that Hurt does nothing well.
 

Otis said:
Is Hummel still eligible like Aaron Craft?
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I like Robbie. Really nice guy. Generally honest, accurate and appropriately understated in color commentary. I think he may be working a little too much which hurts his studio analysis. He blew it on the “signature win” comment last night but his host rescued him like he should.

He’s practically one of us. Ron Johnson was his great uncle.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Bumping this to reinforce the idea that Hurt does nothing well.
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Hurt is not a good enough athlete, not quick and not a good enough shooter for this level. However, he does understand where to be on the court, makes cuts to the basket as well or better than anyone on the team and plays decent defense.
 


Bad Gopher said:
The weather was not a problem whatsoever. In fact, can we do this more often? It was truly a festive atmosphere at the game and a sense of accomplishment of being there. It was a breeze getting there with how light the traffic was, and as it turned out, they didn't charge for parking at the ramp: no attendant on duty, and the gates were up at the exits.

This game was about the Gopher defense and rebounding: how poor they were in the first half and how good they were in the second half. Putting Coffey on Frazier turned the game in my estimation, and Isaiah's defense was very good. His effort and footwork were exemplary; he got in people's way out there.
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Fans deserve a game ball. Great crowd. Great enthusiasm. Under duress. Quincy Lewis talked before the game about taking back the Barn. Maybe this is a turning point. I do think the crowd had a lot to do with the win last night.
 

goldenboy said:
Illinois killed us with the 2 freshman (center & guard) in the first game. Didn't really go to them this time (or we took it away). I kept waiting for them to pound the rock like last game.
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The Gophers didn't allow the center to set up as deep in the post as he did in the last game. And when he tried to bull his way in, they stood their ground.
 


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