***OFFICIAL MICHIGAN ST AT MINNESOTA, WILLIE JERSEY RETIREMENT DAY IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

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bga1 said:
Never watched it. Nope.
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You should start watching. This gopher program is stagnant and boring.

Although today doesn't really count due to having an off shooting day!
 
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bga1 said:
There were few empty seats from my vantage point. I'm not sure what you are referring to.
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There were actual multiple empty rows upstairs , half a corner, still tickets on sale ,low scalper prices for good seats. I got there late and the guy next to me bought great seats in 106 for 15 each ! there were over a 1000 empty seats for the biggest game so far.
 


howeda7 said:
Jones and Ihnen need to play more. Willis and Gabe less {unless they're having a hot night}
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You keep mentioning that williams and ihnen should play more and willis and kalscheur should play less. What have you seen from williams and ihnen that convinces you that they're better players than willis and kalscheur? Is it simply that you want to see a change, and anything different is better than what we have now? Tre is currently the worst shooter (by percentage) on the team, and Ihnen has a total of 18 points on the year, with 7 of those coming in 1 game against FIU. I have a hard time believing that either of those players have shown enough this year to honestly think they're better than kalscheur or willis. If it's really about just getting some change in the lineup to try something new, I get that a little bit, but it's really hard to justify drastic changes to the lineup in the middle of conference season just to try something new, especially when the guys that are playing right now have shown that they can win games, and the margin for error is so small.
 

skyman31 said:
You keep mentioning that williams and ihnen should play more and willis and kalscheur should play less. What have you seen from williams and ihnen that convinces you that they're better players than willis and kalscheur? Is it simply that you want to see a change, and anything different is better than what we have now? Tre is currently the worst shooter (by percentage) on the team, and Ihnen has a total of 18 points on the year, with 7 of those coming in 1 game against FIU. I have a hard time believing that either of those players have shown enough this year to honestly think they're better than kalscheur or willis. If it's really about just getting some change in the lineup to try something new, I get that a little bit, but it's really hard to justify drastic changes to the lineup in the middle of conference season just to try something new, especially when the guys that are playing right now have shown that they can win games, and the margin for error is so small.
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Mostly Williams needs to play more. I like his length on defense over either Willis or Gabe. He has a ways to go offensively, but he has more ability to drive then either of them. If they are not hitting 3's they are both pretty useless on offense. Personally, I would start Tre over Willis at this point. And play whoever of the 3 of them have the hot hand as the game goes along. Willis had 0 points on 0-6 from 3 today.
 



MennoSota said:
Listened to the game while driving today. As I drove I came to this thought.
Michigan State is to Gopher basketball what the Yankees are to the Twins. Whatever kryptonite Izzo has, I sure wish we could overcome it.
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Today, it was his sport coat. Houndstooth Spartan Green. Fantastic!
 

The good news is that the nice win at Ohio State allowed the Gophers to not need to win today. If the Gophers simply win their home games and win at Northwestern they should be in good shape for the tournament with chances at Wisconsin and at Penn State to increase their margin for error and/or improve their seeding. This was the toughest or 2nd toughest game left on the schedule.

The bad news was that this was an absolutely unacceptable performance at home. This game was on Fox, at home, on the first Sunday without NFL football, in front of one of the largest crowds of the season and the Gophers were non-competitive. This was a chance to win back fans in your own home state and show off your program on a national stage and the product that was put on the floor was horrendous. If you are going to talk about how tough it is to win on the road in the B1G, then you absolutely cannot have your team come out and play like this at home. You really need to win these games if you want to establish yourself as the face of a program and establish your building as a tough place to get a win. Last year there were at least two atrocious home performances against Wisconsin and Michigan and that just can't happen year after year after year. Going back to this year, out of the 10 conference games so far 4 have been really poor efforts where the Gophers were never really in the game.

6-4 or better is certainly attainable down the stretch and it should be the minimum expectation to continue with the status quo. If the Gophers can find a way to win at Illinois that would be a fantastic way to start the second half of the B1G schedule and possibly propel them to a top 4 finish in conference play.
 

EG#9 said:
The good news is that the nice win at Ohio State allowed the Gophers to not need to win today. If the Gophers simply win their home games and win at Northwestern they should be in good shape for the tournament with chances at Wisconsin and at Penn State to increase their margin for error and/or improve their seeding. This was the toughest or 2nd toughest game left on the schedule.

The bad news was that this was an absolutely unacceptable performance at home. This game was on Fox, at home, on the first Sunday without NFL football, in front of one of the largest crowds of the season and the Gophers were non-competitive. This was a chance to win back fans in your own home state and show off your program on a national stage and the product that was put on the floor was horrendous. If you are going to talk about how tough it is to win on the road in the B1G, then you absolutely cannot have your team come out and play like this at home. You really need to win these games if you want to establish yourself as the face of a program and establish your building as a tough place to get a win. Last year there were at least two atrocious home performances against Wisconsin and Michigan and that just can't happen year after year after year. Going back to this year, out of the 10 conference games so far 4 have been really poor efforts where the Gophers were never really in the game.

6-4 or better is certainly attainable down the stretch and it should be the minimum expectation to continue with the status quo. If the Gophers can find a way to win at Illinois that would be a fantastic way to start the second half of the B1G schedule and possibly propel them to a top 4 finish in conference play.
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Totally agree. The one note I would make was that this did not seem like a performance that was related to poor effort at all. They just could not make shots. Concentration? Confidence? I don't know, but they got off shots that were good open shots and still started 1-14 from three point range. MSU was packing it in the paint and daring us to shoot and we didn't just settle for the shots without at least giving Oturu touches, these were shots we worked it around for but could not make.

They are going to have to have nights where they steal games because of some great shooting to make up for losses like that. They are capable.
 



GopherGangsta said:
Other than Oturu(who will not be back next year) and Carr, there is very little talent on this team....Willis and Gabe are streaky shooters and Omersa should not be playing on a competitive power 5 team....The freshman could be ok....Not enough to fight for a B10 championship however.
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These are my favorite posts. The ones that have already thrown in the towel for next year.

Do you ever allow for the possibility that some of these guys may improve over time? Or have they reached their ceiling already? Did you see Oturu going from a solid player to a potential conference MVP this year? Did you view Carr as one of the better point guards in the conference this year? Mitchell and Mashburn are probably not worthy of scholarships either. How about the two roster spots (assuming Oturu leaves) that are open right now? Probably two Gaston Diedhiou types, right?

Maybe we should just make a call to St. Thomas and ask if we can just swap places with them with how little talent we have on this team.
 






Goldteam said:
How many years has bucky made it? 9 out of 10? Ok we should make it 9 out of 10 then.

And when making it, wouldn't you rather beat an MTSU and actually compete in your 2nd game.

We won a game so all is good is funny to me.

This program is stagnant, mediocre, and needs a change.
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Bucky is on that short list because they had a Hall of Fame coach for most of that time. They got very lucky with that hire but you can't count on those kinds of hires. I doubt their current coach will be able to replicate Ryan's success.

I agree with you on everything else. I soured on Pitino a long time ago and I don't think he will ever elevate this program above the level it is now. I would be happy if his tenure is terminated at the end of this season. However, he may do just well enough this season to earn an 8th year. I realize that the expectations bar appears to have been lowered with him but there's nothing you or I can do about that.
 

Pitino's record for years 1-3 in the Big Ten 16-38 .296 winning percentage. Zero NCAAs
Record for years 3- present 29-37 .440 winning percentage 2 NCAAs and a chance for #3
That includes 4-14 two years ago which we all know was awful luck and little he could do about.
While none of this is anywhere near where we want to be - the trend is UP.
Let's imagine that we had just gone 11-7 which would have been a minimum for that squad. He would be 36-30 the last three years. No coach - post Musselman- has been above .500 here for his career in the BT.

Just to add perspective- Clem Haskins, a legend here if not for the scandal, and a guy I still love as a great coach here- won at a 47% clip here in the Big Ten and that is when one allows all the erased years to be figured back in.

Let's play the year out and be positive about the program today.
 
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bga1 said:
Totally agree. The one note I would make was that this did not seem like a performance that was related to poor effort at all. They just could not make shots. Concentration? Confidence? I don't know, but they got off shots that were good open shots and still started 1-14 from three point range. MSU was packing it in the paint and daring us to shoot and we didn't just settle for the shots without at least giving Oturu touches, these were shots we worked it around for but could not make.

They are going to have to have nights where they steal games because of some great shooting to make up for losses like that. They are capable.
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I counted four times that the gophers were beat getting back on defense because they were celebrating a made basket.
 


BarnBurner said:
40 something and 70 something. Or is it 80 something yet, badger?
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Opinions are not subject to research but facts are available. You can look it up yourself. They keep track of wins and losses, tourney wins, conference records, home- away records, Records against ranked teams and so forth. Fantastic info for one of the measuring tools of how long it took others to build and win.
 

Read the same "sky is falling" posts or worse after losses last season. Those posts certainly did not age well. Enjoy the season, cheer for the team to win, and make grand judgments after the season.
 

jamiche said:
I counted four times that the gophers were beat getting back on defense because they were celebrating a made basket.
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That's not lack of effort, that's immaturity. Something that is easily fixed. MSU's elders showed and taught them a lesson.
 

Also realize our board is not unique. After Badger losses, there are posters calling for Gard's job. After we beat OSU, there were posts calling for Holtmann's job.
 

Other than crummy shooting in first half - I thought we had a run coming when Osmerso had 2 free throws to cut to 6 - Clang clang and MSU gets a 3 and a 11 ponit edge - Game over...
 

ltf said:
Also realize our board is not unique. After Badger losses, there are posters calling for Gard's job. After we beat OSU, there were posts calling for Holtmann's job.
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completely true.
 

builtbadgers said:
Opinions are not subject to research but facts are available. You can look it up yourself. They keep track of wins and losses, tourney wins, conference records, home- away records, Records against ranked teams and so forth. Fantastic info for one of the measuring tools of how long it took others to build and win.
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No need to look anything up when we have you here, badger. You repeatedly tell us.
 

WriterGoph said:
We're fine. No way we can shoot as bad as we did in the first half. Play solid D and get aggressive on offense. I expect another strong second half, which has been our MO at home.
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Well, I guess we disproved that theory. 5 for 27 from behind the arc isn't going to get it done.
 

howeda7 said:
Mostly Williams needs to play more. I like his length on defense over either Willis or Gabe. He has a ways to go offensively, but he has more ability to drive then either of them. If they are not hitting 3's they are both pretty useless on offense. Personally, I would start Tre over Willis at this point. And play whoever of the 3 of them have the hot hand as the game goes along. Willis had 0 points on 0-6 from 3 today.
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I mostly agree with this. However, Gabe is still the best defender on this team. Willis seems a half step slow to react.
 


It should be obvious why they don't have any depth, they have one player from 2016 recruiting class suiting up that rarely see's the court, they have zero from the 2017 class. Not a formula for developing a winner, can't exactly reload like Duke/Kentucky does. Is it changing, who knows.
 

When you have depth providing fresh legs. We can play a ball hawking defense and and quick motion offense that could give us and chance to compete against a MSU. But it is painfully obvious that the Gophers lack of depth only allows us to compete when we can pace ourselves.
 

jovs said:
It should be obvious why they don't have any depth, they have one player from 2016 recruiting class suiting up that rarely see's the court, they have zero from the 2017 class. Not a formula for developing a winner, can't exactly reload like Duke/Kentucky does. Is it changing, who knows.
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That is a good point
 

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