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



The best thing about a game like this where we were down big and then mount a huge comeback to make it a tight finish is that we very clearly get to see the true colors of @Goldteam and @GopherGangsta. They didn't know whether they could talk shit or not. Go back in your hovels, Frodo and Bilbo.

We were never expected to win this game. Penn State is legit. We battled in the second half. Let's make that momentum carry to win the next 3 in a row and all is still in front of us.
How dare you besmirch the good names of Bilbo and Frodo with these fair weather fans?
 





The best thing about a game like this where we were down big and then mount a huge comeback to make it a tight finish is that we very clearly get to see the true colors of @Goldteam and @GopherGangsta. They didn't know whether they could talk shit or not. Go back in your hovels, Frodo and Bilbo.

We were never expected to win this game. Penn State is legit. We battled in the second half. Let's make that momentum carry to win the next 3 in a row and all is still in front of us.
.... and tool12.. I mean stool12
 


They could start by supporting the team consistently. Bad and non-supportive fans are surely a deterrent for recruits.
Yep- recruits come and see a full arena whether the team is good or bad and they get sold that they will always be supported and want to be part of it. Obviously it's just one piece, but it is a part of it. If there is minimal support in a town like this, the hometown kids are more likely to grow up as part of that culture and want to stay.
 



The trolls will come out as usual, but I'm not sure how you can say a team that clawed back like that on the road is poorly coached.
I guess to counter, what was that first half then? If you want to credit pitino and the team for the 2nd half (as we should that was awesome), then its also fair to put some blame on them for that first half.

As great as the fight was in this game and in the Utah game, facts are they are still losses, I'd pick winning ugly over losing with a good fight. And spoiler alert, so would the NCAA selection committee.
 

It was a lot of fun watching the individual efforts of Daniel Oturu (basically all game) and Marcus Carr (mostly just the 2nd half). Those guys deserved a better result and they certainly deserve a better whistle than they got from the refs today.

I don't understand how we just saw the best team performance on a full 40 minute basis on Wednesday and then turned around and looked so inept for the first 26ish minutes of this game. The first few minutes of the second half were some of the worst minutes of basketball of the season. I thought the defensive effort in the first half was mostly strong, but it went the way of the offense to start the second half. I am not sure the offense looked any better to start the comeback as it was mostly tough shot making from Carr on individual plays that cut the 20 point lead to 11. After that point, things starting looking better.

Going with the strange decisions, I certainly could have done without Michael Hurt bizarrely getting the minutes off the bench in the first half. Why would you put him in instead of Ihnen, Williams, or Omersa? What changed between Wednesday and Saturday? We also saw Greenlee come in and give up a 3 in like the 30 seconds Pitino tried to rest Carr.

It would be huge if Demir would step in and take a charge on a drive or two. Too often, he's the last line of defense and offers no deterrence at the rim. There were a couple of opportunities late where he could have stepped in front of someone and made a huge play.

Really pleased with the fight to try to come back in a game that looked way out of reach, but discouraged with what put the Gophers in that position to begin with.
 

Young players from all over the country grow up with a ton of travel, exposure with programs from all over. In my travels to other states, kids often are not bound by borders. They see national tv games, they travel to events and meet and connect with others from all over, they talk to coaches, they follow brands, winning and prestige. This all changed dramatically with the national tv branding by ESPN , historical success. grassroots explosion and on and on. I can tell you when you take your kids or grandkids to other places they see whats out there. Just like you take them to Beaver Creek skiing, Alaska fishing, Pebble Beach golfing. They will rarely pick Lutsen, Mille lacs, the classic when given the choice. These kids gifts give them exposure and choice. We can win by focusing on kids that fit, kids that stay and kids that play great defense, take good shots and take care of the ball.
 

I guess to counter, what was that first half then? If you want to credit pitino and the team for the 2nd half (as we should that was awesome), then its also fair to put some blame on them for that first half.

As great as the fight was in this game and in the Utah game, facts are they are still losses, I'd pick winning ugly over losing with a good fight. And spoiler alert, so would the NCAA selection committee.

Fair question. But to me the first half yet another example of our shooting driving the results. We made 0 three pointers and Oturu missed FIVE shots at the rim. In my view, nearly every terrible stretch can mostly be chalked up to our shooting. Unfortunately, it's very inconsistent. I don't think the coaching changed during the game. I think the effort is usually pretty consistent, and they get similar looks (lots of good ones) in most games. But they have ungodly stretches where they can't make anything.

Doesn't mean they are perfect all the time. There were too many defensive lapses today, but I think that is true of most teams.
 



It was a lot of fun watching the individual efforts of Daniel Oturu (basically all game) and Marcus Carr (mostly just the 2nd half). Those guys deserved a better result and they certainly deserve a better whistle than they got from the refs today.

I don't understand how we just saw the best team performance on a full 40 minute basis on Wednesday and then turned around and looked so inept for the first 26ish minutes of this game. The first few minutes of the second half were some of the worst minutes of basketball of the season. I thought the defensive effort in the first half was mostly strong, but it went the way of the offense to start the second half. I am not sure the offense looked any better to start the comeback as it was mostly tough shot making from Carr on individual plays that cut the 20 point lead to 11. After that point, things starting looking better.

Going with the strange decisions, I certainly could have done without Michael Hurt bizarrely getting the minutes off the bench in the first half. Why would you put him in instead of Ihnen, Williams, or Omersa? What changed between Wednesday and Saturday? We also saw Greenlee come in and give up a 3 in like the 30 seconds Pitino tried to rest Carr.

It would be huge if Demir would step in and take a charge on a drive or two. Too often, he's the last line of defense and offers no deterrence at the rim. There were a couple of opportunities late where he could have stepped in front of someone and made a huge play.

Really pleased with the fight to try to come back in a game that looked way out of reach, but discouraged with what put the Gophers in that position to begin with.

This is a very reasonable take.
 

I wanted to see Oturu be a good sport and shake hands with Steven's. BTN cut to the IO. game. Anybody see it online ?
Yeah I wanted to see how that interaction went too. Seemed pretty quiet when it came to trash talking today.
 

I see seven straight winnable games to end this season. Most favorable stretch all year. I'm frustrated, but I'm going to let things play out. I see a lot of good here, and I feel they will continue to improve like they have since the beginning of the season.
 

It was a lot of fun watching the individual efforts of Daniel Oturu (basically all game) and Marcus Carr (mostly just the 2nd half). Those guys deserved a better result and they certainly deserve a better whistle than they got from the refs today.

I don't understand how we just saw the best team performance on a full 40 minute basis on Wednesday and then turned around and looked so inept for the first 26ish minutes of this game. The first few minutes of the second half were some of the worst minutes of basketball of the season. I thought the defensive effort in the first half was mostly strong, but it went the way of the offense to start the second half. I am not sure the offense looked any better to start the comeback as it was mostly tough shot making from Carr on individual plays that cut the 20 point lead to 11. After that point, things starting looking better.

Going with the strange decisions, I certainly could have done without Michael Hurt bizarrely getting the minutes off the bench in the first half. Why would you put him in instead of Ihnen, Williams, or Omersa? What changed between Wednesday and Saturday? We also saw Greenlee come in and give up a 3 in like the 30 seconds Pitino tried to rest Carr.

It would be huge if Demir would step in and take a charge on a drive or two. Too often, he's the last line of defense and offers no deterrence at the rim. There were a couple of opportunities late where he could have stepped in front of someone and made a huge play.

Really pleased with the fight to try to come back in a game that looked way out of reach, but discouraged with what put the Gophers in that position to begin with.
The Hurt minutes are the head scratcher of the day. He must have been showing up well in practice but the reality is, while he is smart and understands where to be, he simply doesn't have the physical ability to help us much in the Big Ten. If he shot better....maybe. Ihnen once again, made defensive plays when he was in there and he really makes us look more imposing on defense with his length. I think giving him 20 minutes a game would yield results. I could do with a little less Demir who they sag off of and on and is slow footed. Although I will say this with Demir- he did amaze me on the fast break catch and slam!
 

You know what would help that? A loyal, die hard fan base. Obviously we don't have enough of that. We have a lot of fair weather fans and quitters.
Gabe and Willis simply have to make shots. That is what caused the horrid first half.
 

I guess to counter, what was that first half then? If you want to credit pitino and the team for the 2nd half (as we should that was awesome), then its also fair to put some blame on them for that first half.

As great as the fight was in this game and in the Utah game, facts are they are still losses, I'd pick winning ugly over losing with a good fight. And spoiler alert, so would the NCAA selection committee.
They win when they hit outside shots and lose when they don't. That's true of most teams but with us...to the extreme. We have two great players and the rest, the other team dares to shoot. We had plenty of open shots in the first half and made zilch. The effort was there.
 

The Hurt minutes are the head scratcher of the day. He must have been showing up well in practice but the reality is, while he is smart and understands where to be, he simply doesn't have the physical ability to help us much in the Big Ten. If he shot better....maybe. Ihnen once again, made defensive plays when he was in there and he really makes us look more imposing on defense with his length. I think giving him 20 minutes a game would yield results. I could do with a little less Demir who they sag off of and on and is slow footed. Although I will say this with Demir- he did amaze me on the fast break catch and slam!

The two questions I would have for Pitino are these:

1. Why did Hurt play today? It was bizarre. Either he gets minutes or not. Why today?

2. Are you thinking of replacing Demir with Ihnen more often? Demir is an absolute mess right now. He had made progress, but it is going on a couple weeks now of poor, weak play.
 

Fair question. But to me the first half yet another example of our shooting driving the results. We made 0 three pointers and Oturu missed FIVE shots at the rim. In my view, nearly every terrible stretch can mostly be chalked up to our shooting. Unfortunately, it's very inconsistent. I don't think the coaching changed during the game. I think the effort is usually pretty consistent, and they get similar looks (lots of good ones) in most games. But they have ungodly stretches where they can't make anything.

Doesn't mean they are perfect all the time. There were too many defensive lapses today, but I think that is true of most teams.
Agreed. Gabs and Willis make a couple each, totally different game.
 

It was a lot of fun watching the individual efforts of Daniel Oturu (basically all game) and Marcus Carr (mostly just the 2nd half). Those guys deserved a better result and they certainly deserve a better whistle than they got from the refs today.

I don't understand how we just saw the best team performance on a full 40 minute basis on Wednesday and then turned around and looked so inept for the first 26ish minutes of this game. The first few minutes of the second half were some of the worst minutes of basketball of the season. I thought the defensive effort in the first half was mostly strong, but it went the way of the offense to start the second half. I am not sure the offense looked any better to start the comeback as it was mostly tough shot making from Carr on individual plays that cut the 20 point lead to 11. After that point, things starting looking better.

Going with the strange decisions, I certainly could have done without Michael Hurt bizarrely getting the minutes off the bench in the first half. Why would you put him in instead of Ihnen, Williams, or Omersa? What changed between Wednesday and Saturday? We also saw Greenlee come in and give up a 3 in like the 30 seconds Pitino tried to rest Carr.

It would be huge if Demir would step in and take a charge on a drive or two. Too often, he's the last line of defense and offers no deterrence at the rim. There were a couple of opportunities late where he could have stepped in front of someone and made a huge play.

Really pleased with the fight to try to come back in a game that looked way out of reach, but discouraged with what put the Gophers in that position to begin with.

Demir offered no resistance/no effort in the second half on consecutive plays. It was terrible.
 

Good fight during the 2nd half. Carr continues to hit impossible shots. Williams continues to improve. Need a lot more from Gabe and Willis if a road win is to expected.
 

I guess to counter, what was that first half then? If you want to credit pitino and the team for the 2nd half (as we should that was awesome), then its also fair to put some blame on them for that first half.

As great as the fight was in this game and in the Utah game, facts are they are still losses, I'd pick winning ugly over losing with a good fight. And spoiler alert, so would the NCAA selection committee.
You're 100% right in that criticism. The inconsistency as a team (as opposed to just one guy being cold) is what worries me the most from the coaching side, and that's a bit of what we saw today. There have been these repeated cold stretches throughout the entire season, and I think when it goes that far it gets beyond just players being off.

A bad coach would not have had a team that responded the way they did today
 



You told me I was watching a blowout. Did you keep posting?

Nice comeback, rahrahrah

12-11, 6-7.........year 7
When they close out the season 5-2, including a season sweep of Wisconsin and a revenge win vs. Iowa then make the dance, will you start cheering for the Gophers then?
 

We’ve got two guys that say I’m going to get mine and attack with confidence - the rest of the team is out there just trying to belong. tre Williams is the next I think will start to assert himself. the other three starters we have cannot physically dominate thier man. We have to rely on them making shots when the opportunity arises. Ihnen athletically could contribute but it’s going to take him some time. Omersa has the tools but doesn’t have the skill.
 

When they close out the season 5-2, including a season sweep of Wisconsin and a revenge win vs. Iowa then make the dance, will you start cheering for the Gophers then?

When they make the dance and get run out and are 17-14 on the year, are you going to throw the usual parade?
 

Oturu and him had some pleasantries in the hand shake...then afterward Oturu sought him out again and they talked for a little bit. Looks like they buried what happened the first game.
Yep, just saw this.
 




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