I always forget the extreme pessimism shown on the board after a loss. We've got people on here that are ready to declare us an NIT team already.
I'll be honest. I am not the most optimistic Gopher basketball fan. I don't consider myself blinded by my being a fan. I see faults with the team quite readily. Westbrook drives me crazy pretty regularly, and our offense is frustrating. I don't feel Rodney Williams will be a huge contributor this year against good competition, though I think he will be a star down the road.
But to say that because we lost to a team we should probably have beaten, and so now we are destined to struggle and are doubtful to make the NCAA tournament? I do agree, the loss is troubling, but it's one game. Just think how foolish those Syracuse fans feel who had that attitude after their loss to that Division Two team (the name escapes me). It's one game.
Those who are proclaiming the sky is falling are, to me, missing the fact that most (not all) of what went wrong is perfectly correctable. Yes, we struggled against the zone. Yes, our free throws were horrible. We shot 33 percent. Those are things that can be fixed, to some degree, over the course of the season. Or, in the case of the shooting, it's well below what even our poor-shooting Gophers will usually shoot. We played poorly, but that happens even to good teams.
I usually try to avoid posting on the boards after big wins or losses. Everyone is always way too high after big wins or way too negative after losses. There's a reason there are 30+ games in a season.
I see no reason to think anything different of our team than I did a week ago. We play great defense. Our offense is pretty stagnant and our shooting is very suspect. We're deep and we have a hall of fame coach. Tell me which of those we didn't know a week ago, or 6 months ago, for that matter? We'll likely have a season pretty similar to last year, but I feel we're a year older and better, so I think that puts my guess as a one win NCAA tournament team.
Bad things happen. You lose games you shouldn't, but you win them, too. If you are going to abandon your team after a loss, you may as well get used to running, because this won't be the last loss of the season.
It's just a little disheartening to see people's opinions on our team change so hugely after one game, good or bad. But maybe I'm the only one who thinks so. Either way, here's to hoping we learn from this one and have the season that we are capable of having. I believe we will.
Thanks for reading a little rant.
I'll be honest. I am not the most optimistic Gopher basketball fan. I don't consider myself blinded by my being a fan. I see faults with the team quite readily. Westbrook drives me crazy pretty regularly, and our offense is frustrating. I don't feel Rodney Williams will be a huge contributor this year against good competition, though I think he will be a star down the road.
But to say that because we lost to a team we should probably have beaten, and so now we are destined to struggle and are doubtful to make the NCAA tournament? I do agree, the loss is troubling, but it's one game. Just think how foolish those Syracuse fans feel who had that attitude after their loss to that Division Two team (the name escapes me). It's one game.
Those who are proclaiming the sky is falling are, to me, missing the fact that most (not all) of what went wrong is perfectly correctable. Yes, we struggled against the zone. Yes, our free throws were horrible. We shot 33 percent. Those are things that can be fixed, to some degree, over the course of the season. Or, in the case of the shooting, it's well below what even our poor-shooting Gophers will usually shoot. We played poorly, but that happens even to good teams.
I usually try to avoid posting on the boards after big wins or losses. Everyone is always way too high after big wins or way too negative after losses. There's a reason there are 30+ games in a season.
I see no reason to think anything different of our team than I did a week ago. We play great defense. Our offense is pretty stagnant and our shooting is very suspect. We're deep and we have a hall of fame coach. Tell me which of those we didn't know a week ago, or 6 months ago, for that matter? We'll likely have a season pretty similar to last year, but I feel we're a year older and better, so I think that puts my guess as a one win NCAA tournament team.
Bad things happen. You lose games you shouldn't, but you win them, too. If you are going to abandon your team after a loss, you may as well get used to running, because this won't be the last loss of the season.
It's just a little disheartening to see people's opinions on our team change so hugely after one game, good or bad. But maybe I'm the only one who thinks so. Either way, here's to hoping we learn from this one and have the season that we are capable of having. I believe we will.
Thanks for reading a little rant.
