Look, everybody's overreacting a bit, methinks. We ran into a perfect storm. Is it still a game good teams should win? Absolutely. But here's what we can take away.
- I've never seen a better shooting performance than Virginia put on. Now, obviously, we can't leave it up to the other team missing, and our perimeter defense was pretty putrid throughout, but Virginia won't be shooting that well the rest of the year. They just happened to find a game in which they were hitting absolutely everything. Those games will happen. Seriously, I don't think they missed more than two or three open shots all game. Everything was going in for them.
- The Gophers had some near misses on shots that will normally go in. A lot of in and outs tonight, and a healthy dose of bad luck plagued the Gophers on the offensive end. When we did get the ball inside to the bigs, they missed layups and free throws. Again, that'll happen. When it happens the same night as the other team is apparently being inhabited by the spirit of Dolph Schayes, well, you've got a good chance of losing.
- We obviously really missed Nolen and Williams. They're our best perimeter defenders, in my opinion, and I think they would have really helped on the offensive end. Plus, Devoe was obviously rusty. He's been working on his shooting, which is good, but he could not see open players to save his life. He's just not a point guard. He needs to play shooting guard. Unfortunately, I'm still not that impressed with Maverick. He's obviously a natural point guard, and he doesn't make many mistakes, but he doesn't play good defense, and on the offensive end, he basically dribbles the ball up, and just passes the ball around the perimeter.
- Now, there are obviously some areas in which we need to improve. First, against a team like Virginia, we need to recognize that zone and the sagging defense won't work. This is a team that is exceptionally well coached, and can hit the three. Tubby needs to make sure the guys know that our help defense inside has been great, and that perimeter defenders should be playing up on their guys and fighting through screens. Also, we need to work on our offense, which has been a constant theme. When things start going against us, we need to force the ball inside, and be aggressive attacking the basket. We're obviously better in transition, and we had no opportunities in the second half to get out and run.
- Look, it was a bad loss, but these will happen. I expect that Virginia will turn into a respectable team by the end of the year, and that this won't look as bad at the end of the year as it does now. My hope is that Tubby runs these guys like crazy tomorrow to make them understand that this kind of effort was unacceptable, that Tubby drills them like crazy on free throws (the misses down the stretch were absolutely horrible, and were by some normally dependable shooters), and that our perimeter defensive effort improves. I don't think this will be the "beginning of the end," or anything like that. We'll be fine. We had a bad night. They had a ridiculously lucky night (although they are a well-coached team). It happens. We'll beat Cornell on Saturday, and move on from there.
- I've never seen a better shooting performance than Virginia put on. Now, obviously, we can't leave it up to the other team missing, and our perimeter defense was pretty putrid throughout, but Virginia won't be shooting that well the rest of the year. They just happened to find a game in which they were hitting absolutely everything. Those games will happen. Seriously, I don't think they missed more than two or three open shots all game. Everything was going in for them.
- The Gophers had some near misses on shots that will normally go in. A lot of in and outs tonight, and a healthy dose of bad luck plagued the Gophers on the offensive end. When we did get the ball inside to the bigs, they missed layups and free throws. Again, that'll happen. When it happens the same night as the other team is apparently being inhabited by the spirit of Dolph Schayes, well, you've got a good chance of losing.
- We obviously really missed Nolen and Williams. They're our best perimeter defenders, in my opinion, and I think they would have really helped on the offensive end. Plus, Devoe was obviously rusty. He's been working on his shooting, which is good, but he could not see open players to save his life. He's just not a point guard. He needs to play shooting guard. Unfortunately, I'm still not that impressed with Maverick. He's obviously a natural point guard, and he doesn't make many mistakes, but he doesn't play good defense, and on the offensive end, he basically dribbles the ball up, and just passes the ball around the perimeter.
- Now, there are obviously some areas in which we need to improve. First, against a team like Virginia, we need to recognize that zone and the sagging defense won't work. This is a team that is exceptionally well coached, and can hit the three. Tubby needs to make sure the guys know that our help defense inside has been great, and that perimeter defenders should be playing up on their guys and fighting through screens. Also, we need to work on our offense, which has been a constant theme. When things start going against us, we need to force the ball inside, and be aggressive attacking the basket. We're obviously better in transition, and we had no opportunities in the second half to get out and run.
- Look, it was a bad loss, but these will happen. I expect that Virginia will turn into a respectable team by the end of the year, and that this won't look as bad at the end of the year as it does now. My hope is that Tubby runs these guys like crazy tomorrow to make them understand that this kind of effort was unacceptable, that Tubby drills them like crazy on free throws (the misses down the stretch were absolutely horrible, and were by some normally dependable shooters), and that our perimeter defensive effort improves. I don't think this will be the "beginning of the end," or anything like that. We'll be fine. We had a bad night. They had a ridiculously lucky night (although they are a well-coached team). It happens. We'll beat Cornell on Saturday, and move on from there.
