Sounds (and in watching, it also looked) to me that we need to be much better defensively! In looking at the rest of the Big Ten, I think you vastly overrated the talent on our Gophers team. We have some nice pieces, but with who we suited up after Braun and Woodson went down, we are not an NCAA team. Healthy all year, maybe we are!
No coach in the world is going to consistently play somebody who has trouble figuring out your offensive system and hasn't yet learned how to play defense at the college level. More often than not, it takes players time to figure out the college game. A few get it right away (Tori-and she was forced into action because of Braun's injury), some take most of a season and some take longer than that. In fact, from what I've watched at many different levels is that the biggest jump usually happens between the sophomore and junior year.
The Gophers played six home games against teams with superior talent and they won two of them. They might have needed one or two more to make the tourney but we will see. The Michigan game was there for the taking but superior talent eventually made the plays needed to win. And they came close at Ohio State but ultimately failed to seal the deal. So it was a frustrating season to be sure.
We all have opinions...and I would disagree. Pam Borton took the Gophers to the Final Four.
2003/2004, our Final Four year, the average attendance for conference home games was 11281… it was exciting to watch wbb. we averaged 65 pts/game & the opposition was 59 pts/game. The year before it was 74/65. Coach Borton was a very defensive minded coach, but I believed then as I do now that she “stepped aside” and gave a Whalen/McCarville led team free rein. The team in Whalen’s absence played just well enough to get into the NCAA tournament.
I am not arguing with you. I was ready for a change by the end of her tenure too. I'm just saying she (along with Whalen and McCarville) took us somewhere where the program had never been before or since. I also enjoyed her interactions with the fans at the luncheons we had during each season. If you asked her a question, she would give you an honest reply and not blow smoke.
... and I agree with you. The lunches, the dinners at Jax's., the radio show at Applebees, the 150 members in the FBC, Terry McFarland's weekly emails, traveling to watch the games were all wonderful experiences, but the fact remains that attendance dropped 8000 people/game during Borton's tenure... that's a lot of revenue... and today that revenue could be put to use attracting better players.
Agree with this. I shared season tickets for several years and traveled approximately 90 minutes to each game. My last year (can’t remember the year) I said I was done and never renewed again. It got really boring to watch 50-47 games, .500 conference record and first round tournament exits etc. I do appreciate good defense and I still believe defense wins championships, however you do need players to make uncontested shots, layups etc. I have continued to follow the program and try to attend a few games each season. I really do like this current team and want them to do well. I just wish they could add an efficient scorer so that when they get behind you feel like they are never out of it and that they can come back. This team did comeback several times but mostly just came up short.
It does feel like Coyle could do a better job of fund raising. I understand the issue of having multiple professional teams in the same market which other schools don’t always have the competition for support. I like the DTA idea and it’s seems we should have more alumni financial support. Winning always brings more fans but in this NIL era U have to spend more money to recruit better athletes.