Ok, I want to cry, but why? Honestly.
#1 - MTSU IS actually a very good team, wow. And their defensive schemes seemed to work so well against us, I was very impressed. Hopefully RP will work on ways to counter that before we run across the same thing again? I hate to admit it, but I friggin hope they beat Butler and UNC, too. I hate UNC, and MTSU probably deserves it.
#2 - I heard at least one commentator say that last year he said that MTSU was the best #15 seed he'd ever seen, EVER. And I heard several people say that MTSU was deserving of better than a #12 seed this year, too. And that same person said that they could be the best #12 seed EVER, as well. I am open to believing him, but I'm a Gopher fan, so I simply want to believe him, I can admit that.
They were #35 in the Rpi. That's a pretty good rating.
#3 - As much as I talked about their 25 pt loss to Syracuse last year, MTSU did keep that game tight into the 2nd half, and Syracuse did get all the way to the Final Four, so maybe that was more of SU being on a hot streak than MTSU being so inferior. I simply wanted to believe it was a sign of MTSU's weakness, but now I want to see it differently.
#4 - I told dozens of people, if MTSU shot 59% from 3 pt land like they did last year against MSU, they'd win. And last I saw they were 6 of 10. Not sure the final %, I haven't looked yet. Oh, and at the same time they were sitting at 60%, we were sitting at 20%, 3 of 15.
#5 - I told those same dozens of people that we had to stay out of foul trouble. I could have forgiven Reggie for that first stupid foul, but then to commit another just 9 seconds later? Wow. You just can't do that, not if you want to stay in the game and help your team to victory. But I won't go on and on about it because my guess is those fouls, esp the 2nd one, will haunt Reggie all through the offseason. Can't get angry about it or blame him. He's done so much for our program in his short time here. And as I told one person who I saw ripping on Reggie, it's his first year here at Minnesota, and most of the games where he fouled out of games happened earlier in the season, so maybe RP is coaching him up, maybe he on his own is working on it and getting better, maybe its a combo of both? But he has gotten better, and I hope he continues to get better going into next season and as next season progresses.
#6 - I was encouraged by our comeback, same as the comeback in the Michigan game. Seems missing Springs hurt us more than I thought it would. And I don't know if having him would have been enough to beat MTSU though, although we could have maybe kept the game closer? But I do think having him would have been the difference in the Michigan game.
#7 - Well, we got 2 games of experience in, playing and knowing what it will be like without Springs. I wouldn't wish it on us ever, but since it happened, maybe it will be sort of a blessing in disguise come next year? Maybe not? Just hoping for the best, always.
#8 - We were only down 4 pts late, after being in foul trouble, and having our best player contribute less than he probably did the whole rest of the season. I'm not an expert, maybe that is as much on MTSU for knowing how to neutralize Mason, or maybe that's a sign that Mason isn't as good as I thought he was? If anything, maybe it will quite down the Mason to the NBA talk that went on to a minor degree this season? At least until he hopefully has another 1st team All-Conf like season again next year!!! But my point is, that MTSU IS really a good team, and despite all of our troubles, we still had a shot to win that game. Makes me very hopeful for next year.
#9 - I was encouraged while watching this game online, because before the comeback at the end, I remember hearing a bunch of Gopher fans in the crowd cheering them on. We were down by 15 or 16, and they hadn't lost hope yet, and then they did make a comeback. It fell short, but I loved knowing that there were Gopher faithful there at the game, giving our boys encouragement when they were down so far, with so little time left.
#10 - I can't think of anything else, and I'm getting tired of typing, but you can't have a list with just 9 things. So I don't know, AT LEAST WE WILL ALWAYS have hockey to soften the blow when our cbb team loses its last game.
#1 - MTSU IS actually a very good team, wow. And their defensive schemes seemed to work so well against us, I was very impressed. Hopefully RP will work on ways to counter that before we run across the same thing again? I hate to admit it, but I friggin hope they beat Butler and UNC, too. I hate UNC, and MTSU probably deserves it.
#2 - I heard at least one commentator say that last year he said that MTSU was the best #15 seed he'd ever seen, EVER. And I heard several people say that MTSU was deserving of better than a #12 seed this year, too. And that same person said that they could be the best #12 seed EVER, as well. I am open to believing him, but I'm a Gopher fan, so I simply want to believe him, I can admit that.
They were #35 in the Rpi. That's a pretty good rating.
#3 - As much as I talked about their 25 pt loss to Syracuse last year, MTSU did keep that game tight into the 2nd half, and Syracuse did get all the way to the Final Four, so maybe that was more of SU being on a hot streak than MTSU being so inferior. I simply wanted to believe it was a sign of MTSU's weakness, but now I want to see it differently.
#4 - I told dozens of people, if MTSU shot 59% from 3 pt land like they did last year against MSU, they'd win. And last I saw they were 6 of 10. Not sure the final %, I haven't looked yet. Oh, and at the same time they were sitting at 60%, we were sitting at 20%, 3 of 15.
#5 - I told those same dozens of people that we had to stay out of foul trouble. I could have forgiven Reggie for that first stupid foul, but then to commit another just 9 seconds later? Wow. You just can't do that, not if you want to stay in the game and help your team to victory. But I won't go on and on about it because my guess is those fouls, esp the 2nd one, will haunt Reggie all through the offseason. Can't get angry about it or blame him. He's done so much for our program in his short time here. And as I told one person who I saw ripping on Reggie, it's his first year here at Minnesota, and most of the games where he fouled out of games happened earlier in the season, so maybe RP is coaching him up, maybe he on his own is working on it and getting better, maybe its a combo of both? But he has gotten better, and I hope he continues to get better going into next season and as next season progresses.
#6 - I was encouraged by our comeback, same as the comeback in the Michigan game. Seems missing Springs hurt us more than I thought it would. And I don't know if having him would have been enough to beat MTSU though, although we could have maybe kept the game closer? But I do think having him would have been the difference in the Michigan game.
#7 - Well, we got 2 games of experience in, playing and knowing what it will be like without Springs. I wouldn't wish it on us ever, but since it happened, maybe it will be sort of a blessing in disguise come next year? Maybe not? Just hoping for the best, always.
#8 - We were only down 4 pts late, after being in foul trouble, and having our best player contribute less than he probably did the whole rest of the season. I'm not an expert, maybe that is as much on MTSU for knowing how to neutralize Mason, or maybe that's a sign that Mason isn't as good as I thought he was? If anything, maybe it will quite down the Mason to the NBA talk that went on to a minor degree this season? At least until he hopefully has another 1st team All-Conf like season again next year!!! But my point is, that MTSU IS really a good team, and despite all of our troubles, we still had a shot to win that game. Makes me very hopeful for next year.
#9 - I was encouraged while watching this game online, because before the comeback at the end, I remember hearing a bunch of Gopher fans in the crowd cheering them on. We were down by 15 or 16, and they hadn't lost hope yet, and then they did make a comeback. It fell short, but I loved knowing that there were Gopher faithful there at the game, giving our boys encouragement when they were down so far, with so little time left.
#10 - I can't think of anything else, and I'm getting tired of typing, but you can't have a list with just 9 things. So I don't know, AT LEAST WE WILL ALWAYS have hockey to soften the blow when our cbb team loses its last game.