The Curse of Collin Sexton's Ego

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WindyCityGopher

WindyCityGopher

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Seeing the disarray the program appears to be in, I look at a single play in the Alabama game where, in retrospect, the foundation for a very special season began to crumble. Let's look back:

The 14th ranked Gophers, 6-0 going in to the game, were up by 11 and thoroughly dominating 25th ranked Alabama on Nov. 25, when Mason dropped Sexton with a sick hesitation, briefly stared him down as he lay on the floor, then stuck the dagger in with a 3 to extend the lead to 14 (57-43). But then the jawing started between Mason and Sexton, and, I believe, our season hasn't been the same since. Mason was ejected, a bench-clearing altercation ensued, and we ultimately ended up scrambling to win despite a 5-on-3 advantage for the final 10:41, getting outscored 41-32 after Mason's 3, and 30-22 with the 2-man advantage. After the game that team seemed shaken and significantly less confident than they were two-thirds of the way through, when they appeared able to compete with anyone. I haven't seen that confidence/swagger since then.

Since moving to 7-0 after the Alabama win, the Gophers are 6-4, including 2-2 in conference, nearly choking a game away against Drake; we've lost Lynch to what appears to be a career-ending suspension and Coffey to what could be a season-ending injury. A once promising season looks to be cursed, going back to one pivotal play. I blame Collin Sexton's ego.
 

I just think Akeem Springs and Eric Curry meant a whole lot more to our depth than most realized.
 

skauma said:
I just think Akeem Springs and Eric Curry meant a whole lot more to our depth than most realized.
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Yep. And Wright vs. IW would have been a huge upgrade (so far).
 

I'd say McBrayer's absence of the Miami game was the first step in the downfall.
 

Without a doubt the 3 on 5 event changed the momentum for this team. However, I felt that they were starting to get some of it back in the 1st half of the Illinois game. Then Lynch. Then Coffey. The things that have happened this year in total, are an unreal chain of events. First Curry. Then the strange Bama game. Then McBrayer. Then Mason followed by Lynch and Coffey. Since the Alabama game these guys just haven't gotten a break. Those years happen. This is not the time to turn on the coach or individual players. Chalk this one up to experience. That's life.

I hope we see growth the rest of this year from IW, who I am still convinced will be a star. Hurt needs to get to be a better role player. Harris perhaps can develop as an instant offense zone breaker. If we get everyone back next year that should be back, I am guessing that we can have the year we hoped for this year. If Coffey is out for a long time, the rest of this year is looking rough. Could this be the year where Coffey returns and we make a run to a Big Ten Tournament championship? With Coffey back we still will have enough talent to beat any team on a given night.
 


bga1 said:
Without a doubt the 3 on 5 event changed the momentum for this team. However, I felt that they were starting to get some of it back in the 1st half of the Illinois game. Then Lynch. Then Coffey. The things that have happened this year in total, are an unreal chain of events. First Curry. Then the strange Bama game. Then McBrayer. Then Mason followed by Lynch and Coffey. Since the Alabama game these guys just haven't gotten a break. Those years happen. This is not the time to turn on the coach or individual players. Chalk this one up to experience. That's life.

I hope we see growth the rest of this year from IW, who I am still convinced will be a star. Hurt needs to get to be a better role player. Harris perhaps can develop as an instant offense zone breaker. If we get everyone back next year that should be back, I am guessing that we can have the year we hoped for this year. If Coffey is out for a long time, the rest of this year is looking rough. Could this be the year where Coffey returns and we make a run to a Big Ten Tournament championship? With Coffey back we still will have enough talent to beat any team on a given night.
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For all of those who have seen conversations between Beeg and myself might not believe this, but I totally agree with him on this.
 


bga1 said:
Without a doubt the 3 on 5 event changed the momentum for this team. However, I felt that they were starting to get some of it back in the 1st half of the Illinois game. Then Lynch. Then Coffey. The things that have happened this year in total, are an unreal chain of events. First Curry. Then the strange Bama game. Then McBrayer. Then Mason followed by Lynch and Coffey. Since the Alabama game these guys just haven't gotten a break. Those years happen. This is not the time to turn on the coach or individual players. Chalk this one up to experience. That's life.

I hope we see growth the rest of this year from IW, who I am still convinced will be a star. Hurt needs to get to be a better role player. Harris perhaps can develop as an instant offense zone breaker. If we get everyone back next year that should be back, I am guessing that we can have the year we hoped for this year. If Coffey is out for a long time, the rest of this year is looking rough. Could this be the year where Coffey returns and we make a run to a Big Ten Tournament championship? With Coffey back we still will have enough talent to beat any team on a given night.
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+1
 

bga1 said:
Without a doubt the 3 on 5 event changed the momentum for this team. However, I felt that they were starting to get some of it back in the 1st half of the Illinois game. Then Lynch. Then Coffey. The things that have happened this year in total, are an unreal chain of events. First Curry. Then the strange Bama game. Then McBrayer. Then Mason followed by Lynch and Coffey. Since the Alabama game these guys just haven't gotten a break. Those years happen. This is not the time to turn on the coach or individual players. Chalk this one up to experience. That's life.

I hope we see growth the rest of this year from IW, who I am still convinced will be a star. Hurt needs to get to be a better role player. Harris perhaps can develop as an instant offense zone breaker. If we get everyone back next year that should be back, I am guessing that we can have the year we hoped for this year. If Coffey is out for a long time, the rest of this year is looking rough. Could this be the year where Coffey returns and we make a run to a Big Ten Tournament championship? With Coffey back we still will have enough talent to beat any team on a given night.
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I agree. It would be nice to stay clear of from bad luck and trouble.
 



This program's bad luck goes back much further than that play. But that did feel like a turning point. I was with Pitino in just wanting it over. I was very afraid there would be a brawl and suspensions.
 

howeda7 said:
This program's bad luck goes back much further than that play. But that did feel like a turning point. I was with Pitino in just wanting it over. I was very afraid there would be a brawl and suspensions.
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Totally agree, this program is working on a 50-year curse dating to Musselman's many transgressions, but the wheels starting to come off this particular team's season struck me as being defined by that single play in the Bama game.
 

Come on guys, talk about a strawman. The 3 on 5 mattered nothing. Zero.

As for morale. it is quite likely to think the accusation against Lynch came in around the same time. Then Duprayer got hurt. The Gophers with all their guys are top 15, without Curry and Lynch, they aren't. Add in McBrayer and Coffey have missed games and Mason has been hobbled.

The Gophers need a better bench but very few teams make the NCAA without their best players. The Gophers were down three of their top 6 against Indiana. With one of them they probably win.
 

I agree 100%. With a full team available yesterday we move to 14-3 and everything going great! We lose 2 huge all big ten players yesterday and now we want to blame everything on the 5 on 3 vs. Alabama? Get a clue! I'm pretty sure the players have moved on from the Alabama game. Apparently a lot of gopher fans have not.
 



I don't think there was some sort of magical drop off in play after the Alabama game. Outplayed Providence and Alabama for a half each - about the level of accomplishment last year's team would have seen. I think the Miami game gave us a wake up call that there was still a gulf in talent between us and a top 10-15 team.

Of course I wanted to believe - just like I wanted to believe that gopher football was a top 10 team when it'd start off 6-0 with 4 cream puffs and two easy B1G wins. At some point you find your place. I think we are trying to find a scapegoat for A) lack of overall roster talent and B) bad individual circumstances that many teams face (Lynch and Curry).

Teams like Miami have draft picks in this year's team. We don't. Maybe... maybe... Murphy at the end of this year or next. We don't even have a Bobby Jackson or Sam Jacobson caliber player.
 

bfast said:
I don't think there was some sort of magical drop off in play after the Alabama game. Outplayed Providence and Alabama for a half each - about the level of accomplishment last year's team would have seen. I think the Miami game gave us a wake up call that there was still a gulf in talent between us and a top 10-15 team.

Of course I wanted to believe - just like I wanted to believe that gopher football was a top 10 team when it'd start off 6-0 with 4 cream puffs and two easy B1G wins. At some point you find your place. I think we are trying to find a scapegoat for A) lack of overall roster talent and B) bad individual circumstances that many teams face (Lynch and Curry).

Teams like Miami have draft picks in this year's team. We don't. Maybe... maybe... Murphy at the end of this year or next. We don't even have a Bobby Jackson or Sam Jacobson caliber player.
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The Miami game gave us the idea that there was a "gulf" between us and a top ten team? I disagree. We lost the game by five points without McBrayer. Miami shot 50% from the field and 40% from 3 point range. It was one game- albeit a home game that we should have won.

We don't have classic NBA starters on this team- that I will agree with. But we did have 3 players that are 1st or 2nd team all big ten caliber and another two in Lynch and McBrayer that are very good college players.
 

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