The implications of IU vs. UW game...

Donate To GopherHole
I'll repeat what I said a few days ago. If Bo keeps his streak alive and gets this Badger team to finish in the top 4 of the Big Ten, he should be the highest salaried coach in the Big Ten, if not the country. Love him or hate him, the man and his players produce year after year. (frown face here) What they're doing without Gasser is impressive.

And Dekker is getting better & better every day.
 

SelectionSunday said:
I'll repeat what I said a few days ago. If Bo keeps his streak alive and gets this Badger team to finish in the top 4 of the Big Ten, he should be the highest salaried coach in the Big Ten, if not the country. Love him or hate him, the man (and his players) produces year after year. (frown face here)
Click to expand...

:( :( :(
 


It really came down to the lack of turnovers. IU needs turnovers to fuel their transition game. Without the transition baskets, they struggle against good defense (Butler and Minnesota in the 2nd half when we didn't turn it over).

When the Gophers only had 5 turnovers in the 2nd half, we won the half by 20, until the last 4 FT's padded the score. The Badgers protected and cherished ball, and didn't take unneccessary risks with the ball. Eventually they moved the ball to the right spot when IU over-played a passing lane and Wisconsin wound up hitting just enough open shots.

It's a simple game. Value the ball and each possession. Don't let the opponent get easy baskets in transition.
 

I just want to be the first to come on here and say that Wisconsin will follow this up with a loss @Iowa this weekend.
 


howeda7 said:
Give Bo Ryan credit. I can't stand him. But unlike his former counterpart Bert, he can coach. And Wiscy get a 'fairly' reffed B1G road game, the Gophers didn't. Color me shocked.
Click to expand...

Ryan is a great coach. Period. Everyone should stop making excuses.

He makes more out of less than anyone. Witness last night.
 



Even after beating multiple ranked teams and not dropping a single game that we were supposed to win, it's always "[Insert upcoming game here] will tell us how good the Gophers really are." But with the Badgers, who lost 4 games out of conference (at least 2, possibly/probably 3 of them being against admittedly good teams), including a home loss to Virginia (who has losses to Delaware, George Mason, Old Dominion, Clemson, and Wake Forest), and has single digit victories over Penn State and Nebraska, one good win at Indiana is all it takes and they're instantly conference title contenders. And they don't even need to come here and cock off about it because we have enough Gopher fans to do it for them.

If we had Wisconsin's record right now, would you be calling us conference title contenders?

Here's hoping Iowa puts them back in their place.

[/RAGE]
 



Cayman said:
Even after beating multiple ranked teams and not dropping a single game that we were supposed to win, it's always "[Insert upcoming game here] will tell us how good the Gophers really are." But with the Badgers, who lost 4 games out of conference (at least 2, possibly/probably 3 of them being against admittedly good teams), including a home loss to Virginia (who has losses to Delaware, George Mason, Old Dominion, Clemson, and Wake Forest), and has single digit victories over Penn State and Nebraska, one good win at Indiana is all it takes and they're instantly conference title contenders. And they don't even need to come here and cock off about it because we have enough Gopher fans to do it for them.

If we had Wisconsin's record right now, would you be calling us conference title contenders?
Here's hoping Iowa puts them back in their place.

[/RAGE]
Click to expand...

If MN were 4-0 in the Big Ten and had just beat Indiana on the road, almost everyone here would be calling them conference title contenders, IMO.
 

GopherMike said:
As annoying as he is, I have to give credit where credit is due. It seems like Bo Ryan could recruit Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to play for him and he'd still win 20 games. Having said that, I do expect the Gophers will be victorious in Madison.
Click to expand...

Bruesewitz beat out Royce White for Metro Player of the Year
Sam Dekker was highly recruited.
Brust had many other high major offers
We've seen Berggren's ability

Wisconsin doesn't play with scrubs.
 

josh087 said:
Bruesewitz beat out Royce White for Metro Player of the Year
Sam Dekker was highly recruited.
Brust had many other high major offers
We've seen Berggren's ability

Wisconsin doesn't play with scrubs.
Click to expand...

+1

Wisconsin playing with below average talent is one of the biggest myths in college basketball. People conveniently ignore the player's rankings and offer lists. Bo is a very good coach though. Not trying to take credit away from him.
 

gopherbadgerman said:
If MN were 4-0 in the Big Ten and had just beat Indiana on the road, almost everyone here would be calling them conference title contenders, IMO.
Click to expand...

If the Gophers had 4 losses out of conference, and the other three wins were a blowout of a pretty good but inconsistent Illinois team and relatively tight games against Penn State and Nebraska, the two teams that most consider to be fighting for last place, and half the conference were ranked ahead of us in the AP poll, I think we would be enjoying the win, and joking about how we were first in the Big Ten, because it wouldn't last.

Wisconsin having the best record at this point in time does not mean they are the best team in the conference. In the AP poll next week, there will be at least 4 Big Ten teams ranked ahead of them.

But I suppose Wisconsin was able to win the conference in football with the sixth best record, so I shouldn't blame them for thinking they have a chance in basketball.
 



This is certainly.............

a shot across the bow for those who doubted the Badgers squad this year. No one is expected to go into Bloomington to win this year. Wisconsin has done it. And it looks like Travon Jackson will be a pretty good point guard.

I am a Gopher backer thru and thru, and with the wave of local talent coming up, I am hopeful we are finally on the road to being a consistant first division finisher.....and yes that's where Wisconsin has been since Bo got there. This year will be no exception.
 

Cayman said:
Wisconsin having the best record at this point in time does not mean they are the best team in the conference.
Click to expand...

Agreed. And I don't think anyone here was saying that, unless a Badger fan snuck into the conversation.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Agreed. And I don't think anyone here was saying that, unless a Badger fan snuck into the conversation.
Click to expand...

GVBadger said:
This thread has been priceless and amazing post game reading. Gopherhole never, ever disappoints.

Here is a little nugget for all of you regarding the conference race.

The Badgers play Indiana once and Michigan once (at home).

Jackson has figured it out and stabilized the point guard position.

The Badgers will be a factor for the entire race, as they usually are.

Good luck against Michigan.
Click to expand...

I realize that's not exactly the same thing, but I like Michigan State's and Ohio State's chances better than Wisconsin's right now. Best case scenario after this week for Wisconsin is probably high teens in the AP poll and still ranked behind 4 other Big Ten teams.
 

Everyone is forgetting that Wisconsin was ranked to start the season. They do have 4 non conference losses but only one (home vs Virginia) is a bad one. Yeah they got blown out @ Florida but Florida will probably win the SEC and be a 2 seed in the tournament. They lost to Creighton but they are a top 15 team and it was on a nuetral court. Lastly, they lost on the road again to a good Marquette team.

I hate Wisconsin along with the rest of you and am not trying to back them, but we can't be super surprised that they are having at least some success in the Big Ten. This team will still be a tough matchup for any team they play this year. Will they win the Big Ten? No, but expecting them to be a pushover win is bold.
 

Cayman said:
I realize that's not exactly the same thing, but I like Michigan State's and Ohio State's chances better than Wisconsin's right now. Best case scenario after this week for Wisconsin is probably high teens in the AP poll and still ranked behind 4 other Big Ten teams.
Click to expand...

You do realize the AP Poll has nothing to do with the Big 10 conference race or how good a team is, don't you?

I don't think anyone is naive enough to think the Badgers are the best team in the conference today. But given they lost their starting All Big 10 point guard to graduation and then lost the guy that was going to replace him to a season ending injury, the fact that they struggled early is not surprising.

Based on the way Jackson seems to have come around, if you don't think the Badgers will be a factor in the race until the end you have not been paying very close attention to the conference the last 11 years. The Badgers will be a far better team by the end of the season as they are now. Whether that is good enough to win the conference, who knows? I know I would not trade places with anyone.
 

GVBadger said:
You do realize the AP Poll has nothing to do with the Big 10 conference race or how good a team is, don't you?

I don't think anyone is naive enough to think the Badgers are the best team in the conference today. But given they lost their starting All Big 10 point guard to graduation and then lost the guy that was going to replace him to a season ending injury, the fact that they struggled early is not surprising.

Based on the way Jackson seems to have come around, if you don't think the Badgers will be a factor in the race until the end you have not been paying very close attention to the conference the last 11 years. The Badgers will be a far better team by the end of the season as they are now. Whether that is good enough to win the conference, who knows? I know I would not trade places with anyone.
Click to expand...

I know AP poll rankings have no effect on the conference race or how good certain teams are, but it is intended to reflect how good teams are. On Monday, based on performance so far this season, AP voters thought that Wisconsin was not in the top half of the Big Ten. I visited Buckyville last night to see what the reaction to the win was, and I noticed a thread titled "The race to 9 wins," so it would seem that, at least prior to last night, some Badger fans had given up hope of keeping the top 4 streak alive, and would have been happy to go .500 in the Big Ten and possibly make the tourney.

I have only been following the Gophers since Tubby got here, and have really only been following Big Ten basketball as a whole for 2 or 3 years, but I'm all too familiar with Bo Ryan's streak of top 4 finishes. Still, just because he hasn't finished outside the top 4 doesn't mean he can't, and outside of last night, I have seen nothing from Wisconsin this season that tells me that a top 4 finish was possible.

Last night's win seems to have been enough to make a lot of people do a complete 180 on the Badgers, or simply act like they believed in the Badgers all along, but I'm not buying it yet. If Wisconsin can pull off the win at Iowa, I will be more inclined to believe in them. If you had asked me last week, I would have said they weren't going to make the tournament, based on losing multiple games out of conference and lackluster performances against a couple of the worst teams in the Big Ten. Beating Indiana in Assembly Hall is a big accomplishment for sure, but it's only one game, and it's not enough to make me think Wisconsin will compete for the Big Ten title.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom