The Stay Positive Thread

[MadtownGopher]

At least the two toughest games we'll play all season are behind us. We don't play Michigan again and we get Indiana at home. Our only losses are against the #5 ranked team at the time. We still can do a lot of damage within the conference. The trolls will be gone before you know it.

 

[Gopher07]

We are through the toughest stretch of our schedule, no doubt. I do hope we can get our heads straight after two straight losses and don't start to spiral out of control. A younger team might, I don't think we will.

 

[gopherbadgerman]

Yep. 3-2 in the big ten, with a decent chance to win 11-13 games. Not sure what all the panic is about.

 

[GG07]

#5 or #50 if we play like that we'll lose

 

[borninthebarn]

Two very winnable games and two lain eggs. Tough games or no there are serious issues with turnovers and other Achilles heels that are going to cost us games we should win. The team that showed up the last two games can't win in Madison, Columbus or East Lansing and will drop games it should win.

I am hopeful we figure out some way to turn it around. Starts with Dre staying out of foul trouble.

Also - we cannot catch a break with officiating. It was not the cause of tonight's loss but there were some terrible calls that cost a lot of momentum at key times.

 

[GuyFawkes]

We have a week before our next game, they better spent the WHOLE week addressing turnovers, oh and Joe Coleman needs to spend an extra hour after ever practice just shooting FT's, other than that, we should be fine the rest of the way

 

[Big Ten Championship]

If you would have told me we were going to start 3-2 this year; beating Michigan St. and Northwestern at home, Illinois on the road, but would lose to Michigan and Indiana. I would have taken that. We just need to keep our heads up as it is a long season. Season long improvement is the name of the game, to be ready for tournament time. Go Gophers!

 

[CurveballJesus]

the bench had their best game in weeks. Julian hit some shots, EE didn't look as terrible as normal. Ingram played some good D when Trev and Rodney both picked up 4 fouls

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Yep. 3-2 in the big ten, with a decent chance to win 11-13 games. Not sure what all the panic is about.

Agreed I mean I wish we would have played better in those 2 games and got a couple wins but this team is still very capable of winning a lot of games and I have a lot of confidence in them, no panic here.

 

[GopherinPhilly]

I am positive that we would have won this game had we made our free throws.

 

[XMan]

At least the two toughest games we'll play all season are behind us. We don't play Michigan again and we get Indiana at home. Our only losses are against the #5 ranked team at the time. We still can do a lot of damage within the conference. The trolls will be gone before you know it.

Interesting point. Lost to Duke when they were ranked 5th. Lost to Indiana when they were ranked 5th. Lost to Michigan when they were ranked 5th. Michigan played well today. Came in focused after a loss and just played better than MN. Time to regroup and beat Northwestern on the road. One game at a time!

 

[Gophers09]

Frustrating game, missed some opportunities. On to the next one, hopefully a better performance.

 

[THE SCOUT!]

gophs were the fav and lost. Still a lot better team than preseason pundit predictions. Success breeds higher expectations. But fact is gophers can beat anyone at home but need to bring A game as talent is not great .

 

[GuyFawkes]

No easy task but if we win at Ohio State and at Wisconsin our last two losses would be washes essentially since they, Indiana and Michigan, lost to those teams, I really think this team can be a much better team if they can pull their heads out of their you know what when it comes to turning the ball over. So lets not completely ride off the season yet

 

[e.bigelow]

I am positive that we would have won this game had we made our free throws.

We make all our free throws and we win by 2. Thats unrealistic, we are going to miss a few. Michigan guards played really well this evening. They pretty much outplayed ours. Hate to say it.

 

[Jkerbs]

Long time reader, first time poster, big time fan. We need to start out better period, it is too hard to have to fight back the whole entire game. Too many turnovers that lead to too many points and work on free throws please! Atleast Dickey V didn't suck off the Blue Devils during a B1G game. Looking ahead to the rest of the season. Go Gophers!

 

[howeda7]

At least the two toughest games we'll play all season are behind us. We don't play Michigan again and we get Indiana at home. Our only losses are against the #5 ranked team at the time. We still can do a lot of damage within the conference. The trolls will be gone before you know it.

Toughest two games? Tom Izzo at Breslin Center laughs at you. But toughest stretch? Yes. Tonight was disappointing, but hardly a tragedy. Michigan is a terrible match-up for the Gophers.

 

[march madness]

matchups

I love the gophers but anyone who watches basketball knows Burke, Hardaway, and Stauskus are miles ahead of the two Hollins and Coleman. Burke may be the #1 pg in the nation. Hardaway is a top 5 sg. Stauskus is a great role player 3 pt shooter who plays of these two. I do agree that you cannot say "just make all our free throws either", as can't michigan fans say that and then the kill us by 16?

We make all our free throws and we win by 2. Thats unrealistic, we are going to miss a few. Michigan guards played really well this evening. They pretty much outplayed ours. Hate to say it.

 

[Bad Gopher]

#5 or #50 if we play like that we'll lose

No doubt. I was embarrassed with the way the Gophs played against Michigan. It's too easy to just say Michigan is better. The Gophers are not the same style of team as the Wolverines. If Minnesota plays their game and plays well, we have the weapons to beat them at home. But you and I saw the same thing with our eyes: the Gophs played very poorly.

All that said, there were a few things to build on from last night. Austin Hollins in particular is becoming a legitimate bomber from outside. Welch looks like he can add something to the mix on a regular basis. Elliott didn't set the world on fire, but he looked serviceable out there. Up until when the crowd was sapped by Dre's second foul and the ensuing hockey substitution, they were providing some serious energy, which bodes well.

 

[tmvander]

As sloppy as the Gophers played last night we absolutely should stay positive. This team has 3 losses to 3 of the best teams (arguably) in the country and what people forget is that those teams needed to play their best basketball to beat us.

Both the Indiana and Michigan games we were in and had chances to make things interesting. Duke...somewhat. These three teams had to shoot lights out for stretches, force turnovers, make big plays, and also fight us off down the stretch in order to win.

Now like I said we did play sloppy and there is a lot w can improve on, but even a sloppy Gopher team on the court has, for the most part, kept pace with Duke thousands of miles from home, Indiana @ Indiana, and a very good Michigan team both while the opponent was playing some of their best basketball.