Did you watch the game? If so did you like what you saw for the first 30 minutes of it? We were losing but "15-20" and then OSU packed it in and took it easy. When they figured out they couldn't coast anymore they couldn't find a way to shift it back into gear. Again- it's great that our guys didn't give up. It's not the final scores that are concerning people or even the fact that we are 1-3. It's what it looks like at this point that has a lot people worried that this season could go south without some changes in strategy.
As far as overall effort the announcers correctly stated that in the latter minutes the Gophs were finally playing with the effort that they needed the whole game.
Yes, I watched the game, and no I did not like what I saw in the first 30 minutes. However, I think the first 30 minutes was more indicative of effort, conditioning and overall tentativeness of the players on the court than it was Tubby's coaching. As a person who has played basketball my entire life, and coached at the high school level (not that that has any relevance to what Tubby is going through, but is indicative of experience with the job), I viewed what Tubby was doing with the rotation as multiple-fold:
1) Get Nolen and Hoff a breather - Nolen is coming off an injury and has had asthma/conditioning concerns his entire career, and Hoff cannot compete physically and looked tired trying to work so hard to get open
2) Find players that would give max effort when they were out there - the only guys that I saw that played hard every minute they were out there was Mbakwe and Williams
We were down 10 at half, and we played like crap offensively. As a coach, this can be spun to a positive, and I also viewed this as a positive. I said to my wife at 15 minutes left in the game, if we can get it to 10 points by 10 minutes left, it would be a close game, and it was.
Maybe I just have a fundamentally different outlook than others on this board. As a lifetime fan of the Gophs, and with what I view as realistic expectations year in and year out, I view a top 5 finish in the Big Ten, and a 5-7 see in the tourney as the year-in, year-out expectations for our team. We should have years when we do better than that, but overall we should be at that level every year. So far this year, I (honestly) see nothing to deviate from that expectation, and believe that is realistic still this year.
I see nothing in the "strategy" that says drastic changes are needed. I believe the next 4 games will dictate the entire year. If after those 4 games we are not positioned to finish in the top 5 of the conference, then I'll agree with the notion that changes in strategy are necessary.
The beauty of having an opinion is that it is subjective, which means it is mine, and I am totally fine with people disagreeing.