Well..let's beat Wisconsin

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bga1

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It'll take a great effort. Sad to say it would not have taken a great effort to win tonight. Now we have to have one on Saturday. I think Andre Hollins comes back with a great game and we win Saturday by 6.
 


15 turnovers against a bad Northwestern team. What we've seen over the past 3 games is a systemic breakdown. It will take more than Andre to fix the problems that have been there all season, but are now being exposed by the teams in the B1G. Let's see if Tubby earns his keep in the next couple days.
 

I really think we learn a lot about this team in the Wisconsin game. That game sets the tone for the rest of the season.
 

I can only hope Andre the point guard shows up with sharp passing and decision making and gets his step back 3 going. What worries me is the front court and who is going to help Trevor. Rodney has got to step up his inside game. EE at 6'11 can give us valuable minutes and Austin has to shut down Bruesewitz. IMO
 


Yes, let's; let's beat Wisconsin. If not, we'll be sitting with a losing record in the conference, reflecting the losing conference record Coach Smith has throughout his tenure here. I have to say, I would be a pretty discouraged person at that point.

But until that happens, yes, let's beat Wisconsin.
 

Always a good thought for any day. Let's do it.
 

Let's open a can of whoop-ass on Bucky. Go Gophers!
 

That's the best we can do for our next move. Beat Wisconsin. One game at a time, is how the conference schedule must be lived.

Oh, and 15 TOs? That's it? I was at the game and I swear it felt like 20.
 



I am anxious to see how this team responds in Wisconsin after that disaster last night. The previous two loses where to very good teams that had great shooting nights so the alarm bell maybe wasn't sounded. Last night has to be a huge wake up call to this team. Guess we will see...

Hey, trying to look for some silver lining this morning.
 

Finding the silver lining

ski-u-mah said:
Hey, trying to look for some silver lining this morning.
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Trying to find a silver lining, too, and here's the one I'm sticking with:

Beat Wisconsin and the Gophers will have earned their second consecutive B1G road split, while improving their road/netural record to 6-3 (4-2 in true road games). We can't play worse, can we?
 

SelectionSunday said:
Trying to find a silver lining, too, and here's the one I'm sticking with:

Beat Wisconsin and the Gophers will have earned their second consecutive B1G road split, while improving their road/netural record to 6-3 (4-2 in true road games). We can't play worse, can we?
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Agreed. I think we will be desperate, and that makes us very dangerous. This is a great time to go through adversity, and we still have tons of time to peak when it matters. With that said, this game is huge and i want to see how we respond.
 




WILLBGOPHER said:
Agreed. I think we will be desperate, and that makes us very dangerous. This is a great time to go through adversity, and we still have tons of time to peak when it matters. With that said, this game is huge and i want to see how we respond.
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Unfortunately this team doesn't play best when they're desperate; they play best when the pressure's off and they can be loosey goosey. Right now, the pressure is definitely ON. I hope they change their stripes and react well to this situation.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Respectfully I would argue, shouldn't we have been desperate & dangerous last night after back-to-back losses?
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Kind of agree, but first you must bottom out, and a loss against that brutal squad last night qualifies. MU is a great team, no doubt top 3 in the nation.
 

WILLBGOPHER said:
Agreed. I think we will be desperate, and that makes us very dangerous.
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Won't Wisconsin also be desperate and dangerous? They are coming off two straight loses and certainly won't want to lose two in a row at home.

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
Won't Wisconsin also be desperate and dangerous? They are coming off two straight loses and certainly won't want to lose two in a row at home.

Go Gophers!!
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Agree! That is why i'm very curious to see how we respond at Wisky. We play well and win, things are looking good. We flop, and the red flags are at full staff.
 

Highly unlikely Minnesota wins on the road this Saturday. The team isn't mentally tough enough to pull this off based on the situation with the Badgers coming off a home loss.

After the Badgers the Gophers get their next two games at home against Nebraska and Iowa. Wins those home games and they will be 5-4 in conference which will give them a good shot at 9-9. 9-9 in the coference should be enough to get them into the NCAA tourney.
 

scools12 said:
Highly unlikely Minnesota wins on the road this Saturday. The team isn't mentally tough enough to pull this off based on the situation with the Badgers coming off a home loss.

After the Badgers the Gophers get their next two games at home against Nebraska and Iowa. Wins those home games and they will be 5-4 in conference which will give them a good shot at 9-9. 9-9n the coference should be enough to get them into the NCAA tourney.
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Sad that it has come to this.
 

Well, we lost one we should have won. Now just need to win one we aren't supposed to win. This team isn't talent-free, even if it is spine and brain-free.
 

From the Barn said:
Well, we lost one we should have won. Now just need to win one we aren't supposed to win. This team isn't talent-free, even if it is spine and brain-free.
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I wouldn't say spine-free. We've seen them react to tough situations in the past, and do it well. Brain-free? Absolutely. I've never seen a more pathetic display than that second half 1-3-1 offense. I don't think this team lacks heart, though. They were just poorly prepared by the coaching staff to break down a defense everybody knew they were going to see.
 

From the Barn said:
Well, we lost one we should have won. Now just need to win one we aren't supposed to win. This team isn't talent-free, even if it is spine and brain-free.
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What's vexing to me is that this team certainly wasn't spine-free come 2nd half in Bloomington, in an infinitely more hostile environment. They took that 1st half punch and fought to correct their poor play. Last night they just seemed resigned to the fate of losing to a far less talented team once they lost the lead.
 

If this team has any respect for themselves and their fans, they will bring their very best basketball against Wisconsin. After two losses to teams who are very good, but where we did not show up for one half in each game, we lost to a horrendous basketball team. Don't lose to a rival playing without a bad player in a bad year.
 

Mentality tough is the missing link.

Teams in the B1G I've watched this year that have it whether home, or on the road. MSU, tOSU, Michigan, Indiana, and yes Wisconsin. Talent wise, Wisconsin is the lesser of the other four. Coaches that rise above their talent level to get wins. Painter at Purdue and Carmody at Northwestern. Teams with talent, but can be head cases. Minnesota and Illinois. Teams just plain void of talent. Nebraska and
Penn State. So in the grand scheme of things, how does this shake out for the Gophers? I thought the Illinois game hoodwinked many of the Gopher fans. The Illini since then has still been in a Bruce Weber funk. ( fragile ) Some fans will say
the reason we've dropped the last two is that Rodney and Coleman have been banged up. If you saw Rodney's flush dunk and Coleman running and cutting, I would think you could take that out of the equation. I have a great concern that this team loses focus and has gaps of where they play " donkey basketball " our bench has dissolved down to Welch and Ingram. The key for the Gophers to make the Dance is Rodney Williams. He has gone south since the start of the B1G. Right
now he is totally ineffective from 5ft out. When Rodney does well offensively, he plays better and is more focused on defense. I'm hoping Dre just had one horrendous game. Bottom line. Rodney rebounds we go 11-7 or 10-8. If not,
sad to say, it might be back to the NIT. This team is very fragile right now.
 


I'm as frustrated about last night as anyone, but this thread is right on. We go out and beat Wisconsin and we split the road trip and head home to play Nebraska and Iowa. We could be back to 6-3 in the conference and be ranked around 15 still.

There are a lot of things we have to fix, but talking about the NIT right no is saying we only win 3 or 4 more conference games, lose out right away in the B1G tournament, and have all of our quality win opponents choke this year too. Doubt all of that will happen.
 

Gopher Bandanna Guy said:
What's vexing to me is that this team certainly wasn't spine-free come 2nd half in Bloomington, in an infinitely more hostile environment. They took that 1st half punch and fought to correct their poor play. Last night they just seemed resigned to the fate of losing to a far less talented team once they lost the lead.
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Bandana Guy- there is a huge difference in any sport between playing to win and playing not to lose. I think Tubby has his teams geared to play not to lose. When we fell way down to both Michigan and Indiana we started to play with desperation and abandon- playing to win. I think - come Big Ten time Tubby's teams play "tighter" because of his attitude about controlling the game and his poor communication style. (He's a really bad communicator) It's been said in the past that the best players that Tubby has had have had the confidence and the guts to just ignore him during the game.
 

bga1 said:
It's been said in the past that the best players that Tubby has had have had the confidence and the guts to just ignore him during the game.
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Interesting take. And one I won't discount. If any of the underclassmen were to develop this in-game 'Tubby-filter', I'd guess it would be Coleman.
 

Westbrook

Lawrence Westbrook comes to mind, and he got beat up pretty good here on GopherHole. I liked him because he was fearless, had some attitude (something this program usually lacks), and wasn't afraid to seek (and take) the big shot. Not a passive player or personality. I liked that.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Lawrence Westbrook comes to mind, and he got beat up pretty good here on GopherHole. I liked him because he was fearless, had some attitude (something this program usually lacks), and wasn't afraid to seek (and take) the big shot. Not a passive player or personality. I liked that.
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He may have been wiling to take the big shot, but he was dumb as a post. He ranks up there as one of my all-time most frustrating Gopher to watch.
 

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