Yesterday was Gophers season in a "nut"shell

[SelectionSunday]

Unless I'm forgetting one, the Gophers have had 5 games that have been taut, down to the wire nut crunchers. They've only won one of those games. 3 of them they were games they absolutely win if they simply make one play, one stop, 1 basket, 1 free throw, 1 less turnover at the end of the game.

@ Purdue in 2 OT (think we lost a 5-point lead in the last 30 seconds?)

@ Ohio State (the only win in the bunch)

Iowa (barf gag)

Maryland (double dog barf gag)

@ Wisconsin (up 4 with 1:50 to go, so this wasn't a complete pratfall, but several "losing" things lead to the heartbreak. With Gophers up 1 Alihan misses 2 FTs coming out of a timeout then immediately followed by Wisconsin coming down & hitting a 3. That's a total momentum changer. Up 1, Isaiah gets burned on D, Badgers get easy bucket. Carr misses 2 FTs.) Gophers have a chance to salvage "something" out of this frustrating season, sweep the Badgers & derail their Big Ten title hopes, but of course we don't do it, and now Badgers appear primed to get a share of the title. So that's another punch in the gut.

Is it humanly possible to have any more soul-crushing losses this season?

 

[BleedGopher]

Unless I'm forgetting one, the Gophers have had 5 games that have been taut, down to the wire nut crunchers. They've only won one of those games. 3 of them they were games they absolutely win if they simply make one play, one stop, 1 basket, 1 free throw, 1 less turnover at the end of the game.

@ Purdue in 2 OT (think we lost a 5-point lead in the last 30 seconds?)

@ Ohio State (the only win in the bunch)

Iowa (barf gag)

Maryland (double dog barf gag)

@ Wisconsin (up 4 with 1:50 to go, so this wasn't a complete pratfall, but several "losing" things lead to the heartbreak. With Gophers up 1 Alihan misses 2 FTs coming out of a timeout then immediately followed by Wisconsin coming down & hitting a 3. That's a total momentum changer. Up 1, Isaiah gets burned on D, Badgers get easy bucket. Carr misses 2 FTs.) Gophers have a chance to salvage "something" out of this frustrating season, sweep the Badgers & derail their Big Ten title hopes, but of course we don't do it, and now Badgers appear primed to get a share of the title. So that's another punch in the gut.

Is it humanly possible to have any more soul-crushing losses this season?

I don't want to know the answer to this question.

Go Gophers!!

 

[bga1]

Unless I'm forgetting one, the Gophers have had 5 games that have been taut, down to the wire nut crunchers. They've only won one of those games. 3 of them they were games they absolutely win if they simply make one play, one stop, 1 basket, 1 free throw, 1 less turnover at the end of the game.

@ Purdue in 2 OT (think we lost a 5-point lead in the last 30 seconds?)

@ Ohio State (the only win in the bunch)

Iowa (barf gag)

Maryland (double dog barf gag)

@ Wisconsin (up 4 with 1:50 to go, so this wasn't a complete pratfall, but several "losing" things lead to the heartbreak. With Gophers up 1 Alihan misses 2 FTs coming out of a timeout then immediately followed by Wisconsin coming down & hitting a 3. That's a total momentum changer. Up 1, Isaiah gets burned on D, Badgers get easy bucket. Carr misses 2 FTs.) Gophers have a chance to salvage "something" out of this frustrating season, sweep the Badgers & derail their Big Ten title hopes, but of course we don't do it, and now Badgers appear primed to get a share of the title. So that's another punch in the gut.

Is it humanly possible to have any more soul-crushing losses this season?

Probably not. Then there is the unreal sequence where there was a loose ball which we chased up court Kalscheur seemed to have it, then lost it and then Carr is after it at midcourt and if he is able to snare it - he has a breakaway lay in and we are up 4. Instead the ball goes the other way, Pritzl is standing down in the corner the recipient of a wide open three and we are down one with 56 seconds left. The ball has bounced the wrong way for us all year.

 

[GopherOhana]

No clutch. Talent often comes through under pressure, lack of talent gets exposed under pressure.
curious if anyone has the ft percentage of the front ends of 1 and 1s for our gophers this season

 

[ltf]

Excruciating losses. We could so easily have a record which would put us more toward the top of the league.

 

[SelectionSunday]

Probably not. Then there is the unreal sequence where there was a loose ball which we chased up court Kalscheur seemed to have it, then lost it and then Carr is after it at midcourt and if he is able to snare it - he has a breakaway lay in and we are up 4. Instead the ball goes the other way, Pritzl is standing down in the corner the recipient of a wide open three and we are down one with 56 seconds left. The ball has bounced the wrong way for us all year.

That's one I forgot. So many things down the stretch they do wrong, or go wrong. Sigh.

 

[Ope3]

That's one I forgot. So many things down the stretch they do wrong, or go wrong. Sigh.

While they were behind for most of the DePaul game, the Gophers did cut the lead to 3 and had the ball with 10 seconds left.

 

[Mile High Gopher]

Yeah....these games have been brutal. Comes down to hitting shots. During the last 2 games Ihnen had wide open 3's that would have been huge in the last minute or 2 but missed both. In both cases, Pritzl and Morsell come down and hit their 3s. I love what Isiah brings to this team, he works his tail off and has the skill to match.....just needs a bit of time. This makes you wonder....is this a result waiting so long to give him meaningful minutes?? For me, toughest set of losses in a long time.

 

[scools12]

Probably not. Then there is the unreal sequence where there was a loose ball which we chased up court Kalscheur seemed to have it, then lost it and then Carr is after it at midcourt and if he is able to snare it - he has a breakaway lay in and we are up 4. Instead the ball goes the other way, Pritzl is standing down in the corner the recipient of a wide open three and we are down one with 56 seconds left. The ball has bounced the wrong way for us all year.

There is a lot more to the loses other than unlucky bounces of the ball.

 

[bga1]

Yeah....these games have been brutal. Comes down to hitting shots. During the last 2 games Ihnen had wide open 3's that would have been huge in the last minute or 2 but missed both. In both cases, Pritzl and Morsell come down and hit their 3s. I love what Isiah brings to this team, he works his tail off and has the skill to match.....just needs a bit of time. This makes you wonder....is this a result waiting so long to give him meaningful minutes?? For me, toughest set of losses in a long time.

I am a big Ihnen fan but when he was on the floor earlier in the year, he was lost on defense all the time. I think he had a pretty bad +/-. Now he is pretty good on D with those long arms, although he got burned late in the Wisky game on the baseline.

 

[bga1]

There is a lot more to the loses other than some unlucky bounces of the ball.

No doubt, there are the missed clutch shots and free throws as well - paired with the other teams making 30 footers as needed.

 

[GopherGold]

I like to compare these tough loses to football.

WHAT IF the football team dropped those close nonconference games. Football would be different.
WHAT IF basketball won those games. Again, we'd be singing a different tune.

 

[Bad Gopher]

Probably not. Then there is the unreal sequence where there was a loose ball which we chased up court Kalscheur seemed to have it, then lost it and then Carr is after it at midcourt and if he is able to snare it - he has a breakaway lay in and we are up 4. Instead the ball goes the other way, Pritzl is standing down in the corner the recipient of a wide open three and we are down one with 56 seconds left. The ball has bounced the wrong way for us all year.

More ifs and buts. It was a 50/50 ball, and the team that wanted it more got it.

 

[Otis]

Missing free throws out of a time out is inexcusable for an athletically challenged player.

 

[tikited]

Unless I'm forgetting one, the Gophers have had 5 games that have been taut, down to the wire nut crunchers. They've only won one of those games. 3 of them they were games they absolutely win if they simply make one play, one stop, 1 basket, 1 free throw, 1 less turnover at the end of the game.

@ Purdue in 2 OT (think we lost a 5-point lead in the last 30 seconds?)

@ Ohio State (the only win in the bunch)

Iowa (barf gag)

Maryland (double dog barf gag)

@ Wisconsin (up 4 with 1:50 to go, so this wasn't a complete pratfall, but several "losing" things lead to the heartbreak. With Gophers up 1 Alihan misses 2 FTs coming out of a timeout then immediately followed by Wisconsin coming down & hitting a 3. That's a total momentum changer. Up 1, Isaiah gets burned on D, Badgers get easy bucket. Carr misses 2 FTs.) Gophers have a chance to salvage "something" out of this frustrating season, sweep the Badgers & derail their Big Ten title hopes, but of course we don't do it, and now Badgers appear primed to get a share of the title. So that's another punch in the gut.

Is it humanly possible to have any more soul-crushing losses this season?

Losing to Nebraska at home?

 

[Gophers7633]

It's been brutal the last couple of weeks.

 

[cncmin]

I like to compare these tough loses to football.

WHAT IF the football team dropped those close nonconference games. Football would be different.
WHAT IF basketball won those games. Again, we'd be singing a different tune.

Indeed. Very often they ride on the ability of the players to simply execute (e.g., end of Fresno or GS FB games vs. end of Iowa/MD/WI BB games), and coaching careers ride on these thin lines. If the Gophers pull out all of the close games, they are pushing for a top-half seed in the Tournament. Instead, they have lost a slew of winnable games, both at home and on the road; and the coach will likely be fired for such.

 

[cncmin]

No doubt, there are the missed clutch shots and free throws as well - paired with the other teams making 30 footers as needed.

Yes. And don't forget the calls/no-calls to boot, which played heavily in a few of those L's too.

 

[skiumah1]

No clutch. Talent often comes through under pressure, lack of talent gets exposed under pressure.
curious if anyone has the ft percentage of the front ends of 1 and 1s for our gophers this season

I would argue that talent gets you at the level to compete and have close games with good teams, coaching needs to take over in the final 2-5 to put kids in position and keep them calm and collected. Thought that was better against Wisconsin. At least we got the ball to Oturu down the stretch.