Nice work!

The refs ALWAYS wear red at Kohl. Yet despite that the Gophers won. I had more fun reading the Badger comments about how the team played their worst game ever, the refs were on the Gopher’s side, how their floor leaders has been terrible all year, ect, ect, ect. The fact is, aside from that horrible stretch in the middle of the first half, the Gophers hung tight and in the end with a much more aggressive defense, they wore down the men from Madison and won the game.

Bostick and Carter are finally making huge impacts. Having them healthy and playing well means more minutes with talent and athleticism (also known as fewer min for Williams, JAS and Busch). This makes us SO MUCH better. Even with Nolen fouling out and DJ missing minutes we could survive because these guys are players who can defend, rebound and score.

I know we were down 10 most of the game but looking at the box score, were it not for free throws we should have been up much of the game. Wis was 21/26 during regulation while we shot 7/9. That is 14 points they got due to a combination of being more aggressive and poor reffing. But we out-shot them by 10%, turnvers and rebounds essentially equal. We played better than the score indicated.

Nolen played 12 min in the first half…Hughes had 0 points and 4 turnovers at halftime. Nolen barely played in the second…Hughes had 14 pts and just 2 turnovers. He is so good defensively. And conversely Joseph is pretty bad in 1-on-1 defense. He works hard but has terrible footwork, he is a freshman but it makes me really appreciate what Nolen brings.

Wisconsin fans are whining—well some of them—about officiating last night at the Madison paper. And then we also have some Wisconsin fans saying Bo Ryan lost to a better coach. Love it.

Have a read if you like.

I love Al Nolen and think he is great but it seems that we have played our best stretches of basketball without him. Devoe got us out to the big lead in the Ohio State game, he got us going in the Penn State game, and we didn’t turn around the Wisconsin game until he fouled out. I not saying anything about his playing time I just find it interesting

This has absolutely nothing to do with last night’s game, but I’m wondering if you are red-shirted your freshman year and transfer out to another school, do you still have to sit out for a year?

I predicted Nolen would have a bad game and the Gophers would lose big. Well, he didn’t have a good game with five fouls and his ZERO assists were very uncharacteristic. Overall, the team only had seven assists—I can’t believe we won with that stat line alone. His seven points and FIVE steals showed he still contributes even when he isn’t at his best.

I also predicted that Bostick and Carter wouldn’t repeat what they did against PSU. Obviously, I was wrong there. They were all over the place in the end of the second half and in overtime. That fast break started by a Carter steal, a pass to Bostick, and a return pass to Carter for the score was beautiful.

I still think that we have ourselves to blame and not the refs for initial poor play. I never understood the argument that the number of free throws for one team versus the other has to be even. Why do they have to be even? One team can just be in bad position offensively/defensively relative to the other team. I think that was more the case (not to mention the refs bailed us out a few times as well), and one of the biggest criticisms I have of the Gophers for this game. Nolen and Westbrook took some very bad shots and forced drives into the teeth of Wisconsin’s defense. This includes the highlight three point play by Westbrook in OT. That wasn’t a very good decision (one on three), it just happened to go in, but it was more luck than anything as he just threw the ball at the basket.

Other than the emergence of Bostick and Carter (for the second straight game which might lead to a trend), the other notable highlight was our free throw shooting. DJ calmly nailed two near the end of regulation and Westbrook hit everything down the stretch. We were 15-18 from the line. That is what we are going to need come tournament time to win close games.

Also, why did Wisconsin not even bother trying a half court shot at the end of regulation? They had two full seconds. Were they that scared of turning the ball over again? That was very telling of how overtime was going to go—Wisconsin was rattled and playing scared.

Now we just need to keep focus and take care of business against Northwestern—they aren’t going to roll over for us on their home court. 4-1 does feel great, though.

I can find a video of Tubby’s press conference after the Wisconsin game. I’ve check the BTN, Gopher Hole and U of M site but I can’t find any there.

OK, so what does it say that Blake is running the point over Devoe and Westbrook in a tight OT game? Blake was O-fer on 3’s and yet he is handling the ball when it matters and when Nolen is out. There must be a ginormous amount of trust on Tubby’s part even when Blake is shooting poorly. I hope he comes around; he and Bostick as the 3pt assaisns could be deadly.

Also,

I also predicted that Bostick and Carter wouldn’t repeat what they did against PSU. Obviously, I was wrong there. They were all over the place in the end of the second half and in overtime. That fast break started by a Carter steal, a pass to Bostick, and a return pass to Carter for the score was beautiful.

I know, I almost shed a tear, god was that awsome. Bostick’s dunk in OT was great too!

Love the JUCOs!

once the gophers went small in the second half the game turned around. Also, once the gophers continuously went to their dribble hand-off weave with their small line-up the slower badgers were exposed. Tubby out-coached Bo Bo.

ESPN’s College Gamenight show at 11:30CST last night? The question was asked if MN was a tournament team and they basically all said that they still have a lot to prove. They pointed to our weak non-conference schedule and said that they looked bad against Iowa. They said that even if we went 7-6 over our final 13 games we wouldn’t likely get in. I know we played quite a few patsy’s this year, but you would think that we would get a little respect for not losing any of them. If people look at some of the small schools that we have played, a lot of them are actually decent teams (NDSU, Cornell, etc.). Does a loss to a big name school do more for your tourney resume than a win vs a team like NDSU?

This Wisconsin game reminded me of the Indiana game in Bloomington in 1997. I don’t think this was as big of a comeback, but still an impressive win on the road. I believe Sam Jacobson mistakingly fouled out in that game, came back and ended up leading the gophers back from a 9 point deficit with something like a minute left in regulation.