Minnesota's Slide Continues As Michigan Wins
by PJS on Feb 20, 2009 7:25 AM CST
in Gopher Basketball
Email
PrintI got home at around 11 p.m. last night and had every intention of watching the game on replay, but then I saw the score scroll by the the 4-letter and my heart sank. Seeing that Michigan had one, I had little energy to battle a long day and stay up for the game.
So, without seeing the game myself, I leave it up to you. What did you see? Was it the same old Gophers--turnover prone, lacking energy and an offensive game plan?
By looking at the boxscore, Paul Carter must have started. How did that go?
Feel free to comment or write a fanpost. I'm quite hesitant to write a critical game review of a game I haven't seen!
Happy Friday.
11 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
good golly that was disgusting
I thought the Carter start was a positive move. The first 10 min we played fine, I was particularly impressed with how well we moved the ball on offense against that Michigan 1-3-1. The problem last night was the defense.
This was a perfect example of an offensive system that when executed generated shots for the offense. Way too often the Gopher defenders had to decide between helping on penetration or leaving their man wide open outside. OR we’d be pressuring the perimeter so hard that we were susceptible to the back-cut. Michigan went on a huge run draining threes, then they back-cut us to death then the threes were open again.
Johnson, Carter and Joseph played with some energy, Nolen struggled and Westbrook never arrived in Ann Arbor.
what you say here can, and will, be used against you
Have to agree
You can’t win when you give up 40 in a half and only average about 60-65 yourself. Too many open looks when a team penetrates and dishes it out (for what its worth – I think the few times we penetrate other teams stay on Hoffarber and Joseph for the most part). On offense they started out well and had crisp passes – especially into the middle of the 1-3-1, but later on they got lazy with their passes again. I’d run the team extra for every sloppy pass thrown, whether it is a lazy lob or one of those over the top passes. Find an angle and make a quality crisp pass.
I think they’ve fallen in love with the blocked shot and steal stats and have stopped playing fundamental defense. They collapse inside without thinking about who they are leaving open. And they’ve stopped switching up their defenses, certainly at least as much as they did earlier in the season.
Maybe Westbrook should come off of the bench instead of Joseph… He’s becoming like Rashad McCants – he can score 30 but he can look lost out there as well and disappear. And Nolen has to be confident in shooting inside (he made his first one early but then was a non-factor)… If you can’t shoot the 3, and won’t shoot the 2, teams have no reason to guard you and that makes it harder for everyone else.
The only bright spot last night...
…was Joseph. He was hitting 3 pointers again. This kid is the best player on the team by far.
Defense lost us this game pure and simple. We started off well on offense, moving the ball inside and hung with Michigan for almost 10 minutes. Then we went back to the same old style of moving the ball on the outside and then having to throw up some desperation shots as the clock ran down.
Broken Record
It was like Groundhog Day. If you saw the Michigan State, OSU, Penn State, etc……
We have one player that can shoot 3’s right now (Joseph) and our perimeter defense is terrible. We were 5 for 21 on three’s and they were 13 of 28 or something. I lost count, but they had several players that were draining them.
It was over by halftime. I don’t understand how our guards can’t get the ball inside, we can’t make that pass…..and on the rare occasion that we do get it inside Sampson or Iverson can’t catch the ball. This team is not worth watching, you are lucky you couldn’t see it.
Actually, I thought the offense was much better
Our offense did, indeed, look better. Guys were moving more, we were passing with some intent, and driving to create space and break down defenders. Unfortunately, our shots just didn’t fall like Michigan’s did in the first half—in particular from beyond the arc. They hit eight more three pointers than we did. If those had been two pointers, it would have been a much closer game.
We also turned the ball over less than we have in a while. Just 12 turnovers and 15 assists.
The biggest disappointment was defense. Not just our perimeter defense, but our transition defense. Every time Michigan got a rebound, they were looking up court for an outlet and the Gophers were lazy getting back on defense leading to way too many easy baskets and wide open threes.
We lost because of three main things: We played like we didn’t know Michigan was going to shoot threes all day. We didn’t get back on defense during transition. And Michigan just looked more athletic than us. It really just looked like the team was not well prepared for this game and what Michigan would do.
Honestly....
I’ve lost interest. Kinda lame I know but I typically only watch college basketball during the Tourney so the fact that I was engaged was a turnaround.
Right now this team is a first round loss in the NIT.
Visit my D2 Baseball Blog - Northern Sun Baseball
Not so fast....
….Minnesota will be a home team in the first round of the NIT. That counts for something when Sam Houston State comes to town.
where are the fans?
Yeah, the last five games have been horrible to watch, but this team is still going to make it to the tournament and there’s still a chance to end on a high note. Regression has occurred somewhat but maybe the expectations were too high and the conference as a whole is just incredibly solid. The team is still an improvement from last year where we didn’t have a single win over a quality team (Indiana at the point we beat them was not a quality team). We have several quality wins over tournament teams and we have three more chances to beat tournament teams (tournament teams are those currently in Lunardi’s bracketology for lack of a better definition). Three of the four are at the Barn. Regardless of how poorly we’ve been playing there’s still plenty this Gopher team can do to turn it around. Plus there’s always the Big Ten Tournament which I guarentee will feature a champion with a 3 seed or lower.
Come on GOPHER FANS, this is still Tubby Smith we’re talking about and all he does when he gets to the tournament is make the sweet sixteen.
I agree
Not all is lost yet. We are probably a #10-11 seed right now. We have more home games coming up and a conference tournament. Half glass full.
Unfortunately, we haven’t show a whole lot to make us believe things will get better. When we win, we are squeaking by. When we lose, we are run out of the gym. Half glass empty.
I still think there is a lot to play for and good reason to keep supporting the team.
Gophers Have Struggled Since 1st Half At NWW (Except Illinois Game)
Minnesota has played subpar basketball the past 5 weeks for the most part.
The Gophers need to turn it around, starting today.
by FortyYearCatFan on Feb 22, 2009 8:45 AM CST reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
