Indiana Hoosiers @ Minnesota Golden Gophers GameThread, Feb 20, 2010 7:00 PM CST

Gophers look to avenger earlier loss to Hoosiers - Open Thread

by GopherNation on Feb 20, 2010 5:00 PM CST in Gopher Basketball Comment 11 comments

Indiana Hoosiers at Minnesota Golden Gophers, Feb 20, 2010 7:00 PM CST

After beating Wisconsin on Thursday the Gophers are given exactly one day to rest before hosting Indiana. What was once considered a sure win now is not so certain. Indiana knocked off Minnesota in an overtime game back in mid-January. This was the loss that really started the tailspin we witnessed for the last month.

Hopefully the Wisconsin win is a catalyst and today's pending Indian win will get us on a winning streak as we next face Purdue and Illinois. I know we all have been rather down on this 2010 version of Gopher basketball but amazingly a win today gets us back to .500 in the Big Ten.

I'm nervous about...

Verdell Jones. The once "almost Gopher" had 24 points and this time around our perimeter defense isn't what it was back on Jan 17th.

What I'm confident about...

Rebounding Call me crazy for being confident about this (IU outrebounded us by 11 last time around) but I expect to see the "big lineup" again and we destroyed the Badgers on the glass

I think the Gophers win this, win it comfortably and we start gaining some confidence.

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Chances?

Well, our RPI still sucks (76 according to RealTimeRPI) but I wonder if a winning streak and a trip to the B10 Championship Tourney game would give us a look for the big dance. Anybody else think it is possible with an extremely strong stretch run?

by Voodoo Dantley on Feb 20, 2010 7:09 PM CST reply actions

If we beat Purdue

I think our chances are actually pretty good. Even if we lose at Illinois, we would still go 10-8 in big ten play. Wisconsin went 10-8 last year and lost in the first round of the big ten tourney, but still made it in.

by mnbrewer on Feb 20, 2010 8:27 PM CST up reply actions

I dunno...

I like the optimism, but Wisconsin last year had an RPI of 45 and SOS of 16. We have a 76 RPI and 45 SOS without many quality wins, so I’m thinking they’ll be looking for a lot from this stretch run to and including the conference tourney.

by Voodoo Dantley on Feb 20, 2010 9:27 PM CST up reply actions

Yeah maybe you're right

we also can’t count on nearly as much respect from the selection committee as Wisconsin seems to get every year… I’m still holding out hope that we’ll win out, though.

by mnbrewer on Feb 21, 2010 5:05 AM CST up reply actions

No Iverson...

…in the starring lineup. Damn.
What is Tubby thinking, small vs. small? I’m assuming he’ll have Colton first off the bench.

by Voodoo Dantley on Feb 20, 2010 7:11 PM CST reply actions

chances?

We’d still need a win or two in B10 tourney. Our RPI is low, last year Wisconsin had an RPI around 45, ours will not be that good. A couple losses that we should not have had that will kill us.

We are taking care of business tonight though.

what you say here can, and will, be used against you

by GopherNation on Feb 20, 2010 8:31 PM CST reply actions

nice

Good game. Good intensity led bt damian. Nice to see Bryant allen? And was this the most lopsided big ten win in the tubby era?

Maroon and Gold Headquarters: The Daily Gopher

by PJS on Feb 20, 2010 9:27 PM CST via mobile reply actions

I saw an interesting T-shirt on the TV

A young kid was wearing it behind the Minnesota bench while eating and ice cream. It said:
“The Greatest Comeback In Minnesota History”
I was wondering if it was referring to this year’s hope for comeback to get to the NCAA tourney. Anyone else see it and know what it’s referring to?

by COJOMAY on Feb 20, 2010 10:01 PM CST reply actions

I think it was about the football stadium coming back to campus

But I didn’t see the shirt specifically. I know of plenty of shirts about the stadium that have basically the same saying, though.

Kill, maim, pillage, burn! Kill, maim, pillage, burn! Eat babies! Badger babies!

by Felix on Feb 20, 2010 10:18 PM CST up reply actions

We are playing good team BB

Finally started playing like a team the last 2 games, passing the ball, moving when you don’t have the ball to get open, and setting screens for teammates. I think we have made up for the loss of Nolen’s defensive presence with an improvement offensively. We have more scorer’s on the floor.

It’s looking like Tubby has finally settled on about an 8 man rotation, although everyone saw action due to the lopsided score. Our offense seems to have more flow now. In the last 2 games now we haven’t had that 5-8 minute scoring drought that we had seen for so much of the season.
I am also happy to see Tubby has stopped the full court pressure, it was wearing our guards out and we aren’t deep enough to do that now.

I’m loving the Big line-ups, we are dominating the scoring in the paint.

by Narby on Feb 21, 2010 9:51 AM CST reply actions

agreed

I loved the switch to the 3-2 zone to use RSIII and DJ’s long arms and shot blocking. Plus, now that they are defending that way, maybe they can actually play effectively against it.

by TheEvilProfessor on Feb 21, 2010 10:56 AM CST up reply actions