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Golden Nugz - 3.16.10
by GopherNation on Mar 16, 2010 9:31 AM CDT
in Golden Nuggets
3 comments
Let's take a break from Gopher basketball for a few minutes.
Gopher Baseball is continuing to struggle in this early season. This past weekend the Gophers hosted the Metrodome Tournament. Game One was a game owned by Seth Rosin. The Gophers cruised to a 7-1 win over Harvard behind Rosin's 12 Ks. But game two and game three were losses to Creighton and South Dakota State. The 1-2 weekend puts the Gophers at 5-7 overall. Up next is a trip to Alabama for two games with the Crimson Tide, beginning today, and then they stay in the state to face Samford for four games.
Gopher Hockey's season is finished after losing their first round WCHA playoff matchup with North Dakota. The Gophers battled back to even the three-game series with a win on Saturday. But fell in game three 4-1 on Sunday to end their season. If I were you, I'd check out Gopher Puck Live for detailed reactions to the loss and the season.
- Gopher Hoops is taking the bus to Milwaukee. Now if they were serious about saving money, they'd take MegaBus. But this isn't a bad move in the current economic environment we live.
- The Evansville Courier and Press isn't all that impressed with the Big Ten's (not so) Fab Five in the tournament. But the highlight of the article is the nugget that Illinois is not hosting an NIT game because Cirque du Soleil is booked on their home court. What does Bruce Weber think about all of this? "It would be an understatement to say it's been a tough day," Weber said on Sunday night. "I don't think we have anyone to blame except ourselves."
- Basketball Prospectus is always very insightful and this article on the firing of Lickliter is no exception. The decline of Iowa basketball can directly be traced to the Northwestern State upset in the 2006 NCAA Tournament. A year later Alford left, Lickliter was hired, several kids transferred and the program has been in steady decline since.
- More thoughts on the Xavier v Minnesota matchup from the Cincinnati Enquirer.
- Oh, and Seantrel Henderson is going to sign with USC this week according to his father. OR they just haven't been in the headlines lately and need to get more stories published about SH.
- Once again, come back here to watch all out of market games on Thursday through Sunday. NCNCAA March Madness on Demand will be embedded and easy for you to watch as you comment in the daily open threads we'll be having. I know I'm linking to it every day, but I want everyone to see it.
3 comments | 0 recs |
Iowa Fires Lickliter
That didn't last long. Anyone have any thoughts about the Todd Lickliter era other than it was nice whipping up on the Hawkeyes? Meanwhile, Steve Alford has his team in the Dance with a 3 seed. Ouch.
1 day ago
PJS
8 comments
0 recs
Initial Reactions to the NCAA Tournament
by GopherNation on Mar 15, 2010 12:24 PM CDT
in Gopher Basketball
8 comments
West Region
Milwaukee pod - Bradley Center
Friday game
11:35 AM tipoff
Limited ticket information HERE (only season tickets holders need apply)
The Golden Gophers were awarded one of the last remaining at-large bids into the 2010 NCAA Tournament. This roller-coaster season saw us ranked, then unranked, in the tournament, then out, then on the bubble, then out of the picture, then back on the bubble and finally back in. When all was said and done the Gophers played their way into the tournament by finishing 7-3 in their last 10 games beating Illinois, Wisconsin, Purdue and Michigan State along the way. So what is our NCAA Tournament destination? An 11 seed, a trip to beautiful Milwaukee and a first round game and a matchup with the Muskateers of Xavier. Here are my initial impressions...
- Xavier - pronounced (zay-vee-ur ), do not try to put an X sound in there.
- The first name to remember - Jordan Crawford. Former Indiana guard who transferred after the Sampson debacle. Crawford averages just under 20 ppg! As a freshman at IU he averaged 9.7 ppg and averaged 11.5 ppg against Minnesota that year. He is 6-4 and shoots 39% from the three-point line. Crawford led the A10 in scoring and was named to the league's 1st team All-Conference.
- The next name to remember - Jason Love. Love is the man in the middle for Xavier and expect this wide-body to be a very physical presence. He averages 11.9 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, but what concerns me most is the fact that Love is 6-9 and 265 pounds! Our big men do not typically play great against big, physical centers. Earned third team All-Conference.
- Xavier is very balanced. According to KenPom stats this team ranks in the top 50 in Off points per possession, Def points per possession, effective FG%, defensive effective FG% and defensive rebounding. So they play good defense, execute efficiently on offense and they rebound well. Sounds like a very good tournament team.
- Xavier is experienced. Actually they have only one senior on the team but this is their fifth straight NCAA Tournament so do not expect the Atlantic 10 member to be in awe of the NCAA Tournament.
- Xavier is also close to Milwaukee. The Muskateers are located in Cincinnati which is about a 6 hour driver. Their alumni base is not as large as Minnesota's but they should travel well and be well represented.
- Common Opponents this year? Butler is the only common opponent. Xavier lost on the road by a point, we won on a neutral court by 9.
- I love that we are playing in Milwaukee. Gopher fans should turn out in full force to support this gutsy team.
Worthy links to get started with your Xavier prep.
- Cincinnati Enquirer's initial thoughts.
- SB Nation's West bracket preview.
- Burnt Orange Nation gives you the KenPom rankings of all 65 teams.
DON'T FORGET - Beginning Thursday you can come to TDG and watch live games with NCAA® March Madness on Demand®">CBS's MMOD widget, which will be embedded here. For those of you stuck at work Friday afternoon, come here to watch the game and comment all at the same time.
8 comments | 0 recs |
TDG's Bracket Challenge
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PASSWORD is - "tubby"
Nobody pick the Gophers, I'm going to pick that one!
1 day ago
GopherNation
6 comments
0 recs
One Game Short, But Two Steps Forward
by PJS on Mar 15, 2010 9:30 AM CDT
5 comments
The Gophers played 7 great halves of basketball in the Big Ten Tournament, but in the second half of the championship game against Ohio State, Minnesota had nothing left. But don't take anything away from what this team accomplished in four days in Indianapolis. They rocked Penn State, finally bested MIchigan Stated, humiliated Purdue, and made it to the conference final. All of that earned the Gophers an 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
In the second half against Ohio State Sunday afternoon, the team's usually stingy defense let up. Shots weren't being contested. Feet were dragging. The result was a tremendous Ohio State spurt that allowed them to take a 33-30 halftime lead and a 44-40 lead early in the second half and run way out to a lopsided Big Ten Tournament title. Evan Turner was tremendous and is clearly the best all around player in the country. Turner had 31, 11 and 6. For Big Ten fans not living in Ohio, it will be nice when he's playing in the NBA next year. Turner wasn't alone during Ohio State's run. David Lighty took over for a critical stretch. And it seemed like William Buford and Jon Diebler couldn't miss.
As a team, Ohio State didn't miss often. They shot almost 58 percent.
The Gophers were able to stem the tide a couple of times, but eventually Minnesota just didn't have an answer. They didn't help themselves by missing quite a few shots in the paint and a few open looks from the outside. Minnesota was also relatively careless with the basketball at times.
But one bad half shouldn't cloud the tremendous play from this team this weekend.
For three and a half games, it was clear this team has finally found an identity. The Gophers will fight you on the boards, pound the ball inside to two big men and hit the open three if you collapse down low. It took two seasons with Colton Iverson and Ralph Sampson III, but finally this weekend it looked like the team has embraced an inside-out approach to scoring the basketball.
Iverson's play in particular was stellar. Sampson had his moments, and is a very nice passer from the high-post. And Damian Johnson and Paul Carter were also able to score with their back to the baskets. All around nice weekend offensively from the big men.
And Devoe Joseph deserves some praise for his performance over the weekend. It wasn't until the overtime against MIchigan State that this Canadian kid has demonstrated he could carry a Big Ten team. Staring at Kalin Lucas, who has beaten the Gophers down the stretch before, It was Joseph who proved he could make the clutch shots in big games. That was great to see.
Another guard, Lawrence Westbrook, also deserves some applause. I know Minnesota fans like to rag on the senior, but Westbrook mostly played within himself, didn't force shots and seemed committed--and very good in stretches--on the defensive end.
This team went into Indianapolis wanting respect, after the team was snubbed by the conference's coaches. They went a long way to earning some of the respect they wanted. But they can take another step or two forward starting Friday afternoon in Milwaukee when they face sixth seeded Xavier. It hasn't been that this team has lacked talent. It's been a lack of consistency that kept Minnesota on the bubble for most of the season. For three nights in Indianapolis, the Gophers demonstrated continued excellence. If they want to be a respected team heading into next year, they'll take that same poise and determination into the NCAA Tournament.
5 comments | 0 recs
Golden Gophers vs. the NCAA Selection Committee - OPEN THREAD
by GopherNation on Mar 14, 2010 4:21 PM CDT
in Gopher Basketball
93 comments
Here is your chance to talk about our seed, our oppononent or lack of a seed and opponent. We did an awful lot to play our way into the Tournament, but didn't grab the automatic bid. It was probably enough but we'll find out very soon.
93 comments | 0 recs |
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Big Ten Conference Standings
(updated 3.15.2010 at 12:34 AM CDT)
| Conf | Overall | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
Purdue Boilermakers
|
14 | 4 | 27 | 5 |
|
Ohio St. Buckeyes
|
14 | 4 | 27 | 7 |
|
Michigan St. Spartans
|
14 | 4 | 24 | 8 |
|
Wisconsin Badgers
|
13 | 5 | 23 | 8 |
|
Illinois Fighting Illini
|
10 | 8 | 19 | 14 |
|
Minnesota Golden Gophers
|
9 | 9 | 21 | 13 |
|
Northwestern Wildcats
|
7 | 11 | 20 | 13 |
|
Michigan Wolverines
|
7 | 11 | 15 | 17 |
|
Indiana Hoosiers
|
4 | 14 | 10 | 21 |
|
Iowa Hawkeyes
|
4 | 14 | 10 | 22 |
|
Penn St. Nittany Lions
|
3 | 15 | 11 | 20 |
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