Another missed opportunity for the Gophers to get a big resume boosting win. Not that we have missed on every opportunity, we did beat Illinois and won at Indiana, but the list of missed opportunities is growing.

They could have and should have won at Illinois with a couple late free throws. They never should have lost to Iowa (twice). Had a chance to win at Michigan down one with 1:04 left. And had the opportunity to win last night's game over Wisconsin on your home floor but came up short. In every one of those games the Gophers had the ball with under a minute remaining and an opportunity to tie or win the game. We haven't missed on every opportunity but it certainly feels like it.

Last night the Badgers rode a first half of hot shooting that they eventually expanded to 13 in the second. But then a combination of increased Gopher defensive pressure, the Badgers finally missing their end of shot-clock prayers and Andre Hollins coming to life offensively carried the Gophers on a 15-2 run over the final 9 minutes of the half. That is the entire game in a nutshell.

Wisconsin's shooting from behind the arc through the first 30 minutes was an incredible 53% before finishing regulation 0-5 during the Gopher's run. 53% is really good but draining deep threes, with pressure as the shot-clock is expiring was just cruel. Eventually the law of averages played itself out but it is hard to battle back from down 13 against a very good defensive team.

Overall I thought the Gopher defensive pressure was pretty good. They occasionally employed a half-court trap to get the ball out of the hands of Jordan Taylor and to try to speed up the pace of the game and make Wisconsin a little uncomfortable. They kept their focus during long Badger possessions and were it not for a couple loose ball's that would trickle to a Badger shooter who would make a deep three as the shot-clock expired, they made some nice stops. Considering how much I have harped on the Gopher defense for most of the year, I thought last night they did a decent job of trying to keep Wisconsin off balance.

And finally we get to Andre Hollins who is finally starting to show signs of a bright basketball future. The freshman scored 11 points in the 15-2 run on his way to 20 for the night. He hit a couple big threes and he was the one responsible for guarding Jordan Taylor in the second half. Dre was willing to get physical with Taylor and never backed down from the senior point guard on either end of the floor. The true freshman has averaged over 11 points per game in his last four games and is starting to make me excited about his future as a Golden Gopher.

Tough game to lose and there are no consolation points for taking a ranked team to overtime only to lose. This team is missing that go-to scorer who can nail the dagger when you need a game finishing basket. It only gets harder from here as we host Ohio State on Tuesday and face a total of four ranked teams in the next five games. More opportunities are there to earn another big win, but the question is will the Gophers capitalize on these opportunities or will there be more close losses in our future?

The Gophers get to finish out the season with five home games in the final seven. Tonight is game one of this stretch and it is the first of the season against Wisconsin. The rivalry game is always a big one and it is one that would be a very nice resume boost for the Gophers who are clearly on the NCAA bubble and would like to stay there.

Game Time: 6:00
TV: ESPN

Believe it or not the Badgers have more kids from Minnesota than they do who played their high school ball in Wisconsin. Five of the 10 starters tonight will be local kids so the familiarity on the court should be significant. But this little nugget is really more interesting to fans than it is relevant to the outcome of the game. Is Jordan Taylor going to be "extra motivated" to beat his hometown Gophers tonight? Maybe, but it isn't like his lights us up every time he faces the Gophers. Overall he is 1-3 vs. Minnesota and has scored over 5 points only once in those four games. Bruesewitz and Berggren are both 1-1 against the Gophers being fortunate to miss the two losses in the 2008-09 season.

I don't know that dominating the Gophers is really what is going to motivate those guys. Getting a Big Ten road victory to keep their hopes of a Big Ten title alive should probably be more of a motivator.

The Gopher roster is frustratingly inconsistent. It was the starters who carried the team to a win at Indiana and it was the bench who sparked the win over Illinois. And both groups stunk at Iowa. It is hard to know what you are going to get out of this roster when each night it is someone new who may (or may not) step up.

Wisconsin's numbers defensively are really (REALLY) impressive. #2 in the country in points allowed per possession and #1 in defensive eFG%. It might be awfully hard for the Gopher offense to score tonight and it might be an ugly game where the bulk of our points come from the free throw line.

Defensively the Gopher's #1 priority is going to be getting out to the three-point line. Wisconsin gets 35% of their points from behind the arc which is 32nd in the country. As a point of reference the Gophers score only 22.4% of our points from three, ranking near the bottom of D1 basketball. But if we can get out and guard the three that might take the Badgers out of their offensive rhythm, allowing us to stay in the game.

The other key to the game, I think, will be rebounding. Wisconsin hasn't been hitting the offensive glass at a super high rate this year. Ralph and Rodney and the guards need to make sure that trend continues by ending possessions with a rebound. Keep offensive rebounds down, we will lose if we give them a number of second chances.

Scoring will be low and points will be hard to come by. Over the last few years this has been a good match-up for the Gophers and let's hope the trend continues at The Barn tonight.

There have not been very many bright spots this year for the Gopher basketball team. What began as a season of promise quickly vanished with the tear of a ligament in Trevor Mbakwe's knee. But as we get past the half-way point of the Big Ten season (and two-thirds of the way through the regular season), maybe there is some hope for the future and a glimmer of hope for this one yet. I do believe that we are watching the maturation of a couple freshman guards who could become key components if the Gopher basketball program is to have any significant success in the next few years.

Joe Coleman is having a very nice freshman season for the Gophers. He started out rather slow, earned himself a spot in the starting lineup and has blossomed into one of the leaders on the floor for the Golden Gophers. But not to be forgotten in Andre Hollins who has had a very different freshman season so far. He earned the starting PG job early but slowly saw his playing time diminish as he struggled at the start of Big Ten play but he too is starting to show signs of why he was Tennessee's Mr. Basketball and a reason for Gopher fans to be excited about the future.

Neither of these two are exactly lighting the Big Ten on fire but I do believe they are showing what they are capable of and they are going to be very good players for the next four years. I believe there is reason for backcourt optimism.

Let's start with Joe. The Hopkins product has really been a catalyst for some renewed enthusiasm for the 2011-12 team. After Mbakwe went down this team was really searching for an identity and some toughness. It took a while but once Coleman was inserted into the starting lineup he finally gave this team the toughness it was missing. Is he having a freshman season like say Cody Zeller of Indiana or Trey Burke at Michigan? No, but just because he isn't going to be considered for any national all-freshman teams doesn't mean that he isn't having an outstanding season that could be a portend of great things.

His freshman numbers are actually very good especially when compared to several other freshman guards in the Tubby Smith era. I compiled the stats for only the first 10 Big Ten games of Devoe Joseph, Austin Hollins, Chip Armelin and then this year's freshmen Andre Hollins and Joe Coleman (numbers are below the jump). This is obviously a very small sample size but I also think it is a fair comparison to get an idea of where Coleman and Hollins are at in their progress and how Tubby is using them compared to the rest on that list.

Joe's numbers jump out and dominate. He leads that group in scoring, rebounding, FG%, steals and minutes played. And the number that probably jumps off the page more than anything else is how many times he has gotten himself to the free throw line. He has used his aggressiveness to get to the line 55 times in 10 games. The other four guards combine for 36 free throw attempts! But this is the kind of contribution that was expected of Coleman if he was going to be given the opportunity. Coleman had this to say way back in October on the Gopher's public practice to open the season (whatever their Midnight Madness equivalent was called).

"I'm going to be an aggressor. I'm going to try to get to the line, get to the basket a lot and help my team anyway I can."

This he has done. Coleman is getting to the line, making his free throws and doing a number of other things very well to contribute to the Gophers getting back on track. If he is to continue to get better his three-point shooting will need to dramatically improve. But given his reported work ethic I actually expect this to improve with an offseason to focus on it. I am absolutely ecstatic to watch Coleman over the next four years as I think he will be an outstanding Gopher.

His backcourt mate is, of course, Andre Hollins. The Tennessee Mr. Basketball was given the starting PG job to start the season. After a minor injury and a period where he wasn't playing his best basketball he lost his starting spot. But to be fair he has still been relatively productive, enough to lead me to believe that he will still have a very nice Gopher career. Also from the season opening practice, Tubby had this to say about his freshman point guard.

"Very strong, very physical and he's a leading candidate to start for u sat the point guard spot. Can score, you know we really didn't have that last year, we didn't have a real scoring point guard."

I was a little surprised to see just how similar Dre's first 10 B1G game stats were to those of Devoe Joseph's. Both averaged 1.3 reb, 1.4 assists and turnovers were nearly identical. I kind of think these two are similar, yet different players. Hollins is more of a "get to the basket" kind of guy while Joseph is a better shooter. But both are in the mold of a scoring guard slash point guard.

Devoe had slightly more points and was a better three-point shooter. But Andre actually gets to the FT line and has slightly fewer turnovers. All to say that if we can start getting 12-14 ppg out of Hollins over the next few years, similar to the production that Joseph put out, then we'll all be pretty happy with him as a solid scoring option. Like Coleman, I expect his three-point shooting to improve. It will not get to the same level as Joseph, but Hollins will be a more complete player in my opinion.

The stats for all five players are at the bottom for your enjoyment. These numbers, to some extent, and watching both of them progress throughout the season lead me to believe that they are both going to be very good players. Both are talented enough to be all-conference caliber players but neither are quite good enough to be leaving early for the NBA. These are the kinds of kids you can build around and who can really lead a team in their upper-classmen years.

More quotes from Tubby at the beginning of the season.

"I can’t say enough about how committed and how dedicated those two guys are. They never missed anything. They never missed a class, a meeting, a workout."

"We only have 2 freshman and they're really very talent and they are men of character. Guys that are working extremely hard, they came in the summer and lifted and did all the things we asked him to"

"In tough times you have to have people that are going to be able to withstand a lot of distractions, can handle the peaks and the valleys. I thin men of character, people that come from backgrounds where they understand and they appreciated what they've accomplished and what's available to them at the U. And are committed and dedicated to doing things the right way. That's what I like about these guys, they are good people."

Those quotes were noteworthy enough that I saved them back in October and nothing I have seen to day leads me to believe that every word of it isn't true. Add to these two the toughness of Elliott Eliason and the shooting of Oto Oseneiks and you can start to see some of the puzzle pieces. More needs to be added, especially on the interior where we currently have no real scoring options as I look ahead. In fact if Mbakwe comes back, next year could be a very exciting season.

Now, here is where I try to reign in my enthusiasm. These guys are not there yet. They are not going to be named on any All-American lists before they are done (or it is VERY unlikely but you never know). There are plenty of things they need to work on. Both need to become better shooters, both need to work on their ball-handling and both need to get stronger as they prepare for 30+ minutes every night. But I am liking what I'm seeing and I think the future of the Gopher backcourt is in better shape than people are currently feeling.

stats I referenced...

Continue reading this post »

Can we avenge the loss to Iowa from early January? Since that loss the Gophers are 4-2 with a couple nice wins while Iowa has gone the other way going 1-5. Let's keep these trends going, shall we?

Game Time: 7:30
TV: BTN

I am more curious about the Gopher lineup than I am the opponent's tonight. Julian Welch was benched down the stretch of the Illinois game in favor of Andre Hollins. Was Tubby riding the hot hand or is Andre earning himself some more time? Elliason has an ankle injury which may or may not affect his PT, Tubby has said that Oto will play more and we'll "go small."

Can Rodney and Joe get going offensively tonight against one of the weaker defensive teams in the conference?

This Iowa team does not defend very well, they are OK at rebounding and they do not turn the ball over. But what those numbers don't show is that this team works pretty hard and at least when we played before they wanted the W more than we did.

Now I think that the Gophers are a completely different team than they were last time around, so I'm not that worried about tonight's game. I think we win and I think we win by double-digits. I sure hope my confidence pays off because this game has to be a win.

This is not a "must win" game but is absolutely is a "can't lose" game. If you want to make the NCAA Tournament you absolutely cannot be swept by Iowa. If you want to get taken seriously you win this game. Dropping one or two games to teams that you shouldn't will occasionally happen, but lightning cannot strike twice in this case.

Get the win!

So many great stories from this game that it is hard to know what to lead with. This was a huge win for the team and it's quest to make the NCAA Tournament. We may have finally seen the coming out party of Andre Hollins just a couple weeks after Joe Coleman graduated from being a freshman. But Austin Hollins single-handedly erasing a four point deficit (by scoring six points) with under 30 seconds to force overtime was about as exciting as it gets.

Fortunately when Hollins decided to take it to the rim with under 15 seconds, Meyers Leonard decided to foul him.

"He (Hollins) saw an opening and took it. He attacked the basket and attacked the rim. It came down to making those free throws and he did. The play originally was for him to take the three but he saw something different and that’s a part of the game of basketball."

Bruce Weber wasn't as impressed and it sounds like he was a little whiny.

"Right at the end, we switched out, and Austin Hollins goes to the basket. I’m thinking, 'Thank you,' and he goes to the basket and throws up a tough shot, and our kid gets called for a bump. It was a difficult basket, a difficult game to deal with. You battle the whole game, and you’re physical, and you get a little bump at the end, but he made the call and you gotta live with it, and we should have done better at other parts of the game."

Personally there were some blatant non-calls throughout the game. And that final play wasn't a body foul but Leonard clearly had his arms down and fouled Hollins.

That last play shouldn't really be the focus as there were some outstanding dunks, blocks and assists in this game. The problem for the BTN and ESPN tonight wasn't finding clips for the highlight real. Chip Armelin's assist to Oto Oseinicks on a first half two-on-one literally got me out of my seat. And Elliott Eliason's block of Meyer's Leonard got the Illini center's attention and was a momentum changer. And Andre Hollins was the Gopher floor leader in a crucial overtime for his team. And we know that Rodney Williams is an incredible dunker, but he had two incredible ones tonight.

Notice that most of these highlights were all bench players. In total the bench scored 39 of the 77 Minnesota points led by Chip Armelin's 14 points, 7 rebounds and Andre Hollins's 12. Elliott Eliason also played 25 critical minutes providing 5 points and 5 rebounds. This team is really coming together and getting better as the season is inching towards the one and done stage. I

At times this game was sloppy (30 total turnovers), it was poorly officiated, the Gophers blew a 10-point half time lead and I'm not sure which was worse the Gopher free throw shooting (63.6%) or the Illini three-point shooting (14.3%). But the late-game drama trumped all of it.

The game was exciting but ultimately this was another huge win for the Gophers and their quest for nine Big Ten wins. The magic number is now five. The team has finally gotten itself squarely back into the muddy-mediocre-middle of the Big Ten. Illinois may not be very happy to be there but after and 0-4 start to the Big Ten, you better believe the Gophers are. Huge win for the Gophers and now we are huge Illinois fans the rest of the season. But after three overtime sessions, I really hope we don't face them again this season.

The Gophers look to get back on track with a home win this evening over Illinois. Can they avenge the OT loss they suffered in the Big Ten opener?

TV: BTN
Game Time: 7:00

The Illini are not a very deep team. The eight names you see above are possibly going to be the only eight guys you see on the Barn floor tonight. The problem for the Gophers is that they are all very dangerous. Paul, Richardson and Leonard are about as good a trio as you will find. Maniscalco is capable of throwing in 20 and so is Bertrand, both have hit 15 or more on three different occasions this season. So they have a few guys who are very dangerous and then a few more guys who can punch you in the gut if you aren't paying attention to them.

But after beating Ohio State on the back of Brandon Paul, the Illini have lost two in a row. So they go back on the road hoping to avoid a third one. When they played earlier in the year Minnesota was a team still searching for an identity. I think they are a different team now with more confidence in what they do well. Should be a great game.

So we've got nothing today (sorry). Work or life or lack of blogger motivation or a combination of all three is hitting the staff here at TDG. So I'll give a few points you guys talk amongst yourselves...

• Football Recruiting - National Signing Day is next week. The Gophers are trying to land Hopkins WR, Andre McDonald. He may make his decision today or tomorrow amongst Minnesota, UCLA and possibly Vanderbilt. Are we going to land him?
• Trevor Mbakwe - Appealed to the NCAA for a rare 6th year of eligibility. He missed quite a few games due to injury as a freshman and then again as a senior, which might help his case. He also has graduated, which is always a good thing. To his debit, he did have to miss a year due to some pretty serious legal allegations. Will Mbakwe get his 6th year and if he does will he come back?
• Gopher Basketball - The loss to Michigan State really isn't a big deal. But the next three games are hosting Illinois, at Iowa and at Nebraska. Can the Gophers put together another three-game winning streak before the schedule gets really tough?

The Gophers are looking for their first win in East Lansing since 1997. Can they break the losing-streak tonight? Can they get back to .500 in the Big Ten?

Game Time: 7:30
TV: BTN

This is a good Michigan State lineup that executes very well on both ends of the floor. Overall it isn't as intimidating of a lineup as we have seen in the past but Draymond Green is a great power forward and one of the most fun kids in the Big Ten to watch. He is a double-double machine, much like our own Trevor Mbakwe. But he has a motor, he plays with passion and he has fun out on the court; easily one of my favorite Big Ten players. But putting my Draymond love aside, he is a beast and how we will defend him concerns me.

Rodney Williams is a great match-up for us when he is guarding slighter power forwards, but he does not seem to fare well in the paint against big and strong forwards. Can he create a mismatch by pulling Green out to the perimeter? Yes, on offense. But defending the larger yet nimble Green is going to be a mismatch in favor of the Spartans.

After that match-up the one I'm most intrigued with is what will Tom Izzo do with Joe Coleman? He has been hot over the last few games and you know that Izzo will find a way to keep Coleman out of the paint and away from the free throw line. It might be up to others tonight to draw some attention before Joe can get into an offensive rhythm.

Statistically this is an awful matchup for us. Sometimes systems and coaches do not match-up very well. I believe there is a reason why Izzo is 9-1 against Tubby and it is more than just a talent differential. On the other side of the coin I think we have a favorable system match-up with Wisconsin (3-3 record in Tubby era). But Michigan State is a team that is too patient as they execute their offense, they rebound better than anyone in the conference and they play sound defense not giving up very many easy baskets. If there is one area where Izzo teams tend to struggle it can be with turnovers. Over the last few years the Gophers have not done a great job of forcing Spartan turnovers but it can be an issue that bites them.

I do not think this game is unwinable, but we will have to control the boards and force some turnovers that lead to baskets. Michigan State has lost two of their last three but those were road losses and they have been playing very well at home.

I wouldn't say that I'm confident we will win this game but with the way we have been playing for two weeks I do expect that this will be a very good game. Can we pull out another road upset over a ranked team?