An embarrassing Gopher Hoops streak ends at 20
Attended the festivities at The Barn last night watching the Tubby-led Gopher's end the 20 win streak the Illini had over us (that is a shame.) The first half - ugly. The second half - better but not pristine. The saving grace? Defense. Souhan has an article where he talks about the man defense Tubby used and he quotes Westbrook as saying that the difference between Tubby and Monson's defense might be that: ''I think Monson's defense, maybe he wanted to let the other team score." Sure felt that way under Danny-boy.
This was the first game I had been to in a while where I was so impressed by defense and coaching. Tubby is doing something special here. Loved that he plays his bench (more because he has to) for example, after the first 3 minutes and things going kind of sideways, Tubby replaced all 5 starters. You can see the moves Tubby makes and when something works, he tries it again like when Hofarber hit a 3 (his first since Hopkins v Minnetonka - at least that's how it has felt he has been in quite the slump) the Gopher's came back down the court and ran a play for him to take another 3 pointer (he clanked it) but I liked the call.
My Cambria Countertop Player of the Game is Ralph Sampson III. While he had one FG (yes, 1) he did get to the line going 8 for 10 and grab 7 rebounds. Exactly what you want from the young rising star.
3 Comments:
I kind of vaguely knew about that streak against Illinois, but hadn't realized it was that bad. 20 games! That's the Yankees/Twins neighborhood right there.
Also, of note, you can add this to it: the last time we beat Illinois was in '99, and that victory and all those between '94 and then don't officially exist since they've been vacated. So going into last night, the Gophers hadn't officially beaten Illinois since the '92-'93 season. So, technically, last night ended a 16-year drought!!!
But I digress. Bouncing back after a couple tough losses, to (a) grit out a W on the road in the conference (I don't care how down IU is, it's IU and it's on the road), and then (b) bully out another win against a ranked team that has your number, to take sole possession of third place in the conference? Not a Dan Monson sort of thing to do, really. Me wubby Tubby. This team has won 3 conference road games.
Next Saturday's now the biggest game the rest of the season, I think. They should lose at MSU Tuesday, and win at home against Indiana the following week. If they can win at OSU in between, it's 8-4, will look to be for real, and should have a legit chance at 12 or even 13 conference wins. If they don't win that, it's 7-5 and I'll be less confident about their chances of stealing another road win at Michigan or Penn State, which feels like 9-9 or 10-8. The last 5 games are at Mich., PSU and IL and hosting Northwestern and WI.
January 30, 2009 at 1:22 PM
Guys - great game last night. And, I have to say, I executed the "DVR the game, have dinner with wife while acting totally non-chalantly, tuck wife into bed, then watch recorded game without having checked the internet for the score" move to perfection. It's so tempting to either check the score online or just fast-forward through the game, but I resisted, and I'm glad.
Ugly game overall, but I was REALLY impressed with the defense, and with Sampson and Iverson. Both of those guys have great potential - they just need to develop a bit more. Sampson's hands are remarkably good/soft for a big man, and Iverson actually has good low-post moves for a freshman.
Glad to be done hearing about that streak, too. My dad said that the student section had a bunch of Blago faces on a stick...classic.
Stenerud, Gus Johnson loved the play designed for Hoffarber as well. That guy really needs to get off the schnied, though. Yikes, did you see the bricks he threw up later in the game? Maybe he should start shooting from his a** or while spinning around wildly (not that he needs a third ESPY).
Particularly impressive is that all the "Tubby-to-Alabama or Arizona" rumors started up this week, yet the guys remained focus. From every indication, Tubby is actually really happy in Mpls (apparently, he's never really lived in a "big" city, so it's been fun for his wife and him) and is enjoying coaching for the first time in a while, so I hope the rumors die out.
Essentially, to guarantee a big dance berth, they need to win two more road games (PSU, Michigan being most likely) and the three at home (NU, IU and WI). 11-7 would be great...10-8 is touch and go.
January 30, 2009 at 3:19 PM
I disagree, bg. The Gophs are currently 25 on Sagarin and 20 in RPI. They're in the top 25 and will move up for next week. Lunardi had them as a 7 seed in Bracketology last week. Signature win against the Big East's hottest team, and now against Illinois.
10-8 in the conference, which would occur with no more road wins and holding serve at home (against IU, NU, MI and WI), probably puts this squad in 4th or possibly 5th place in a surprisingly strong conference (Sagarin's conference ratings somehow has the Big Televen first, but it's probably the third strongest, anyway). Penn State will fall off; the rest of their schedule is brutal, with remaining roadies at MSU, MI, Purdue, IL, OSU and Iowa. I don't see Michigan getting 6 more conference wins to get to 10. I could see OSU passing us, but this is easily a 5 bid conference. The only concern I have would be sitting there with Michigan a game behind us with their wins over Duke and UCLA. Which is why we should all be rooting for Louisville the rest of the season.
Generally, though, 10-8 in a strong conference and 22 wins is the resume of a lock. As long as you don't get smacked in the conference tourney, I guess.
January 30, 2009 at 5:44 PM
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