Gopher Hoops - Feel the Momentum?
Gopher Hoops travels to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Lost some steam there with, um, inconsistency? Anyway, after the beating of Nerd U last Sunday night, maybe we've turned the corner. Beating Illinois twice in the same season was unthinkable before we ended that 20 game losing streak to them - shock the Hennepin County area with a win tonight?
Quick recap of the Gopher v. Nerd U game this past Sunday -
Ran into BG's parents up in the Williams Arena Club.* Chatted up Mrs. G for a bit talking about babies and such then on the way out found Mr. G who ranted about the Gopher's wearing white jersey's tonight since we haven't won in our home whites in two years and that he ran into Kevin Coble's parents before the game and wondered why we don't get more kids like that at the U. He is the tree to BG's apple.
* From the U's website: "the Club overlooks the floor and can hold parties of up to 200 fans, adding another touch of class to an already classy arena." Stay classy, Williams areana. I would have added this: "However, the club also overlooks the end zone at 'the bank' which is under construction but is looking fucking sweet." What are we calling this new stadium anyway? 'Potential Government Bailout Receipent Stadium'?
6 Comments:
Stenerud,
Mr. and Mrs. BG quite enjoyed seeing you at the ballgame. And yes, my apple is directly under that tree!
I have a bad feeling about tonight's game. For some reason, I can envision the Illini putting up 90 points, after putting up 36 at the Barn.
And yes, the Barn is classy. Government Bailout recipient stadium should also be...
February 26, 2009 at 2:24 PM
The TARP?
I don't know why I've never really thought about this until now - maybe because it's so ubiquitous at new professional sports venues - but does it strike anyone else as odd/annoying that the Gophers new stadium will have a corporate sponsor name? Is this the case at any other major college football stadium or basketball arena? I can't think of any. I guess no one else is building football stadiums these days, so there's nothing to really compare with. But it does seem disappointing that this can't be known as Bronco Nagurski Stadium or something that would tie the new outdoor venue to the program's glory years. Maybe Warmath would be the most appropriate name.
Maybe jan can start a movement to have it unofficially known as Ski-U-Mah Stadium.
February 26, 2009 at 4:27 PM
I guess 41 points in 40 minutes doesn't constitute positive momentum.
February 27, 2009 at 10:10 AM
MCA - as our college hoops expert, I would love to hear a dissertation from you on why college basketball teams play SO much worse on the road than they do at home?!? I realize they get used to their rims, surroundings, and crowd support, but as discussed by Gene Hackman in Hoosiers, all of these hoops are 10 feet high and the courts are 94 feet long. I just don't understand it. Is it all mental toughness? Do opposing crowds really impact people that much?
Bottom line is that the Gophers need to beat Michigan and Wisconsin at home. If they do, they are in the dance. If they split, they will have to sweat it on selection Sunday, but should still make it based on RPI, strength of conference, etc., partially because there aren't a ton of good mid-majors this year.
February 27, 2009 at 11:53 AM
How about South Dakota Stadium, since that is where our beloved TCF is moving there headquarters...
While I don't like that name, it doesn't seem likely that it would have gotten done without the $35MM that they contributed for the naming rights, though that doesn't seem like much to me given that it is over 25 years. As a comparison, best estimates put the cost Target paid for the new Twins Stadium at $5MM per, or $125MM for its 25 year relationship (Target paid about $18MM for the naming right to Target Center back in 1990s) and Citibank (or the govt) is paying about $20MM per for the rights to the new Mets Stadium...
I would have loved if they could have gone back to the original Memorial Stadium name, along with its kick ass nickname, the "Brick House".
February 27, 2009 at 12:09 PM
I think there are hardly any good mid-majors this year at all, in fact, not just less than a whole bunch of them.
I don't know on the road thing. Obviously, the psychological edge of having people cheer for you even when you make mistakes is probably helpful. There's pride of playing in your own house, which might incentivize playing harder to defend it. There's a difference in lighting, sight lines and the like, and the general feel of the court, that probably has a marginal impact on performance, especially shooting. There's a subconscious desire not to be booed probably playing an unwitting role in referee behavior.
All of those things are pretty minor, but combined I guess they make a big difference. And the psychological ones on players (being jeered instead of cheered, people woofing at you, booing you, waving arms and screaming while you shoot free throws) can be overcome, but usually not by 19-20 year-olds.
I'd like to see a breakdown between home vs. road performance 20 years ago and today. I would bet that the older teams of those days did better in hostile environments than the barely out of high school teams today. I think of this year's Duke team and the way they got so rattled at Clemson, lost a close one where they played better than their opponent at Wake, and blew a game they never should have lost at BC. A couple of their better players are juniors, but beyond that they're all very young. Contrast to just 8-10 years ago, when an older team with senior leaders in Shane Battier and Nate James lost at UVa, snapping a 24-game conference road win streak. That streak started in '98 (Wojo), continued through '99 (Langdon) and 2000 (Carawell) and into '01 with seniors leading teams.
That's compounded by the fact that college arenas are filled with much more passionate fans than NBA arenas. I know the NBA playoffs have very few road wins, but I bet during the regular season it's a lot higher percentage than during regular season NCAA games.
February 27, 2009 at 12:20 PM
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