Minnesota Choker of the Week: Gopher Men's Hoops
Following an "emotional win" (hate that saying) against the Badgers last week, the Gophers found themselves playing an average (to say the least) Michigan team at The Barn. We all know how that ended (was that a 12 point lead with 13 minutes left that was quickly whittled down by a Michigan 13-4 run?)
Now we enter the Big 10 Tourney playing Nerd U in the first round, both teams needing to make a serious run to get into the field of 64.
Hey, BG, I think I know who MCA, LH, and RTS are rooting for (Ski-U-Mah) not to mention your parents, but how about you? Where you at on this one?
8 Comments:
Did Tubby read "How to steal defeat from the jaws of Victory", by B. Childress and D. Monson before that game, or what?!? 12 point lead with 13 minutes left, and an NCAA tourney ticket ready to be punched??? CLOSE the DEAL! We were literally on the verge of blowing them out! HAd they won, they would be the 4th seed in the BT tourney this week...now, they're the 8 and playing a pesky NU team.
Speaking of which, could this be any more gut-wrenching for me?? Had Northwestern won yesterday, I'd be pulling for NU, but with their loss to OSU, they eliminated themselves from consideration for the dance, so once again, I'll be riding the Maroon and Gold express.
The question is: do the Gophers need to beat NU and MSU to make the field of 64/65?
Ugh...utterly horrible. I cannot believe how that game played out. I had a feeling in my stomach usually reserved for Vikings games.
March 9, 2009 at 4:25 PM
Ca-Ca-Ca-Choke. Wow. That was an ugly way to wind down the season. At least we know what Tubby needs to take them to the next level: someone who can put the ball through the damned rim. I can't believe they're the 9 seed in the conference tournament. They were this close to third place, and now the 9 seed and a tie for 6th? Yuck.
More importantly, jan, cute video. Two comments: (i) am I correct in my assumption these things are being posted to youTube for Sarah as evidence you're not just setting Ilsa in the bouncy seat and watching the View-Ellen-Oprah triumvirate? I picture her disappointed after taking a look at the DVR holdings and demanding a live webcast. And (ii) what's with the Pink Floyd obsession? I think you probably should have let her discover "The Wall" on her own at a much later date.
March 9, 2009 at 4:32 PM
bg - right on, brah. I was actually going to make a Glen Mason crack, not on the one game, but on the last third of the season as a whole.
Yes, they absolutely need to beat Michigan State. They're now sitting on the 7th or 8th best resume in the conference, and have no way to move up from that without a serious run in the tourney. I just don't see 7 teams making it with one of them being the U right now (although the other 7/8 resume team is Wisconsin and we swept them). Late play will kill us with the Committee. Especially losing a must-win against the next closest team to you, at home.
March 9, 2009 at 4:41 PM
BG - Glad to have you on the wild ride through the Big 10 tourney.
MCA - Yes to #1 and as for #2 I keep coming back to Floyd and it never disappoints.
Oh and we do have to beat MSU to get our ticket punched. F'ing NIT. Tubby should turn down the NIT invitation if it gets to that.
March 9, 2009 at 6:04 PM
Though I onl y saw the highlights of the game this weekend ( I was busy skiing Park City.. and yes, I said that to rub it in) I did see SC highlights...
I'm curious what the consensus would be on the illustrious forum as it pertains to Tubby's decision to take a timeout. Personally, I'm a big proponent (especially in college) of not calling a timeout in that situation and letting the kids play in on primarily because: 1.)it allows players to maintain the flow of the game, 2.)it doesn't aloow the defense the time to set up. I'm not trying to judge Tubby from the back row- I've seen a ton of coaches take a timeout in that situation.. personally, I just don't think it is a good idea.
Thoughts?
March 10, 2009 at 1:17 PM
LH - how was the weekend? Ain't no party like a west coast party?
Totally agree on the 'let them play' mentality for the same reasons you mentioned; it's like the other team gets caught off guard are slow (almost momentarily confused) in transition which tends to create an open look when the ball is inbounded (as you alluded to.) Also, sometimes some kid from the other team will be asleep at the wheel and not know the situation and commit a crippling** foul like hacking someone making a desperation three point attempt
** By crippling I mean like when in high school Danny West fumbled the opening kick off of a game into the arms of a kid from Breck and we were down 6-0 in 6 seconds. That was the only play of Danny West's high school career. Seriously.
March 10, 2009 at 1:59 PM
Actually, it was against Mahtomedi. The best/worst part of the Danny West story was since it happened on the opening kickoff, the kickoff receiving team had to go back on the field which he refused to do.
While I have not watched a minute of college hoops, I think I should do fairly well in the NCAA office pool in a couple of weeks due to the chatter on here. Thank you in advance.
March 10, 2009 at 2:32 PM
jan, I'm always amazed at your and rts's ability to remember details of sporting events from 15+ years ago. BG, you too. Maybe it's just an awful memory on my part. I mean, I played probably 75 football games, 500 baseball games and 200 basketball games in my not-so-illustrious sporting career, and I literally could not tell you the score in a single one of them. None. Not even the Little League State Championship Game or games following that trying to qualify for the Little League World Series. I can't tell you how many points I scored in a basketball game, ever. I vaguely remember a very select baseball games where I had three doubles or took a 2-hit shutout into the sixth, but that's about it. I barely remember individual plays at all, except things like the JV football game at New Ulm my freshman year where I hit a guy low and a linebacker hit him high and we broke his femur. To wit: I hit one career outside the park homer in 12 years of organized ball, and have no idea what the count was. I don't remember the specific things that others did on the field/court, either. Bg, you're witness to this in re: the Tanglen/Glen Lake football game crom 1985.
What is wrong with me?
Somewhat off topic, but do you guys actually feel like you can grasp high school in your memory anymore? It seems like a work of fiction to me now. I don't know that I've changed that much more since high school than since college, but while I can get in touch with "college MCA," "high school MCA" is a cipher to me.
I kind of have recollection of larger things and what it all looked like and classes and stuff, but I can't physically imagine anymore. I have very little visceral memory of it. I note this mostly because I realized recently that we're now very close to having collected more time on this planet after high school graduation than prior to it, and I can't even name the people I used to hang out with in some instances anymore.
LH, I also agree that in most cases I prefer to just let 'em try to get a bucket in chaos. It just feels like it works a lot more often than the draw it up, chuck it 75 feet to Laettner approach. Exceptions apply when you don't have a PG who can score in transition, or you've got one shooter who's significantly better than everyone else.
rts, I think it's been proven now that you're actually in better position to win an NCAA bracket having nothing more than a general sense for sports, than you are following college hoops closely. So you're in good shape if you disregard anything you hear on here.
March 10, 2009 at 7:37 PM
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