A couple post game thoughts.

Is this the first time Hoff has ever missed all 3 of a 3 shot FT?

Is this the first time Hoff has ever been taken out of a game with 11 seconds left in the half? It seems the timeout was called partly to take him out. (Side note --- his replacement Bostick ran right by Verdell Jones III with his head down as he launched his half court shot - Hoff likely knows more about the possibility of making last second shots and might have put a better hand in Jones' face.) Hoff will bust out some time soon. Maybe the game that senior co-captain JAS had will help him find his touch. It would be nice if he got hot vs. IL.

I doubt Indiana will go winless in the B10 season. I am glad we escaped with a W. When is the last time we won in Indiana, Madison and Iowa City in the same year?

Sampson looked great. The shot they took away from him was the best. I have never been one to give up on JAS but have come closer this year than in the past. Tubby stays with him and he had a very good game. DJ is superb. Nolen's assists while driving the lane were good to see. Westy - maybe he should shoot more.

Use the trapping press more with all those 'fresh' legs.

In game/end game question. Gophers with 3 pt. lead --- Indiana ball --- 20 seconds left. Is it not a good idea to foul Indiana for a 2 shot FT? Especially when it looked to me like Westbrook may have gotten a piece of the shooter on his 3 pt. shot. It would have been a very questionable call but I think Bobby Knight might have gotten that call in his building.

This may not have been as ugly as Iowa but it sure seemed more tense. Glad to get the W.

To respond to your thought about the shot at end of the half, it doesn't bother me that we let him shoot it without pressure. The worst thing that can happen at that point is to foul a player in the back court and put him on the line. We could have applied a little more pressure to get him out of his rythm but it is still lower about a 5-10% probability he makes that shot.

I have a lot of random thoughts too so I'm just going to shoot.

It was a weird game because throughout the game I just thought we looked like a much better team than Indiana. Despite it being tight throughout I never really feared that we would lose the game because Indiana didn't show me anything to be afraid of. It almost seemed like the Gophers were sleep walking through the game. Give Indiana credit for sticking in a game they probably shouldn't have been in.

Did anybody else notice Indiana went in to a 1-3-1 on two separate occassions in the second half. Casual observers may have missed it because in no way did it resemble the defense NU played against us. It's amazing how much more intimidating a defense can look when played with pressure and aggressiveness than when played passively like Indiana did today. I know Crean doesn't have much to work with in Indiana but I was really unimpressed with their defensive intensity and that is very coachable. I'm curious to see what they will look like when he has his players in the system.

Sampson III looked great and played probably the best game of his young career. It was good to see them work it inside more frequently than previous games. I still they should do it more often and I was actually a little surprised to not see Iverson in the game in the second half considering the success Sampson III was having inside.

I'm not knocking Tubby for it but I don't understand the substitution patterns. This game JAS seemed to take minutes away from Carter and Bostick. JAS played well but at times I was thinking we needed another shooter in there and Bostick would have done the trick. Carter is a great slasher but he really needs to develop a better mid range shot. It comes out way too flat and getting better trajectory on it should help a lot. With more scouting teams are going to back off Carter which will make his drives to the basket less effective. With Hoffarber's struggles it seems that Westbrook is our best 3 point threat and Joseph is probably our next most dangerous threat (I would say Bostick but he played for about 1 minute today). Joseph has really stepped it up recently and I'm happy with the way he is developing.

I also think we really need to take better care of the basketball. The turnovers are just killing us. The second half was better, and Al seemed to let the game come to him rather than forcing things, but we're going to struggle if we don't take care of the rock.

I think MSU, Purdue and Illinois are clearly a notch above the rest of the conference. I think we're capable of 4th or 5th in the conference and how the series with OSU, PSU, Wisc, Mich, & NU go will determine our finish. The Illinois game is huge because a split with them would look big come Selection Sunday and will play in to seedings. It is also a home game before two tough road games (MSU & OSU) which makes it all the more important to avoid a potential 3 game skid.

I doubt Indiana will go winless in the B10 season. I am glad we escaped with a W. When is the last time we won in Indiana, Madison and Iowa City in the same year?

Click to expand...

A quick look onto Eric Thrall's site finds that the last time we defeated Indiana in Blooomington, Iowa in Iowa City, and Wisconsin in Madison was in 1982. The Gophers defeated Wisconsin 78-57, the Hoosiers 69-62, and then closed out the Iowa Field House with a 55-53 victory in 3 overtimes. The Gophers won every road game except for Ohio State and Illinois that year. Oh, by the way, they won the Big Ten title that year as well.

You know I have thinking, how is a Colton good enough to start, but not good enough to come off of the bench in the second half? If he is not good enough to play in the second half I don't think he should be starting.