Tonight's game could be season defining

As we've seen in recent days, winning on the road is a tall order. Illinois and MSU lose to Penn State, Duke loses to FSU, Ohio State is pushed to the limit in Ann Arbor, Kansas gets all they can handle from ISU. Tonight needs to be our night to shine at home.

Win, and we set up nicely to get above .500 in the league before we head to West Lafayette. Lose, and we'll be at 1-4 and bubble-licious. I've thought all season that we'd likely start the year 1-3, so to me our start isn't much of a surprise (the extracurriculars are a different bag). But I've pointed to this one for weeks as the big chance for us to make a statement about contending for a top 4 finish in the league. This can set the tone for the rest of the year.

Let's go get 'em tonight boys, distractions be damned. For those of you going to the game, be extraordinarily loud tonight! Go Gophers!

No argument here. It will be nice that for 2+ hours tonight we can actually concentrate on basketball instead of off-court player foibles. This is a game the crowd needs to do everything they can to help 'em out. Given all that's happened recently I'm not sure it's a certainty that will happen, but I hope it is the case.

This is a huge one, no ifs, ands or buts about it. Anything less than a spirited effort resulting in a win, and I'm afraid this season has a chance to spiral out of control, especially considering teams the likes of expected bottom-feeders Michigan & Penn State are going to be much more of a handful than originally anticipated, home or road.

Win and the Gophers are still in solid position. ... 2-3 with their most difficult road games behind them, as well as 3 wins vs. the RPI top 50 with several more opportunities (Illinois, MSU, @ Purdue, Ohio State & perhaps Northwestern (if they sneak into the top 50)).

Tonight's game is easily the biggest of the season yet. I wouldn't quite put it in the "must win" category, because the Gophers can still get to the NCAAs without it. But all the headlines since winning in PR have come off the court rather than on it. Beating a legitimate top-10 team at home would give that tournament resume a real shot in the arm.

TheSportsAce said:

Tonight's game is easily the biggest of the season yet. I wouldn't quite put it in the "must win" category, because the Gophers can still get to the NCAAs without it. But all the headlines since winning in PR have come off the court rather than on it. Beating a legitimate top-10 team at home would give that tournament resume a real shot in the arm.

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It is as close to "must win" as it can get imo.

It's not for all of the Tostitos, but it's for a lot of them. Season defining indeed. Any hope of getting back on track toward a good NCAA seed begins with a win tonight. Otherwise it's looking to be the same scramble to barely get in the tournament that we've been in the last two years.

See you all there!

Gopher07 said:

As we've seen in recent days, winning on the road is a tall order. Illinois and MSU lose to Penn State, Duke loses to FSU, Ohio State is pushed to the limit in Ann Arbor, Kansas gets all they can handle from ISU. Tonight needs to be our night to shine at home.

Win, and we set up nicely to get above .500 in the league before we head to West Lafayette. Lose, and we'll be at 1-4 and bubble-licious. I've thought all season that we'd likely start the year 1-3, so to me our start isn't much of a surprise (the extracurriculars are a different bag). But I've pointed to this one for weeks as the big chance for us to make a statement about contending for a top 4 finish in the league. This can set the tone for the rest of the year.

Let's go get 'em tonight boys, distractions be damned. For those of you going to the game, be extraordinarily loud tonight! Go Gophers!

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All we can do is suppor the team on the court......

This is about as close to a must-win as you can get at this juncture outside of a home game with Iowa, PSU, Indiana or Michigan. By itself, losing at home to Purdue is not a tragedy. However, at this point in the schedule and with the team morale hanging by a thread, it might be.

SelectionSunday said:

This is a huge one, no ifs, ands or buts about it. Anything less than a spirited effort resulting in a win, and I'm afraid this season has a chance to spiral out of control, especially considering teams the likes of expected bottom-feeders Michigan & Penn State are going to be much more of a handful than originally anticipated, home or road.

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I really could careless if the final score is 21-20, or how spirited it is. I just want a win. I don't know if it's even possible to win pretty in the B10 this season. Most of the games I've watched so far haven't been exactly the most beautiful basketball.

Spirited doesn't mean it has to be pretty or beautiful. Spirited means I want to see the Gophers fully engaged the entire game. See Indiana (first half) for an example of a Gopher team that was not fully engaged.

Gopher07 said:

As we've seen in recent days, winning on the road is a tall order. Illinois and MSU lose to Penn State, Duke loses to FSU, Ohio State is pushed to the limit in Ann Arbor, Kansas gets all they can handle from ISU. Tonight needs to be our night to shine at home.

Win, and we set up nicely to get above .500 in the league before we head to West Lafayette. Lose, and we'll be at 1-4 and bubble-licious. I've thought all season that we'd likely start the year 1-3, so to me our start isn't much of a surprise (the extracurriculars are a different bag). But I've pointed to this one for weeks as the big chance for us to make a statement about contending for a top 4 finish in the league. This can set the tone for the rest of the year.

Let's go get 'em tonight boys, distractions be damned. For those of you going to the game, be extraordinarily loud tonight! Go Gophers!

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I couldn't agree more...this game is huge. I also expected to begin the season as we did because road games are very difficult in conference play. My major concern after looking at the schedule was how a group of college kids bounces back once the hellish part of their season is over (while all of conference play is a grind, we had an unusually difficult opening!). Despite the schedule and a rough starting record, I still predicted a 12-6 or 13-5 conference finish...but its all about mental toughness.

Can they now win the games they are capable of winning or was some confidence lost along the way? Can they hold court at Williams and execute the same kind of difficult atmosphere for the other B10 teams coming in here? It won't be an easy game, Purdue is exceedingly tough (with or without Hummel, it seems), but at the end of the night we can take this one. We should take this one.

For me, I want to see either a win (duh) or even a dog-fight down to the end that goes either way. I can accept a moral victory tonight since it will tell me that this team has character and fight in them. What will kill me (in regards to the rest of the season) is if we fail to show up. If we get waxed at home, I think we will be lucky to finish the season 5th (if not even 6th). If we get blown out, it means we still have immaturity issues, emotional lapses, and no offensive presence. It means we peaked much too early and won't right the ship until far too late. For the record, I don't think this will happen. I think we are mentally tough this season.

This game speaks to the Gophers gut strength and attitude and I expect a fabulous contest tonight. I wish I could be there; go Gophers!!!

Not sure what the matchups are going to look like, but I think the play of Sampson is going to be pivotal. He's done well against Johson but the thought of depending on Sampson in any way really scares me. I also hope Nolen brings his best defense and puts Moore in McCamey mode.

"This is our time" - Mikey

BarnBoy said:

"This is our time" - Mikey

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Love it!