The Only Good Thing About Losing Last Night

akgopher

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Is that the Tubby rumors will be put to bed one way or the other within the next 10 days. If he's still here next week then Alabama, Arizona, and Virginia will look elsewhere. I don't think he's leaving, but I look forward to closure on the topic until next December when other programs start looking.
 

One more good thing that was avoided: An absolute drubbing by the Dukies and their 3-pt shooters.
 

Duke is very beatable. I would have liked the oppurtunity.
 

Duke is very beatable. I would have liked the oppurtunity.

i have to agree. i think texas was probably one of the worst teams we could have drawn for our first game all things being considered with our current line up. i liked the gophers chances against a good chunk of the rest of the tourney field.
 



Alternate theory

I shudder to think of how many 3's Duke would have cashed against us...

There is another way to look at it. With Duke's lack of any significant inside game, the Gopher D doesn't have to double the post, thereby freeing them to contest every 3-point shot. The reason that Texas went off from downtown is that we had no answer for Pittman other than the double. A good passing team can get the ball back outside and find the open shooter while the D rotates.

Now, I'm not saying that we would have beaten Duke for sure. It's just more complex than "The Gophers can't defend the 3".

I think that, given that Tubby plays ball line D, the players have to get better at knowing where the shooters are on the floor at all times. At least a couple of times against Texas, the D rotated to contest Balbay and he passed on to Abrams for the open shot. Don't bother running at a guy who can't make the shot. They need to identify the shooters and not leave them open. Don't double off of a good shooter and don't leave a good shooter open on the rotation. Make someone else take the shot. I'd have taken my chance with Balbay taking open 3s all night. Hopefully that level of recognition will come with more experience in the system.
 




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