NIT Game #4: #1 Gophers vs. #1 Florida State at MSG [ESPN2, Tues @ 8:00PM]

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GophersInIowa said:
I don't know how the one where he tugged Deandre's shorts was not a technical. Absolutely ridiculous that it wasn't called more than just a regular foul. I wonder why Florida St. just didn't keep doing it. After it is not called the first time, just keep doing it to save the clock.

I thought the other one was a true basketball play. The defender was guarding Dre, and then Dre made a quick change of direction.
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This really confused me too. Why wouldn't everyone do this if it is allowed?
 

TLHGO4 said:
Happy stabbing everyone. See y'all Thursday night.
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That's the best part of this whole thing. The NIT is next to meaningless, but the stabbing season is extended. Rock on!
 

How about that announcing crew ON AggieVision.

The universe would implode.
 

underground629 said:
Unrelated... but can someone explain to me how you can intentionally foul someone off the ball during the last few minutes before the ball is inbounded? That's what happened at the end, but I feel like I'm missing something. Why wouldn't teams always foul the worst ft shooter and not allow any clock to tick off?
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I've always wondered why teams don't do this.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I don't know how the one where he tugged Deandre's shorts was not a technical. Absolutely ridiculous that it wasn't called more than just a regular foul. I wonder why Florida St. just didn't keep doing it. After it is not called the first time, just keep doing it to save the clock.

I thought the other one was a true basketball play. The defender was guarding Dre, and then Dre made a quick change of direction.
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I don't know either why they didn't just pull on Mo 's shorts. I swear at some point this was a technical foul.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


Anyways, I did a hell of a job of taking the focus off of what was an amazing coaching performance by Richard Pitino and a great, gutty effort by his players. They melted down in the worst way to end regulation, but they picked themselves up and fought hard in the overtime to get a very nice win. Far too often post-Clem, we've seen the Gophers crumble in these types of situations, and they didn't tonight. That's a huge improvement from what we saw even earlier in this season like the Big Ten opener against Michigan or the road games at OSU and Iowa where nice leads evaporated and the Gophers didn't respond.

That Florida State team has a lot more highly recruited kids than the Gophers do and a lot of their guys have played together for several season. The Gophers were playing 4 guards at times, Oto at center, and for much of the game had some combination of Oto/Malik/Charles on the floor together. I am sure a lot of people will mock the NIT on the radio shows tomorrow, but the Gophers just got their best road/neutral win of the season while playing one of the tallest teams in the nation with Oto playing center for ~20 minutes. That's not even to mention that only DeAndre had a clear quickness advantage on the perimeter which made scoring the ball a very difficult proposition.
 

EG#9 said:
Anyways, I did a hell of a job of taking the focus off of what was an amazing coaching performance by Richard Pitino and a great, gutty effort by his players. They melted down in the worst way to end regulation, but they picked themselves up and fought hard in the overtime to get a very nice win. Far too often post-Clem, we've seen the Gophers crumble in these types of situations, and they didn't tonight. That's a huge improvement from what we saw even earlier in this season like the Big Ten opener against Michigan or the road games at OSU and Iowa where nice leads evaporated and the Gophers didn't respond.

That Florida State team has a lot more highly recruited kids than the Gophers do and a lot of their guys have played together for several season. The Gophers were playing 4 guards at times, Oto at center, and for much of the game had some combination of Oto/Malik/Charles on the floor together. I am sure a lot of people will mock the NIT on the radio shows tomorrow, but the Gophers just got their best road/neutral win of the season while playing one of the tallest teams in the nation with Oto playing center for ~20 minutes. That's not even to mention that only DeAndre had a clear quickness advantage on the perimeter which made scoring the ball a very difficult proposition.
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That sums it up. To re-ask the rhetorical question, how the hell did they win this game?
 

XMan said:
As exciting as the game was, it was ugly. With EE out and four fouls on King and Mo with about ten minutes left, how did FSU not capitalize and pull that game out? Why didn't they pound it inside all night long? Poor FSU coaching.
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Ten minutes left? More like 17 minutes left. King came in with about eight or nine left and promptly fouled out. Walker came back with about four remaining. That's a big stretch of minutes playing primarily Oto and Buggs as the bigs lol. Just surreal feeling the team was blowing it the entire second half yet I'd glance at the scoreboard and they'd be up two or three. Had to be one of the longest, most drawn out halves I've watched in awhile.

The Gophs just simply don't win these type of games too often.
 

Bad Gopher said:
That sums it up. To re-ask the rhetorical question, how the hell did they win this game?
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It wouldn't be a surrealist masterpiece if I weren't having a conversation with myself. To partly answer the question, Austin got us some big baskets at key points.
 



Bad Gopher said:
It wouldn't be a surrealist masterpiece if I weren't having a conversation with myself. To partly answer the question, Austin got us some big baskets at key points.
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True. One way or another, though, this might be the most fun thread since the Shaka Smart matter.
 

Bad Gopher said:
True. One way or another, though, this might be the most fun thread since the Shaka Smart matter.
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Changing the subject a little - you might call me a masochist, but I'd really like to see Malik redeem himself Thursday night.
 


all i must say is the team showed a lot of resiliency after fsu hit that 3 to force OT. I thought the momentum did a 180 there and we were doomed. Good job by the coaching staff imo.
 




Starting with the Northwestern game on 2/16, Malik Smith is 2 for 34 from beyond the arc. He's 0-3 from inside the arc during the same time span. His last attempted shot from inside the arc was against Iowa on 2/25. In some ways, it takes a very good shooter to be this bad for this long. He's had a stroke that's worked for him his entire life and one little thing is probably off causing him to miss so frequently.

For those that are curious, the last time Malik made a 3 in game action was against PSU in the Big Ten Tournament. I had honestly forgotten he made one in that game.
 

Gophers, if they win Thursday, will tie for the second most wins in the school's history. (That is including '97. Not in anyway attempting to stir the pot.)
 


fan of Ray Williams said:
Gophers, if they win Thursday, will tie for the second most wins in the school's history. (That is including '97. Not in anyway attempting to stir the pot.)
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If this is Pitino's best season...I'll be shocked beyond disbelief.
 

EG#9 said:
Starting with the Northwestern game on 2/16, Malik Smith is 2 for 34 from beyond the arc. He's 0-3 from inside the arc during the same time span. His last attempted shot from inside the arc was against Iowa on 2/25. In some ways, it takes a very good shooter to be this bad for this long. He's had a stroke that's worked for him his entire life and one little thing is probably off causing him to miss so frequently.

For those that are curious, the last time Malik made a 3 in game action was against PSU in the Big Ten Tournament. I had honestly forgotten he made one in that game.
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Malik sucks, got it.
 



Something to chew on as you listen to/watch/read the Twin Cities media mock and ridicule the Gophers for playing in the NIT today. The last four NIT Champions: Dayton, Wichita State, Stanford and Baylor. How are those programs perceived right now?
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
Something to chew on as you listen to/watch/read the Twin Cities media mock and ridicule the Gophers for playing in the NIT today. The last four NIT Champions: Dayton, Wichita State, Stanford and Baylor. How are those programs perceived right now?
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This isn't answering the question, but when they were in the NIT they would have been perceived by their local Dan Barreiro the same way this year's Gophers certainly are. (Not that every community has a Dan Barreiro, but making the point that those type of people are out there, and there's nothing you can do about the way they are.) The pathology does not lie with the Gophers or their fans. The Gophs have nothing to apologize for. They've played out the hand they've been dealt very well this year, up to and including this tournament.
 



EG#9 said:
It certainly hasn't been "proven" statistically that it is better not to foul. Are you referring to this study: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/basket...ines-whether-you-should-foul?urn=ncaab,265182

Or the other one from ESPN that talks about the NBA, where the 3 point line is another 2 feet back?

Both situations in this game were possessions that started with less than ten seconds remaining in the game. That's a markedly different scenario than simply a team's "last possession" . I am of the strong belief that allowing a decent look at a college 3 pointer as opposed to forcing a player to go to the line, make the first free throw, and then miss the second free throw in such a way that it caroms to a teammate who then makes a shot to tie the game is a really, really bad idea.
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Agree, especially when the guy with the ball is shooting something like 78% from three in the tournament.
 

Before we dry our eyes over the gophers heroic victory over FSU last night, I think it's worth mentioning that there may be no team in college ball that looks more like a basketball team and plays less like one than FSU. I saw FSU at Williams in December and I had that impression and it was reconfirmed last night. They are huge, fast, athletic and, outside of Millar, completely disinterested. They stand around, don't move the ball, can't shoot and play intermittent defense. They should have won by 25 last night because it's not as if the gophers played well outside of the first five minutes. I don't know how or why Leonard Hamilton has a job. A really bad team.
 

Bad Gopher said:
This isn't answering the question, but when they were in the NIT they would have been perceived by their local Dan Barreiro the same way this year's Gophers certainly are. (Not that every community has a Dan Barreiro, but making the point that those type of people are out there, and there's nothing you can do about the way they are.) The pathology does not lie with the Gophers or their fans. The Gophs have nothing to apologize for. They've played out the hand they've been dealt very well this year, up to and including this tournament.
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Here, here!

Hope last night's stabbing went well.
 

Even though we should have finished the game in regulation I do think the way the game turned out and went into OT will help this team more in the future and be better prepared to bounce back when faced with situations like that. Great to see Oto step up when the team needed him most and I would think he will feel much better ending his career with hopefully a couple good games at MSG rather than just sitting on the bench. I thought the reffing was horrible last night but I guess that fit pretty well along with the announcing crew who was the worst I had to listen to all season. Also was a little bit encouraged with Andre as I thought he looked more mobile especially early on and got back to a little more driving and trying to draw some fouls rather than just being a spot up shooter.
 

cjbfbp said:
Here, here!

Hope last night's stabbing went well.
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Best night of stabbing in some time. Thanks for asking.

Back to Barreiro because you secretly want more. It occurs to me he's crafted a radio career on repeating the same three things over and over:
1. We shouldn't get excited when our favorite teams win
2. We shouldn't be disappointed when they lose
3. Meteorologists shouldn't tell us what the weather is like

Lather, rinse, repeat over and over and over and pick up a paycheck every couple weeks. It's a racket.
 

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