Shout out to Pitino & players for a solid February

SelectionSunday

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In recent times February has been the most cruel month to the Gophers. NCAA dreams have been flushed down the toilet in college basketball's penultimate month too many times to count, seemingly.

Yes, the month could have been better (see Northwestern loss), and the stakes should have been higher, but the bottom line is the Gophers finished 3-3 in a brutal stretch that included games vs. Purdue, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan State, all likely NCAA qualifiers. 2 of those wins were on the road (Iowa, MSU). If the Hawkeyes and Sparty do indeed advance to the NCAA tourney, to put that in perspective, consider this:

Since the 1999-2000 season, the Gophers have won only 4 such games (true road games vs. NCAA qualifiers). They're 4-69 in those games, including 0-33 by Dan Monson. All 4 wins came under Tubby. If the Iowa/MSU wins hold up as road wins over NCAA qualifiers, that's an accomplishment worth praising (as is having a better record in February than January), even though the Gophers' final overall road record (3-8) was nothing to write home about.
 

In recent times February has been the most cruel month to the Gophers. NCAA dreams have been flushed down the toilet in college basketball's penultimate month too many times to count, seemingly.

Yes, the month could have been better (see Northwestern loss), and the stakes should have been higher, but the bottom line is the Gophers finished 3-3 in a brutal stretch that included games vs. Purdue, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan State, all likely NCAA qualifiers. 2 of those wins were on the road (Iowa, MSU). If the Hawkeyes and Sparty do indeed advance to the NCAA tourney, to put that in perspective consider this:

Since the 1999-2000 season, the Gophers have won only 4 such games (true road games vs. NCAA qualifiers). They're 4-69 in those games, including 0-33 by Dan Monson. All 4 wins came under Tubby. If the Iowa/MSU wins hold up as road wins over NCAA qualifiers, that's an accomplishment worth praising (as is having a better record in February than January), even though the Gophers' final overall road record (3-8) was nothing to write home about.

Holy crap.
 




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