***OFFICIAL MINNESOTA AT wisconsin IN-GAME THREAD!!!!***

Drake University Gopher said:

Worst reffing that I have seen in a loooooong time. I can understand a call or two, but legitimately every other time down the court it's a hack.

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I expected the officiating to be awful with a lot of flops leading to fouls and a lot of moving screens ignored. I expected Lynch and Murphy to be in foul trouble all night, since the officials cannot call it straight on the road in the Big Ten. The two offensive fouls on Lynch were the worst type of call, and official giving a flop to some 160 pound guard in the post is not a good call.

Regardless of the officiating, that is not why the game was lost. Our offensive flow was terrible, our lack of transition offense was an issue, and Springs was awful. The defense was not so great either. Springs has been an issue lately, so he needs to get it together now.

This issue with this loss is that we now have to play MSU and Purdue back to back if things go well, and those are the two most physical teams in the Big Ten and best two in my opinion. On the other side of the bracket, Northwestern, Maryland and Wisconsin are a lot more limited or softer.

At least Beating MSU and putting up good performance vs. Purdue would help in NCAA seeding. The loss tonight was one that the staff probably does not mind, but it was frustrating for me, mainly because I am so sick of losing to Wisconsin in FB and BB.

Springs is playing dinged up. He needs a few days off. We are not Elite unless he's making some shots.

Can't watch the game on Friday now. That's just salt in the old wound.

Return of some very bad habits today

-Very dumb and unnecessary fouls by Murph and Lynch
-Every once in a while Konate is serviceable. Today, he played like a fifth grader out there. He had no idea where he was.
-So much hero ball by our guards, specifically McBrayer.

RatherBeGolfing said:

Return of some very bad habits today

-Very dumb and unnecessary fouls by Murph and Lynch
-Every once in a while Konate is serviceable. Today, he played like a fifth grader out there. He had no idea where he was.
-So much hero ball by our guards, specifically McBrayer.

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A couple of the calls on Murphy and Lunch were highly questionable at best, although Jordan definitely lost his mind on the four-point play. Agree with everything else said.

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Oh, and I hate autocorrect (Lunch? Good lord.)

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What a horrific end to the regular season and to the winning streak. Destroyed in the second half and only scored 20 points???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Just a bit off. one game is not a big deal. 2nd would have been nice but 4th is a really fine year. I thought 10-8 before the season and Gophs got to 11-7. Big 10 teams are going to have a tough time moving up seed lines as teams do not get to play anyone ranked top 10. On to DC, wide open as the conference tourney has ever been.

I was very worried about this game, and every nightmare so far has come true. My thought pattern was like this: If the past ~20 years of Gopher/Badger sports is any indication, Wisconsin will "get right" in this game and go on to turn their season around while Minnesota's momentum will be stopped and a tailspin could happen.

My hope is that this game is a wake up call for this team and we see a more focused effort in both tournaments. Even in the wins over PSU/Nebraska, I felt like the team was getting a little bit away from its identity (DEFENSE) because the offense was coming easier at home against weaker competition. This team still had a great season on the road: 5-4 in conference play will get you in the mix for the double bye every year and just needs to become dominant at home.

I really wanted 2nd place in the conference, probably almost as much as I'd like a B1G tournament title. Having to go through Michigan State and then Purdue just to get to the title game makes things as tough as they could possibly be for a double bye team.

The sooner the team/fan base can move on to what still can be accomplished, the more likely it is that the goals still ahead will be obtained. Lets all try to shake it off and in Belichick's words: "We're on to Michigan State"

Ugh. That sucked.

On to the next one.

Mn foliage said:

Yeah I don't know why everyone complains about the refs so much. When you lose by 17 you can't really blame them.

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It's an obsessive compulsive personality disorder. They can't help themselves.

In case you guys didn't notice, we were down by 5 with 5 minutes to play, despite not having key players most of the game due to foul trouble. I'm not happy with the result, but I'm by no means giving up on this team. The same ****** bags showed up to *itch and moan about our team. On to the tournaments.

Rough way to end the regular season but it is what it is. Team just has to put this one behind them and start a new run.

On a side note, our free throw shooting is one thing that concerns me heading into March Madness but holy crap Wisconsin is brutal at the line (I know this is not news but hadn't really been paying much attention to it prior to this). I don't think I would have predicted them to go far in March regardless but with the way they shoot free throws I would expect them to be out by the end of the first weekend assuming they end up matched up against a team of similar caliber to them.

One play in the second half summed up the game: Wisconsin misses at the FT line, and 3 Gophers stand there a foot away from the basketball and watch it hit the floor. Badgers got it and if I recall correctly, Showalter hit a 3 on the possession. That kind of stuff gives coaches gray hair.

Second half was frustrating and there again was no communication on defense with the high ball screen. Led to several open shots for the Badgers but give them credit, they took advantage of the mismatches they created. I'm baffled that we gave Wisconsin's guards space on the perimeter. You've got to know down the stretch Koenig will pull the trigger when you give him space. He's done it his whole career. Pressure the ball and force a drive to the lane.

The game was over when you had Konate on the floor in the final four minutes. And he needs to stop posting up. I know you should try to pose the threat, but I have a better shot of winning the Powerball than BK does scoring on a low post move. He's a bull in a China shop.

Springs is clearly more hurt than is being let on. Every jumper he took last night had no lift, everything was short. His back must be bugging him.

Gophers need to stop reaching and move their feet. You cannot afford to have your post players getting called for reach-in fouls, especially 80 feet from the basket, when they're going to draw fouls playing physically inside. Murphy getting into foul trouble was an absolute killer. Mason also needs to focus on taking the ball strong to the basket and worrying about the rest later. He altered 4 or 5 shots thinking he was going to get a call and it didn't come. Go up strong and the rest takes care of itself.

All that said, I would much rather have that happen last night than in the BTT or the Big Dance. Let's not forget what this team has accomplished this year because of one rough game.