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BarnBurner

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1. Gophers were unsure how to attack the zone and trap. Not prepared.
2. Upshaw was the difference. Some good offense and a lot of poor defense.
3. Gophers were killed on the boards. And Reggie is not a great rebounder even when on the court.
4. Coffey understands the game and is really good.
5. Dupree understands the game as well, plays well and is not quite as smooth as Amir. Another year will make a big difference.
6. We need bigs.

Fun year. Sad it is over.
 

I disagree that they were not prepared. It's just a good defense to play against a team that is marginal at shooting from outside and likes to go to the hole.
 

Lynch's dumb fouls and Pitino's stubbornness in managing them were huge. So was Mason's off day.

They weren't great against the trap, but they only had about 2 TO's related to it.
 

Disagree with the not prepared also. Plenty of open looks 1st half against the zone. Just didn't make them.

The second foul on Lynch changed the complexion of the game.


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Middle tenn is not a great outside shooting team who shot it well today. That can't be overlooked
 


bga1 said:
I disagree that they were not prepared. It's just a good defense to play against a team that is marginal at shooting from outside and likes to go to the hole.
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They were scared for much of the first half. Scared does not equal prepared.
 

Mason was limping a bit, did he take a shot during the game?
 

Gophers missed a ton of wide open 3's in the first half. Even bad shooting teams go better than 3-12 (13?) on those types of looks. I assume it will come out that Mason was hurt, he had an awful game, was limping noticeably, and was subbed when the Gophers tried to press late. I felt like in the first half the Gophers got either a wide open 3 or a shot in the paint on most of their possessions, but their defense really fell apart once Lynch exited. This continued in the second half even with Lynch in the game as we were just trading buckets until Lynch's 3rd foul. This is a game the Gophers win with just their average performance, but instead they came with their worst game of the season. Literally could have lost to any team in the tournament, including the 16's, with what they got from Lynch and Mason today.
 




I thought they were prepared. It was a different game when Lynch was on the floor. They took control in the first half when Lynch left and they extended their lead after Lunch took that boneheaded third foul
 

bemidjigopher said:
I thought they were prepared. It was a different game when Lynch was on the floor. They took control in the first half when Lynch left and they extended their lead after Lunch took that boneheaded third foul
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Those schollies to Konate and Diedhou are a killer. Once Lynch goes down, our defense goes down the tubes immediately. We need another big to come in and at least be adequate defensively. I like Murph and Curry a lot, but they are undersized 4's. So for them to guard a center or provide good help defense is asking too much. It's sad that Konate is a junior and he's probably regressed.
 

Posted this in the other thread too but totally disagree that we need bigs. MTSU killed us with small ball all day. Plenty of good tournament teams are that way. This team needs more shooters.
 

Lynch or no Lynch, Curry and Murphy on a balanced team can handle any "bigs" that a team like MTSU can throw at them.

I think MTSU watched the Michigan tape and learned how to break this team down and score as Walton did at will at the end of that game. The overall team defense was crap again today, not the one on one match ups and Curry's lack of experience and BB Defense IQ again was an issue. Curry's defense was an asset earlier in the year, but he has been exposed by scouting.

I think the big issue was a lack of quality guard play and guard depth, especially once Springs bit the dust. Had Coffey been playing the 2 all year, then maybe we could have fought through it, but there was no reason for him to be a 2 with Springs healthy.

I bought up Bobby Jackson earlier and even though he was not an NBA all star, he is the kind of player that makes a team great in CBB. We have not one even close to a Bobby Jackson, and that is why we lost at Wisconsin in the second half, and to Michigan and again today.
 



There were a lot of things that didn't go well today. That's why it was a pretty convincing win for MTSU. Certainly wouldn't call it a blowout, but a convincing win.

1. MTSU is a really good team. They know what they do well and they do it with confidence. I was very impressed. They were organized, physical, intelligent, and played like it was the last game of their lives.

2. Mason was very disappointing today. He has become a very hot/cold guy this year which is really frustrating.

3. It is my opinion that we were not prepared for the zone. We looked very passive, willing to just take what was there. Got some open shots, but they were mostly 15+ foot jump shots. We are not a good jump shooting team, especially without Springs. So if the plan was to hit jump shots (I don't know if it was or wasn't, but it looked that way) then I don't think it was a good plan. We should have been attacking the zone more. You don't have to make jump shots to attack a zone. You can also beat a zone by penetrating and cutting/passing to the pockets within the zone.

4. Lack of depth hurt, but our guys knew that going in and needed to play smarter. Lynch has to be smarter. The third foul (beginning of the second half) is what allowed them to go on a run that ultimately proved too much to come back from. We were only down like 8 at that point, and it was early in the second half. Picking up a third foul (and it was the easiest call in the world for the refs) when you are 90 feet down the floor is incredibly poor decision-making.

5. Coffey was a bright spot. Really liked how he tried to put the team on his shoulders and didn't quit even when we were down 15. He almost brought us back, but the hole we put ourselves in was just too much to overcome. He's going to be a very exciting player next year.
 

Lynch picking up that stupid third foul early in the 2nd half was a killer. It was a pointless foul on his part and one a guy like him can't commit in that situation. The recipe for disaster for this team all year has been foul trouble in the front court and that was on full display tonight.

Springs not being there was huge during the shooting drought in the first half. He has been key all year at hitting the clutch shots and without him it was tough sledding.

Still very optimistic for next year and this taste of the tournament should help they guys when this time of year comes around next season.
 

Matchup zones are hard to play against, totally different than other defenses, I think preparation was a part of it, player movement becomes important along with ball movement, they did not attack it in the first half.

Lynch getting in foul trouble killed them on defense, Curry just got beat time and time again.
 

Upshaw saved their bacon, today. He went off just as they were about to totally collapse. They were down to 1 timeout left with about 6 minutes remaining, and were on the ropes absorbing heavy punishment by the Gophers. We very nearly knocked 'em out. This after MTSU hit nearly every darned shot imaginable for the better part of the game to that point. NO WAY was that a "normal" shooting exhibition by them. They just got hot, and loose, after Lynch picked up his 2nd foul. That 9 second sequence is what put us in trouble. That we very nearly took complete control after all that speaks volumes as to the character of kids like McBrayer, Murphy, Coffey, and others.

This was a good learning experience for the Gophers. We'll be much tougher next year as a result. I expect us to battle down to the wire for the regular season Big Ten title, and after that, the sky's the limit. As thin as we were on this day, we'll be deep next year.
 

thoughts.

Middle Tenn is a top 20 team. Way quicker than we were.

We should play a few zones even for 5 min a game so we can practice and hopefully get better against them. Very few B1G teams are playing that anymore. Remember the nightmares Northwestern used to give us?

Not being a very good 3 pt shooting team will still be the issue next year.

Not having tourney experience and matching the intensity of a team who has been there and won a game.

Could have used a super quick guy like Jelly. Also hope Fitz is ready as he could help against quicker teams.

jovs said:
Matchup zones are hard to play against, totally different than other defenses, I think preparation was a part of it, player movement becomes important along with ball movement, they did not attack it in the first half.

Lynch getting in foul trouble killed them on defense, Curry just got beat time and time again.
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BarnBurner said:
1. Gophers were unsure how to attack the zone and trap. Not prepared.
2. Upshaw was the difference. Some good offense and a lot of poor defense.
3. Gophers were killed on the boards. And Reggie is not a great rebounder even when on the court.
4. Coffey understands the game and is really good.
5. Dupree understands the game as well, plays well and is not quite as smooth as Amir. Another year will make a big difference.
6. We need bigs.

Fun year. Sad it is over.
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Not prepared is inaccurate, and demonstrates a lack of knowledge about basketball. They had all kinds of good looks, and simply missed. They had openings for dribble penetration and hesitated. They just didn't play well.

There is one thing to be prepared, and another thing to execute against another team. MTSU played well together. Not great athletes, but good enough, and their experience showed, and they simply executed well.




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BarnBurner said:
They were scared for much of the first half. Scared does not equal prepared.
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Your comments get dumber. If you have ever played or coached, there are simply times a team doesn't play well. That's why upsets happen. MTSU was t better than MSU last year, and Izzo never had a team not prepared. They simply didn't play well and MTSU did. Same thing this year, though the margin for error for Gophers was even smaller than MSU last year.

When a team loses it does not mean they were unprepared.


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Doesn't matter what conference you play in...winning 30+ games is a big deal. MTSU was not a 12 seed and we weren't a 5 seed. If this had been a 8-9 matchup nobody would have been surprised by the outcome...
 

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