***OFFICIAL ALABAMA VS MINNESOTA IN-GAME THREAD!!!!***

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EG#9 said:
Yes, they were trying to be nice. They passed the ball around the perimeter and drained the shot clock before attempting a jumper. They made no effort to get the ball to Murphy and little effort to chase down rebounds. Defensively, I don't know what the plan was and why they didn't just keep Reggie Lynch in to patrol the paint. The "niceness" should either have come after the Gophers got up by 20 (preferred strategy) or stopped as soon as Coach Pitino saw the lead shrink even a little bit. Instead, it was just a debacle and Alabama made a game of it. I don't buy the "not used to 5-3"narrative either as Alabama certainly wasn't used to playing 3-5 either.
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I agree. Run it up from 11 to 25 and then slow down.
 

Gopherguy0723 said:
This guy gets it.

We don't have a killer instinct, and we get timid and lose focus. We will not advance to the Sweet 16.
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Nate Mason has that killer instinct. He looked Sexton off and drained the 3. What better killer instinct than that! he just wasn't on the court for 5 on 3 or it'd be different.
 

howeda7 said:
If this had been a game against Duke or Michigan State, I'd be more upset about the shenanigans "ruining" it. But this isn't even our best win to date. The Providence win will look more impressive than this and obviously so will Miami if we can win that.
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TBD - but Providence was a big win for sure.

I'll say - I'm not a fan who measures success based on the NCAA tournament, because you're playing good teams and can win or lose games you shouldn't. However, before this game I thought we were a Sweet 16 team, now I think we're borderline Elite 8. This is a really good team, and despite my disappointment in how we played 5-3, I recognize and appreciate the play through the first 30 minutes.
 

Why not just sit a player down on the other end and play 3 against 4 on defense and as soon as you rebound throw the ball down for an uncontested layup every time?
 

XMan said:
Why not just sit a player down on the other end and play 3 against 4 on defense and as soon as you rebound throw the ball down for an uncontested layup every time?
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That'd have been a good choice. Or have strict instructions for Jamir Harris to shoot the ball from the top of the key with 5 seconds left every time (3 pt only). Overall it doesn't matter.
 


XMan said:
Why not just sit a player down on the other end and play 3 against 4 on defense and as soon as you rebound throw the ball down for an uncontested layup every time?
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Would have looked tacky. The Gophers really were in a no-win situation once it was 5-on-3. If they do anything too aggressive to exploit it, they look like jerks. If they play back, we get the hysterical "miracle" commentary. The only middle ground was to have hit a few more shots. But it was a weird environment.
 

I can't believe there's an actual discussion of 3 on 5 strategy. EDIT: oops 5 on 3.
 

hyaluronic said:
Which is my point. I like the win, my perception of the team has continued to improve, and it was high to begin with. The optics bother me. A fair point I've heard is that how much will the optics matter come tournament selection time - potentially not much, but it's there.

I'll also say I think the optics are a greater positive for Alabama than a negative for the Gophers.
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Disagree. Alabama will be known as the team with ZERO discipline who - on the same day they got throttled by Auburn in football - had to finish a loss with only 3 players in basketball. At this point, they have a lot more to prove than the Gophers. That said, I'd have much rather this game never had any of the extra-curriculars.

Finally, when Mason went out, and they gave Bamer 4 Fts to close the game to 10, Bamer had all the momentum - AND the Gophers without their best G and one of the nation's best F's in foul trouble (Murph). Alabama lost their cool more than Mason did, and fully deserved to lose. The difference is, had I been Pitino, I'd have throttled them 5v3 to kick the lead up to 20+, then coasted with subs the rest of the way. The part of the game that bothered me most was giving the Bamer-3 any hope at all. But that's why he gets paid the big bucks and I am merely a supporter. (ha)
 

Moonlight said:
I can't believe there's an actual discussion of 3 on 5 strategy. EDIT: oops 5 on 3.
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Is that better or worse than discussion of weather Pitino and Mason should be benched next game? hahaha
 





cncmin said:
Disagree. Alabama will be known as the team with ZERO discipline who - on the same day they got throttled by Auburn in football - had to finish a loss with only 3 players in basketball. At this point, they have a lot more to prove than the Gophers. That said, I'd have much rather this game never had any of the extra-curriculars.

Finally, when Mason went out, and they gave Bamer 4 Fts to close the game to 10, Bamer had all the momentum - AND the Gophers without their best G and one of the nation's best F's in foul trouble (Murph). Alabama lost their cool more than Mason did, and fully deserved to lose. The difference is, had I been Pitino, I'd have throttled them 5v3 to kick the lead up to 20+, then coasted with subs the rest of the way. The part of the game that bothered me most was giving the Bamer-3 any hope at all. But that's why he gets paid the big bucks and I am merely a supporter. (ha)
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If their bench players went out and started to brawl, I might agree. They got caught on a technicality that was properly followed by the officials. Did they get caught up in the moment? Sure, but I wouldn't call it a lack of discipline. Most of their players were trying to keep a fight from ensuing. While Mason is a huge part of our team, he is rarely cited as our reason for success. You have Murphy and Lynch who get admired, you have Coffey and Washingotn as our up and comers. It's unfair to Mason, but it is what it is.

A quick barometer on how the national perception will read is how the crowd reaction turned at 5 on 3. We do not come out ahead in terms of perception from this game. Period. I get the different sides of looking at it, but there is zero doubt in my mind (being the flawed human I am), on how this looks from a national level.
 

howeda7 said:
Would have looked tacky. The Gophers really were in a no-win situation once it was 5-on-3. If they do anything too aggressive to exploit it, they look like jerks. If they play back, we get the hysterical "miracle" commentary. The only middle ground was to have hit a few more shots. But it was a weird environment.
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This +1,000,000. People on here posting about bad optics would be wise to consider how it would look if the Gophers had humiliated Alabama. Regardless of final score, gophers did honorable thing which was, simply back off and let the game end. if they're punished for that, someone needs to be fired.
 



I just got home. Saw Alabama only had 3 eligible players from like 9 minutes left in the game.

How? What? Huh?
 

hyaluronic said:
If their bench players went out and started to brawl, I might agree. They got caught on a technicality that was properly followed by the officials. Did they get caught up in the moment? Sure, but I wouldn't call it a lack of discipline. Most of their players were trying to keep a fight from ensuing. While Mason is a huge part of our team, he is rarely cited as our reason for success. You have Murphy and Lynch who get admired, you have Coffey and Washingotn as our up and comers. It's unfair to Mason, but it is what it is.

A quick barometer on how the national perception will read is how the crowd reaction turned at 5 on 3. We do not come out ahead in terms of perception from this game. Period. I get the different sides of looking at it, but there is zero doubt in my mind (being the flawed human I am), on how this looks from a national level.
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About the crowd....sorry, but if I were a neutral observer, I'd be cheering for the clear underdog too. Those same observers were loving Mason just a dozen minutes or so earlier, and were cheering IW (the home kid) the entire time.
 

The first 29 minutes of this game was a gem by our Gophers. They were running a nice offensive set and playing stellar defense.
The last 11 minutes was straight out of a Simpsons episode.
 

howeda7 said:
The bolded is all that matters. You're losing your $%6 over something that has never happened in the history of modern college basketball and will likely never happen again. During the part of the game that was played like a normal game, we dominated #25 in the country. That's all I care about. Calm down.
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Yep.....it is amazing we can be 7-0, ranked somewhere around 10th in the country and people get worked up about a scenario that none of us will ever see again. Somehow the fact we completely dominated a very good team until the craziness and the narrative ends up being about the optics of a 5-3 scenario? Unbelievable....
 


GopherHoopsFan said:
This +1,000,000. People on here posting about bad optics would be wise to consider how it would look if the Gophers had humiliated Alabama. Regardless of final score, gophers did honorable thing which was, simply back off and let the game end. if they're punished for that, someone needs to be fired.
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Well, it's the Gophers. UMinn has been punished for far less, such as not having a converted drug addict at QB for bowl positioning (Smoker, MSU).
 



golfing18now said:
Yep.....it is amazing we can be 7-0, ranked somewhere around 10th in the country and people get worked up about a scenario that none of us will ever see again. Somehow the fact we completely dominated a very good team until the craziness and the narrative ends up being about the optics of a 5-3 scenario? Unbelievable....
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Any smart bball person is 100% with this statement. All else is just noise. Game is over. We won and didn't embarrass Bama after refs ruined the game. It's over. We dominated when the game was a legit game vs #25. Can't wait for Miami!!!
 


cncmin said:
About the crowd....sorry, but if I were a neutral observer, I'd be cheering for the clear underdog too. Those same observers were loving Mason just a dozen minutes or so earlier, and were cheering IW (the home kid) the entire time.
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As a neutral observer, so would I. My point is that I believe the national perspective will be that of the "neutral" observer at the game. They want to see the good in the underdog in this scenario. Since Alabama played well, the "neutral observer" will see it as a David versus Goliath contest. Lots of props will be given to David, with slight detraction to the Goliath.

And just because I don't want to be misconstrued - the Gophers showed up in a huge way today. I don't think people should get lost in the forest for the trees here.
 



Tim1406 said:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/StadiumCollegeBasketball/videos/?ref=page_internal

I think that will do it. You do not need a facebook account. click not now or something if it asks you to create an account. I had to click on the videos link on the left menu for the videos to show up when i used that link i posted.
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Good work, beat me to it. If that doesnt work, try this link...The facebook page is a little buggy so one of those two should work.
https://www.facebook.com/StadiumCollegeBasketball/videos/780207395499352/
 

Didn’t see the game but have read through this thread. People that were watching the game need to chill out, because all it sounds like to me was a bizarre game with players ejected that MN ultimately won. The rest won’t matter two weeks from now or in March. Moving on. I am so looking forward to the Miami game!
 

!Este es un juego bizarro para las edades!
 

If Alabama is smart it will only play three players for the rest of the season and give that point guard the green light the whole time.
 

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