shikenjanski
Urinal Donor
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In my house, Melvin Newbern was an object of love and of scorn. Sitting at the games, my Dad chimed in with the rest of crowd hollering at Melvin to "Get the ball up the court already!" Melvin had a tendency to walk the ball up the court and spend the first 10-12 seconds of the shot clock with the ball in his hands. (The Gophers weren't deep that year. Maybe Melvin was catching his breath bringing the ball up?)
The Gophers were 11-7 that year in the Big Ten. We were 11-7 in conference and we came within a breath of the Final Four. What gives? That team had long stretches in which the offense struggled and looked disjointed. There where a dozen games that year that we won or lost by just a few points. We could just as easily been 7-11 that year.
That Gopher team reminds me of other teams in the last 10-12 years that were an afterthought for the prognosticators but had the right pieces, had favorable match-ups in their draw and that ultimately made it to the Final Four. Teams like George Mason from three years back, Wisconsin with Dick Bennett, or Oklahoma St. with Eddie Sutton. (Any others?)
I'm not saying that this Gopher team is in position to go to the Final Four. Far from it. (We don't have the experienced horses like Coffey, Burton or Lynch.) But we do find ourselves in a unique position this year that affords us the luxury of critiquing our wins and losses.
I think that there may be a season in the near future where the Gophers struggle to find an identity on the court during the season and end up opening some eyes in the NCAA tournament. We will spend that year searching for answers amongst ourselves about why the Gophers don't have any chemistry or flow on offense. Come tourney time we find out that we do, in fact, have what it takes and we make a nice run. At that point someone should pipe up and talk about how, during the conference season, we go up against the best defenses in the nation night in, night out.
(Anyone see that Michigan @ UConn score from a week ago?)
The Gophers were 11-7 that year in the Big Ten. We were 11-7 in conference and we came within a breath of the Final Four. What gives? That team had long stretches in which the offense struggled and looked disjointed. There where a dozen games that year that we won or lost by just a few points. We could just as easily been 7-11 that year.
That Gopher team reminds me of other teams in the last 10-12 years that were an afterthought for the prognosticators but had the right pieces, had favorable match-ups in their draw and that ultimately made it to the Final Four. Teams like George Mason from three years back, Wisconsin with Dick Bennett, or Oklahoma St. with Eddie Sutton. (Any others?)
I'm not saying that this Gopher team is in position to go to the Final Four. Far from it. (We don't have the experienced horses like Coffey, Burton or Lynch.) But we do find ourselves in a unique position this year that affords us the luxury of critiquing our wins and losses.
I think that there may be a season in the near future where the Gophers struggle to find an identity on the court during the season and end up opening some eyes in the NCAA tournament. We will spend that year searching for answers amongst ourselves about why the Gophers don't have any chemistry or flow on offense. Come tourney time we find out that we do, in fact, have what it takes and we make a nice run. At that point someone should pipe up and talk about how, during the conference season, we go up against the best defenses in the nation night in, night out.
(Anyone see that Michigan @ UConn score from a week ago?)
