I went back and looked at Tubby's tenure and couldn't find a situation where we lost 4 games in such disappointing fashion as we have lost in this last 5 game stretch. The one stretch that came immediately to mind was the stretch to being the B1G in Pitino's second year. I looked it up and we lost 72-68 to start the season at Purdue (believe we blew a lead in that one and it was the same day as the Citrus Bowl? I might be wrong) second game was a 12 point loss at no.12 Maryland (similar to the Northwestern game in the 5 game stretch now as it was expected result and the outlier) third game was a 74-72 loss at no.22 Ohio State in overtime, fourth game was a 62-57 loss at Michigan that I remember came down to the final minute with some bad Gopher possession, fifth and final game was a 77-75 loss to Iowa where the Gophers melted down and gave it away late. I believe they spotted Iowa a huge lead early in this game and then came back only to no execute late and blow a lead.
Even that 5 game stretch seems to pale in comparison to this one given the stakes. The Gophers started with a week off to prepare for an Iowa team that has been terrible on the road. Iowa even gets a starter hurt in their blowout loss to Indiana and they had a short turnaround to get to Minnesota (Thursday night to Sunday noon I believe). Gophers should have won this by 15. They don't score in the last 5:25 and lose a game they really never played well in. I believe Iowa was giving up 86 a game on the road and the Gophers scored...55. They then get an Indiana team at home who was equally inept on the road and get out to an early lead against a Hoosier team that had no real interest in competing that night. Unfortunately, the Gophers let them hang around and then they basically quit when Indiana took the lead. Gophers blew a sizeable early lead to a team that had only beat Nebraska on the road and got outscored 40-25 in the second half. This was the worst body language game of the season and, along with Iowa, the worst performance of the season. Game 3 was a much needed break at Northwestern where the Gophers won easily but couldn't do anything to help their season other than get a cosmetic win for their record due to Northwestern being inept. Game 4 was the blow 17 point lead over Maryland where the Gophers couldn't do anything right for much of the second half and seemingly nothing right for the last couple of minutes of game time. This would be Maryland's biggest comeback win in more than a decade and it happened in the Barn! Game 5 capped it off (for now) with the two-possession lead under 2 minutes loss at Wisconsin. Once again the Gophers cannot execute down the stretch and once again it's another blown lead and gut punch of a loss. That's a 5 game stretch that could have/should have been 5-0 that ended 1-4. That's the difference between 11-7 in conference play and possibly being ranked and 7-11 in conference play and pretty much guaranteed to be in a play in game in the B1G tournament and having no shot at the NCAA tournament.
This many gut punches in a row when the stakes were so high seems unprecedented even for us Gopher fans who have experienced way more than our fair share of them over the past two decades.
Even that 5 game stretch seems to pale in comparison to this one given the stakes. The Gophers started with a week off to prepare for an Iowa team that has been terrible on the road. Iowa even gets a starter hurt in their blowout loss to Indiana and they had a short turnaround to get to Minnesota (Thursday night to Sunday noon I believe). Gophers should have won this by 15. They don't score in the last 5:25 and lose a game they really never played well in. I believe Iowa was giving up 86 a game on the road and the Gophers scored...55. They then get an Indiana team at home who was equally inept on the road and get out to an early lead against a Hoosier team that had no real interest in competing that night. Unfortunately, the Gophers let them hang around and then they basically quit when Indiana took the lead. Gophers blew a sizeable early lead to a team that had only beat Nebraska on the road and got outscored 40-25 in the second half. This was the worst body language game of the season and, along with Iowa, the worst performance of the season. Game 3 was a much needed break at Northwestern where the Gophers won easily but couldn't do anything to help their season other than get a cosmetic win for their record due to Northwestern being inept. Game 4 was the blow 17 point lead over Maryland where the Gophers couldn't do anything right for much of the second half and seemingly nothing right for the last couple of minutes of game time. This would be Maryland's biggest comeback win in more than a decade and it happened in the Barn! Game 5 capped it off (for now) with the two-possession lead under 2 minutes loss at Wisconsin. Once again the Gophers cannot execute down the stretch and once again it's another blown lead and gut punch of a loss. That's a 5 game stretch that could have/should have been 5-0 that ended 1-4. That's the difference between 11-7 in conference play and possibly being ranked and 7-11 in conference play and pretty much guaranteed to be in a play in game in the B1G tournament and having no shot at the NCAA tournament.
This many gut punches in a row when the stakes were so high seems unprecedented even for us Gopher fans who have experienced way more than our fair share of them over the past two decades.