Is this the worst non-scandal week in Gopher basketball history?

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I think we had a February run with Tubby that was down right awful which included a loss against Northwestern when they really stunk.

Edit - Feb 2012.
Went 1-7 with a win at Nebraska.
Lost:
WIS
OSU
@NW
MSU
IND
@WIS

Those games were all pretty close though.
 
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If Robbins had played I would said yes there have been worse
 

In 1922-1923 they were 2-13 overal and 1-11 in conference. Not sure how many games a week were played but that had to be tough.

Go take a look at the 2015-2016 season and imagine all those bad weeks. At one point they lost to South Dakota, South Dakota state, and Oklahoma state with a 7 day period.

en.m.wikipedia.org

2015–16 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org
 


Or 2006-2007 where they lost to Marist, southern Illinois, and Montana all in the old spice shootout and got 8th place out of 8 teams. Plus they lost to a 2-14 northwestern team during conference play.
 



2002-2003 started 8-4 in the B1G. Probably needed to win one more game out o the last 4 to make the tournament. Lost them all.

The 2002 Illinois game was just one game, but hurt more than all of these combined.

And the above mentioned week in 2006 sealed Monson's fate, though he was already done either way.
 



As much as I love my gophers, I know we've never been a consistent winner. We go on our random streaks. Generally we've been average to not so good :(
 

I think it has to be. The tournament mentioned in a post above (I only remembered Montana specifically and not who the other two schools were) was awful and especially frustrating since Monson should have already been fired (like Pitino) and it just confirmed we were going to see a pointless lame duck season. At least that happened at the beginning of the year and confirmed what everyone already believed. After Monson was fired a short while after, you could check in or out on the season and not need to be invested in anything.

This year the Gophers were like a 5 or 6 seed in most brackets before the home loss to Maryland. While I personally didn't believe they would stay there, it seemed impossible to fall completely out of the tournament. So we all spent so much more time invested in the season.

Fast forward to this week and what makes it the worst. The Illinois game was broadcast on Fox. We've had very few network TV games in recent years and this was a huge game for the Gophers tourney hopes. Not only did they lose the game, but they suffered the 3rd biggest home blowout in the history of the program! With the sad state of the bubble and the results from Sunday through Wednesday, the Gophers still controlled their own destiny going in to a cakewalk against Northwestern. Northwestern had nothing to play for! They hadn't won a game in 2021! The Gophers lead 17-3...at home! Northwestern didn't even play well by their own standards and they still won going away. Again, many more hoops fans were watching this game or aware of the Gophers terrible loss because of their status on the bubble as opposed to many of the other periods mentioned above. Finally Nebraska. Losers of 31 of 32 Big Ten games with nothing to play for and the Gophers STILL were a first four or next four out team depending on your preferred bracketologist. Nebraska turns it over the entire first half, Fred only plays his best player 10 minutes because he's sending a message/creating his culture... and they still beat the Gophers for their first home win over a high major opponent in 2 years.

TL;DR A historic beatdown at home on network television and two losses to teams on historic losing streaks while still playing for a sport in the NCAA tournament in late February is absolutely the worst week Gopher Basketball has experienced that doesn't involve the word "Gangelhoff".
 


I understand the spirit of the question here and I could certainly support the case @EG#9 lays out above, but this week won't have long-term hangover effects going into next year or beyond. If anything this week provides clarity on what needs to happen. So in that sense it is a good thing. The next time we spend any time obsessing over this week will be the next time we are talking about the "worst week in Gophers basketball" thread. If the Gophers had gone 2-1 or 3-0 this week, we would likely have made the tournament. Would a change have been forthcoming? What if they had won a game in the tournament? If the overall view on this board is representative of the fan base at large, a change absolutely needed to happen regardless of how this week had played out.

The worst week for me this year was the week after the Michigan game. This team absolutely looked like a legit Sweet Sixteen contender, invincible at home, and entering the much softer part of their schedule. Then we lost the Nebraska game due to COVID -- a game I am certain we would have won at that time and potentially avoided the albatross "can't win on the road" that weighted this team down. Then piggyback the Nebraska cancellation with the ugly home loss against Maryland and the momentum was headed in the other direction on this season.
 



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