Official Northwestern-Gophers Post-Game Thread

What was the worst part of tonight's game?

  • Offense

    Votes: 11 26.2%

  • FT

    Votes: 3 7.1%

  • Hustle

    Votes: 1 2.4%

  • Inability to do anything against 1-3-1 zone?

    Votes: 16 38.1%

  • Other coaching issues

    Votes: 10 23.8%

  • Other

    Votes: 1 2.4%
  • Total voters
    42
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BleedGopher said:
@NadineBabu: Tubby: It's tough to simulate the 1-3-1 in practice, we obviously did a poor job of practicing it. #Gophers

Go Gophers!!
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then get some guys from the intramural teams and go against a 2-6-2 for god's sake
 

People can blame it on tubby all they want but these are DIVISION 1 basketball players they have played basketball there whole life they should know How to break a 1-3-1 thereself cooome ooon!!
 

Tubby has to do a better job of preparing for a defense he's seen for 5 years now. Our players looked liked deer in the headlights.
 

The conference schedule is perennially what separates the contenders from the pretenders. This is when it gets physically and mentally demanding. This is when we start going up against the best coaches in the country twice a week. I don't like what these last two games are telling us about our team in light of the above.
 

Johnnyboy18 said:
At one point can everyone stop blaming Tubby for everything. Andre and Austin played like idiots and couldn't hit a wide open shot to save the day. All those calling for Welch to play more should realize why he doesn't today.
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Well...why do you suppose the Hollins twins both "played like idiots and couldn't hit a wide-open shot to save the day"?

a) They had a pre-game sit down and conspired to dumb-down their games and throw bricks.

b) They didn't show toughness and focus against a limited team.

c) They found no way to deal with the 1-3-1.

d) They didn't play smart.

e) b + c + d

According to coach Smith the answer is: e)

What part does he play in that?
 


GoodasGold said:
Well...why do you suppose the Hollins twins both "played like idiots and couldn't hit a wide-open shot to save the day"?

a) They had a pre-game sit down and conspired to dumb-down their games and throw bricks.

b) They didn't show toughness and focus against a limited team.

c) They found no way to deal with the 1-3-1.

d) They didn't play smart.

e) b + c + d

According to coach Smith the answer is: e)

What part does he play in that?
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No Tubby is to blame for all the above. So F
 



I LOVE the Gophers, kind of like I LOVE my children.

But don't get me wrong, making this comparison does not mean that I'd ever put the Gophers up as a higher priority in my life than my family.

But what I'm trying to say is simply this. When your child stumbles, makes a mistake, says or does something stupid, or fails miserably at something, how do we speak to them?!

I don't love the Vikings or the Twins or the Wild or the Timberwolves this way, because they are a professional team, there is no real local affiliation other than the location where they play/are based and they could move at anytime, trade any player at any time, etc..


But to me, the Gophers are different. The Univ of Minnesota will never move. It's been there my whole life, and throughout the entire life of my 80 year old father, and it was there before my grandparents moved to this country.



There are 350 colleges across the land, and 30 or so professional teams who all want the best coach to coach their team and also who want the best players to be playing for their team.

Yet despite this, Minnesota, a school located in what most around the country consider the FROZEN TUNDRA, that has NEVER been known to have the best athletic facilities in the land or to pay the most for coaches to coach here, has ELEVEN teams presently ranked in the Top 25 in the nation, or that have finished up the season ranked in the Top 25. A 12th team, finished outside of the Top 25 for possibly the first time in 15 years?!

#1 Women's Hockey
#1 Men's Hockey
#3 Wrestling
#7 Mens Gymnastics
#8 Women's VB
#8 Men's Indoor Track
#11 Women's Gymnastics
#11 Men's Swim & Dive
#13 Women's Swim & Dive
#25 Men's CC
Top 25 hopefully - Men's BB


Minnesota, a school that has RARELY shown itself to place athletics over academics, and located in a state full of people who seem better educated than the average American, more sophisticated than the average American, more progressive in its thinking than the average American, and that soon after winning a Natl Title in football, made efforts to deemphasize football, still seems to be oddly the OVER-ACHIEVERS in college sports as a whole.

But no, this can not be the case, some actually think that there should be no reason why Minnesota shouldn't dominate every "relevant" sport out there, Hockey of course, but Basketball and Football as well. We are in the almighty Big Ten Conf, they say. Why shouldn't we dominate?!

Like they forget that there are 11 other teams in the Big Ten conf besides us?!
And like they forget that the Big Ten is not even the best conf in any sports other than Wrestling and this year, Men's BB?!
But still, why shouldn't we easily dominate cfb and cbb?!


Umm, maybe because we are located in the Frozen Tundra, our populace is too sophisticated and educated and has too many other options, and does NOT obsess so much about football that they go crazy if we don't win. The money is out there, but for some reason, Minnesota alums do not donate like alums at other schools do?! Why is that? Is that Tubby's fault? Is that Kills fault?! Was it Mason's fault? It has to be the coaches fault. Couldn't have anything to do with the fact we are located in the frozen tundra, that our reputation as a school has been tarnished by decades of bad football and basketball scandals numbering THREE, not one, not two, but THREE, and that outside of Minnesota, people with their finger on the pulse of the nation, feel that Minnesota has FAR TOO HIGH of expectations for its coaches. So, coaches feel this vibe as well.

So sure, lets fire Tubby and then AGAIN, struggle to find anyone worthy that will want to come here.


Ever wonder why the Coaches poll consistently ranks us lower than the AP?!

Coaches nationwide respect Tubby. I've heard fans of other Big Ten teams praise his coaching abilities after games that we either beat them or came close to beating them in. Coaches nationwide respected Mason. Minny's got the rep of firing good coaches who don't quickly prove to be miracle workers.

Until we make a commitment to a coach, and stick to that commitment, and ride out any and all storms, that reputation will only grow and get worse and have more and more of a negative effect on our ability to hire coaches here.


YES, I am saying that Minnesota fans should accept Mediocrity, until we EARN the right to expect more. We haven't done anything to have earned the right to expect what so many Gopher fans expect.

Sports is ALL ABOUT THE MONEY nowadays, and SEC schools spend MILLIONS more on facilities, on their coaches, etc, in cfb, and hence, deserve better results.

Minnesota, thankfully, is not as obsessed with football or sports in general as other parts of the country. We are blessed because of this with natives who excel in many ways, business, politics, education, science, lesser sports, etc. in a way that is above average in America. But until we are able to make the same kind of investment that southern states and SEC alums have made towards BUYING winning cfb teams, we do not deserve to be as good as them in cfb. Until we make the same kind of investment that places like UNC, UK, UCLA, Kansas and Michigan have made towards BUYING winning cbb teams, we do not deserve to be as good as them in cbb. I for one do NOT want to sell my soul for sports glory. I'm not uber rich, but if I was, I doubt that I'd donate millions to help BUY the Gophers any more victories in bb or fb.


We have a record breaking defending Natl Champion Women's Hockey team that barely gets any notice. Do we even deserve them?! The U has made a financial investment in them, so in that regard, maybe yes, but as fans, do we?!


All I am trying to say is that everyone wants a winning team, but no one plays for honor or for free or for the hometown team anymore, not unless there is something in it for them.
All of the negativity surrounding this Gopher bb team and the push to fire Tubby Smith has made me sick of sports. I was so enjoying this season, and YES, losing this last game sucks. But I'm just sick to my stomach from reading all of the negative crap posted here about our coach and our players.


Maybe Tubby isn't the best coach for the job, but guess what, we are apparently not willing to invest THE MONEY needed to get better facilities or a better coach, so if we want to experience success, what other investment can we make?! An investment of TIME and LOYALTY maybe?!


And for those who say they've waited long enough?! Well, maybe the program shouldn't have had a HUGE BRAWL and 100+ violations with one coach, then a SEX scandal with the next coach, and then the largest ever CHEATING SCANDAL in college bb history with the next coach?! Eh?! Yah figure?!

It's lucky that the NCAA lets us play Basketball at all. The Haskins stuff could have gotten us the Death Penalty? It was thought be some outside of Minnesota, and even within Minnesota to be the most deserving punishment.

Yet still, after all that, we got someone like Tubby Smith to come here? Everyone else in the country thought it was an incredible blessing for the Gophers, but the most critical of Tubby Smith from the beginning?! Certain Gopher fans. Who will and is being the most critical of him now? Certain Gopher fans.


Well, I may not leave the GH forever, and any accusation of my being a fair weather or bandwagon fan would be a false accusation, because leaving here doesn't mean I won't be out and about supporting the Gophers. But if I return, it probably won't be until we are winning again. I can't stand being here unless we are winning. Fans of other programs are FAR MORE KIND towards the Gophers than Gopher fans.

Here's hoping I have a reason to come back.
 



Tubby really contradicts himself here as he's been teeing off/pointing fingers after every loss - from Amelia's blog:

After the game, the pile up of poor play spanning across three games had clearly taken its toll. An angry Tubby Smith again took the podium, riding his players hard once more. Outside the locker room, the players were quiet and solemn.

And even as the game was still going, the players appeared to bicker between plays, clearly frustrated by their own performances.

“When you’re losing, people point the finger, that’s the way it starts,” Smith said. “Instead of being it’s my fault, other things you have to deal with, you look at the refs, you look at the coach, it’s ‘somebody’s not doing something.’ And that’s what losers do.”

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/188160671.html

Go Gophers!!
 

I know the 1-3-1 has been a problem, but tonight there were plenty of open shots. Tonight our guards just stunk the place up. Not only could they not shoot, the unforced turnovers were dumb-founding. This was the worst I've seen the Gophers play under the Tubster. It was disappointing to say the least? Now we go to Wisconsin...good luck!
 


“When you’re losing, people point the finger, that’s the way it starts,” Smith said. “Instead of being it’s my fault, other things you have to deal with, you look at the refs, you look at the coach, it’s ‘somebody’s not doing something.’ And that’s what losers do."

100% Agree with this Well said by Tubby.
 



Julian Welch is going to be a great city league player some day.
 

lol. Funny. And that little bit of lighthearted joking brought the first smile to my face since NW started their run early in the 2nd half.
 


I have to say, I find it interesting that posters here show such disrespect for Div 1A college basketball players who I'm guessing are FAR SUPERIOR basketball players than they EVER have been or ever hoped to be, by referring to their level of talent as "high school level".

Yes, on the surface, we all look at Northwestern as this punching bag and that there is no way we should ever lose to them.

But lets throw some reality into the mix here.


Yes, NW is ranked #94 in the RPI. But do Gopher fans really know that the RPI is? What it means?

The RPI figures in your winning percentage, the winning percentage of your opponents, and the winning percentage of your opponents opponents. SO, if you play a lot of teams with winning records, your RPI will be very good. If you play a lot of teams with losing records, your RPI will not look so good.

NW played and beat 6 teams with RPI rankings over 200. While UMn only played 2. I'm guessing this hurt NW's RPI ranking.

So NW's playing so many super creampuffs who likely have horribly bad looking win-loss records, skews the reality that otherwise would be seen if you look closer.


NW has played 5 Top 13 ranked teams.

FIVE.

That's more than the Gophers. UMn is 0-3 vs Top 15. NW is 1-4.

NW also has TWO ROAD WINS vs Top 40 RPI ranked teams. YEAH, TWO ROAD WINS. That's more than the Gophers who have 1.

They also have home losses to Iowa, Maryland and Stanford. SO, its easy to see how Minnesota got ranked higher than NW. But its a lot harder to see exactly why NW is only a high school level team but Minnesota was recently seen as a FF caliber team?!

Most of the hype about the Gophers came from our ROAD win over Illinois. NW beat Illinois on the ROAD, too.

Our home win over MSU is the other big win of ours. But would a ROAD win over #38 Baylor not be almost as big of a win as our home win over #16 MSU?!


Maryland may not be a stellar team, but they have won a lot of games. And NW's loss to Stanford was by only 2 pts. We barely beat Stanford, by 3 pts, and wasn't it a last second shot that won that game for us, or was it a last second miss by Stanford?! I just remember thinking that we were awfully lucky to get out of that game with a win. That's only a 5 pt difference between our result vs Stanford and NW's result vs Stanford.


They're worst loss of the season, a home loss to Ill-Chicago, ranked #106 in the RPI, not the worst loss I've seen, Wichita St lost to #105 Evansville and WSU is ranked in the Top 25. But days after that loss, NW got its 2nd best win of the season, that ROAD win over #39 Baylor.



I mean, what struck me right off the bat, was when I looked at the list of teams they lost to and saw these names right off the bat,

#6 Michigan, #11 Indiana, #7 Minnesota, #13 Butler.

With ROAD wins over #28 and #38

But of course, 4 additional losses to #64, #65, #75 and #106 means that they are HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL talent.




Honestly, yes, we played like sh1t, but it was a ROAD game vs what actually we may come to find out, is a pretty scrappy and not so untalented NW team.

STILL, not a good game, and a bad loss, but the negative nancies in this place have EXAGGERATED how bad the competition was.
 

NW had ROAD wins vs #28 & #38 rnkd tms & now is 1-4 vs Top 13 rnkd tms

I think the general Gopher public has been fooled into believing that this loss was worse than it was.

Northwestern has such a low RPI because 6 of the teams it has beaten are ranked worse than #200 in the RPI rankings.

Those games skew their ranking and hide from most people's perspective, that

NW has also played 5 games vs Top 15 teams and is now 1-4 vs them. They are also 3-4 vs teams ranked in the Top 40 of the RPI.

Gopher fans have pointed to our 3 losses and said, but look, they are all to Top 15 ranked teams, well, look at 4 of NW's, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana and Butler.

Their three wins are vs the Gophers and ROAD WINS vs #28 and #38 ranked teams, Illinois and Baylor.

Sure, Baylor hasn't been in the Top 25 so no one could recognize that win as a quality win, and their win over the Illini came more recently after the Illini were already on the downward spiral, so we Gophers got credit for a big win, where NW didn't, though it was the same opponent, and the same situation, both of our teams beating the Illini in Illinois.


They also have some semi-embarrassing losses, to Maryland, who actually is not that bad of a team, they have something like 12 or 14 wins on the season? They lost by 2 pts to Stanford, and we beat Stanford by a WHOLE 3 pts. Big 5 pt difference there.

And they lost to #106 Ill-Chicago. But ranked Wichita St has a lost to #105 Evansville.

So what is the difference between WSU and NW?! NW has played A TON more Top ranked competition.

Wichita St has one big win, a win over Creighton, which after some recent losses, doesn't seem like that big of a win anymore. So NW could be argued is better than Wichita St.


If NW was playing in a weaker Conf, they might be ranked right now?!


Not negating that the Gophers played badly tonight and that there was some bad coaching as well, and maybe our players are not as talented as we originally thought, but I just think that this does not have to be seen as the worst loss in Gopher history, like some are making it out as.
 

#1nHkyCfbBsbDncSolarDebat said:
I think the general Gopher public has been fooled into believing that this loss was worse than it was.

Northwestern has such a low RPI because 6 of the teams it has beaten are ranked worse than #200 in the RPI rankings.

Those games skew their ranking and hide from most people's perspective, that

NW has also played 5 games vs Top 15 teams and is now 1-4 vs them. They are also 3-4 vs teams ranked in the Top 40 of the RPI.

Gopher fans have pointed to our 3 losses and said, but look, they are all to Top 15 ranked teams, well, look at 4 of NW's, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana and Butler.

Their three wins are vs the Gophers and ROAD WINS vs #28 and #38 ranked teams, Illinois and Baylor.

Sure, Baylor hasn't been in the Top 25 so no one could recognize that win as a quality win, and their win over the Illini came more recently after the Illini were already on the downward spiral, so we Gophers got credit for a big win, where NW didn't, though it was the same opponent, and the same situation, both of our teams beating the Illini in Illinois.


They also have some semi-embarrassing losses, to Maryland, who actually is not that bad of a team, they have something like 12 or 14 wins on the season? They lost by 2 pts to Stanford, and we beat Stanford by a WHOLE 3 pts. Big 5 pt difference there.

And they lost to #106 Ill-Chicago. But ranked Wichita St has a lost to #105 Evansville.

So what is the difference between WSU and NW?! NW has played A TON more Top ranked competition.

Wichita St has one big win, a win over Creighton, which after some recent losses, doesn't seem like that big of a win anymore. So NW could be argued is better than Wichita St.


If NW was playing in a weaker Conf, they might be ranked right now?!


Not negating that the Gophers played badly tonight and that there was some bad coaching as well, and maybe our players are not as talented as we originally thought, but I just think that this does not have to be seen as the worst loss in Gopher history, like some are making it out as.
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Dude, where do you find the time? I love your dedication and love for this team, but wow! You have to have typed about 10 novels worth of text here at gopherhole.... I want to read them, but no way... Simplify my friend, simplify and condense.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Dude, where do you find the time? I love your dedication and love for this team, but wow! You have to have typed about 10 novels worth of text here at gopherhole.... I want to read them, but no way... Simplify my friend, simplify and condense.
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Agreed
 

Simplify?! OK, NW was referred to as high school level bb players.

Since when have high school level bb players won 2 ROAD GAMES vs Top 50 RPI ranked tms?

NW has 8 losses, but FOUR of them are to Top 15 RPI ranked teams.

NW's top half of their opponents are the toughest schedule in the nation!!!!
 

huh?

Winasota Gopher said:
How does he not have an answer for a 1-3-1 with this athletic and long of a team...

This team is ideal for breaking zone schemes other than a 2-3
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NO. An ideal team for beating a 1-3-1 is a team that knows to be patient and then attacks when they find a seam, a team with a pure point guard and many good passers. It's a team with good 3pt shooters, or at least teams who can hit the 15' short corner shot. Think of teams with high basketball IQ's and you have your 1-3-1 busters. The only thing an athletic team has against a 1-3-1 is offensive rebounding. You overdrive in fustration against a 1-3-1 and its a steal or turnover city.
 

Very disappointed in the performance after having almost a week to get ready for Northwestern. I expected a very focused team and a team that would be looking to make a statement after 2 losses in a row. People can say we just don't play well at Northwestern but that really can't be an excuse. The good thing is this is the first bad loss of the season and might serve as a huge wake up call to the team. I really think this Wisconsin game on Saturday could determine the way the rest of the season goes, if we get a win and answer the call you could see a team get its confidence and swagger back and go on a nice little run, but if we lose you will probably see a team that has lost all confidence and might struggle to get wins the rest of the way and it will be another Selection Sunday of sitting on the bubble. I personally believe we will see the Gophers play with an increased sense of urgency on Saturday and come out of Madison with a win and a nice performance that allows us to get a little confidence back and get on a little roll.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Dude, where do you find the time? I love your dedication and love for this team, but wow! You have to have typed about 10 novels worth of text here at gopherhole.... I want to read them, but no way... Simplify my friend, simplify and condense.
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Publish as a collection of short stories.
 


No, Fire Shaka. Hire Tubby! lol That's what VCU fans are saying right now, lol.

Shaka's #19 team LOSES to #82 Richmond

Tubby's Gophers BEAT #82 Richmond.
 

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