gophers/ncaa

Solid rebounding and good defense by the Gophers in a hard-fought road loss to a ranked team. Banham is still shooting poorly and making some critical mistakes, though, and Borton persists in having her keep jacking them up.

This was essentially a tied game and was very winnable. A tough loss... The good news is that the team is getting nice contributions from many players, top to bottom, and coming off the bench. Great plays from everyone in different ways. The good news is that the team is still young at many positions, with two freshman starters and one sophomore starter, plus highly regarded freshman talent on the bench not even playing yet. The good news is that they seemed to have a bit more of the determination needed to get it done in the darn tough Big Ten. When the other team is slipping, pour it on and make them be the team to fall apart! Bad news is, like the last two games, they ultimately did not get it done at critical times and gave it away. Too many big Gopher plays followed by a missed easy shot, foul and/or turnover then break for the other team followed by another score or two. 23 Gopher turnovers! More good shots launched and scored are needed. A bigger three point threat developed by next season is needed (.125 this game) if they are to have a better chance of comebacks and explosives that can change a game. Riche is playing well but can't help when she benches herself from fowls. Did I say better shooting? For future seasons, a bigger presence (maybe a big player of size or the equivalent) would be nice, since 6' 3" Loberg seemed to make a difference just being on the floor. Refs have been unfair to the Gophers.

This game was disappointing in that the Gophers lost when they really could have won. It was, however, encouraging in that the Gophers were a)clearly not overmatched against Penn State, b)seemed confident on the road and c) did not play their best game (1-8 shooting from 3, too many turnovers and outrebounded offensively, etc.) but hung tough against the closest thing to a "super-elite" team the B1G has. After the Nebraska debacle and being handled inside by Purdue and Michigan State, I was beginning to believe that the Gophers would be lucky to eek out 8 wins this season (and they still might not make that), but they are more talented than they showed in their first three B1G losses and seem to be settling in at a higher plateau of inconsistency than they have in the past few years (even in a stronger B1G). I don't anticipate any let downs against sub RPI-100 teams with this group (unfortunately, the B1G only has 2 teams that qualify and the Gophers have only 2 games against them). This isn't a team that is overmatched by the rest of the B1G in terms of talent (though they match up poorly against big interior line-ups)and if they can play hard and make better decisions consistently, they can win more than they lose going forward this B1G season. It will be an uphill climb sitting at 2-4, but they can start this climb by beating Illinois (tough this year) at home on Monday. The next two game home stand (Illinois on the 28th and Michigan on the 31st) will pretty much determine whether the season is salvageable from an NCAA tournament bid standpoint. Two wins and they're back in the bubble discussion. JMHO. Go Gophers!