gophers/ncaa

Nice to see as win on a clutch shot by Banham, but overall she had another mediocre night on shooting: 6 for 16, which was only marginally better than Hill's 5 for 17. The difference was Riche's fine performance; OSU had nobody other than Hill. Purdue has been up and down this year, so I am looking forward to that one.

I can't believe how bad this Jim Foster OSU team is. Good for Banham, but poor Minnesota basketball scene that she could keep Borton around as coach. Banham will never reach her potential under Borton. Can you imagine how good she'd be playing for a good coach say, Sharon Versyp or Connie Yori? We will never know.

Whatever else can be said about this up and down season, the first sweep of Ohio State in Gophers women's history sounds awfully nice. I agree with you on Banham's overall performance, regionguy (what the final score won't show is that Banham missed a desperation three that was converted at the other end to make the score 55-53 with about 37 seconds left and then lost the ball which was converted to make the score 56-55). Riche really had one of her best games of the year, however. Honestly, Minnesota really showed that it was the better team overall for most of the game (especially inside). It really looks like the Gophers are a clear 7th to 8th place team in the league this year (the bottom four are pretty obvious as are the top five to six). The Gophers are a lock for the WNIT this year (mathematically they cannot finish with a losing record and they have three RPI top 30 wins), but it would be nice to see them finish strong. Wins against Purdue and Penn State at home, though unlikely, would probably get them back on the NCAA bubble. JMHO. Go Gopher!

acecat - Can you imagine how good Banham would be if she hadn't missed playing most the summer and fall with the blood clot on her lungs? She's finally almost to where she thought she'd be at the start of the year. Also, nothing shabby about being the Big Ten freshman of the year last year and the leading scorer this year.

Fun to watch because just as with Tubby Smith, expectations are low for the charges of Pam Borton, especially, for those that she has recrutie. On the other hand, it was great to see Banham take charge with her team down by one and six seconds left in the game to bring the ball down and put it in the basket. That is, she was the good player who knew that hse had to make things happen when they counted. The Gopher men, on the other hand, have no good players who can or want to do that. Granted, they have a coupel ofd back-up guards who will drive to the basket out of control on many occasions but usually just lose the ball or throw up bricks when they do. Great to see a player like Banham who knows her role as the go to player and then can actaully make things happen.

From goat to hero. Banham turned the ball over with 17 seconds left in the game which resulted in the 3 pointer by Ohio State, but then wins the game. 19 turnovers is not good.

Any thoughts on who the next coach will be?

Tubby will go before Borton will at this point IMO. The 10,000+ attendance for the women that everyone so fondly remembers from the Whalen Era is highly unusual for a women's program and the 2000-4000 that this team draws during the B1G season probably won't scare anyone in the front office. A 3-13 debacle or something similar may have forced a change, but the Gophers look like they're heading towards a 6-10 or 7-9 season with a relatively difficult B1G schedule and emerging star power with Banham (The Big Ten Network scheduled the Penn State game as their nationally televised game for Thursday partially due to this fact, I'm sure). Given these facts, an RPI increase from 122 to the 50-70 range this year, a few solid RPI top 30 wins, a nearly guaranteed WNIT berth and a high profile recruit committing for 2014 (Carly Wagner) and 90% probability that Borton isn't going anywhere. JMHO.

InformeOne - That doesn't say much is a week BIG with only 3 teams ranked in the top 25 - #7, #22 and #24. I think Norwood is smarter than that. On the other hand, the men BIG's have 5 in the top 25, including 3 in the top 10. Tubby and Pam will both be gone.

All props to the ladies for pulling out the win but I do have concerns. How can you hold a team to 31% shooting for the game and still have to get a last second hail mary shot to win the game. And how can you hold a team to 19% shooting in the first half and only be up by 6 points!!