Remember way back in November? The coaches and the media picked the Gopher men anywhere from 7th to 11th in the Big 10. Everybody said, wow, they're gonna be better than that! And they picked the Gopher women to finish 3rd, and everybody said, wow, are they really gonna be that good?
Both teams appeared to have depth issues, especially with Eric Curry hurt for the men (not to mention Marcus Carr declared ineligible) and Gadiva Hubbard for the women. Not that Curry getting back into the lineup and Hubbard not isn't part of the story, it is. But it's hardly the whole story.
So, anyway, the men survived Iowa at Williams Arena on Sunday night 92-87 by shooting 57% from the field and 66% on 2-point attempts. Iowa shot 56 percent on 3-pointers and a respectable 54 percent on 2s, but our 2-point percentage was just good enough to make the difference. Well, that and an extra 10 FTA which led to an extra 8 FTM. Thank goodness for Curry, with Daniel Oturu out with an injury. He managed just 8 points and 2 rebounds, but thank goodness for that. Kudos also to Matz Stockman, who filled in inside and scored 6 points.
Meanwhile, the women did not survive a mediocre Ohio State team because, after all, they shot 30 percent from the field. 33 percent on 3s (Ohio State shot 50) and just 11-of-39 (28 percent) from 2-point range. OSU shot 44 percent on 2s. It's a broken record. The Gopher women are just a terrible shooting team. Their top scorers--Destiny Pitts, Kenisha Bell and Taiye Bello shot 15-for-35 (a so-so 43 percent) but everybody else shot 3-of-25. What kind of difference would Gadiva Hubbard make for this team? Instead of 2-7 in the Big 10, probably 5-4, like the men.
So, the men are firmly planted on the bubble, and I doubt that they'll get off the bubble until the night the NCAA tournament invitations are made. The rest of the way: 6 away games, 5 at home. 6 opponents with winning records, 5 not. Win at home, lose away and we're 10-10 and 20-11. Bubble. So, where can you win beside Williams Arena? Nebraska, Rutgers, Northwestern, all 306. Win 2 of those, but then you've got Michigan State (9-1) and Michigan (8-1) at home. However it works, 6-5, 11-9 and 21-10 would look a lot better than 10-10 and 20-11. Still bubble, but better bubble.
The women are not on the bubble anymore despite than 11-0 non-conference record. The women first need to demonstrate that they can beat anybody, especially given 8 remaining games against teams with winning records and only one game with a team with a losing record. Ouch. Win at home, lose on the road and we're 6-12. Definitely not bubble. With Rutgers (8-1) at home, not a likely win, well, then you've got to steal a couple on the road, say, at Northwestern (6-3) this Thursday, then at Indiana (5-4) next week. Then you're 7-11, 18-11 overall. Still probably not an NCAA tournament type of record. Tonight's loss to Ohio State may in fact have sealed the Gophers' fate, that is, on the outside looking in.
Players of the Day--Jordan Murphy and Destiny Pitts
Teams of the Day--Gopher men and Gopher women
Coaches of the Day--Richard Pitino and Lindsay Whalen
No comments:
Post a Comment