Da Men
Hopes ran high at times for the 2019 Gopher men, as after a 59-52 upset of Bucky in Madison in January. But, there were disappointing losses to Big 10 also-rans Nebraska and Rutgers, and by the end of the regular season, the Gophers were just #7 in the conference at 9-11. A 2nd upset of #3 seed Purdue in the conference tournament probably got the Gophers into the NCAA tournament, where coach Richard Pitino and his #10-seeded troops engineered another surprise win over the ghost of his father at #7-seed Louisville 86-76.
But a 76-49 shellacking by the Michigan Wolverines in the conference tournament semis and a 70-50 loss to the Michigan State Spartans in the 2nd round of the NCAA showed how far the Gopher men have to go.
But, let's remember that this is a program that has won 4 Big 10 titles in 100 years, less than half of what would be a fair share. Once upon a time, believe it or not, the Gophers had won more Big 10 titles than anybody, but all of those wins came before 1920. In fact, the 1919 Gophers went undefeated and won not only the Big 10 title but the national title. And, that was their 3rd such title, to go along with a pair from 1902 and 1903.
But, since then, it has become abundantly clear that Minnesota has not and will probably never produce enough 1st line talent to win Big 10 titles and to compete nationally. OK, sure, that 1937 championship team was led by Minnesotans John Kundla, Marty Rolek and Dick Seebach. But the 1972 champions were led by out-of-towners Jim Brewer and Clyde Turner. The 1982 champions had Randy Breuer but also Trent Tucker and Darryl Mitchell. And the 1997 champions were led by the now infamous Bobby Jackson.
And, so, this year, the Gophers success was first and foremost the creation of senior power forward Jordan Murphy, who for some reason came up here to the land of perpetual winter from San Antonio, TX, to become the Gophers' all-time leading rebounder (and #2 all-time in the Big 10). The fact is, he missed the Michigan State NCAA game with an injury, and surely that was the kiss of death, if one was needed. Still, the Gophers were also led by Minnesotans Amir Coffey, Gabe Kalscheur and Daniel Oturu--and players like Dupree McBrayer and Isaiah Washington came all the way from New York to pursue their dreams here in Minnesota; and Eric Curry from Memphis; and Marcus Carr, from Toronto.
But what this shows is that there is no--ZERO--margin for error, and Marcus Carr was declared ineligible while players with the same resume who go to Duke and North Carolina are routinely made eligible; while Curry was injured most of the year. With these 2 players, the Gophers probably would have won another 2-3-4 games.
And then there's McKinley Wright, Mr. Basketball Minnesota 2017 from Champlin Park. The Gophers and Mr. Richard Pitino had no interest whatsoever in Mr. Wright. And so, here, in 2019, the Gophers' chief liability was the lack of a true point guard, and Mr. Wright was winning 1st team all-Pac 12 honors at Colorado. Local high school coaches are pretty much beside themselves that the Gophers were too ignorant to recruit a fellow who was completely capable of being the best point guard in the Pac 12. The truth is that, as stated above, the state of Minnesota does not produce enough top-drawer talent to win Big 10 titles. But it is equally true that since the departure of Jim Dutcher in or about 1985, the Gophers have done a piss-poor job of recruiting the state of Minnesota. Clem Haskins didn't recruit Minnesota. Dan Monson did a little because his program was so far down after Clem's academic fraud scandal that nobody else would come here. But, I'm sorry, Richard Pitino has also done a poor job of recruiting Minnesota. Yeah, he went after Tre Jones and Matthew Hurt, 2 guys who are rated among the top 10 in the nation, 2 guys who were not going to come to the University of Minnesota. But, who else among Minnesota high school graduates might be able to help to Gophers. Well, half the time, Pitino has no clue. He passed on Wright, who probably could have helped the Gophers to win 4-5-6 more games than they did. He got Oturu. He didn't get Tre Jones or Matthew Hurt, but who else might have helped the Gophers out of the class of 2019? I'm not at all convinced that he ever even evaluated the talent. In 2020, he's got Dawson Garcia, Dain Dainja, Ben Carlson and others to think about. But I'm not at all sure that 110 percent of his focus isn't on Jalen Suggs who, frankly, is probably going to go to Duke.
So, anyway. The bottom line is Minnesota is a fiendishly difficult place to win. But disrespecting Minnesota talent that doesn't happen to be among the top 10 in the nation seems to be a funny way to build a stronger program.
Da Women
I don't think I've ever seen a team as inconsistent as the 2019 Gopher women, or as incapable of winning games with a lead in the 4th quarter. There were at least 5 4th quarter losses, including the final loss at Cincinnati in the WNIT. Now, granted, a loss in the WNIT is not the kind of loss that anybody is going to remember. It's just that it happened the same way that 4 conference losses occurred--that is, with a pretty much total collapse in the 4th quarter. And if we had avoided those losses we would have been 13-5 in the conference, good for 3rd place, and 25-7 overall, which would be an obvious NCAA tournament kind of record. The Gopher men got a 10th seed at 21-13. At 24-6 (before the post-season) a #3-#4 seed would hardly be out of the question.
From this perspective, the signature loss was the January home loss to Illinois. Keep in mind, this was a team that was winless in the Big 10 at the time and that finished 2-16 in the conference. But on January 6 at Williams Arena, against a Gopher team that was then 12-1, they were world-beaters, at least in the 4th quarter they were. The 12-1 Gophers were ahead of the 8-5 Illini 53-43 after 3 periods. In the 4th, the Gophers shot 4-of-19 with 6 turnovers leading directly to 8 Illinois points. Illinois shot 9-of-17 with 3 turnovers leading to zero Gopher points. The only reason the Gophers only lost by 4 was a 5-1 edge in 2nd chance points in the 4th quarter.
But, seriously. 4-of-19. 6 turnovers and many of them leading directly to home run type buckets, an 8-0 Illinois edge in points off turnovers in the quarter. This against a team that won only 1 more game the entire Big 10 season on the Gophers own home court.
Clearly, something was missing. This was a team that could beat almost anybody, and could lose to almost anybody. Now, I dunno, rookie coach? Or, a point guard who took 30 percent of the Gophers' shots and made 39 percent while turning it over 117 times? The Gopher men didn't have the talent. The Gopher women had the talent other than not being a good shooting team and, frankly, losing their composure.
Next year, the Gophers return Destiny Pitts, Jasmine Brunson, Taiye Bello and Mercedes Staples, plus Gadiva Hubbard, a starter last year who missed the entire season with a bad foot and who would clearly have been a difference maker--again, showing how narrow the Gophers' margin of error is. Plus, freshman guard Sara Scalia. The loss of Kenisha Bell? Hey, she's a 2-time all-Big 10. She is our joy and she is our sorrow. Whether she will represent an irreplaceable playmaker or addition by subtraction? The truth is, nobody knows. Maybe a team of grinders, more like Lindsay herself, will provide for more synergy. Still, the Gophers' future lies, at this point in time anyway, with Lindsay's success in getting more of the blue-chippers in the classes of 2021 and 2022, because there are more blue-chippers in 2021 and 2022 than Minnesota ordinarily produces, to come to Minnesota. I think Lindsay will do that and that the Gopher women, frankly, have a higher upside 2-3-4 years down the road than the men. You heard it hear first.
So, as for the 2019 MN Hoops Awards?
• Both the Gopher men and the Gopher women are in the running.
• Jordan Murphy and Kenisha Bell are in the running.
• Richard Pitino and Lindsay Whalen are in the running.
• The Gopher men 59 Wisconsin 52 at Madison in January is in the running.
No comments:
Post a Comment