Returning to our 2019 season recap: Game of the Year

The nominees are:

Gopher women 72 Syracuse 68, November 29

This win over #8 rated Syracuse got Lindsay Whalen her 6^thstraight win en route to a 12-0 start which, however, raised expectations for this team somewhat unrealistically. From that 12-0 start, they finished 9-11, losing 5 times in the final minutes. This time, however, the Gophers had led all the way before suddenly falling behind 61-55 at 3:36, but then stormed back on 3 buckets by Kenisha Bell and a raft of FT.

Gopher men 59 @ Wisconsin 52, January 3

Ditto –that is, regarding unrealistic expectations. This one got the men to 12-2 and 2-1 in the Big 10. From here they went 10-12 and 7-10 in the conference. But here the Gophers stormed out to a 29-14 lead and hung on as Bucky got as close as 49-47 at 2:05. Amir Coffey scored 21 and Dupree McBrayer 14 for the Gophers.

Augsburg men 84 @ St. Thomas 81, February 21

Huge upset, #3 Augsburg at #2 St. Thomas in the MIAC semis. Booker Coplin led the Augies with 32 while Matt Carik hit the game-winning 3 with 20 seconds remaining.

Gopher men 86 Louisville 76, March 21, NCAA tournament

An NCAA tournament win is an NCAA tournament win, and this one came against a high major opponent, and one intimately linked to the Pitino name. So it was good. All 5 starters scored in double figures as the Louisville defense proved to be highly porous. The Gophers led by 5 at the half and led by double digits through most of the second half, with a high of 19 and low of 7 at 76-69 at 2:06, but the Gophers hit 10-of-10 FT after that.

St. Thomas women 85 Wartburg 56, NCAA tournament

The Tommies lost at Wartburg 60-40 in December, shooting a miserable 30%. 9 weeks later, that was their only loss. And, who, then, did they draw in the NCAA D3 quarter-finals? You guessed it. This time the Tommies shot 60% and tied a school record with 16 3s and demolished the Warthogs, or whatever, 85-56. Lucia Renikoff scored 22 points and added 6 assists. Unfortunately, the Tommies lost to Bowdoin in the semis the following week in the semis.

Game of the Year

Easy pick. Gopher men win at Sconny 57-52 to go 12-2.