The Gophers
had been playing so miserable at the end of the season and with that has been much
speculation about Tubby Smith’s future.
The question
now is, can things change now that the team is in the tournament and seeded 11th?
Will the Gophers find a renewed spark? If so, which player or players will give
this team the spark? The dreaded question needs to be asked. Will the season
come to an end at the hands of the UCLA Bruins?
The Gophers
answered all my questions quite convincingly. The team found the inside game
and caused UCLA big men early foul trouble. Trevor Mbakwe I thought was a huge
presence and ended in double digits with rebounds. I also thought Maurice
Walker and Elliott Eliason’s presence helped as well in the paint.
The Hollins
boys played out of their minds and I welcome being able to watch shooting like
that the rest of the tourney. Andre Hollins puts in 28 points with 23 in the
second half. Austin Hollins adds 16 making total of 44 points of the 83. The
combined 9-14 from beyond the 3 point line was so needed.
The teams
hustle I appreciated as Gopher players were flying out of bounds trying to save
the ball or diving for loose balls. It started from start to finish outhustling
UCLA all night. Minnesota clearly wanted this game more.
The one
concern for this game and most of the season is the free throw shooting. If
this team is going to survive the percent needs to be cranked up.
The Gophers
had come in favored by a little over 3 and to win by 20 makes going to bed that
much better with a smile. Thanks Gophers for keeping the season alive.
The next opponent,
the Florida Gators will be very tough to beat. On Friday the Gators held the 3rd
highest scoring team in the nation, Northwestern Sate to 47 points. This team
had come in averaging 80 a game.
Florida is
ranked third in the nation holding teams to a little less than 54 points to a
game. The Gators also average winning by 18 a game.
The Gophers
have their work cut out but after Thursday and Friday’s action anything is possible.
A 15 seed beating a 2 seed and 3 number 12 seeds eliminated the 5 seeds. This is
why I love this tourney. Who is going to wear the Cinderella slipper in the
2013 Tourney?
I have seen
many picking Louisville or Indiana to win it all. I hope not I would love to see a Minnesota
and if not a small school cutting the net down in early April.
Thanks for
reading
Purplestick
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