Any win against Wisconsin is a great win, in any sport. A win against the Badgers in Madison makes it all the sweeter. The Big Ten channel has shown this game multiple times over the years but I wanted to comment on it. January 15, 2009 at the Kohl Center in Madison.
It was the one game where a Minnesota coach(Tubby Smith at the time) outcoached Bo Ryan, down the stretch of a game.. That did not happen often. Wisconsin was in full control of most of the game with a double digit lead, going into 4 minutes to go in the game.. Wisconsin had run their offense really well and had like 2-3 straight easy dunks on half court possessions.. Minnesota looked shaky at best. It looked even more bleak when Minnesota PG Al Nolen fouled out of the game. Ralph Sampson III was playing his normally soft game though he was athletic.
Then with about 4-5 minutes to go, Tubby got real smart. He brought in Paul Carter and Damien Johnson to play together. Both guys were kinda wiry long and athletic, played aggressive, and made all the little(and big plays) needed for a team. Guys that were up to it when the chips were down.
IF YOU HAVE READ MY POSTS AT ALL ON HOOPS, you know my love for players at the SG, SF, and PF positions in that 6-4 to 6-8 range that are athletic, long armed, quick both in movement and anticipation, smart, and aggressive. In this game, Damien Johnson, Paul Carter, and Devron Bostick were the POSTER CHILDREN for that type of player. Bostick came in as a big time scorer from Junior College but really never panned out for the Gophers in that way.. This was his best game as a Gopher, IMO. Johnson is one of my favorite Gophers ever and he just made one big play after another in this game.. Defense, shooting, passing, rebounding, hustle for loose balls. Paul Carter had an incredible blocked shot on a runout by a Badger that looked like an easy 2 points.. If Carter does not block that shot, we lose the game. Carter was very good on both ends of the floor, as well.
Where Tubby outcoached Ryan was that Bo burned all of his timeouts so when Minnesota went to the press at about 4 and half minutes to go in regulation, Bo Ryan had no timeouts to settle his team down and set up a press breaker. TUBBY GOT SMART IN THIS ONE. Bo had a double digit lead in that game, going into 3- 4 minutes left and seemed completely in control of that game so he used his timeouts in other ways. Tubby's assistants knew that and told Tubby that Wisconsin had no more timeouts, at that point. So Tubby stayed in the press, both to get back in the game and knowing that if the Badgers got frazzled by the press, that Bo could not do anything about it in a timeout situation.
Of course, many of you remember the big time points that Lawrence Westbrook had in OT.. BIG TIME SHOTS.. We made a lot of big free throws. Travis Busch came off the bench to give some big time minutes. Blake Hoffarber did not have a great shooting night but he made plays in other ways that were key to us. And we made plays when we had to make the plays.
I say all that to point out that CLASSIC GAMES is not when we were always in control from beginning to end. If you watched 80% of this game, you would swear this was more of a BADGER CLASSIC than GOPHER CLASSIC. I would, however, like to appeal to the Big Ten channel to show the game against Indiana where we beat Bobby Knights team by close to 50 points. Then show Gopher classics from the Mychal Thompson years as well as the early 80s when we won the Big Ten title.
I could talk so much basketball strategy just from this Wisconsin game alone.. I used to like to press early in the game, if I had athletic players. It got our energy up, early, in games.. Guys would criticize me and say you are going to wear out your teams early in games but I thought it was opposite, in many cases.. If I noticed our kids a bit jittery before a game, it was a great way to get guys focused and burn off that jittery energy. Kids are young and resilient so I think as far as getting them tired, they could recover on the bench quickly and the energy with taking leads gives adrenaline that overcomes that tiredness.. That is what happened with Minnesota in the last 4 minutes of the game against Wisconsin, that day. When you have guys on your team like Damien Johnson, Paul Carter, and Blake Hoffarber, with big games from scorers like Lawrence Westbrook, you can get in those modes where guys get tough to stop, once they gain momentum.. I am hoping that we get to experience those types of hoops memories with the current regime, if they can recruit and coach the right way with the right players putting in top effort.
It was the one game where a Minnesota coach(Tubby Smith at the time) outcoached Bo Ryan, down the stretch of a game.. That did not happen often. Wisconsin was in full control of most of the game with a double digit lead, going into 4 minutes to go in the game.. Wisconsin had run their offense really well and had like 2-3 straight easy dunks on half court possessions.. Minnesota looked shaky at best. It looked even more bleak when Minnesota PG Al Nolen fouled out of the game. Ralph Sampson III was playing his normally soft game though he was athletic.
Then with about 4-5 minutes to go, Tubby got real smart. He brought in Paul Carter and Damien Johnson to play together. Both guys were kinda wiry long and athletic, played aggressive, and made all the little(and big plays) needed for a team. Guys that were up to it when the chips were down.
IF YOU HAVE READ MY POSTS AT ALL ON HOOPS, you know my love for players at the SG, SF, and PF positions in that 6-4 to 6-8 range that are athletic, long armed, quick both in movement and anticipation, smart, and aggressive. In this game, Damien Johnson, Paul Carter, and Devron Bostick were the POSTER CHILDREN for that type of player. Bostick came in as a big time scorer from Junior College but really never panned out for the Gophers in that way.. This was his best game as a Gopher, IMO. Johnson is one of my favorite Gophers ever and he just made one big play after another in this game.. Defense, shooting, passing, rebounding, hustle for loose balls. Paul Carter had an incredible blocked shot on a runout by a Badger that looked like an easy 2 points.. If Carter does not block that shot, we lose the game. Carter was very good on both ends of the floor, as well.
Where Tubby outcoached Ryan was that Bo burned all of his timeouts so when Minnesota went to the press at about 4 and half minutes to go in regulation, Bo Ryan had no timeouts to settle his team down and set up a press breaker. TUBBY GOT SMART IN THIS ONE. Bo had a double digit lead in that game, going into 3- 4 minutes left and seemed completely in control of that game so he used his timeouts in other ways. Tubby's assistants knew that and told Tubby that Wisconsin had no more timeouts, at that point. So Tubby stayed in the press, both to get back in the game and knowing that if the Badgers got frazzled by the press, that Bo could not do anything about it in a timeout situation.
Of course, many of you remember the big time points that Lawrence Westbrook had in OT.. BIG TIME SHOTS.. We made a lot of big free throws. Travis Busch came off the bench to give some big time minutes. Blake Hoffarber did not have a great shooting night but he made plays in other ways that were key to us. And we made plays when we had to make the plays.
I say all that to point out that CLASSIC GAMES is not when we were always in control from beginning to end. If you watched 80% of this game, you would swear this was more of a BADGER CLASSIC than GOPHER CLASSIC. I would, however, like to appeal to the Big Ten channel to show the game against Indiana where we beat Bobby Knights team by close to 50 points. Then show Gopher classics from the Mychal Thompson years as well as the early 80s when we won the Big Ten title.
I could talk so much basketball strategy just from this Wisconsin game alone.. I used to like to press early in the game, if I had athletic players. It got our energy up, early, in games.. Guys would criticize me and say you are going to wear out your teams early in games but I thought it was opposite, in many cases.. If I noticed our kids a bit jittery before a game, it was a great way to get guys focused and burn off that jittery energy. Kids are young and resilient so I think as far as getting them tired, they could recover on the bench quickly and the energy with taking leads gives adrenaline that overcomes that tiredness.. That is what happened with Minnesota in the last 4 minutes of the game against Wisconsin, that day. When you have guys on your team like Damien Johnson, Paul Carter, and Blake Hoffarber, with big games from scorers like Lawrence Westbrook, you can get in those modes where guys get tough to stop, once they gain momentum.. I am hoping that we get to experience those types of hoops memories with the current regime, if they can recruit and coach the right way with the right players putting in top effort.
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