So, obviously the win, duh, but as I said at halftime in the game thread, I had my appointment for my 2nd vaccine dose in Rockaway today at 2 pm, which was awesome for my wife and me, as semi-normal life is finally in reach again for us and hopefully everyone soon, but the timing made watching the game a challenge, lol. So I went full radio silence and watched the DVR of the 2nd half. For the first 14 minutes of the 2nd half I was happy with our play, but concerned we didn't put the Gophers away, as Bardo said several times (he's such a good analyst).
We had that game wrapped up, then unwrapped it and gave it back to Minny, but then found a way to win in OT, riding JY, who was the man of the game, hands down. With the OT we win finally "officially" make the Dance for the first time in 30 years, although I still count last year as a tourney year, no matter what anyone says. But damn, my heart can't take this crap, lol - nearly broke my TV when we frittered that game away with dumb plays (Geo's behind the back pass being the worst) and failing to convert FTs and playing bad defense and everything else, including Pike relying on Geo at the end instead of using JY, who had been unstoppable all game.
But we still held on and won and that's all that matters. We have a flawed team, but it's our team and we're going to the Dance! Hope there's a way for me to get tickets to any of the games we'll play as I'll be there if there is. And despite our struggles, we know we can beat just about anyone if we share the ball, shoot well and play the kind of stifling defense we played for 35 minutes in regulation and 5 more in OT. Would be nice to not just go and have a cup of coffee, but to win at least the first game and hopefully play well in round 2 against what will almost certainly be a 1-2 seed, unless we get hot in the B1G tourney. How cool would it be to upset a 1 or 2 seed and make the Sweet 16?
I'm sure everyone has beaten this to death, but how awesome was JY today? Before I left at halftime, I posted how he need to be on the floor the rest of the game and I was happy to see him get 38 minutes. 23/5//7 and 4 steals and stifling in-your-chest defense all day, shutting down Carr. MVP of the game and maybe the season. Glad to see Pike finally realize he's better at the spread-the-floor and go 1 on 1 to drive and shoot or dish late game offense (I'm sure there's a name for that lol) in the OT, as that won us the game (and almost lost us the game when Geo didn't execute it well.
And it's not that Geo had a bad game, with 12/5/4 (but 4 TOs), but it could've been better, especially in the 2nd half, especially with his shooting, where he was 0-5 in the 2nd half, including 3 down the stretch (and he's often been money then, but not today). Was nice to see Harper shooting better with 3-7 from deep, although foul trouble slowed him down. And Myles had a strange game with 9/15, but he missed several bunnies and those crucial two FTs. Loved seeing Mathis play great also, especially given all the shit he has gotten on this board (a fair amount of it undeserved): 12/3 and that monster jam to close out the first half - really thought we were going to put them away at that point. Ok efforts by Paul and Caleb (especially the 4 steals) and not much from Cliff today.
Team-wise, was awesome to see us shoot 8-20 (40%) from deep - we're just so much better when we can shoot even 30% from downtown - and it was great to see us play such stifling, help defense all game, except those last few minutes, but we turned it back up in OT. Could've rebounded better and definitely almost lost this game at the line, as 15-24 sucks vs. 24-29 - if we shot at their percentage we would've won by 3-4 in regulation. We know that's an Achilles heel for us. Thought the game was called pretty fairly, if a little too tightly - 44 fouls is a lot, combined, although they were close to even. Coach clearly had the team ready to play today and very happy for him too, as this was a huge step for the program.
Anyway, it may have been a fugly win, but it's a gorgeous win, too. We gon Dance boys and girls! Woohoo!! Congratulate yourselves on being some of the best fans in the world (even if a little cranky at times), having stuck by this team, for the most part, for a few to many to too many years of failure. I'm a happy camper today.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=401267865
We had that game wrapped up, then unwrapped it and gave it back to Minny, but then found a way to win in OT, riding JY, who was the man of the game, hands down. With the OT we win finally "officially" make the Dance for the first time in 30 years, although I still count last year as a tourney year, no matter what anyone says. But damn, my heart can't take this crap, lol - nearly broke my TV when we frittered that game away with dumb plays (Geo's behind the back pass being the worst) and failing to convert FTs and playing bad defense and everything else, including Pike relying on Geo at the end instead of using JY, who had been unstoppable all game.
But we still held on and won and that's all that matters. We have a flawed team, but it's our team and we're going to the Dance! Hope there's a way for me to get tickets to any of the games we'll play as I'll be there if there is. And despite our struggles, we know we can beat just about anyone if we share the ball, shoot well and play the kind of stifling defense we played for 35 minutes in regulation and 5 more in OT. Would be nice to not just go and have a cup of coffee, but to win at least the first game and hopefully play well in round 2 against what will almost certainly be a 1-2 seed, unless we get hot in the B1G tourney. How cool would it be to upset a 1 or 2 seed and make the Sweet 16?
I'm sure everyone has beaten this to death, but how awesome was JY today? Before I left at halftime, I posted how he need to be on the floor the rest of the game and I was happy to see him get 38 minutes. 23/5//7 and 4 steals and stifling in-your-chest defense all day, shutting down Carr. MVP of the game and maybe the season. Glad to see Pike finally realize he's better at the spread-the-floor and go 1 on 1 to drive and shoot or dish late game offense (I'm sure there's a name for that lol) in the OT, as that won us the game (and almost lost us the game when Geo didn't execute it well.
And it's not that Geo had a bad game, with 12/5/4 (but 4 TOs), but it could've been better, especially in the 2nd half, especially with his shooting, where he was 0-5 in the 2nd half, including 3 down the stretch (and he's often been money then, but not today). Was nice to see Harper shooting better with 3-7 from deep, although foul trouble slowed him down. And Myles had a strange game with 9/15, but he missed several bunnies and those crucial two FTs. Loved seeing Mathis play great also, especially given all the shit he has gotten on this board (a fair amount of it undeserved): 12/3 and that monster jam to close out the first half - really thought we were going to put them away at that point. Ok efforts by Paul and Caleb (especially the 4 steals) and not much from Cliff today.
Team-wise, was awesome to see us shoot 8-20 (40%) from deep - we're just so much better when we can shoot even 30% from downtown - and it was great to see us play such stifling, help defense all game, except those last few minutes, but we turned it back up in OT. Could've rebounded better and definitely almost lost this game at the line, as 15-24 sucks vs. 24-29 - if we shot at their percentage we would've won by 3-4 in regulation. We know that's an Achilles heel for us. Thought the game was called pretty fairly, if a little too tightly - 44 fouls is a lot, combined, although they were close to even. Coach clearly had the team ready to play today and very happy for him too, as this was a huge step for the program.
Anyway, it may have been a fugly win, but it's a gorgeous win, too. We gon Dance boys and girls! Woohoo!! Congratulate yourselves on being some of the best fans in the world (even if a little cranky at times), having stuck by this team, for the most part, for a few to many to too many years of failure. I'm a happy camper today.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=401267865
