Minnesota Game

[nustudent]

Personally think this is a must win game tonight.

 

Yeah, yeah....there is a lot of time left in the year...blah blah....but I think we need this one if we are going to have a successful season.

 

We need this for a few reasons in my opinion.   Number one for confidence.   Beating the North Dakotas and Marists is certainly better than losing to the Incarnate Words, but it doesn't really do much for you mentally.   A win tonight would be a nice boost of confidence for the team entering the heart of the season.   Number two, it curbs the tide of a potential run of negativity.   Lose tonight and we likely follow it up with two more losses.   Yes, all the goals are still in front of us at 6-6, but the road is that much tougher.   10-5 entering January is a lot nicer than 9-6.   Especially when that extra win is over a likely 4 seed or better in the dance.  Number three....resume builder.   We lose tonight and we will likely enter January with not one win over a Top 100 school/team.   Losing at St Johns and UCF, can be overcome, but they took away a couple opportunities for an RPI building win.   With the Big 10 looking a little down and with us getting some favorable draws with the Big 10 schedule, we won't have a ton of opportunities for high quality wins.   Going 18-13 might not be enough with those considerations.  

 

Minnesota is a very good team, but not unbeatable, especially at home.  We need to take advantage of the opportunity. 

[hhcmatt]

Completely agree. If we can notch this win we can expect at least 10-5 going into conference play against a bunch of teams that aren't as good as Michigan St, Minnesota, and Purdue. We really, really need a game against a good opponent where we don't spend time peeing our pants.

 

http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/861753?referrer_id=331171

I suspect that we've seen this via the tape but Miami killed Minnesota with pick and roll in the Barn. I think Copeland + either Watson/Gill could pull this off.

[kldm64]

I agree with everything you said and would add that I think Miles needs to get Roby more minutes.  I don't understand his logic for playing him less than half the game.  Roby is only averaging only 18 minutes a game.  Reason why he should be starting over Jordy and getting more minutes:

 

1) leads the team in field goal percentage with .514%

2) He's the only player shooting above .500% from the field

3) He is 3rd on the team in 3 point shooting percentage behind Taylor and Gill

4)  He is 2nd on the team in defensive rebounds behind Copeland

5) He is tied for 4th place for assists

6) Leads the team in block shots

 

And is doing all of these playing was less minutes then the starters.  Imagine what he could do if he was getting another 10 minutes a game.

[49r]

Top 15 ranked team...must win game. But, you know, no pressure or anything...

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[huskerbaseball13]

I think we need it from a confidence standpoint and an overall trajectory of the season.  Fail to win tonight and we may be looking at an 0-6 Big Ten conference start unless we pull off an upset. 

[hhcmatt]

14 minutes ago, 49r said:

Top 15 ranked team...must win game. But, you know, no pressure or anything...

 

This is what is meant by learning how to win because expectations are part of becoming or being a good team.

Luckily I think were in the Good cycle of our Bad-Good-Bad-Good pattern

[hskr4life]

Agree.  A win puts us 1-1 in the conference and tied for like 3rd or 4th.  A loss puts us 2 games back already and tied for like 11th or 12th.

 

This is one of those games no one expects us to win and one of those that we need to win for later on in the year.  

 

Protecting the home court should have been a goal at the beginning of the year period.

 

The opportunity of 10 wins with 16 games plus the conference tourney to play is something that would be huge.  Go 9-7 or 10-6 and we will be sitting pretty.

 

Big game tonight.  The next two are tough because CU is on the road and KU is KU.  Get this one.

[49r]

36 minutes ago, hhcdimes said:

 

This is what is meant by learning how to win because expectations are part of becoming or being a good team.

Luckily I think were in the Good cycle of our Bad-Good-Bad-Good pattern

 

Okay, it's one thing to say we've got a puncher's chance.  That I get, the Big Ten is a grind no matter what.

 

But to say "must-win" is a hell of a thing to put on a pretty terrible team.  Which - make no mistake - until we stay within 25 points of an opponent with a pulse that's exactly what we are right now.  Pretty terrible.

[HB]

More agreement.    This is a unity thread.     Must win.  

[basketballjones]

Was this the most human nustudent post of all time? Did we just see into his soul? 

[hhcmatt]

1 hour ago, 49r said:

Okay, it's one thing to say we've got a puncher's chance.  That I get, the Big Ten is a grind no matter what.

 

But to say "must-win" is a hell of a thing to put on a pretty terrible team.  Which - make no mistake - until we stay within 25 points of an opponent with a pulse that's exactly what we are right now.  Pretty terrible.

 

I think the people who generally don't think every game is a must win game can probably discern that it's still possible to have a successful season without grabbing this win and I doubt that this particular thread is going to cause anyone on the team to feel more or less pressure. 

 

I also think a lot of us see that there is some talent on this team it has shown the ability to execute at high levels for some period of time.  Since we've mostly seen us excel vs poorer team and fade vs better teams, it really seems like it's a team that is unsure of itself.

 

Thus, when I'm hyping up this sort of game it's because I see the importance of playing a very good team in a home environment where we can vocally send some level of confidence towards this team. In the grand scheme of things we can all give our Stenson Hat tickets to our neighbors and we win that game; I don't think we sit on our hands in this one and win.

 

Yeah, this team has looked terrible against good competition. It's also never played in front of anything close to a ruckus home crowd. Why can't this be the game where that changes?

 

[AuroranHusker]

41 minutes ago, HB said:

More agreement.    This is a unity thread.     Must win.  

 

Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya.

[tcp]

Hot seat years suck for this reason. A game where a loss might be good or bad gets magnified wildly in a hot seat year, where it seems like every week is a referendum on whether or not a coaching search is going to end the season. And that's part of the pressure and expectation on games like this by calling them "must win" when they otherwise wouldn't be. 

 

Personally, I'd be happy to just see this team compete with a quality basketball team first before anything else, and we haven't even done that yet. 

 

I'm actually nervous for this sucker! About two months earlier than usual!

[HolyBobpilgrimage]

2 hours ago, 49r said:

Top 15 ranked team...must win game. But, you know, no pressure or anything...

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
 

Yeah, I'll admit, this lingo of "must win" for every single game is getting annoying. Of course we want and need to win every game for the success of this program. It's a given. But sure there's added emphasis to some particular pivotal games, wish there were different ways for people to express it. Our pivotal period just happens to land early in the season this year. 

[HolyBobpilgrimage]

6 minutes ago, tcp said:

Hot seat years suck for this reason. A game where a loss might be good or bad gets magnified wildly in a hot seat year, where it seems like every week is a referendum on whether or not a coaching search is going to end the season. And that's part of the pressure and expectation on games like this by calling them "must win" when they otherwise wouldn't be. 

 

Personally, I'd be happy to just see this team compete with a quality basketball team first before anything else, and we haven't even done that yet. 

 

I'm actually nervous for this sucker! About two months earlier than usual!

Yes. All of this. 

[aphilso1]

Anything labeled “must win” begs the question “must win or else ___ will happen.”  So what’s the “or else” in this case?  Coach is fired?  Midseason transfers?  Can’t qualify for the postseason?  None of these things are going to happen as a direct result of losing this game.  Losing may make each of those things more likely, but so does every other loss.  For that reason I disagree with calling ANY basketball game in December a “must win.”  Kumbaya that, suckers!

[Neebrasketball]

If we think we should be a bubble team, we need an rpi around 45 at least.  To be there you need to beat a 15-20 rpi team at home.  

[HB]

31 minutes ago, tcp said:

Hot seat years suck for this reason. A game where a loss might be good or bad gets magnified wildly in a hot seat year, where it seems like every week is a referendum on whether or not a coaching search is going to end the season. And that's part of the pressure and expectation on games like this by calling them "must win" when they otherwise wouldn't be. 

 

 

 

Yeah, I'm typically not into the "must win" drama.   But, there is no point in ignoring the 100 pound gorilla in the gym.   If this wasn't year 6 at 81-89, with the rumblings from "reliable source guy" around Lincoln about what has to happen this year for the staff to survive, the game wouldn't be that important.     There needs to be some hope put into this.  Soon.  Very important game, despite how uphill it looks.  

Edited December 5, 2017 by HB

[dustystehl]

5 minutes ago, HB said:

 

Yeah, I'm typically not into the "must win" drama.   But, there is no point in ignoring the 100 pound gorilla in the gym.   If this wasn't year 6 at 81-89, with the rumblings from "reliable source guy" around Lincoln about what has to happen this year for the staff to survive, the game wouldn't be that important.     There needs to be some hope put into this.  Soon.  Very important game, despite how uphill it looks.  

 

That gorilla weighs WAY more than 100 pounds...

[NUtball]

We're not talking 'bout Silverbacked, are we?

[huskerbaseball13]

3 minutes ago, dustystehl said:

 

That gorilla weighs WAY more than 100 pounds...

 

Does it? I by no means have any inside information and in most other programs Miles would be getting very close to the chopping block but with another overhaul of the football staff + a new AD is Moos going to be looking to make another hire at years end assuming we are under .500 again?  Obviously most of Moos's attention has been on the football hire but outside of saying how awesome our facilities are and he's surprised we haven't won a NCAA tournament game the discussions on basketball have been slim.  That will probably heat up in the upcoming months. 

[HB]

3 minutes ago, huskerbaseball13 said:

 

Does it? I by no means have any inside information and in most other programs Miles would be getting very close to the chopping block but with another overhaul of the football staff + a new AD is Moos going to be looking to make another hire at years end assuming we are under .500 again?  Obviously most of Moos's attention has been on the football hire but outside of saying how awesome our facilities are and he's surprised we haven't won a NCAA tournament game the discussions on basketball have been slim.  That will probably heat up in the upcoming months. 

 

I believe it does (And at my age I forget the sayings sometimes--is it a 900 pound gorilla?).    I have my reasons.   Wish it wasn't like that; as TCP said, hot seat years suck.  

[Dead Dog Alley]

2 hours ago, huskerbaseball13 said:

I think we need it from a confidence standpoint and an overall trajectory of the season.  Fail to win tonight and we may be looking at an 0-6 Big Ten conference start unless we pull off an upset. 

 

To start 0-6 they'd have to lose to Wisconsin at home.  If they lose at home to this Wisconsin outfit, they might as well drop the sport, raze the arena, and salt the earth underneath it.

[huskerbaseball13]

16 minutes ago, Dead Dog Alley said:

 

To start 0-6 they'd have to lose to Wisconsin at home.  If they lose at home to this Wisconsin outfit, they might as well drop the sport, raze the arena, and salt the earth underneath it.

 

Hope you are right...but right now that game is around a pick em.  But indeed a game we should win at home.  They got hammered vs Ohio St but watching their game last night they did not look so bad and beat a Penn St team that I would say is probably a better team than we are right now.   

[hhcmatt]

48 minutes ago, aphilso1 said:

Anything labeled “must win” begs the question “must win or else ___ will happen.”  So what’s the “or else” in this case?  Coach is fired?  Midseason transfers?  Can’t qualify for the postseason?  None of these things are going to happen as a direct result of losing this game.  Losing may make each of those things more likely, but so does every other loss.  For that reason I disagree with calling ANY basketball game in December a “must win.”  Kumbaya that, suckers!

 

Well, yeah. A loss here doesn't guarantee that we're going to finish with less than 13 wins and win here doesn't guarantee we're going to the NCAA tournament.