Illini Rout 'Casual' Gophers At Home

Yeah, so, say goodbye to any dreams of a March Madness bid. Such a happening was a longshot as it was--as emailers have very pointedly informed me. But this scribe, and most importantly the amateur athletes who call the raised floor home, still had hope. Until Tuesday anyway, when the Gophers lost for the 18th straight time to Illinois. Yes, 18. Not kidding.

The game itself was not close. The flannel and sweatshirt wearing season ticket holders filed out early. Tubby Smith looked bewildered. Hell, I had this article completed with more than 5 minutes left in the game, at which time it was 73-47 (I'll update with the final in the morning).

It sounds cliche, but Gene Keady put it well on the BTN tonight: "Illinois is playing hungry and Minnesota is playing casual."

This could be seen everywhere from second half loose balls that were fought for by Illinois and watched by Minnesota. It could be seen in the first half when the Illini were moving the ball crisply on offense while the Gophers were sitting back in a yawn-inspiring 2-3 zone. While the Illini were flying around picks and slashing with authority on offense, Minnesota guards were jogging.

The question is how can this happen? It seemed to begin in the first half for two reasons. First the Gophers new fangled starting lineup turned the ball over (more on the lineup below). Second, poor shooting (2-15 to start the second half) didn't help. But most importantly, I think, Tubby's defensive choices took the aggression away from the Gophers.

When have the Gophers been at their best this year? When they've been harrassing opposition guards, creating turnovers that lead to easy baskets. But Tubby had the Gophers play the majority of the tone-setting first half in a back-on-their-heels- 2-3 zone. The typically cold shooting Illini started hitting from the perimeter. While building a double-digit first half lead, the illini moved the ball quickly on offense. They penetrated, kicked, rotated and found easy, open looks on our 2-3 zone. And when they missed, boxing out was a problem in the 2-3 zone.

So, the Gophers decided to take away their own strength by looking to exploit Illinois' weakness. And it backfired in more ways than one.

While the Illini were working hard for their shots on offense, the Gophers' laid back defense translated into offensive stagnancy. Like they were on defense, the Gophers on offense were standing around, waiting for something good to happen. While Illinois guards were sprinting around picks, the Gophers were playing at a pace more likely to be seen from Pam Borton's squad.

Beacuse of this the Gophers established nothing on offense. As the game began, Tubby's lineup which consisted of guards Westbrook and Hoffarber, couldn't get big men Spencer Tollackson and Dan Coleman into the game. Possessions were sloppy. Turnovers weren't abundant, but possessions were nowhere near crisp.

Let's look a little more at that lineup

That Starting Lineup:

For the third straight game Tubby Smith started an unconventional lineup: Blake Hoffarber, Lawrence Westbrook, Jamal Abu-Shamala, Dan Coleman and Spencer Tollackson. That's two relatively slow-footed outside shooters, a still maturing two-guard in Westbrook and our two senior big men. Let's go over the good and bad of this lineup.

** This lineup forces Blake Hoffarber to play point guard to begin games. This is troublesome because he's far too left-hand oriented, he is occasionally careless with the basketball and is wont to look for his shot more often than we might like a point guard to at the beginning of a game. We can't get Coleman and Tollackon early touches if Westbrook and Hoffarber are also looking to get their stroke going.

** With both Hoffarber and A-S on the floor at the same time, the Gophers have fewer options defensively, at least fewer effective options. They still toyed with full-court pressure, but Hoffarber and A-S are less adept at pressuring ball handlers than other guards.

** On the positive side, this lineup gives the second team a scoring punch. Bringing Lawrence McKenzie off the bench allows him some room to maneuver offensively. If we need his offense, he can look for his shot.

Final Thoughts:

This was easily the most frustrating loss of the season. The Wisconsin game was painful, but at least explainable. This loss was much tougher to swallow because it seemed like the Gophers took themselves out of the game with the decision to play soft defensively to begin the game. It would be much preferrable, at least for this fan, to see this Gophers team apply the type of defensive pressure that caused Indiana, Michigan State and others to turn the ball over in large numbers.

Individually, it's hard to praise or blame any one or two players. This was a team loss, from the coaches on the sidelines on down. And it was unfortunate because now the only thing the Gophers can play for is an NIT bid. And, oh yeah, that game this weekend at Wisconsin means a whole lot less. You can't get trounced at home by Illinois and have any hopes to pull that type of upset on the road.

*On a brighter note, Obama dominated today in the Potomac Primary! After the Illinois loss, I now know what Hillary Clinton feels like today!