Offensive Woes End Minnesota's Run

Make it 20 straight times the Illinois Illini have beaten Minnesota. That's absolutely amazing.

But the loss on Saturday afternoon, in front of a nationally televised audience, was probably the most painful of any loss to the orange and blue during that stretch. A win and the Gophers would have taken on border rival Wisconsin for a chance to sneak into the NCAA Tournament and steal a Big Ten Tournament Championship. Instead, those opportunities go to Illinois.

The Saturday afternoon matinee was entirely painful to watch. Neither team played with much poise or crispness. The Gophers couldn't buy a basket for the first eight or so minutes of the game as Illinois built a lead. But the Gophers crept back, as Illinois went cold in the beginning of the second half. The Gophers eventually tied the game 32-32 midway through the second half, but could never take a lead.

Minnesota's defense was OK, in that it actually shut down Trent Meachem for the first time this season. The Gophers did this by abandoning their strategy in the first two games this season. Instead of playing a 2-3 zone, the Gophers stuck with their man to man defense. It was the right call, but on the other end of the court the Gophers continued to be stagnant.

I've tried to question how the Tubby Smith offense has presented itself late this year but I haven't given it as much play as perhaps it deserves. Our friends at Hoopraker, from their perch in Conseco during the Indiana game, picked up on something I had been mentioning in passing for awhile. And it deserves further thought. Here's what Hoopraker stated:

"Though it is premature to make any kind of final pronouncement about the nature of Tubby Ball in Gopherland, his team’s offensive characteristics seem to also be mostly freelance in nature. There is a lot of desultory dribbling, not a lot of movement without the ball, and more often than not, the offense is reduced to one player trying to make a play on his own.

Fortunately, rapidly emerging players like Damian Johnson are making their share of plays. Certainly McKenzie and Westbrook enjoy dominating the ball and also have the athleticism to play one-on-one offense, sometimes to good effect. Somewhat dispiriting however was the number of times the Gophers were reduced to awkward, disorganized sets out of timeouts.

For the forseeable future as Tubby brings in deeper, more talented rosters, the results may well be commensurate or better. Against Illinois today, though, a team that will bring one of the best team defenses to the battle, it will be interesting to see how Tubby’s offense fares."

Tubby's offense didn't fare very well against Illinois. The offense was relegated to one-on-one plays and high screen and rolls. For the game, the Gophers shot 39 percent from the floor.

What was more distressing, as Hoopraker mentioned, was the inability for the Gophers to get anything tangible coming out of timeouts. The Hoffarber Heave aside, the Gophers have been miserable scoring out of timeouts all season, and that trend hurt against Illinois down the stretch. Tubby might be a tactician, and he sure mixed and matched well against Indiana Friday night, but for the season, I have been less than impressed with his offensive schemes. I'm not sure there were any.

Lawrence McKenzie led the Gophers with 13 points Saturday, despite forcing his offense at times. Dan Coleman added six, but found himself in foul trouble again. Damian Johnson had eight, but had opportunities to be that second double-digit scorer the Gophers needed, but he couldn't deliver. Lawrence Westbrook, penetrating on isolations, added six points but was also out of control at times.

I tend to give Tubby a break on the offensive woes because the talent level is so lean. Aside from McKenzie, the Gophers don't have another pure offensive talent. Johnson is raw. Westbrook is maturing. Coleman disappears. Hoffarber and Abu-Shamala are one dimensional.

Finally, I'd just like to add that taking this team, almost the same team that was 9-22 last season, to the conference semi-finals is quite an accomplishment, whether or not the offense is pretty. Once again Tubby Smith has 20 wins an his team will get a chance to play postseason basketball in the NIT.

Let's just hope that the newbies coming in next season--Ralph Sampson III, Devoe Joseph and company--can find a way to beat Illinois.

Hoffarber Hangover, And A Look At Illinois

So, what a night! I was so riled up I had a hard time getting to sleep. I wonder what it must have been like for Minnesota's buzzer-beater extraordinaire and his jubilant teammates.

This post will both take a look at what is being said about last night's stunner and also preview the Illinois semi-final today. Yes, semi-final. The Gophers are in the semi-finals.

First, a look at what what is being said across the country. Links below are a snippet of the coverage after last night's thriller. (I tried to limit this because there is loads of commentary. But if you see anything else good, please add it in the comments).

Gopher Nation: Breaking Down the Box
Inside the Hall: Did that just happen? Yes it did.
Larry Brown Sports: Blake Hoffarber the new Laettner.
Yet Another Basketball Blog: Jaw Dropping Ending.
CBSSports: Standing Up, Sitting Down, Hoffarber's Best Around.
Indianapolis Star (Bob Kravitz): More than loss, IU is lost.
ESPN (Pat Forde): Minnesota's miracle worker makes his second shot for the ages.
Indianapolis Star (Terry Hutchens): Final play negates IU comeback.
Down with Goldy: March to a title, Game 2 (Praises Blake for comments to Erin Andrews!)

Ilinois vs. Minnesota
Gametime: Approximately 4 p.m. eastern time.
Television: CBS
Announcers: Jim Nantz and Billy Packer

OK, now that the morning coffee has went down, let's start talking about Illinois. Yes, that Illinois. The 10-seed that has somehow beaten the Gophers 19 straight times. That is, obviously, the longest of any such streak in the Big Ten.

To be fair, Illinois has had some very good teams in recent years. Bill Self built a mini-juggernaut and Bruce Weber inherited a very solid group. But this year's version of Illini, in part because of lackluster recruiting on Weber's part, took multiple steps backward. That's not to say the Illini don't have some talent, but only that Weber wasn't able to reload with blue chippers.

Illinois, like Minnesota, has senior leaders. Shaun Pruitt, a thick, banging center leads the team with 12.8 points and 7 rebounds per game. He's a tough match up for Minnesota because he's too quick for Tollackson and too bruising for Coleman. (I got an idea, how bout we throw Travis Busch at him!)

Brian Randle is another senior forward, who is sort of like Illinois version of Dan Coleman, except not as skilled offensively. But Randle plays incredibly hard, and along with Pruitt forms an experienced front line that like DJ White and Deandre Thomas, will be tough for Minnesota's depleted front line.

And then there is junior Trent Meachem, Gopher Killer. In two games against Minnesota this season, Meachem has scored 19 and 21 points respectively. In the most recent match-up, Meachem killed Minnesota from three point land, as the Gophers tried to exploit Illinois' tendency to shoot a low percentage from outside.

That has been twenty-win Tubby's strategy against Illinois in two games this season. Because the Illini shot a league-worst percentage from three point land in the conference on the season, Tubby has put the Gophers in a 2-3 zone for much of the time against Illinois. In both games, it backfired. In the regular season finale at Illinois, the Illini shot 53 percent from three. And earlier in the season, when Illinois came into Wiliams Arena and blew the Gophers out 84-60, the Illini shot, again, 53 percent. Meachem was 5-5.

So, here's hoping the Gophers employ a different strategy today. All season the Gophers have been at their best when they were playing a ferocious man to man defense. At times, the effort wasn't always there. But against Indiana it was, and the guards were able to stymie Eric Gordon and the Indiana guards. I think a similar strategy, including some full court pressure, would be wise today.

Keys:

1. Will Spencer Tollackson play? I've had so many bum ankles and when its tender (as I imagine Spencer's is) you can play if you can withstand the pain. He won't be able to elevate (but he never really could anyway). The question is, are the Gophers better off without him? Nah, he can give good minutes. Perhaps he helps us more in a limited role when he doesn't force shots on the interior.

2. Foul trouble. Even if Tollackson plays, the Gophers will have three healthy and one gimpy big men. Dan Coleman picked up two fouls in two minutes of each half against Indiana. That's inexcusable. The Gophers need him on the floor for 30+ minutes, not almost 10. Same goes for Damian Johnson and Jon Williams. The bangers need to bang but use their fouls wisely.

3. Another scoring option: In two Big Ten Tournament games, the Gophers have had someone step up. Against Northwestern, it was Lawrence Westbrook who put the team on his back during a second half comeback. Against Indiana, it was Damian Johnson who took some of the scoring load off of seniors McKenzie and Coleman. Someone needs to step up again.

4. Consistent play from Al Nolen: The freshman point guard continues to have moments of brilliance and moments of shear ineptitude. He needs to play even, and realize he's not an outside shooter. He needs to get the Gophers into their offense quickly and not turn the ball over.

5. Finally, scoring out of the press break. In two games this year the Illlini have thrown the Gophers a relatively mundane 2-2-1, three-quarter court press. The Gophers have been happy to methodically bring the ball up against the Illini, only on occasion looking to exploit the trapping zone for easy baskets. If the Gophers don't beat the press, beat it easily and score off of it, the Illini will dictate tempo as they have in the two previous games.

Prediction: Both teams are likely exhausted. As emotional as the Minnesota win was, Illinois went to overtime to beat Purdue. The Gophers can beat Illinois and there is no better time to get the monkey off of their back than in the conference semi-finals. I look for McKenzie to come up big, and Westbrook to play with the chip on his shoulder he did against Northwestern and against Indiana in spurts Friday night. Minnesota 62, Illinois 58.

Tactics Against Illinois Fail Again

Make it 19.

Tubby Smith has done some good things in his first year at Minnesota, but finding a way to beat Illinois obviously isn't one of them. The Illini beat the Gophers for the 19th straight time Saturday, a streak longer than any similar on in the Big Ten. It was the second time this season the Illini beat Minnesota, an astonishing feat considering Bruce Weber's fledgling squad heads into the Big Ten tournament as the 10th seed.

I'm not in the mood to get too riled up about this loss, considering it meant nothing other than bragging rights. But what surprised me is Tubby didn't take a different tact than he used to poor results in the first meeting of the year between the two teams. After that contest, I wrote:

When have the Gophers been at their best this year? When they've been harassing 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.

First, I'll just say that the defensive tactic makes some sense. Illinois is a poor shooting team, and came into Saturday dead last in the conference in three point percentage (30 percent). So, Tubby brought the same defensive scheme at the Illini --massive amounts of 2-3 zone. The Illini weren't as devastating from the outside as they were in Minneapolis in mid-February.

This time around, Illinois shot 53 percent from beyond the arc. Even worse was the large number of offensive rebounds the Illini secured because the Gophers were unable to box out in the zone. So, for the second time against Illinois, the Gophers abandoned their strength in trying to take advantage of the Illini's weakness. For the second time, it backfired.

The loss was also eerily familiar to the game earlier this week against Indiana. For three-fourths of the game, the Gophers hung around, traded leads and looked like they could win one on the road. But during the stretch drive, the Gophers went silent offensively and wound up losing 67-58. After putting in his best all around game of the year at Indiana, Dan Coleman went quiet, finishing with just four points. Lawrence McKenzie went 3-10 from the floor for 10 points.

So, anyway, that's how the Gophers lost for the 19th straight time to Illinois and fell to 8-10 in Big Ten Conference play.

Other Tidbits:

Johnson Developing: No player has drawn more praise from Gopher Nation than Damian Johnson. Much of that praise has been due to his hustle, his offensive rebounding and his ability to impact the game on the defensive end with his shot blocking and length. But in the last few weeks, Johnson has been shooting the ball with confidence from three point land. He's hit a few and missed more, but he seems to have the green light. If he can add a decent outside shot to his game.... watch out.

Starting Lineup: Tubby Smith continues to befuddle with his starting lineup choices. Today it was the four regulars (Tollackson, Coleman, McKenzie and Westbrook) and freaking Kevin Payton. Sheeeeesh. The abysmal Big Ten Network broadcasting crew suggested that Payton received the starting nod as a way to combat Illinois' height advantage. My wishful thinking theory is Tubby decided to give Payton the nod, knowing this is his last Big Ten game, seeing as he'll be transferring to Bighamton University.

Best Lineup: The lineup that was most effective for the Gophers was, IMO, Coleman, Westbrook, McKenzie, Johnson and Nolen.

Boxing Out in the Zone: Second chance opportunities have killed the Gophers this season. Many of these second chance shots come when the Gophers play a 2-3 zone. On numerous occasions Saturday the Gophers turned and went to the basket when an Illini shot went up. But that's not enough. It sounds so elementary, but you actually have to find a man, put your ass into them and box them out. The Gophers gave up 11 offensive rebounds in the first half. Cutting that in half would have meant a nice halftime lead, instead of a one point deficit.

Love Thy Basketball: During the early portions of Saturday's game, the Gophers treated the basketball like it was something not to be coveted. Al Nolen and Blake Hoffarber, who are both unfortunately still playing like freshman at times, both threw lackadaisical passes that ended in transition points for the Illini. That's one thing that so impresses me about Wisconsin. Every pass is crisp. They pass the ball to the correct hand of post players. The Gophers, meanwhile, seem to just hurl passes.

UP Next: The Gophers are the sixth seed in the Big Ten tournament and will face 11 seed Northwestern Thursday. A win would give the Gophers a second crack at Purdue in the tournament quarterfinals.