Since Minnesota’s free throw induced loss at home to Indiana, Tubby Smith has banned any sort of pause, movement, or chest pat (sorry Lawrence McKenzie) before free throws. Instead, barely a second after catching the ball from the referee, the Gophers must shoot.

After another mediocre day at the line today, many are wondering why the free throw woes persist, and if Tubby’s mandate is making a difference.

After a bit of number crunching (could the Oscars have been any more boring?) here are the results (since the Indiana game, excluding today’s game).

Stats are in following format: Player makes-attempts (percentage, departure from season average)

• Coleman is 19-27 (70%, -7%)
• McKenzie is 15-19 (79% +1%)
• Spencer is 19-29 (65%, +13)
• Blake is 8-10 (80%, +7)
• Westbrook is 15-22 (68% -6)
• Johnson is 11-21 (52%, -6)
• Al Nolen is 5-10 (50%, -22)
• Jamal is 6-8 (75%, +1)
• Williams is 8-12 (67%, +23)
• Kevin Payton 0-1 (sample size issues anyone?)
• Travis Busch is 2-2 (more sample size issues)

Excluding Busch and Payton, the players that have improved have done so by an average of 9%. Those who have gotten worse have done so by an average of 10%.

It is difficult to say whether the experiment has been a success. Dan Coleman and Al Nolen, the two players who have apparently suffered the most from the mandate, have generally playing below average in the mid to late part of the season. When a player is struggling with their entire game, it isn’t surprising that their free throw shooting would struggle. Tollackson and Williams have improved the most, but they also had the most room to improve.
Since the mandate, as a team they are 108-161 (67%), a 1% improvement over their season average.

If you are curious how today’s game would have impacted these percentages, Williams, Johnson, and Hoffarber would have lowered their percentages. Spencer would have kept his the same, and Westbrook, McKenzie, and Nolen would have improved.

So, keep or can the mandate, and how many free throws out of ten do you usually make?

Full disclosure, I’d be about 70%, about 4% better than the Gophers. In front of 14,000 people, I’d be thrilled to just hit the backboard.

You wouldn’t know it by looking at Penn State’s record, but Minnesota’s shocking, come from behind victory at Happy Valley in the first week of the Big Ten season was as close as Minnesota has come to a quality victory. Back then, the Nittany Lions were the upstart team in the conference, with consecutive road wins and a dominant player that defied traditional positions and anyone trying to guard him.  His name is Gearry Claxton, and 7 minutes into his teams next game against Wisconsin, he tore up his knee. Since then Penn State’s record is what you would expect from a one man team without their one man. A once promising season has been turned upside down, and Penn State basketball fans will have to wait at least another year.

While Penn State’s 4-9 conference record isn’t exactly unexpected, the way they have played is. Many teams in their position would have given up by now. After all, their best player, best scorer, best rebounder, and by all accounts the heart and soul of the team is now more concerned with being able to play basketball again, let alone playing for his college team, but Penn State didn’t see this as a reason to quit. They led  Ohio State well into the second half at home, nearly won at Michigan (something Ohio State couldn’t do), beat Illinois, and shocked Michigan State in what may have been the biggest upset of the year in all of college basketball. The effort, the fight, everything good about a college basketball team is stil there, but without talent they can only take you so far.

Without Claxton, the Nittany Lions’ roster has been severely depleted, but the cupboard is not completely bare. Jamelle Cornley, like Claxton, defies categorization. At only 6′5″ but weighing 240 pounds, he can play inside and out. His 11 points and 6 rebounds per game lead active member of the team (Claxton led in both categories before his injury). Ironically, Cornley was finally recovering from a nagging injury when Claxton was lost. Talor Battle, a freshman point guard, has struggled with consistency like most first year players, but has season highs of 20 points and 5 assists. In the first match-up between Penn State and Minnesota he scored 19 points, but made a few bone headed mistakes that arguably cost his team the game.

Minnesota should win rather easily tomorrow. Unfortunately, other than a probable game against Northwestern or Penn State in the conference tournament, this may be Minnesota’s last chance for a win. Tomorrow’s game should be a welcome opportunity for the Gophers to work out their rotation for the rest of the season, and possibly try out a few new offensive and defensive sets at game speed. Such opportunities are rare, especially in the Big Ten, and Minnesota would wise to use the game against Penn State to learn and improve, and not just run away with an easy win.

Prediction: Minnesota 80 - Penn State 55

For more about Penn State Basketball, and possibly a game preview, check out Happy Valley Hoops and  Penn State Hoops.

If you have any thoughts about the game or pertinent links, by all means share them in the comments.

They don’t beat their girl friends, or the opposing student section.

For a much, much, larger view of that photo click here.

At least it was entertaining. On a night featuring Spencer Tollackson dunking in traffic and hitting a three pointer, Jonathan Williams bailing out the Gophers and air-balling a free throw, Lawrence McKenzie scoring a career high 26 points, and even some relatively productive minutes from Kevin Payton, Minnesota beat the much improved Michigan Wolverines.

I know I am a bit prone to hyperbole, using the words best, worst, most, and least to describe bagels, grocery stores, and basketball talent more than I probably should. However, last night’s game was one of the most entertaining basketball games I have ever watched. This wasn’t due to the high level of talent or well executed plays. It certainly wasn’t the same kind of entertaining that will be on display in Memphis tomorrow night either, but if any one ever wanted to watch Division I basketball players play like they were on a 7th grade team, Williams Arena was the place to be last night.

If Lawrence McKenzie hadn’t played the game of his life (more hyperbole, sorry) it would have been much more frustrating. He hit the first three pointers he attempted, and to paraphrase the Gopher guard; when you hit the first shot you are feeling good, when you hit the second shot you are feeling better, and when you hit the third shot, you are ready to take the fourth shot from anywhere. McKenzie’s game opening streak ended at three, but with another three pointer and a lay-up by Lawrence Westbrook, Minnesota jumped to a 14-5 run five minutes into the game.

Jumping out to a big lead was fortunate, because despite playing solid defense, Minnesota was unable to keep Michigan off the offensive glass. Despite holding Michigan to less than 38% shooting, the Wolverines led at the half 35-34 after collecting 11 offensive rebounds (Minnesota had 9 defensive rebounds in the first half). Coupled with 7 Minnesota turnovers, Michigan had 7 more first half shot attempts than the Gophers.

For much of the second half, Minnesota’s rebounding woes continues. The Gophers were unable to position themselves for rebounds regardless of whether they long and the result of Michigan’s dreadful 5-26 three point shooting or off of Michigan’s almost as dreadful inside shooting. Even when they would have been in position, Minnesota was rarely able to get their hands up and jump in time to even get a hand on the ball.

Just when Michigan’s rebounding advantage had gotten out of hand, Spencer Tollackson twisted his ankle, or it may have been a repetitive stress injury resulting from what would have earned him excessive celebration penalties in football, the sport he probably should have played. The first celebration came after a pass, which was nice, but not worth fist pumping. The second celebration came after an authoritative dunk, nice again, but it didn’t win the national championship. The third came on an ugly three pointer that somehow went in. Somehow, because the sheet force of 12,000 people screaming no should have produced enough breeze to alter the trajectory of the shot.

With Tollackson limping to the side line, the Gophers had to rely on Jonathan Williams, the much maligned 5th year junior who arguably hasn’t played a productive minutes this year. Last night, he played 16 productive minutes, pulled in 8 rebounds (7 in the second half, compared to Dan Coleman and Spencer Tollackson’s 7 in a combined 47 minutes) scored 7, and added two blocked shots. Once Michigan was finally forced to pay for their poor shooting, after two more McKenzie three pointers around the 6 minute mark in the second half, Minnesota was able to push out to 7 point lead after trailing by three a few minutes earlier. From there it was garbage time, and after several made free throws, Minnesota had itself a sloppy but highly entertaining win.

Who did what?

• The box-score tells me that Dan Coleman played 25 minutes, but he might as well have not played at all. He scored 4 points, had 1 rebound, all in the first half,and impacted the game even less that the statistics indicate.
• Spencer Tollackson scored 12 points on 6 rebounds, but should have had at least 6 more boards. Hopefully he won’t use his lucky three pointer as a reason to keep shooting.
• Al Nolen’s statistics are mostly unimpressive, 2 points, 3 assists, and 2 steals, but by running the offense, he enable McKenzie to focus on offense, which ultimately won the game for the Gophers.
• Lawrence McKenzie: 26 points, 9-14 shooting (7-11 three pointers), solid defense. There isn’t much else to say.
• Lawrence Westbrook had another solid game with 8 points and 6 rebounds. Maybe one day Minnesota’s second best rebounder won’t be a guy that is barely 5′11″.
• Kevin Payton played 7 minutes, but didn’t do much to hurt the team. His role, other than #1 cheerleader, is to not hurt the team when he is on the court, and last night he filled that role very nicely.
• Jonathan Williams had by far his best game of the season. Sure he air balled a free throw, but he made 3-5 from the line.
• Blake Hoffarber scored only 5 points, but they iced the win.
• Jamal Abu-Shamla made a lay-up.
• Damian Johnson did nothing special. He had 3 points and 4 turnovers.
• The Gopher dance team…black short-shorts, Chuck Taylor All-Stars, knee high black socks, plaid patterned sequins, and at least one side pony tail. NEVER AGAIN.

Highlights from the Big Ten Network:

Have the Michigan Wolverines finally figured out Jim Beilien’s dare I say high-powered version of the Princeton offense? After struggling mightily in both conference and non-conference play, they have put together their first three game winning streak of the year. While it is not as impressive as beating Indiana, Purdue, and Wisconsin in consecutive games, for a team that many feared had forgotten how to win, it is a step in the right direction.

However, for all those people declaring “Look out, here comes Michigan!” it would be prudent to take a small step back and examine their three wins. The first victory of the streak came at home, to Penn State. This “non-loss” was aided and abetted by Penn State’s starting back court, which set the tone for the enire team by combining for 23 points on 7-24 shooting. Their next win came at Iowa, which as much of the Big Ten has come to find out, is no small feat. But once again, the Wolverines received their fair share of help, as Iowa shot 36.5 percent. Their final win of the season, a win better than any Minnesota has so far this season, came at the free throw line, as Michigan made 20 free throws and Ohio State attempted 3. Three wins, yes, but three wins that can be explained by poor play by their opponents.

Of course, Minnesota hasn’t won three Big Ten games in a row since February of 2005.

Minnesota is favored to win, and they should be. On paper they are a better team than Michigan, and not too long ago they dominated in Ann Arbor. However, since Minnesota’s seniors secured Tubby Smith’s 400th career victory at Michigan, the Wolverines have learned how to win.

Before this streak, Michigan was letting teams win that were really should have lost. They lost at Wisconsin even though they had 13 more offensive rebounds than the Badgers, and only allowed them to shoot 9 free throws. They lost to an Iowa team that has only two road wins (the other at Northern Iowa) on the season. And they lost, lost, lost, to bad teams in the pre-season. But now, at least, they are able to take advantage when another team struggles.

Needless to say this is not good news for Minnesota. Utilizing slashing guards and the pick and roll, Minnesota was within 4 points with 4 minutes left at Wisconsin. In a game that no one expected them to win, and only a few people thought they would even try to win, Minnesota played well enough to be able to blame the loss on a few bad bounces, a bad call, and a bad big man. It was an improvement, but not enough to erase the drubbing a week ago at home to a previously horrible Illinois team.

Michigan has won when other teams fail to score, and Minnesota has been bad offensively. Against Illinois they shot only 33% (20% in the second half. At Wisconsin, they repeatedly missed lay-ups and dunks on their way to 25% shooting inside the three point line. If there is a repeat of either of these performances, Minnesota will probably lose their 4th home game of the Big Ten season.

Minnesota’s seniors, trying to salvage at least respectability, called a players only team meeting the other day. Michigan credits a similar meeting for turning their season around, so maybe it will do the same for the Gophers. For team desperately needing some accountability from the supposed leaders of the team, this is at least a little encouraging. After the meeting, Lawrence McKenzie explained “I think it was good to let the young guys know how important it is to us. We we’re feeling bad, because we felt like we should be doing more.” Spencer Tollackson added “People had to be called out and be held more accountable by their teammates.” One can only hope the seniors called the meeting so they could be called out.

Perhaps Tubby Smith, who does not need to call closed door meetings to get his point across, said it best.

Talk is cheap. You (have) got to do it on the court. That’s all I tell them. All the talk and all the psychology is nothing. You just have got to do it between the lines. It’s all between the ears to get it done, and in the heart you know, that’s where it is.

Talk is cheap, and I don’t think Spencer Tollackson and Dan Coleman are headed for a motivational speaking career, but I don’t see the Gophers shooting woes continuing. They shot almost 60% at Michigan, and all the starters played well. I don’t expect it to be particularly pretty, but even an average game should be enough to beat Michgian. But unlike earlier in the year, if Minnesota gives the game away, the Wolverines will gladly accept it.

Prediction: Minnesota 75 - Michigan 63

For more on Michigan basketball, and possibly even a game preview at some point, check out umhoops.com.