Gophers lose in the first round, and the season ends as expected

Posted on 22. Mar, 2009 by JF in 2008-2009

By now you that the Gophers trip to the NCAA tournament was a short one, and they lost to the Texas Longhorns by 14 points. You also know that I haven’t written anything about this game, because really, there isn’t much to say. Not only was the end result expected, but also how it came about.

The Gophers had a great first few minutes, but slowly faded through out the rest of the first half. Then A.J. Abrams hit a three pointer just before the half-time buzzer. Minnesota stuck around for the first few minutes of the second half until the Longhorns hit a barrage of threes and before the Gophers could adjust, the game was all but over.

All the games the Gophers really needed to win all followed similar paths. At Northwestern and Penn State, at home against Michigan, and Texas and Michigan State in post-season tournaments, the Gophers showed that while they were better than last year, they weren’t quite good enough to put together forty solid minutes. In most of their wins, their periods of solid play were enough to make up for the slow starts or the second half swoons, but not against quality competition in important games.

This season was a success by most standards. It would have been nice to win a game in the NCAA tournament, or at the very least keep CBS from switching to more exciting games in the second half, but there is always next year. The Gophers finally have reestablished the foundation of the basketball program that left along with Clem Haskins in scandalous fashion more than ten years ago. They have improved dramatically in two supposed rebuilding years. The future is bright.

Related posts:

  1. Senior Day ends how it should as the Gophers send Ohio State to the NIT
  2. Gophers trying to continue success while the Longhorns hope to salvage their season
  3. Seniors don’t show up as Gophers lose to FSU
  4. Gophers lose again to Illinois, worst home loss since 1992
  5. Gophers to play Butler in first round of 76 classic

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