Talk about drastic changes, I certainly didn’t expect that to be the headline.

Led by recently under-achieving players and a new starting line-up, Minnesota beat the Wildcats in energetic and high scoring fashion. If only anyone would have been able to see it. The Evanston, Illinois area was pounded by a blizzard throughout the game which apparently interfered with the satellite signal, and  even the few hearty souls who still care about Northwestern basketball generally avoided the snowy and icy mess outside. Don’t believe me?

Like just about everyone else, I was also unable to watch the game. I did however listen to the game, and managed to not throw my radio out the window. Due to the um…lack of descriptiveness from Mike Grimm and Kevin Lynch, this won’t be the most informative game review I have ever written. Though, I can tell you that the Gopher radio announcers spoke often of throat stomping and describing a Northwestern fan they may or may not have been Ray Romano. Very useful when you can’t see what they are talking about.

On to the game, something Mike Grimm and Kevin Lynch should focus on…

Tubby Smith’s changes started on Tuesday in practice. In a typical practice, the majority of time is spent focusing on the opponent, but this time, the majority of the practice consisted of scrimmaging and working on the Gopher’s weaknesses. As Minnesota had demonstrated throughout the season, preventing an opponent from carrying out their game plan will not get you very far if you are not prepared execute your own.

For the first time this season, Tubby Smith instituted major changes in his starting line up. Previously, minor changes were made because of Lawrence McKenzie’s groin injury, and recently Damian Johnson took Jamal Abu-Shamala’s place in the starting line-up. Since the Wisconsin disaster I had been advocating that the Gophers should go small and fast, and to try to run their opponents out of the gym. Instead, Tubby went slow and moderately sized. While I would still like to see small ball, slow ball worked. It should be obvious by now why Tubby Smith is a future hall of fame coach and I write an occasionally read blog.

The new starting line-up consisted of Spencer Tollackson, Damian Johnson, Jamal Abu-Shamala, Lawrence Westbrook, and Blake Hoffarber and point guard. Eager to show that they were ready to make the most of the opportunity, the Gophers came out fast and furious, quickly jumping out to an 8-2 lead led by Blake Hoffarber from long distance and the unstoppable low-post presence of Spencer Tollackson. Northwestern was able to claw back and was within three points with three minutes left in the half, but then the wheels came off.

In the last three minutes of the half the Gophers went on a 12-2 run, led by 8 points in that stretch from Jamal Abu-Shamla to take a 14 point half time lead. Abu-Shamala, as he always seems to do at Northwestern, played his best game of the season. He finished the game with 16 points, 5 rebound, and three assists. It was by far his best game of the season, but doesn’t come close to matching his other dominating performances in Evanston, where he has made 12-16 three pointers in his career.

The hot outside shooting of Abu-Shamala and Hoffarber opened up the middle of Northwestern’s zone for Spencer Tollackson. The nearly always maligned senior center was perfect on the night scoring 19 points (7-7 from the floor and 5-5 from the free throw line). Undoubtedly Tollackson benefited from the unathletic and undersized Northwestern front court, and was probably very close to the basket on all of his field goal attempts, but regardless, he displayed tremendous improvement over his previous efforts.

The individual performances were tremendous, but the team statistics were even more impressive. The Gophers outrebounded 38-17, shot 58% from the field, 52% from the free throw line, and made 76% of their free throws. On Saturday when the Gophers take on Iowa at Williams Arena, they almost certainly will not  put up numbers like this, but for a team needing a confidence boost, a blow-out win on the road, regardless of how bad the opponent is, is a step in the right direction.

Who did what? 

• Dan Coleman was largely on non-factor on both ends of the court. He scored 10 points, one of six Gophers in double figures, and had 8 rebounds. However, he shot poorly and committed four turnovers.
• Jamal Abu-Shamala made the most of his first substantive playing time in several games. He scored 16 points and forced Northwestern to extend their zone more than they wanted to.
• Spencer Tollackson was perfect, except he still hasn’t found a way to rebound. He finished with 19 points and three rebounds, despite being the tallest player on the court.
• Lawrence Westbrook continues to get better and better. He was three rebounds short of a triple-double, and added 12 points and 10 assists with only one turnover.
• Blake Hoffarber started at point guard. While he is far from a typical point guard, he ensured that the Gophers did not simply stand around on the offensive end, and was consistently able to get the ball to Lawrence Westbrook in a position where Westbrook could make an assist. Hoffarber had 15 points, 4 assists (though he would have many more if they handed them out like in hockey) and no turnovers.
• Al Nolen as of yet has not climbed over the freshman wall. He played only 10 minutes and 2 turnovers.
• Despite not starting (has he ever really started playing before halftime?) Lawrence McKenzie scored 16 points on 5-8 shooting.
• Damian Johnson was in foul trouble most of the night.
• Travis Busch played briefly.
• Thanks to not being able to watch the game, there will be no Ryan Saunders update tonight. But I can tell you that Tubby Smith decided to dress like Bob Huggins for a night: mock turtle neck and sport coat. Thank you Kevin Lynch for this important information.

Over the last 24 hours or so, like many of you, I have been closely following the speculation, prognostication, and spin surrounding “Super Tuesday.” Instead of adding to the cacophony of pundits and talking heads, as much as I am tempted (Barack won), I think I’ll stick to basketball.

But imagine for a second, if you will, what basketball would look like if was run like “Super Tuesday.”

• Each game would be played by its own rules.
• We wouldn’t necessarily know the final score until a day or more after the game ended. (Go New Mexico! You are slower than American Samoa.)
• The final score wouldn’t matter as much as where the points were scored. One team could win by 20, but if all their points were scored in paint while the losing team made free throws, mid range jumpers, and three pointers, a tie or even a win by the “loser” could be the result.

So why all this talk about politics when there is a basketball game tonight? Because not much has changed since the Gophers beat Northwestern a few weeks ago to open the Big Ten season. Northwestern still hasn’t beaten anyone in the Big Ten, and Minnesota hasn’t lost or won in surprising.

Even though the Gophers are struggling, coming of an embarrassing home loss to the dread team from the other side of the Saint Croix River, Minnesota should be able to beat the Wildcats. In past years Minnesota has struggled in Evanston, and I even predicted a loss for the Gophers at Northwestern in my ill-fated attempt of a Big Ten preview, but not even Minnesota’s road struggles and deflated confidence can overcome the sheer ineptitude of Northwestern. They would struggle in the MAC.

The Gophers will need to watch out for Northwestern’s trifecta of not completely untalented players. Kevin Coble took awhile to get back into game shape, but back he is. He leads Northwestern in both scoring and rebounding and put up 34 points against Michigan in early January. Yes, Northwestern lost by 10. Craig Moore continues to shoot lots of threes, and occasionally even makes them. Against MSU in late January, more made 7 three pointers and finished with 28 points. Northwesten lost by 16. Michael Thompson, like most freshman in the conference, has hit the wall. But even when he was playing well, Northwestern lost. For Northwestern to have a chance, their “big 3″ will all need to have big games, and it still might not matter. (Click here for a more thorough discussion of worst case scenarios).

For the Gophers, another midweek game, another inferior opponents, more promised changes. Following the debacle last Sunday, Tubby Smith sounded like he had enough, but no one quite knows what this mean. The Gophers are simply too inconsistent for any coach to plan who will play how many minutes. He wanted to play the starters extended minutes against Wisconsin, but they would have been outclassed by a good high school team.

Tonight, given Northwestern’s lack of height, skill, rebounding, etc. I would love to see Tubby go small and try to run Northwestern out of the gym. Kevin Coble is NU’s tallest player at 6′8″ but plays on the perimeter. Neither of the Gopher centers would be able to guard him out there, and if Coble guarded Damian Johnson or Dan Coleman, both of whom I would like to see in the post, the Gophers should still be able to score inside relatively easily. Playing Spencer Tollackson and Jonathan Williams for limited minutes would also allow the Gophers to speed the game up, and not let Northwestern set up their zone defense and not control the pace of the game. Besides, if going small didn’t work, Minnesota should still be able to engineer a comeback or extend a lead against a much inferior opponent.

Minnesota should win, but the other day they looked like they were about ready to give up. Prediction: Minnesota 75- Northwestern 64.

And I must confess, tonight will be the first time that I am afflicted with BTN syndrome and I will not be able to watch the game. I’ll still review the game, but expect more criticism of bad journalism and less hard hitting insight. But the way I see it, if the Gophers win I won’t miss much, and if they lose, I don’t want to see.

And really, they need to rebound. The Gophers have improved in all facets of the game, and these improvements have generally been consistent, but when it comes to rebounding, last season isn’t that long ago. Old habits die hard, and habits that are the result of physical prowess (or lack there of) never do die,  though they do disappear occasionally, particularly against teams facing similar issues.

Luckily, Northwestern is one of those teams. No one uses the Princeton offense, other than Princeton, due to anything other necessity. Northwestern doesn’t have the athletes or the talent to successfully compete in the Big Ten, or any major conference. Bill Carmody, Northwestern’s coach, is the most successful in school history. Its both hard to believe that any program’s most successful coach could only have one season with a record above .500. Its as equally hard to believe that anyone could coach Northwestern to 8-8 conference record like Carmody did in 2003-2004. But the winds of changing have begun to blow in the windy city (windy because of the hot air spewn by Chicagoans claiming their city was better than New York, and not because of any meteorlogical phenomenon) and unless Carmody can miraculously turn around his team, he may be on the way out. Don’t expect any miracles for the Wildcats.

Northwestern comes into Wednesday night’s game coming off a bad home loss to Penn State and a surprisingly respectable road loss at Ohio State. The non-conference season was full of bad losses to worse teams.

Kevin Coble, one of Northwestern’s best and most well known players has rejoined the team after taking the first semester off to be with his mother as she has undergone cancer treatment. His return has no doubt provided a spark to the Wildcats, at least psychologically, but don’t expect Coble to be at his best tomorrow night. He will probably need a few weeks to return to form. Practicing against high school kids can’t simulate the speed and skill of even a “down” Big Ten.

Craig Moore and Michael Thompson have been the Northwestern’s best players this season, each averaging 13.5 ppg. Jason Okrzesik has also had a decent season averaging 11.5 ppg, but then after Coble, the talent level goes off a cliff.

The Gophers come into their home opener after a surprisingly close at Michigan State, doing all they needed to do to win but rebound. Despite the same number of shot attempts, the Spartans out rebounded the Gophers by 20. In a trend that began when they were out-rebounded at Florida State in a loss and barely out-rebounded UNLV in a worse loss, the Gophers go the way of their rebounding. To be successful, the Gophers need to dramatically out rebound their opponents.

The Gopher players, coaches, facilities, and school colors are all better than Northwestern’s but if the Gophers can’t get rebounds, it doesn’t matter.  However, there are no indications that rebounding will be a problem tomorrow night, and I predict a 71-57 win.

AND WEAR GOLD TOMORROW. IT IS GOLD OUT AFTERALL.