Day one of the Golden Gopher coaching search: Pastner is out, Collins isn’t in, and the latest on Shaka Smart
Posted on March 26, 2013 by JF.
There are plenty of tea leaves to read on the first day the Golden Gopher basketball coaching search. There isn’t much hard news, but the news that does exist is good.
We’ll start with what we know, and that is the Josh Pastner will not be coaching the Golden Gophers or anyone other than Memphis. He confirmed that he is restructuring his contract and has no intention of leaving Memphis. Pastner was never a legitimate candidate to come to a university still recovering from another slick talker and over-rated recruited, right Tim Brewster? Andre Hollins and Austin Hollins would not have been happy either, considering they chose not to play for Memphis. If the coaching search went south though, Pastner’s name might have popped up, if solely to make a splash with the next hire.
Now, for some speculation…
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Never enough wins, or one of us, the Tubby Smith Era comes to an end.
Posted on March 25, 2013 by JF.
The end came for Tubby Smith today, but I can’t help but think of the beginning, that glorious spring morning when we all learned that a national championship winning coach, the coach that knocked the infamous 1997 team out of the Final Four, was riding in on a Lear Jet to save the program, create a national brand, and win a Big Ten Title. At least that is how it was supposed to work. Tubby Smith won that first press conference. As the years went on, he didn’t win enough press conferences or enough games. Either type of wins would have bought him a few more years, but those never came.
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Tubby Smith has reportedly been fired.
Posted on March 25, 2013 by JF.
It appears that Tubby Smith did need a trip to the Sweet 16 to keep his job. His team lost in the round of 32, and now Tubby Smith has lost his job according to Jeff Goodman.
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Who are the Gators? A Q&A with Alligator Army
Posted on March 24, 2013 by zipsofakron.
Only one thing stands between the Gophers and the second week of the tournament – the Florida Gators. Easy, right? Admittedly, I haven’t watched a whole lot of Florida basketball this year since the SEC is relatively inaccessible in these parts. To help give us a little idea who who the Gators are and what [...]
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It’s a Bruin Blowout!
Posted on March 23, 2013 by zipsofakron.
I was excited for Friday’s game against UCLA for plenty of reasons. Of course, it was the fact that the Gophers were in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three years. They were playing on college basketball’s biggest stage with a chance to redeem a season that fell well short of expectations once [...]
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Golden Gophers blow out the Bruins, and now get the Gators
Posted on March 22, 2013 by JF.
A truly rewarding journey isn’t easy. There are wrong turns, detours, and delays. The college basketball season is 30 games long, and the Golden Gophers got lost along the way, and more than once looked like they wanted to give up and go home. Instead, they’ll be playing to go to the teams first Sweet 16 (that counts) since 1989. In basketball as in life, without negatives there can be no positives.
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Who is UCLA? A Q&A with some Bruin bloggers
Posted on March 21, 2013 by zipsofakron.
Maybe it isn’t where we thought we’d be after topping out at 8th in nation. Maybe it wasn’t where we thought we’d be in Tubby Smith’s sixth season at the helm. While it was another disappointing season in Gopher Land the important thing to remember now is that none of that matters; at least for [...]
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The From The Barn mailbag is all about the NCAA tournament
Posted on March 19, 2013 by JF.
Thank you to everyone who submitted questions on twitter, even if some were (hopefully) less than serious. Crochots asks: ”With the gophers suffering from routine cranial rectal inversion, what do you think is the best way to solve this problem? The Gophers obviously have some sort of mental block that prevents them from playing up [...]
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UCLA is beatable if the Gophers don’t beat themselves.
Posted on March 18, 2013 by JF.
In the run-up to Selection Sunday, there is no shortage of what teams will make the NCAA tournament and how they will be seeded. The discussion of which teams will make the tournament isn’t pointless. Obviously bubble teams and their fans care a great amount about their tournament chances, and making the tournament is a prerequisite to winning a national championship. Seeding, on the other hand, doesn’t matter. For all the talk of the number one overall seed and which teams received a good or bad seed, more discussion should surround match-ups and location. Playing a virtual home or road game does more to determine the outcome of a game than wearing a home or road jersey, the only thing seeding actually does determine. Even more important than game location is the actual teams that are playing, is how they match-up.
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Let’s Dance! Golden Gophers will play UCLA in the first round in Austin, Texas.
Posted on March 17, 2013 by JF.
It wasn’t smoothest path or the prettiest product, but the Gophers are back in the NCAA tournament for the first time in three seasons. Their first round opponent will be UCLA, the 7th seed out of the PAC12. The Golden Gophers picked up an 11 seed. At first glance, this is a as good as [...]
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The “From the Barn” Bracket Challenge!
Posted on March 16, 2013 by JF.
It is that time of year again. It is the time to irrationally pick the Gophers to go to the Sweet 16. It is the time of year to invest too much energy in rooting for Belmont, Davidson, or Hyphenated-State to beat a top 10 team. It is the time of year to win a book or two?
Well, the last part is true at least. We’ve set up a group at ESPN’s Tournament. The top two entries win a fabulous From The Barn t-shirt, and their choice of a March Madness themed book. The next two (or maybe more depending what I can scrounge up) win whichever book the better scorers don’t want. The real prize, of course, is endless bragging rights for the next 11 and a half months.
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5 bubble teams to keep track of
Posted on March 16, 2013 by zipsofakron.
March Madness is the best time of the year. Whether its conference tournaments, Selection Sunday, office pools or even the tournament itself, there is plenty of excitement as we try to make sense of who’s in, who’s out and who’s going to win it all. A big part of the lead up to the tournament [...]
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Day two Big Ten Tournament preview
Posted on March 14, 2013 by JF.
Day one of the Big Ten tournament is in the books with one surprise but a few good finishes. Now the top teams in the conference take the floor for what should be a thrilling afternoon and night.
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4 story lines to watch during the Big Ten Tournament
Posted on March 13, 2013 by zipsofakron.
Major conference tournaments are an interesting breed. They don’t have the crazy intensity of the mid- or low-major tournaments where the teams are fighting tooth and nail for that single bid that will get them to the postseason. Instead, they’re more of a ground for seeding purposes and for teams to show one final time [...]
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Day one Big Ten Tournament preview.
Posted on March 13, 2013 by JF.
The best conference tournament of the season, and perhaps the most anticipated Big Ten tournament tips off bright and early on Thursday morning when the Gophers take on Illinois at 11 am. How competitive will the tournament be? Consider that the Gophers and the Illini, the eight and nine seeds respectively, are each playing for a chance to beat number one seed Indiana for the second time. Anything can happen, and probably will. Here is what you need to know.
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