How to watch the Post-Mbakwe Gophers
Posted on November 29, 2011 by JF.
Here we go again it seems. A promising season has been thrown into disarray. A promising career has come to an end. A team captain who had noticeably improved his game will spend the rest of the season on the bench. Again. It always has to be something. But we are a hearty people, the [...]
Continue Reading
Mbakwe lost for season in Dayton drubbing
Posted on November 28, 2011 by zipsofakron.
By now it’s probably common knowledge, but the most horrific news that Gopher fans could hear this year was announced earlier today: Trevor Mbakwe will be lost for the season after tearing his ACL in Minnesota’s 86-70 drubbing at the hands of the Dayton Flyers in the Old Spice Classic championship. Not only is Mbakwe [...]
Continue Reading
Dayton and Minnesota for the Old Spice Classic Championship
Posted on November 27, 2011 by JF.
Now it is a trend. For the second game in a row and the fifth time this season, the Minnesota Golden Gophers outplayed their opponents in the second half of a game, and will face the Dayton Flyers in the championship game of the Old Spice Classic. Maybe this is just a bit of good [...]
Continue Reading
Comeback kids sap Sycamores
Posted on November 25, 2011 by zipsofakron.
A day after overcoming a 12-point deficit against the DePaul Blue Demons, the Gophers found themselves up against another deficit, this time to the Indiana State Sycamores and used a late second-half run keyed by Chip Armelin and Julian Welch to take back the lead and seal their second win in the Old Spice Classic [...]
Continue Reading
Indiana State is up next for the Golden Gophers
Posted on November 24, 2011 by JF.
After a thrilling, entertaining, and way to close for comfort win over DePaul, the Golden Gophers will take on Indiana State at 11 am on ESPN in the second round of the Old Spice Classic. How the Gophers react to the first round win, and how quickly they recover from the game that was played [...]
Continue Reading
Gophers pull off comeback in wild Old Spice Classic opener
Posted on November 24, 2011 by zipsofakron.
While you were eating turkey, loading up on stuffing and sneaking that last slice of delectable jellied cranberry sauce, the Gophers were frantically trying to hold off the worst of the Big East, the DePaul Blue Demons, in a thrilling opening round of the Old Spice Classic. Facing a 43-33 halftime deficit, the Gophers crawled [...]
Continue Reading
Bring on the Old Spice Classic
Posted on November 23, 2011 by zipsofakron.
It’s that time of year again. The two weeks on the calendar where college basketball really gets going. Where Chaminade takes down Goliath, ESPN goes Coach K-crazy (or, commences its love fest, I should say) and novelty neutral-court matchups that experts won’t give a damn about four months from now flood TV sets. Holiday tournament [...]
Continue Reading
Gophers top the Mount in blowout victory
Posted on November 21, 2011 by zipsofakron.
No one really expected the contest between Minnesota and Mount St. Mary’s to be anything other than a formality. The Mount, a middling team from the Northeast Conference was merely expected to be a schedule filler and provide some practice for the Gophers to sharpen their team-building skills. After an ugly, turnover-ridden performance against Fairfield [...]
Continue Reading
The Mount goes to The Barn
Posted on November 20, 2011 by JF.
And now for the cupcake we have all been waiting for. There was at least a reasonable chance that the Golden Gophers could have lost each of their first three games. Bucknell and Fairfield are decent teams that both could make the NCAA tournament. South Dakota State can shoot well, and they have several players [...]
Continue Reading
Pre-game chatter: Mount St. Mary’s
Posted on November 20, 2011 by zipsofakron.
The Mountaineers of Mount St. Mary’s (or “the Mount”) come to town on Monday night to try their hand against the 3-0 Golden Gophers. Out of the Northeast Conference, the Mount comes to Williams Arena with a 1-2 record. Ryan Raffensperger of The Mount Fan Blog was nice enough to answer some questions before the [...]
Continue Reading
A win, but fairly painful
Posted on November 19, 2011 by JF.
Some will focus on the ugly, some will focus on the win, and those who were there just hope the rest of the games are more entertaining. The Golden Gophers beat the Fairfield Stags 67-57 for their third straight double-digit win, but the 43 combined turnovers, 20 combined missed three-pointers, and 53 free-throws never allowed [...]
Continue Reading
Fairfield is a more than fair test for the Gophers
Posted on November 16, 2011 by JF.
Last March the Fairfield stags were poised to roll through their conference tournament, use their solid defense to clamp down on some overrated big conference school, and pull off another upset to get to the Sweet 16. I had them basically penciled into the Sweet 16, except they never got that far. They didn’t even [...]
Continue Reading
Pre-game Chatter: Fairfield
Posted on November 16, 2011 by zipsofakron.
The Fairfield Stags, last year’s MAAC champion, come to town tomorrow looking to show the Gophers just what they’re all about. In addition to our preview, John Templon of Big Apple Buckets answered a few questions about Fairfield and what we might expect come game time. FTB: Fairfield is coming off two impressive seasons [...]
Continue Reading
Gophers battle back to down Jackrabbits
Posted on November 15, 2011 by zipsofakron.
It wasn’t the prettiest of victories, especially considering the opponent, but when the scoreboard read 0:00 one of the only things that mattered was the Gophers sitting with a higher score than their opponent. It was an uneasy, squeamish first half for the Gophers, who couldn’t seem to find their shots, much less the [...]
Continue Reading
A modest proposal for a “Best of the Midwest” tournament, and then a look at South Dakota State
Posted on November 13, 2011 by JF.
The Golden Gophers play their second game of the season against their not exactly rivals from South Dakota State University. It has been several years since the Gophers started playing the state schools that hug the western border of Minnesota, and the novelty has worn off. Playing regional low-majors is a phenomenon that will never [...]







