It is time to start to worry about the Minnesota Golden Gophers basketball team
The Minnesota Golden Gophers basketball team is struggling and the time has come to start to worry about the team.
Not all that long ago, I wrote a piece saying the Minnesota Golden Gophers basketball team has what it takes to make it to the Final Four. It looked like Richard Pitino had his team prepared for the big time and ready for the spotlight of being a Top 25 team. That is obviously not the case.
The Golden Gophers are on a roll of three straight games that have not looked impressive at all. In the last three games, Minnesota has lost on the road to Nebraska and Arkansas and beat Drake by only one point in Williams Arena on Monday night.
It is really concerning. We knew that the Gophers were eventually going to lose and probably a time or two, but they simply have not looked like the team that dominated early in the season. Honestly, the Gophers haven’t played to a high level since the Alabama game that saw the Gophers barely beat a team that only had three players on the court. That game alone might have screwed with the heads of the maroon and gold so much that it is still affecting them weeks later.
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Jordan Murphy keeps getting double-doubles the whole time, but he didn’t look like his dominant self in the losses. Reggie Lynch hasn’t been the defensive force we saw a season ago and that is when he can stay on the court. Amir Coffey hasn’t shown the improvement we thought we’d have seen by now. There is little to no bench contribution which includes top recruit Isaiah Washington.
The Gophers lost to two teams they should have beat with some ease and beat a team by one that they should have beat by 35. This isn’t a talent issue for the Gophers, this looks to be a mental issue. The team is spooked and it’s becoming time to calm down and start dominating ballgames.
Minnesota dropped out of the Top 25 due to the losses and did nothing in a cupcake win on Monday to get back into the rankings. The Gophers need to step it up before they ruin what could potentially be one of the best seasons ever for Gopher basketball.
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The Gophers now get to sit and think about their poor play over the past few games. Minnesota doesn’t play for ten days. The next game scheduled is a Dec. 21 date with Oral Roberts from The Barn with a 7:00 Central tip.