Gophers vs. Badgers: Second Half Live Blog

Sure why not?  Kids are gone and the wife and I hit the bar across the street for happy hour since the weather was so crappy, and well, it's 4 hours since then.  So yeah.  Let's go.

20:00 - Wisconsin couldn't shoot, and Ralph Sampson was super aggressive and assertive on the defensive end.  I fully expect these things to continue.  Also Andre Hollins is clearly a future star, and I do actually expect that to continue for two more years (because he'll go pro after his junior year, obviously).

20:00 - How long is this god damn half-time?  I mean jesus, is this the super bowl?

19:46 - Jordan Taylor misses a wide open, and I mean wide open, three pointer.  That seems to be the gophers' most effective defense tonight - just let Wisconsin suck.  And the whole state does, amiright?  I mean, if you put Wisconsin and Iowa into the Large Hadron Collider you'd just get this massive ball of drunken hick douchenss that you could then launch into outer space with some kind of giant water balloon sling shot, right?  What?

18:58 - Gophers going clang clang clang like the little engine that could.  The Nick Punto of trains, you know.

17:52 - Wide open three for Berggggrren, who misses (might have been Brewsewitz).  It's working!!

17:38 - Announcer guy: "sometimes this Gopher team just doesn't think."  Amen, brother man.

17:24 - Saul smith is yelling at someone on the Gopher bench.  I assume that isn't good.

16:31 - Rodney Williams seems very upset with officials like, all the time lately.  He might as well be a Gopher fan with all the bitching, particularly the dude who sits right next to us who has, almost literally, no idea what a foul is and isn't.  And for the record, Williams fouled him with the body, even if the block was clean.  Gophers 25, Wisconsin 22. 

16:04 - 12-2 run by the Badgers to tie the game up.  Never saw this one coming.  Might just watch the Walking Dead.  Yeah, the writing might be meh and the dialogue might be Lucas-esque and the actors might be woodenish, but you know, zombies and shit.

15:19 - Brusewitz misses an open three.  Genius strategy by Tubby.  Just let 'em shoot.  Just like that dude at the Y who thinks he's all like whoa but really kind of sucks and you just let him shoot all game and he keeps missing and then he makes one and looks at you like "you can't lay off me son cuz I'm gonna hit it every time" and that's when you know you got 'em because he's going to just keep chucking and missing and you don't really have to expend any energy on defense anymore so you can save it for when you have the ball and light some chumps up.  I love that guy.

14:20 - Sconnie misses a free throw but gets their own rebound.  Lol.  Doesn't matter though when Gasser misses an open three point shot.  Still 25-25.

13:44 - Joe Coleman goes with the Rick Vaughn impression and throws it through the back of endzone at 99mph, looking for I assume a teammate.

12:53 - Now this play right here illustrates why Rodney Williams can be so frustrating.  Gets the ball at the key, sees Berggren or some fat white guy on him so he takes it right past him, uses excellent body control to avoid the charge when Brust (might be Gasser) slides over, and makes the easy lay-up.  Incredible quickness and athleticism.  Just amazing.  But three years in and no jumper?  Might be easier to handle if he had the aggressiveness he showed on that play more than once a month.

12:43 - Has Julian Welch played tonight?  I watched the pre-game and 1st half on the treadmill with no sound so if they said anything I didn't hear it, but I can't remember seeing him tonight.

11:57 - Andre Hollins goes up for a three and has it tipped and it heads straight out of bounds.  Austin Hollins completely sells out and sacrifices his body to attempt to save it (even though it's going to be Gopher ball) and just tips it enough to make sure it's Wisconsin's ball.  If I could sum up the season in one play I'm pretty sure that's it.

11:57 - By the way, shout out to Mrs. W who, besides being hot, put together our new treadmill all by herself yesterday.  Good woman.  Also a great cook.  Second best in the house.

11:57 - Technical foul on Tubby, which is actually good to see.  Actually turns out Hollins' didn't get his shot tipped, he actually got his arm smacked which caused the airball (and should have been a foul) so my bad to Austy.  I shouldn't have doubted a kid whose cousin's dad is an NBA coach.

11:15 - It's now 32-27 Wisconsin.  Sweet.

9:05 -  This game is kind of putting me to sleep.  Now 34-29.  Also Josh Gasser is a girl.

8:53 - Ralphy!!  Hammer dunk!!  Doesn't count because he was fouled on the entry pass, but still.  Deezam.  Not sure on the spelling on that one.  Do like this "getting back into the paint" stuff.

8:52 - Osenieks 1-2 from the line.  Isn't he supposed to be a shooter but hits less than 50% from the line?  Am I wrong here?  I hope so, because that don't make no sense.

8:23 - Brust for 3.  Huh. Maybe the whole "let 'em shoot" strategy isn't the best one.  And that move by Andre Hollins was just ridiculous. Just went right by Jordan Taylor and then right at one of those fat Sconnie dues and made the lay-up.  Hollins is going to be a star.  Watching him kind of reminds me of watching LeSean McCoy.  That either makes total sense to you or is really stupid.  I vote for makes sense.

7:40 - Missed Badger free throw, Badger board, Taylor three-pointer, 41-32 Badgers.  Any of you basketball nerds know where to find how often a team gives up an offensive board on a missed free throw?  Pretty sure the Gophers lead the nation.

7:11 - Two made throws give Sampson 1,000 career points.  I remain underwhelmed.

6:47 -  Another made three for the Badgers and I'm pretty sure Andre Ingram just blew his knee out again.  Poor dude.  Actually he looks less knee-blowout-y now.  Hopefully he's ok.  Based on the nearly constant transfers out of this program you never know, he could be a starter next year.

6:01 - Oto probably just traveled on a fast break lay-up attempt, which he missed, and then tipped in his own miss.  I'm trying to decide if that was pretty or ugly.  Since I've had a couple beers let's go with the beer goggles and call it pretty.

5:08 - 44-36 Wisconsin.  I wish I could just fast forward.  This is the kind of game people make fun of nationally.

4:54 - I honestly have no idea which one is Bruskewitz and which one is Berggren.  Also Brust vs. Gasser is a challenge.  I can pick out Ryan Evans though, thanks to all that time misspent watching Kid N Play movies in my youth.

3:45 - Either an amazing touch pass by Williams or a fortunate bounce leads to a Sampson dunk.  46-40 Badgers.  If this was any other B10 team I'd say they were at least in it.

2:42 - Andre Hollins takes a very aggressive, but not ill-advised, three pointer; Williams grabs the o-board by outjumping everyone, misses the putback, gets back up quicker than anyone else to grab another, gets fouled, and makes both free throws.  That is exactly what Gopher fans need to concentrate on for next year.  That hole sequence actually looked like a good, confident team.  Also, if you're scoring at home, I'm now writing effusive praise for a sequence where the gophers shot 1-3 from the floor.  Also they just showed a graphic that the Gophers have 3 assists tonight.  Which, I suppose, isn't that bad when you consider I think they have about 8 field goals.

1:21 - Austin Hollins travels for no good reason whatsoever. 

0:41 - Announcer guys aren't making much sense with their reasons, but the overall point is sound - the Gophers could really use an actual point guard.  I love Andre Hollins, but, well, I don't know.  I mean I guess he could be an actual point guard in the scoring point vein, but I think the team would be better if he could just be the scorer.  They need a Darren Collison to his Russell Westbrook.  Good thing they have both a good point guard on the current roster plus one of a quality pedigree coming in next year.  The future is bright!

0:00 - Gophers lose 52-45.  Sucks because the Gophers really needed this to land a top NIT seed.  And thanks a bunch for not covering Badger asses.