Gophers Surrender to Northwestern
January 9, 2016
On February 16, 1929, the University of Minnesota’s varsity basketball team lost to Michigan, 23-18, at Williams Arena with farm boys named Engebretson and Otterness in the lineup. It was the Gophers seventh straight conference loss in a row. Minnesota would go on to defeat Iowa, 37-22, for its first Big Ten win.
On January 9, 2016, the University’s mens team lost to Northwestern, 72-55, at Williams Arena with young urban players from Georgia and Florida named Mason and Morris starting the game. It was the Gophers fourth straight loss since starting the Big Ten season. The difference between 1929 and 2016 is there is little hope that a first Big Ten win will ever take place.
The Old Barn has seen its share of losers down through the decades (plus a couple of scandals), but this season’s crop of young men stand to accomplish failure on an epic scale. The players, as assembled by coach Richard Pitino, are a dysfunctional group of head cases doomed to possibly lose a staggering 18 Big Ten losses. No 1929 Iowa team appears on their horizon.
In his press conferences, Pitino keeps babbling, “It’s my fault,” and “It’s on me,” in what he obviously thinks is a charming way of deflecting attention from his woebegone players. However, if you keep saying it’s your fault, pretty soon people will believe you. In fact, it is his fault for failure to recruit.
After sticking as close as 32-26 at halftime, the Gophers quickly unraveled. Northwestern’s Joey Van Zegeran took matters into his hands with a pair of dunks over startled Gophers. A Wildcat field goal by Aaron Falzon was followed by a Falzon three-point basket. These are not exactly household names, but Minnesota made them look like Stockton and Malone. At any rate, it was 41-26, and the Gophers spent the rest of the game wandering around the floor with no purpose in mind. It’s not like the Gophers have no coach—they just play like it.
The Minnesota lads play with all the energy of chain gang refugees. Viewng the Wildcats play was like watching a real cat play with a mouse. Soon the mouse was broken and motionless.
“We functioned well offensively,” gushed Northwestern’s coach Chris Collins. “Minnesota just wasn’t on their game.” Whatever game that is.
The truth is that Northwestern is historically bad. The purple Wildcats have NEVER been to the NCAA Tournament. But as soon as those purple colors show up at Williams Arena, Pitino’s team turns to mush. Minnesota lost 55-54 in 2014 and 72-66 last year. This year the Gophers didn’t bother to try.
“We were bad,” Pitino shrugged after the game. “We didn’t guard and rebound when things got rough. We lost confidence big time. Being young doesn’t excuse you from playing hard.
“Our guys are not competing,” he mumbled. And whose fault is that?