BIG 10 BB

[roony]

This one wasn't nearly as fun to watch. I thought they'd make more of a game of it.

[Dotch]

I caught bits and pieces of the game running between the grill & escaping the wife's advances. Checking the comments on thedailygopher.com, looks like what I did see was accurate. Looked like their shooters forgot to get off the bus in the 1st half. 1 for 11 on 3 pt. shots in the first half doesn't get it done. Garcia got in foul trouble as well so that set the tone. By the second half when he picked up #4 they were back to square one like they were against IA in the 2nd half when he got hurt. He's been the glue that holds this thing together. When things were deteriorating in the 2nd half, Ben should've called a timeout earlier than he did. He also needs to learn to bawl and cry to work the officials better. He'll have to watch some tape of Izzo in the offseason. Officiating when I was watching looked suspect. A lot of no-call bumping the Gophers off their cuts in the 1st half by NE so they couldn't get the ball inside. Forced a lot of the 3-balls. While not a terrible number of fouls overall, 14 on MN & 15 on NE, a lot of them were ticky-tack with inopportune timing. The flagrant foul on Garcia was bogus. A foul, no doubt but not one warranting the F1 label. Was a back-breaker for the Gophers, eliminating any chance they had of a comeback. Saw Tominaga pushing off several times w/no call. After they messed up on the flagrant one, they tossed the Gophers a bone and finally called one. Thanks guys. 

Said it before & will say it again: MN belongs in the NIT this year. Weak nonconference schedule with one bad loss to Missouri. The only way they get into the NCAA tournament is to ambush IL at the House of Pain & Northwestern on the road. Then beat Penn St. & IN in their last two home games. Piece of cake! Ya right... If they do well in the NIT & can maintain their nucleus for next year thru positive transfers w/plenty of NIL $'s, & stay healthy, they could make some noise then. Still a lot better season overall than I thought it'd be the way they started out.   

[Gunner55]

Penn St comes to Iowa City for a 8:00 game tonight, BTN has the coverage.

[Dotch]

Thanks for the update! Should help keep us from tuning in some inconsequential NE SE State vs. West Overshoe Cathedral tilt. 

[Gunner55]

Dix got 'em off to a hot start & a big lead. But I thought they were trouble when Perkins picked up his 2nd foul & had to go to the bench early. Sandfort took over getting the right guy the ball though. I was surprised to hear that his triple double last night was the 1st in school history. He was 18/19 on FT's & finished with 26, Dix had 20 too. Hawks were 8/16 on 3's with the bench going 4/5. Tough game at NW on Saturday, BTN @ 4:30.

[Dotch]

Saw that Penn St. came back and made a game of it in the 2nd half between trips out to the barn. Hawks held them off and pulled away after my 2nd trip out. Not very optimistic about the Gophers chances tonite. Barring the Illini coming down with Ebola, bubonic plague or something, might be a good nite to watch IA St. & Dr. Pol. 

[Gunner55]

Yeah, they got it down to 2 early in the 2nd but Baldwin got T'd up for yipping at the ref. Then Baldwin had a couple TO's & the Hawks got a couple stops about then too. That stretched it back to 10 pts. Champaign is a tough place to play, pretty deep & big too.

[Gunner55]

Gophers played well enough, 60% FG & 70% 3PT, to win a lot of nights. But didn't.

[roony]

They need to step up their rebounding.

[Gunner55]

Yeah, they got beat by 8 on the boards but Illinois is a big team. They avg ~ 6'8" on their starting 5. Gopher's got beat, 11/16 to 19/25, at the line too.

[Dotch]

IL is tough especially at home. They are loaded where the Gophers are building. Doesn't hurt that Shannon got an injunction to continue playing after his rape accusations. Must've had a better lawyer than Reggie Lynch did a few years back. Take him out of the mix and IL is farther down than a 2nd place team in the B1G. Was just good to see the Gophers show up and put forth the effort they did after their loss to NE. Now they need to build on it and send a message to Penn St. at The Barn. Gophers are still developing an identity & playing in the NIT is probably the best place for them to do it.

https://gophersports.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule

[KEN W]

Caitland Clark show appeared at the Barn last night. Packed house. She is the best story in college BB this year. Men or women.

Triple double with 33 points. She will set the all time scoring record this year......men or women. Passing the "Pistol Pete" record.

[Gunner55]

 Caitlin just said she's going to declare for the WNBA draft, so the Iowa fans can drive to watch her play in Indianapolis.

[mike89]

will she have completed college???   or going for the money???  good for her...

[glenn57]

will she have completed college???   or going for the money???  good for her...

she is skipping her 5th year of eligibility due to covid. I wonder more if she got her degree???

It wager a whole lot of the college athletes that go pro dont graduate with a degree 

[mike89]

yup

[Gunner55]

  Just as important as the sport of basketball is to her, Caitlin Clark also gives equal importance to her education. She is almost done pursuing an undergraduate degree in marketing and a minor in communication studies. Clark attends school at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business. She is aware that someday she may not have basketball to rely on, which is why she chose to work hard in academics as well. They estimate she's already making $910K in 11 NIL deals now & that ranks 3rd among all NCAA women's BB players. There's 27 men playing college sports that are making more than that though. The top 4 picks of the 2024 WNBA will make a base salary of $76,535 their 1st season. I not sure how long her current endorsement deals run but I'd think they'd include her turning pro too & wouldn't be at all surprised to hear she gets a lot more offers.

[glenn57]

i'd venture to guess she is one of a select few........

[Steve-o]

Indeed she is.  I think NIL deals for most college athletes boil down to local endorsements from local boosters.

The bigger the boosters, the bigger the program, the bigger the payouts.  The rich get richer with the best athletes looking for the most money.  Just it is "above the board" now. 

But for men - and especially women - I have to believe big, national endorsements are few and far between. 

[Gunner55]

 She has deals with Nike & Buick that are ~ 1 year old. She's also signed deals with Buick & State Farm in the last few months. I don't know the #'s on those deals but IMO they probably won't be going down, given her popularity. She's already said to be worth ~ $3 mil & still in college.    https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-basketball/news/caitlin-clark-nil-deals-money-iowa-nike-sponsors-2024/e58534cadc3b2960663a36cb

[Steve-o]

I wonder how much that hot college gymnast social media influencer is worth. 

[Gunner55]

  Found this from last July. Olivia Dunne is the highest-paid female athlete in the NCAA with an estimated valuation of roughly $3.5 million annually, according to On3's tracker for name, image, and likeness, or NIL. This year alone, the Louisiana State University gymnast worked with ESPN, BodyArmor, Sports Illustrated, and Motorola. 

[Gunner55]

Tough 1 for the Hawkeyes today @ NW, 4:30 on BTN. I see the Gophers are the game before that.

[Dotch]

Whew! Gophers down 23 at one point in the 1st half & grind their way to a 5 pt. win. Mirror image of their win on the road at Penn St. Gotta make your free-throws, kids. 

[roony]

Very enjoyable for fans!

[Gunner55]

Iowa hands a shothanded NW their 1st home loss of the year behind Dix's 24 & Sandfort's 23. NW had 2 starters out & lost their backup big early in the 2nd too. Despite having to sit because of foul trouble early Perkins still ended up with a double double.

[Gunner55]

The win yday gave Frannies squad 10 for the season for the 6th consecutive season. Carver-Hawkeye should be rockin today as it's Clarke's last home game, when they take on Ohio St. It's a noon game & Fox has the coverage.

[Gunner55]

Despite Clark having an off day shooting, 10-26, Iowa avenges(93-83) an earlier loss to Ohio St. Clark gets Pistol Pete's record at the end of the 1st half from the FT line & ends up with 35. Stuelke had a great game with 23 & 9 boards. Hawks had 2 others scored in double figures. Iowa won the rebounding battle 38-31 & had a huge advantage, 18 to 3, from the line. Molly Davis got hurt starting the 2nd & it looked pretty bad as she had to be carried of the court.

[KEN W]

Good for her.

Most thought that Pistol Pete's record would never be broken. And if she really wanted her record not to be broken......she could play a 5th year at Iowa. Because of the Covid exemption.

[KEN W]

But it should be noted that Pistol Pete set his record in 3 seasons because freshman were not allowed to play then. Also there was no 3 point line or he would have had more. No shot clock then either. Also back then.....colleges in the south were segregated so the SEC was white players only.

Pete played at LSU when I was in College at St. Cloud State.