There’s a mantra in college basketball that is slapping the Gophers directly in the face: “You win with good point guards.”
The Gophers have none. They have lost six of eight games since senior Al Nolen broke his right foot and became unavailable. Minnesota most likely would have another couple wins during that stretch if junior guard Devoe Joseph hadn’t transferred out of the program in January.
It’s likely, too, the Gophers would have better than a 6-9 Big Ten record and more than one win in their last seven games if Justin Cobbs, a freshman point guard in 2009-2010, hadn’t transferred at the end of last season. Without Nolen, Joseph and Cobbs, the Gophers are left with senior shooting guard Blake Hoffarber and freshman Maverick Ahanmisi to play point guard. Hoffarber doesn’t have the quickness to play the position and Ahanmisi is too inexperienced and often makes poor decisions.
The Gophers miss Nolen’s ability to penetrate and pass to open teammates. At times he had a dependable outside shot, too. Joseph was a combo guard but a better choice than Hoffarber. He had some ability to penetrate and was the team’s best outside shooter other than Hoffarber.
The Gophers now have a lineup that has minimal offensive skills, with a lack of ball handling, passing and shooting. Either because the lineup has players playing out of position, or inexperienced players on the floor, Minnesota has too many turnovers, some leading directly to dunks by the other team. (See Wednesday night’s second half against Michigan State and a 53-48 loss).
In six of the last seven games the Gophers have scored 63 points or less. With the absence of a point guard and minimal offensive abilities, the Gophers are likely to lose at least two of their last three regular season conference games. The guess here is losses to Michigan (tomorrow at Williams Arena) and at Northwestern on March 2, with a win over Penn State in Minneapolis March 6.
Forget about a deep Big Ten tournament run like last year when the Gophers made the finals and Joseph was named to the all-tourney team. Unless Nolen resumes playing in March, this team could be one-and-done in the NIT.