NDSU vs Winona Comparison

[wcbsas]

I thought the Minnesota game was a very winnable game for NDSU.
While D2 Winona's game was "just" an exhibition it in my mind proved the Gopher's to be vulnerable.

I also thought it was a "must-win" game if NDSU has NIT aspirations.

Seems to me Minnesota rebounded better against NDSU but ... frankly their big guys are not that impressive. *Score was virtualy the same. *Did Minnesota play that much better defense?

[mikelsch]

Hard to really compare unless they would play each other. However, Winona vs. NDSU would be a very good game.

[roadwarrior]

Comparisons are hard to do. How can you compare the Bison performance on monday to their performance on friday?

[BisBison]

Comparisons are hard to do. *How can you compare the Bison performance on monday to their performance on friday?

They looked like two totally different teams to me. I've never seen a Bison team play so tentatively as they did Monday. They fought hard Friday and could have won. (If only the posession arrow had been pointing our way at the end of the game). :'(

[D]

The diference in peformances between Mon and Fri had everything to do with the opposition's defense IMO. THe Gophs could take away Woodside with 2 different players. They had Payton at the point, and Payton is tall, fast (not so much quick, but fast) and made Woodside create space to get a shot off over him. They could then counter that with Wilson who is as quick as they come, but the same size as Woodsie. Against TT, Jarrious Jackson & Burgess were on him. Jackson is a good player, but he doesn't have extraordinary size, athleticism, or quickness like the Gophs combo could throw at Woodside. That is why it was closer. I have a feeling that the scouting report on the Bison says something to the effect of "let Nelson, Winkelman, and Smith beat you."

[ThunderRadioguy]

Another big difference is that a lot of people expected them to beat Minnesota, not many thought that they could beat TTU. They could just go out there and play on Friday, there was more pressure vs Minn and it showed. Last year nobody expected them to compete with some of those teams so they had no pressure to win. That's a little different this year, I think that they'll get used to it. Winona is a really good team, they don't get the credit for being as good as they are. They still shouldn't have beaten Minnesota though. Great win for them.

[TaTonka_31]

I think you are right ThunderRadioguy.

I think it is pretty common for talented young teams to play much better when no one expects them to win against certain teams. In the Minnesota game both teams were tight. U of M because they did not want to lose to another lower level team at home and the Bison because of high expectations by many for them to beat the Gophers. Expectations are the psychological battle any team needs to overcome in order to play at a high level regardless of the competition or the situation.

The Bison play two talented Mid-Major teams in Furman and UWGB this coming week. Any ideas by the team that they can just show up and beat either one of these teams will result in embarrassing losses at home. They must come out with fire against both teams. Go Bison!

[Bison13]

Remember that the team DIDNT go home after the idaho game...they just went strait to minneapolis and stayed there until monday night. They had no rest and no home practice! I believe they were just beat

[BisonBacker]

Watching the game on tv it was also mentioned that one of the Minnesota players (apparently one of thier better players also) didnt play in the Winona game but did play in the game against NDSU.