It's good: The aftermath of an ugly Gophers loss (Part 2)

This seems like an appropriate time to tell this story.

When I was in Puerto Rico a few weeks ago, I met a North Carolina fan a day after his favorite team lost to the Gophers. He was OK, but some of his colleagues had trouble dealing with the defeat.

The morning after the game, he was waiting for the elevator on the first floor of the UNC team hotel. When the doors popped open, he saw a woman with watery eyes and a sad look.

Had someone close to her died? Bad news back home?

"North Carolina lost and I'm sad about it (paraphrasing, folks)," she told him.

The man replied, "Did you think they were going to win every game?"

Maybe she did.

Gophers fans took the Virginia loss really hard. Some of them went from a premature "Could this squad be better than the 1997 Final Four team?" to an expected "See, I told you so" following Monday's game.

I think everyone should settle down.

A lot of good could come from Monday's outcome.

The Good

-We all have days when everything goes right. Every light is green on the way to work. A forgotten check pops up in the mailbox. The driver that you nearly snapped the last time you played 18 holes suddenly becomes your best friend. The waiter brings the bill and your buddy says, "I got it."

The friend who swears "I haven't played in five years" before he goes par, par, birdie, birdie on the four holes that you haven't figured out in five years. The first-time bowler who tops 200 with an alley ball and rented shoes, while you barely break 100 ... even though you've been bowling since you were 5 and you have a customized glove. The cat who skips 60 percent of the classes, parties the night before the final and still pulls off the A.

The Gophers experienced the latter Monday night.

That wasn't Virginia. That was the "We're playing out of our minds and we don't really know why" traveling team sporting Virginia jerseys.

Here are Mustapha Farrakhan's stats from the three games leading up to Monday's matchup: 1-for-8, 0-for-4 from beyond the arc, four points against Washington; 5-for-7, 10 points against Oklahoma; 0-for-1, zero points, four fouls in 13 minutes against Wichita State.

Here's Farrakhan's swaggerific stat line from Monday's game: 8-for-14, 4-for-5 from the three-point line, career-high 23 points.

A team that didn't hit 40 percent of its three-point attempts entering Monday's game went 10-for-13. A team that scored 58 points in a loss to Wichita State last week scored 58 ... in the second half against the Gophers.

Yes, the Gophers could have, should have played better D. But sometimes a team gets extremely hot. And Virginia hit shots, hit more shots and then, hit even more shots. The Cavs were in a zone. They really got up for a game against the nationally ranked Gophers.

Give the Cavs credit. They got hot at the right time. But that might be their best finish of the year.

-The Gophers don't thrive in the national spotlight. This isn't a team that's made up of guys who were five-star preps who could have gone to any school in the country.

They view themselves as players who flew under the radar in high school. And every game is a chance to prove all of the doubters wrong.

They wore "Respect" t-shirts to the Big Ten tourney last season. They entered that tournament believing the world was against them. The media, their opponents, the officials ... they called all of them out leading up to their NCAA berth. And that attitude helped them make that shocking run to the Big Dance.

When they went to 76 Classic last season, they found themselves surrounded by similar post-Puerto Rico Tipoff hype after they beat 10th-ranked Butler. For an encore, they lost to unranked Portland, Texas A&M and Miami.

Before the North Dakota State game, I asked Al Nolen about his squad's new national ranking. His response ended with "sometimes it's better to go under the radar." Enough said.

They won't put as much pressure on themselves once they drop in the national rankings. They might drop out of the upcoming polls. But under Smith, the program hasn't concerned itself with top-25 rankings and national attention.

They've actually played better without it.

Before nationally ranked Illinois plays Oakland (currently 3-3) next week, Bruce Weber announces that Demetri McCamey and Bill Cole will miss the game due to injury. Freshman Joseph Bertrand and Jereme Richmond will start at point guard and small forward, respectively.

Meanwhile, Mike Davis will return to the lineup after missing the first six games of the season due to a suspension.

You'd expect some challenges regardless of the opponent. Those switches would change a lot of things for the Illini, the same way personnel moves changed things for the Gophers Monday.

When placed in a different context, it adds a different perspective to Minnesota's situation.

This wasn't the Gophers team that won the Puerto Rico Tipoff. It was a squad in transition.

Smith didn't use it as an excuse, but all of the changes affected the squad down the stretch, when it put up quick shots. The Gophers lacked the chemistry to play together (not a problem when everyone knew what to expect with rotations in the first six games) when the game got tight. The result: one-on-one ball. Players reacted poorly when they were forced to play roles that they hadn't played until Monday night.

But Monday's experience should prepare them for future adjustments, tough games and personnel challenges.

-Trevor Mbakwe recorded his fourth double-double in seven games (18 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks) against Virginia. He's a 6-8 force whenever he's on the basketball court. He's tied with Jared Sullinger at No. 8 in John Hollinger's PER rankings.

He's proven that he can dominant in the paint, the first post player under Smith (at Minnesota) with the ability to do that consistently.

In the Big Ten, he's 16th in scoring (14.3 ppg), third in rebounding (9.3), second in field goal percentage (67.3 percent) and 13th in blocks (1.14 bpg).

-Blake Hoffarber is getting back to what he does best. His midrange jump shot has improved from last season. It's a nice wrinkle for the senior guard.

But he's at his best when he's hitting threes. In the Gophers' first four games, however, Hoffarber went 11-for-34 (32.3 percent). In the team's last three games, he shot 13-for-28 (46.4 percent). The Big Ten's top three-point shooter last season (46.7 percent) looks like he's back to normal after a rough start. And that's a good sign for a Gophers team that will need every key element to get through a tough Big Ten slate.