Minnesota v. Portland Postgame

The Gophers lost to an unranked, underrated Portland squad.

November 28, 2009 at 6:09AM

I'm going to keep this short.

At the end of the day, Portland could be an NCAA tournament team. The Pilots have certainly made their case for top 25 status after a blowout over UCLA and a win over No. 22 Minnesota.

They're a good team. And they proved it against Minnesota.

They countered everything the Gophers tried to do on offense. They defended the three-point line. Forced the Gophers to take horrible, horrible shots.

Give them credit.

I can't call this a bad loss because Portand's underrated.

But it certainly takes some of the steam out of that win over No. 12 Butler Thursday.

Still, Texas A&M is a tough team. The Gophers don't have to leave Anaheim with their heads down if they can get a victory over the Aggies.

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But they'll have to play better on the perimeter, upgrade their shot selection and rebound to make that happen.

about the writer

about the writer

Myron Medcalf

Columnist

Myron Medcalf is a local columnist for the Minnesota Star Tribune and recipient of the 2022 Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award for general column writing.

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