Recent content by formerlybis

This is the bottom line. I hadn't considered whether this team is more or less talented than last year - I think you can make a reasonable argument either way. There is no one as good as Garcia on this squad, but they didn't win all that much with him as the alpha anyway. The rest of the talent...

When Hepburn transferred (I think unexpectedly), that was a wide-open opportunity for Freitag. I think a lot of Badger fans had him penciled in to take over and he could not do it, nor come even close. And, with Tonje, Klesmit, and McGee leaving, he'd presumably have had an opportunity this...

I don't think Freitag would have gotten major minutes for the Gophers due to the presence of Asuma - but the point is, why do you want him at all? Robison probably doesn't play for the Gophers either. Those two guys aren't P4 high-rotational level players right now, so I don't understand being...

If a MN player would get significant minutes for the Gophers and would sit on the bench 1-2 years for another P4 team, that seems problematic - you're kind of conceding that you have a talent gap that can be filled by lesser players. If said player would also sit for 1-2 years on the bench for...

This is part of the process - you learn way more against real competition, as well as away from friendly confines. Mizzou is in the sweet spot of a likely tournament team, but a middle of the pack squad in a P4 conference that’s in the others receiving votes section of the polls. Not that it...

You, you, you oughta know....

Let us know the longest time the announcers go without mentioning the officiating...

In addition to most teams not having played significant competition yet, we're in the "figuring it out" phase of the season. There will be plenty of teams starting slow that turn out to be fantastic. Comparing teams based on the cupcake portion of their schedule is not terribly useful. Even when...

It’s all good. SS puts a lot of work in. He’s entitled to decline a suggestion that would create more to do (work that could also be accomplished by anyone, too). I’ll also add that I believe it’s a new thing to use Torvik as the basis for this (might be wrong) - I’m a big fan of that site.

Given how much guessing goes into the preseason rankings, would you consider reclassifying some of these teams, say, at the end of the calendar year (or at some point where we have a more solid understanding of each team’s relative performance)? Or have you found there is less movement between...

The biggest issue is his resume for me. I just don't think it happens very often that a guy who wasn't able to hold his own at a P5 after transferring up is star material at a different P5. UNC wasn't *that* talented last year, despite their reputation. If he were just filling a supporting cast...

Fran’s teams were generally good to very good on offense, but bottom of the barrel on defense. He would routinely put the 5 best offensive players on the floor and ignore defensive liabilities altogether. This is objectively supported by his teams’ analytics over the years. McCollum’s teams...

The league does give you a bunch of Q1/Q2 games - that's true. But if you don't have a "scalp" from the noncon, your margin for error in the conference season dwindles. For example, if the Gophers win at Missouri, that goes a long way on a resume. Losing that game? Hardly any effect. There's a...

This #140 ranking is an over-rank in my opinion. No offense to SS - he laid out his criteria and followed it. But the Gophs benefit in this methodology significantly despite having only one Q1 opponent and then 3 neutral Q2s. Theoretically, a team with 4 Q1s would be ranked identically, even...

#73 is still the 16th team in the league. The first 15 teams are in the top 57, and 7 are in the top 25 (if you're wondering - Rutgers and PSU are behind). All of those fanbases think they'll do as well or better, too, because ... well, because. These preseason ranks are so much more of a...