Dienhart: Way-too-early look at 2018-19 Big Ten standings (#11. Minnesota)

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Dienhart:

11. Minnesota. The Gophers were a disappointment, thanks to injury and off-court issues. How will Richard Pitino respond? Minnesota will miss Nate Mason. Isaiah Washington is a rising talent, and Amir Coffey and Jordan Murphy will be stars with Dupree McBrayer playing a key role. Keep an eye on incoming stud Daniel Oturu, a good big man.

http://btn.com/2018/04/02/dienhart-way-too-early-look-at-2018-19-big-ten-standings/

Go Gophers!!
 

Another projection

This one presumes Wagner does not return to Michigan, and that Ward does to Michigan State.

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Neither of those would attain a NCAA berth, of course. In 2017-18, only the top 6 conference teams made the postseason at all.
 

I would think in year 6 if the team finishes 9th or lower in conference that would be the end of the Pitino era at Minnesota.
 

BleedGopher said:
per Dienhart:

11. Minnesota. The Gophers were a disappointment, thanks to injury and off-court issues. How will Richard Pitino respond? Minnesota will miss Nate Mason. Isaiah Washington is a rising talent, and Amir Coffey and Jordan Murphy will be stars with Dupree McBrayer playing a key role. Keep an eye on incoming stud Daniel Oturu, a good big man.

http://btn.com/2018/04/02/dienhart-way-too-early-look-at-2018-19-big-ten-standings/

Go Gophers!!
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I'll take the over


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


Ill say top 4 for gophers!
 

scools12 said:
I would think in year 6 if the team finishes 9th or lower in conference that would be the end of the Pitino era at Minnesota.
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I strongly feel that if you give him next year - which we are - you have to give him the following year as well. It's a package deal. Next year is a rebuilding year.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Neither of those would attain a NCAA berth, of course. In 2017-18, only the top 6 conference teams made the postseason at all.
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9th place could put them in the mix. The 2013 Gophers were 8-10 conf and the 9th seed in the BTT and made the NCAA. There were 12 teams instead of 14. What would need to happen is some solid to great non-conf wins, the conference as a whole to do well non-conf and have few if any real dregs at the bottom.

If the Big 10 coaches wuss out on Nov-Dec scheduling again, then it would be unlikely for teams in the bottom half to make the NCAA. I am curious to how teams will schedule with now a 20 game conf schedule and again 2 early BT games. 20 conf games makes it more unlikely for a situation that happened to Nebraska, where none of top 3 played in Lincoln.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I strongly feel that if you give him next year - which we are - you have to give him the following year as well. It's a package deal. Next year is a rebuilding year.
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If the Gophers finish 9th or lower in conference next year more than likely that would be 5 out of 6 losing conference seasons. One NCAA tourney appearance, no NCAA tourney wins and conference seasons that include 2 wins and 4 wins respectively. Giving him another year after that seems like quite the stretch.
 



Missing the tournament next year would have to be the end of the Pitino era. We may not be Duke, but we can expect better than one in six years.
 

scools12 said:
If the Gophers finish 9th or lower in conference next year more than likely that would be 5 out of 6 losing conference seasons. One NCAA tourney appearance, no NCAA tourney wins and conference seasons that include 2 wins and 4 wins respectively. Giving him another year after that seems like quite the stretch.
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In my opinion, there's only one thing worse than being reactive, and that's PLANNING on being reactive. The end of the season next year would be the least logical time in history to part with Richard. You're putting him in a position to fail if you expect a NCAA bid. You might as well cut bait now, as some people here have recommended. At least that would be a strategic approach. Keeping him only to keep his recruits for a year is the wrong reason.

I'll be happy with the NIT next year considering their roster. That'd put them in good position to scratch out a Tournament bid the following year. If people aren't happy with that very reasonable expectation and progression, then fire him now.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I strongly feel that if you give him next year - which we are - you have to give him the following year as well. It's a package deal. Next year is a rebuilding year.
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No way. You could use that logic every year. He lost any benefit of the doubt after the season we put up this year.
 

Record has less to do with what you do with Pitino than the general feeling of the trend.

You could get 11th but finish strong and it could look a lot different than getting 8th and finishing horribly.
 




I'm sorry, but if 11th place is good enough to keep his job then it will be tough to continue supporting this program. That would likely mean no postseason at all for the 4th time in 6 years. Not even close to good enough. FWIW I think we'll finish better than 11th next year
 


Can't say I understand Dienhart's rankings. MSU loses Bridges, Jackson, Schilling, Nairn. They do have 3 recruits coming in that are rated slightly lower than Oturu so that will help. Should they be #1? Maryland loses much less and has just as good recruiting clsss.

Nebraska loses no one (maybe Palmer). Iowa loses no one. Wisconsin loses no one. Why are these rated so low?

Purdue loses all starters except C. Edwards and have a recruiting class slightly worse than the gophers. They're rated 4th? Huh?

Why is NW so low? They lose McIntosh but have a nice recruiting class coming in.

Color me puzzled.
 

bizzle22 said:
I'm sorry, but if 11th place is good enough to keep his job then it will be tough to continue supporting this program. That would likely mean no postseason at all for the 4th time in 6 years. Not even close to good enough. FWIW I think we'll finish better than 11th next year
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The logic is faulty. Essentially what you're saying: 11th isn't good enough, so we'll certainly finish better than 11th.
 

Bad Gopher said:
The logic is faulty. Essentially what you're saying: 11th isn't good enough, so we'll certainly finish better than 11th.
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That wasn't his logic at all.

His logic was that IF we finished 11th, that is simply not good enough. However, he doesn't think that will happen.
 


I only see 2 legitimate teams that will no question be better than us next year...Michigan and probably Michigan State and even those two are questionable because Michigan could lose Wagner on top of the other two seniors. Michigan State always finds a way to be good and they have a good recruiting class.

Outside of those two,
-Nebraska has questions on how inflated their record was this year,
-Wisconsin is very overrated imo and Gard has proven nothing to this point(wouldn't be surprised if they were good next year, but has yet to prove he can win with that program).
-Maryland has disappointed two straight years, and Purdue lost all those seniors and probably needs a year to reset.
-I think the Hoosiers will be a top 5 finish because I think highly of Archie Miller and think they will be better than expected next year.
-Penn State has a lot of talent but has yet to realize the potential under Chambers

Bottom line: The B10 is pretty much wide open next year. If the Gophers get back to what they did two years ago, there is no reason they can not have a top 5 record in the B10. If IW can replicate part of what we lose with Mason and the rest of the team stays healthy, I think we will have a very good team. I have said it many times, I love the depth and balance next years team will have if we land solid grad transfer guards.
 

I think Dienhart's ranking is a very nearsighted prediction. It's almost as if he's thinking too much about this past season, while indirectly saying we were a disappointment even with Nate Mason on the team. If McBrayer, Coffee, and Curry are fully healthy at the start of next season (and apparently Curry is way ahead of schedule), and we are able to add at least one significant piece to the team (grad transfer guard), this team's goal should be the NCAA tournament, and at worst, an NIT berth.

Until we know more about the health of McBrayer, Coffee, and Curry, as well as the grad transfer possibility, right now I would rank us around 8-9.
 

There is no way that next year is a rebuilding year. This team should be in the 3-7 range in the B1G and honestly finishing 7th would be a slight disappointment. Unlike some of the people on the board, I'm very high on this team next year. It is comparable to the team that went to the NCAA tournament 2 years ago, but we have much more depth this next year. We also still have two spots to fill, and the B1G next year will not be all that good. There isn't even going to be a distinct top heavy team like Mich St. and Purdue.
 

ltf said:
Can't say I understand Dienhart's rankings. MSU loses Bridges, Jackson, Schilling, Nairn. They do have 3 recruits coming in that are rated slightly lower than Oturu so that will help. Should they be #1? Maryland loses much less and has just as good recruiting clsss.

Nebraska loses no one (maybe Palmer). Iowa loses no one. Wisconsin loses no one. Why are these rated so low?

Purdue loses all starters except C. Edwards and have a recruiting class slightly worse than the gophers. They're rated 4th? Huh?

Why is NW so low? They lose McIntosh but have a nice recruiting class coming in.

Color me puzzled.
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Add Penn State to the list, they lose what one starter from the NIT championship team, the conference is going to be so balanced next year that 11 could end up in the top 4 and vice versa for a few of the top teams.
 


jovs said:
Add Penn State to the list, they lose what one starter from the NIT championship team, the conference is going to be so balanced next year that 11 could end up in the top 4 and vice versa for a few of the top teams.
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Tony Carr did announce for the draft so that would be two (Garner and Carr) if Carr follows through, hires an agent, and stays in the draft.
 

cjbfbp said:
Tony Carr did announce for the draft so that would be two (Garner and Carr) if Carr follows through, hires an agent, and stays in the draft.
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FYI Carr is signing with an agent so he will not be returning to Penn St next year.
 

bizzle22 said:
Bob gets me
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:clap:

OK, sorry to pick on you. I just sense a lot of denial of the situation this team and next year's roster is in. This squad will be an extreme long shot to make the Field, and people are claiming that's it's actually likely, and that if they don't pull it off they'll fire the coach. That feels like desperation.
 

Bad Gopher said:
:clap:

OK, sorry to pick on you. I just sense a lot of denial of the situation this team and next year's roster is in. This squad will be an extreme long shot to make the Field, and people are claiming that's it's actually likely, and that if they don't pull it off they'll fire the coach. That feels like desperation.
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Failure to live up to expectations in year 6 is not necessarily the problem. The fact that the expectations are so low for year 6 is the problem. The credit/blame for the roster as constructed and how it performs falls at the feet of one man.
 

Bad Gopher said:
:clap:

OK, sorry to pick on you. I just sense a lot of denial of the situation this team and next year's roster is in. This squad will be an extreme long shot to make the Field, and people are claiming that's it's actually likely, and that if they don't pull it off they'll fire the coach. That feels like desperation.
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I would agree that it isn't as rosy as some make it out to be. Losing Mason will hurt a lot, and it is really risky to bank on major contributions from any of our freshmen. Oturu will be a good player, but big guys usually take longer than guards to get acclimated to the college game. I just think 11th is a little low in terms of a prediction. I'd pick us at maybe 8th or 9th, and I don't think we'll make the tourney. And IMO, that should mean we are hiring a new coach in April 2019.
 

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