The Gophers will get some post-season play in the College Basketball Crown! Mark your calendars for April 1st, 9:30pm, against Baylor.

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FinnGopher said:
Out of curiosity, are we sure this isn't just a sick April Fools joke being played on long suffering Gopher fans?
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Typically the joke is on the first of April... So us accepting an invite wouldn't really fall into that category
 

60's Guy said:
And I don't remember who but somebody lost their coach to a better job. I know Notre Dame pouted in football about turning down bowl invitations after not making the playoffs. Indiana evidently did the same in basketball and Seton Hall and some others.
Just hard to fathom...every team I coached high school or college didn't want the season to ever end. AAU teams wanted to play in a tournament every weekend. Just can't relate to the pouting as as a leadership decision.
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Business decisions.
 


From Fox Sports

the champion receives a $300,000 Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) package. The total prize pool for the entire tournament is $500,000, which is distributed among the top finishers, with $100,000 for the runner-up and $50,000 for semifinalists.
 

kg21 said:
From Fox Sports

the champion receives a $300,000 Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) package. The total prize pool for the entire tournament is $500,000, which is distributed among the top finishers, with $100,000 for the runner-up and $50,000 for semifinalists.
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The Gophers could win it all or flame out. Pretty hard to know how any of the teams play with a three week layoff.
Will we be the team that beat Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, and UCLA and then scared the #1 Michigan Wolverines at Michigan? Or will we be the team that lost to Maryland and Penn St and played woefully in losing versus Rutgers in the Big Ten Tourney? I don't know but beat Baylor and we are a semifinalist.
Baylor was 6 and 12 in Big 12 conference play.
 



SelectionSunday said:
Perhaps worth noting. ...

The inaugural Crown champion (Nebraska) and runner-up (UCF) both are playing in the NCAA this season, as well as one of the two semifinalists (Villanova).
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More basketball for a young team in a tournament format can do wonders in gaining experience and confidence. I'm excited to watch them (if they make it past the first round because I am not staying up that late).
 

MNVCGUY said:
Would agree that this could be a good sign that guys plan to come back but the portal doesn't officially open until April so doesn't really hurt them to wait to make an announcement.

That said, I do think that if the coaching staff felt guys were checked out and looking to leave there is no way they would have accepted the bid.

I like our chance of holding onto our key guys for next year, hopefully they can string together some wins and take home some extra NIL money.
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Who are the key guys?
 

gopherbadgerman said:
Who are the key guys?
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Asuma, Durkin, Grove and JCJ would be high priority. These would be the key guys in my opinion but not the only ones it would be great to bring back next year.

Vaihola and Willis would be nice to get back if they believe they can stay healthy

Would be good to keep Shinholster around to keep developing as long as he is willing to come off the bench.

Omot and Stephens are wild cards since we never actually saw them play. Would need to be confident they can stay healthy to keep them around.

Can't see Turner being back unless he is committed big time to getting in shape in order to compete at this level.
 




SplitDecision said:
Crown Tournament --"You are formally invited to play in the Fox Crown Tournament. Can we assume you'll be there"?

Indiana- "No. We are Indiana and we don't bother with anything other than NCAA Championships. Plus, we have to focus on rebuying, er, rebuilding our roster for next year. Our coaches have been unable to reach or contact any of our players since Selection Sunday".

Washington-"Well, that's tempting but Steinbach wants to get drafted and his people advise him not to risk injury. Desmond Claude is negotiating with other teams, is out of eligibility, and will likely be incapacitated another 12-36 months, so in the best interest of the Crown we will decline".

USC- "Ahhh, we stink without 36-year old Baker-Mazara, and Cornish was the only guy that really wanted to keep playing. Its probably best for USC to lay low and focus on avoiding NCAA violations".

Minnesota- "Ahh man. Yea we had a meeting with the guys, and they are such a connected group. They do everything I've asked them to do and more. Everyone really wanted to keep playing basketball, and that's what its all about isn't it? A group of guys that get along so well both on and off the court, it was a no-brainer really when we considered the financial incentives that were there in Las Vegas, a really classy event playing on national TV. Some teams would have packed it in but this group, I mean, they want to keep playing together and growing as a basketball team".

Rutgers- "Great! Sounds good to get out of this shitty weather".
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This is very accurate, I'd add at Indiana, "this guy cant coach, we could have had Dusty May...say can Coach Cigs coach basketball too?"
 

SelectionSunday said:
Perhaps worth noting. ...

The inaugural Crown champion (Nebraska) and runner-up (UCF) both are playing in the NCAA this season, as well as one of the two semifinalists (Villanova).
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Plus on the women's side we won the crown last year, stayed healthy this year and are now hosting.
 





Ski-U-Ham said:

Either the guys are still enjoying things, or the cameramen happened to luckily catch three of them smiling
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A couple of guys looking for overseas opportunities, others auditioning for their current team or others, they love the game, and a small pot of cash for the winner. Pretty good incentive I think. I’ll be happy with a few wins.
 

Basketball is super fun to play. Guessing these dudes just wanted to run it back one more time.

Could be their last competitive game.
 

Holy Man said:
A couple of guys looking for overseas opportunities, others auditioning for their current team or others, they love the game, and a small pot of cash for the winner. Pretty good incentive I think. I’ll be happy with a few wins.
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Really now.... :) a few wins means we are National Champions once again... (of sorts). There are only 8 teams.
 

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