Nadine asks Medved about hanging the 1997 banners and playing St. Thomas

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Gophers vs. Tommies 2027. Minnesota Classic. State Hoops Day. Every year on one day teams from high school to community college to DIII to DII to Gophers vs. Tommies are featured at the Barn or in TWolves arena or Xcel Energy Center to kick off Hoops season in Minnesota. Add a kid's clinic to it. Inspire future Gophers. This could help NIL too by getting the Gophers further in front of the larger community. It's all about building the brand.

Can't wait for two Minnesota teams in March Madness!
 

Roland Brooks said:
Marquette and Wisconsin have both played Green Bay??

How far apart are they really?
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Wisconsin has had a 3 for 1 deal with the other UW schools-- Milwaukee and Green Bay. 3 games at Kohl Center, 1 game at Green Bay/Milwaukee

and then they also rotate the D3 schools in as their exhibition game at Kohl Center.
 

Rocksoldier said:
Both. You don’t think they’re fanbase would get excited to play the gophers. You would get a lot of the state involved. It would be good for both teams.
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I absolutely think their fanbase would get excited and that is kind of my point. I would fully expect the Barn to fill up more with St. Thomas fans than Gopher fans. As a cash rich B1G program you don't really gain anything by winning but it's embarrassing if you lose. Maybe I'm in the wrong here. That game just doesn't do much for me.
 



golfing18now said:
I absolutely think their fanbase would get excited and that is kind of my point. I would fully expect the Barn to fill up more with St. Thomas fans than Gopher fans. As a cash rich B1G program you don't really gain anything by winning but it's embarrassing if you lose. Maybe I'm in the wrong here. That game just doesn't do much for me.
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Hey, if the gophers lose the Tommy‘s got one year of bragging rights, so what that would give the Gophers more incentive to not wanna lose but it gives to Tommy’s more reason to wanna play them. It’s great for the fans in the state of Minnesota.
 

golfing18now said:
That part might be true.

Until St. Thomas is on the same level as us, I guess I would much rather see an opponent from another power conference. This isn't the same as Iowa vs Iowa State or Wisconsin vs Marquette. It just isn't.

But maybe I'm in the minority?
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But it is similar to Wisconsin versus UWGB or Milwaukee which is fairly regular.
 


Roland Brooks said:
Has Wisconsin lost any recruiting battles to UWGB because they play each other? 😊
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That's a fair question/observation. At one point part of the justification for not doing it would be from a recruiting perspective. Now that recruitment has changed in the NIL/free agency era, it probably isn't as big a consideration. Hopefully we are finally past the "lock down the border" nonsense.
 



howeda7 said:
If you have 11 non-conference games and 2 are in a tournament, the other 9 should be

-1 Power 5 Home game

-1 Power 5 Road game

-St. Thomas at home

-Any two of NDSU, SDSU, UND or USD at home on a rotating basis.

-Four Other Cupcakes of your choosing.
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While that may be better than the past 2 seasons, what you have outlined is potentially only very minimally less of a brutally weak schedule.
 

Ope3 said:
While that may be better than the past 2 seasons, what you have outlined is a potentially only very minimally less of a brutally weak schedule.
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More Missouri Valley and less Summit and the Net rises substantially.

The 325 plus cupcakes have destroyed the non conference schedule for his entire tenure.
 

golfing18now said:
I absolutely think their fanbase would get excited and that is kind of my point. I would fully expect the Barn to fill up more with St. Thomas fans than Gopher fans. As a cash rich B1G program you don't really gain anything by winning but it's embarrassing if you lose. Maybe I'm in the wrong here. That game just doesn't do much for me.
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You think a team that struggles to fill up a <2,000 seat arena will outdraw the gophers who have a built in advantage with season tickets? Get real.
 

Ope3 said:
While that may be better than the past 2 seasons, what you have outlined is a potentially only very minimally less of a brutally weak schedule.
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Not really. It would have a minimum of 3 or 4 power 5 games on it, depending on what tournament you play in. This year we had one. Last year we had two. And replacing two sub 300 games with SDSU/NDSU and St. Thomas helps a lot too.
 



MissouriGopher said:
You think a team that struggles to fill up a <2,000 seat arena will outdraw the gophers who have a built in advantage with season tickets? Get real.
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If there is so much fan apathy on the St. Thomas side then how is this so "great for Minnesota" as others have suggested? Which side of this discussion are you even on?
 

golfing18now said:
If there is so much fan apathy on the St. Thomas side then how is this so "great for Minnesota" as others have suggested? Which side of this discussion are you even on?
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I think playing St. Thomas is equivalent to playing Omaha. I genuinely don't care. I'm on the side of it not mattering at all. Your assertion was silly. There's not a team in the country that will outdraw the gophers at the barn. It just doesn't happen to home teams almost everywhere.
 

MissouriGopher said:
I think playing St. Thomas is equivalent to playing Omaha. I genuinely don't care. I'm on the side of it not mattering at all. Your assertion was silly. There's not a team in the country that will outdraw the gophers at the barn. It just doesn't happen to home teams almost everywhere.
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I will be the equal to Gopher hockey playing MNST. St. Cloud or Duluth. They will have some hardcore fans but 20% max. St Thomas new arena will be 4,000 for Hockey and 5,000 for basketball.
 

howeda7 said:
I would give them one game in the new arena as a token, but that's it. Beyond that, all games at the Barn. B1G teams don't visit Summit League teams on a regular basis.
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I agree. We're already doing them a favor by playing them. If they want to play us they can come to the barn!
 

golfing18now said:
Not to be wet blanket guy, but why do people care so much about playing St. Thomas?

Doesn't seem to be much upside to me except for those of you that have a connection to St. Thomas.
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Yeah I don’t really understand this. I guess it’s better than playing some of the Juco Ben played the last couple years
 

MissouriGopher said:
I think playing St. Thomas is equivalent to playing Omaha. I genuinely don't care. I'm on the side of it not mattering at all. Your assertion was silly. There's not a team in the country that will outdraw the gophers at the barn. It just doesn't happen to home teams almost everywhere.
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Skunks?
 

Few things.

1. We should play them
2. 100% should NOT be a buy game
3. Most times at the Barn
4. Maybe playing there wouldnt hurt as it might be a Q2 NC game
5. Everyone is ignoring the bigger question! HANG THE DAMN BANNERS! I would be willing to pay 5x the face value of a ticket minimum to be at that game. Get Bobby Jackson Quincy etc there. Make Trevor show up in Gopher gear to show Nolan what he's missing.
 


leib0039 said:
Few things.

1. We should play them
2. 100% should NOT be a buy game
3. Most times at the Barn
4. Maybe playing there wouldnt hurt as it might be a Q2 NC game
5. Everyone is ignoring the bigger question! HANG THE DAMN BANNERS! I would be willing to pay 5x the face value of a ticket minimum to be at that game. Get Bobby Jackson Quincy etc there. Make Trevor show up in Gopher gear to show Nolan what he's missing.
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100% hang the banners.
 

golfing18now said:
Not to be wet blanket guy, but why do people care so much about playing St. Thomas?

Doesn't seem to be much upside to me except for those of you that have a connection to St. Thomas.
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The value is this: Minnesota has a ton of DI player talent, and this is a great place to show everyone we are not the wasteland of a single DI school for our state. Maybe more kids would stay home if they knew they would be playing cross town from friends who play on the other team? I think this is nothing but good for the state of Minnesota and basketball.
 

golfing18now said:
If there is so much fan apathy on the St. Thomas side then how is this so "great for Minnesota" as others have suggested? Which side of this discussion are you even on?
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You're not alone with your opinion on the topic. The U has virtually nothing to gain and everything to lose. Fill an arena for the game??? Williams Arena will be packed with Gopher fans when we have a good product of our own. History doesn't lie.

I don't give a darn about what's best for UST and helping them build their brand. The current Gopher brand is absolute garbage and needs all our attention. Hopefully, Niko can turn this program around.

An argument was made that playing them would get the local media off our backs. If we were really concerned about placating their desires, why did we hire a white coach? Nonsense.

And what if the Gophers lose? Does anyone here believe the local media will subsequently spin a positive yarn that would be positive for our recruiting? Nope.

Opinions are not always popular but that doesn't inherently erase their merit. I'm glad you stuck your neck out...and I doubt we're alone on here...we're just not as vocal about it.
 

Lol at some of you saying it shouldn't be a buy game but also all the games should be at Williams. We can afford to pay St. Thomas. Can't wait.
 

BleedGopher said:
Please no. I am in the camp that neutral site games have hurt non-conference CBB.

Play a 2 for 1 over 4 years...two games at The Barn, 1 game at St. Thomas' new arena.

Keep CBB out of NBA arenas.

Go Gophers!!
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Yeah...a half filled Target Center for that game will be a fun suck. Play it at the Barn or if it has to be neutral (it definitely does not) find a place that can be filled. Target Center sucks anyways but with an unfilled top section it will feel empty and awful.
 

Rocksoldier said:
Absolutely it makes sense. It’s all for fun. Have it at target center filled up with Minnesota and have a good time once a year.
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MissouriGopher said:
Huge disagree. If you're going to play the game, it needs to be at the Barn 9 out of 10 times. Play at St. Thomas once every 10 matchups.

And it can't be a buy game. If it never happens, it'll be because St. Thomas won't do it for free.
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Agree with Missouri but we should never go there. We are in the big ten how many big ten teams go on the road to play the summit league? And hell no to the Target Center.
 

ShushPush said:
The value is this: Minnesota has a ton of DI player talent, and this is a great place to show everyone we are not the wasteland of a single DI school for our state. Maybe more kids would stay home if they knew they would be playing cross town from friends who play on the other team? I think this is nothing but good for the state of Minnesota and basketball.
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It's also just fun.

Lets build a decent program and slap them around every year. It'll be a non-conference game without a dead crowd and will be kind of fun.

Losing to an inferior in-town opponent would stink but it is exponentially better than ducking them.
 

leib0039 said:
Few things.

1. We should play them
2. 100% should NOT be a buy game
3. Most times at the Barn
4. Maybe playing there wouldnt hurt as it might be a Q2 NC game
5. Everyone is ignoring the bigger question! HANG THE DAMN BANNERS! I would be willing to pay 5x the face value of a ticket minimum to be at that game. Get Bobby Jackson Quincy etc there. Make Trevor show up in Gopher gear to show Nolan what he's missing.
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Hell ya
 

MissouriGopher said:
You think a team that struggles to fill up a <2,000 seat arena will outdraw the gophers who have a built in advantage with season tickets? Get real.
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Better chance of that then both teams filling up the Target Center ;)
 

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