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Agree. What is happening everywhere in P4 programs is that players who aren’t getting major minutes look to transfer, mostly down a level. They need to pay market value for their core starters or they leave, too. If a player gets too good, you may not be able to afford them. I am describing...

None of the next 3 opponents (regardless of who the 3rd one is) are currently rated higher than the 15th B10 team. I agree that 3-0 should be the expectation for a tournament team. 2-1 is still a good start on the 50/50 category, though (where you need 4-2 - the Mizzou game was in a different...

Assist percentage is a poor stat to judge whether an offense is "working". The only thing that matters is how many points are scored per possession. Currently, the most efficient offense in the conference is Illinois at #4 in the country - and they're #325 in assist percentage. 18 assists on 19...

I may have missed it - is there a basketball GM for the Gophers? Lots of schools have'em these days. Take the money part of the equation of roster construction off the sole responsibility of the coach. A GM must know the market value of their own players (which will fluctuate based on...

They’ll practice when they have time after Christmas…

That’s right, although 30-27 at Milw would have been considered wildly successful - I looked up his predecessor who had fewer total wins in 4 seasons (28-81). Did you know that Bruce Pearl took over for Ryan at Milw? Anyway, the point is no one knows. I’m sure everyone thought Lickliter was a...

Yeah, I was thinking similar thoughts. Mentally, they weren’t expecting any resistance from one of the worst teams in D1. Lesson hopefully learned, and without having to take the L. A lot of good teams have games like this. As to whether Medved can coach at this level, we’ll see. The level of...

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...