2023-2024 Gophers Basketball Schedule Thread

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Not sure what the plan is here as many of these games can only hurt a teams resume. I am sure some people remember, but the Gophers were actually lucky to escape their non-conference last year without at least one really bad loss.
 


Gophers7633 said:
Updated schedule and their KenPom rank last year

Ball State - 171
USC-Upstate - 254
Arkansas-Pline Bluff - 322
vs. San Francisco - 101
Maine - 277
Bethune Cookman - 349
New Orleans - 332

Avg rank: 258.

Getting more pathetic as we go.
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Tommies updated non-conference schedule: Nov. 6: @ Cal Nov. 10: IDAHO STATE Nov. 17: vs. Cal Poly Nov. 18: @ Cal Baptist Nov. 19: vs. Portland State Dec. 6: MILWAUKEE Dec. 14: @ Marquette Jan. 3: @ Idaho Jan. 6: SACRAMENTO STATE GREEN BAY

What is the UST Ken Pom? It may be close to 258 without the Marquette game…
 

Roland Brooks said:
Tommies updated non-conference schedule: Nov. 6: @ Cal Nov. 10: IDAHO STATE Nov. 17: vs. Cal Poly Nov. 18: @ Cal Baptist Nov. 19: vs. Portland State Dec. 6: MILWAUKEE Dec. 14: @ Marquette Jan. 3: @ Idaho Jan. 6: SACRAMENTO STATE GREEN BAY

What is the UST Ken Pom? It may be close to 258 without the Marquette game…
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Average NET = 242.4

Average KenPom = 232.9
 





bga1 said:
With the dire situation they are in regarding season ticket renewal (it's going to be bad) I would think they will try to add a couple of solid non conference games at home. Perhaps that is the thinking behind ditching the tournament against two tough teams. Why not bring the tougher games to Williams Arena as a perk to the fans and also give the Gophers a better shot at winning?
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Since you said this, we've scheduled Arkansas Pine Bluff, Bethune Cookman, New Orleans and IUPUI at home. Avg. KenPom rating of 341 from last year. They ditched the Vegas tournament because 1 we are cowards or 2, the staff has no faith in this team. That's it.
 




SomeGopherFan said:
As it stands now, this schedule is gross.
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It sure is. If they are not working hard behind the scenes to line up a couple top 50 to 100 teams and at least one of them at home- this is horrible. It would be an insane move by the AD considering where season ticket sales are likely at (in the tank). You have to offer something to the fans and people get when they are getting ripped off. Sure the 10 Big 10 games are great but if the rest are scrimmages then it effectively doubles the cost per "real game" for season ticket holders. Why buy season tickets when you can just go to the games that matter- and it is easy to get into those games?

You can get away with a garbage NC schedule if you are a hot commodity and sold out. Not in this situation.
 


I'm not understanding the strategy behind this schedule. If you want an easier schedule full of mid-majors because you want wins (and Ben Johnson needs wins right now), I really don't like it but fine. However, then you need to pick mid-majors that don't typically fall in the 300+ group. You need to 'game' the NET as much as you can. Unless Ben Johnson has a crystal ball and knows that all of these teams will improve from last year? A Big Ten schedule doesn't automatically make a terrible non-conference schedule go away. I've seen plenty of teams over the years that purposely scheduled horrendous non-conference games to rack up wins, but then had surprisingly good years in their conference, only to get left out of the NCAA tournament because of a weak SOS. Not predicting that the Gophers are going to the NCAA tournament next year, but if this team does actually play well, a schedule this like could really back them in a corner.
 
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They might actually have some games this early winter with attendance under 3,000. Fans voting with their feet, as it were.
 
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gopherguy15 said:
I'm not understanding the strategy behind his schedule. If you want an easier schedule full of mid-majors because you wants wins (and Ben Johnson needs wins right now), I really don't like it but fine. However, then you need to pick mid-majors that don't typically fall in the 300+ group. You need to 'game' the NET as much as you can. Unless Ben Johnson has a crystal ball and knows that all of these teams will improve from last year? A Big Ten schedule doesn't automatically make a terrible non-conference schedule go away. I've seen plenty of teams over the years that purposely scheduled horrendous non-conference games to rack up wins, but then had surprisingly good years in their conference, only to get left out of the NCAA tournament because of a weak SOS. Not predicting that the Gophers are going to the NCAA tournament next year, but if this team does actually play well, a schedule this like could really back them in a corner.
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This 100%. Perfectly stated.

Even when you're not expected to be very good, a Power 6 program should at least put 3 games on their non-conference schedule that could be "helpful" if they win a couple of 'em. There has to be some "meat on the bone" in the non-conference in the event you have a surprisingly good season. We're running out of time (only a few games left) to do that.
 

restovich said:
They might actually have some games this earlyw inter with attendance under 3,000. Fans voting with their feet, as it were.
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There is no might about it. There were some last year- they just didn't get reported as such because they reported paid attendance.
 

SelectionSunday said:
This 100%. Perfectly stated.

Even when you're not expected to be very good, a Power 6 program should at least put 3 games on their non-conference schedule that could be "helpful" if they win a couple of 'em. There has to be some "meat on the bone" in the non-conference in the event you have a surprisingly good season. We're running out of time (only a few games left) to do that.
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A little hope here: I assume that games with better teams are a lot harder/slower to negotiate.

Playing the Gophers is no treat because our rating is so low yet you have Big Ten level players that can beat you. So you get the possibility of getting dinged for a bad loss....
 

bga1 said:
It sure is. If they are not working hard behind the scenes to line up a couple top 50 to 100 teams and at least one of them at home- this is horrible. It would be an insane move by the AD considering where season ticket sales are likely at (in the tank). You have to offer something to the fans and people get when they are getting ripped off. Sure the 10 Big 10 games are great but if the rest are scrimmages then it effectively doubles the cost per "real game" for season ticket holders. Why buy season tickets when you can just go to the games that matter- and it is easy to get into those games?

You can get away with a garbage NC schedule if you are a hot commodity and sold out. Not in this situation.
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With the revenue from the B1G TV contracts, ticket sales don't have to be the primary objective. It's cementing them as the p*ssiest program in all of college basketball, but there is a logic to it, and thus, not insane. Fans? Way down on the list of priorities - unless they can donate to the NIL fund - then you'll get asked to go get a latte.
 

bga1 said:
A little hope here: I assume that games with better teams are a lot harder/slower to negotiate.

Playing the Gophers is no treat because our rating is so low yet you have Big Ten level players that can beat you. So you get the possibility of getting dinged for a bad loss....
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Therein lies the problem.

We're currently a program that (in non-conference) is considered a bad loss. ... and we play in the Big Ten.
 

bga1 said:
A little hope here: I assume that games with better teams are a lot harder/slower to negotiate.

Playing the Gophers is no treat because our rating is so low yet you have Big Ten level players that can beat you. So you get the possibility of getting dinged for a bad loss....
Click to expand...

The writing was on the wall when we backed out of Vegas like cowards. At that point, just about every P6 team was already in an early season tournament, or already had an MTE lined up. Hell we aren't even scheduling good mid majors, this is the bottom of D1.

We'll go undefeated in OOC, get our 5 league wins and suddenly 16-15 will look like a major improvement. Hope the administration doesn't fall for it.
 

Without that OSU win this team would be heading toward the BenNW line.
 

Gophers7633 said:
The writing was on the wall when we backed out of Vegas like cowards. At that point, just about every P6 team was already in an early season tournament, or already had an MTE lined up. Hell we aren't even scheduling good mid majors, this is the bottom of D1.

We'll go undefeated in OOC, get our 5 league wins and suddenly 16-15 will look like a major improvement. Hope the administration doesn't fall for it.
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I wish I felt that was how it'll go...you optimist you.
 

Gophers7633 said:
The writing was on the wall when we backed out of Vegas like cowards. At that point, just about every P6 team was already in an early season tournament, or already had an MTE lined up. Hell we aren't even scheduling good mid majors, this is the bottom of D1.

We'll go undefeated in OOC, get our 5 league wins and suddenly 16-15 will look like a major improvement. Hope the administration doesn't fall for it.
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It's a head scratcher. While I think the coaches help arrange the schedule- isn't the administration in on it? I would assume so.
 

bga1 said:
It sure is. If they are not working hard behind the scenes to line up a couple top 50 to 100 teams and at least one of them at home- this is horrible. It would be an insane move by the AD considering where season ticket sales are likely at (in the tank). You have to offer something to the fans and people get when they are getting ripped off. Sure the 10 Big 10 games are great but if the rest are scrimmages then it effectively doubles the cost per "real game" for season ticket holders. Why buy season tickets when you can just go to the games that matter- and it is easy to get into those games?

You can get away with a garbage NC schedule if you are a hot commodity and sold out. Not in this situation.
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It's incredibly insulting.

Supporting the program with my 2 season tickets...pretty hard not to feel like an absolute sucker right now. They better have at least 1-2 decent opponents lined up.
 

Last year- we had UNLV (neutral), VA Tech (road), Mississippi St and DePaul (home).

All of those are FAR better games than anything we currently have lined up.
 


Gophers7633 said:
No, it's all on the coaches.
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Not to be Marisa Tomei here but...are you sure? The administration has to approve the payouts to visitors and I feel certain they would have to ok tournaments, etc. financially.
 


Gophers7633 said:
The writing was on the wall when we backed out of Vegas like cowards. At that point, just about every P6 team was already in an early season tournament, or already had an MTE lined up. Hell we aren't even scheduling good mid majors, this is the bottom of D1.

We'll go undefeated in OOC, get our 5 league wins and suddenly 16-15 will look like a major improvement. Hope the administration doesn't fall for it.
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There's no doubt, a winning record based on beating up cupcakes is the goal of this travesty. But even with this pathetic schedule, I don't think they'll go undefeated in the non-conference. I certainly wouldn't have them favored against San Francisco.
 

Gophers7633 said:
No, it's all on the coaches.
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Respectfully, I would have assumed that the Athletic Department would have some role in negotiating the financial deals with the opponent schools. It could be a standard contract for these "buy" schools, but I'd assume - perhaps wrongly - that it's different for a P6 opponent.
 


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