All Things 2015-16 Gophers Basketball Schedule Thread - Updates, Analysis & More

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SelectionSunday

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Don't be surprised if Iowa and/or Wisconsin are among the teams the Gophers only play once next season. Hopefully our home schedule can't get any worse than it was this season, no Indiana, Maryland, or Michigan State, all likely NCAA qualifiers. Certainly would expect we'll get a home game vs. Sparty after 2 seasons without one.
 

Not sure if this is the place to put it or if a Gopher 2015-2016 schedule thread should be started but looks like UMKC will be one of the Gophers non-conference opponents next season.

 

Goldy Gopher said:
Not sure if this is the place to put it or if a Gopher 2015-2016 schedule thread should be started but looks like UMKC will be one of the Gophers non-conference opponents next season.

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Thanks. Home cupcake #1 for 2015-16 has been identified.
 


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Go Gophers!!
 



SelectionSunday said:
Thanks. Home cupcake #1 for 2015-16 has been identified.
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Man they better not pull that routine again. Fans are seriously tired of it and it is not helping the team prepare for the reality of the Big Ten either. Going 11-2 does nothing if there are no quality wins and then you go 6-12 in the Big Ten because you aren't tough enough. I really feel that this squad - marginal as it is got caught unprepared for the intensity of the Big Ten after whacking so many patsies.
 

Here's what we know/speculated so far

Schedule slots still TBD = 8 -- will include ACC Challenge opponent & perhaps a Gavitt Tipoff (Big East) opponent

Home (10)
Kansas City
Illinois
Indiana
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State
Northwestern
Purdue
Rutgers
Wisconsin

Road (9)
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Michigan
Nebraska
Northwestern
Ohio State
Penn State
Rutgers

Neutral/Puerto-Rico Tip-Off (3 of)
Butler, Miami-Florida, Mississippi State, Missouri State, Temple Texas Tech, Utah
 

Don't have to play at Maryland, Michigan State (loaded next season), Purdue (will have most everyone back), or Wisconsin (they'll what they do). That's a nice start.
 




3 of the 2016-17 guaranteed 2-plays

3 of the 5 teams the Gophers are guaranteed to play twice in 2016-17 will be Maryland, Michigan State, and Ohio State. Other 2 home-and-homes TBD at a later date.
 

Could be a real solid home schedule if the ACC/B1G Challenge game ends up at home and a home and home gets started with a solid opponent team next year.
 

Goldy Gopher said:
Could be a real solid home schedule if the ACC/B1G Challenge game ends up at home and a home and home gets started with a solid opponent team next year.
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Agree, I like the 2015-16 conference home schedule. Much better than the one we had this season.

Will be interesting to see with an inexperienced team coming back (unlike this season) which road Pitino takes. Will he take the easy road by loading up on cupcakes to try to secure wins & a NIT spot? Or will he test his young squad with a legitimately competitive non-conference schedule that actually helps prepare 'em for Big Ten competition, while at the same time schedule-wise putting his team in good graces with the Selection Committee in the event their non-conference schedule is relevant on Selection Sunday?

Certainly I'd expect the Gophers won't have a joke December like we did this season (played no one between Dec. 3-30, and no road games). Gotta' mix in a decent opponent or two in the last couple weeks prior to the conference season.
 




SelectionSunday said:
Will be interesting to see with an inexperienced team coming back next season (unlike this season) if Pitino takes the easy road (loads up on a bunch of cupcakes) or challenges his young squad with a competitive non-conference schedule that actually helps prepare them for the Big Ten season. Certainly I'd expect we don't have as much of a joke December as we did this season.
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I think I would like to see a schedule with a couple cupcakes to start off the season to try to let the young guys get acclimated in lower pressure situations and then build up to some more challenging games later in the non-conference season hopefully including a marquee type game against a solid program. With Miami being in the same tournament as us next season would they pretty much be ruled out as a possible opponent in the ACC/B1G challenge?
 

golfing18now said:
Would not work to have an odd number of games. Would be an uneven number of home and away games in conference.
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So what? Have it so the teams in a division have the same #of home games. You'd be adding one B1G home game every other year.

Have the division winners play for conference tourney championship.

East Bracket and West Brackets.

First place team in each division gets a bye.

Each Division:
1 vs bye
2 vs 7
3 vs 6
4 vs 5
 


Goldy Gopher said:
I think I would like to see a schedule with a couple cupcakes to start off the season to try to let the young guys get acclimated in lower pressure situations. ...
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Like that idea, as well. I liked playing Louisville right out of the shoot this season because we have a lot of veteran players. Next year probably wouldn't be a good idea.
 

I would like to see them play at least one and possibly two real road games. The gophers have a history of being a lousy road team. I think at least part of it is that they rarely play on the road until the Conference. Give them a couple chances to travel and acclimatize.

I have a hard time believing a loss on the road to a good team is much worse than a win against a cupcake when it comes to selection time.
 

Winnipegopher said:
I would like to see them play at least one and possibly two real road games. The gophers have a history of being a lousy road team. I think at least part of it is that they rarely play on the road until the Conference. Give them a couple chances to travel and acclimatize.

I have a hard time believing a loss on the road to a good team is much worse than a win against a cupcake when it comes to selection time.
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And a win against the good team on the road would be even better. I think it says a lot about a coach's faith in his players and himself when he is more worried about avoiding chances to lose games than he is about getting chances for quality wins.
 

station19 said:
So what? Have it so the teams in a division have the same #of home games. You'd be adding one B1G home game every other year.

Have the division winners play for conference tourney championship.

East Bracket and West Brackets.

First place team in each division gets a bye.

Each Division:
1 vs bye
2 vs 7
3 vs 6
4 vs 5
Click to expand...

Perhaps somebody could remind me.....is there another example in sports where teams from the same conference play a different number of conference home/away games. Obviously we have unbalanced scheduling but this takes that to an extreme. I don't know.
 

golfing18now said:
Perhaps somebody could remind me.....is there another example in sports where teams from the same conference play a different number of conference home/away games. Obviously we have unbalanced scheduling but this takes that to an extreme. I don't know.
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I am pretty sure the Big XII plays 9 conference football games (source: http://espn.go.com/college-football/conferences/standings/_/id/4/big-12-conference ) so that means they must be unbalanced home / away. Major conference, revenue sport. Definitely not unheard of.
 


It's really early, but I love that schedule. Gives us a sliver of hope to make the tournament.
 





No reason they can't do both.

Bring on the CBI. This season I'd be more interested in the CBI than the NIT (because it'd be something different, though not as competitive). This program been there, done that, way too many times. Let's add a CBI banner to our 3 NIT championships ('93, '98, '14)!
 

A young and developing program like our should not be turning down any post season tournament. Our young guys, particularly in the front court, need all the reps they can get before next season.
 

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