All Things Gophers 2024-25 Schedule Updates

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SelectionSunday

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Let's get it started early. I'll update as games are reported. Final 2023-24 NET ranking in parentheses.

GOPHERS SCHEDULE (31 games)
Non-Conference (11)
1 @ Missouri (158) -- date TBD
2 Fairleigh Dickinson (324) -- Dec. 21
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Non-Conference Opponents Average NET Ranking to Date: 241
2023-24 Non-Conference Opponents Average NET Ranking: 260.272

B1G (20)
Illinois
@ Indiana
@ Iowa
@ Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State
@ Michigan State
@ Nebraska
Northwestern
Ohio State
Oregon
Penn State
@ Penn State
Purdue
@ Rutgers
@ UCLA
@ USC
Washington
Wisconsin
@ Wisconsin

March 12-16: B1G Tournament (top 15 qualify), site TBD
 
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Would you think the 3 home and away opponents for the 4 newcomers will be each other? That would make sense to me to be true every year, but maybe the conference is thinking differently.
 

formerlybis said:
Would you think the 3 home and away opponents for the 4 newcomers will be each other? That would make sense to me to be true every year, but maybe the conference is thinking differently.
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Good question.

Certainly I would expect UCLA & USC to play home & homes most (if not every) seasons, similar to the Gophers with Iowa and Wisconsin. Probably the same for Oregon & Washington.

But I don't think the Big Ten will be married to having all 4 of the newbies playing each other twice every season. In my opinion, the first priority should be competitive balance, blended in with respecting some (won't be able to protect all) traditional rivalires.
 
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SelectionSunday said:
Good question.

Certainly I would expect UCLA & USC to play home & homes most (if not every) seasons, similar to the Gophers with Iowa and Wisconsin. Probably the same for Oregon & Washington.

But I don't think the Big Ten will be married to having all 4 of the newbies playing each other twice every season. In my opinion, the first priority should be competitive balance, blended in with respecting some (won't be able to protect all) traditional rivalires.
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With 14 single-plays, I don't really think competitive balance is impacted much however you do it. When we had 7 double-plays, 3 away and 3 home, the league was more susceptible to a scheduling imbalance by who you played only once.
 


formerlybis said:
With 14 single-plays, I don't really think competitive balance is impacted much however you do it. When we had 7 double-plays, 3 away and 3 home, the league was more susceptible to a scheduling imbalance by who you played only once.
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With free agency, also nearly impossible to draw up a competitively balanced schedule even if they wanted to. Probably easy to pick a few expected at the top but the rest would be a crap shoot with rosters so fluid. Maybe it gets more predictable if money teams perform according to their payroll. But I highly doubt that.
 

Holy Man said:
With free agency, also nearly impossible to draw up a competitively balanced schedule even if they wanted to. Probably easy to pick a few expected at the top but the rest would be a crap shoot with rosters so fluid. Maybe it gets more predictable if money teams perform according to their payroll. But I highly doubt that.
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Good point.

I would add, not just a few from the top but also the regulars at the bottom (like us). … the “old reliables”. 😔
 

BleedGopher said:
Hope it’s a vastly improved non-conference schedule.
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I think the nonconference schedule will be improved. After all, it couldn't be worse than last year but I wouldn't count on it being "vastly improved." Had Payne and Hawkins stayed I think they would have taken the chance on a much better nonconference schedule but, with the number of new players again, I wouldn't count on it.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
I think the nonconference schedule will be improved. After all, it couldn't be worse than last year but I wouldn't count on it being "vastly improved." Had Payne and Hawkins stayed I think they would have taken the chance on a much better nonconference schedule but, with the number of new players again, I wouldn't count on it.
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Yes, they cannot be worse than last in the country. They could try to have a worse average ranking of opponent, though. Let's see if he can do it. I think he'll try.
 





SelectionSunday said:
The Gophers will host Fairleigh Dickinson on Dec. 21, per "Made for March" X account.

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I'm anxious to see which illustrious programs we have in mind for those first couple of games in the season. Fairleigh Dickinson isn't good but they have had 4 NCAA tournament appearances this century and, of course, had that very notable win over Purdue (plus one in a play in game) in the 2023 tournament.

Fun fact. Fairleigh (pronounced "Fairlee") Dickinson was nicknamed "Fairleigh Ridiculous" when I was a teenager in the eastern US.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
I'm anxious to see which illustrious programs we have in mind for those first couple of games in the season. Fairleigh Dickinson isn't good but they have had 4 NCAA tournament appearances this century and, of course, had that very notable win over Purdue (plus one in a play in game) in the 2023 tournament.

Fun fact. Fairleigh (pronounced "Fairlee") Dickinson was nicknamed "Fairleigh Ridiculous" when I was a teenager in the eastern US.
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Emily’s cousin on her Mom’s side
 






TwistingMyMelon said:
Apparently, not that Dickinson family! I looked it up and it was named after an early benefactor: Colonel Dickinson who had been one of the founders of a very successful medical equipment company.
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I was joshing.

Thank goodness you didn’t say whom?
 

If I had to guess the schedule mood...Ben hosted a karyoke party with the news we landed Fairleigh Dickinson on the schedule. Prizes to be determined but the main party game contest was Best Reason To Cancel the Missouri Game. Pilgrim suggested Ben resigning because the roster was so decimated. Mark Coyle reminded Ben we do not want to play any away games in the non conference schedule. Ben is still accepting suggestions...no winner annouced yet.
 

For those thinking we might move up in the standings...the teams around us have been adding guys...
UCLA has added 70 plus points
Michigan 65 + points
Indiana 45 +
Maryland 44 +
USC 100 + to go with a 5 star recruit
Rutgers 45 + and they have the #4 Recruiting Class in the country with 5 guys to add to that.
Gophers 18 + but we have lost 6 and a half guys so far and we have lots of room to add guys to our #67th ranked recruiting class
 

60's Guy said:
For those thinking we might move up in the standings...the teams around us have been adding guys...
UCLA has added 70 plus points
Michigan 65 + points
Indiana 45 +
Maryland 44 +
USC 100 + to go with a 5 star recruit
Rutgers 45 + and they have the #4 Recruiting Class in the country with 5 guys to add to that.
Gophers 18 + but we have lost 6 and a half guys so far and we have lots of room to add guys to our #67th ranked recruiting class
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Doing the same damn routine as last offseason I see. Are you capable of any variation at all?
 



TwistingMyMelon said:
What do you know about truth? You still aren't man enough to admit that you were completely wrong last offseason. Fraud.
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We finished tied for the bottom four bracket in a conference that had 14 teams.
How is that wrong? We were not very good!
We are adding teams with better players to the conference. I pointed out the other teams are adding multiple double figure scorers. We are bleeding out....going lower in the conference not higher.
I'm happy you are satisfied with our progress...I'm not.
Truth is I'm not lying about it and suggesting it is something that it is not as you are prone to do.
 



Gophers7633 said:
FDU: 327 in KenPom and 324 in the NET. Picking up where we have the last 3 seasons.
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You do realize that even if we upgrade the non-conf schedule which I feel very confident we will.....there are still going to be games like this on it right?
 

MNVCGUY said:
You do realize that even if we upgrade the non-conf schedule which I feel very confident we will.....there are still going to be games like this on it right?
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This staff prioritizes playing the absolute worst of D1. I get there are going to be buy games. It would be nice if we don't schedule 5 or 6 of them that are 300+ for once.
 


Unregistered User said:
NC State had a SOS last year in the 300's. Made the final 4.
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Yeah, I don't think there is any definitive proof that playing a weak nonconference schedule leaves you unprepared and unable to compete effectively for the rest of the season. What is very clear though is that playing a weak nonconference schedule will hurt your NET ranking and hamper your postseason ambitions as an at large team (either in the NCAA tournament or the NIT).

NC State won the ACC tournament and got into the NCAA tournament as the automatic bid. Considering that they leapfrogged 5 teams ahead of them in the ACC standings, I don't think there is any way they would have made the NCAA tournament as an at large team.

It's also very likely that we would not have made the NIT without an unusually large number of opt-outs this year.
 


TwistingMyMelon said:
Yeah, I don't think there is any definitive proof that playing a weak nonconference schedule leaves you unprepared and unable to compete effectively for the rest of the season. What is very clear though is that playing a weak nonconference schedule will hurt your NET ranking and hamper your postseason ambitions as an at large team (either in the NCAA tournament or the NIT).
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This. 👆
 

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