Caution--Are we just a bubble team again?

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Look at folks, I appreciate the discussion here. This web site is supposed to be a place where opinions can be expressed and debated. My OPINION is that with a 9-9 record we are NOT a LOCK for the dance. If we are not a LOCK, then I assume we are a bubble team, plain and simple. The way we played this afternoon we will have a difficult time winning on the road and may even lose some unexpected home games too. That is MY Opinion. Time will tell and the squad needs to take them one game at a time. ANYONE who is happy the way we executed this afternoon should keep drinking the WCCO 830 "good neighbor" cool aid and keep believing that the emperor really does have cloths. There are some major flaws on this team that can be easily exploited by the teams we need to beat in the Big 10 and in the tournament.

Regarding Colt, I think he has not improved to my expectations. He in inconsistent, still takes stupid fouls, misses some easy passes and rebounds that cost the team points. Some of these stats do not show up in the box score.......
 

GiveHim5Years said:
Purdue is a good team. Not a bad loss. MN is still a potential bubble team. Several of you have Michigan State on the bubble. Michigan State would still make the dance before MN at this point.

Minnesota Resume:
Good W’s - North Carolina (15), West Virginia (20), Purdue (13)
Bad L’s - Virginia (136)
W’s vs. RPI over 150 - 10
SOS - 37

Michigan State Resume:
Good W’s - Minnesota (23), Wisconsin (25), Washington (22)
Bad L’s - Michigan (71)
W’s vs. RPI over 150 - 4
SOS - 3

Realtime RPI has us finishing 9-9 in the Big 10. W’s over Illinois, Michigan State, Michigan, Penn State. I believe that we will beat Indiana or Iowa but it’s still no lock to make the dance. Mid-Majors have several possible multiple bid conferences.
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Name the several. MWC sure, maybe A-10, but that isn't several.
 



There is NO game that is a lock for the Gophers the rest of the way. The Gophers Minus a point guard, an ability for any perimeter penetration, and a bonified outside game, this team will be a potential victim of sub par teams who get hot or teams who have more talent. I put us squarely on the Bubble until we win a tough road game starting on Wednesday!
 


lol

millions2spare said:
There is NO game that is a lock for the Gophers the rest of the way. The Gophers Minus a point guard, an ability for any perimeter penetration, and a bonified outside game, this team will be a potential victim of sub par teams who get hot or teams who have more talent. I put us squarely on the Bubble until we win a tough road game starting on Wednesday!
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That carries alot of weight around here.

Thanks for setting us straight.

:rolleyes:
 

you are welcome! When I hear broadcasters and see posters who think we are a lock, let's not get to far ahead of the next game on Wednesday.
 

millions2spare said:
There is NO game that is a lock for the Gophers the rest of the way. The Gophers Minus a point guard, an ability for any perimeter penetration, and a bonified outside game, this team will be a potential victim of sub par teams who get hot or teams who have more talent. I put us squarely on the Bubble until we win a tough road game starting on Wednesday!
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Yes and there is no way Northwestern takes Ohio State to the buzzer, no way Michigan beats MSU at MSU, no way Indiana beats Illinois, no way Wisconsin loses to Penn State on the road.

Oh wait....
 

That is my point 97Alumni, lets assume we are on the bubble and not a lock. There are a lot of games left to play and anything can and sometimes does happen. As my friend TK always said, one game at a time boyz, one game at a time.
 



No team in the B10 is a lock except OSU right now. Any team could lose the rest of their games and be out...
 

I love the ignore option which holds from last year.
We were projected to lose by 9 to a ranked team on the road and lost by 12
We were projected to win by 5 over NU and won by 11.
#16 is likely to be in the tourney.
#15 Wisky lost to an unranked team w/their starting pt guard intact
Do we really have to freak out every time we lose?
 

From the Barn said:
Name the several. MWC sure, maybe A-10, but that isn't several.
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Current ESPN Bracketology:
Mountain West - 3 bids
Horizon - 2 bids
West Coast - 2 bids
Missouri Valley - 2 bids
Colonial - 2 bids
A-10 - 2 bids

First Four Out Include: 3rd Missouri Valley, 3rd Colonial

Upsets could add to the Mid-Major total. Mid-Majors sent UNI, Butler, Xavier, St. Mary’s, and Cornell to the Sweet 16 last year. It’s getting more and more difficult for the committee to pass on a Top 30 RPI team from a Mid-Major.

Big 10 vs. Multiple Bid Mid-Majors: 15-6 (17 of 21 away from home)
Big 10 vs. Over .500 Team from Multiple Bid Mid-Majors: 4-5
Games of Note: UNLV over Wisconsin
Illinois-Chicago over Illinois
Richmond over Purdue

Please don’t tell me that the Mid-Majors are weak this year. I believe the Missouri Valley is strong enough to match the four bids from 2006 that produced multiple Sweet 16 teams.

Let’s ROCK the barn against Ohio State and stay off the bubble.
 

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And totally out of character from millions2spare, too.
 



Oh, and also, somebody should compose a poorly written open letter to Joel Maturi about this. Any volunteers?
 

GiveHim5Years said:
Current ESPN Bracketology:
Mountain West - 3 bids
Horizon - 2 bids
West Coast - 2 bids
Missouri Valley - 2 bids
Colonial - 2 bids
A-10 - 2 bids

First Four Out Include: 3rd Missouri Valley, 3rd Colonial

Upsets could add to the Mid-Major total. Mid-Majors sent UNI, Butler, Xavier, St. Mary’s, and Cornell to the Sweet 16 last year. It’s getting more and more difficult for the committee to pass on a Top 30 RPI team from a Mid-Major.

Big 10 vs. Multiple Bid Mid-Majors: 15-6 (17 of 21 away from home)
Big 10 vs. Over .500 Team from Multiple Bid Mid-Majors: 4-5
Games of Note: UNLV over Wisconsin
Illinois-Chicago over Illinois
Richmond over Purdue

Please don’t tell me that the Mid-Majors are weak this year. I believe the Missouri Valley is strong enough to match the four bids from 2006 that produced multiple Sweet 16 teams.

Let’s ROCK the barn against Ohio State and stay off the bubble.
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If those are the only conferences with a shot at 2 bids, you are really just proving my point. Last year's sweet 16 teams have absolutely nothing to do with what happens this year. And given the events of the last week, cross off the Horizon and MWC from the two bid leagues, and the MVC will be extremely lucky to get two. How on earth do you get four? .500 teams in midmajor conferences don't have a chance.
 

From the Barn said:
If those are the only conferences with a shot at 2 bids, you are really just proving my point. Last year's sweet 16 teams have absolutely nothing to do with what happens this year. And given the events of the last week, cross off the Horizon and MWC from the two bid leagues, and the MVC will be extremely lucky to get two. How on earth do you get four? .500 teams in midmajor conferences don't have a chance.
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The MWC is a two bid conference and possibly three depending on how things shake out. That said I have no idea how the MVC would get four, two is the best that league can hope for.

I think it is too early to say the Gophers are on the bubble, way too early. A loss at Indiana could maybe raise that concern but not now.
 

millions2spare said:
With efforts like this against Purdue, are we just a bubble team again? Can we win on the road anyplace the rest of the way? The lack of a point guard making us turn-over prone, and any ability to shoot outside is going to make us very one dimensional. The rest of the teams will have an easy time crafting a game plan to beat us.
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So if we win at Indiana on Wednesday night will you post, "Nice win--can anyone else smell the sweet 16?" Seriously why do people post stuff like this after a loss? It was one game. It was on the road at Purdue. Settle down. WE ARE NOT A BUBBLE TEAM!!!
 

Neither of the top two in the MWC have a good win outside the conference. If either are getting in as an large, the Gophers won't even be on the bubble, they'll be in easily.
 

From the Barn said:
Neither of the top two in the MWC have a good win outside the conference. If either are getting in as an large, the Gophers won't even be on the bubble, they'll be in easily.
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Top 50 non-conference wins...
BYU-Arizona, Utah State, St. Marys
SDSU-St. Mary's and Wichita State.

Neither of them have a bad loss.
 



scher215 said:
@ Indiana and @ Iowa should both be wins, I'll count @ NW as a win as well. @ Penn State will be interesting.

Should win at home against Penn State and Michigan, OSU will be a loss, and MSU and Illinois will be interesting.

Worst Case scenario: 10-8
Best Case scenario: 13-5

9-9 is not the end of the world, 9-9 might be a bubble team before the B10 tourney, but if (and a great big IF) Al comes back for the tourney, we could add some more wins to the resume.
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You are funny. Gotta love the optimism I guess.
 

MaroonGopher said:
You are funny. Gotta love the optimism I guess.
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Which game did you not agree with?

Worst case, IMO, result in parentheses

@Iowa and @Indiana not being wins? (2W)
@Penn State will be tough, no doubt about that. I'd call it a toss up.(L)
Should be able to beat Penn State at home (W)
@ Northwestern I would call a win. Wisconsin dominated them there, and we did here as well for much of the game. (W)
Michigan at home as well considering we beat them on the road. (W)
Probably will lose to OSU at home. (L)
MSU is down, but is still MSU, so even at home that could go either way. (L)
Illinois as well considering they are wildly inconsistent. (L)

That puts it at 10-8. What part of that is not realistic? Honestly, I think it ends up better than that. But 10-8 certainly looks VERY doable.
 

GiveHim5Years said:
Purdue is a good team. Not a bad loss. MN is still a potential bubble team. Several of you have Michigan State on the bubble. Michigan State would still make the dance before MN at this point.

Minnesota Resume:
Good W’s - North Carolina (15), West Virginia (20), Purdue (13)
Bad L’s - Virginia (136)
W’s vs. RPI over 150 - 10
SOS - 37

Michigan State Resume:
Good W’s - Minnesota (23), Wisconsin (25), Washington (22)
Bad L’s - Michigan (71)
W’s vs. RPI over 150 - 4
SOS - 3

Realtime RPI has us finishing 9-9 in the Big 10. W’s over Illinois, Michigan State, Michigan, Penn State. I believe that we will beat Indiana or Iowa but it’s still no lock to make the dance. Mid-Majors have several possible multiple bid conferences.
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Seriously, no one's gonna address this? Fine, I'll take a shot at it...

You are high if you'd expect Michigan State to make the Tourney before Minnesota right now. Sure, Michigan State has beaten 3 teams in the top 50 of the RPI, but they have also lost to 7 of them! You have gone 3-7 against Tourney caliber teams and you expect to make the dance over the Gophers who are 3-4 over the same category? And don't give me the look at who they lost to crap. The average RPI of the Gophers' 4 losses is 19.8 and the average RPI of the Spartans' 7 losses is 20.7. Also, the RPI of the Gophers' 3 wins were 10, 13, and 17 while the Spartans' 3 wins were 21, 23, and 26 with two of the Gophers' wins on neutral court. There is no way in hell that the Spartans make the Tournament before the Gophers at this point, plain and simple.

source for RPI - cbssports.com
 

The only Big Ten team even remotely close to the (wrong side of the) bubble right now is Penn State. Obviously, things could change in the next couple weeks.

The Big Ten will receive anywhere from 4-7 bids come Selection Sunday, with 6 the most likely outcome, in my opinion.
 

MVC

"I believe the Missouri Valley is strong enough to match the four bids from 2006. ...."

Respectfully, no chance of that happening. The absolute best scenario the Missouri Valley can hope for is getting three bids (Missouri State, Wichita State & Northern Iowa), and things would have to fall just right for that to happen. There isn't a fourth MVC team even close to being worthy of consideration.
 

Lots of time left in the Indiana game but this team sure looks like a bubble team to me. We are being out hustled, the offense is struggling and we need a spark from someplace.
 

millions2spare said:
Lots of time left in the Indiana game but this team sure looks like a bubble team to me. We are being out hustled, the offense is struggling and we need a spark from someplace.
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Look who showed up when the gophers were losing...
 


Mass MD said:
We looked like a bubble team tonight.
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Did Kentucky look like a bubble team when they lost to Ole Miss and Bama?

Did Duke look like a bubble team when they lost to St. John's?

Did West Virginia look like a bubble team when they lost to Marshall?

Yes, yes, and yes. Are any of these teams or the Gophers bubble teams? NO!!!!!!!!!!

Now, is it possible this team completely tanks down the stretch without Al and BECOMES a bubble team? Absolutely!

But, as of right now, the Gophers are still 100% absolutely not a bubble team.
 

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