College Basketball's Pleasant Surprises / Indiana - Minnesota 1 and 2

[Reserve]

Ahhh Myron. Not sure if this is a bit of homerism or not but who cares.

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While some squads have missed the mark that was established before the season started, there’s certainly a multitude of teams that have shocked us with surprising starts

1.Indiana: Tom Crean was on the hot seat. Brad Stevens was identified as his potential successor. And then, Crean’s Hoosiers beat No. 1 Kentucky and won their first 12 games, quieting doubters and turning his program into one of the best stories in the country. All of this from a team that won three Big Ten games a year ago.


2.Minnesota: A young Gophers team lost its best player, Trevor Mbakwe, seven games into its season. Instead of collapsing, however, Tubby Smith’s team commenced a six-game winning streak, which included a win over Virginia Tech in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. They’re shooting 49 percent from the field.

The rest are here:

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebask.../42758/college-basketballs-pleasant-surprises

 

[Art Vandelay]

The Gophs are 12-1 but have been favored in every game and have not played a road game. How is that a surprise?

 

[NurumbiCongo]

The Gophs are 12-1 but have been favored in every game and have not played a road game. How is that a surprise?

Hey Doogie- Iowa doesn't count and now Orlando's games count as home games too.

 

[Dr.Don]

Hey Doogie- Iowa doesn't count and now Orlando's games count as home games too.

Gotta Love Art.

 

[Gold Vision]

Ranked 16th in the RPI is a pleasant surprise. I think we all expected this record prior to the season starting. It will be a dog fight in the B1G. Looking forward to meaningful games all week long during the conference season.

 

[Gopher Warrior]

On Indiana - I think they've only played one game in which they were not the favorite and the majority of their games were against horrible teams. I'll give them dap for beating a mediocre NC State team on the road and also the Kentucky win (against a young team, at home and a game they also coughed up due to poor coaching and play [taking ill advised shots late; usage/lack thereof of Zeller]).

They've got a TON of talent, but still a lot to prove.

 

[Monty519]

Hey Doogie- Iowa doesn't count and now Orlando's games count as home games too.

Art isn't wrong, they have not played a single road game. Neutral site games are not even close to the same, with all hundreds who were there. I'll be extremely impressed if this team can go to Illinois and come up with a W, to say the least. Some of our best teams in the past didn't even do that.

 

[XMan]

Art isn't wrong, they have not played a single road game. Neutral site games are not even close to the same, with all hundreds who were there. I'll be extremely impressed if this team can go to Illinois and come up with a W, to say the least. Some of our best teams in the past didn't even do that.

I agree. But Art is still way to negative.....nonstop

 

[GopherinPhilly]

I hope Zeller is one and done for IU...and losing @Ill is a Gopher tradition and probably won't change next week...so please prepare your doomsday sky is falling rants now for the loss is inevitable...we just don't win against Ill!

 

[topos]

They won last time they played there...