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The 08-09 Michigan team beat Duke and Uconn and was in the tournament, no shame in that.
 

Agreed.
Gophers really need road wins.
 

In terms of the road to go, here's how I'd rank the games (easiest to hardest):

1. @ Iowa
2. @ Indiana
3. @ Michigan (would rank this more difficult but we have a week off prior, and I think our inside strength matches up really well with them)
4. @ Penn State
5. @ Northwestern
6. @ Purdue

Right now we would be favored in 5 out of 6 of those road games if they were played on a neutral court. Taking 4 out of 6 would be great - couple that with not dropping more than 2 games at home the rest of the year and you have a 22-8 team going into the Big Ten tourney, and that's (potentially) a top 6 seed. Not bad.
 

SelectionSunday said:
I don't know about #1, but I certainly would have them right up there with Duke (with Irving) and Kansas and just ahead of Pitt & Ohio State (I'm not sold on Syracuse). I know it's hard for Purdue fans not to think about what could have been, but you still do have a very good basketball team. Next year at this time (assuming he gets healthy) you'll be very glad you have Hummel to help bridge the gap to Painter's next crop of players.
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If there was one "positive" to come from Hummel's injury it's that he's redshirting this year and will hopefully be able to lead them to a NCAA berth next year. Without Hummel next year, Purdue suffers a serious dropoff and may not even be a tourney team - but who knows what he'll be capable of anyways. Painter's recruiting has slowed down quite considerably but the 2012 commits are very solid and the 2013 class in the state of Indiana is absolutely loaded so I expect another program changing class to come in. Somehow that clapping, tanning bed addicted fool down in Bloomington is gaining a ton of recruiting momentum locally even though he's 5-34 in Big Ten games since taking over.

The consensus among some of my kool-aid drinking Purdue colleagues is that Purdue quite possibly could've won back to back National titles if Hummel doesn't go down. That's not the dumbest thing ever uttered but definitely far fetched. A lot of people forget how good Purdue was last season when they strolled into the Barn. They were clicking on all cylinders having just hammered MSU in East Lansing and also won in Columbus. They were also on their way to a 20+ point blowout when Hummel went down. Like rcpratt says, thinking about what might have been makes one sick to their stomach but it's nice to see opinions from other fanbases.
 

From the Barn said:
The 08-09 Michigan team beat Duke and Uconn and was in the tournament, no shame in that.
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They split their games with Duke that year but lost to UConn. Still, you're right and we should probably have lost @ Michigan in 08-09.
 


SelectionSunday said:
Monty, I agree with you about avoiding bad losses and obviously I hope none are forthcoming, but I do think the Gophers have given themselves some decent margin for error. That hasn't been the case in our first two NCAA seasons under Tubby. Even the year we beat the eventual overall #1 seed (Louisville) the Gophers didn't have much to go along with that because of a really weak nonconference schedule, and ditto last year with Butler.

To have two wins outside of conference the likes of UNC & West Virginia is huge. The Gophers have given themselves some breathing room, so long as UNC & West Virginia continue to have good seasons. My expectations are much more than a 9-9 (regular season) Big Ten record, but I feel pretty safe in saying at this point that the Gophers would pretty much be a lock for the NCAA simply by hitting the .500 mark, especially considering there are now three additional at-large spots. The same can't be said for Michigan, Northwestern and Penn State, who did nothing outside of the Big Ten.

I hope we're not having this (bubble) conversation on March 13th.
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Oh boy, I really don't think there all that much room for error with this team considering how tight the Big Ten is. Also, Penn State is performing much better than expected, making the middle of the conference that much more clogged. Sure they were at home, but consecutive league wins against top 20 teams -- like the Lions pulled off-- still means A LOT!
 

Penn State has certainly thrown its name into the NCAA mix with those two wins. Now about that home loss to Maine. ...
 

GopherGack said:
They split their games with Duke that year but lost to UConn. Still, you're right and we should probably have lost @ Michigan in 08-09.
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Ahh, they did lose that game. They also beat Purdue at home.

PSU also had 4 wins over ranked teams that year too. Can hardly call that a bad loss.
 

One thing about Michigan is that we have not matched up well with them. The past couple of years with Harris and Sims, those two did anything they wanted against us. They are a completely different team personnel wise this season. I don't like the comparisons to past years when those were there main players for both of those seasons that they beat us here and there.
 



From the Barn said:
Ahh, they did lose that game. They also beat Purdue at home.

PSU also had 4 wins over ranked teams that year too. Can hardly call that a bad loss.
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I'm not calling those bad losses in the NCAA tournament bubble sense but rather games we probably should have won. To be clear my list was just stating that we have a tendency to lose games we should probably have won. Until we get a couple of those "trap games" under our belt and show that we can put away the teams we should I'm not ready to say we're sitting comfortable wrt the bubble.
 

MinnesotaBoiler99 said:
A lot of people forget how good Purdue was last season when they strolled into the Barn. They were clicking on all cylinders having just hammered MSU in East Lansing and also won in Columbus. They were also on their way to a 20+ point blowout when Hummel went down. Like rcpratt says, thinking about what might have been makes one sick to their stomach but it's nice to see opinions from other fanbases.
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Have to be lucky to go all the way, but, yes, I think Purdue would have been capable. Loved watching Hummel play. Very skilled and versatile, and he seems like a really good guy. Hope he totally recovers.
 

Having Purdue at home - should be a win for the Gophers (if we are a top team in the BT) .. Having won against WV on a neutral court to me is a more important win. Now Purdue plays at WV .. if Purdue wins, then that's huge for the Gophers. Go Boilers.
 

Surprising how this thread got turned into a broad discussion of Purdue...
 



One thing that's interesting is the ESPN Gameday crew scheduled their opener for tomorrow's Vandy @ Tennessee game, just as the hammer is about to drop on Bruce Pearl. I'm thinking maybe they will regret having their game @ Tennessee now as opposed to a week or two from now, after the NCAA makes their decision.
 


Gopherholefan said:
One thing about Michigan is that we have not matched up well with them. The past couple of years with Harris and Sims, those two did anything they wanted against us. They are a completely different team personnel wise this season. I don't like the comparisons to past years when those were there main players for both of those seasons that they beat us here and there.
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I Still have PTSD-esque flashbacks of Harris and Sims pick&rolling us to death. Away may still be a tricky test, but no way we should lose to them at the Barn again.
 

Were we really even on the bubble in 2009? We were a 10 seed. People like to claim we were but I don't think we were.
 


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