Someone did a lot of good research to come up with these numbers, but it doesn't tell the whole story. Tubby inherited a program with something like 8 wins the year before (my memory is failing me), and 1 NCAA Tourney visit in 5+ yrs. They made the NIT the 1st year, with one of the best turnarounds in the country, and the NCAAs the next 2. This season, Sporting News/Street & Smiths picked Minnesota to finish 8th in the Big Ten, yet they clearly were on pace to be well above that, until injuries occured. Every team has injuries, but the team is still meeting the pre-season national expectations even with the injuries; they were just surpassing them before that.
this loses its credibility for me with the being picked 8th-- I would have expected 4th coming into the year- 5th at the lowest. and that was without the Michigan State implosion.