BleedGopher
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Saddle Up: Is Minnesota done?
By Eamonn Brennan
No. 1 Indiana at Minnesota, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN
Every now and then during the past few weeks, folks have asked me whether I still think Minnesota can make the NCAA tournament. And the answer is always, in my best Bane voice: Of course! Have you seen Minnesota's résumé? They have the top strength of schedule in the country, a top-15 nonconference schedule, a top-20 RPI, a higher proportion of top 100 and 150 games than most teams (they simply didn't play many cupcakes) and no truly bad losses, depending on how you feel about a 48-point performance at Northwestern. When you dig in and look at Minnesota and compare it to, say, Temple, or Virginia, or Baylor, or Arizona State — teams actually on the bubble — you see how silly it is to wonder if the Gophers are going to miss out on the NCAA tournament, at least at this point.
It is far more reasonable to ask the following: Is Minnesota done? After last week's blowout losses at Iowa and Ohio State, even if (when) the Gophers get to the tournament, aren't they destined to lose on the first weekend — to ignominiously limp out of this once-promising season? Since the start of the year, Minnesota hasn't actually improved in any way; indeed, since conference play began, it has kept turning the ball over at an alarming rate, kept playing mostly soft defense and kept rebounding its own misses very well — though not well enough to mask its other deficiencies. It's all pretty rote at this point.
Meanwhile, Tubby Smith's job is undeniably on the line. Smith's Minnesota teams have developed a reputation for collapsing in February, which is accurate: After the loss at Ohio State, the Gophers are 15-28 in February in six seasons under Smith. In some of those seasons, that's been due to injuries or dismissals; this year the Gophers have no such excuse.
Which is what makes tonight so very interesting. If Minnesota can't get up for the No. 1 team in the country, a team that swamped the Gophers in Bloomington before a second-half comeback gave them a real chance at the upset — back when Minnesota was a top-10 team, before this latest tailslide — then Minnesota can't get up for anyone, and we might as well consider the Gophers cooked. The burden of proof rests with them.
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/77379/saddle-up-is-minnesota-done
Go Gophers!!
By Eamonn Brennan
No. 1 Indiana at Minnesota, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN
Every now and then during the past few weeks, folks have asked me whether I still think Minnesota can make the NCAA tournament. And the answer is always, in my best Bane voice: Of course! Have you seen Minnesota's résumé? They have the top strength of schedule in the country, a top-15 nonconference schedule, a top-20 RPI, a higher proportion of top 100 and 150 games than most teams (they simply didn't play many cupcakes) and no truly bad losses, depending on how you feel about a 48-point performance at Northwestern. When you dig in and look at Minnesota and compare it to, say, Temple, or Virginia, or Baylor, or Arizona State — teams actually on the bubble — you see how silly it is to wonder if the Gophers are going to miss out on the NCAA tournament, at least at this point.
It is far more reasonable to ask the following: Is Minnesota done? After last week's blowout losses at Iowa and Ohio State, even if (when) the Gophers get to the tournament, aren't they destined to lose on the first weekend — to ignominiously limp out of this once-promising season? Since the start of the year, Minnesota hasn't actually improved in any way; indeed, since conference play began, it has kept turning the ball over at an alarming rate, kept playing mostly soft defense and kept rebounding its own misses very well — though not well enough to mask its other deficiencies. It's all pretty rote at this point.
Meanwhile, Tubby Smith's job is undeniably on the line. Smith's Minnesota teams have developed a reputation for collapsing in February, which is accurate: After the loss at Ohio State, the Gophers are 15-28 in February in six seasons under Smith. In some of those seasons, that's been due to injuries or dismissals; this year the Gophers have no such excuse.
Which is what makes tonight so very interesting. If Minnesota can't get up for the No. 1 team in the country, a team that swamped the Gophers in Bloomington before a second-half comeback gave them a real chance at the upset — back when Minnesota was a top-10 team, before this latest tailslide — then Minnesota can't get up for anyone, and we might as well consider the Gophers cooked. The burden of proof rests with them.
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/77379/saddle-up-is-minnesota-done
Go Gophers!!
