Even with poor non-conference slate, 21 wins should get the Gophers a ticket to the Madness

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topos said:
I guess one of their best players was out, too...
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Yeah, Isaiah Thompson, formerly with Purdue, didn't play last night. Led FGCU in scoring last year. I believe he was mentioned as a possible Gophers portal target when he was in it after the '22 season.
 

formerlybis said:
Based on my overreaction to watching 2 minutes of their first game where they had a 3 in the air that would have given them a lead with 15 seconds left against IU, FGCU may need to be moved into the second category....
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Since the gophers are picked the finish 30 games behind Indiana in the Big Ten standings this season, the they should really think about canceling that game against Florida golf course then
 

gopherguy15 said:
Valid point, but the ACC was historically bad last year. The MW even finished above them at the end of the year.

I said this awhile ago on the schedule thread, but this schedule hurts the postseason chances of this team significantly. Not saying I predict this team will go to the NCAA tournament, but this schedule will make it an uphill battle all year. The NCAA committee pays less attention to the bubble teams that have cupcake non-conference schedules, and there's been multiple teams over the past few years with really good power-6 conference records that were left out of the dance because of it.
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if we're even having that discussion, this season will be a smashing success. Ben probably has his sights on showing progress and getting to keep his job rather than all the way to the NCAAs if we're being honest.
 

I don't mean to always piss in everybody's Cheerios...really, I don't.
But, I'm curious... of the four brackets which one does anybody think we might achieve?
For me, I could see us complete the Don't Screw It Up Section...but it's 9 times we can't mess up.
Can we do that? 7 or 8 sure...but all 9?

50/50 Tiniest of hope I can see 5 and 3 in 50/50. Even 3 and 5 seems ambitious.

Underdog - 5 and 3 - least unlikely? 1 and 7 or 0 and 8 more likely?

Heavy Lifting - it's only two wins - so it seems at least like maybe.

It'd be cool to get to 18,19, 20 wins or more but man....is Christie Big Ten Freshman of the Year?
Is Parker Fox Josh Dobbs in Atlanta 20 times?
Is I Ihnen gonna get confident and comfortable and join Garcia at the post game podium often?
Is Hawkins a pesky, waterbug finishing at the rim, draining threes, dishin' to his teammates and staying out of foul trouble every night? At least there is hope!
 



60's Guy said:
I don't mean to always piss in everybody's Cheerios...really, I don't.
But, I'm curious... of the four brackets which one does anybody think we might achieve?
For me, I could see us complete the Don't Screw It Up Section...but it's 9 times we can't mess up.
Can we do that? 7 or 8 sure...but all 9?

50/50 Tiniest of hope I can see 5 and 3 in 50/50. Even 3 and 5 seems ambitious.

Underdog - 5 and 3 - least unlikely? 1 and 7 or 0 and 8 more likely?

Heavy Lifting - it's only two wins - so it seems at least like maybe.

It'd be cool to get to 18,19, 20 wins or more but man....is Christie Big Ten Freshman of the Year?
Is Parker Fox Josh Dobbs in Atlanta 20 times?
Is I Ihnen gonna get confident and comfortable and join Garcia at the post game podium often?
Is Hawkins a pesky, waterbug finishing at the rim, draining threes, dishin' to his teammates and staying out of foul trouble every night? At least there is hope!
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thank goodness this was posted. here i was thinking we were going 31-0. /s

of course this team is still probably unlikely to make the tourney, but it's about creating a path forward to advance, same as SS does every year. Just a fun way for fans who aren't as devoted to knowing every single team to see roughly where the wins/losses need to come from and if we're keeping pace
 

upnorthkid said:
thank goodness this was posted. here i was thinking we were going 31-0. /s

of course this team is still probably unlikely to make the tourney, but it's about creating a path forward to advance, same as SS does every year. Just a fun way for fans who aren't as devoted to knowing every single team to see roughly where the wins/losses need to come from and if we're keeping pace
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Good to know you are alive and well Captain Obvious.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
I'd rather have 18 wins with a weaker schedule than 14 with a stronger one. Even if you don't make the NCAA tournament with the former, you have more minutes of enjoyment during the regular season and a chance at the NIT.
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I didn't respond to this right away because I knew I disagreed, but I didn't quite have my finger on the reason - and by the way, it's perfectly ok to have different opinions - neither of us is wrong, we just have different perspectives.

I heard a podcast this morning talking about the purpose of flight simulators being to put the pilot in stressful situations so that when the time comes in real life, the pilot would have experience to draw from. Being able to fly perfectly under perfect conditions provides no growth and learning.

Getting easy victories and not challenging yourself in the noncon provides little in the way of growth opportunities, nor does it prepare you for stiffer tests during the conference season. The quote above is a mindset that I would never have. Maybe the Gophers should drop down to the Summit League so they'd have a better chance of winning more games and we'd all be happy.
 










Gophers7633 said:
Think we might be favored against Missouri. I'd move that to the 50/50 category at this point.
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Mzzou lost to Memphis last night by a big margin at home. I saw last two minutes but no sense of what they are like. Are they in a bunch of new players mode too?
 


Holy Man said:
Mzzou lost to Memphis last night by a big margin at home. I saw last two minutes but no sense of what they are like. Are they in a bunch of new players mode too?
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They lost their 3 best players from last season, along with a couple key role players. They returned Honor who started every game last season, but they're asking some guys to go from key reserves to starters. Their guys they got in the portal haven't contributed much this year. They aren't nearly as talented as they were last year. They lost a 1st rounder, and have two other guys from last years team in the G League. They also aren't or weren't a good road team last year either. Given how we looked last night, this is very very winnable game.
 

Gophers7633 said:
They lost their 3 best players from last season, along with a couple key role players. They returned Honor who started every game last season, but they're asking some guys to go from key reserves to starters. Their guys they got in the portal haven't contributed much this year. They aren't nearly as talented as they were last year. They lost a 1st rounder, and have two other guys from last years team in the G League. They also aren't or weren't a good road team last year either. Given how we looked last night, this is very very winnable game.
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And the tall skinny guy returns just in time for us, right?
 
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West Fargo Gopher Fan said:
2-0. Currently on pace for Natty
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Likely Underdog but Doable (go 5-3) -- 0-0
Mizzou
@ Ohio State
@ Michigan
@ Indiana
@ Iowa
@ Nebraska
Indiana
@ Northwestern

My prediction is that after Mizzou we are 3-0. Go Gophers
 


Gophers7633 said:
Think we might be favored against Missouri. I'd move that to the 50/50 category at this point.
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Thanks, but the buckets will remain the same throughout the season. Too much work if we keep going back & forth based on who's hot and who's not every week!
 
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Thanks for SHGopher for posting this in the women's basketball section. They play UConn on Sunday.
The philosophy of Tom Izzo, Geno and some others...but certainly not Ben. I'm curious if Coyle actually coerced Ben into the late Missouri game addition to the schedule.
 

60's Guy said:
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Thanks for SHGopher for posting this in the women's basketball section. They play UConn on Sunday.
The philosophy of Tom Izzo, Geno and some others...but certainly not Ben. I'm curious if Coyle actually coerced Ben into the late Missouri game addition to the schedule.
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Yeah Geno was really slaying them in his 3rd season as coach in non conference. Took on the likes of Drexel, New Hampshire, Lehigh, Central Connecticut, Northeastern, Holy Cross, Lafayette, etc
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
Yeah Geno was really slaying them in his 3rd season as coach in non conference. Took on the likes of Drexel, New Hampshire, Lehigh, Central Connecticut, Northeastern, Holy Cross, Lafayette, etc
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Ray, come on...Geno took over a club team, essentially, a group that finished last perennially, an after thought. Womens Basketball at UConn was absolutely not established. Geno did that. Womens basketball in general was very different 40 years ago. The eligibility rules were different. Ben has the portal Geno did not. I don't know but freshmen may not have been eligible. Recruiting had to be very tough ....they had zero credibility to build off of. Year three he may have some juniors but likely no seniors.
Year four they vault all the way to the NCAA Tournament and go on a run of 35ish straight NCAA bids. In year 4 once he had some experienced players Geno played Duke, Stanford and Virginia Tech in the non conference and lost to them all. And Geno has continued his philosophy forward. It was not practical to do so in the infancy of year 3.
Ben is in the Big Ten with the portal....totally different starting line.
 

60's Guy said:
Ray, come on...Geno took over a club team, essentially, a group that finished last perennially, an after thought. Womens Basketball at UConn was absolutely not established. Geno did that. Womens basketball in general was very different 40 years ago. The eligibility rules were different. Ben has the portal Geno did not. I don't know but freshmen may not have been eligible. Recruiting had to be very tough ....they had zero credibility to build off of. Year three he may have some juniors but likely no seniors.
Year four they vault all the way to the NCAA Tournament and go on a run of 35ish straight NCAA bids. In year 4 once he had some experienced players Geno played Duke, Stanford and Virginia Tech in the non conference and lost to them all. And Geno has continued his philosophy forward. It was not practical to do so in the infancy of year 3.
Ben is in the Big Ten with the portal....totally different starting line.
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Geno is tremendous, obviously. They were in the Big East and had been doing a Conference Tourney since 1983. There is no arguing that he does what you say.
 

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