Now, I'm not saying this year's team is going to win 20 games and I'm not saying Battle is as good as Grier, but there are some similarities between this year's team and the 04-05 team. I also realize this year's team has some major front court depth issues.
But hear me out. . .
Both squads are really led by experienced guards. Neither the 04-05 guards (Robinson & Lawson) nor our guards are the type of players you look at on paper and think will be All Big 10 or anything, but they really don't seem like guys who will be out of place a lot. I don't think either group would really take a lot of bad shots.
Both squads had a guy who could just get buckets. Grier is one of my favorite Gophers of all time but Battle is a pretty smooth scorer. I, obviously, expect his numbers to come back down to earth a bit, but if Battle can average around 15-18 PPG efficiently in Big 10 play, he's in that Grier territory.
Both teams had a junkyard dog type of player coming off the bench that was really their source of toughness/grit (Sutherlin/Stamper).
To keep it all in perspective, the 04-05 team won a ton of close games. Of their 10 Big 10 wins - 5 were within 5 points, and 7 were within 10 points. When the other teams were on, we didn't have the guns to keep up. Of their 6 Big 10 losses, 4 of them were by more than 15. They likely were not as talented as their record indicated. However, they won a lot of close games because they played a ton of experienced guys and then had a reliable "go-to" player when they were really desperate for a bucket.
I have no delusions of a 20 win season, but here is to hoping we continue to be a tough out and we can win more games than some of us had predicted earlier in the season.
Oh - if they lose to Purdue - Fort Wayne tonight, this post was sarcastic.