Final (unofficial) Gophers' Nonconference Schedule

SelectionSunday

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Thanks to TJGopher for some of the heavy lifting on this. Here's a snapshot look (in order of final 2008-09 RPI) at the Gophers' 2009-10 nonconference schedule. If these teams are correct, I'd say OVERALL the Gophers' nonconference schedule is better than last season, but only because the Charmin-soft NABC "Classic" was replaced by the strong field of the 76 Classic. In terms of the HOME nonconference schedule, on paper I think this one looks weaker than last season. ... and that's saying something.

Games with ** have not been confirmed on those schools' athletic web sites. Records are regular season & Division I opponents only.

vs. Butler (#24) -- Finished 25-5 overall, regular-season champ of Horizon League.
at Miami of Florida (#65) -- Finished 17-12, tied for 7th (of 12) in the ACC.
**STEPHEN F. AUSTIN (#74) -- Finished 20-7, Southland regular season & tournament champ.
SAINT JOSEPH'S (#105) -- Finished 17-15, tied for 5th (of 14) in Atlantic 10.
**MORGAN STATE (#130) -- Finished 22-11, MEAC regular season & tournament champ.
**UTAH VALLEY (#238) -- Finished 15-11, 2nd best RPI of D-I independents.
**TENNESSEE TECH (#272) -- Finished 10-18, 8th (of 10) in the Ohio Valley Conference.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE (#283) -- Finished 11-20, 7th (of 10) in Summit League.
BROWN (#307) -- Finished 9-19, last (8th) in Ivy League.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS (#329) -- Finished 9-20, tied for 5th (last) in MAC West.

Potential 76 Classic Opponents:
Round 2: UCLA (#33) or Portland (#120)
Round 3: West Virginia (#21), Clemson (#28), Texas A&M (#36), Long Beach State (#156)

Average RPI of Opponents: 182.7
Average RPI of Home Opponents: 217.25
NCAA Qualifiers (3): Butler, Stephen F. Austin, Morgan State
Top 100 (3): Butler, Miami of Florida, Stephen F. Austin
BCS Opponents (1): Miami of Florida

And using last year's nonconference schedule as a comparison. ...

vs. Louisville (4)
NORTH DAKOTA STATE (87)
VIRGINIA (114)
CORNELL (115)
BOWLING GREEN (157)
at Colorado State (212)
EASTERN WASHINGTON (231)
GEORGIA STATE (233)
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (247)
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE (283)
HIGH POINT (325)
CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL (#344, non-DI)

Average RPI of Opponents: 196
Average RPI of Home Opponents: 213.6
NCAA Qualifiers (3): Louisville, North Dakota State, Cornell
Top 100 (2): Louisville, North Dakota State
BCS Opponents (2): Louisville, Virginia
 

Thanks to TJGopher for some of the heavy lifting on this. Here's a snapshot look (in order of final 2008-09 RPI) at the Gophers' 2009-10 nonconference schedule. If these teams are correct, I'd say OVERALL the Gophers' nonconference schedule is better than last season, but only because the Charmin-soft NABC "Classic" was replaced by the strong field of the 76 Classic. In terms of the HOME nonconference schedule, on paper I think this one looks weaker than last season. ... and that's saying something.

Games with ** have not been confirmed on those schools' athletic web sites. Records are regular season & Division I opponents only.

vs. Butler (#24) -- Finished 25-5 overall, regular-season champ of Horizon League.
at Miami of Florida (#65) -- Finished 17-12, tied for 7th (of 12) in the ACC.
**STEPHEN F. AUSTIN (#74) -- Finished 20-7, Southland regular season & tournament champ.
SAINT JOSEPH'S (#105) -- Finished 17-15, tied for 5th (of 14) in Atlantic 10.
**MORGAN STATE (#130) -- Finished 22-11, MEAC regular season & tournament champ.
**UTAH VALLEY (#238) -- Finished 15-11, 2nd best RPI of D-I independents.
**TENNESSEE TECH (#272) -- Finished 10-18, 8th (of 10) in the Ohio Valley Conference.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE (#283) -- Finished 11-20, 7th (of 10) in Summit League.
BROWN (#307) -- Finished 9-19, last (8th) in Ivy League.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS (#329) -- Finished 9-20, tied for 5th (last) in MAC West.

Potential 76 Classic Opponents:
Round 2: UCLA (#33) or Portland (#120)
Round 3: West Virginia (#21), Clemson (#28), Texas A&M (#36), Long Beach State (#156)

Average RPI of Opponents: 182.7
Average RPI of Home Opponents: 217.25
NCAA Qualifiers (3): Butler, Stephen F. Austin, Morgan State
Top 100 (3): Butler, Miami of Florida, Stephen F. Austin
BCS Opponents (1): Miami of Florida

The 3 games in Calif tourney will be tough ones. Miami won't be easy on the road. St Joe's is a quality opponent at home, as is SF Austin. All-in-all, Gophers will do well with 10 W of these 12.
 

Schedule

All I can really say is this is pretty awful. I am fortunate enough to be going to southern California at Thanksgiving, and will see at least one quality game, and maybe three, live, but it is disappointing to be dropping $30/game on a miserable home schedule. If it wasn't for the good company I have at the games, I might begin to really wonder if it's worth it.

With talent and a high profile coach, we can do much better.
 

Holy Man,

The percentages are certainly with you that you'll see more quality opponents in Anaheim over a 4-day period than Gopher season-ticket holders will see from mid-November to late December. That about sums it up. Gosh, I sure hope we don't lose to Butler & fall into the loser's bracket.
 

20 win streak

Hey, at least OTS will keep his streak of 20 wins seasons alive with this gutless scheduling attempt. If I were a season ticket holder (I used to be) I would fell absolutely ripped off. You're really stretching it when you consider St. Joe's and Stephen F. Austin "quality" opponents. St. Joe's had that one good year with Jameer Nelson and SFA??? Are you serious? Of the top of my head, I can't even tell you where that school is located. Somewhere in Tennessee maybe? I'll bet 98% of G-holers don't know either. In fact, I'll bet most don't even know where St. Joe's is....
 


St. Joe's is in Philly. SFA is somewhere in Texas.

That being established, if this is the final schedule, it's pathetic, particularly at home, and no amount of spin offered by FoT or the "U" can change that fact.
 

Hey, at least OTS will keep his streak of 20 wins seasons alive with this gutless scheduling attempt. If I were a season ticket holder (I used to be) I would fell absolutely ripped off. You're really stretching it when you consider St. Joe's and Stephen F. Austin "quality" opponents. St. Joe's had that one good year with Jameer Nelson and SFA??? Are you serious? Of the top of my head, I can't even tell you where that school is located. Somewhere in Tennessee maybe? I'll bet 98% of G-holers don't know either. In fact, I'll bet most don't even know where St. Joe's is....

I think many GHers could figure out that a school named after Stephen F. Austin would be located somewhere in Texas.
 

Thanks, SS ...

for the preview. Now if we could only get dates and times, I could get 'em into my handy-dandy calendar on my phone, computer etc and avoid conflicts as much as possible.

I have to admit that the football schedule is still a PITA what with three home games where the start times are still undecided. I know that the TV schedulers are reserving the right to choose but still seems like the tail wagging the dog when trying to plan things.

(The Wisconsin game in particular is a problem given it's also the day of a family celebration at our home. My beautiful wife reasonably asked when we could have the gala event as she was willing to plan around the game time. Imagine the arched eyebrow when I replied "uh, I don't know yet." Thank goodness I have sufficient other redeeming qualities :eek: )
 

To play the devil’s advocate..

One of our problems in the last season was the inconsistent offense. I am not sure if we have properly addressed the issue so far. Of course, we will have athleticism and defense, which comfortably assure us in the second echelon of the B10. However, the persistent offensive problem will make it hard to predict how we are going to perform against a quality team at any given night. It means that a decent team, say a RPI 50-70 range team, can beat us even at the Barn. That would be a terrible loss with a possible implication on the Tournament.

I think we are still an inconsistent team with lots of potential. Until we are reasonably sure how much of the potential can be materialized in the upcoming season, and we can properly assess our offense, it may be prudent to take cupcakes at home.

Again, we will be alright over the course of the season, but I think we will have a few downers due to the inconsistent offense. And, I am against testing the team at home rather early unless the opponent is surely so good that a possible loss would not affect us negatively (that is, the team had better be a top 30 team).

Things may be totally different in 2010-11, though, as we should be good enough not to be overly concerned about qualifying for the Tournament. Shaping the team for a bigger glory should be reflected in the schedule.
 



To play the devil’s advocate..

I think we are still an inconsistent team with lots of potential. Until we are reasonably sure how much of the potential can be materialized in the upcoming season, and we can properly assess our offense, it may be prudent to take cupcakes at home.
That argument was pretty persuasive to me last year given the number of freshman and new JUCO players and the need to have them in either the starting lineup or the "second line" (as Tubby used his bench).

But this is not the same situation, IMO, and we should have a stronger home non-conference schedule. The upgrade in the NC tournament is great; however, this team should be willing to take more competitive risk, especially when playing at home.

I'm not going to throw in the towel and I still respect Tubby's ability to coach. But I agree with those who point out this is a pretty lame home schedule for a team that went to the NCAAs last year and has a lot of returning starters and good bench players. If there was growth in talent for returning players then we should be comfortable taking on more challenging teams at home. If not, then we've got problems.
 

If indeed these are the correct opponents, in order of expected difficulty I'd rank them like this:

vs. Butler
at Miami of Florida
Saint Joseph's
Morgan State
Northern Illinois
Tennessee Tech
South Dakota State
Stephen F. Austin
Utah Valley
Brown
 

I agree that it is a lame/weak NC home schedule. But, I do "not" agree on how desirable it is to have better/tougher opponents. My opinion is to avoid teams at the Barn that eventually may not qualify for the Dance yet are good enough to beat us when our offense is not working well -- I suspect we will still have to figure out half-court offense at least in the beginning of the season -- which is why I prefer cupcakes if we cannot get truly good teams (top 30 teams).
 

I'm not so sure 10-2 would be that great of an accomplishment if this is the schedule. The absolute worst I would expect out of this schedule is 9-3. ... 2 losses in Anaheim + Miami. Considering who Saint Joe's lost & what they have coming back, the Gophers shouldn't lose to the Hawks, and they figure to be the toughest home test.

I'd say 10-2 would be chalk, anything less than that would have to be labeled as disappointing heading into the Big 10 season. In order to consider the pre-Big 10 slate a success, it's likely going to hinge on winning 2 or more games in Anaheim.
 



Hey, at least OTS will keep his streak of 20 wins seasons alive with this gutless scheduling attempt. If I were a season ticket holder (I used to be) I would fell absolutely ripped off. You're really stretching it when you consider St. Joe's and Stephen F. Austin "quality" opponents. St. Joe's had that one good year with Jameer Nelson and SFA??? Are you serious? Of the top of my head, I can't even tell you where that school is located. Somewhere in Tennessee maybe? I'll bet 98% of G-holers don't know either. In fact, I'll bet most don't even know where St. Joe's is....

What a dumb ass comment.

St Joes (Philly PA) is a quality team under Phil Martelli.

The coach at SF Austin is one of the Top 25 active coaches per NCAA rankings.
 

To play the devil’s advocate..

One of our problems in the last season was the inconsistent offense. I am not sure if we have properly addressed the issue so far. Of course, we will have athleticism and defense, which comfortably assure us in the second echelon of the B10. However, the persistent offensive problem will make it hard to predict how we are going to perform against a quality team at any given night. It means that a decent team, say a RPI 50-70 range team, can beat us even at the Barn. That would be a terrible loss with a possible implication on the Tournament.

I think we are still an inconsistent team with lots of potential. Until we are reasonably sure how much of the potential can be materialized in the upcoming season, and we can properly assess our offense, it may be prudent to take cupcakes at home.

Again, we will be alright over the course of the season, but I think we will have a few downers due to the inconsistent offense. And, I am against testing the team at home rather early unless the opponent is surely so good that a possible loss would not affect us negatively (that is, the team had better be a top 30 team).

Things may be totally different in 2010-11, though, as we should be good enough not to be overly concerned about qualifying for the Tournament. Shaping the team for a bigger glory should be reflected in the schedule.

UConn, Florida, Georgetown DC (to name 3 of many) play almost exclusively "cupcakes" in OOC play every year.
 

FOT - please give it a rest. I'm glad you're a friend of OTS but your one horse response on anything relating to the schedule is getting very, very old!!

As I've stated before, I'm thrilled we have Tubby but sometimes you have to call a spade a spade and in this case, the spade is that the HOME non-con is horrible for a BCS conference, NCAA tourney quality, top 20 recruiting class University that charges big bucks to attend their non-con games. Please go away on this subject!!!

Tubby, Esposito and Maturi owe the season ticket holders better games for the money they pay to support the University and the team. Nobody in Mpls knows or cares about St. Joe's or SFA. I would also bet that players like White, Mbakwe, Williams, et al, want to play better competition. If you are going to try and recruit players like H Barnes, they want to be in nationally televised games against top competition. This doesn't cut it.

OK, rant over.

Oh, and by the way, nobody gives a flying f about UConn, Florida or GTown. Only about Minnesota.
 

Florida and Georgetown were both in the NIT last season after preseason presence in Top 25 polls and assumed NCAA berths, so I'm not sure how that advances your argument. Let's take a look at those "cupcake" schedules regardless from last season:
UConn
played Miami (Fla) and Wisconsin in Paradise Jam
went to Gonzaga
hosted Michigan

This season they'll be headed to Michigan and their website indicates they've signed a home and home series with Tennessee beginning next year.

Florida
played Syracuse and Washington in last season's CBE Classic
played at Florida State
hosted N.C. State

Georgetown
played Wichita State, Tennessee, and Maryland in Old Spice Classic
hosted Memphis
played at Duke

This season they'll be facing Washington in the John Wooden Classic.

The selection committee's sent the memo out-you don't get off the bubble unless you face quality non-conference foes.
 

The NCS problem continues to get worse and I've grown tired of the excuses. The gophers are not a "young" team anymore and hosting scrimmages against cupcakes isn't going to improve their offensive or defensive execution or get them ready for the B10 season. The Barn is not the intimidating place to play that it once was, so the "explanation" that good teams are afraid to come here doesn't hold. The AD wants the profits from scheduling patsies without having to reciprocate on a home and home or give a big payout to a name brand opponent. It's easy money and a continued rip-off of a loyal consumer base that put up with Monson four years after it was clear that he wasn't up to the job. Not that this has anything to do with anything, but it isn't fair.
 

SOS

Per www.kenpom.com here are Gopher SOS going back a ways:

2009 - 36 overall, 140 OOC.

2008 - 63 overall, 283 OOC.

2007 - 40, 210.

2006 - 51, 239.

2005 - 155, 51.

2004 - 145, 87.

2003 - 97, 38.
 

What's your point, FOT? The issue is that year after year after year the gopher basketball program manages to avoid scheduling any meaningful match ups at Williams before January.
 

On one point, I'm going to disagree with you Jamiche. For all the flaws of the Dan Monson era (and there were many), the non-conference schedules were pretty solid, with several major conference/solid mid-majors in that mix. Disregarding the ACC/Big 10 Challenge games that were scheduled or preseason tournaments, here are some of the non-conference games throughout Monson's tenure:
1999/00
Marquette
@Oregon
@Georgia
@Nebraska
2000/01
Georgia
@Marquette
Nebraska
2001/02
@Georgia
Nebraska
Oregon
@Texas Tech
2002/03
Georgia
@Nebraska
@Oregon
Texas Tech
2003/04
Nebraska
@Texas Tech
2004/05
@Nebraska
2005/06
@Arizona State
UNLV
UAB
2006/07
Iowa State
Arizona State
@UAB
@UNLV

Some of those names (Arizona State) didn't look so good when they call on the schedule as they do now, while others (Georgia, Oregon, Texas Tech) were pretty formidable opponents when they played the Gophers.

(thanks to Eric Thrall's website for this data)
 

Jamiche,

Honestly, I cannot tell right now who is better than whom when it comes to the four teams in the second tier of the BT (Michigan, OSU, Illinois, and us). We can finish ahead of them or might end up being the sixth and bubble again. We can beat a top 15 team on a neutral floor if we hit a few jumpers. Then again, we might lose to a not-so-great yet solid team like the Badgers at home if we didn’t find half-court offense.

For a team like us with a question mark, I think playing cupcakes reduces the probability of bad home losses that may be of consequence to our prospect of making the Dance. In that regard, it is, to me, more prudent than scheduling “decent” teams during the time we are expected to struggle to cement half-court offense.

When it comes to truly good teams, as you said, money is a huge part of the equation. And, profit sharing/pay-out depends on how attractive we are. I don’t know enough about the financial aspect of it, and I do agree that we could pay off a team supposedly better than us. But, I think it is more complicated to arrange a series with some teams who “we think” are well matched.

At any rate, I think we will have a more challenging home schedule for the next season assuming that we carry this season successfully.
 

I get the feeling the Gophers could have a nonconference schedule of NJIT, Prairie View A&M, Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina, Hartford, Florida Gulf Coast, North Florida, Maryland-Eastern Shore, St. Francis-NY, Southeast Missouri State & Furman and FOT would find a way to spin it in Tubby's favor. I give him credit for his loyalty, if not his ability to deal in reality with the subject being debated.
 

I get the feeling the Gophers could have a nonconference schedule of NJIT, Prairie View A&M, Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina, Hartford, Florida Gulf Coast, North Florida, Maryland-Eastern Shore, St. Francis-NY, Southeast Missouri State & Furman and FOT would find a way to spin it in Tubby's favor. I give him credit for his loyalty, if not his ability to deal in reality with the subject being debated.

All, I do agree with most of you. It is a weak schecule. Please remember that Tubby had one of the toughest schedules in the nation year after year at UK. He knows what he is doing. Lets be patient and let them man do his job. Maybe, he is trying to hide his cards? Maybe, he still thinks that his guys need more maturity? Maybe, .......? We don't really know. With the amount of talent that we have this year, I really think that we can beat everyone in BT including my old school Purdue and MSU. Lets support our team and coaches all the way.

Go Goghers.
 

Jamiche,

Honestly, I cannot tell right now who is better than whom when it comes to the four teams in the second tier of the BT (Michigan, OSU, Illinois, and us). We can finish ahead of them or might end up being the sixth and bubble again. We can beat a top 15 team on a neutral floor if we hit a few jumpers. Then again, we might lose to a not-so-great yet solid team like the Badgers at home if we didn’t find half-court offense.

For a team like us with a question mark, I think playing cupcakes reduces the probability of bad home losses that may be of consequence to our prospect of making the Dance. In that regard, it is, to me, more prudent than scheduling “decent” teams during the time we are expected to struggle to cement half-court offense.

When it comes to truly good teams, as you said, money is a huge part of the equation. And, profit sharing/pay-out depends on how attractive we are. I don’t know enough about the financial aspect of it, and I do agree that we could pay off a team supposedly better than us. But, I think it is more complicated to arrange a series with some teams who “we think” are well matched.

At any rate, I think we will have a more challenging home schedule for the next season assuming that we carry this season successfully.

On one point, I'm going to disagree with you Jamiche. For all the flaws of the Dan Monson era (and there were many), the non-conference schedules were pretty solid, with several major conference/solid mid-majors in that mix. Disregarding the ACC/Big 10 Challenge games that were scheduled or preseason tournaments, here are some of the non-conference games throughout Monson's tenure:
1999/00
Marquette
@Oregon
@Georgia
@Nebraska
2000/01
Georgia
@Marquette
Nebraska
2001/02
@Georgia
Nebraska
Oregon
@Texas Tech
2002/03
Georgia
@Nebraska
@Oregon
Texas Tech
2003/04
Nebraska
@Texas Tech
2004/05
@Nebraska
2005/06
@Arizona State
UNLV
UAB
2006/07
Iowa State
Arizona State
@UAB
@UNLV

Some of those names (Arizona State) didn't look so good when they call on the schedule as they do now, while others (Georgia, Oregon, Texas Tech) were pretty formidable opponents when they played the Gophers.

(thanks to Eric Thrall's website for this data)

Most of the decent games were away from Williams and most of the name brand games at home were against Nebraska. I think we played them about 25 years in a row.

I don't think that it is unreasonable to schedule one top 25 and one top 50 team a year at home.
 

All, I do agree with most of you. It is a weak schecule. Please remember that Tubby had one of the toughest schedules in the nation year after year at UK. He knows what he is doing. Lets be patient and let them man do his job. Maybe, he is trying to hide his cards? Maybe, he still thinks that his guys need more maturity? Maybe, .......? We don't really know. With the amount of talent that we have this year, I really think that we can beat everyone in BT including my old school Purdue and MSU. Lets support our team and coaches all the way.

Go Goghers.

Well, if he keeps 'hiding his cards', I'm going to be hiding about $1000 worth of season ticket payments next year from the Athletic Dept.
 

Well, if he keeps 'hiding his cards', I'm going to be hiding about $1000 worth of season ticket payments next year from the Athletic Dept.

I don't blame you. You are 100 percent correct. The reason that I mentioned this was the fact that Tubby was burnt way too many times before. Several years ago, UK was number one seed in the NCAA dance. While practicing for a relatively weak team called UAB, Tubby let Nolan Richardson watch his practice before the game. Do you know what happened? That bastard went on and lectured UAB coach who is coaching Missouri now about the weakness of that UK team. If Uk had won that game, Tubby would have been king of Kentucky forever. That was the best team that I have ever seen. Their record was 32-0.
 


I don't blame you. You are 100 percent correct. The reason that I mentioned this was the fact that Tubby was burnt way too many times before. Several years ago, UK was number one seed in the NCAA dance. While practicing for a relatively weak team called UAB, Tubby let Nolan Richardson watch his practice before the game. Do you know what happened? That bastard went on and lectured UAB coach who is coaching Missouri now about the weakness of that UK team. If Uk had won that game, Tubby would have been king of Kentucky forever. That was the best team that I have ever seen. Their record was 32-0.

Thats funny, UK's record was 27-5 that year, losing to a very average Ga team twice and trust me, when i say beating UAB to advance to the sweet 16 would not have made Tubby king...
 

Thats funny, UK's record was 27-5 that year, losing to a very average Ga team twice and trust me, when i say beating UAB to advance to the sweet 16 would not have made Tubby king...

My bad. It may have been the year after ??? He would have the king for upper class in UK not rednecks like yourself.
 




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