Gophers @ #44, Illini are #41

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SelectionSunday

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On the bright side, the Gophers' RPI improved by 3 last night, despite the loss (just kidding; we need wins). All things considered (0-4 start), getting to 4-5 at the halfway point would have Gophers in a decent position. After the Iowa-Nebraska road swing, a lot of home games to end the season, albeit difficult ones.

Obviously, a big one at home Saturday night. Purdue, Northwestern and perhaps even Illinois are the B1G teams most like the Gophers. Need to win some head to heads vs. those teams (Gophs are 1-2 with 2 to play), in addition to swiping 2 or 3 from the likes of Sparty, OSU, IU, & Bucky.

B1G RPI's (through Wednesday according to CollegeRPI.com)
4. Michigan State
8. Ohio State
20. Indiana
22. Michigan
30. Wisconsin
38. Northwestern
41. Illinois
44. Gophers
64. Purdue
98. Nebraska
120. Iowa
124. Penn State
 

SelectionSunday said:
On the bright side, the Gophers' RPI improved by 3 last night, despite the loss (just kidding; we need wins). All things considered (0-4 start), getting to 4-5 at the halfway point would have Gophers in a decent position. After the Iowa-Nebraska road swing, a lot of home games to end the season, albeit difficult ones.

Obviously, a big one at home Saturday night. Purdue, Northwestern and perhaps even Illinois are the B1G teams most like the Gophers. Need to win some head to heads vs. those teams (Gophs are 1-2 with 2 to play), in addition to swiping 2 or 3 from the likes of Sparty, OSU, IU, & Bucky.

B1G RPI's (through Wednesday according to CollegeRPI.com)
4. Michigan State
8. Ohio State
20. Indiana
22. Michigan
30. Wisconsin
38. Northwestern
41. Illinois
44. Gophers
64. Purdue
98. Nebraska
120. Iowa
124. Penn State
Click to expand...
We MUST beat the Illini. Lose to them and our tournament hopes aren't completely over, but they are on life support.

With the way we have been playing recently, I think we get it done!
 

Get a road win before next home loss

I'd say it's comparable to the Purdue game when we were 0-3 and the Northwestern game last Sunday. Lose it (vs. another mid-tier B1G opponent) and the Gophers have pretty much given back the 2 road wins. Win it and we're in decent shape heading into a 2-game road trip where the Gophers, in theory, should have a puncher's chance to return home with a road win or (hopefully) 2.

It's very important the Gophers' next road win occurs before their next home loss. The former would create at least some margin for error heading down the stretch.
 

Playing Illinois at home should give us a chance to see if we have improved since the first B1G game. We took them to 2OT at their house, I think we should take them in ours.
 

Becky Vadger said:
We MUST beat the Illini. Lose to them and our tournament hopes aren't completely over, but they are on life support.

With the way we have been playing recently, I think we get it done!
Click to expand...

I'm not going to narrow it down to 1 game, but I think they absolutely need to go at least 3-1 over the next 4 games to get to 6-6. I think 3-3 over the last 6 games is doable, but anything more would be really tough and I think we need a 9-9 Big Ten record to pick up an at-large bid.

Last 6 games
OSU
@ NW
MSU
Ind
@Wis
Neb
 


bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Playing Illinois at home should give us a chance to see if we have improved since the first B1G game. We took them to 2OT at their house, I think we should take them in ours.
Click to expand...
If Illinois wins again it doesn't necessarily mean we haven't improved. They can improve too.
 


Although its not a "must win", we need to take care of business against Illinois if we are going to be competing for a top 4 seed in the B1G tournament. I think that's a very realistic goal even with our terrible start but we need to chain together some wins. Rested legs in the 2nd round will serve us well if we can clinch it.
 

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