Gophers in the Big Ten this century (Spoiler Alert: It's not pretty)

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WindyCityGopher

WindyCityGopher

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I wanted to pull numbers to understand just how bad this program has been since the turn of the century, so I totaled conference records for every school from 2000-23, and included the number of seasons they finished above .500 and their number of Top 4 finishes. The results for each school are in the table below.

I figured 2000 was a clean starting point to use because it was the first year in conference of the Monson era (and first post-Clem). Sadly, in the 24 seasons this century, the Gophers have more seasons winning 3 or fewer games (4) than we do seasons with a winning record (3). And there appear to be three pretty distinct tiers of teams during this period: Top 5 (MSU, WIS, OSU, PUR and MD), Middle 4 (ILL, MICH, IND, IOWA) and Bottom Feeding 5 (MINN, RUT, NEB, NW, PSU).

In all, it's as ugly as any of us who've watched them for the last quarter century could guess, but the context of just how bad the program has been has been enlightening for me. Hope you find it useful too.

SchoolWLPCTB1G Seasons Above .500Top 4 B1G Finishes
MSU287138.6752018
WIS282144.6622119
OSU261165.6131811
PUR252174.5921615
MD (joined 14-15)10072.58164
ILL238188.5591413
MICH225201.528117
IND214212.502119
IOWA202224.47410
6​
MIN153272.36032
RUT (joined 14-15)59113.34321
NEB (joined 11-12)74154.32512
NW138288.32421
PSU138288.32422

Gophers conference records by coach:
Monson44-68
.393​
Molinari3-13
.188​
Smith46-62
.426​
Pitino54-96
.360​
Johnson6-33
.154​
 
Last edited:

WindyCityGopher said:
I wanted to pull numbers to understand just how bad this program has been since the turn of the century, so I totaled conference records for every school from 2000-23, and included the number of seasons they finished above .500 and their number of Top 4 finishes. The results for each school are in the table below.

I figured 2000 was a clean starting point to use because it was the first year in conference of the Monson era (and first post-Clem). Sadly, in the 24 seasons this century, the Gophers have more seasons winning 3 or fewer games (4) than we do seasons with a winning record (3). And there appear to be three pretty distinct tiers of teams during this period: Top 5 (MSU, WIS, OSU, PUR and MD), Middle 4 (ILL, MICH, IND, IOWA) and Bottom Feeding 5 (MINN, RUT, NEB, NW, PSU).

In all, it's as ugly as any of us who've watched them for the last quarter century could guess, but the context of just how bad the program has been has been enlightening for me. Hope you find it useful too.

SchoolWLPCTB1G Seasons Above .500Top 4 B1G Finishes
MSU287138.6752018
WIS282144.6622119
OSU261165.6131811
PUR252174.5921615
MD (joined 14-15)10072.58164
ILL238188.5591413
MICH225201.528117
IND214212.502119
IOWA202224.47410
6​
MIN153272.36032
RUT (joined 11-12)59113.34321
NEB (joined 14-15)74154.32512
NW138288.32421
PSU138288.32422

Gophers conference records by coach:
Monson44-68
.393​
Molinari3-13
.188​
Smith:46-62
.426​
Pitino:54-96
.360​
Johnson:6-33
.154​
Click to expand...
Johnson is awful.
 

Smith is this century's "high water mark" we are trying to get back to. 😬!!
 

Out of curiosity, who wasn't aware of the struggles the Gopher program has had since Genglegate?
 



Tubby Smith was a nice hire.

To follow up it up with Pitino and Johnson is pathetic. And Pitino actually did OK. The hire wasn't a good one at that time though.
 

WindyCityGopher said:
I wanted to pull numbers to understand just how bad this program has been since the turn of the century, so I totaled conference records for every school from 2000-23, and included the number of seasons they finished above .500 and their number of Top 4 finishes. The results for each school are in the table below.

I figured 2000 was a clean starting point to use because it was the first year in conference of the Monson era (and first post-Clem). Sadly, in the 24 seasons this century, the Gophers have more seasons winning 3 or fewer games (4) than we do seasons with a winning record (3). And there appear to be three pretty distinct tiers of teams during this period: Top 5 (MSU, WIS, OSU, PUR and MD), Middle 4 (ILL, MICH, IND, IOWA) and Bottom Feeding 5 (MINN, RUT, NEB, NW, PSU).

In all, it's as ugly as any of us who've watched them for the last quarter century could guess, but the context of just how bad the program has been has been enlightening for me. Hope you find it useful too.

SchoolWLPCTB1G Seasons Above .500Top 4 B1G Finishes
MSU287138.6752018
WIS282144.6622119
OSU261165.6131811
PUR252174.5921615
MD (joined 14-15)10072.58164
ILL238188.5591413
MICH225201.528117
IND214212.502119
IOWA202224.47410
6​
MIN153272.36032
RUT (joined 11-12)59113.34321
NEB (joined 14-15)74154.32512
NW138288.32421
PSU138288.32422

Gophers conference records by coach:
Monson44-68
.393​
Molinari3-13
.188​
Smith46-62
.426​
Pitino54-96
.360​
Johnson6-33
.154​
Click to expand...
We avoid Weakling Wednesday!
 

skiumah1 said:
Tubby Smith was a nice hire.

To follow up it up with Pitino and Johnson is pathetic. And Pitino actually did OK. The hire wasn't a good one at that time though.
Click to expand...
He was a nice hire until he wasn't..... he was coasting at the end
 

Gopherbbdude said:
He was a nice hire until he wasn't..... he was coasting at the end
Click to expand...
He didn't turn out great yes, but at the time I was convinced that was a quality hire.

I'd also argue that Tubby left this program in a really good spot to take the next step.

Tubby at Kentucky (I understand it's easier to win at Kentucky, but still):

Screen Shot 2023-03-07 at 7.26.13 PM.png
 
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I'm sure most of us that pay attention to B1G conference basketball could have named the five, but it really is a stark contrast between the bottom five and the rest of the conference.
 


Windy is making a point that I have also tried to make.

No one is claiming that Ben Johnson's tenure has been successful.

But Johnson did not take the program from the top of the conference to the bottom.

under Johnson, a below-average program has fallen a little more below average.

that's the reality of the situation. if you prefer fantasy, well there are websites for that.........
 



short ornery norwegian said:
Windy is making a point that I have also tried to make.

No one is claiming that Ben Johnson's tenure has been successful.

But Johnson did not take the program from the top of the conference to the bottom.

under Johnson, a below-average program has fallen a little more below average.

that's the reality of the situation. if you prefer fantasy, well there are websites for that.........
Click to expand...
Spot on, SON. Nobody has been more critical of Ben Johnson’s performance than me, but my point of this post is this isn’t just a Ben problem, it’s that this program has been absolute shit for a quarter century now, across multiple coaches, but it took crunching the numbers for me to fully realize just how bad it’s been in the context of others in the conference. Someone in power has to step up and demand to be competitive or it will never change.
 

WindyCityGopher said:
I wanted to pull numbers to understand just how bad this program has been since the turn of the century, so I totaled conference records for every school from 2000-23, and included the number of seasons they finished above .500 and their number of Top 4 finishes. The results for each school are in the table below.

I figured 2000 was a clean starting point to use because it was the first year in conference of the Monson era (and first post-Clem). Sadly, in the 24 seasons this century, the Gophers have more seasons winning 3 or fewer games (4) than we do seasons with a winning record (3). And there appear to be three pretty distinct tiers of teams during this period: Top 5 (MSU, WIS, OSU, PUR and MD), Middle 4 (ILL, MICH, IND, IOWA) and Bottom Feeding 5 (MINN, RUT, NEB, NW, PSU).

In all, it's as ugly as any of us who've watched them for the last quarter century could guess, but the context of just how bad the program has been has been enlightening for me. Hope you find it useful too.

SchoolWLPCTB1G Seasons Above .500Top 4 B1G Finishes
MSU287138.6752018
WIS282144.6622119
OSU261165.6131811
PUR252174.5921615
MD (joined 14-15)10072.58164
ILL238188.5591413
MICH225201.528117
IND214212.502119
IOWA202224.47410
6​
MIN153272.36032
RUT (joined 14-15)59113.34321
NEB (joined 11-12)74154.32512
NW138288.32421
PSU138288.32422

Gophers conference records by coach:
Monson44-68
.393​
Molinari3-13
.188​
Smith46-62
.426​
Pitino54-96
.360​
Johnson6-33
.154​
Click to expand...
And some wonder why others get down on the program and want to see substantial changes now!
 

Windy, thanks for the chart! I wonder what this looks like from 1975-2000.

I’m too lazy
 


Otis said:
Windy, thanks for the chart! I wonder what this looks like from 1975-2000.

I’m too lazy
Click to expand...
I’ll pull that together and update the post. I’m kinda interested in how that looks myself.
 

B1G W-L 1975-2000:

223-198 with 2 Championships and one team on probation that was 24-3.

This is Minnesota Basketball that I remember and expect.
 

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