Gophers Non-Conference schedule thoughts

Donate To GopherHole
A

AndrewDukowitz(AdukeMN)

New member
Joined
Aug 28, 2025
Messages
13
Reaction score
26
Points
3
I broke down the non Confrence opponents a little more for everyone since the announcement just came out.

What immediately jumps off the page is the records of the opposing teams. The Gophers will face eight teams with winning records in 2024-25. Marquette and USF(nice to host both colleges that brought the Lynx the StudBudz) should be measuring stick games, as will Wyoming who finished second in the mountain west.

Would love to hear who you all think will be the toughest matchup, and what your immediate reaction to the schedule.

11/4 Vs. North Dakota
2024-25 record 12-19, 6-10 in the Summit league,
finished 5th in their conference.

11/7 Vs. Manhattan
2024-25 record 16-15, 9-11 in the MAAC,
finished eighth in their conference.

11/11 Vs. Marquette
2024-25 record 21-11, 12-6 in the Big East
Finished fourth in their conference.

11/14 Vs NJIT
2024-25 record 11-19, 8-8 in the America East
Finished fifth in their conference

11/19 At Kansas
2024-25 record 16-14, 12-10 in the big 12
Finished sixth in the conference

11/24 Vs South Florida
2024-25 record 23-11, 13-4 in the American conf
Finished third in their conference

11/26 Vs Harvard/Alabama
Harvard
2024-25 record 24-5, 11-3 in the Ivy League
Finished third in their conference
Alabama
2024-25 record 24-9, 10-6 in the SEC
Finished sixth in their conference

12/1 Vs Samford
2024-25 record 12-19, 7-7 in the Southern Conf
Finished fifth in their Conference

12/10 Vs Alabama A&M
2024-25 record 21-11,14-4 in the SWC
Finished third in their conference

12/14 Vs Wyoming
2024-25 record 22-12, 14-4 in the Mountain West
Finished second in their conference

12/21 At Drake
2024-25 record 22-12, 15-5 in the Missouri Valley
Finished fourth in their conference.
 




Very excited for this schedule! I was curious if we'd be getting an exhibition before the official start to the season. Yesterday, the team's social media accounts started a countdown to Sunday, October 26th, so I was thinking it might be that day. But you'd think that would be announced with all other non conference games?

https://x.com/gopherwbb/status/1963770097215901741?s=46
 



MaroonMagic said:
Very excited for this schedule! I was curious if we'd be getting an exhibition before the official start to the season. Yesterday, the team's social media accounts started a countdown to Sunday, October 26th, so I was thinking it might be that day. But you'd think that would be announced with all other non conference games?

https://x.com/gopherwbb/status/1963770097215901741?s=46
Click to expand...
Yeah I’m not sure, I’ll snoop around and I’ll post anything I find out though.
 

A couple good
Ski U Mah Gopher said:
Much better than the Men's schedule.

One P5 team coming in - Marquette
One P5 team on the road - KU
Some very good Mid-Majors
Some low-majors.
Click to expand...
measuring stick games, some games that will look like good wins against mid majors and even the low- majors were semi competitive.

Definitely will set up a good argument for the tournament if they do well in the Big 10
 

Completely agree, as they stack up good season after good season they should get more marquee Non conference games but I cant complain about what they will face this year
DietCokeFan said:
Much improved! I think each year we will continue to see better competition. I like that the team is going on the road to Kansas and Drake. Well done!
Click to expand...
 



MaroonMagic said:
Very excited for this schedule! I was curious if we'd be getting an exhibition before the official start to the season. Yesterday, the team's social media accounts started a countdown to Sunday, October 26th, so I was thinking it might be that day. But you'd think that would be announced with all other non conference games?

https://x.com/gopherwbb/status/1963770097215901741?s=46
Click to expand...
There will be no exhibition game this season. My guess is the countdown of 52 days (from yesterday, which would be October 22nd) will be like an open practice for the public or like an inter-squad scrimmage at the barn for a "first look" at the team.

One thing when talking about schedule strength..you have to remember that the Big Ten Schedule alone gives them 5, 6, maybe even 7 notable games that can "build" or make a resume. It doesn't pay to have teams like South Carolina, Texas, and UConn on the schedule at this point.

You have UCLA, USC, Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska, & Ohio State all in the Barn this year. Not to mention going to Washington, Oregon, Iowa, Michigan all on the road. Those are the games that could have big pull in the tournament resume.

USF, Harvard/Alabama likely the team's two biggest "resume builders" in non-con. However at Drake, at Kansas & Marquette are all good winnable tests to build up to bigger games and show they are ready to be in the top 5-6 of the big ten.

I think they played the schedule perfectly and a 9-2 or 10-1 record barring injuries) is not out of the question.
 

bball_craz_31 said:
There will be no exhibition game this season. My guess is the countdown of 52 days (from yesterday, which would be October 22nd) will be like an open practice for the public or like an inter-squad scrimmage at the barn for a "first look" at the team.

One thing when talking about schedule strength..you have to remember that the Big Ten Schedule alone gives them 5, 6, maybe even 7 notable games that can "build" or make a resume. It doesn't pay to have teams like South Carolina, Texas, and UConn on the schedule at this point.

You have UCLA, USC, Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska, & Ohio State all in the Barn this year. Not to mention going to Washington, Oregon, Iowa, Michigan all on the road. Those are the games that could have big pull in the tournament resume.

USF, Harvard/Alabama likely the team's two biggest "resume builders" in non-con. However at Drake, at Kansas & Marquette are all good winnable tests to build up to bigger games and show they are ready to be in the top 5-6 of the big ten.

I think they played the schedule perfectly and a 9-2 or 10-1 record barring injuries) is not out of the question.
Click to expand...
Absolutely agree! It will set them up great going into the big 10
 


bball_craz_31 said:
There will be no exhibition game this season. My guess is the countdown of 52 days (from yesterday, which would be October 22nd) will be like an open practice for the public or like an inter-squad scrimmage at the barn for a "first look" at the team.
Click to expand...
It looks like the tweet I saw yesterday was deleted, so maybe it was a mistake.
 



As a Coach P scheduling critic, I am happy to see the improvement in the quality of the neutral/road portion of the pre-conference schedule, and happy to see regional opponents of interest (Marquette, Drake) on the schedule.

Kansas could/should be a top 40-50 team, perhaps better if their hyped freshmen shine. Perhaps good to play them early. Harvard, Alabama and Drake should all be materially worse this year. They all lost their key players. Don’t know much about S. Florida, except their roster is usually stacked with international players, and they play an aggressive non-conference schedule, this year playing Fairfield, UCLA and Duke before they play the Gophers, and later playing UCONN, South Carolina and Vandy.

The home non-conference portion is still lacking, but Marquette and Wyoming are credible home games, and one or both should have a better NET than Vermont last year, the Gophers highest NET ranked non-conference opponent last year. The other 5 home non-conference opponents all had 200+ NET rankings last year. That is still too many near-dregs, but a step up from last year when the Gophers played 4 300+ NET teams and another 280+ NET team.

I agree with those who think the Gophers could be a top 5-6 BIG team. In that event a top 16 NCAA seed is not out of the question. But unless Kansas and USF have great years, and the Gophers beat them, the non-conference schedule may be a drag on their tourney-hosting hopes. Would still like to see a better non-conference schedule, but glad for the improvements made this year.

I am also interested to see how the Gophers non-conference schedule compares to the rest of the BIG. Last year the Gophers had the worst non-conference strength of schedule among BIG teams. Hoping the Gophers can make the leap to top 10 in the league this year.
 
Last edited:


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom