Gophers' Selection Sunday "Magic Number" Is 21

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SelectionSunday

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I feel comfortable saying a 21-10 regular season record earns the Gophers "lock" status into March Madness, regardless of Big Ten Tournament results. My "buckets" loosely use Bart Torvik's preseason rankings as a guide, splitting the Big Ten opponents (+ Mizzou) into top half (Michigan, Purdue, Illinois, UCLA, Ohio State, Michigan State, Mizzou, USC, Oregon) and bottom half (Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, Washington, Northwestern, Rutgers, Penn State).

Our 2025-26 game buckets:

CUPCAKE CITY, NO SLIP-UPS ALLOWED (go 7-0; currently 1-0)
Nov. 3: Gardner-Webb (W 87-60)
Nov. 8: Alcorn State
Nov. 15: Green Bay
Nov. 18: Chicago State
Dec. 14: Texas Southern
Dec. 21: Campbell
Dec. 29: Fairleigh Dickinson

TAKE CARE OF B1G BUSINESS @ THE BARN (go 4-0)
Jan. 24: Nebraska
Feb. 8: Maryland
Feb. 21: Rutgers
March 7: Northwestern

WINNABLE ROADKILL (go 3-1)
Jan. 3: @ Northwestern
Feb. 1: @ Penn State
Feb. 14: @ Washington
March 4: @ Indiana

50/50 BALLS (go 4-2)
Nov. 22: vs. San Francisco
Nov. 27: vs. Stanford
Nov. 28: vs. Saint Louis or Santa Clara
Dec. 3: Indiana
Jan. 6: Iowa
Jan. 9: USC

BIG BOY PANTS/SIGNATURE WINS (go 3-7)
Nov. 12: @ Mizzou
Dec. 10: @ Purdue
Jan. 13: Wisconsin
Jan. 17: @ Illinois
Jan. 20: @ Ohio State
Jan. 28: @ Wisconsin
Feb. 4: Michigan State
Feb. 17: @ Oregon
Feb. 24: @ Michigan
Feb. 28: UCLA
 



I'm curious why you grouped Washington into "Winnable Roadkill." They seem to have had a great recruiting year.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
I'm curious why you grouped Washington into "Winnable Roadkill." They seem to have had a great recruiting year.
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. ... "buckets" loosely use Bart Torvik's preseason rankings as a guide, splitting the Big Ten opponents (+ Mizzou) into top half (Michigan, Purdue, Illinois, UCLA, Ohio State, Michigan State, Mizzou, USC, Oregon) and bottom half (Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, Washington, Northwestern, Rutgers, Penn State).
 





SelectionSunday said:
. ... "buckets" loosely use Bart Torvik's preseason rankings as a guide, splitting the Big Ten opponents (+ Mizzou) into top half (Michigan, Purdue, Illinois, UCLA, Ohio State, Michigan State, Mizzou, USC, Oregon) and bottom half (Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, Washington, Northwestern, Rutgers, Penn State).
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That division mostly makes sense to me but Washington seems to have had a really good recruiting class both in the portal and a couple of freshman who have contributed substantially in their two games (one an exhibition against UNLV). They have a freshman center from Germany who was on the all-star team and a silver medalist for the U19 FIBA World Cup. He averaged about 22 points and 12 rebounds in their two games so far. Their backup center is soph Lathan Sommerville (transfer from Rutgers) who is pretty darn good for a backup center. Desmond Claude (transfer and leading scorer for USC last season) hasn't even played yet for them.
 
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Washington was supposed to be good last year too, super tall/long if I remember correctly- but they were terrible, 4-16 in conf. Obviously, one of those wins was against us though lol
 

NYtoWItoMN said:
Washington was supposed to be good last year too, super tall/long if I remember correctly- but they were terrible, 4-16 in conf. Obviously, one of those wins was against us though lol
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Mostly a different team this season. Their highly paid center last season actually was a negative for more than a few games during the year.
 

SelectionSunday said:
I feel comfortable saying a 21-10 regular season record earns the Gophers "lock" status into March Madness, regardless of Big Ten Tournament results. My "buckets" loosely use Bart Torvik's preseason rankings as a guide, splitting the Big Ten opponents (+ Mizzou) into top half (Michigan, Purdue, Illinois, UCLA, Ohio State, Michigan State, Mizzou, USC, Oregon) and bottom half (Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, Washington, Northwestern, Rutgers, Penn State).

Our 2025-26 game buckets:

CUPCAKE CITY, NO SLIP-UPS ALLOWED (go 7-0; currently 1-0)
Nov. 3: Gardner-Webb (W 87-60)
Nov. 8: Alcorn State
Nov. 15: Green Bay
Nov. 18: Chicago State
Dec. 14: Texas Southern
Dec. 21: Campbell
Dec. 29: Fairleigh Dickinson

TAKE CARE OF B1G BUSINESS @ THE BARN (go 4-0)
Jan. 24: Nebraska
Feb. 8: Maryland
Feb. 21: Rutgers
March 7: Northwestern

WINNABLE ROADKILL (go 3-1)
Jan. 3: @ Northwestern
Feb. 1: @ Penn State
Feb. 14: @ Washington
March 4: @ Indiana

50/50 BALLS (go 4-2)
Nov. 22: vs. San Francisco
Nov. 27: vs. Stanford
Nov. 28: vs. Saint Louis or Santa Clara
Dec. 3: Indiana
Jan. 6: Iowa
Jan. 9: USC

BIG BOY PANTS/SIGNATURE WINS (go 3-7)
Nov. 12: @ Mizzou
Dec. 10: @ Purdue
Jan. 13: Wisconsin
Jan. 17: @ Illinois
Jan. 20: @ Ohio State
Jan. 28: @ Wisconsin
Feb. 4: Michigan State
Feb. 17: @ Oregon
Feb. 24: @ Michigan
Feb. 28: UCLA
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I hope you are right, as I made a similarly optimistic post #69 Aug. 12 in "What Should I Expect This Season". Torvik is all wrong about MN. Glad to see great minds think alike. ;)
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
That division mostly makes sense to me but Washington seems to have had a really good recruiting class both in the portal and a couple of freshman who have contributed substantially in their two games (one an exhibition against UNLV). They have a freshman center from Germany who was on the all-star team and a silver medalist for the U19 FIBA World Cup. He averaged about 22 points and 12 rebounds in their two games so far. Their backup center is soph Lathan Sommerville (transfer from Rutgers) who is pretty darn good for a backup center. Desmond Claude (transfer and leading scorer for USC last season) hasn't even played yet for them.
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I will look forward to your next nitpick sometime during the season!

You can take over this duty next season.
 



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