Gophers to start men's basketball season with home-friendly schedule

[MennoSota]

personally, I would rather see the Gophers play the Dakota schools as opposed to playing No-Name State. The Dakota schools would at least bring in a few fans.

I don't think that Central Michigan or St. Francis will bring in a lot of visiting fans.

Don't be dissing the Chippewa's!

 

[gophereric30]

First thing is do well in the non conference and then win 10 games in big ten. Not guaranteed of making tourney, but depending on who you beat you might be in a good spot. I live right down the block from the high school cameron christie goes to. Gonna try and make some games to see him.

 

[60's Guy]

Ex: Wisconsin played DIII Wisconsin-Whitewater. (Wide range of D1/D2/D3 schools)

Not sure exactly how accurate this is, but just to give you a better picture of how much of a non-issue this is. I completely understand complaining about scheduling in non-con, but an exhibition game is something else.

Okay, so you have one D3 matchup but Wisconsin and UW Whitewater are both in the Wisconsin state public college family so there is that relationship. UW Whitewater is very athletic program oriented. They compete for and win National titles in several different sports. St Olaf has a choir.

I see no other MIAC schools on your list and I was commenting the Big Ten Gophers were dropping down in precedence. I don’t believe historically they have scheduled other MIAC schools in mens basketball or other D3 schools.

And most of the other unbolded appear to be DII?

 

[60's Guy]

Do you mean MI who lost to the Gophers by 10 last year in Ann Arbor? Or Mich St who beat the Gophers by 2 in East Lansing about a month later on a last second shot? It doesn't seem that last year's squad needed a tough non-con schedule to learn how to compete against the big boys.

In fact, I would say that they used the non-con to build confidence and cohesiveness which is why they were competitive in most B1G games despite being clearly less talented.

I can guarantee you that this team would have been blown out in many conference games last year had they scuffled in the non-con. Instead they went undefeated in non-con and carried that over to 4 conference wins and many competitive games.

We had a couple of true road games last year that we don’t this year.
Don’t you think this years schedule is easier than last years?
Don’t you think we will/should be a better team this year?

 

[gophereric30]

Okay, so you have one D3 matchup but Wisconsin and UW Whitewater are both in the Wisconsin state public college family so there is that relationship. UW Whitewater is very athletic program oriented. They compete for and win National titles in several different sports. St Olaf has a choir.

I see no other MIAC schools on your list and I was commenting the Big Ten Gophers were dropping down in precedence. I don’t believe historically they have scheduled other MIAC schools in mens basketball or other D3 schools.

And most of the other unbolded appear to be DII?

Why does it matter who they play. I'm sure they are just looking to play a game, run some offense and just get out there and run some plays and do something other than practice against each other. If they get beat it has no bearing on anything. It's just a chance to get better as a team.

 

[60's Guy]

Why does it matter who they play. I'm sure they are just looking to play a game, run some offense and just get out there and run some plays and do something other than practice against each other. If they get beat it has no bearing on anything. It's just a chance to get better as a team.

If our second team alone couldn’t beat St Olaf by 20 they shouldn’t be Gophers. It simulates nothing going forward, it develops bad habits. It’s a poor use of an opportunity.
If you were coaching a grade school team I’d agree with your comments but your kids will still learn more playing better competition.

 

[60's Guy]

First thing is do well in the non conference and then win 10 games in big ten. Not guaranteed of making tourney, but depending on who you beat you might be in a good spot. I live right down the block from the high school cameron christie goes to. Gonna try and make some games to see him.

You mean win 10 games in the Big Ten like in 2004-5 and the 2016-17 seasons? I agree with your plan btw

 

[gophereric30]

If our second team alone couldn’t beat St Olaf by 20 they shouldn’t be Gophers. It simulates nothing going forward, it develops bad habits. It’s a poor use of an opportunity.
If you were coaching a grade school team I’d agree with your comments but your kids will still learn more playing better competition.

I agree with everything you say, but is playing minnesota Duluth better than playing st. Olaf? It's an exhibition. Gonna learn something either way. Exhibition game not gonna get us ready for edey at purdue. Cant practice for that.

 

[gophereric30]

I agree with everything you say, but is playing minnesota Duluth better than playing st. Olaf? It's an exhibition. Gonna learn something either way. Exhibition game not gonna get us ready for edey at purdue. Cant practice for that.

Were gonna learn plenty in playing st. Olaf. Were gonna learn if we can play defense or not. Like I said earlier I dont think winning by s certain number means anything. Just run plays and learn each other and play defense. Learn alot by that. You seem to be too much worried about this game that means absolutely nothing.

 

[60's Guy]

Were gonna learn plenty in playing st. Olaf. Were gonna learn if we can play defense or not. Like I said earlier I dont think winning by s certain number means anything. Just run plays and learn each other and play defense. Learn alot by that. You seem to be too much worried about this game that means absolutely nothing.

In the grand scheme it matters not. And I'm not worried. I would just better utilize the opportunity.
The great thing about life is that we can choose to make the best of any situation...so you are not wrong.
Couple things I think I know from playing first games of the year. 100% you want to play somebody you are pretty certain you can beat. You'd like to play everybody. Your players will never be more nervous than they are in game one to start the year....kinda can't explain it but I saw it every year. So, we should have those things handled.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

as noted earlier - the St. Olaf Coach is a former Gopher.

from the St. Olaf website:

Prior to coming to St. Olaf, Kosmoski was an assistant coach at the University of Minnesota for nine seasons (1985-86 - 1993-94) under Jim Dutcher, Jimmy Williams and Clem Haskins. While with the Gophers, Kosmoski was on the coaching staff of teams that made the Sweet 16 (1988-89) and Elite 8 (1989-90), helping turn around a program that lost 19 Big Ten games in a row. In 1993-94, Minnesota won the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).

Before working at the University of Minnesota, Kosmoski spent five seasons as an assistant at Golden Valley Lutheran Junior College (1978-79, 1980-84), including two years under Flip Saunders. In his five seasons on staff, the program went 116-30 and, in 1981, was the state and regional champions and participated in the national tournament.

In his playing days, Kosmoski was a standout at Owatonna High School, earning all-state honors in football, basketball and track & field, and was inducted into the Owatonna High School Hall of Fame in 1998. He went on to play at the University of Minnesota, where he played alongside lottery picks Mychal Thompson, Kevin McHale and Flip Saunders and was on the 1976-77 team that finished 24-3.

 

[Lion King]

We had a couple of true road games last year that we don’t this year.
Don’t you think this years schedule is easier than last years?
Don’t you think we will/should be a better team this year?

Yes & No we are way to young this season to be any good !!!
BEN HAS YET TO EARN ANY RESPECT FROM LEAGUE OFFICIALS, WILL BE A LONG YEAR !!

 

[Fleckoff]

Okay, so you have one D3 matchup but Wisconsin and UW Whitewater are both in the Wisconsin state public college family so there is that relationship. UW Whitewater is very athletic program oriented. They compete for and win National titles in several different sports. St Olaf has a choir.

I see no other MIAC schools on your list and I was commenting the Big Ten Gophers were dropping down in precedence. I don’t believe historically they have scheduled other MIAC schools in mens basketball or other D3 schools.

And most of the other unbolded appear to be DII?

St. Olaf's coach was on Clem's staff with Thorson, that's the relationship.

 

[RockChalk]

Yes & No we are way to young this season to be any good !!!
BEN HAS YET TO EARN ANY RESPECT FROM LEAGUE OFFICIALS, WILL BE A LONG YEAR !!

Nice Post

 

[Gophers_4life]

is playing minnesota Duluth better than playing st. Olaf?

Unquestionably yes

 

[2nd Degree Gopher]

My favorite bit of St. Olaf basketball history is the fact that back in the late 80s they hired Dave Buss, who had among other things been an assistant at UNLV for Tark the Shark, to be head coach. Upon arriving in Northfield and being questioned about the athleticism of his Oles, Coach Buss stated something along the lines of "I don't want to say that we are slow, but this season instead of game film we will be taking slides."

 

[ecoperson]

You’re aware we were in last place, right?

Yep... right where everyone (fans, coaches polls, media) predicted. But instead of going O-fer in conference and losing by 30+ every night like many 'fans' hoped, they won 4 conference games and were extremely competitive in most others. Despite an extremely underwhelming roster, they performed above expectations.

I am not certain why fans have this to be such a hard concept to grasp. Would you have preferred that they looked like a JV team every night and lost by 30? Would you have wanted Thiem and Thompson to have played substantial minutes because every game was a blow out?

I preferred that the coaching staff made lemonade out of lemons. Still not the best lemonade but enough to show recruits what the program is about and then reel them in. The 5 new recruits, Garcia, and Cooper would NOT have come to the U if this was an absolute clown show.

Once Johnson was hired and nearly every player with eligibility remaining bolted into the portal, we were what we were. Fans can either accept that reality, move on, and look for some positives or they might as well go find another team to cheer for. There is no changing the past and, barring any major scandal or the like, Johnson is here for at least 3 more years.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Yep... right where everyone (fans, coaches polls, media) predicted. But instead of going O-fer in conference and losing by 30+ every night like many 'fans' hoped, they won 4 conference games and were extremely competitive in most others. Despite an extremely underwhelming roster, they performed above expectations.

I am not certain why fans have this to be such a hard concept to grasp. Would you have preferred that they looked like a JV team every night and lost by 30? Would you have wanted Thiem and Thompson to have played substantial minutes because every game was a blow out?

I preferred that the coaching staff made lemonade out of lemons. Still not the best lemonade but enough to show recruits what the program is about and then reel them in. The 5 new recruits, Garcia, and Cooper would NOT have come to the U if this was an absolute clown show.

Once Johnson was hired and nearly every player with eligibility remaining bolted into the portal, we were what we were. Fans can either accept that reality, move on, and look for some positives or they might as well go find another team to cheer for. There is no changing the past and, barring any major scandal or the like, Johnson is here for at least 3 more years.

I regret giving you an opening to post this nonsense. That’s on me.

Here’s the tl;dr for your rant.
“The Gophers were picked to finish last, but they exceeded expectations despite finishing where everyone expected because they lost some close games. If you don’t think they exceeded expectations then go find a new team.”

To answer your question, they looked an awful lot like a JV team when they finished the season 3-16 in their last 19.

 

[Gopherfan84]

I regret giving you an opening to post this nonsense. That’s on me.

Here’s the tl;dr for your rant.
“The Gophers were picked to finish last, but they exceeded expectations despite finishing where everyone expected because they lost some close games. If you don’t think they exceeded expectations then go find a new team.”

How do you decide what normal people see? Most I talk with saw that the squad overachieved. Most I talk with thought we played harder than years past. This site is ridiculously full of curmudgeons who claim they see reality and it just gets old. You can’t blame some fans actually trying to change the narrative.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

How do you decide what normal people see? Most I talk with saw that the squad overachieved. Most I talk with thought we played harder than years past. This site is ridiculously full of curmudgeons who claim they see reality and it just gets old. You can’t blame some fans actually trying to change the narrative.

There’s plenty to be encouraged about without feeling compelled to put lipstick on a pig. When PJ won 2 B1G games his first year, we were in wait and see mode too. That turned out ok so far. Onwards and upwards, but last year sucked. Hopefully we can avoid Wednesday at the B1G Tournament this year.

 

[ecoperson]

I regret giving you an opening to post this nonsense. That’s on me.

Here’s the tl;dr for your rant.
“The Gophers were picked to finish last, but they exceeded expectations despite finishing where everyone expected because they lost some close games. If you don’t think they exceeded expectations then go find a new team.”

To answer your question, they looked an awful lot like a JV team when they finished the season 3-16 in their last 19.

Did they look like a JV team? I see 2-8 in the last 10 regular season conference games. I see two games that I would consider blowouts. By 25 at Ohio St and 21 at Penn St. I will count the loss to Nebbie as another bad loss.

The 20-21 Gophers lost by 31 and 27 to Illinois, 25 at Michigan, 19 at Purdue, and 19 at Penn St. They lost their last 7 regular season games. I would argue that that team was far more disappointing than last year.

The Gophers last year were more competitive in conference than Northwestern was for nearly 2 full decades in the 80s and 90s. The Gophers exceeded expectations despite having a new coach with a JV roster.

What was your expected win-loss record prior to last season based on the facts at hand? If they exceeded the number of wins you predicted, then they exceeded expectations.

I had them at .500 in the non-conference. I had them at 2-4 B1G wins. They exceeded my expectations. It can be as simple as that if one is all about the wins. If they exceeded the win total AND showed some flashes of building the foundation for the program going forward, I might even call that a success.

 

[Gopherfan84]

There’s plenty to be encouraged about without feeling compelled to put lipstick on a pig. When PJ won 2 B1G games his first year, we were in wait and see mode too. That turned out ok so far. Onwards and upwards, but last year sucked. Hopefully we can avoid Wednesday at the B1G Tournament this year.

I enjoyed last year. I won’t tolerate that every year, but I watched a new coach and a group of guys work hard and play together. The couple losses at the end of the year and slide into last place sucked, but I’m not putting lipstick on a pig. I was on here predicting 12-15 wins and would have many posters acting like I was crazy and we wouldn’t win 10 games. One poster even bet me vs him on posting on here. Sometimes I wish I’d lost that bet.

On to next year, this roster is completely different. Even with our injuries, we have better players and more depth. I agree avoiding weakling Wednesday should be the expectation as long as we stay healthy.