Joe Lunardi and Jerry Palm On Tonights Game

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From Marcus Fuller today-

Have to agree we need a win tonight.

It's early to be too worried.

But Jerry Palm said the Gophers face a must-win game in tonight's ACC/Big Ten Challenge against Miami (Fla.), because a loss likely would force them to have to win 11 or 12 games in Big Ten Conference play to reach the NCAA tournament.

They haven't done that officially since the 1981-82 season.

Palm, who runs CollegeRPI.com, said Miami figures to finish in the bottom half of the Atlantic Coast Conference, so losing to the Hurricanes along with back-to-back losses suffered last week would hurt the Gophers' chances of a second straight at-large bid.

"The Miami game is important to how Minnesota's NCAA tournament profile is going to look in front of the committee," Palm said.

ESPN bracket expert Joe Lunardi doesn't see the situation quite as urgently as Palm, saying that Miami could be an NCAA bubble team. Still, he said a loss would put more pressure on the Gophers to do better than last season's 9-9 Big Ten finish.
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The rest here-

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_13903670
 

No question it's a significant game. Lose it and the Gophers will finish 1-3 vs. teams (Butler, Portland, Texas A&M, Miami) who (for now we'll presume) could be in contention for at-large bids (Saint Joe's is decent but, no, it will not be a potential at-large) at the end of the season. Not exactly a great resume heading into the Big 10 campaign.

I'd compare that to Wisconsin last season. ... the Gophers will have played 4 good teams in the nonconference, but will have only beaten 1. The Badgers won at Virginia Tech, but lost their other 3 key nonconference games (UConn, Marquette, Texas). The Badgers did make the tournament, but they were one of the last teams in.

One thing's for sure, the Gophers absolutely can't slip up vs. any of the 4 remaining scrimmages at The Barn. I'll feel a lot better about the Gophers' chances as a potential at-large if they can beat the Hurricanes tonight.
 

Really have to like the Gophers chances tonight. Miami may have been strong so far but they haven't played anyone yet. I don't think they can survive a strong challenge without McClinton.
Provided we don't completely sh-t the bed I believe we'll win tonight.
 

I think we'll see the Gophers recognizing the urgency of this game. With Bostick off the bench I would expect to see him see at least a bit of time and give us some much needed offense in some form or another. He's a guy who can knock down the three as well as take it to the hole and finish strong there.
 

I don't think they can survive a strong challenge without McClinton.
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I agree. McClinton defined Miami's success. I think they'll have a hard time without him this year.
 


SS,

The one thing that gets overlooked with the Badgers a year ago is how the rest of their NC schedule was laid out.

While they didn't win any of their top NC games, they also didn't have any games against the really bad RPI-suck teams. Their non-big conference victories were over 156, 213, 194, 134, 207, 71 and 220 in the RPI. Add in the Virginia Tech (61) and their average RPI victory was 157.

Let's compare that with the Gophers NC wins a year ago. No. 4 Louisville grabs your attention, but the rest were 157, 233, 212, 231, 87, 114, 115, 283, 247 and 325. The wins against South Dakota State (283) and High Point (325) really didn't count for much. That makes the average RPI at 183.

That's part of the reason why the Badgers, despite being swept by the Gophers were only three spots behind Minnesota in the RPI.
 

Touche.

I think now, more than ever, the fact the Gophers have played/are playing pretty much nobodies at home could come back and bite them. After losing 2 in Anaheim, it would be nice to have another opportunity or two (at home) to get quality wins, but by all appearances Miami will be the last opportunity prior to the Big 10.
 

SS,

I was speaking with Bleed about this recently. As frustrating as the lack of a high-quality home NC game is, I don't think the Gophers are doing themselves a great service with some of the teams they are playing. One of the trademarks of Tubby's schedule have been a significant number of teams that ended up with brutal RPIs.

I think they need more quality throughout the schedule and avoid the 250+ RPIs and only have a couple of 200+. I understand that it is difficult to project RPIs ahead of time, but it doesn't take a genius to know which teams are going to be dreadful.
 

schedule

good teams have turned down offers to play at the barn, they only want neutral sites to play the gophs at 'home'.
 



Idagopher,

I'm not talking good teams. I'm talking about upper division teams from decent mid-major conferences rather than bottom division teams from crap conferences.
 

Reserve said:
Really have to like the Gophers chances tonight. Miami may have been strong so far but they haven't played anyone yet. I don't think they can survive a strong challenge without McClinton.
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They lost McClinton but gained a transfer from Villanova that, like McClinton, can really stroke it from three.
 

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