Let's start talking the Iowa game

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bleedsmaroonandgold

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This is a huge win that we should win. We've beaten them already, we are higher in the conference standings, and we need it. If we lose this game, we go back to a situation where we need to win a really tough game (either IU or OSU) just to finish above .500. If we take it, we can get to 10-8 just by winning the easy ones, and one steal would get us to 11-7.

The win against Wisconsin was huge, but I hope our boys don't celebrate too long, there is still business to take care of. We don't want to look like dufus running on the baseline because we are still celebrating the charge we just took.
 



I am surprised we are favored.
 

I have been impressed every time I have watched Aaron white play. He is doing very well for Iowa, especially for an under the radar kind of kid.
 


XMan said:
I am surprised we are favored.
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I'm not. I think we are a genuinely better team than Iowa. They got us looking about as bad as we've played this year (not counting the NU game) and we still pulled out a win. If we bring our game with us, we should take them.
 

It's the kind of game the Gophers should win:

1. IA willing to play an up tempo game, that allows the Gophers to get into open space.
2. First contest, Gopher didn't DEFEND THE THREE adequately - MUST do better as Hawks will launch with impunity.
2. Gophers should dominate the boards.
3. As noted above, open space should mean break opportunities for Rodney and Joe Coleman; if we create such chances, Gophers can also get into their press and cause turnovers as the superior athletic team.

A good Gopher performance allows them to build confidence for the next two challenges ahead.
 

Very important game to play well and win, will help to build the team confidence and let the team stay loose.
 

Definitely a must-win game again if we want an above .500 record. I'm a believer that the Wisconsin win was a huge momentum game, and I think it'll show tomorrow afternoon. I'm thinking a breakout game tomorrow for the Gophers... aka... breaking 60+ points for the first time in the four games lol. But seriously, I'm predicting a 10-15 point win tomorrow! Get 'er done, Gophs!
 




I see little chance at winning tomorrow. Iowa is tough at home, and arguably better than us anyway. Just like everybody else in the Big Ten they will grind it down to a half court slog fest and play fundamentally sound D. I see it in the range of 59-50 Iowa.
 

I think this game is winnable, can't let them get started on 3 pointers.
 




balds said:
I see little chance at winning tomorrow. Iowa is tough at home, and arguably better than us anyway. Just like everybody else in the Big Ten they will grind it down to a half court slog fest and play fundamentally sound D. I see it in the range of 59-50 Iowa.
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The favored team has little chance to win?
 


Its funny.. as like others, I am nervous about game. I think its a game we can and should win. I also wouldn't be surprised by a loss. There are many on this board that point out, correctly so, that Iowa is a good team and folks are surprised we are favored, even by a small margin. Yet, if we lose, I am guessing everyone will talk about how we lost to a much inferior opponent.

After watching the Tubby Dance video 1000 times since Friday morning, I am pumped. Nothing would feel better than a good old fashioned thumping of a decent team on the road to boost everyones spirits even further. Lets go Gophers.. come out strong and aggressive.

Who Hates Iowa?
 

Exactly, the negative nancies out there want it both ways, they want to be negative about the Gophers and say that Iowa's not better but that the Gophers are poorly coached and how they will probably lose.

BUT, if they then do lose, those same people will then want to cry about how we lost to a MUCH inferior team and how there is no excuse for our losing.


Let me lay it out for you all. This is a ROAD game for the Gophers. It is a HOME game for the Hawkeyes.

The Sagarin Ratings have Iowa rated at #39 in the nation.

The Ken-Pom Ratings have Iowa rated at #41 in the nation.

TeamRankings dot com have Iowa rated at #42 in their Predictive Ratings and #47 in their Overall Power Ratings.

ESPN's BPI has Iowa rated #51, ahead of Illinois.



Basically, right now, Iowa is the threshold team. Other than NW, we haven't lost a single game to anyone ranked lower than Iowa. We have not swept anyone yet. Hopefully we should sweep Nebraska. Otherwise we've split with NW, Illinios, UW and MSU. We could split with Indiana, which would help make up for not sweeping NW. But this Iowa game will go along way in my opinion of showing where we are right now. Win this game and I'll be confident we have a chance to finish above .500 in conf play. Lose this game and well, I just won't know what to expect the rest of the way out. This isn't a make or break game though. It's actually a good loss if we lose it. Granted, we can still lose it in an ugly way, but the way the NCAA selection committee will look at it, and they DO look at ratings such as The Sagarin and others, and do NOT strictly adhere to the RPI, this will not be considered a bad loss if we lose, and WILL be considered a solid win if we win it. Not a signature win, but a solid one. A road win vs a Top 100 rated team, is a solid win, but not a bad loss.


As for my prediction? I think that the enthusiasm and energy from winning the Wisconsin game will carry over. I'm thinking we jump out to a big lead. Lets just hope Tubby doesn't do a mass substitution and stifle the momentum if that is the case.

But as usual, Iowa will make a run of their own and make it a close game. I say that its still either teams game with less than 2 minutes to play. But I think Minny pulls it out. By the skin of their chinny chin chin.
 

Rouser said:
Its funny.. as like others, I am nervous about game. I think its a game we can and should win. I also wouldn't be surprised by a loss. There are many on this board that point out, correctly so, that Iowa is a good team and folks are surprised we are favored, even by a small margin. Yet, if we lose, I am guessing everyone will talk about how we lost to a much inferior opponent.

After watching the Tubby Dance video 1000 times since Friday morning, I am pumped. Nothing would feel better than a good old fashioned thumping of a decent team on the road to boost everyones spirits even further. Lets go Gophers.. come out strong and aggressive.

Who Hates Iowa?
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They are an inferior opponent (though admittedly, not by a wide margin). They are a game behind us in the standings, they are 1-6 against teams in the top half of the conference (a group that includes us) and they have a losing record against that group. #1Alphabet likes to talk about how it would not be a bad loss for us because of their high Sagarin rating (#39). Well we are #15 on that same rating. To me, this is a game that we don't lose if we bring out best basketball. If Iowa takes it, it is because we were lacking at least one of the following: energy, effort, focus, thinking.

That said, Iowa isn't taking this. This is a huge chance for us to put ourselves in a position to pretty much coast in at 10-8, and give us an outside shot at 11-7 and even a prayer (a desperate and unlikely prayer) at 12-6.
 

In the game of basketball, and especially this year in ALL of College BB, every game must be played out until the final buzzer. There is no accurate way to predict, unless one is clearly a clairvoyant. That is why I watch, enjoy, and let the kids decide the outcome.

Should we win? IDK. Will we win? IDK. Can we win? Absolutely. I just don't know, Clark.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
This is a huge win that we should win. We've beaten them already, we are higher in the conference standings, and we need it. If we lose this game, we go back to a situation where we need to win a really tough game (either IU or OSU) just to finish above .500. If we take it, we can get to 10-8 just by winning the easy ones, and one steal would get us to 11-7.

The win against Wisconsin was huge, but I hope our boys don't celebrate too long, there is still business to take care of. We don't want to look like dufus running on the baseline because we are still celebrating the charge we just took.
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I think it's cute that you think road games at Nebraska and Purdue are going to be easy.
 

Boys, it boils down too putting the round ball in the round basket. We shoot under 40% we probably lose. We don't make 70% of our FT's we probably lose. ( we shoot 66% as a team)
You can slice and dice all the other intangibles you want, but the reality is: " put the FRICKEN
ball in the basket "
 

B1GSportsGuy said:
I think it's cute that you think road games at Nebraska and Purdue are going to be easy.
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There are lots of things about me that are cute.

Nebraska is 3-10. Of their three wins, two came against 0-12 PSU, the other one against 4-8 NU. They have not beaten anyone, home or away, in the top 9 teams in the standings. I certainly put that one in the easy column. The closest they have been to beating any of those top 9 teams at home was a 6 point loss.

Similarly, Purdue is 0-6 against the top half of the conference.

Neither of those teams has beaten a team ranked as high or higher than us in conference this season.
 


There are no games in this conference that are easy. Can we win...yes definitely...and I think we will win. Should we win...that's hard to say. Iowa is a good team and a win against us at home puts them squarely in the tournament talk. Iowa almost beat MSU and Indiana earlier this year at home and split with Wisconsin. They actually probably should have swept them. I think if we win today, we will win one of the two games after that and then have a chance to win the last three to finish 11-7. That would be the second best record we have had in 30 years in the B1G...only worse than the team that made the Final 4 and tied with the team that just missed the Final 4.
 



bleedsmaroonandgold said:
There are lots of things about me that are cute.

Nebraska is 3-10. Of their three wins, two came against 0-12 PSU, the other one against 4-8 NU. They have not beaten anyone, home or away, in the top 9 teams in the standings. I certainly put that one in the easy column. The closest they have been to beating any of those top 9 teams at home was a 6 point loss.

Similarly, Purdue is 0-6 against the top half of the conference.

Neither of those teams has beaten a team ranked as high or higher than us in conference this season.
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There is no such thing as an easy road game in the B1G except for maybe Penn State. Nebraska has given Michigan State and Ohio State fits in Lincoln the past couple of weeks. I had no idea, but I looked it up and MN wins at Purdue about once a decade (if that). Middle of the pack teams in any conference can get beat any night on the road. This Minnesota Gopher team isn't good enough to start assuming road victories.
 


ruppertflywheel said:
Boys, it boils down too putting the round ball in the round basket. We shoot under 40% we probably lose. We don't make 70% of our FT's we probably lose. ( we shoot 66% as a team)
You can slice and dice all the other intangibles you want, but the reality is: " put the FRICKEN
ball in the basket "
Click to expand...

Agree that shooting field goals is the key.. but, the FT %.. not a big deal. Think of it this way:
Let's say the Gophers get to the line a bunch.. 20 times. If they shoot the 66%... that's 13.2 points... if they shoot 70%... that's 14.0 points... less than a point difference.

Getting to the line is great, even if you're only shooting 60% from the line.
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I think if the Gophers win today, they've got a good shot at winning 10. Lose, they've got a good shot at winning 9. However, a loss and they may be sitting at 6-9, but favored to win 3 in a row to get to 9 wins.. that's a tricky position to be in, even if at Purdue is your toughest game.

The game at the Boilers is the last of the season. They're a young team that *should be* improving with time.

Minnesota goes 2-1 over the next 3 and a lot of pressure is off... but 0-3.. they still should be fine, but things will get uncomfortable. All that said, today's game is BIG.
 

They might be the second worst team in the conference, but either Nebraska or Purdue could beat the Gophers on their home courts. I'm not saying the Gophers will or should lose either game, but it is possible.
 

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