Miami appears to be going down the crapper

[SelectionSunday]

Miami now 1-4 in the ACC after losing at home to a medicore Boston College squad. Loss dropped the Hurricanes to #103 in the RPI, currently giving the Gophers two bad losses to teams with RPIs of 101 or higher (also #214 Indiana). Portland currently at #89 not far off from making it three.

Gophers really need some top-shelf wins to offset those losses. Saturday would be a good time to start. Here's a Cliff notes version of how I'd rate the Big 10's current NCAA prospects:

Locks (4)
Michigan State
Ohio State
Purdue
Wisconsin

On the Bubble (3) -- in at-large pecking order
1. Illinois -- 4 top-100 wins (#22 Vandy, #29 Clemson, #60 Northwestern, #85 Western Michigan); 1 bad loss (#140 Utah); 2-6 road/neutral

2. Northwestern -- 2 top-100 wins (#14 Purdue, #72 Notre Dame), 0 bad losses; 4-2 road/neutral

3. Minnesota -- 2 top-100 wins (#24 Butler, #41 Ohio State), 2 bad losses (#103 Miami-Florida, #214 Indiana); 2-6 road/neutral

Longshot (must get en fuego)
Michigan

 

[rcpratt]

Miami was never good. Amazing how even bad teams can have a good nonconf record when they played the #334 (or something) nonconf schedule.

 

[Reserve]

I'm starting to think we're going to need at the least two of Mich St, Wisconsin, Purdue, and Ohio St. And maybe that won't be enough.

 

[SelectionSunday]

Excellent point about Miami's nonconference schedule. It's "Penn State-like" from last season. Penn State had enough quality wins within the conference last season, but it's their joke of a nonconference schedule that kept them out.

 

[howeda7]

Excellent point about Miami's nonconference schedule. It's "Penn State-like" from last season.

Not quite. To toot our own horn, Penn State didn't have a NC win as good as Minnesota last year, or even South Carolina.

However, Miami is not good. I watched them play at UVa on Saturday and they were never really in the game. I can't figure out if UVa is actually improved that much over earlier in the season or Miami just stinks. Some degree of both I'm sure, but Miami basically has one good player (the PF whose name escapes me) and 4 stiffs who might get hot on 3's now and then. I'm still not sure how the Gophers managed to lose to them.

 

[Blizzard]

I'm still not sure how the Gophers managed to lose to them.

Without looking it up I thought they killed us on the boards and overall were much more physical than we were.

 

[SelectionSunday]

We also crapped our pants in the last couple minutes of the Miami game. Showed zero poise. I remember several positively brutal possessions when the game was on the line, where we either turned it over or just threw up a prayer at the end of the shot clock.

I still think if the Gophers fall just short of making the tournament, it's the Texas A&M game that will come back to bite us. A&M is a lot like us. To have that win on our resume would be huge for the Gophers.

 

[98VQueens]

Speaking of #216 Penn State, who returned 3 starters and 8 players from the NIT Championship, what happened? Loss of Cornley?

61 Dec. 29 @ MINN L 75-70
9 Jan. 3 WISC L 63-46
121 Jan. 7 MICH L 64-55
72 Jan. 12 @ ILL L 54-53
184 Jan. 16 @ IOWA L 67-64

It should be a close road game February 6th, one that the Gophers don't want to lose.

 

[MRJ]

I agree with other posters regarding Miami. They were never good to begin with, which makes losing to them all the more frustrating. Of course, I could also say that about Portland and Indiana. Texas A&M remains a sore spot for me as well. I've been able to watch them several times this year and they are not very impressive. All and all, you could honestly say that 4 of our 6 losses were of the "bad" variety. In other words, if the guys really want to make the NCAAs as badly as they have already said, it's time to stop farting around and get the job done the rest of the way.

 

[WilliamsArenaGuy]

I agree with other posters regarding Miami. They were never good to begin with, which makes losing to them all the more frustrating. Of course, I could also say that about Portland and Indiana. Texas A&M remains a sore spot for me as well. I've been able to watch them several times this year and they are not very impressive. All and all, you could honestly say that 4 of our 6 losses were of the "bad" variety. In other words, if the guys really want to make the NCAAs as badly as they have already said, it's time to stop farting around and get the job done the rest of the way.

Those were all "bad" losses, as you say. At some point, and it's taking me a long time to admit it, we might have to realize are not that good a team ourselves. We may end up nowhere near the NCAA tourney.

The good news is there are plenty of teams/chances left on the schedule to prove those losses were an aberration. But given the performance of the team thus far, especially on the road, I am having a harder and harder time thinking it will happen.

It's too bad. We have basically the same team as last year, and the Big Ten is worse, IMO. I would think we could be doing quite a bit better given our "Hall of Fame" coach. Something itsn't right here. And Sunday was the prime example.

 

[SelectionSunday]

Big Ten stronger 1 to 4, weaker in the middle?

The Big Ten has been kind of a hodge-podge this season. It's competed just fine vs. the other major conferences (19-19), but killed its RPI by suffering more bad losses than usual. In the end it's a safe bet to say there's no way the Big Ten will get 7 bids like it got (and deserved) last season.

At this point, it's pretty apparent the number will be at worst 4, probably 5 and a max of 6 if everything falls just right. That means the Gophers are competing with Illinois, Northwestern and even Michigan (after beating UConn I'm not ready to dismiss the Wolverines quite yet) for another bid, perhaps 2 (if we look at it only from the Big Ten perspective).

To this point, the Big Ten actually has more top-50 nonconference wins (11) than it had all of last season (9), and Ohio State can add a 12th if it can win in Morgantown this weekend. I think the Big 10 is much stronger 1 to 4 this season, but the middle to bottom is nowhere near as strong as last season. I tend to judge conferences on how many teams appear capable of getting to the second weekend (Sweet 16). Last year I thought the Big 10 had two and both made it (Sparty & Purdue), this season I think there's four with a legit shot of making at least the Sweet 16 (Sparty, Purdue, OSU, Bucky). I'm assuming Leuer will be back to full health by the start of the tournament.

Big 10's Top-50 Nonconference Wins in 2008-09 (6 teams contributing)
1. Illinois over Mizzou (neutral court)
2. Michigan over Duke (Ann Arbor)
3. Michigan over UCLA (neutral court)
4. Michigan State over Kansas (East Lansing)
5. Michigan State over Oklahoma State (neutral court)
6. Michigan State over Texas (neutral court)
7. Minnesota over Louisville (neutral court)
8. Northwestern over Florida State (Evanston)
9. Ohio State over Butler (Columbus)

Current Big 10 Top-50 Nonconference Wins in 2009-10 (8 teams contributing)
1. Illinois over Clemson (Clemson)
2. Illinois over Vandy (Champaign-Urbana)
3. Indiana over Pitt (neutral court)
4. Michigan over UConn (Ann Arbor)
5. Michigan State over Gonzaga (East Lansing)
6. Minnesota over Butler (neutral court)
7. Ohio State over Cal (neutral court)
8. Purdue over Tennessee (neutral court)
9. Purdue over Wake Forest (West Lafayette)
10. Purdue over West Virginia (West Lafayette)
11. Wisconsin over Duke (Madison)

 

[pmgz]

We also crapped our pants in the last couple minutes of the Miami game. Showed zero poise. I remember several positively brutal possessions when the game was on the line, where we either turned it over or just threw up a prayer at the end of the shot clock.
I still think if the Gophers fall just short of making the tournament, it's the Texas A&M game that will come back to bite us. A&M is a lot like us. To have that win on our resume would be huge for the Gophers.

Same as a Monson offense. I though Tubby would provide a lot better offensive flow.