NIT Championship: #1 Gophers vs. #1 SMU at MSG [ESPN, Thurs @ 6:00PM]

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afurry91 said:
I'd say winning the NIT puts you mid 30s roughly. But that is just my opinion.
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Its a shame they don't keep the RPI ratings current through all the tournaments. It would be nice to see how high these 5 wins lifted us.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Its a shame they don't keep the RPI ratings current through all the tournaments. It would be nice to see how high these 5 wins lifted us.
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One of the RPI sites I like (warrennolan.com) continues to update the RPI through the entire season. Gophers are now #34 after the win over SMU. Next season let's get the RPI in that territory heading into Selection Sunday and we'll be in great shape to get a NCAA bid!

Gophers were #50 heading into the NIT.
 

SelectionSunday said:
One of the RPI sites I like (warrennolan.com) continues to update the RPI through the entire season. Gophers are now #34 after the win over SMU.
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Sagarin does, too, and we're #39 there. Clearly a top 40 team. Better yet, a team that's learning how to win. We lost a lot of these close games during the season. The win against FSU was their first overtime win.
 



Bad Gopher said:
Sagarin does, too, and we're #39 there. Clearly a top 40 team. Better yet, a team that's learning how to win. We lost a lot of these close games during the season. The win against FSU was their first overtime win.
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I don't disagree with you. However, I temper your thoughts with the idea that Austin Hollins put this team on his back at MSG to get the win. I'm hoping that the kids coming back learned from his senior leadership and can carry that over to next season. Austin has a lot of intangibles that will be very hard to replace. Here's to hoping we continue to see the growth and maturity of lil Dre.
 

SelectionSunday said:
One of the RPI sites I like (warrennolan.com) continues to update the RPI through the entire season. Gophers are now #34 after the win over SMU. Next season let's get the RPI in that territory heading into Selection Sunday and we'll be in great shape to get a NCAA bid!

Gophers were #50 heading into the NIT.
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Thanks, I was wondering about that! Iowa checking in at #60. LOL, sounds about right. NC State 55, Xavier 56, K State 58... I counted 16 teams we're now ahead of, who received at large bids. Wow.

Maybe not that surprising, because if Austin Hollins had played like this all year, we may have been in the 30's (or better) going INTO the tournament.
 


50PoundHead said:
Heck with that. There are two tournaments and we won one of them. That makes us the second best team in the country!
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Screw that. Give us the NCAA champ, neutral court, winner take all! hahahaha

Seriously, I think the line is thinner than people realize ... look at two of the teams in the real Final Four and who's beaten them. Little bit of luck here, fewer injuries there, couple big shots, and boom. Remember we went to the Final Four a year after playing in the NIT (a year when the guy who turned out to be our best player was hobbled by injury).
 



WanderingGopher said:
Screw that. Give us the NCAA champ, neutral court, winner take all! hahahaha

Seriously, I think the line is thinner than people realize ... look at two of the teams in the real Final Four and who's beaten them. Little bit of luck here, fewer injuries there, couple big shots, and boom. Remember we went to the Final Four a year after playing in the NIT (a year when the guy who turned out to be our best player was hobbled by injury).
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UConn wins it all. By the transitive property of basketball, the Gophs beat SMU, who beat UConn twice,therefore making the Gophers the best team in the land.
 

Two national champions down, two to go. Murray State won the CIT last night over Yale

On Saturday we have Fresno State and Siena playing Game 3 of the CBI championship series.

So John Saunders was factually wrong when he opened last night's telecast by saying only two teams get to end the season with a win.
 






Somehow it just doesn't quite tug at the heartstrings like the One Shining Moment played after the NCAA title game.
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Lol, yeah. Well, at least someone went to the trouble of putting it together.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Two national champions down, two to go. Murray State won the CIT last night over Yale

On Saturday we have Fresno State and Siena playing Game 3 of the CBI championship series.

So John Saunders was factually wrong when he opened last night's telecast by saying only two teams get to end the season with a win.
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Does the Ivy League still not do a conference tournament? If so, a handful of Ivy League teams who don't qualify for any of the tournaments could end their season on a win.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Does the Ivy League still not do a conference tournament? If so, a handful of Ivy League teams who don't qualify for any of the tournaments could end their season on a win.
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Yep, that too, as well as teams that didn't qualify for their conference tournament. Evidently John wasn't very worried about being factual.
 


I just rewatched the last few minutes of the game on ESPN3. Out of curiousity, I checked the clock and the last 1:00 of game time took 14:36 real time to play! Watching live, it felt like that clock would never get to zero.
 

WanderingGopher said:
I think our only dunk was the one Walker made AFTER the buzzer!

Definitely need to get stronger and more athletic next year.
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To me, this is the biggest reason we haven't seen an ounce of what Richard Pitino has in store for us. We might have been out athleted in every single game this year, and I'm not kidding. From a pure physical capability standpoint, we may not have played a clumsier team all year....
 



SelectionSunday said:
Two national champions down, two to go. Murray State won the CIT last night over Yale

On Saturday we have Fresno State and Siena playing Game 3 of the CBI championship series.

So John Saunders was factually wrong when he opened last night's telecast by saying only two teams get to end the season with a win.
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My count is 7 teams that end with a win (I am assuming Harvard won their last regular season game).

NCAA Champ
NIT Champ
CIT Champ
CBI Champ
The three non-champion Ivy League teams who won their last game of the regular season. The Ivy League does not have a post-season tournament.
 

Ski U Mah Gopher said:
My count is 7 teams that end with a win (I am assuming Harvard won their last regular season game).

NCAA Champ
NIT Champ
CIT Champ
CBI Champ
The three non-champion Ivy League teams who won their last game of the regular season. The Ivy League does not have a post-season tournament.
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This year only 5 as 2 of those winning Ivies played in CIT and CBI. Dartmouth ended on a 3 game winning streak!
 

GopherDude said:
Was at the game and it was an incredible experience!... Not going to lie, the SMU fans that were there, which was about 80% of the crowd, were complete dicks and there was no better feeling than cheering and clapping as the filed there way past! What a great game a team win! I can't wait for spring recruiting! Hoping we land a stud transfer!
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The SMU fans sounded kinda dickish on TV. This is the first I've heard anyone talking about this, though. Care to expand?
 

I was there too. I'm not sure that 80% of the crowd was composed of SMU fans, but that's not beyond the realm of possibility. We were certainly out numbered by more than 2 to 1 and it easily could have been 3 to 1. My son and I were seated next to the Minnesota section behind the home bench and most of those around us were SMU fans. We got along with those fans okay, in fact they seemed to be nice people, but in the second half when SMU started feeding the post players for a couple of dunks the SMU fans really got loud, and basically drown out the Minnesota cheers with continuous chants of "SMU" as they proceeded to open up a 7 point lead. I just watched the ESPN3 replay of the game and you couldn't hear the intensity of the SMU crowd during that period. It was at that point, with 5:47 left, that Pitino called time out and righted the ship. The momentum just prior to that was all SMU and I was afraid we were coming apart. It was a tremendous come back and the game ended with an emotional high for both Gopher players and fans. I think you had to be there to experience it fully.

I think the NIT run was very good for our program. I think Pitino demonstrated that he can coach at a high division I level, we got positive coverage on national TV, and our returning players got some good tournament experience. Plus, it was a great send off for our seniors. I think this all should help with recruiting, and I'm looking forward to seeing who Pitino is able to bring in with the remaining scholarships for next year and the years thereafter.

I just hope that in a few years our fan base will be dominating NCAA Final Four opponents with "Let's Go Gophers."
 



WindyCityGopher said:
I don't give a crap that it's only the NIT, I'm proud as hell of this team for this season and this championship! Here's to better things to come next year and the future as a result. Congratulations to coach Pitino and the players, especially Austin, who went out a winner.
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Exactly. Austin led this team over the past few weeks.....despite his mid season slump. That three pointer near the end of the game was fantastic. He really put the team on his back (along with Mathieu). Cool that despite being in the NIT, him and the other seniors get to leave on a five game winning streak......and as "champions".
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Does the Ivy League still not do a conference tournament? If so, a handful of Ivy League teams who don't qualify for any of the tournaments could end their season on a win.
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Ivy League still does not have a tournament (only D1 conference that doesn't) - add Dartmouth to the teams ending the year with victories. (The other Ivy league winning teams lost in one of the other post season tournaments)

EDIT: Sorry for the repeat - did not see the Dartmouth info posted earlier
 

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