Pete Gillen picks the Gophers as the bracket busters

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Gillen, former Xavier coach and current analyst on CBS CSTV just picked the Gophers has his bracket buster special. He thinks we'll beat Texas and go on to beat Duke! He said that Duke is woefully unathletic and they will have a very tough time with our pressure defense and inside game. As weird as it may sound, I'm more concerned with Texas than Duke. Tubby owns Coach K in the tournament.

Anyway, I like the way this guy is thinking!

:clap:
 

wow. really?

I actually find myself more worried about texas than duke too. wierd...
 

I'm worried about neither since I'll readily admit I'm just happy to be here. Having said that, I think you guys are underestimating Duke a tad.
 

Just like me i got us in da sweet 16.
 

Let's concentrate on Texas first.

But should the basketball gods smile on us on thursday and we do beat the 'horns, remember that we'd be playing the BD's in what amounts to a home game.
 


Ah, Pete Gillen...the man who once said "Duke is Duke, they're on TV more than Leave It To Beaver reruns." He doesn't think too highly of the Dukies.
 

i see us beating Texas but you guys are crazy for not giving Duke there props...Duke has 3 players capable of dropping 25 with no problem
 

Duke hasn't faced the kinda defense they will face if they end up playing us. Al Nolen will be stealing all night. There's no one in the ACC that plays the type of smash mouth, half-court defense that Tubby plays. They don't have anyone that can stop DJ and Sampson. All we have to do is contain Gerald Henderson, and that's the ball game.
 

Jay Bilas has us beating UT also, not Duke though. (I'd be OK with one win in the Tourny)
 



Its great to see someone give us some respect....I hope it doesnt catch on right away this week, when people on ESPN start making sleeper picks to get to the sweet 16 or farther, it usually ends up being a curse. I'd like us to be able to sneak up on unsuspecting giants.
 


I think the reason Im more worried about the horns is cause they are up first.. If we get to play Duke, I'll be sweating alot more than what I am right now.
 

MinnGophersFan23 said:
i see us beating Texas but you guys are crazy for not giving Duke there props...Duke has 3 players capable of dropping 25 with no problem
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We could have any 3 players total 25 - no problem!
 



Let's focus on Texas....just like the players should. We wouldn't want to encourage them to look ahead. That's a very bad idea. We can talk about the next game when we beat Texas!
 

>>(I'd be OK with one win in the Tourny)<<

Have we not progressed from the Monson years?
 

genius

I don`t know who Pete Gillen is but it`s obvious the man is gifted:)
 

I'm worried about Texas because we have a legit chance to beat them and I'd be a bit dissapointed if we lose. With Duke its really a win win situation. That said I think we match up pretty well with Duke defensively. Dj can do a decent job on Singler who's their best player IMO. The issue is can we keep Scheyer from lighting us up from outside since he can shoot over all of our guards so they have to get right up in his face. Henderson's athleticism doesn't really bother me because of our length inside
 

oleboy41 said:
I'm worried about Texas because we have a legit chance to beat them and I'd be a bit dissapointed if we lose. With Duke its really a win win situation. That said I think we match up pretty well with Duke defensively. Dj can do a decent job on Singler who's their best player IMO. The issue is can we keep Scheyer from lighting us up from outside since he can shoot over all of our guards so they have to get right up in his face. Henderson's athleticism doesn't really bother me because of our length inside
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You're right. That's why I believe Texas stands in our way for a trip to the Sweet 16 or even the Elite 8. I know I'm getting way ahead of myself, but Villanova doesn't even scare me. I think if we're on our A game, along with our championship coach, we can do some damage. I do think we got a favorable draw.
 

KyGopherfan said:
That's why I believe Texas stands in our way for a trip to the Sweet 16 or even the Elite 8 ... but Villanova doesn't even scare me.
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Now this is starting to get a little out of hand. I'm as optimistic as the next guy - it's kind of a prereq for being a Gopher fan - but thinking that beating Texas, who is probably the worst of the three teams now mentioned in this thread, is all that needs to happen is a little silly. I can see the argument for beating Duke possibly (defense, defense clap clap clap clap clap), though I still think the team would need to play out of their gourds to do it. That said, NOTHING about "smash mouth" defense will catch Nova off guard. If the stars align absolutely perfectly and Minnesota is lucky enough to survive the first weekend, Villanova will be an incredibly challenging team to beat.
 

GOLDY1966 said:
Who do Gopherholer's have as their upset specials?
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You should have no reason to copy my pick as almost no one else will do so.

I'm picking Arizona State to beat both trendy pick Syracuse and #2 seed Oklahoma to reach the Elite 8. I'm not a huge OK believer so if I had picked the 'Cuse I'd have picked them to beat OK too.
 

Duke has been notorious for blowing the NCAA tournament lately. Lost to #11 VCU in 1st round as a 6 seed in 2007 and lost to #7 WVU as a 2 seed in the 2nd round. Let the streak continue.
 

I think Arizona St. and Michigan have great opportunities to break their bracket.
 

KyGopherfan said:
Duke hasn't faced the kinda defense they will face if they end up playing us. Al Nolen will be stealing all night. There's no one in the ACC that plays the type of smash mouth, half-court defense that Tubby plays. They don't have anyone that can stop DJ and Sampson. All we have to do is contain Gerald Henderson, and that's the ball game.
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If the refs were to let them play. That is a big "IF" when Duke is on the floor as Coach K is the biggest whiner in the enitre free world and is also a "legendary coach" so he gets calls, of course Tubby is also in that top tier.

I just have trouble seeing us do much with the guards we have on this team. The NCAA's is all about guard play and how well you defend the 3-point line. 2 of our biggest problems. Would love to see a Duke-UM matchup though. Tubby versus combover K. Would be a fun one to watch.
 

oleboy41 said:
I'm worried about Texas because we have a legit chance to beat them and I'd be a bit dissapointed if we lose. With Duke its really a win win situation. That said I think we match up pretty well with Duke defensively. Dj can do a decent job on Singler who's their best player IMO. The issue is can we keep Scheyer from lighting us up from outside since he can shoot over all of our guards so they have to get right up in his face. Henderson's athleticism doesn't really bother me because of our length inside
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Henderson is their best player, and has been for the last 2 months.

I would love to see the Gophers do well, but I would be surprised to see them even beat Texas. If they do get by Texas, I don't think there's a chance we stay with Duke for more than a half. Who's going to guard Gerald Henderson? DJ? Then Singler's going to go off.

That said, I do have the Gophers beating Texas, since I'm a bit of a homer.. but I'm not going to talk myself into them beating Duke.
 

I'm a huge gopher fan but would be shocked to see a sweet 16 run. Anyone that thinks they can realisticly do this has completely forgot the putrid games they have played during the later half of the season. I despise duke and think they're overated but they would destroy the Gophs like Michigan State. I don't know were this non sense comes from that no team outside of the big ten plays defense.
 


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